CU organizations hold Mark Kennedy accountable for lack of DEI efforts
DiversifyCUnow and CU student government urge CU community members to hold President Mark Kennedy accountable for racist and problematic statements and actions.
In April 2021, members of the equity activist group, diversifyCUnow, constructed a letter and timeline in an effort to hold University of Colorado President Mark Kennedy accountable.
The letter highlights Kennedy’s career in academia, politics and business and brings attention to his racist and problematic statements and actions.
In light of Kennedy’s upcoming annual review to take place in June of 2021, diversifyCUnow urges CU members to make Regents aware of how Kennedy has performed as CU president and whether or not they see him as a fit for diversifying a predominately white institution.
Formally stating their disapproval of Kennedy, on Thursday, April 15, CU Student Government unanimously voted to censure him [1:12:50].
“CUSG, as the representative body of the associated students of the University of Colorado Boulder, finds that President Mark Kennedy has failed to lead with respect to diversity, equity and inclusion,” read their statement.
CUSG urges Boulder faculty to vote on April 29, 2021, to censure Kennedy as well. In a statement, student body President and Intercampus Student Forum Chair Isaiah Chavous said, “it has become clear that the needs among the shared governance groups in the CU System are not being met.”
The organization compiled a timeline of events in Kennedy’s career dating back to April 10, 2019, which is the date CU released a statement saying Kennedy had been nominated as the sole finalist for the university system president.
As recognized by diversifyCUnow, Kennedy vowed to, “foster a welcoming, safe and inclusive environment at CU,” support CU’s LGBTQ+ members and work to create programs for DACA students. However, these vows are now regarded as empty promises.
The letter constructed by the BIPOC-led organization brings attention to a statement from Brian Keegan, a social scientist and assistant professor at CU, “[Mark Kennedy] certainly should not be allowed to lead a critical social institution and a vital economic driver like the University of Colorado system,” said Keegan. “Our $4.5 billion annual budget, 67,000 students, and 35,000 employees cannot survive his history of bungled business dealings, unapologetic partisanship, and adversarial leadership.”
Not only do CU community members fear Kennedy is incapable of successfully maintaining an economically beneficial institution, their concerns more importantly lay with his lack of attention to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Exemplifying their concerns with statements and actions from Kennedy’s career, diversifyCUnow’s timeline showcases events like Kennedy failing to remember and/or use DEI terms saying “exclusive” instead of “inclusive”, neglecting to sign the Pomona Letter to protect DACA students, his overall failure of denouncing the Trump administrations discriminatory actions and lack of public support for bills, laws and propositions that assure inclusivity and equity.
DiversifyCUnow’s use of the timeline is to epitomize his failure of being a representative of an inclusive institution. As showcased in diversifyCUNow’s timeline, Kennedy’s actions are not just of late and have been recurring since his first month being a nominee in April 2019, even prior to his first official day as president in July 2019.
The organization asks CU community members to take that into consideration when reflecting on Kennedy as their president and encourages students to make public comments at the June 17 Regents meeting.
