photo by: Mike Yoder

Students hold signs in the back of Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union during a town hall forum on race on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2015. The group later took the stage and read a list of diversity and inclusion related demands for the KU campus. KU scheduled the forum in the wake of problems at the University of Missouri, where the system president and chancellor resigned under pressure from students who said the school failed to properly respond to racial problems there.

The Kansas University provost’s office now has, on paper, a “Diversity Action Plan” listing things KU has done and things it will do in the coming semester and year to improve diversity and inclusivity on campus.

Interim provost Sara Rosen shared the plan Thursday in a letter to the campus. Last fall, a town hall forum on race and ensuing protests and meetings made clear KU needs to do more to create an inclusive environment, Rosen wrote.

“We promised to provide a list of action items to ensure members of the KU community are understood, accepted, and successful in their individual pursuits,” she said in the letter. “Today we are sharing with you the first iteration of coordinated diversity and inclusion activities at KU.”

According to the action plan, these are some of the actions KU has already completed (several of which we’ve had stories on, if you want to click the links to read more):

• Created a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Group to investigate issues raised at the Nov. 11 town hall forum on race. The group — co-chaired by Clarence Lang, chair of the Department of African & African-American Studies, and Sheahon Zenger, athletics director — had its first meeting in December.

• Held an all-day social justice and diversity training session for all deans and vice provosts. Held a workshop on faculty mentoring for department chairs.

• Made several key hires. Precious Porras is the new director of Office of Multicultural Affairs. Jennifer Brockman will be director of the new Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center. Catherine Johnson will be director of Accessibility and ADA Education. Interviews for director of the Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access were completed Jan. 12, though a new hire has not been announced.

• Extended the Office of Multicultural Affairs Hawk Link program to support first-generation, low-income and minority students to include the spring semester.

• Started process of creating the KU Climate Study, beginning with small group discussions to help determine survey questions.

• Established several other work groups on diversity and inclusion issues.

The plan includes many more next-steps. Rosen urged KU community members to provide feedback by Feb. 16.

She reminded: “The plan should tie closely with the goals of the university strategic plan, Bold Aspirations, and be informed by data we are in the process of gathering now. A strong plan will take time.”

• I’m the Journal-World’s KU and higher ed reporter. See all the newspaper’s KU coverage here. Reach me by email at sshepherd@ljworld.com, by phone at 832-7187, on Twitter @saramarieshep or via Facebook at Facebook.com/SaraShepherdNews.