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.”
Freelance writer Matt Buxton is the author of the newsletter The Alaska Memo.
