Steve Sviggum intends to serve out the final months of his term on the University of Minnesota Board of Regents but has resigned as the board’s vice chair after casting student diversity in a negative light.
The U on Tuesday released a letter Sviggum wrote to the board’s chair, Ken Powell.
“After our meeting on Saturday morning, I have come to the realization that I should resign from the Vice Chairmanship effective immediately. I owe that position to my colleagues who have shown disapproval in my actions,” Sviggum wrote.
“I plan to continue to serve the University on the Board of Regents until my term is completed,” he added.
Sviggum during a Oct. 13 board meeting asked whether it was possible the U’s Morris campus was struggling to recruit students because it was “too diverse.” He added that two friends had told him their kids wouldn’t go to Morris “because it is too diverse a campus; they didn’t feel comfortable there.”
White students make up 54 percent of enrollment at Morris, and American Indians – who get free tuition because of the school’s history as an Indian boarding school – 32 percent.
Following calls for his resignation, Sviggum said last week he was “just asking a question.” He later apologized in a letter, writing, “I clearly have more to learn to better understand the strength that diversity brings to our institution.”
The apology wasn’t enough for the Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors Group, which represents over two dozen American Indian organizations in the Twin Cities area. The group on Friday called for Sviggum to resign from the board, calling his comments “offensive and overtly racist.”
Powell also apologized last week, writing to the Morris community that he should have spoken up and condemned Sviggum’s comments. The entire board, Powell said, would receive training on diversity, equity and inclusion to “help us more fully understand and reaffirm the power that different perspectives bring to our shared success.”
Regents are appointed by the Legislature to unpaid, six-year terms. It is customary for regents to serve no more than two terms.
Sviggum, a 71-year-old farmer from Kenyon and former speaker of the state House of Representatives, was elected to the board in 2011 but resigned a year later due to a perceived conflict of interest after taking a job with the Senate Republican Caucus.
Sviggum did not apply for a seat in 2017, but the Legislature picked him anyway over three candidates who had been vetted by the Regent Candidate Advisory Council. His term expires in the spring.