University of Kansas

A group of researchers released its anti-racism plan: "Encouraging individuals, communities and institutions to acknowledge racism and intersectionality;Being transparent and accountable; Removing barriers to opportunities; Embracing and accommodating all members; Addressing racist and discriminatory history; Tackling colonial and parachute science (research typically conducted in low-income countries by international scientists and published without including local researchers)."

The university will "charge leaders across campus to participate in training that will allow us to begin the work of facilitating intergroup dialogues that bring together representatives of agent groups and target groups to open up difficult conversations."

KU provides diversity and "safe zone" training through the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging. Additionally, it offers the "Unpacking Whiteness in the Workplace" training series.

The University of Kansas has a staff training on "Anti-Racism/ Anti-Bias Community of Practice" on Tuesday, June 20, 2023.

On May 19, 2022, the CEOP hosted a Data Equity Framework Webinar, where participants learned about the experiences and tools it takes to "overcome equity challenges in data."

On February 25, 2022, KU hosted a webinar titled "The Ethics of Antiracism" with Dr. Eddie Glaude, Chair of Princeton's Department of African American Studies. The goal was to learn to "commit oneself to deconstructing the idea of whiteness and the way in which it determines the distribution of advantage and disadvantage."

On October 7, 2021, the Self Graduate Fellowship hosted lecture “How To Be An Antiracist: A conversation with Ibram X. Kendi."

On September 30, 2022, KU hosted a webinar titled "CCEC: Trafficking Prevention Through an Anti-Racist, Anti-Oppressive Lens".

The KU Diversity Leader resigned in Janurary 2022 following allegations of plagiarizing his MLK Day message.

Despite denying allegations, KU does in fact teach CRT. One example is "C&T 541: Advanced Practices in Teaching Social Studies in Middle/Secondary Schools."

KU has started a series of 10 new racial equity projects through the Racial Equity Research, Scholarship & Creative Activity Fund as of November 2021.

The university will convene leaders of local and campus police to "discuss policing strategies that reinforce respectful and community-engaged policing".

The university provided a resource site titled, "Strategies and Activities for Reducing Racial Prejudice and Racism," which encouraged students to "organize vigils, anti-racism demonstrations, protests, or rallies" and to "work to include anti-racism education in your school's curriculum."

The university library has created a site called, "Social Justice Resources: Training & Teaching Resources," which includes "Black Lives Matter Teaching Resources" and the "Catalyst Project: Anti-Racism for Collective Liberation"

The library provides "Anti-Racist Books and Films." These include "White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide" and "So You Want to Talk About Race," among many others.

The Center for Educational Opportunity Programs (CEOP) Antiracism in Data Management initiative centers on antiracism as it relates to large social and educational datasets and antiracism education within CEOP, the Achievement & Assessment Institute, and programs across the University of Kansas.

KU has a Reading for Equity and Diversity (READ) program where students gather on a monthly basis to discuss how they might use a selected book to address current challenges and opportunities. The Office of DEIB offers Book Club Kits for departments and offices across the university to encourage participation.

U has a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Annual Symposium that is co-sponsored by the Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Office of International Programs. The 7th annual symposium was hosted from March 29-30th, 2023 and about "Access to Education, Health, and Advocacy for Indigenous People in Kansas and Missouri."

The university formed a "university-level advisory council for equity and inclusion" which will commit to "regular and continued outreach."

The university will ensure that "improving equity, diversity and inclusion is explicitly stated as a goal for each team in our COVID-19 Design Challenge and in the longer term, in all of our Jayhawks Rising strategic doing activities."

In February 2022, KU hosted "The Ethics of Antiracism" speaker event with Dr. Eddie Glaude. At the talk, he discussed "deconstructing the idea of whiteness" and the "moral reckoning" needed to combat racism.

The Racial Equity Research, Scholarship & Creative Activity Fund will also be providing equity workshops.

The History Department at KU announced its commitment to Black Lives Matter.

The media team at KU announced that a professor who wrote an essay titled “‘I Am Not Your Teaching Moment’: The Benevolent Gaslight and Epistemic Violence” were selected as one of two winners of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC)’s 2023 Richard Braddock Award. The essay critiques "benevolent gaslight," which is defined as when a "white, ostensibly progressive individual perpetuates racist violence but then plays it off as a necessary teaching or learning moment in service of anti-racism or as an aid to their own enlightenment."

U's RISE: Realizing Intersectional Standards of Excellence is a "more progressive and contemporary interpretation of the widely used Inclusive Excellence framework, that attends to simultaneous and inseparable facets of identities." There are four priorities under this DEI framework: prioritizing recruitment and retention of marginalized students, staff, and faculty; developing intersectional education curriculum, research, and scholarship; improve campus climate and infrastructure; increase campus engagement and impact.

In October 2022, KU named Nicole Hodges Persley as the new vice provost for diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging after the former resigned from a plagiarism scandal.