KENTUCKY KERNEL MEDIA
I N S I D E U K
AUGUST 2020
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CONTENTS 04
06
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Welcome from the Editor
Finding Your Place at UK
Fall 2020 Most Asked Questions
Like a Local
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22
24
31
Making Spaces at UK
Dreaming in Denim
‘Time to Act’
Contributors
PHOTO BY JORDAN PRATHER KENTUCKY KERNEL | 3
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moved blue confetti aside and lifted my diploma out of the box that had finally arrived at my house that day. My mom took photos while my dad and sister fought over the “Proud of my UK graduate” sticker. Two months earlier, I had graduated from the UK College of Communication and Information via Zoom. It’s not what I had planned— I expected to finish my years at UK with a walk across the stage at Rupp Arena. I ended my time at UK amid a pandemic. You are starting yours. You have already overcome obstacles to be here, and now you will face even more. I would like to tell you what your college experience will be like. I wish I could tell you that you will cheer the football team to a bowl game and the men’s basketball team to a national championship; that you will found a club that holds the largest event ever on UK’s campus; that you will take notes in a huge lecture hall and have discussions in a small classroom. But I can’t confidently say that any of those things will happen. But I can say that if you stick with it through whatever challenges you face— if you keep choosing to be a Wildcat— you will receive your diploma in a box one day and become an alumnus of the University of Kentucky. Enjoy every moment between now and then. BAILEY VANDIVER
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WELCOME FROM THE EDITOR PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLUBB KENTUCKY KERNEL | 5
WHEN WILL CLASSES BEGIN AND END? In-person classes will begin Aug. 17, and the last day of classes is Nov. 24, followed by Thanksgiving break. This means classes will begin a week earlier than previously planned; we will have class on Labor Day; and we will not have a Fall Break. Taking all of that into account, the number of instructional days for the Fall 2020 semester will not be appreciably different. WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THANKSGIVING? Final exams will move to online instruction and students will not return to residence halls after Thanksgiving break. Visit www.uky.edu/fall2020 and click on “Academic Calendar” or directly access the fall semester academic calendar at www.uky.edu/registrar/fall-2020-semester. WILL THERE BE AN OPTION FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HEALTH TO ATTEND CLASS REMOTELY? The health, safety and well-being of our community is our top priority. The university is exploring several options to expand technology within classrooms to provide more flexibility and accommodate students and faculty members during the fall semester. More information will be communicated in the coming weeks. We invite you to stay updated at www.uky. edu/fall2020. WILL MASKS BE REQUIRED? Masks will be required unless individuals are alone in a room, eating, drinking or exercising or when it interferes with required curricular activities. HOW ARE YOU KEEPING STUDENTS SAFE? Testing for students for COVID-19, daily assessment for symptoms and mask-wearing in most places on campus are major safety strategies. We will also work with populations considered high-risk for contracting the virus to help protect their health and safety and conduct contact tracing and quarantining when incidents of the virus occur on campus. The university is procuring appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE)— including masks— for the campus community. Students will receive a START kit with appropriate information, instructions and PPE. Employees
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will receive PPE through their respective supervisors and departments. WHAT HAPPENS IN CASE OF A RESURGENCE? The university is preparing contingencies to ensure continuity of learning in the event of a change or spike in the virus. WHAT ABOUT SPORTING EVENTS? UK Athletics initiated its phased restart plan June 8 in accordance with the outline established by the Southeastern Conference’s Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force. WILL GYMS BE OPEN? Yes, campus gyms will reopen in alignment with CDC guidelines. HOW WILL UK’S FALL 2020 TUITION BE HANDLED? This fall, UK will cap tuition rates and mandatory fees for all full-time undergraduate students regardless of how many in-person or online classes a student takes. WILL GRADING BE DIFFERENT IN THE FALL SEMESTER? The unprecedented disruption of normal academic operations during Spring 2020 required extraordinary departure from existing grading policies (e.g., broader allowance of pass/fail grading). For Fall 2020, the university will return to its ordinary grading policies (defined within the Senate Rules). The specific details of how these policies will be implemented within a given course will be described in the course syllabus. Any specific questions can be addressed with your instructor(s) and/or academic advisor. WHAT WILL CAMPUS DINING LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL? Dining halls will operate with modifications that include transition from self-serve food options to served food options and pre-packaged options. Seating in key dining areas will be significantly reduced and adjusted to comply with recommendations from the CDC and UK’s START team. For more and updated information, frequently check your UK email address and visit uknow.uky.edu.
