Director works on integration
Tom Leininger/KANSAN
Sherwood Thompson, director of Minority Affairs, receives satisfaction from showing students the joy of life. Thompson has been director for 2/2 years.
Thompson finds duties challenging at Minority Affairs
By Sanaka Samarasinha
Special to the Kansan
With a ready smile, a firm handshake and a friendly demeanor, he always is stopping to ask students how they are doing.
If you didn't know better,you might think Sherwood Thompson is running for office.
Thompson views his weekend as family time. He says his children, Malik, 15, left, and Aminah. 11, are very important to him.
The 41-year-old director of the Office of Minority Affairs at the University of Kansas always is in demand. Within a span of 15 minutes, the dean of student life phones for a budget report, two students ask to meet with him, his secretary requests assistance, a photographer asks to take his picture and a reporter poses questions about his life.
Tom Leininger / KANSAN
Somehow, he manages to attend to everybody.
A small sign below his window reads, "A heart filled with love always has love to give." This philosophy typifies how Thompson, a single parent and one of the busiest administrators on campus, manages to juggle his responsibilities with an abundance of enthusiasm.
Stephanie Freeman, Lawrence senior and a temporary secretary in the office, said. His positivism is so genuine it is contagious."
Jaimee Demby, Manhattan freshman who works part-time in the office, said that although Thompson was one of the busiest people she knew, he always had a kind word or everyone.
Thompson said, "In my job, I have to have a lot of energy, but there are times when the energy gets zapped right out. Students sit in front of me and cry because they haven't eaten in two weeks, or their utilities have been cut off or they are sleeping on a park bench because they are homeless. I know students who sleep on the streets, come to campus and shower at Robinson gym before class because they don't have a place to live.
"You can't just whip out your wallet, and you certainly can't cry with them. So sometimes it can be frustrating. At times like these, it's only if you really care about these individuals that you can come through."
Perhaps one of the reasons Thompson ares is because he has experienced life as a minority student on predominantly white campuses.
As a pre-law student at the Universities of Massachusetts and South Carolina during he '70s, Thompson decided against a potentially lucrative legal career and opted for higher education administration, he said.
Thompson should know about justice. A native of Greenville, S.C., he became involved with the civil rights movement when he was 15, he said.
"I was disturbed by the deals that lawyers made and the country clubs that judges and lawyers belonged to," he said. "There just didn't seem to be justice in that system."
"From the time I was very young, I have been constantly reminded of the alienation of minorities," he said. "I frequently meet he roadblocks of racism, both individual and institutional. But I have been motivated
by my family to be persistent, so I combat it for my own sanity and to educate others."
Thompson points to his wall, where a photograph of himself with the Rev. Jesse Jackson is hanging.
"We are from the same town, and we both went to Sterling High in Greenville," he said. "Both of us came from poor, rat-infested neighborhoods. All my teachers would constantly say, 'Be like Jesse,' and so Jesse became my mentor. Only a few made it out of that neighborhood. He is one, and I'm another."
Thompson credited his family and faith for his success in the face of adversity.
"My grandmother and a Southern sense of spirituality carried me through," he said.
After he changed his mind about law school, he began to focus on higher education administration, he said.
"As a student, I saw a distinct lack of communication between minority students and administrators," he said. "Administrators just didn't listen. I felt that there had to be a more humane way of executing student services."
At Massachusetts, Thompson served as director of the Office of Third World Affairs for eight years. During that time, he strove to open the lines of communication between students and the administration, he said.
Thompson was appointed head of the KU Office of Minority Affairs in February 1991 and has continued his work with communication.
Thompson said his job was complicated because of the ambiguity of his position.
"I try very hard to make this office a nonthreatening experience for students," he said. "The key to that is listening."
"There are three goals in this job," he said. "I have to advocate on behalf of minority students, contribute to the educational awareness of the majority and satisfy the goals of the University.
"Sometimes, these goals don't coincide. So I find myself being advocate, lobbyist, educator, surrogate parent, messenger and shuttle diplomat all at the same time."
Despite these obstacles, Thompson and his staff have achieved considerable success in racially integrating the campus, he said.
Thompson said that although much remained to be done, the campus slowly
was becoming a successful experience in multiculturalism.
Enrique Torres, assistant director of the office, said that much of the success was due to Thompson's dedication.
"He is a great leader and mentor. He represents the best of the University, not just the minorities," he said.
His devotion to the job is apparent. It is 6 p.m. on a Friday. His staff and most administrators have left for the weekend. But Thompson is still in his office. Torres needs to talk to him. The dean of student affairs comes in to speak with him. And the phone rings — it's for Sherwood Thompson.
October 11, 1993 K-you • LIFESTYLE
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