Recent Kansas editorials

The Topeka Capital-Journal, June 15

What to make of the imbroglio around Wichita State University president Jay Golden?

To recap, presidential daughter Ivanka Trump was briefly invited to deliver a virtual commencement speech to graduates of WSU Tech. After an outcry from students and staff, lent urgency by national protests against racist policy, Golden rescinded the younger Trump’s invitation.

The outcry from high-profile fundraisers and supporters of the university was immediate, with those connected to Koch Industries and Pizza Hut voicing their displeasure. Ivanka Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo weighed in, also criticizing the decision.

Some vociferous voices called for Golden’s removal.

But after a lengthy meeting, the Kansas Board of Regents declined to do so. They and Golden issued separate statements supporting free speech, along with diversity and inclusion. Koch voiced displeasure but said it would continue funding the commitments it made to the school.

Here’s the thing: Golden made the right call. Universities ultimately serve students, not donors. If students raise their voices in calling for change, higher education institutions should listen. Even those with extravagant wealth, such as the Koch family, don’t get to call the shots - unless they choose to open their own university (although perhaps we shouldn’t be giving them ideas).

Let’s also dispense with the notion that disinviting Ivanka Trump had anything to do with freedom of speech or discussion. That’s nonsense.

Her remarks were released to the public soon after the controversy, and they’re viewable by anyone with an internet connection. She or her father have abundant opportunity to reach the public through social media and public appearances. They both have arguably more opportunity to speak and be heard than the vast majority of Americans.

No, what students and staff objected to was connecting Wichita State to that of a U.S. president with a history of racially charged statements and his daughter, whose prime qualification for giving a public speech is genetic.

There’s no reason that WSU should lift them up if it chooses not to.

Yes, the college and its president may still face consequences. But standing on principle, even if inconvenient, should be noted. Inviting the speech in the first place was likely a mistake. Making it right took courage and a willingness to stand up to powerful interests. That’s worthy of praise, not condemnation.

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The Manhattan Mercury, June 10

Count us among those who are extremely disappointed to see James Bennet resign from his post as editorial page editor of The New York Times.

Bennet resigned Sunday after doing something that we do often here on The Mercury’s Opinion page: He published an opinion that he didn’t agree with.

We call that balance. We call it informing readers and letting them decide where they stand among conflicting points of view. If The Mercury - or any newspaper - only published views its editorial board agreed with, it would cease to be a community forum where opinions are expected to survive the marketplace of ideas.

The piece that led to Bennet’s resignation was by Tom Cotton, a U.S. senator from Arkansas, a leader within the national GOP and someone who has President Trump’s ear.

On June 3, the Times published Cotton’s piece under the headline, “Send in the troops,” which made the case for stamping out violent protests over the death of George Floyd by mobilizing federal military personnel.

As Bennet pointed out in his defense of printing the op-ed, Cotton’s position is 180 degrees at odds with the Times’s editorial board, “which has criticized the president’s use of federal forces in Washington, D.C., fiercely defended the protesters as patriots, and condemned police brutality” and called for reforms.

“Times Opinion owes it to our readers to show them counter-arguments, particularly those made by people in a position to set policy,” Bennet wrote in a thread on Twitter. “We understand that many readers find Senator Cotton’s argument painful, even dangerous. We believe that is one reason it requires public scrutiny and debate.”

We couldn’t agree more. Allowing Cotton’s views to be published also allowed for them to be rebuked, which they were, most notably by Times staff.

Times employees organized a protest on social media with the message that publishing the op-ed put black staff members in danger.

Shortly after, the Times released a statement saying that Cotton’s op-ed failed to meet company standards and that editorial-board processes would be changed as a result. The website version of Cotton’s op-ed now includes a five-paragraph explanation of how it shouldn’t have been published in its current form.

Bennet didn’t personally read the op-ed before publication, according to a Times follow-up story. But whether there were breakdowns in the editing process shouldn’t keep the Times from its fundamental mission to ventilate a wide range of opinions.

Let’s hope that tightening its “editorial board processes” isn’t double-speak for “avoiding opinions that don’t conform to the majority of our readers.”

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The Kansas City Star, June 15

Shawnee Mission School District leaders have pledged in recent days to tackle systemic racism and provide opportunities for every child.

But the district’s well-crafted messages haven’t been backed up with a real commitment to diversity in the teaching and administrative ranks.

People of color in teaching and administrative roles are a slim minority in the Shawnee Mission School District. And a lack of diversity among teachers and administrators prevents the district from offering equitable education opportunities to all students.

While Shawnee Mission’s student population has become more diverse in recent years, faculty and staff have remained predominantly white.

During the 2018-19 school year, more than 27% of Shawnee Mission’s nearly 27,500 K-12 students were Hispanic or Black. Some 90% of faculty were white.

A number of key indicators show stark disparities between Black and Hispanic students in the district and their white peers.

The graduation rate for Black students was 84.5%, while 92% of their white students graduated. Hispanic students had an 84.2% graduation rate.

Only 5.6% of Black students and 12.8% of Hispanic students in the graduating class of 2019 took the ACT college entrance exam. Meanwhile, nearly 70% of white students did. The average score for white students was 24.4; 18.3 for Black students; and 20.4 for Hispanic students.

In the aftermath of nationwide protests denouncing the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, Shawnee Mission School District Superintendent Michael Fulton sent a letter to stakeholders.

He wrote that recent events were “stark reminders that we still have much work to do to address systemic racism, inequities, and disparities that exist in our country.” But Fulton’s message was devoid of any meaningful reforms to address those disparities, said Anisha Jackson, a parent of a child in the district.

“Diversity and inclusion is our future,” Fulton told The Star Editorial Board. “We’ve taken very specific action steps.”

Shawnee Mission schools have invested in cultural proficiency training, hired a diversity and inclusion coordinator and started recruiting potential teachers at historically black colleges and universities.

An initiative to develop a diverse workforce is underway. The Grow Our Own program for minority students will take years to fully implement, though.

Those are steps in the right direction. But the Shawnee Mission School District’s executive leadership team remains nearly all-white.

An all-white, all-male administrative staff will lead Shawnee Mission West High School next year, according to district data.

No minorities were expected to be part of the administrative staffs at Shawnee Mission East and Shawnee Mission South high schools.

Shawnee Mission North will include one person of color in its upper-level staff.

One Black man and one Hispanic woman will be in administrative roles at Shawnee Mission Northwest.

At the middle school level, there were no administrators of color expected on staff during the next school year.

Incredibly, the Shawnee Mission school board has never included a person of color.

Brad Stratton, who is in his fifth year as a board member, announced last week that he would not seek re-election when his term expires in 2023. To his credit, Stratton highlighted the lack of diversity on the board and pledged to grow a list of diverse candidates to succeed him on the district’s all-white school board. He challenged his colleagues to mentor other minority candidates.

Will others follow?

“There is a need for leadership of all kinds at all levels,” Stratton told The Star Editorial Board.

Tackling systemic racism and inequality is tough but essential work. If Shawnee Mission school leaders are serious about educating all students, then they must follow up promises with substantive action.