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YO U R M O ST AS K E D FA L L 2 0 2 0 Q U E ST I O N S ARE ANSWERED PHOTO BY JORDAN PRATHER | COMPILED BY MEG MILLS, UKNow
Nineteen workstreams have been meeting since March to address issues related to COVID-19. Members and teams have been added and created over time to ensure a comprehensive response to this unprecedented crisis— the culmination of the work of more than 500 people across our campus over the course of more than three months. We have answered your most asked questions about the University of Kentucky restart plan for the fall. KENTUCKY KERNEL | 7
FINDING YOUR PLACE AT UK FROM DANCING FOR THE KIDS TO WRITING ABOUT WILDCATS ARTICLE BY BAILEY VANDIVER
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nearly gasped out loud, which would have interrupted the acoustic concert by a UK professor that I was attending. I had a text from my friend Sally Martin: She had been chosen as the next overall chair of DanceBlue. As overall chair, Sally would spend the next year hosting other fundraising events and planning the 24-hour, no-sitting, no-sleeping dance marathon, all of which benefits the DanceBlue KCH Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Clinic at Kentucky Children’s Hospital. It was March, just a few weeks after the 2019 DanceBlue marathon and a few weeks before the end of my tenure as editor-in-chief of the Kentucky Kernel. Those few weeks of overlap, when Sally and I were each the leader of our favorite organization, felt like the culmination of every time we discussed our dreams in our freshman year dorm room in Haggin Hall.
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Bailey Vandiver and Sally Martin at the 2017 DanceBlue.
PHOTO BY JORDAN PRATHER
Students participate in a line dance at 3:06 a.m. during the 24-hour DanceBlue marathon on March 1, 2020. On a chilly Sunday morning in March 2017, I left Haggin Hall with Sally’s sweatshirt on and went to Memorial Coliseum. I picked up my press credential and walked onto the floor, which was covered in people who hadn’t sat down in 12 hours. It was the halfway point of DanceBlue, and I was there to write an article for the Kernel— and to bring Sally her sweatshirt. Sally, dancing in the marathon for the first time, knew then— had known since high school— that she wanted to be overall chair. I was the newly hired assistant news editor at the Kernel, and I had known since the first day I walked in the newsroom that I wanted to be editor-in-chief someday. Three years after Sally’s first DanceBlue, I had finished my year as editor-in-chief— a year for which the Kernel staff won a Pacemaker, the highest honor awarded to college newspapers. On another Sunday in March, I
waited for the big reveal of how much DanceBlue had raised. I wasn’t at all surprised to learn that the team led by Sally had shattered DanceBlue’s previous fundraising total, surpassing $2 million for the first time. I share this not to brag on Sally or me as individuals (although we did just graduate during a pandemic, so that’s something). I share this because I know we’re not the only ones who have done this or can do this at UK. Late at night, over pizza that I had gone downstairs in my pajamas to get from the delivery guy because I lost to Sally in a game of rock-paper-scissors, we discussed what we wanted to accomplish before we graduated from UK. And then we did it— through hard work and fierce love for our organizations. So find the organization that you love— whether it’s a newspaper or philanthropy organization or the club tennis team or an esports team. Order a pizza. Tell your best friend all about your dream. Then, whenever you accomplish it, celebrate together.
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PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLUBB
DanceBlue chairs reveal that DanceBlue raised $2,000,190.20 during the 2020 DanceBlue marathon on March 1, 2020, at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky.
