Fellow K-Staters,
Hope you all had a good weekend and are excited to close out the week and start Thanksgiving break. We know the last week of school before break can be agonizing, but we encourage you to power through it to the end of the week. On Friday, we watched with the world as Paris was engulfed in terror as armed militants and suicide bombers conducted attacks on innocent civilians. We want to take a moment to express our support for the people of Paris.
The issues of privilege, racism and the role agencies of higher education play in addressing these issues have been a crucial subject among students at schools around the Midwest. The University of Missouri and The University of Kansas are both witnessing the impact of not being proactive and adequately addressing the issues faced by multicultural students. We aim to be different.
K-State has prided itself on fostering a culture of “family” on campus. This means we strive to be inclusive, understanding and appreciative of one another. Yet it would be wrong for us to assume that our campus is free of any intolerance or prejudice. Last Thursday, Joe and I worked with the Black Student Union, Office of Diversity and Office of Student Life to bring to light the barriers that prevent us from fully realizing the concept of “family.”
In this time of unrest with racial tension across the nation, we gathered with students and advisors from our diverse multicultural and international communities to acknowledge the reality that there is always work to be done. The conversation led to several ideas for supporting and celebrating diversity such as:
Cultural competency courses,
Cultural awareness facilitation training,
A more diverse faculty, staff, and administration, and
Developing a university campaign to highlight how culture and diversity adds value to the educational experience and supportive environment that we are proud of here at K-State.
While events around the country bring magnitude to this dialogue on our campus, we are energized and committed to working toward a better, more inclusive K-State of the future. We invite you to help us address this issue together by reaching out and contacting either the Office of Diversity, Office of Student Life or us directly if you experience any form of racism or inequality at K-State. Our contact information can be found below.
The survey regarding student views on gun control policies should be active and in your K-State inboxes. We strongly urge you to take this survey largely because it is a sensitive issue that affects all areas of campus. We need your feedback in order to help us advocate for what is best for K-State’s campus.
Lastly, as always, we would love your feedback, comments and concerns. We depend on them to inform our decisions as we work towards enhancing your experience at K-State. You can reach us directly via Twitter at @KStateSBP_SBVP or by email at sga@ksu.edu.
Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving!
Andy Hurtig, student body president
Joe Tinker, student body vice president
