ATLANTA – A coalition of KSU students, faculty and concerned citizens gathered outside of the Trinity-Washington building, where University System of Georgia (USG) offices are located, to protest the cutting of several majors and the restructuring of identity-based campus resource centers at Kennesaw State University.
This comes in the wake of KSU’s decision to deactivate the Black Studies, Philosophy and Technical Communications majors, largely due to what administration claims is “low enrollment.” Additionally, the LGBTQ+ Resource Center, Global Village and the Hispanic and Latino Outreach and Leadership Program (HOLA), are being heavily altered, with all of their websites and social media handles having seemingly been erased.
Several KSU students have taken action, launching a petition meant to show student and faculty opposition to these changes. One of the petition’s authors and chief organizers, Simran Mohanty, hoped that the rally would push the Board of Regents to add discussion of these administrative changes to their agenda for tomorrow’s May 15th meeting, though nothing has been added as of the writing of this article.
Mohanty accused KSU administration of being dishonest about their motives.
“KSU has cited that they are complying with USG policy and guidelines specifically, even though this is a tactical and political choice that they’ve taken on themselves,” she said.
She expressed optimism about the chances of the majors, especially black studies, being brought back, citing a similar situation in 2017, when black studies was at risk of being cut, but was reactivated shortly after.
The rally drew support from several Georgia Lawmakers, including Rep. Gabriel Sanchez and Rep. Karen Lupton, who described federal anti-DEI rhetoric as “corrosive,” suggesting that its impact could be far reaching.
“Where does diversity stop? Is it diversity of country of origin? Is it diversity of thought? Is it diversity of gender?,” Lupton said.
Lupton framed DEI programs as a matter of freedom, stating that “if you start to give on [removing DEI initiatives], you lose freedom for everyone…because it will come to all of us eventually.”
She also acknowledged that those in the legislature who are in favor of preserving DEI programs are currently in the minority. As a result alternative strategies like making speeches, writing opinion editorials and bringing attention to rallies like the one held today were the most important ways politicians like herself could contribute to the movement.
The rally attracted a variety of supporters, including J.P. Popham, a KSU alum and First Vice Chair of the Cobb County Democratic Committee, though he made it clear that he was not there to represent the organization.
Popham called KSU’s decisions “preemptive,” as no USG guideline on DEI has been passed down to universities.
He spoke about how “comfortable, and at home” he felt while attending KSU, but acknowledged that many students need additional outlets to feel the same way. “I understand that those resource centers make other students feel comfortable and at home at Kennesaw State,” Popham said. “So taking them away is making students feel unsafe and unwelcome.”
Popham also accused the University of improperly removing these majors, not using the proper channels and attempting to ram their decisions through. To him, this is a sign that the administration both knew that they were wrong, and assumed that the decisions would be unpopular.
According to Dr. Heather Pincock, a professor of Conflict Management at KSU, the University may be seeking to remove Black studies, Philosophy and Technical communications as a way to gain approval for new majors, which may be linked to the school’s request to add a Bachelors of Science in Aerospace Engineering at tomorrow’s May 15th Board of Regents meeting.
However, she stated she is not aware of any policy that requires KSU to remove a major in order to add a new one and that she believes the university has had new degree programs approved in the past. She also struck back against concerns about low enrolled majors, pointing out that overall KSU enrollment has shown strong growth, which is likely to continue in the coming years.