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PHOTO BY ISAAC JANSSEN
LIKE A LOCAL BLOGS BY ALLIE DIGGS READ MORE AT KRNLMAGAZINE.COM
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THE KENTUCKY THEATRE
ne of my favorite gems in this city is the Kentucky Theatre, established in 1922. This is a staple location in Lexington, located at 214 E Main Street with a large, old-fashioned cinema sign. You can’t miss it. When I was six years old, my dad would take me to WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour, and my love for the Kentucky Theatre started then. I would watch the live show in front of me, then my eyes would wander off the stage to the murals on the wall and the large beautiful stained-glass light above the audience. And I would watch the community around me. The atmosphere is different than your basic movie theater. You feel as though you are in a different era. Not only is the aesthetic of the theatre different, but they also play stunning independent films that are usually not played in your average movie theater. I have watched most of my favorite movies at the Kentucky Theatre: Beautiful Boy, Amy, Parasite, Call Me by Your Name,
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Honeyboy, American Animals (which, speaking of local, is about a heist that took place in Lexington; I highly recommend it). Not only does the Kentucky Theatre incorporate both independent and mainstream movies, but they also often play local movies, which is super cool. The Kentucky Theatre holds many memories near and dear to my heart and I’m sure that is the same for everyone else who attends regularly. It is a beautiful space with amazing staff, and it is just different than other mainstream places. It holds so much history and character you can’t get from other movie theaters in town. This is another place that is often overlooked by new college students or young people in town. It is within walking distance from campus; there’s no excuse not to check it out. Support local and go watch a movie at the Kentucky Theatre!
sQecial MEDIA Debates on how “sQecial” is properly pronounced circulate Lexington; I’ve heard multiple variations. Located on the north side of campus, this shop is a collection of unique jewelry, tapestries, posters, books and so much more. A place that is sometimes overlooked, it’s located on the top of The Album and Han Woo Ri next to CD Central. It’s a small space filled with many treasures. If you’re like me and enjoy knick-knacks, you will love this place as much as I do.
Jewelry I have purchased many of my rings and earrings from sQecial. The store has an amazing selection of unique rings and jewelry. The best part is the jewelry doesn’t turn your skin green, and it’s reasonably priced. There are many rings, earrings, necklaces, charms, and nose rings available. Spoon rings are sold as well, and I love mine. My two cartilage piercings are from sQecial’s selection and I have had them in for three years and had zero issues. And they were $3 each, which is a steal. I am a big fan of quality and budget of jewelry, and this is a great place for it!
Cool Things This is a great place to purchase gifts for people if you’re like me— BROKE— but still want to get people stuff. The store has comical, cool, handmade postcards and cards that you wouldn’t find in Kroger or Hallmark. Plus candles, astrology books, small ring holders, toys, bells, house decorations, glasses, and so on. I have concluded that sQecial has a great crystal collection, which is a little difficult to find here in Lexington and is a pretty and meaningful gift for someone. I enjoy gifts that I can look at and be reminded of who gave them to me; any décor or pieces I can put in my room are my personal favorites.
PHOTO BY JORDAN PRATHER
Smelly Things Peculiar incense scents— such as Egyptian Rain and Fresh Laundry, two of my favorites— fill the shelves. The store sells a collection of candles used for meditation and manifestation. I love candles; they make your space smell good— DUH— and they are a practical but great gift for people. I could go on and on about this store, but just go experience it for yourself. KENTUCKY KERNEL | 13
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MAKING SPACES AT UK BLACK ACTIVISTS ON RACIAL JUSTICE, UK’S COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY ARTICLE BY AKHIRA UMAR
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lack students have only been present, much less welcomed, for less than half of the University of Kentucky’s 155-year history. Seventy-one years ago, Lyman T. Johnson won a lawsuit that helped integrate the all-white school. Even though he never graduated from UK, and never intended to, his actions helped future generations of Black students. However, despite Johnson’s efforts so many years ago, UK’s Black community is still facing challenges today. For the first time last year, the university offered a major in African American and Africana studies. But 2019 also saw the Main Building sit-in led by the students of the Black Student Advisory Council and the Basic Needs campaign. In addition to demands to make the university more diverse and inclusive via policy changes, students were demanding, again, that the New Deal-era mural in Memorial Hall be removed. The mural depicts Black slaves and a single Native American and has been seen as offensive for years by Black students on campus. In 2018, the university commissioned an additional work of art, “Witness,” to add context to the mural, but students still demanded the mural’s removal. In June of this year, after outbreaks of Black Lives Matter protests across the globe, President Eli Capilouto announced plans for the mural’s removal.
