Kentucky university presidents grovel to systemic racism

Republished from Kentucky Lantern

If you want to witness firsthand how systemic racism works, you need only have been in Capitol Annex Room 154 on Tuesday, Sep. 17, for the Interim Joint Committee on Education, as Kentucky’s lawmakers (who are, by-far, majority white) lorded over a hearing to allegedly discuss DEI: diversity, equity and inclusion in postsecondary education.

I say allegedly, because a good half hour into the testimony of University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto (who is white), the woman next to me (who is white) whispered what I (a white lady) had been thinking. “Why are we here? What is the purpose of this meeting?”

Capilouto emphasized that UK is making strides to be more nonpartisan, saying at one point “we should welcome discomfort in hearing ideas. But we can’t tolerate indoctrination, intimidation or disrespect. The lectern serves learning, and is not a pulpit for proselytizing.”

And yet Capilouto said these words in a legislative hearing where you could feel the tension of intimidation permeate the room, and the pulpit of proselytizing was monopolized by lawmakers like Sen. Lindsey Tichenor (who is white) as she condescendingly lectured University of Louisville president Kim Schatzel (who is white) about how much she dislikes that pesky word “equity.” 

“Our Constitution talks about equality,” Tichenor said, “I don’t love that word, equity.” 

Last year, the University of Louisville changed the name of its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to the Office of Institutional Equity in an apparent mad scramble to get ahead of potential anti-DEI legislation. 

Schatzel responded by defining equity, but her clear answer was not clear enough for Tichenor to drop it. Equity, Tichenor said, “assumes that there’s an overall that everybody can have or comes in, you know, it leaves the same way. That’s just impossible. We’re all different people. So I guess my question to you would be, why would you choose … the Office of Institutional Equity, as opposed to the Office of Institutional Equality, because that truly is more of our founding in the United States of America, that we’re all created equal.”

Hold up. What now?

The dictionary defines equity as “the quality of being fair and impartial.” 

The dictionary defines equality as “the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities.” 

Listening to Tichenor dig in was like listening to someone demand you acknowledge the difference between stepping out to use the restroom vs. the bathroom. But of course this back and forth was not about a word, it was about power. Tomato, tomah-to, use the word I want you to use to show your deference to me and prove publicly that I am the boss, that I hold the purse strings, that you report to me and will do as you’re told, thank you very much.

Ah yes, this. Groveling publicly before the legislature. This is why we were all there. This was the purpose of the meeting.

There was also the unfortunate but predictable, oh-gosh-we’re-running-short-on-time remark from committee co-chair, Sen. Stephen West (who is white), after allowing such a big chunk of time up front for UK and U of L that they had to call the presidents of Eastern Kentucky University (who is white), Western Kentucky University (who is white), and Murray State University (who is white) to testify together and in a hurry. 

Rude, dismissive, and humiliating.

Remember, this is the same GOP supermajority (of mostly white folks) who, for the second year in a row, could not be bothered to pass the Crown Act out of committee “which would have outlawed discrimination on the basis of a hairstyle historically associated with a person’s race.”

And sitting front and center was Rep. Jennifer Decker (who is white), primary sponsor of an anti-DEI bill this past session, who, earlier this year, told an NAACP audience with a straight face that her white father was a slave.

It was a crushing disappointment to witness this two-hour hearing. 

It was a crushing disappointment to watch silently as, one by one, five powerful university presidents (all white) groveled at the feet of majority-white lawmakers, promising that they have, of their own accord, already dismantled diversity offices, vowing that they are behaving — No DEI being practiced here, ma’am! We don’t even say ‘DEI’, sir! — and will continue to fall in line. Did a Black lawmaker say a few words here and there? Sure, but nothing consequential. 

It was a crushing disappointment to witness the cowering and cowardice on display from the leaders of our top universities, the very institutions we trust to teach our children to be bold and brave in learning as they grow into adulthood.

And it was embarrassingly obvious that in a legislative hearing alleging to address diversity, equity and inclusion, not a single person of color was handed a microphone and asked what they thought, even as one brave Black woman sat right there in the front row wearing a bright red t-shirt that read in bold white letters, “Make America Not Racist for the First Time.”

This is systemic racism at work.

Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com. Follow Kentucky Lantern on Facebook and Twitter. Kentucky Lantern stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

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