The Daily Agenda: UA stumbles into muddy waters

The university has landed at the center of the debate on gender rights ... Campus workers union thinks school officials botched their response ... Supervisors have some questions for the sheriff.

University of Arizona officials and the campus workers’ union are at odds again, and at the center of the strife are a pair of slides about gender-affirming care presented to attendees of a post-grad nursing seminar.

The UA’s college of nursing came under fire after photos of the slides were posted on social media earlier this month by the far-right, anti-LGBT Libs of TikTok, then retweeted by Elon Musk. As of Sunday night, the tweet had more than 2.2 million views.

The next day, several faculty and staff members received hate calls and threatening emails, according to a petition created by United Campus Workers- Arizona, which says that the school was ultimately put on lockdown later that day.¹

The UA issued a response that Friday, two days after the tweet, saying that the college of nursing “does not recommend or advocate for young children to be asked gender-related questions in wellness checks” and that it doesn’t have a policy or position on the issue.

“The college teaches that practitioners should always work with the parents and guardians and with their permission, within their scope of the practice, and in alignment with the employing organization’s guidance when treating pediatric patients,” the statement said. “Faculty members… do not recommend any specific practice guidelines related to gender-related issues.”

But United Campus Workers-Arizona says the UA’s response is harmful and “contradicts medically accurate and evidence-based practices regarding gender-affirming care for young people.”

The American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and many other professional medical associations all support screening for gender dysphoria in children and adolescents, according to the union.

“The University’s willingness to go against science based recommendations and compromise the integrity of our medical community and our faculty’s curriculum because of bullying tactics of outside voices is unacceptable,” the petition says. ”We believe our colleagues and students in the College of Nursing deserve better, and their patients most certainly deserve to receive medical care from those trained according to the highest medical standards.”

The union wants UA President Robert C. Robbins to issue a statement saying they’ll protect the safety and well-being of nursing school faculty, staff and students and to commit to the “highest standards of care for trans and all youth, as defined by the respected medical associations of our nation.”

Gender-affirming care protects young people from depression, isolation and suicide, and in states where that type of care has been criminalized, “the deleterious effects on young trans people is already painfully evident,” according to the petition.

“The content of our classroom pedagogy will not be determined by people basing healthcare on hate speech and violence,” the petition said. “The safety of our transgender community of faculty, staff, and students is not up for debate. “

We reached out to the UA for comment on the union’s response Friday afternoon and spokeswoman Pam Scott referred us to the “original Sept. 8 statement addressing misinformation and misunderstanding being spread through social media.”

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the UA found itself involved in a gender rights argument. Arizona is one of several states hosting heated debates about the validity and legality of gender-affirming care.

In March 2022, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed Senate Bill 1138 into law, which bans physicians from providing gender-affirming surgical treatment to minors. The legislation doesn’t address hormone therapy or puberty blockers, but that’s not for lack of effort. It was included in earlier versions of the bill.

And it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a piece of legislation addressing those points when the session starts again in January. This spring, the state legislature advanced a host of anti-LGBTQ+ bills, according to the Human Rights Campaign, which included:

• SB1001, which makes it illegal for teachers and other school employees to respect the pronouns of a trans or non-binary student without written parental permission.

• SB1005, which leaves schools open to lawsuits for providing supportive and affirming spaces for LGBTQ+ students.

• SB1040, which bans trans students and school employees from using school restrooms that match their gender identity and allows people to sue schools if they share a restroom or similar facility with a trans person.

• SB1026, which prohibits state money from being used for drag shows designed as an all-ages performance, including drag story hours or family-friendly pride parades with a drag performer at a public university.

• Senate Concurrent Resolution 1025, which adds a Parental Bill of Rights to the state constitution and was co-sponsored by Sens. Justine Wadsack and Rachel Jones.

Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed the bills and the resolution didn’t make it out of committee, but we imagine we’ll see new and similar bills introduced in 2024.

Until then, a gender battle is still being waged over in the Catalina Foothills School District, which we wrote about in July.

Bathroom use by transgender students, disclosure by school staff about gender identification and similar topics have continued to come up in recent meetings, led mostly by a trio of the candidates who lost last year’s governing board election.

So with gender rights at the center of conversations at the state and local level, it was really only a matter of time before it became an issue at the UA.

Nanos under fire: Pima County supervisors will discuss during Tuesday’s meeting whether to request an independent investigation by the Arizona Attorney General or the Arizona Department of Public Safety into Sheriff Chris Nanos’ “alleged failure to conduct a timely and thorough investigation into the alleged sexual assault of a female deputy.” The agenda item comes on the heels of a letter from the deputy’s union saying that while a criminal investigation was opened immediately, Nanos put an internal investigation into the sergeant’s actions “on hold.” If supervisors approve the request, this will be the second time the department has been the subject of an outside investigation during Nanos’ tenure as sheriff.

You can’t put a price tag on quality, local watchdog reporting, but it still costs money to produce.

Vacant properties: The Tucson City Council approved a new process for dealing with blighted properties, the Arizona Daily Star’s Nicole Ludden reports. The city is revamping its Vacant and Neglected Structures program, with an eye on the success the City of Phoenix had in collecting liens on properties. The goal is to avoid having vacant properties attract criminal activity. Instead, city officials want to get vacant properties into the hands of owners who will take care of the properties.

Pump the brakes: A judge ruled the higher water rates that Tucson officials implemented for non-city residents in 2021 are “unreasonable” and not legal, the Tucson Sentinel’s Dylan Smith reported. City officials didn’t study the costs beforehand, as required by state law. The Sentinel’s Blake Morlock explains the politics of the water rate dispute between the city and Pima County officials.

Finding shelter: Amid a recent uptick in migrants and asylum seekers crossing Arizona’s border with Mexico, local governments and aid organizations are straining as they try to find shelter for them, the Star’s Emily Bregel reports. At the downtown port of entry in Nogales, Angela Gervasi of the Nogales International talks with asylum seekers just after they are processed and released.

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New coati in town: The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum wants the community’s help naming its new coatimundi. Members of the museum’s Coati Kids Club submitted ideas after learning about coatis, and keepers narrowed down their suggestions to the top three. The finalists are Zucchini, Mr. Whiskers and Shnooser. Voting is open until Sept. 22 at desertmuseum.org/coati.

79: The latest in our running tally of 100-degree days so far this year, courtesy of the National Weather Service. Sunday hit 101 degrees, making it the 79th day this year.

1. UA officials have told us that lockdown meant that the building was accessible only with a UA CatCard.