Kansas State University

One of the goals of the "K-State 2025 Strategic Action and Alignment Plan for the Office of Diversity" is to "show continued improvement in the recruitment and retention of Historically Under-Represented (HUR) students."

On August 18, 2021, KSU (Office of Diversity and Inclusion) launched the "Increase Recruitment Efforts for Students of Color" initiative, which "focuses on raising enrollment to meet or exceed state of Kansas demographics."

The university will "develop and offer mandatory cultural competency workshops for faculty and staff."

The university has adopted the “Our Lens, Our Focus, Our K-State” initiative, a five-year diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging strategic plan.

The university has detailed its “11 distinct action steps to address racial and social injustice issues at our university.” Progress may be tracked with the action plan dashboard.

The "K-State 2025 Strategic Action and Alignment Plan for the Office of Diversity" states that it would "Use diversity training to increase the cultural competence of all faculty and staff."

The Intercultural Learning and Development unit at KSU "promotes intercultural learning and development through assessments, coaching, classroom teaching, webinars, and publications."

The "K-State 2025 Strategic Action and Alignment Plan for the Office of Diversity" states that it would "Assess new courses/curricula for the Tilford Multicultural Competencies and the Diversity Student Learning Outcomes." The Office of Diversity "Encourage[s] faculty to incorporate multicultural and diverse content into existing courses by continuing to offer and fund Tilford Incentive Grants."

The "K-State 2025 Strategic Action and Alignment Plan for the Office of Diversity" states that the "inclusion of multicultural content and pedagogies for diversity in the curriculum is routine and affects all disciplinary areas." The Office of Diversity "Encourage[s] faculty to incorporate multicultural and diverse content into existing courses by counting multicultural curriculum transformation toward promotion and tenure."

KSU's Office of Diversity and Inclusion states that "Diversity is woven into the academic mission of Kansas State University, as demonstrated in the university-level student learning outcomes and the K-State 8 general education program." The Office also states the following in regards to diversity in the curriculum: "All programs are required to have diversity-focused learning outcomes that are assessed for proficiency. In addition, the K-State 8 requires that all undergraduate students take at least one course tagged for Human Diversity in the U.S., and another tagged for Global Issues and Perspectives."

KSU's General Education curriculum includes a course titled "Human Diversity within the U.S." which has the following "rationale": "Within the diverse and pluralistic U.S. society, through interactions with each other, individuals often categorize people in terms of inclusion or exclusion from particular groups. To reduce false or unsubstantiated opinions or assumptions they have of 'others' and of themselves, students must examine the many patterns that characterize human groupings in U.S. culture — for example, those based on gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, political affiliation, (dis)ability, and socioeconomic class."

As of March 30, 2022, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion recommended that "Kansas State University adopt a U.S. Multicultural Overlay as a new, general degree requirement." The Office continued to state, "This has been shared with the appropriate parties for comment, and as all are in agreement, will be sent through the course and curriculum process for Fall 2023."

The university also pledged to "establish a work group to analyze and make recommendations regarding all university policies, including discrimination and harassment policies and the Student Code of Conduct, with the goal of identifying and addressing institutional bias and barriers through an anti-racist lens."

The university pledged to "develop a policy on social media usage for students that balances our institutional values and free speech. Currently one exists for faculty and staff."

On April 1, 2022, KSU's Office of Diversity and Inclusion launched the "Developing Cultural Competency Workshops," which "involves not only the development of cultural competency workshops but also establishing the mechanism to both offer the workshops and track their mandatory completion by faculty and staff."

The "K-State 2025 Strategic Action and Alignment Plan for the Office of Diversity" states that it would "Assess new courses/curricula for the Tilford Multicultural Competencies and the Diversity Student Learning Outcomes." The Office of Diversity "Encourage[s] faculty to incorporate multicultural and diverse content into existing courses by continuing to offer and fund Tilford Incentive Grants."

Through KSU's Office of Diversity and Multicultural Student Affairs, The Joey Lee Garmon Undergraduate Multicultural Student Scholarship is "directed towards students of historically underrepresented backgrounds" and the applicant "must be of an ethnic group that has been historically and traditionally oppressed in the achievement of academic and leadership endeavors to include applicants of African American, American Indian, Asian American, and Latinx American heritage." The Office also offers the Undergraduate Social Justice Scholarship which is "awarded to any student of any background with a strong record of social justice activism." Each recipient will receive $700.

The university pledged to create a "Student Ombudsperson Office in collaboration between the Provost, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, and Vice President for Student Life to advocate for students experiencing a campus climate concern."

The university will host "Community Action Talks" which feature "presenters, panelists and an opportunity for the community to participate in diversity, inclusion and social justice topics."

In September 2021, the university received the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award for its eighth consecutive year.

The university will implement a "'Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation' framework through Student Life."