Heather Wilson to meet with UTEP students, faculty on Thursday
U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, the sole finalist for president at the University of Texas at El Paso, is scheduled to make a second visit to El Paso Thursday.
Wilson will reportedly meet with a number of student, faculty and staff groups at UTEP. The meetings are scheduled to start early in the morning and will last until late in the evening, officials said.
Last week, a coalition of UTEP students submitted a petition with more 9,300 signatures to University of Texas System Board of Regents Vice Chairman, Paul Foster. The petition asks Foster and the UT Board of Regents to withdraw Wilson from consideration for UTEP’s presidency.
The groups, including the UTEP Queer Student Alliance, We the Students Coalition, UTEP students, and UTEP alumni, claim Wilson ” has a clear track record of supporting policies that discriminate against LGBTQ people and has even voted against millions of dollars that would have supported a new graduate Hispanic Serving Institution program. ”
The coalition further claimed, ” Heather Wilson’s anti-LGBT voting record, as a New Mexico congresswoman, clearly shows that she is not inclusive of all people. UTEP deserves a president who will be inclusive and welcoming of all students. ”
The University of Texas System Board of Regents voted March 8 to select Wilson as the only finalist for the job.
During a press conference at UTEP earlier this month, Wilson said her ” general approach with respect to LGBT issues is to treat everyone with dignity and respect. ” She also praised the school for being a binational and bicultural university.
Wilson would be replacing Diana Natalicio , who has served as UTEP president for three decades. UTEP has an enrollment around 25,000 students, with about 80 percent Latino.
