Wichita State holds diversity forum after racially charged incidents at University of Missouri

With the ongoing racial controversy at the University of Missouri weighing on people’s minds, Wichita State University President John Bardo spent a solid hour and a half Thursday fielding students’ questions on diversity issues ranging from use of the campus chapel to the presence of a Chik-fil-A in the student union.

About 150 students packed a meeting room at the Rhatigan Student Center for the session with Bardo, and they also raised questions about the makeup of his cabinet of advisers and the school’s efforts to protect the safety of minority students who have reported being harassed by off-campus activists.

While student protests and the threat of a football player boycott forced Missouri President Tim Wolfe to resign Monday, Bardo said his job is the least of his worries.

“I’m 67 years old, I can go home any time I want to,” Bardo said. “So no, I’m not worried about my position. That’s really not an issue.”

Bardo said the important thing to him is to uphold the university’s values and increase diversity in the student body, the faculty and his own inner circle of advisers.

“This is not about my job, it’s about how we move forward,” he said.

Student body President Joseph Shepard pressed Bardo over the lack of diversity among Bardo’s cabinet.

“There comes a point when you have to realize we are investors in this institution and it is our dollars which keep Wichita State up and running,” said Shepard, who is black. “We cannot have people advocating for us who do not know our experiences, who do not look like us, who do not come from the same background as us. This is not a black-and-white issue. This is diversity. That means Hispanic, that means LGBTQ, that means disabilities, that means individuals who have literally come from all walks of life.”

Bardo replied that the administrative inner circle is more diverse than it was and is going to become more diverse over time.

“It is a slow process,” he said. “It’s much slower than you want it to be and it’s much slower than I want it to be.”

University of Kansas forum

While some students asked blunt questions at WSU, the atmosphere was considerably more cordial than at the University of Kansas.

KU held a forum focused on race and other issues Wednesday evening, where a student group called the “Invisible Hawks” presented a list of demands to university officials. The group publicized its demands on social media Thursday.

The Invisible Hawks demanded that the university institute mandatory “inclusion and belonging” training for all students and faculty, and establish a team of multicultural counselors to address mental health needs of students of color.

They also demanded a reopening of the investigation into the death of Rick “Tiger” Dowdell, an African-American KU freshman who was shot and killed by Lawrence police in 1970.

Another key demand was that KU ban carrying of concealed weapons on campus. That could prove difficult to impossible because of a law the Legislature passed, requiring universities to open their campuses to concealed firearms in July 2017.

The Kansas Young Republicans, ages 18 to 40, issued their own statement Thursday supporting concealed carry on campus.

“It’s impossible to keep bad guys with guns off campus,” said Moriah Day, the group’s spokesman, who also works for Secretary of State Kris Kobach. “Feeling safe and being safe are two very different things. Each individual should have the ability to use his or her own judgment when it comes to personal protection.”

The Invisible Hawks did not return e-mails Thursday, and the university did not respond to the demands.

Issues at WSU

One theme that emerged at Wichita State was students who didn’t feel their president had their back in the recent controversy over Muslim students’ use of the university’s Grace Chapel.

A WSU alumna and donor’s Facebook post complaining about “accommodation” of Muslims in the campus chapel went viral last month, sparking outrage among some religious conservatives and garnering national media attention, including a Fox News opinion piece that called it “Christian cleansing.”

The biggest complaint was over the removal of pews in a renovation of the chapel that made space for Muslim students to bring in a prayer rug and hold daily prayers there.

The effort to remove the pews was started not by Muslims, but by Christian students and the United Methodist campus minister who wanted a more flexible space for their worship services.

Several students criticized Bardo’s reaction to the chapel controversy, implying that donor money had softened his response to the complaints of a “Muslim takeover” of the chapel.

“When we speak out and get hate and threats, administration hasn’t taken a stance yet,” said Maira Salim, president of the Muslim Students’ Association “If something like that comes up again, we don’t know if we’re going to get support or not.”

Bardo vowed that the chapel would remain an interfaith place of worship and promised he wouldn’t bow to donor pressure that conflicts with university values.

“If a person doesn’t agree with the direction of the university and says they want their money back because they don’t like where we’re going, then I will ask the foundation to give them their money back,” he said.

He also emphasized that he won’t use his position as university president to try to squelch constitutionally protected speech even if what is said is “ugly” or “appalling.”

“I cannot stop, will not stop First Amendment conversation,” Bardo said. “It would undo the whole university.”

Nor, he said, would he ban unpopular viewpoints or speakers from campus.

However, he also said that protection doesn’t extend to harassment or threatening speech and urged students to call the campus police immediately if that happens to them.

Student Kimberly Crawford questioned Bardo over why, if the university is committed to diversity of all types, it has a Chik-fil-A stand in the food court.

The company has been under fire for years from gay advocacy groups because of contributions from the owners’ charitable foundation to an array of political and religious groups opposing gay rights.

Bardo said he’s “very aware” of the controversy over Chik-fil-A and that it will be part of conversation when the current dining contracts expire in 2017.

In the meantime, “if you don’t want Chik-fil-A on campus, don’t eat there,” he said.

After the meeting, Crawford said she appreciated Bardo telling the students about the expiring contract and that she’ll be watching to see what happens.

“At this point, he’s a politician,” she said. “But deep in there, he cares about the students. I hope that leads him.”

This story was originally published November 12, 2015 at 8:15 PM with the headline "Wichita State holds diversity forum after racially charged incidents at University of Missouri."