Parents, faculty and community members urge regents to protect gender‑affirming care and raise environmental and resource concerns

Public comment at the regents meeting included pleas from families and local residents on health‑care policy, environmental impacts and campus equity.

Rebecca Najarian spoke for families of transgender children and urged the board to resist federal pressure, protect patient records and staff, and reinstate gender‑affirming care at Michigan Medicine. "Michigan Medicine halted gender affirming care for transgender youth," Najarian said, and later asked the regents: "I'm asking you to fight with us, to protect our children's medical records, to protect our doctors and care providers, to reinstate gender affirming care to transgender youth." Najarian framed the federal actions she referenced as political pressure and said compliance without a fight would harm patients and set an example for other institutions.

A speaker introduced by the board as Kieran Ada who said "My name is Karen" raised concerns about a proposed Los Alamos/data‑center project sited near an elementary school and the Huron River, warning that evaporative cooling could move local water into the atmosphere and downstream and urging the university or project proponents to consider alternate locations.

Other public comments included a sustainability director who thanked the board for a promotion and described growth in campus sustainability programs and student engagement; Liz Rowen, the outgoing faculty senate chair, urged additional resources for Dearborn students and flagged cuts to writing instruction and higher course caps; and Wasit Ahmed, a Dearborn alumnus, praised Chancellor Scarlatta's appointment and pledged alumni support.

The public comment segment closed after multiple speakers, and the meeting adjourned.