I'm a KSU and KU Grad and I'm Pissed the State is Restricting DEI
The video above is a clip of the very first pride parade held in Manhattan, KS in 2010.
If you were rummaging through the news yesterday evening like I was then you probably saw that governing boards for Kansas higher education and the University of North Carolina restricted DEI. Kansas universities will no longer be able to ask prospective students or staff to disclose their views on DEI. The University of North Carolina Committee on University Governance voted to undo a DEI policy - if approved by a full board it will likely begin to dismantle DEI programming at the university.
This is all a part of a GOP strategy to combat “wokeness,” which is really just code for racism and homophobia. SciLight previously covered an introduced piece of legislation from Congress that seeks to ban DEI in medical schools. In that piece, we highlighted that there are dozens of state-level pieces of legislation that, if passed, would dismantle DEI programming in higher education. And now, we have local higher education governing boards attacking DEI, too. It’s a full-frontal assault on underserved communities.
Kansas State University and the University of Kansas are made-up of mostly White, able-bodied students. Only 3-5% of students identify as Black, 7-9% Hispanic or Latino, 1-5% Asian (see here and here). Data on students that identify as LGBQT+ doesn’t seem to be available. About 5% of students at Kansas State University identify as having a disability.
This small percentage of students who had to go the extra mile to get into a university - these are the people you will be impacting most with your anti-DEI policies. Students who have been biased to think that they aren’t good enough for university. Students who rarely see themselves in a crowd and constantly have to be aware of how they talk and how they walk on top of doing well in classes.
The news hits hard for me because my M.S. and Ph.D. are from Kansas State University and the University of Kansas, respectively. And I’m gay! I know firsthand how important diversity, equity, and inclusion programming is for underrepresented students at these universities.
Being a gay student in Kansas was a mixed bag, and perhaps things have changed since the last time I stepped foot on a Kansas campus (nearly 10 years ago). For example, Kansas State University was ranked as No. 7 in the top 50 LGBQT-Friendly colleges by study.com. I know that getting there certainly was not easy, a lot of kudos go out to Dr. Brandon Haddock and others who paved the way for the success of the Spectrum Center, a support center at the university for LGBQT+ students. A center that I imagine likely has a target on its back right now.
While I was working on my M.S. at Kansas State University, the city of Manhattan, KS was considering a non-discrimination ordinance that would make it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in housing or public accommodations. The city council had never been so full of people from both sides of the aisle. But the realization that there were so many people in the city that didn’t want protections for me was heartbreaking. On top of my graduate work, I did what I could to fight for the passage of that ordinance, which prevailed, but was ultimately repealed. It appears it finally went into effect on November 1, 2016.
When I was a Ph.D student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence (a more liberal part of Kansas), the slur “faggot” was yelled at me more times than I can count. Homophobia wasn’t limited to students - it’s exhibited by professors, too. Another graduate student told me that a professor was worried about asking me to attend their Christmas party because I might bring my boyfriend and they didn’t know how to explain that to their kids. So, I just didn’t attend that party.
I was most comforted at these universities when I felt supported by the community. For example, a small contingent of students and residents put together one of the first pride events in Manhattan, KS that I marched in (see the video at the beginning of this piece). The only gay bar in the area at the time, Xcalibur (which is now gone), put together a small Flint Hills Pride event every year and I was happy to be a part of the planning committee in 2009. I was also fortunate to be in a lab at the University of Kansas that had multiple gay postdoctoral and graduate students. We often leaned on each other for support.
Kansas’s higher education board is not the only governing body considering policy to restrict DEI at universities in Kansas. The Kansas legislature delivered the same policy to Democratic Governor, Laura Kelly - only this bill comes with a $10,000 fine for violating the policy. Kansas lawmakers also included provisions in the upcoming state’s budget to withhold $36 million from universities unless they publicly confirm that they won’t ask prospective students and staff their views on DEI.
I’ve overcome a lot of discrimination and hate to make it to where I am, to become a scientist, to do great work on behalf of the public, which I so love. We lack diversity in science, engineering, technology, and mathematics fields - seriously lack diversity. And that’s a problem because diversity makes us stronger, it encourages new ideas and innovation - diversity can take good science to great science. Something that’s needed with so many science-based issues like the climate crisis, a sixth mass extinction, antibacterial resistance, artificial intelligence, etc.
Sashaying down the sidewalks of Aggieville and Massachusetts Ave in Lawrence often adorning sequins, I somehow made it to Washington DC unscathed. But there are lots of others who aren’t as lucky as me. Just this week, two gay students at Michigan State University were violently attacked on campus while studying. Tyler Clementi took his own life after being outed as gay by his college roommate. Unfortunately, there are several more stories like these.
Decision-makers should be doing everything in their power to support the less than 10% of students historically underrepresented on their campuses. Doing so would make America even greater. Why can’t we all agree on that?