Segregation on college campuses has returned, and it’s been spurred by minority students.
At the University of Kansas, students have called for a “Multicultural Student Government” that would act independently of the current student government to address the concerns of racial minorities, according to The University Daily Kansan.
The move is supported by the university’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Group. The MSG would represent minority students whose issues have faced “years of neglect and discrimination,” according to Inside Higher Ed.
Due to university rules, the MSG might struggle to become independent of the established student government. Instead, it could function as a caucus group within the student government or as a registered student organization. The details have yet to be worked out, but the process would involve years-long rule changes.
“Students have long claimed that student governments and their elections are biased against minority students, instead favoring white students and members of fraternities and sororities,” Jake New wrote for Inside Higher Ed.
To combat racism, the move embraces a racially divided approach. The failure to reform existing institutions to activists’ liking have driven the push. Years of student criticism and protest did not deliver more initiatives and projects to alter the culture at the University of Kansas.
“What we do does not negate what you do, and vice versa,” Student Jameelah Jones said in a March debate. “The goal is not to pit one student body against another. That’s not our intention.”
It’s not unheard of for black fraternities to form, or for universities to establish multicultural centers and organizations, in response to minority concerns about representation and racism on campus. The parallel student government, however, would be a shift from student groups and organizations to a governing body at the university, something that hasn’t yet happened on college campuses.
Students have become frustrated with the University of Kansas not changing. Now, they’ve decided to go their own way.
