Colorado Black Democrats Respond to the CU Regents' Censure of Regent Wanda L. James

We are outraged and yet not surprised by the University of Colorado Board of Regents' decision to censure Regent Wanda James. This was not about ethics. It was not about procedure. It was about power and control. It was about silencing a Black woman who had the audacity to speak the truth. Their actions were “sit down, gal” personified. 

For those who believe in them, here are the facts.

First, the Board initiated a sweeping investigation out of order, disregarding proper protocol. Then, they falsely claimed Regent James had spoken with Governor Jared Polis, a claim the Governor himself publicly debunked. When that narrative collapsed, the Regents pivoted again, now alleging she had lied to the media or to them, but offered no evidence. Why? Because there was no lie. What they lacked in facts, they attempted to replace with insinuation, accusation, and slander.

Elliot Hood (a white man) crossed a deeply offensive line when he referred to Regent James using the age-old racist trope of the “angry Black woman.” This language has long been used to diminish, discredit, and delegitimize Black women’s voices. Ilana Dubin Spiegel (a white woman) misled the community by lying about support for James. All she did was forward emails from Black constituents to the investigators, standing silently by, protecting whiteness, and drooling at the thought of harm coming to a Black woman and to the Black community, not the truth.

Frank McNulty once AGAIN showed his true colors by making an appalling comparison between Regent James and Doug Bruce, a convicted felon and slumlord. Let’s be clear: Doug Bruce is disgusting. Not Regent Wanda James. That comparison was vile, racist, and beneath the dignity of any public servant… It was Frank just warming up.

Another “Regent” contributed nothing but a bloated, ego-driven monologue. It was incoherent, irrelevant, and insulting, emblematic of a Board that punishes dissent while ignoring systemic inequity.

Let us ask the necessary questions: 

Would a Jewish Regent face a gag order and punishment for speaking about the Holocaust or something that was anti-Semitic? Of course not.
So why is it acceptable to censure a Black woman for speaking out against racism?

Would a Latino Regent be punished for speaking about anti-immigrant hate or the trauma of family separation? Of course not.
So why is it acceptable to censure a Black woman for speaking out against racism?

Would an LGBTQIA Regent be censured for speaking out about queerphobia, trans violence, or the fight for equal rights? Of course not.
So why is it acceptable to censure a Black woman for speaking out against racism?

Would a disabled Regent be reprimanded for calling out ableism or the lack of accessibility and inclusion? Of course not.
So why is it acceptable to censure a Black woman for speaking out against racism?

That this moment signifies: the start of an insidious alignment with Trumpism and MAGA politics. The same cowardice. The same anti-intellectualism. The same fear of truth.

There is an insatiable thirst in this country and clearly on this Board for the punishment of Blackness. Regent James, like many Black leaders before her, is being scrutinized not for misconduct, but for refusing to shrink. Her body and voice are being weaponized because she dared to make visible what this system desperately wants to keep invisible.

This is the same University of Colorado that praises inclusion while failing to cultivate Black leadership. Where are the Black vice presidents? Where are the Black senior administrators? Where is the accountability for ongoing lawsuits and civil rights complaints? Yet, there’s always a limit, always a demand for a “tone” on how Black people can express their pain.

Meanwhile, white leaders like Callie Rennison, who have had complaints filed by non-white staff, are shielded from accountability under the guise of “misunderstandings.” This is not a misunderstanding. This is solidarity in whiteness. This is white supremacy in policy and practice.

And what do we witness when Black visibility is acknowledged at CU? Enthusiasm for Deion Sanders and the football team, but silence when Black leadership is targeted. Blackness is welcomed when it entertains, not when it protests. We receive accolades for our labor and penalties for our language. The plantation sentiment endures.

This moment is not isolated. It is historical. From Ida B. Wells to Fannie Lou Hamer to Colin Kaepernick, there is a legacy of punishing Black people who voice uncomfortable truths. Regent James now joins that tradition, not for any wrongdoing, but for her refusal to be silent in its face.

And let us also be clear: whiteness is not passive. It is active. This was not just complicity. It was orchestration. Every white Regent voted to censure her. The sole Latino on the Board, Regent Nolbert Chavez, was the only vote against it. That matters! Because history has shown, time and again, what they do to Black people, they eventually do to Latinos, to Indigenous peoples, to the entire Brown diaspora. Look around. Look at our current political environment… #WeTriedToTellYou

If the CU Board genuinely valued free speech, academic freedom, and independent thought, and non-white people and cultures, they would have defended her. Instead, they spent over $500,000 investigating her courage. They chose repression and retaliation over reform. They chose a political whip… they chose silencing over truth.

These individuals cannot be trusted with the stewardship of a public university, and certainly not with a higher office or with the lives and education of your children… Black, brown, white, or anything in between. 

The Colorado Black Democrats stand unwaveringly and unapologetically with Regent Wanda James.

We are not confused or silenced. We are watching and acting!

Together!

Hashim Coates,
Chair, Colorado Black Democrats 2025