As you can imagine, there are pressing issues when it comes to being president of Kansas State University. This is the Q&A recap.
President Myers first goes into this whole thing telling us about his time at KSU and the very first big issue he had to deal with during his tenure being the Blackface incident of the student that posted the inappropriate pictures of her in a blackface apparel and so on. He used this experience as a lead in saying that the University has been looking into adding a position that would work under the office of Student life which is ran by Dr. Pat Bosco, that position being titled Chief of Diversity and Inclusion. He says that the idea of having this position being made is with this direct quote "K-State's mission is to make the University more multicultural and diverse with this hire."
Q1) What is KSU's stance on DACA?
General Myers said that DACA goes back to our land grant school roots saying "We are here to help those who wouldn't usually have the opportunity to get an education at a school that usually wouldn't have that opportunity whether it be a student that comes here from overseas or a first generation college student." To me this means the University will always have it's doors open until they are forced closed by an outside force. This news makes me very happy as a student.
Q2) How is the university addressing Title IX?
"KSU is still compliant with Title IX and we allow zero cross examination in our hearings about discrimination on Title IX issues as a university" then goes into "Student's safety is our number one priority, it is something we take very seriously whether it be an issue on campus or at an event sponsored by the university off of school grounds."
Q3) What does the school have to do with Affirmative Action when it comes to enrollment and are there quotas?
General responds and says that having quotas is illegal but all department have goals when it comes to enrollment. "All Colleges have enrollment goals and aspiration to make sure our enrollment pools of diversity are as deep as possible."
Q4) Do you see the University of reaching it's goal of being a TOP 50 Research University by 2025?
General Myers says that the University has kind of went through a building boom when it comes to reaching this goal and adding a lot more scholarships were very important when it comes to reaching this goal. He said that even building our new sports facilities have been crucial to making this goal a reality. The real obstacles for the University are that they are only at an allowed 200 million dollars for research expenditures a year and they need to be at 300 million. He also says that the university needs 2 billion in total yearly endowments since 2015 and we are only at 1 billion currently. He then said " We (KState) may not make that goal by 2025 but it could be very close by then."
Q5) What is the toughest decision you had to make in your tenure so far?
He said the hardest thing for him to do was getting his family to buy into his decision to leave there lives behind that they had built on the west coast to come and be President of the greatest university on earth. He said that he obviously didn't do this as a resume builder since he was retired. He did it because of his burning passion for this great university. He then sums it up by saying "The hardest decision he made was simply putting my name in the hat when it came time saying that the university expressed interest." He then says that it was a big change for everyone and that he was certainly all in but he had to get his family on board as well.
Fun things Myers said in the Q&A
The Marching band is better than marching in the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade.
Before school started, he and his wife rented an RV
and took his 6 grandkids to the Badlands in South Dakota on a "Great" vacation.
That's all for this post. Hope you enjoy this premium goEMAW content, Have a great day and Go Cats!
