An Indigenous author felt compelled to cancel her Utah appearance after this university gave her a list of banned DEI words

The form that Darcie Little Badger was supposed to fill out before speaking at Weber State University seemed fairly standard at first.

It requested a photo of her and a short bio and asked if she needed any special equipment, like a microphone or projector. She’d filled out maybe hundreds of these before as an author and editor who has traveled the country to talk about her young adult novels.

But she’d never seen anything like the last section.

“I was taken aback,” Little Badger recalled. “At first, I thought ‘This couldn’t apply, could it?’”

Under the heading “additional information about Weber State University,” the Ogden school provided a list of “prohibited words and concepts” for visiting speakers. Included among them: equity, diversity and inclusion, anti-racism, bias, oppression and intersectionality.

Little Badger is a member of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas, which is prominently noted on her website. All of her books feature Apache people and Indigenous themes. She was invited to speak at Weber State on Nov. 20, along with the two other women who together edited “Beyond the Glittering World,” a new anthology of Indigenous feminist stories. And the event was scheduled as part of the university’s Native symposium, held annually during Native American Heritage Month.

All of that seemed to indicate, to her, that she was asked to speak on campus to discuss those topics. She couldn’t comprehend how to avoid them.

“How are we supposed to talk about the reality of being Native without talking about these words?” Little Badger asked in a phone call this week with The Salt Lake Tribune.

At the bottom of the form was contact information, where she could send questions. Little Badger said she fired off an email as quickly as she could type, questioning why the list was included on the document and if she would be required to abide by it.

Shortly after, she said, an employee of the university called her to confirm the list applied to her event. The staffer, Little Badger said, tried to convince Little Badger to still come and talk to students, hoping there might be a way “to use other words.”

Little Badger, though, didn’t feel like it was right for her to move forward. And so she canceled her appearance.

It was a difficult decision, she said. She didn’t want to disappoint Weber students, particularly those who are Native American. But Little Badger said continuing would’ve felt like condoning censorship.

“I would not be doing our authors justice if I was to censor myself based on this list,” she said. “And I don’t even get how you can ban a concept.”

Does Weber’s list comply with Utah law?

Little Badger provided a copy of the form to The Tribune to review. It specifically states the list is included in accordance with state law, citing HB261.

That’s the state’s anti-DEI measure passed by the Legislature in 2024. It has banned public universities and colleges here from providing any services that cater to a specific identity group, such as having a center for Black students or a scholarship for women. Instead, such resources must be open to all students.

Both public higher education and K-12 schools are included in the law, which is one of the most far-reaching in the country. Under the measure, schools are also prohibited from having offices or positions with the words “diversity, equity and inclusion” in the name.

Based on the language of the law, it doesn’t appear it’s supposed to extend to guest speakers. But it is the latest example of the fallout from the measure that has pushed some universities to go beyond what’s required to comply and others to question what they have to do.

Despite its limitations, HB261 does encourage schools to invite speakers to “promote viewpoint diversity.” And faculty and staff are supposed to be trained on free speech and academic freedom, which the law says includes anyone who is not speaking directly on behalf of the school.

A university president, for example, is not supposed to take a public position on any issue; but faculty, staff and community members on campus are supposed to maintain their right to speak freely.

The law states the prohibitions apply to “policy, procedure, practice, program, office, initiative, or required training.” That suggests that a guest speaker — as long as students are not required to attend — should be allowed to talk about any topic.

Guidance provided to schools by the Utah System of Higher Education, which oversees the eight public colleges and universities in the state, supports that reading.

The Tribune provided a screenshot of the form to the lawmaker who ran HB261, Rep. Katy Hall, R-South Ogden. She did not respond to how the university was interpreting the law.

In a statement, Weber said the list of banned words was part of an overview that its Student Success Center shares with potential speakers “as a courtesy,” explaining how recently enacted legislation affects public universities.

“In this case, the speaker was provided information to help them understand and comply with programming guidelines established by HB 261,” the statement read. “Weber State is currently reviewing its speaker-invitation procedures to make sure guests have an accurate explanation of HB 261 and to help ensure the requirements are appropriate based on the law.”

In a post on the social media platform Bluesky, Little Badger called Weber’s banned words list an “extreme attempt” to comply with the law. Her post there and on Instagram reached thousands, each flooded with comments from readers supporting her and condemning the Utah school.

She hopes that canceling her appearance will spark more conversation about the impact of HB261 in Utah and states with similar laws — including her home state of Texas. Her latest book, “Sheine Lende,” published in 2024, tells the fictional story of a young Indigenous girl dealing with the oppression of Native identities in Texas.

“At the heart, the theme is overcoming these difficulties,” Little Badger said. “… All of my books, in different ways, deal with these concepts.”

‘Putting up this barrier’

The event for the anthology — published through Utah’s Torrey House Press — was still held at Weber State as scheduled. The two editors who worked on it with Little Badger moved forward after she canceled. Both have direct ties to Utah.

Stacie Denetsosie, an author and editor, grew up in the state. And Kinsale Drake split her childhood between Los Angeles and Navajo Mountain on the Utah-Arizona border. Both are Diné, or Navajo. And Drake runs a book club for Indigenous girls here.

Denetsosie said she was conflicted but ultimately wanted to ensure that Utah students could listen to an Indigenous speaker.

“I know how difficult it is for students to hear from different perspectives right now,” she said. “I feel like it’s important for them to hear about our book — how it includes different voices.”

She challenges, though, how HB261 is being interpreted. The measure applies to race, ethnicity and gender. But it’s not supposed to apply to political identities — which includes Native Americans. They are citizens of a sovereign nation.

“But administrators, legislators, at multiple levels, they don’t understand that,” Denetsosie said.

The measure specifically included a carveout, for instance, for the University of Utah’s longstanding agreement with the Ute Indian Tribe of Utah, as a government entity, after questions raised by The Tribune’s reporting.

Denetsosie said she’s worried about how this affects schools beyond Weber. It’s also not the first time Weber has prompted scrutiny for its interpretation of HB261.

The school recently scheduled its annual Unity Conference that was supposed to include conversations about censorship. Organizers said they canceled when school officials said they would have to censor some of the speakers’ material due to the anti-DEI law.

Weber was also criticized for shutting down all of its affinity centers, beyond what the law required. And it removed the words “equity” and “inclusion” from its mission statement.

Little Badger said she understands that some people cannot speak up and worry they’ll lose their jobs if they do. For her, she said, dropping the gig at Weber was manageable.

In shutting down certain language, she feels the state is trying to make her hide “very real parts of my life, or the lives of other people, because they make people maybe uncomfortable.”

“This is a public university. These are young adults trying to learn,” she said. “And they’re putting up this barrier.”

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