Utah senators ask about affirmative action, diversity while vetting higher education board nominees

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Gov. Spencer Cox has nominated business and community leaders to the Utah Board of Higher Education.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Amanda Covington, one of nine nominees to the Utah Board of Higher Education, makes her presentation before the Utah Senate Education Confirmation Committee, Monday, June 5, 2023 at the Capitol.

Senators grilled the nominees to oversee higher and technical education in Utah Monday about their views on affirmative action, whether they would support having different standards to encourage diversity and how they would fight “bloat” to gain efficiency.

Sen. John Johnson, R-North Ogden, cited “cultural wars” on campuses while asking nominees about moving away from a focus on race or “disaffected groups” of students to a focus on individual students.

[Find the live feed of the committee meeting here.]

Referring to a challenge before the U.S. Supreme Court of the consideration of race in admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, John asked nominee Jon Cox, “with respect to preferential treatment of certain classes, you know, diversity you can call it … how do you think we can back away from some of the efforts that are being made on college campuses right now?”

Jon Cox, the principal at lobbying firm Utah Public Affairs and a distant cousin of Gov. Spencer Cox, answered, “I am not an expert on that specific case. But I do know obviously we comply with the law as stated and we’ll continue to do so as a system.”

He also pointed out: “Look at our current system, and there are certain demographic groups that are not fully participating or participating as much in our educational system.”

He added: “So I do think there’s opportunities for us to do better … Not through mandates, but finding ways perhaps where we’re falling short and not reaching those different constituencies.”

Johnson asked Sharon Eubank, director of Latter-day Saint Charities worldwide, “Do you think maybe we could move towards a focus on the individual and away from the group that they belong to?”

Eubank answered that she supports looking at barriers faced by an individual, “rather than different groups that we may be identified with.”

Gov. Cox in late May announced his 10 nominees for the Utah Board of Higher Education, a group tasked with setting strategy for the state’s public universities and technical colleges.

The appointments require Senate approval, and as a first step, nine nominees were scheduled to appear Monday before the Senate Education Confirmation Committee. Cox’s appointment of student member Holly Talbot doesn’t require Senate confirmation.

By mid-morning, the committee had voted to support the nominations of Javier Chavez Jr., Jon Cox, Amanda Covington, Sharon Eubank, Danny Ipson and Tina Larson. The other nominees are Steve Neeleman, Aaron Skonnard and Cydni Tetro.

[Read more about them: Gov. Cox wants these 10 Utahns to strategize the future of higher education in Utah]

Larson, president and COO at Recursion, a biotech company; told the committee she had used artificial intelligence in part to write her statement, to show its usefulness. Going forward, she said, “it’s going to seem shockingly inefficient to, for example, write a speech from scratch.”

She told senators, “We need to understand how the world is changing around us ,and make sure that we’re preparing our students to not be left behind by what’s going to be likely a very significant revolution in technology.”

The nominees next will appear before the full Senate. Those confirmed by the Senate will take office on July 1. Because the law requires staggered six-year terms, Cox will decide which new members are assigned initial terms of two, four or six years.

The Salt Lake Tribune will update this developing story.



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