Students plan protest at regents meeting at Wichita State

The student body president at Wichita State University plans to lead a protest, about the behavior of president John Bardo, during Wednesday’s public meeting of the Kansas Board of Regents at Wichita State.

Students and some community activists plan to enter chanting and carrying poster-board signs asking the regents “to hold Bardo accountable,” student president Joseph Shepard said. Shepard posted a “Protest Bardo” graphic, done in Wichita State’s black-and-yellow colors, on his Facebook page and in other media on Monday with a list of five demands, as Shepard called them.

WSU spokesman Lou Heldman on Monday responded point by point to all five. And Bardo on Monday announced the creation of a new position on his executive team — assistant to the president for diversity — that administrators say will address some of the students’ concerns. The person filling that role will be Marche Fleming-Randle, assistant dean of the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts & Science, and “a person with a lot of credibility with students,” Heldman said.

Shepard said Bardo has deliberately cut students out of the loop in a number of decisions this year and has refused several times to answer questions about issues such as student fee increases and student safety on campus.

“We’ve given President Bardo an immense amount of time to privately answer to our request and now that he’s ignoring us, I believe it’s time to demand answers,” Shepard said in a written statement Monday. “The Kansas Board of Regents need to do something about students, faculty and staff living in fear on their campus.” Change cannot occur, he said, “unless you encourage those in the position of power to do so.”

The five demands are:

1. The students want Eric Sexton removed as WSU’s vice president for student affairs and a search committee that includes students set up to find a replacement.

“That one is perplexing,” Heldman said. “Joseph Shepard is an important voice on the campus in advocating for diversity, and yet with that one he is advocating for the removal of an African-American vice president.”

Sexton’s appointment as student affairs chief earlier this year has been criticized by some students and staff in part because Sexton kept his job as WSU’s athletic director, a decision by Bardo that critics said spread Sexton’s attention too thin. Part of the student affairs chief’s role is to serve as a liaison between students and the university administration, and Sexton has not fulfilled that part of his role, Shepard said.

“He’s missed four student governing association meetings, so he is not helping us communicate with the administration,” Shepard said.

2. The students want a response to questions they sent to the administration in September asking for specifics about how student money has been spent or allocated regarding student fees and supplemental fees. Shepard claims Bardo never responded.

Heldman contends that Bardo did respond. “But basically student government at WSU will get all money the students are entitled to from student fees,” Heldman said.

3. The students demand a public apology to students and student organizations who were “attacked verbally by alumni, community members and donors” during a recent controversy involving WSU’s interfaith chapel. The chapel was renovated recently. Some criticized the renovation, saying it was done to coddle Muslims; WSU students and local ministers said it was done mostly at the request of Christian groups wanting pews removed to create more floor space.

In hindsight, Heldman said on Monday, “if we had it to do over, we probably would have issued a firmer statement of support (for students) in light of the harsh tone of the correspondence they received.”

Students, including Shepard, received a number of harsh e-mails and notes from critics, many on the students’ private WSU e-mail accounts. But Heldman said Bardo got the same harsh correspondence — and took all of it seriously, asking campus police and WSU general counsel David Moses to review correspondence.

Their conclusion, Heldman said, was that while many of the voluminous notes were “harsh” and “hateful,” the notes did not rise to the legal definition of “hate speech” or threaten safety.

4. The students want Bardo to hire a more diverse staff, more closely reflecting the diversity of WSU’s student body.

The promotion of Fleming-Randle will do much to address student concerns, Heldman said. She’s worked at WSU since 2007 and has a good reputation with students and the community, Heldman said. Bardo last week, in addressing student concerns, appointed her to replace Sexton as adviser to the student governing association.

“My job will be to move WSU forward on diversity,” Fleming-Randle said in the university-prepared statement announcing her appointment.

5. The students want WSU to provide more “scholarship opportunities” to in-state students.

Heldman said the university recently reviewed how much money has been given to students in scholarships — and the figures show that WSU has increased scholarship money by nearly $2 million since 2011, he said. In 2011 WSU handed out 2,550 scholarships to 1,744 students totaling $3,865,869, he said. In 2015, according to numbers Heldman supplied, WSU gave 2,664 scholarships to 1,823 students totaling $5,668,900.

Bardo last week had already decided to remove Sexton as adviser to the student governing association, but he said then that Sexton would continue as student affairs vice president.

Bardo and Sexton did not return messages asking for comment.

The students said they plan to march into the room at the Rhatigan Student Center where the Kansas Board of Regents will meet.

Student organizations supporting the protest include WSU’s Black Student Union, the Muslim Student Association and WSU’s Asian Student Conference, said Taben Azad, a WSU senior and vice president of the Muslim association.

“But there will likely be quite a few individuals there as well,” Azad said. “A number of people here feel marginalized.”

This story was originally published November 16, 2015 at 12:07 PM with the headline "Students plan protest at regents meeting at Wichita State."