Utah

Utah law targeting DEI leads university to close LGBT, women’s centers

Published

2 years ago

June 29, 2024

Utah law targeting DEI leads university to close LGBT, women’s centers

When Becket Harris started college at the University of Utah, the school’s LGBT center quickly became the most important spot on campus for her — a place where she studied, made friends and never had to worry about how people would react to learning she was transgender.

Harris, 20, was devastated to learn this week that the center is closing — along with one for students from underrepresented racial and religious communities and another for women — in response to a new state law that rolls back diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in public schools and universities.

“What am I going to do without my space on campus? How’s my friend group going to stay together?” said Harris, who finished her sophomore year this spring. “It’s attacking a space that’s very personal to me.”

Across Utah, public schools, universities and government agencies must make shifts to comply with the law, which goes into effect Monday. The state becomes the latest where Republican legislators have restricted DEI programs, amid a broader conservative effort to limit what is taught in schools and make diversity programs a flash point in the nation’s political debate.

Laws in other states have forced some universities to eliminate programs and jobs and, more commonly, to change hiring practices, such as ending requirements for diversity statements from job candidates. Some type of change to diversity requirements or programs has been made at 164 college campuses in 23 states since January 2023, according to a tally by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

At the University of Utah, administrators said they have had less than two months — the bill was passed in January, but the state higher education office’s guidance about how to comply with the law came down in May — to make final decisions about how to reorganize their staff and services. The school won’t lose its student services and will continue holding cultural events, but complying with the law will require a significant change in approach, administrators said.

“This definitely is having a profound impact,” said Lori McDonald, vice president for student affairs.

The Utah law labeled services for different communities — racial, ethnic, religious, gender-based or sexuality-based — as “discriminatory.”

Although it left their funding in place, it effectively directed schools to reorganize those services, such as mental health, career and scholarship help, under generalized campus centers catering to all students. Furthermore, the state’s guidance indicated those services couldn’t operate in centers that also did cultural programming.

At the University of Utah, school officials said that means closing its specialized centers in favor of two umbrella offices: one for all cultural programming and another for all student services. The school’s Division of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion has been eliminated. About 45 staff were affected, many of whom will be reassigned to the two new centers.

“This is not the path we would have chosen,” University Provost Mitzi Montoya wrote in a note to deans and faculty Thursday. “But … it is our calling to rise to the challenges of the day and find a better way forward.”

On Friday, a farewell was planned for the university’s LGBT Resource Center, which asked supporters to “join us to laugh, cry and celebrate” its 21-year run. An Instagram post advertising the goodbye party drew dozens of comments and broken-heart emojis.

“I’m starting school in the fall and am so upset this won’t be a resource for our community,” one person wrote. Another said, “Every single person in this building made me feel at home.”

Added a third, “I found support here [when] there was nowhere else.”

Along with the LGBT Resource Center, the university’s Women’s Resource Center and the Center for Equity and Student Belonging will close. Both the women’s center and the Center for Equity and Student Belonging, previously known as an ethnic student affairs center, had been in operation for more than 50 years, Montoya noted.

The law doesn’t mandate the closure of student centers, allowing them to stay open as cultural centers as long as they don’t also provide student services. Utah state Rep. Katy Hall (R), the bill’s House sponsor, said some universities had chosen to close centers “to better meet the goals” of the law.

The idea of leaving the centers open without providing the services they were created to house felt disingenuous, McDonald said, and university officials weren’t sure enough staff would be left to run them after some employees move to the student services center.

The university plans to keep its Black cultural center open; staff are working on how it will operate under the law as a gathering place, McDonald said. Those plans will have to be approved by the state, university officials said.

The law does not affect classroom instruction, academic freedom or academic research, the Utah System of Higher Education said in its guidance.

This spring, lawmakers in Alabama and Iowa passed similar bills to restrict DEI programs, and Wyoming removed state funding for the state university’s DEI office, forcing its closure. In mid-June, Republican members of Congress introduced a bill proposing to end all federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs and pull funding from government agencies, schools and others with DEI programs.

The law’s passage in Utah played to the more conservative wing of a divided Republican Party, said Michael Lyons, a political science professor at Utah State University. In an election year, Gov. Spencer Cox (R) and other GOP lawmakers faced the need to win over party delegates in Utah’s caucus-based nominating process.

“It’s not surprising to see them take very conservative positions,” he said.

Upon signing the bill, Cox said it offered a “balanced solution” by repurposing funding “to help all Utah students succeed regardless of their background.” His office did not respond to a request for comment from The Post this week.

