THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
SPORTS
INSIDE Former Student Senate vice president could be the first openly gay state legislator p. 2
Udoka Azubuike stepped up in a big way against West Virginia on Saturday The University Daily Kansan
vol. 136 // iss. 12 Mon., Feb. 19, 2018
How a business owner turned her “mess” into a vintage story p. 9
SEE AZUBUIKE • PAGE 11
MSG’s fight for legitimacy In the midst of further conflicts between Multicultural Student Government and Student Senate, the Kansan traces MSG’s tumultuous evolution from Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk to funding faceoffs
SAVANNA SMITH @savsmith20 “I had to be convinced a long time ago that this University did not love me.” Trinity Carpenter, a School of Social Welfare graduate student and founding member of Multicultural Student Government said her undergraduate experience at the University was not what she envisioned and it launched her into action. Carpenter said she watched a professor stand up in front of the class and share her story of growth, that until the age of 22 she thought all black people smelled like bleach because the only black people she knew had been in the cleaning industry. Carpenter said another professor asked her how she could ever be a professional in her field if she didn’t believe in the status quo, something Carpenter said she believes means inequalities and oppression. “I was told that as long as you do the work, you’ll be fine,” Carpenter said. “My journey at this University never should have been this difficult … I very quickly became disenchanted and I vocalized that and then I became involved.” Carpenter was the first chair of MSG when it wasfunded by Student Senate. The organization has gone through many changes from its conception to its formation as a legitimized Senate subsidiary and now its future is unclear. “All I can hope at this point is that the blood, sweat and tears and outright failures of people who put activism into Multicultural Student Government is a place that continues to benefit marginalized students,” Carpenter said.
PAST
MSG’s journey in the public eye began nearly two years ago when Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk members Jameelah Jones and Kat Rainey, who have since graduat-
Bettina Bugatto/KANSAN Vice President of Multicultural Student Government Anthonio Humphrey speaks at a Senate meeting on Wednesday to discuss the decision to take power away from MSG. ed, began advocating for the creation of the independent student government during a Senate fee review, which occurs every year and decides how to allocate the money brought in by student fees to different University organizations. In March 2016, MSG was next in line to make history as the first University multicultural student government to receive funding from the institution. After the fee review bill was passed, leaders waited for approval from University administration. Anger and confusion replaced celebration when then-Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little’s vetoed the fee for MSG, which at the time was asking for $2 per student every semester. A year later, Trinity Carpenter took the lead and returned to Senate to advocate for the fee. Carpenter said MSG was necessary because of the dominance of white Greek life that Senate allowed, she said, by the coalition system. Historically, she said, Greek life has dominated the system in which can-
didates run as a collective, resembling a party system. She said Senate lacked representation of multicultural groups and a separate autonomous group was necessary to be the voice of marginalized students.
“I’m not comfortable putting student dollars in their hands for the coming fiscal year.” Mady Womack student body president
This time, history was made. MSG was granted a piece of the Student Senate Activity Fee which gave them half of what was originally asked for in 2016. The decision to include this in the budget was approved by the Board of Regents. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to come up with an innovative solution so that all students are represented when you’re allocat-
Collin Biery/KANSAN Graduate student and founding member of MSG Trinity Carpenter speaks about the creation of MSG, what she wanted the organization to achieve and what it means to her.
ing our student fee,” Carpenter said. In the final days of former President Stephon Alcorn’s tenure, Alcorn and Carpenter signed a Memorandum of Agreement, which defines a budget for MSG and requires cultural competency for peer educators and collaboration with Senate. MSG became a subsidiary of Senate and was passed on to Student Body President Mady Womack and Carpenter.
PRESENT
MSG rose up out of the desire for a voice at the University, and is now faced with re-establishing its role representing marginalized students. Last Tuesday, Senate sent a press release that said it would no longer be funding MSG. After being granted the funding not even a year ago, the newly legitimized group functioned for one semester before funding was pulled. “I’m not comfortable putting student dollars in their hands for the coming fiscal year,” Student Body President Mady Womack said. She made the decision early last week to dissolve the Memorandum of Agreement that placed MSG under Senate purview. The MOA was dissolved due to multiple violations including misuse of funds and lack of collaboration with the Multicultural Affairs Committee. Womack said MSG President Anthonio Humphrey told MA at the end of last semester that MSG was no longer willing to collaborate on events. “I think we got caught in a confusing spot of trying to elevate MSG in certain aspects, but then we weren’t sure what to take to MA,” Womack said, “so I think this is a good opportunity to do the work that should have been done.” Rusha Bajpai, director of diversity and inclusion for Senate, said this was con-
cerning because MSG expressed that there wasn’t room for multicultural students in Senate while in a room of students with marginalized identities who were a part of Senate. “We understand the purpose is to improve representation of students with marginalized identities as well as networking with different communities, but how does that fit in to different entities that are already doing similar work?” Bajpai said. “It’s great that the work is being done, but we need to find a way to centralize the work.” However Humphrey said he did not feel as if he was included in discussions about Senate’s decision and disagrees that there were any clear violations of the MOA, as he believes it is vague and poorly written. The MOA lists no grounds for dissolvement. Though there is internal conflict with MSG after the removal of its president, Chiquita Jackson, and chief of staff, Andrew Davis, Carpenter called it “growing pains,” and said it’s normal for groups to go through changes like MSG has in the last few weeks. Carpenter said people should also give credit to the many strides MSG has made for itself and marginalized students. “I’ve had senators come up to me and say ‘No, Trinity, remember how it was before MSG existed? It was worse for a multicultural student senator. We have more power, we have the ability to be more vocal, and we have more support than we ever had in the past,’” Carpenter said. “I feel like MSG was much needed for this university.” She said MSG, being the first of its kind in the nation as a University funded multicultural government, is a value statement in itself. Womack agreed with Carpenter that MSG was started with good intentions, as she was a proponent for the
funding bill to pass when it came up last year. “What this all really comes down to is that Senate’s representation is probably not where it should be when it comes to a diverse representation that can work on these issues,” Womack said. “Senate has a way to go when it comes to representation.” However, she said, “hindsight is 20/20” and MSG’s role was unclear from the beginning. She said there was confusion about what MSG’s role was in collaboration with the Multicultural Affairs Committee, as both groups are set up to serve the marginalized community. Bajpai said MA has grown significantly over the years and now has approximately 20 to 30 members, which is larger than the voting body of MSG was during the removal of the MSG president two weeks ago.
FUTURE
The future of both Multicultural Student Government and the Multicultural Affairs Committee are up for discussion in the following weeks. Leaders of both groups will work to find a solution for the marginalized students they represent. Humphrey said he is willing to move forward with the possibility of negotiating a new contract and collaborating with Senate but he said the group has no plan B if talks are unsuccessful. “Realistically, this is something of importance on this campus so it needs to be preserved any way possible,” Humphrey said. As for MA, Womack said going forward Senate will be elevating the committee and discussing just what that might look like. Earlier this month in funding discussions, she said Senate would allocate $5,000 for committee programing. However, she said she doesn’t want to be the one to dictate how MA can best represent marginalized students. Since Womack had been in favor of MSG’s creation in the past, she said the events of the last few weeks, including executive removals and the violations of the MOA made her think about MSG’s and multicultural students’ place in Senate. “I think that is what really made me think about what is the bigger picture for marginalized students on our campus and how does this work?” Womack said. As for now, MSG will still be able to participate in Senate as a student organization and the groups will continue to meet to discuss the best way to move forward. In these discussions, MSG’s original mission will be ever present. “This is bigger than any of us,” Carpenter said. “There is a better way ... There is a more inclusive way.”