Alabama’s 1819 News Follows Up with Busted UWA Official Caught by AIM Undercover Video
August 26, 2025
University of West Alabama (UWA) president Todd Fritch responded to a recent video showing the school’s dean of students admitting UWA has been looking for loopholes to skirt Alabama’s law banning taxpayer resources from funding DEI offices and training in public universities.
“We can’t directly fund DEI programming, so we have been looking for loopholes,” Byron Thetford said in the video.
Fritch commented, saying UWA is “fully compliant with SB-129.”
“With the passing of the law, the Chief Diversity Officer position was eliminated, and we have worked carefully to align our policies and practices with all state and federal requirements,” Fritch stated to 1819 News. “Our responsibility as a regional public university is to serve students, faculty, staff, and the broader community with excellence, while being good stewards of the public resources entrusted to us. We remain committed to providing a welcoming, supportive environment for every member of our university family and to carrying out our mission in a way that reflects both the spirit and the letter of the law.”
Fritch said campus leaders have studied the law closely to “ensure clarity and compliance.”
“We will continue to monitor and review our policies as needed, while keeping student success and institutional integrity at the center of all we do,” he said.
Original story published here.