Hall, the bill’s sponsor, said on the House floor that the measure came about because she had heard “serious concerns about the landscape at our higher education institutions” from “students and many professors.”

“I hope that students who benefited from these centers in the past know that the expectation is that they will still be able to receive the services and support that they need to succeed,” Hall told The Post.

Utah House Minority Leader Angela Romero (D) said she feared the bill would end up erasing people and identities, noting in a floor debate that she might not have succeeded at the University of Utah if not for the support of the ethnic students’ center. Free-speech advocates have also said such laws have a chilling and censoring effect on campuses.

Utah State University said this month it would reassign programs and clubs that had been housed under the school’s Inclusion Center and would ensure that its Latinx Cultural Center and a proposed Native American center comply with the law. The school said it would create a new center for community and cultural matters. Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, has closed its Division of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and identity-based centers and reorganized staff positions.

At the University of Utah, where staff members are still working out plans for the new centers, Harris, the student, remembered the LGBT center as a cozy place that made college much easier — and worried about what the changes might mean for future students.

“I could just walk into a space,” Harris said, “and I knew that everyone there was safe to talk to.”

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Utah

Utahns first or eroding the Utah way? House OKs measure cracking down on illegal immigration

Published

9 hours ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

Utahns first or eroding the Utah way? House OKs measure cracking down on illegal immigration

SALT LAKE CITY — A controversial Utah proposal to crack down on the presence of immigrants in the country illegally that had seemed stalled gained new life Friday, passing muster in new form in a relatively narrow vote.

In a 39-33 vote, the Utah House approved HB386 — amended with portions of HB88, which stalled in the House on Monday — and the revamped measure now goes to the Utah Senate for consideration.

The reworked version of HB386, originally meant just to repeal outdated immigration legislation, now also contains provisions prohibiting immigrants in the country illegally from being able to tap into in-state university tuition, certain home loan programs and certain professional licensing.

The new HB386 isn’t as far-reaching as HB88, which also would have prohibited immigrants in the country illegally from being able to access certain public benefits like food at food pantries, immunizations for communicable diseases and emergency housing.

Moreover, Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton and the HB88 sponsor, stressed that the new provisions in HB386 wouldn’t impact immigrants in the country legally. He touted HB88 as a means of making sure taxpayer money isn’t funneled to programming that immigrants in the country illegally can tap.

Rep. Lisa Shepherd, R-Provo, the HB386 sponsor, sounded a similar message, referencing, with chagrin, the provision allowing certain students in the country illegally to access lower in-state tuition rates at Utah’s public universities. Because of such provisions “we’re taking care of other countries’ children first, and I want to take care of Utahns first. In my campaign I ran and said Utahns first and this bill will put Utahns first,” she said.

If we stop young folks who have lived here much of their life from going to school and getting an education, it is really clear to me that we have hurt that person. It’s not clear to me at all that we have benefitted the rest of us.

–Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful

The relatively narrow 39-33 vote, atypical in the GOP-dominated Utah Legislature, followed several other narrow, hotly contested procedural votes to formally amend HB386. Foes, including both Democrats and Republicans, took particular umbrage with provisions prohibiting immigrants in the country illegally from being able to pay in-state tuition and access certain scholarships.

As is, students in the country illegally who have attended high school for at least three years in Utah and meet other guidelines may pay lower in-state tuition, but if they have to pay out-of-state tuition instead, they could no longer afford to go to college.

“If we stop young folks who have lived here much of their life from going to school and getting an education, it is really clear to me that we have hurt that person. It’s not clear to me at all that we have benefitted the rest of us,” said Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful.

Rep. Hoang Nguyen, D-Salt Lake City, noted her own hardscrabble upbringing as an immigrant from Vietnam and said the changes outlined in the reworked version of HB386 run counter to what she believes Utah stands for.

“I fear that what we’re doing here in Utah is we are eroding what truly makes Utah special, the Utah way. We are starting to adopt policies that are regressive and don’t take care of people. Utahns are one thing. Citizens are one thing. People is the first thing,” she said.

Rep. John Arthur, D-Cottonwood Heights, said the measure sends a negative message to the immigrant students impacted.

“If we pass this bill today, colleagues, we will be telling these young people — again, who have graduated from our high schools, these kids who have gone to at least three years of school here — that you’re no longer a Utahn,” he said.

If we are compassionate to those who come the legal way and we are compassionate to those who already live here, that does not mean that we lack compassion for others in other ways.

–Rep. Kristen Chevrier, R-Highland

Rep. Kristen Chevrier, R-Highland, said the debate underscores a “fallacy” about compassion. She backed the reworked version of HB386, saying Utah resources should be first spend on those in the country legally.

