UA Regents' appeasement doesn't spare students or funding / House votes down anti-abortion amendment, cuts trans care

It's Tuesday, Alaska.

In this edition: Even though the University of Alaska Board of Regents voted to preemptively appease the Trump administration by self-censoring any mentions of diversity, equity, inclusion and, sometimes, Alaska Natives, the president's attack on higher education hit Alaska on Monday. Four international students had their visas revoked without warning amid the administration's chilling attack on free speech. And millions of dollars in federal funding – which was ostensibly the goal of bending the knee – are in limbo or have been canceled. Meanwhile, the House kicked off its operating budget amendment process in earnest, rejecting long-standing anti-abortion language while also voting to cut funding for trans care.

Current mood: 🥶

Board of Regents' appeasement doesn't spare students or funding from Trump's ire

The University of Alaska's Board of Regents, led by its most conservative members, approved a surprise resolution at its February board meeting to preemptively bow to the Trump administration's efforts to dictate what goes on in higher education nationwide. Their resolution censored any mentions of words that fell under the right-wing boogeyman of diversity, equity and inclusion, with members claiming that it was about protecting the university system – specifically its federal funding – from capricious cuts. The preemptive act of self-censorship hasn't sat well with students, university employees or legislators. At a hearing last week, Juneau Democratic Sen. Jesse Kiehl said the resolution "absolutely toadies to the federal government. Toadies, bootlicks, rolls over and submissively wets."

And it appears it was largely for naught.

In a letter Monday, UA President Pat Pitney gave an update on how the Trump administration is already impacting the system not just with funding cuts in the millions – potentially tens of millions – of dollars but also by extending its attack on international students.

"This week, we learned that the federal government has revoked visas for four individuals affiliated with UAA — one current student and three recent graduates in post-graduation training — without prior notice," she wrote. "These immigration issues do not impact a student's academic standing at UA. Our
international students and scholars are vital members of our community, and we remain fully committed to supporting their success."

The what, why and what's next for those students — and any other student who falls into the sights of the Trump administration — isn't entirely clear at this point, but the impact is already profoundly chilling. While visa revocations have typically required a relatively high bar – namely a conviction – the Trump administration has used as little as simple, typically spurious accusations of misconduct to revoke visas and detain and deport international students. In a statement that should make all of our blood run cold, Anchorage-based immigration attorney Nicholas Olano told the Alaska Beacon that international students should probably refrain from exercising rights the U.S. Constitution nominally protects.

"It's horrible; I'm having to say this because I think that the First Amendment, the Constitution, covers every single individual that is in the United States presently," he said. "But at this moment, you should not exercise your right to free speech because you can have consequences. That's the most un-American thing ever. But I'm saying it."

But at least one of the students, Jean Kashikov of Khazakstan, told the Anchorage Daily News that he hadn't participated in any such advocacy. Instead, he said it looked like they were going after him – with the UAA international student advisor warning that he could be arrested and detained by the feds – for a speeding ticket in Georgia. Rather than face a disappearment by the feds, Kashikov told the paper that he was planning on leaving as quickly as possible, cutting short a year that he had planned to work as a flight instructor in Anchorage and Mat-Su after earning degrees in math and professional piloting from UAA.

"I started calling my friends, calling my customers, telling them that, you know, 'I'm so terribly sorry, but I have to abandon you all and leave right now,'" he told the paper, later adding that when Trump crows about deporting criminals, "I just want people to know that the kind of people he is talking about is me."

More coverage: Pitney's letter, Alaska Beacon, Juneau Empire, ADN

House nixes anti-abortion language, approves cut to trans care

The Alaska House kicked off the annual slog of operating budget amendments in earnest on Monday. That's after the House managed to cut the size of the dividend down to the status quo territory of about $1,400 on Friday when a handful of absent Republicans made it possible to muster a majority to cut the payout (Rep. Neal Foster, D-Nome, has been a steadfast full-dividend-er, effectively deadlocking any dividend votes of the full House at 20-20). It was just the start of the drama.

On Monday, the House rejected Republican efforts to insert long-standing anti-abortion language into the budget. The language, which is unconstitutional under the Alaska Constitution's privacy clause, seeks to block state funding for the medical procedure and is symbolic for right-wing legislators who, on Monday, described abortion in ghastly terms during the debate. Rep. Jamie Allard, R-Eagle River, claimed that Alaska's abortion laws and providers are so lax that a woman in the process of giving birth can "look at the doctor and say, 'Kill the baby.'"

Rep. Genevieve Mina, D-Anchorage, was the only legislator to stand up in opposition to the amendment, reminding them that the Alaska Supreme Court has already ruled that they cannot budget away someone's constitutional rights.

Still, warnings over the constitutionality of a measure has never stopped a Republican legislator in the past, so it still came as a bit of a shock when the amendment failed on a 20-20 vote. While Anchorage Republican Rep. Chuck Kopp crossed over to side with the Minority Republicans, Kodiak Republican Rep. Louise Stutes didn't, sealing the amendment's fate.

That said, Republicans were united when it came to defunding trans care, the latest target of right-wing animosity and panic. Stutes and Kopp joined all House Republicans in supporting an amendment by Rep. Sarah Vance that would – again, unconstitutionally – bar funding for most trans and gender dysmorphia care. While Vance and other Republicans cited feigned concern about trans care for minors that was raised by the Alaska Medical Board – an unfortunately partisan cudgel under Dunleavy – the measure affects all trans care.

"God doesn't make mistakes," Vance said on the House floor.

Other Republicans insisted that the state shouldn't be forced to pay for others' "choices," a particularly rich point coming from a crowd that has also insisted on heaping funding on homeschoolers in the name of "choice."

Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, gave an impassioned defense of trans Alaskans, arguing that a tiny group of people is being unfairly targeted and singled out in the budget bill. He said it can have particularly disastrous effects on young people.

"What other groups of people are being talked about in the operating budget?" he said, adding, "I know what it was like to be a 16-year-old whose mother told you that you were wrong, that you were a mistake. And what was her research? Where did she find that? She used the Bible as her reference to tell me that I was a mistake and that I was wrong. ... I cannot stand here and say that we are going to tell one of the most marginalized, powerless minorities in our country, in our state, in our city, that they are wrong and they are a mistake."

With Republicans sharing a brief moment of budget unity, they all voted together to cut funding for trans care. The vote was 21-19.

Budget amendments will continue today and likely into the next few days before it ultimately heads over to the Senate. Still unresolved is a multimillion-dollar budget deficit.

Stay tuned.