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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, JAN. 18, 2016 | VOLUME 131 ISSUE 1
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Katherine Rainey, a member of Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk, speaks through a megaphone to the assembled demonstrators in front of Wescoe Hall on Dec. 9.
Timeline: What led to the current campus climate
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After the town hall meeting on Nov. 11, racism and discrimination at the University has become the dominant conversation. Throughout the semester, several events have contributed to the current campus climate.
The next week, campus leaders said they were striving to engage all students in conversations about racial inequality.
Sept. 9: The Office of Multicultural Affairs hosts "Making Black Lives Matter: One Year in the Movement," facilitated by Olubukola Gbadegesin of Saint Louis University and a panel of speakers.
Oct. 5: KU students join students from the University of Missouri in expressing frustration over an incident of racism on campus, using the hashtag #KUstandswithMU.
At Missouri, an inebriated white man interrupts the rehearsal of an African-American student group's Homecoming performance. The man argues with members of the group before calling them a racial slur while on the phone with someone else.
Nov. 9: After more incidents of racism, student protests at the University of Missouri result in the resignation of UM System President Tim Wolfe and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin.
The protests begin to reverberate throughout the country as national news outlets pick up the story.
At KU, students show support for protesters at Missouri again with the hashtag #KUstandswithMU.
Nov. 9: At a Black Student Union meeting, students share stories of experiencing racism at KU, posting on social media using #RockChalkInvisibleHawk, a hashtag created last year
Nov. 10: Kynnedi Grant, president of Black Student Union, posts a status on Facebook saying she and her friends were attacked and a gun was pulled on her friends at a party in Lawrence on Halloween. It was shared more than 500 times.
Nov. 11: Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little moderates a town hall forum on race, respect and responsibility in response to events at MU and other universities. More than 1,000 people attend.
During the forum, a student group named Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk takes the stage to introduce a list of 15 demands for the University, including hiring a director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs by December and banning concealed carry on campus.
Nov. 12: In Wescoe Beach, Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk members stand
Nov. 11: Later that evening, the Student Senate Rights Committee eventually passes a resolution in support of the 15 demands.
in solidarity with Concerned Student 1950 at the University of Missouri
1950 at the University of Missouri. Katherine Rainey, a member of Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk, says a large focus of the group is making all students feel included at the University.
"We truly are looking to bring other students into this space to make sure that they are able to have a conversation, able to feel safe at KU — to feel supported, to feel respected, to feel like they can succeed," Rainey said.
Nov. 13: Gray-Little releases a statement, saying that KU would begin sharing "information on how we will move forward on this issue together" early next week.
Other departments, senates and student groups also begin to release statements in support of Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk and student calls for change. Nov. 13: A graduate student, Johnny Cowan, starts a hunger strike until the University responds to the 15 demands of Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk.
Nov. 13: Later that evening, the Student Executive Committee calls for the resignations of Student Body President Jessie Pringle, Student Body Vice President Zach George and Chief of Staff Adam Moon by Nov. 18 at 5 p.m.
Tyler Childress, finance committee chair, presented a document detailing reasons for a vote of no confidence in their leadership.
Nov. 14: Pringle, George and Moon respond to the calls for resignation
with a statement saying that they would publish a plan to address Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk's 15 demands early the next week.
Nov. 15: An online petition surfaces calling for Pringle, George and Moon to resign.
Nov.16: An online counter-petition surfaces calling for Pringle, George and Moon to stay in office and for senators to reject any impeachment measures.
Nov. 16: Cowan ends his hunger strike after more than 70 hours without food. In a statement, he said he was ending it because it was gaining attention for the wrong reasons.
Nov. 16 Student Senate releases an 11-item action plan to address issues of diversity, discrimination and other issues. The first issue and subpoints refer to making Senate more inclusive.
Nov. 17: Provost Jeffrey Vitter, in a campus-wide email, asserts that "the institution we are today is not the institution we strive to be, or need to be."
"We are assembling a small advisory team of faculty, students, staff, and administrators. The group will deliver an action plan by mid-January that addresses challenges put forward by Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk, as well as concerns from others at the forum," he wrote in the email. "The action plan will target retention and graduation rates of students, in addition to mandatory education, through facilitated
sessions, on inclusion and belonging for all students, faculty, staff, and administrators and a plan for accountability.
Nov. 17: A screenshot circulating on social media purports to show a conversation between Black Student Union President Kynnedi Grant and University Senate Vice President Shegufa Huma. The conversation as it appeared in the screenshot shows Huma editing Grant's written account of a hate crime
Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk releases a statement saying that the screenshots were fabricated.
Dec. 9: Almost 100 members of Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk and supporting students, faculty and staff occupied the chancellor's office to continue discussions of how University administration could address racial discrimination on campus. It was part of demonstrations that started in classrooms, moved to the School of Social Welfare, then Wescoe Beach and finally into the chancellor's office.
The group was calling for solidarity and administrative action.
This timeline will be updated online at Kansan.com as this story develops.
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director of the new Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center.
The center was established in October to centralize the University's sexual assault prevention methods. Previously, education and prevention efforts were coming from several different offices, including Public Safety, Student Affairs, Watkins Health Center and the Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access.
Vice Provost of Student Affairs Jane Tuttle said the new center will initiate its own programs as well as help steer other offices to ensure all components are on the same page.
["Before the center], there [were] no centralized folks, so sometimes our efforts weren't as effective as they could be if
Tuttle said she believes Brockman is the best person for the director position because of her experience.
tion work."
Brockman, who will begin Jan. 20, has a history of tackling sexual assault issues. After getting a bachelor's degree in criminology and sociology with a focus in victimology from Drury University, Brockman went on to get her master's in organizational leadership from Gonzaga University
Brockman served as a sexual assault prevention educator at the University of Arkansas, and most recently, executive
She has since gone on to work in several sexual assault prevention coalitions in the Midwest.
"I think KU is positioning itself well to really have an intentional approach and effort to curb and eliminate sexual violence on the campus," Brockman said.
Brockman said she thinks University students are poised for helping prevent assault.
take on sexual assault.
"You're high-activist, high-energy, and you've got students who already ready to go," Brockman said.
"I think the first step is to really understand KU's culture and make myself available and
The first item on her to-do list is to build trust and cooperation within the community by understanding the culture and the components at work, Brockman said.
Brockman also said she looks forward to working with the University to make sure its policies are "reflective of the work and the philosophical standing of the center's charter" as well as developing victim resources.
nion and education programming, Brockman said there's a few ideas she's got in mind. The center's main focus will be prevention work, offender accountability and behavior recidivism work, that is, working to curb patterns of repeating sexual violence.
The University currently offers several options for students who have experienced sexual violence, including off-campus advocates, medical and psychological counselors and resources for filing a com-
Brockman said the center will hire two more employees sometime in the spring. She said the hires will be two educators, one focused on male engagement and bystander intervention, and the other on dating and healthy relationships.
help and taking action when it comes to sexual assault.
"We need to be able to promise them we have their back," Brockman said.
Although Brockman said she feels nervous about being the first director of the newly-established center, she's said she's excited to get started.
"There's a lot of unknown, but this is really the opportunity to create something amazing from scratch," Brockman said.
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