University of Alaska Anchorage students who use the campus’s Native Student Services program say they’re concerned about the departure of long-time staff, ahead of a restructuring of the program.
The program assists Alaska Native students with things like registering for classes and adapting to a university setting. The university announced in March that it would be moved into the wider student services department and renamed the Indigenous and Rural Student Center.
Some Alaska Native students, including Mars Kashevarof, worry the change will make the program less responsive to their needs.
“All the offices on campus can serve Native students,” Kashevarof said. “But NSS is specifically tailored to Native students and their needs, whether they're coming from a village, or off the road system, or urban (area).”
Kashevarof circulated an online petition asking to undo the change.As of Wednesday morning, it had about 2,000 signatures.
As part of the restructuring, the program’s assistant director was placed on administrative leave, with a notice of layoff in June. She and the one other full-time staff member have since left, according to UAA.
The abrupt change comes at an inconvenient time, when students are registering for classes, Kashevarof said. They say NSS has been a great help with that.
“They have so many students, but they also, like, really know how to make connections and find you the professors and the classes and the schedule that's really gonna work for you,” Kashevarof said.
The university defended restructuring NSS as a cost-saving measure and said that the program is still being staffed by a minimum of two people, as well as student workers. Additionally, an academic advisor is available daily between 10 and 11 a.m. and again from 2 to 3 p.m.
At a wider University of Alaska town hall held virtually on Tuesday, UAA chancellor Sean Parnell acknowledged students’ concerns over the loss of the two NSS staff members.
“Two employees are gone, with whom a number of students, many students, had a supportive relationship with, and that's hard to see that go away,” Parnell said. “But I also would just encourage you and say there remain caring and compassionate people who want to be there and supporting students and who are in that space even as we speak.”
The changing of Native Student Services to the Indigenous and Rural Student Center is set to be official on July 1.
Kashevarof is holding out hope that can still be halted with enough student pushback. However, if it goes through, they said they want the university to be more transparent with students and include them in the transition.
