Advisory Group

Group of students walking along Jayhawk Blvd.

Lawrence/Edwards Campus

Discrimination cannot and will not be tolerated on KU’s campus.  An advisory group of faculty, students, and staff has been created to examine instances of discrimination and intolerance on KU’s campus and to recommend specific actions that can be taken to create an environment where everyone is valued and safe.  

The advisory group works to identify and inform our campus community of patterns of discrimination, and the degree to which we provide educational, research and social environments that support the individual needs of each student, staff member and faculty member.

The areas outlined below represent important first steps in building an inclusive campus. Areas for the advisory group to address include:

  • Instilling an institutional culture of awareness through education, and training;
  • Incorporating anti-discrimination principles in curricular design and adopting instructional methods that ensure individual needs are met;
  • Improving student recruitment, retention, and graduation particularly of individuals from all backgrounds; and
  • Improving faculty and staff recruitment, retention, and professional advancement of individuals from all backgrounds.

For each of the above topics, the group will report its observations and conclusions to the Provost, including:

  • Discover and analyze specific patterns of discrimination and lack of respect for individuals or groups in the educational, research, and social environments of our institution;
  • Recommend specific goals and outcomes the university should work toward, along with timelines for action;
  • Recommend individuals or units that can support work toward the recommended goals and outcomes;
  • Assess the effectiveness of implementation steps, and identify ongoing improvements as needed; and
  • Provide regular reports to the Provost documenting progress. 

The advisory group will collect information from a variety of sources. Examples of possible sources include:

  • Focus groups of students, staff, and faculty;
  • Campus units that serve and support specific populations of students, faculty and staff;
  • KU Athletics;
  • Office of First Year Experience;
  • University Honors Program
  • University Core Curriculum Committee
  • Human Resource Management;
  • Faculty Development;
  • The Center for Teaching Excellence;
  • Policies and processes related to conduct and responsibility, including Student Governance, University Senate, and Faculty Senate (e.g., Student Code of Conduct, USRR).  

The advisory group will understand in all its work that KU is a research and educational institution, and as such is committed to the principles of academic freedom, freedom of speech, and freedom of expression, while acknowledging that hate speech is never acceptable.

KU is committed to the principles of educational access as stated in Titles VI and IX; specifically, KU prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information and retaliation in the University's programs and activities.