Faculty at the University of Arizona are voting in a newly launched referendum that calls on President Suresh Garimella and the Arizona Board of Regents to defend the school against “ongoing attacks on American universities” by President Donald Trump’s administration.
Faculty Senate leaders — Chair Leila Hudson, Presiding Officer Mona Hymel and Secretary Katie Zeiders — sent an email to faculty Tuesday explaining that their vote on the referendum would serve to gauge support for the governing body to start discussions with university leadership.
The referendum was motivated by faculty calls for stronger institutional resistance to efforts to undermine academic freedom, inclusive teaching and the university’s research mission.
The email specified the action followed a “letter from our Regents and Distinguished Professors, resolutions by faculty senates at other universities, including public land grants around the country, judicial and legal actions, and collective responses by consortia of university and college presidents.”
Megan Gilbertson, spokesperson for the regents, responded to Arizona Luminaria’s questions and request for comment in an email saying, “the regents deeply respect university faculty and are grateful for their input. The board remains committed to the long-term health and success of Arizona’s public universities.”
The UA administration has not responded to Arizona Luminaria’s questions or request for comment.
The proposal warns that ongoing political attacks “threaten bedrock principles of a democratic society,” such as freedom of expression and inquiry.
The resolution urges the University of Arizona’s president and the Arizona Board of Regents to take five concrete actions: defend against ideological and governmental attacks, legally resist unlawful directives, endorse the national “Call for Constructive Engagement” issued by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, help form a mutual academic defense pact among land grant universities, and commit resources to respond to politically motivated threats.
The vote ends Friday at 5 p.m. and results will be released during the faculty senate meeting Monday at 3 p.m. Register to watch it here.
The proposition follows months of federal directives targeting funding; diversity, equity and inclusion-related initiatives at universities nationwide; and hits to grant funding for research.
The Trump administration’s changes have resulted in funding freezes amid the university’s already financially fraught state.
Faculty emphasized the urgency of the situation in March’s Faculty Senate meeting, urging the school to take action. The school administration has had to establish a bridge-funding program to support research while hoping for the re-instatement of funds.
UA scrubbed terms related to diversity and inclusion from its website in February, including its entire webpage for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, though the fate of the office remains unclear.
This includes removing “committed to diversity and inclusion” from its land acknowledgment, spurring backlash from Indigenous students and leaders.
The university’s changes came after the Education Department, in a memo Feb. 14, gave schools and universities two weeks to eliminate diversity initiatives or risk losing federal money. The memo was an extension of President Donald Trump’s executive order banning DEI programs within the federal government.
Critics of DEI initiatives say they threaten merit-based opportunities while supporters say they are necessary to ensure equity.
In March, Rutgers University launched a proposal to form a “Mutual Academic Defense Compact” for the Big Ten Academic Alliance in which participating universities pledge to join funds, legal counsel and strategy to defend universities against “political infringement.”
The Big Ten Academic Alliance is composed of 18 universities – University of Illinois, Indiana University, University of Iowa, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, University of Oregon, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, UCLA, USC, University of Washington and University of Wisconsin-Madison.
As of Tuesday, 11 Big Ten schools have voted in favor of establishing the compact.
The UA faculty referendum proposes participation in a similar initiative consisting of public land grant universities. UA is the only public land grant university in Arizona, Tohono O’Odham College and Diné College are land grant colleges.
In addition to being shared at the Faculty Senate meeting next week, results will also be sent to ASU, NAU and leaders of public land grant universities across the country.
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