By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Fort Hays State University will host the 2017 Michael Tilford Conference, which will address diversity on Kansas college campuses.
The annual conference on diversity is open for any administrator, faculty or staff member and some grad students at Kansas Board Regents institutions. The conference rotates every other year to a Regents’ institution, and this is the first year FHSU will host the conference. FHSU will also host in 2018.
This year’s title for the conference is “Intentional Diversity: What is Your Part in Moving Kansas Forward?”
As many as 200 individuals will be in Hays Oct. 23 and 24 for the conference, which will be staged both on the main campus and at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History.
Michael Tilford was the Wichita State University representative on the Regents Diversity and Multiculturalism Committee from its onset in 1994 until his death. In the 1970s, he served on a committee that successfully developed a proposal for a minorities study program.
The featured speaker for the conference will be Bakari Sellers, CNN political analyst, lawyer and activist.
Sellers made history in 2006 when, at just 22 years old, he defeated a 26-year incumbent state representative to become the youngest member of the South Carolina state legislature and the youngest African-American elected official in the nation, according to the conference website.
He has championed policies on subjects ranging from education and poverty to preventing domestic violence and childhood obesity. Sellers practices law with the Strom Law Firm in Columbia, S.C., and is a political commentator at CNN.
The plenary speaker will be Teresa Clounch. She serves as the assistant vice president of student affairs for student life/Title IX coordinator at FHSU.
She provides leadership for the Student Life Cluster within the Division of Student Affairs, which includes the functional areas of inclusion and diversity, student union, bookstore, dining services, student involvement, performing arts series, fraternity/sorority life, residential life, new student orientation and transition programs, parent and family programs, student conduct, and Title IX.
Both days will also include a slate of workshops presented by FHSU and other Regents schools staff.
“I think it is important to see the college and western Kansas as a diverse culture,” FHSU Provost Jeff Briggs said of the importance of having the conference at FHSU.
The communities in this region that are growing are growing in diverse ways, he said.
Briggs said educating students to live and work in a diverse society is very important.
“Our students are going to go out and, in most instances, they are going to live in communities that are more diverse than they have come from,” he said. “Our mission is to educate students for a global society. Our graduates are expected to function with individuals from very diverse backgrounds and cultures, and I think our campus is continuing to make strides in that area.”
The demographics of all Regents institutions as of 2016 were 68.6 percent white; 6.6 percent Hispanic; 4.1 percent African American; 3 percent Asian; 0.7 percent Native American, Alaskan, Hawaiian; 11.9 percent international student; and 5.1 percent other.
The demographics of FHSU are 60 percent white; 7 percent Hispanic; 4 percent African American; 1 percent Asian; and 25 percent international students. The remaining 3 percent represent Native American, Alaskan, Hawaiian and other.
In 2016, African Americans made up 6.2 percent of the Kansas population, and Hispanics made up 11.6 percent of the Kansas population. Nationally, African Americans make up 13.3 percent of the population, and Hispanics make up 17.8 percent of the population.
Briggs said the school has seen growth in its Hispanic student population based on its service area. Many of these students are first-generation college students, who have some unique needs compared to their counterparts.
Regardless of race, first-generation college students might find it difficult to make the transition from home to school. Because of FHSU’s locations, some students might have a greater difficulty getting home because of the distance to their hometowns.
As attention is brought to race relations by nationally publicized protests, Briggs said campuses should be places where conversations happen about diversity.
“Those conversations are built on fact finding, valid information, open discourse about issues and that there is understanding of each side of the issue,” Briggs said. “That is part of the diversity conversation. It has to run the full gamut of what diversity means, which means understanding each side of the argument and making sure there is an appreciation for conflicting viewpoints.
“Part of the educational process takes into account all these points of information and is coming to an educated position you hold yourself as a citizen. Our role is not to tell you what to think, but it is that you do think about the positions you do take.”
Briggs has been back on the FHSU campus as part of the staff for 20 years, and said he thinks American society is making progress on diversity.
“I think we see more diversity in all walks of life,” he said. “I think we see these conversations on a more mature platform. They are more prevalent, mature and more engaging. Even though some recent activities raise cause for concern and make you wonder if we are making progress, I think we are making progress and there is more progress that can be made.”
Briggs said both domestic and international travel offered through FHSU has helped prepare students to function in a diverse society.
When asked about the state of race relations on the FHSU campus he said, “We will always continue to have challenges. I think as we provide students with more diverse experiences, there is greater appreciation for diversity, and that translates into their behaviors and society as a whole.”