Mike Shinn helped create change at KU and still wears the colors of his alma mater proudly.
Road to Diversity
KU works to welcome all students and faculty. Donors help make it happen.
What does it mean to embrace diversity? The KU community keeps that question before itself each day.
KU recognizes more than six dozen student cultural/ethnic or religious groups. It also offers resources such as the Office of Multicultural Affairs, which traces its beginnings back to the 1960s and 1970s protests; the Office of Diversity and Equity; minority recruitment programs in individual schools; minority alumni groups; the Emily Taylor Women’s Resource Center; and scholarships that promote diversity.
It was not always so. But since the 1950s, KU has come to promote diversity at the institutional level. Student groups talk to one another in formal and informal settings and gain new perspectives. Faculty and staff rosters reflect the overall population more closely than ever before. In recognition of the extraordinary talents of an African-American woman, she is invited to become our new chancellor.
Among the most prominent resources have been KU’s Multicultural Scholars Programs and the Sabatini Multicultural Resource Center — both largely supported by donor contributions.
In the full version of this story, alumni, staff and students offer individual perspectives — all of which point to the benefits of engagement and dialog.
To see it and many other stories, please download Issue 8 of our magazine, KU Giving.
You can help
Visit KU’s website and type “Student Organizations” in the Search box. You’ll find a list of nearly 600 student groups, searchable by category. It includes 40 religious groups and 42 cultural/ethnic groups. KU’s Office of Multicultural Affairs, provides information on many additional resources.