As part of an Arkansas Legislative Council Higher Education Subcommittee study, state university administrators were called to the State Capitol to answer questions about their institution’s responses to a survey regarding diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

UCA was one of those schools, and President Houston Davis and Director of Governmental Affairs and External Relations Jeremy Gillam responded to questions from legislators across the state about what DEI means to UCA.

Davis said, “It’s diversity as it relates to student success — meeting our students where they are. It’s, what are we doing to be able to retain that student, to be able to help them make that bridge between the opportunity of enrollment, to getting that degree?

“It is about community. It is about engagement. It’s about making certain that every single student knows that they matter, whatever their background is, and that we appreciate the story they bring to the table, and their story’s going to be part of the narrative of UCA as they leave with a degree,” he said.

“It’s the involvement and it’s the support that’s necessary to make certain that our community looks out for each other as we are trying to change students’ lives by getting them … that degree that we know can change their family tree,” Davis said.

State Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, led the hearing as the subcommittee’s co-chair.

Sullivan asked Davis and Gillam, “Do you have statements where people have to sign a statement that they’ll be true to DEI, any loyalty oaths of any sort?”

Davis said no, and Sullivan asked, “Any trainings that you do with staff or students that would have to do with what one may classify as the broad spectrum of DEI?”

Davis said, “No trainings that are required for enrollment. No trainings that are required for initial or continuous employment.”

Sullivan then asked about admissions requirements changing in recent years.

“Now I hear there are a whole host of admissions criteria that one can prioritize as they want, with test scores being one of those. So how does one qualify to get into UCA? What’s most important to you guys?”

Davis said, “We use primarily standardized test scores, ACT, SAT and/or GPA.”

Throughout the hearing, legislators asked administrators about the impacts of Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and SFFA v. UNC, where the U.S. Supreme Court declared affirmative action and race-conscious admissions unconstitutional in a 6-3 decision in June 2023.

“The Supreme Court decision had no impact whatsoever on our operations,” Davis said.

Sullivan said, “You’re probably one of the only ones that may be able to say that. Way to go.”

“Our Constitution, in principle, talks about, and the Declaration, which is the basis for our Constitution … It talks about ‘all people are created equal,’ and you know the rest of it. And we’ve kind of gone down this DEI route.

“How did we get there from teaching what our Constitution is? It seems like we’ve moved away from the principles into DEI. How did we get there? Why is that true?” Sullivan asked.

Davis said, “There’s been much conversation about ‘underserved.’ I think ‘underrepresented’ is a better phrase to use. I think certainly, historically, there have been groups that have been underrepresented on college campuses.

“There have been efforts — of recent, those underrepresented groups have been male. It’s been very difficult to find males on the college campuses. Veterans, low income — what we call the murky middle — middle income. Nontraditional students.”

Gillam said, “I think we view it, and my discussions with those on campus, that we view having a statement or any kind of effort to have this on paper or throughout the campus is merely a matter of just reinforcing the principles that you discussed earlier that are stated in our founding documents.”

Sullivan said he liked Davis’s point about underrepresentation being a better term to use, but said it “seems to be very selectively applied.”

Sullivan said, “You look at our athletic teams, and … some of the underrepresented are the majority. So that definition of who is represented and underrepresented is kind of a moving target. I don’t know how we decide what is represented and underrepresented in the various aspects of activities on campus. How do you decide when it applies and when it doesn’t apply?”

Davis said, “The state government and the federal government certainly require a lot of reporting from us on that, and not just in recent years. That’s certainly the entirety of my professional career, that’s been a standard thing that all 50 states have to report on. Certainly, from an athletic standpoint for Title IX, sort of balancing distribution — that’s a very common practice.”

State Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, asked every institution whether a white applicant has ever been denied so that a minority student could be enrolled. All answered no.

She also asked what UCA is doing to recruit from impoverished areas.

“We have pockets of the state that are so poor, and that can be turned around a great deal with education,” Chesterfield said.

Davis said, “It doesn’t matter, rural, urban, suburban; we want to make certain that families know that UCA is a place of opportunity, that we’re going to work with those families. If they can meet admissions standards, we’re going to work with them.”

Davis said it’s up to every part of UCA — “academic affairs, student affairs” — to know about the diversity of the student body, as students have “different academic needs, different student life needs,” and that connecting students with those opportunities helps retention and helps students “feel at home.”

“It’s on us to know that student body and to be able to make certain that a student doesn’t get lost. Whether they’re a first-time freshman or they’re a transfer student coming in, we need to make sure to get them to all the various programs and services that our campus has,” he said.

State Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, asked, “Based on the questionnaire, you’ve got quite a bit invested in DEI. How does that advantage you or disadvantage you over institutions that are downsizing their DEI platform or offices?”

Davis said, “I don’t know that I would characterize an institution’s commitments toward student engagement or student involvement based on what they included in the survey.”

“Some of it [DEI work] is related to the diversity and engagement, working with underrepresented communities, but it’s also about student life, student affairs, and working across with academic affairs to get those students involved in everything,” Davis said.

Davis said all UCA students are “all involved in something that’s about inclusion, involvement, community, and if you want to put all of that under the banner of diversity, then we’ve got a whole lot of people on our campus that are doing that work. I don’t want to diminish the role that any of our faculty and staff play.”

While UCA was the only state university to report having a DEI dean in its response to the legislators’ questionnaire, UCA’s Chief Diversity Officer Angela Webster and Director of Media Relations Fredricka Sharkey did not respond in time for publication about whether Webster was invited to the Capitol.

On the questionnaire, UCA said Webster’s job was 50% DEI. UCA’s responses to the state’s questionnaire can be found at arkleg.state.ar.us/Calendars/MeetingRoster id=52820038&ddBienniumSession=2023%2F2023S1.