“If we are compassionate to those who come the legal way and we are compassionate to those who already live here, that does not mean that we lack compassion for others in other ways,” she said.

The original version of HB386 calls for repeal of immigration laws on the books that are outdated because other triggering requirements have not been met or they run counter to federal law.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Utah man dies of injuries sustained in avalanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon

Published

21 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Utah man dies of injuries sustained in avalanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A man died after he was caught in an avalanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon over the weekend.

A spokesperson for the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office confirmed on Thursday that Kevin Williams, 57, had died.

He, along with one other person, was hospitalized in critical condition after Saturday’s avalanche in the backcountry.

MORE | Big Cottonwood Canyon Avalanche

In an interview with 2News earlier this week, one of Williams’ close friends, Nate Burbidge, described him as a loving family man.

“Kevin’s an amazing guy. He’s always serving, looking for ways that he can connect with others,” Burbidge said.

A GoFundMe was set up to help support Williams’ family.

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911 recordings detail hours leading up to discovery of Utah girl, mother dead in Las Vegas

Published

1 day ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

911 recordings detail hours leading up to discovery of Utah girl, mother dead in Las Vegas

CONTENT WARNING: This report discusses suicide and includes descriptions of audio from 911 calls that some viewers may find disturbing.

LAS VEGAS — Exclusively obtained 911 recordings detail the hours leading up to the discovery of an 11-year-old Utah girl and her mother dead inside a Las Vegas hotel room in an apparent murder-suicide.

Addi Smith and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, lived in West Jordan and had traveled to Nevada for the JAMZ cheerleading competition.

The calls show a growing sense of urgency from family members and coaches, and several hours passing before relatives learned what happened.

MORE | Murder-Suicide

Below is a timeline of the key moments, according to dispatch records. All times are Pacific Time.

10:33 a.m. — Call 1

After Addi and her mother failed to appear at the cheerleading competition, Addi’s father and stepmother called dispatch for a welfare check.

Addi and her mother were staying at the Rio hotel. The father told dispatch that hotel security had already attempted contact.

“Security went up and knocked on the door. There’s no answer or response it doesn’t look like they checked out or anything…”

11:18 a.m. and 11:27 a.m. — Calls 2 and 3

As concern grew, Addi’s coach contacted the police two times within minutes.

“We think the child possibly is in imminent danger…”

11:26 a.m. — Call 4

Addi’s stepmother placed another call to dispatch, expressing escalating concern.

“We are extremely concerned we believe that something might have seriously happened.”

She said that Tawnia’s car was still at the hotel.

Police indicated officers were on the way.

2:26 p.m. — Call 5

Nearly three hours after the initial welfare check request, fire personnel were en route to the scene. It appeared they had been in contact with hotel security.

Fire told police that they were responding to a possible suicide.

“They found a note on the door.”

2:35 p.m. — Call 6

Emergency medical personnel at the scene told police they had located two victims.

“It’s going to be gunshot wound to the head for both patients with notes”

A dispatcher responded:

“Oh my goodness that’s not okay.”

2:36 p.m. — Call 7

Moments later, fire personnel relayed their assessment to law enforcement:

“It’s going to be a murder suicide, a juvenile and a mother.”

2:39 p.m. — Call 8

Unaware of what had been discovered, Addi’s father called dispatch again.

“I’m trying to file a missing persons report for my daughter.”

He repeats the details he knows for the second time.

3:13 p.m. — Call 9

Father and stepmother call again seeking information and continue to press for answers.

“We just need some information. There was a room check done around 3:00 we really don’t know where to start with all of this Can we have them call us back immediately?”

Dispatch responded:

“As soon as there’s a free officer, we’ll have them reach out to you.”

4:05 p.m. — Call 10

More than an hour later, Addi’s father was put in contact with the police on the scene. He pleaded for immediate action.

“I need someone there I need someone there looking in that room”

The officer confirmed that they had officers currently in the room.

Addi’s father asks again what they found, if Addi and her mother are there, and if their things were missing.

The officer, who was not on scene, said he had received limited information.

5:23 p.m. — Call 11

Nearly seven hours after the first welfare check request, Addi’s grandmother contacted police, describing conflicting information circulating within the family.

“Some people are telling us that they were able to get in, and they were not in the hotel room, and other people saying they were not able to get in the hotel room, and we need to know”

She repeated the details of the case. Dispatch said officers will call her back once they have more information.

Around 8:00 p.m. — Press Conference

Later that evening, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police held a news conference confirming that Addi and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, were found dead inside the hotel room.

The investigation remains ongoing.

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