Section A · Page 5
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, November 29, 2000
Darren Fulcher addresses members of Student Senate who were considering a resolution to remove him from office of student body president in 1991. The proposal was a reaction to the news that he had hit his ex-girlfriend, causing
injuries that required more than $400 of corrective dental work, prior to his election. The meeting continued all night into the early hours of the morning. Photo courtesy of Julie Jacobson
Some say race contributed to student leader's downfall
Continued from page 1A
basketball guard. a good forward.
but they didn't think about you as a whole human being with emotion and intellect."
John Lewis, one of the group's co-founders who now works as a consultant for students with cognitive disabilities in Kansas City, Mo., said he had experienced more direct prejudice. He recalled seeking help on an assignment from his professor in a computer science class where he was the only Black.
"Some students had problems understanding the book, so he told us to come to his office for help." Lewis said. "Everyone else got their help, but when I went in, he suggested that maybe I take a reading and comprehension class. I withdrew from the class."
Cory Anderson, another Black Men of Today cofounder who is now an advocate for low-income children in Little Rock, Ark., said the lack of support for Black students was the deeper problem.
"You didn't have anyone to study with or bounce things off of, and those things translated into low retention rates." Anderson said.
Providing that support was a driving force behind Black Men of Today, Fulcher said. It evolved from a think tank for discussing national issues Black men faced — such as crime statistics and negative images portrayed in the media — to focusing on the Black KU experience.
The natural next step was examining minority recruitment and retention, he said.
David Amber, vice chancellor for student affairs, said Black Men of Today's activist methods had forced the issue to the forefront of the campus conscience.
"They rattled our cage, and appropriately so." Amber said. "The University needed to look beyond its rhetoric, and by having a group of people on the Strong Hall steps and filling the rotunda, I think they put some pressure on us that needed to be there. The University wasn't doing all it could to improve the number of minority students on campus."
other concerns about discrimination.
Each member of Black Men of Today brought a different talent to the group, and Fulcher's contribution was political skill. Anderson recalled.
"He tried to think of ways to bridge the gaps with other organizations and be inclusive," he said. "He tended to be a liaison for us."
Fellow Black Men of Today members said Fulcher had won the presidency by using his skill in bringing people together. That bridge-building jelled one year before his election at a Strong Hall protest that began with demands that KU address minority issues and ended with students from all over campus voicing
The moment of truth
Those bridges lifted Fulcher to victory in the 1991 Student Senate elections when he won with 59 percent of the votes. He said he hadn't thought about being the first Black to win the presidency in a year when 678 Black students made up a mere 2.5 percent of the student body.
"I had just won," he said. "Black, white, purple or green. I just won."
But Anderson said Fulcher's victory had been a historic feat.
"It was impossible before for a Black man to win, but it was also impossible for an independent student to win," Anderson said. "You've got to have the White greek vote to win."
All hell breaks loose
Fulcher says he's never talked about the incident that ended his career in student politics since it happened. What he termed a "terrible mistake" that he made two months before he ran for president sparked a semester-long storm of controversy.
Fulcher got into an argument on Feb. 11, 1991, with his former girlfriend, KU student Audra Glavas. The quarrel turned violent when Fulcher struck Glaves in the face. He was arrested for battery and later entered into a diversion agreement, which included paying Glaves more than $400 restitution for dental expenses to repair injuries.
The University Daily Kansan learned of the incident that summer, when the Douglas County District Attorney filed a motion to revoke Fulcher's diversion because he had failed to make a monthly diversion payment.
By the time the paper was ready to run the story, the editor decided against it because Fulcher had made his payment and the motion was dismissed.
By the start of the Fall semester, though, rumors swirled around campus about the incident and the fall Kansan editor decided to report it.
The first articles were published on the second day of classes, initiating what then Kansan editor Holly Lawton called a four-month nightmare.
Minority enrollment averages
Darren Fulcher reacts to Student Senate's decision to remove him from office. He was the first and only student body president to be impeached. He appealed Senate's decision, but the University judicial board upheld his removal three months later. Photo courtesy of Julie Jacobson
Blaine Kimrey, the Kansan reporter covering Student Senate who is now a lawyer in Kansas City, Mo., said Fulcher's race didn't seem relevant to him until the story ran. But with that first story, he said, "all hell broke loose."
The coalitions Fulcher had established between different groups dissolved. Black students accused the Kansan of a racist witch hunt. Women's groups were angry at Fulcher and called for his resignation. One Women's Student Union leader, who was a senator elected on Fulcher's coalition, told the Kansan she felt deceived.
Melissa Carr/KANSAN
Fulcher said, "They were angry, rightfully so. But the issues I ran on I still stood for. I just made a mistake. I thought that some people were using this for their own political gain, and I was embarrassed that my dirty laundry was aired."
Senate passed two resolutions calling for his resignation. The second and binding decision came Sept. 11 by a 42-19 vote, but Fulcher fought it by appealing to the University Judicial Board. The appeal stayed his removal until the board unheld Senate's decision on Dec. 4.
Kimrey said heated Senate meetings leading up to his removal vote lasted into the early hours of the morning.
"Senate meetings are kind of excruciating inherently, so you can imagine meetings that are six to seven hours long." Kimrey said. "It was brutal. There was an incredible division. People were very upset and incredibly tortured over making that decision."
Fulcher maintains he handled the situation the best wav he knew how.
"I spoke with her father and mother after the incident, and facing her father and mother was a lot tougher than dealing with anyone else." Fulcher said.
While Fulcher said that race might have been one factor in his removal from office, Lewis said it made the story bigger.
"It wasn't just because he was Black, but that he was the
first Black student body president made him an easy, bigger target." Lewis said.
Lawton, the editor, said Fulcher had always been professional with her, but his supporters had blamed the Kansan. Students angry with coverage dumped newspapers on the newsroom floor, calling the newspaper trash. Some burned Kansans outside Stauffer-Flint Hall. Kimrey recalls a "University Daily Klansman" banner displayed on campus.
"It's painful to have a whole bunch of people angry at you," recalled Lawton, now a Kansas City Star sports editor. "The whole country was hearing the story. CNN was shining their lights in our faces, and every state newspaper was covering it. And here we all are, 21 years old, trying to deal with this."
Fulcher avoided social events and stayed away from his apartment where his phone rang off the hook.
"To have television cameras follow you to and from class, it was an event," he said.
Black student and overall Minority enrollment
See KU on page 6A
1990-91 1991-92 1992-93 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01
Black
servement
644 students (2.4%) 686 students (2.6%) 693 students (2.7%) 735 students (3%) 738 students (2.9%) 680 students (2.6%)
678 students (2.5%) 692 students (2.7%) 735 students (2.9%) 746 students (3%) 701 students (2.8%)
April 1991 - Darren Fuscher elected
first Black student body president
Spring 1995 - Chancellor Robert
Hamilton comes to KU
3,885 Minorities (15%)
3,680 Minorities (13.9%) 4,026 Minorities (15.2%) 4,073 Minorities (16%) 3,897 Minorities (15.7%) 3,791 Minorities (15.1%) 3,885 Minorities (15.2%)
Minority
servement
3,885 Minorities (14.6%) 4,073 Minorities (15.7%) 4,011 Minorities (16%) 3,820 Minorities (15.3%) 3,864 Minorities (15.2%)
September 1991 - Student Senate
votes to impeach Fuscher
April 2000 - Marlon Marshall elected
student body vice president
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