After a year of HB261, Communications professors conduct research study on impact of the legislation on campuses across the state of Utah

In Spring 2024, associate professor Nicole Allen and assistant professor Syndey O’Shay in the Department of Communication & Media were sitting in a staff meeting when they first heard how House Bill 261, Equal Opportunity Initiatives, would be implemented on Utah State University campuses.  

 “We just kind of sat there in disbelief,” O’Shay said. “We know the power of language, and we know that when you say we can’t say something, it makes that word a dirty word, which means that saying we can’t say ‘diversity’ makes ‘diversity’ a bad word. It makes ‘equity’ a bad word. We know there are consequences to that, and so we knew this was going to be more than just changes of names and centers. We knew students were going to be truly impacted.” 

 A year later, after watching HB261 come into full effect, Allen and O’Shay launched a study looking into the impact the bill has had on the well-being of students across Utah.  

 “There’s no central database of what is being closed and dismantled and what’s being renamed and the changes. A lot of the research that I’ve been doing is going back and forth to see what programs were on websites and when those were removed,” Allen said. “So, a lot of what we’re finding is that there’s just so much dismantling that we don’t know about unless you’re a student who’s being directly impacted.” 

 The pair was able to conduct a remote focus group with students from every public university in the state, excluding Utah Tech University due to a lack of interest. There were 44 total participants who were kept anonymous, identified only by a number, and divided into 13 focus groups. The age range of students, both graduate and undergraduate, was 18–36. Participant interviews were transcribed, and the research document with written quotes was shared with The Utah Statesman. 

Finding One: Frustration over swift compliance  

 Students appeared to be disappointed in a lack of response from their universities. Specifically, USU students voiced disappointment in a lack of pushback against this piece of legislation.  

“It’s overwhelming, seeing, like, how much Utah State shut down,” participant 32 said.  

Participants agreed upon feeling like their needs as students were overlooked by the university in response to legislation.  

“I think that they [USU] are obligated to push back. I think that as a student, I would have felt that they cared about us so much more if they had gone down fighting. Like, not down completely. Not to the point of shutting down, but just, like, showed in any way, at least, that they were trying to combat what was happening… And I think at the end of the day, the students are the one who are paying for the school. Like, yeah, there’s the state funding and there’s donors and everything. But, without students, it wouldn’t run. And so, I think that you [USU] have to care for the students more than what you’re [USU] doing,” participant 11 said.   

Finding Two: Solving a problem that did not exist  

 Participants across the state seemed to be confused about the need for HB261 and argued it was attempting to solve a nonexistent problem.  

“I feel like this law was made out of ill intent. And, no matter the way that they choose to frame it, it doesn’t support or doesn’t promote equality like they hope it would have. It was specifically intended to hurt groups,” participant seven said.  

Many shared they were frustrated by the disbanding of identity-based clubs and organizations.  

“Even if we don’t identify in one of the particular clubs, we don’t see how it’s harming anyone. So, a lot of what I’ve heard is, even from people who aren’t in any of the of the groups that have been closed, is just like, why did this happen? … I literally haven’t met anyone who was like, ‘I’m very glad that this [resource] closed because I felt discriminated against.’ I’ve only heard people talking about, you know, why? Why did that happen? Like that [HB261] doesn’t really seem to be helping anyone,” participant 37 said.  

Finding three: Feelings of erasure 

“It’s a loss of community. It’s a loss of support. Loss of space,” participant seven said.  

O’Shay echoed loss of space seemed to be one of the major ways students felt direct negative impact from this legislation.  

“After the bill passed and the changes were implemented, students who walked by centers that previously existed and were now gone every day felt like they were walking by a wound. It was like a void that was there of what had been,” O’Shay said.  

Aside from the loss of space, students felt the act of removing identity-based services and organizations is a reflection of how their respective universities value them as students.  

“For me, it’s just a reminder that as much as the university says it cares about its students, it cares about the lawmakers and the money side of it more. …So, I feel like they just completely ran with it [HB261] so quickly. So, it just reminds me that they don’t actually have the students’ best interest at heart. And I think a lot of students are seeing that. I know some people who are transferring after this year because of these changes, or who are trying to go through their degrees faster to leave because they don’t feel like they belong,” participant 37 said.  

Finding Four: Looking for once-guaranteed resources  

The participants discussed they now feel left to their own devices to face certain identity-based challenges in private.  

“There used to be some communities I used to go to— [The] Inclusion Center. I used to meet other international students [at the International Student Council]. Now, [I] just didn’t this year. So, I don’t know who is new [or] what everyone is doing. You know, you lose connections,” participant 18 said.  

Allen explained due to another bill, HB265, Higher Education Strategic Reinvestment, which went into effect July 1, students are struggling to follow which closures are due to which of the two bills.  

“They noticed that a lot of this legislation was layering, and it was very difficult for them to understand what was 261 or HB265, which is the budget reallocation, budget cuts, but what kind of came through in the data is that they were targeted by these things. So, while they couldn’t parse out what was 265 and what was 261, they saw all these resources being closed,” Allen said.  

Finding Five: Barriers at USU 

USU students spoke about student clubs that have dissociated with the university completely due to certain challenges being imposed upon them. For example, the Queer Student Alliance has stepped away from USU because leadership felt they could not continue to operate under restrictions being imposed.  

“BSU [Black Student Union] has gone under very long, long and just tedious paperwork to become a USUSA club that other organizations haven’t had to go through because they bring a budget with them from their previous club. And they had to fight to keep their money and not for it to be distributed [to] other people, because it was directly donated for the Black Student Union club, and not for USUSA as a whole,” participant seven said.

What’s Next?  

Allen and O’Shay have completed the focus group portion of their study and plan to take their findings further. Their next steps include more data collection, surveys and interviews once students are settled back on campus for the fall semester.  

“Many students still don’t even know about it. They might have realized ways — notice ways they’ve been impacted but not have made the connection,” O’Shay said.