PHOTO BY ARDEN BARNES
Protesters participate in a “die-in” during a protest against police violence against Black people, specifically the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, on May 31, 2020, in Lexington, Kentucky.
For many, there has always seemed to be a “white UK” and a “Black UK,” with the former dominating the mainstream media and, ultimately, campus life. To see the other side of the story, a Kernel Media reporter spent a week talking to Black activists, both students and alumni of UK. KENTUCKY KERNEL | 15
MIA LAPOINTE | 18 KHARI GARDNER | 20 Khari Gardner, from Baltimore, Maryland, is a senior management major and Social Enterprise Scholar in the Lewis Honors College. He has protested in Washington, D.C., and with Black Lives Matter in Lexington, and he recently started @BlackatUK, an Instagram account that shares minority students’ experiences with discrimination and outlines what students are demanding of the UK administration.
CHANDLER FRIERSON | 21 Chandler Frierson, from Stone Mountain, Georgia, is a senior integrated strategic communication major and community leadership and development minor. Frierson has been president of the UK NAACP chapter, helped form the Black Student Advisory Council, and currently interns at the Martin Luther King Center.
WHAT DOES BEING BLACK MEAN TO YOU? Brandon Colbert: It is a blessed burden being black… because we have to learn at an early age the struggles that Black people have dealt with since arriving in the United States— since being stolen, not necessarily arriving— and treated as property in the United States. I think recognizing that we were able to withstand everything that we have as a people and be able to still be here, as Dr. Joy Degruy put it, is a miracle. We have to find the joy in our suffering every day and have to constantly laugh to keep from crying. Being Black is recognizing the vulnerability of your identity but also recognizing the strength of your ancestry and embracing that and walking in that and being constantly aware of it. I think James Baldwin said it best: ‘To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.’ But having to always be mindful for the sake of survival. How visible that rage is. Chandler Frierson: These shared experiences that I had 16 | INSIDE UK
Mia Lapointe, from Lewis Center, Ohio, is a sophomore with a double major in political science and African American studies. Last year, she participated in the Audre Lorde Social Justice Living Learning Program at UK. Her work to address racism within education began in high school, when she joined the Black Students of Olentangy. This summer, she helped form a group called SADIE (Student Association for Diversity Inclusion in Education) to continue that work.
as a Black male, I feel intertwined with this whole idea of being Black. And to me, it’s about the struggle, the pain, the heartfelt moments, the connection, the rhythm, the beat, the— I don’t know. It’s just kind of this intangible type of entity that connects all of these Black people together and it’s just that shared experience for me that’s so beautiful. And then how my experience has been different because of the color of my skin and I think that there’s a lot of things that come with that that are negative, that a lot of us would see as negative. But on the other hand, there’s a lot of things that I’ve learned from being Black and I think that intrinsically it’s made me to be an overcomer. So I just find beauty in the shared experience and the way that I’ve been equipped as an individual because I’m Black. WHAT ARE SOME CHALLENGES YOU’VE FACED, IF ANY, BECAUSE OF YOUR RACE? Khari Gardner: It’s different when you feel like the police don’t protect you. I know I’ve had multiple instances
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BRANDON COLBERT | 22 Brandon Colbert, from Louisville, Kentucky, is a May 2019 graduate with a BA in communication. As a student, he was one of the principal co-organizers for the Black Student Advisory Council. Colbert is now a coordinator for Social Justice Education and Engagement in the Division of Academic and Student Affairs at UK.
Jaida Hampton, from the southside of Chicago, Illinois, is a May 2020 graduate with a BA in political science. Currently, she is the Kentucky State Conference Youth & College Division President and oversees all the councils and college chapters across the state of Kentucky. Hampton was one of the 87 people arrested on Daniel Cameron’s lawn on July 14 while protesting for justice for Breonna Taylor.
where I’ve seen friends get, you know, harassed by police, where I’ve been just hanging outside and being harassed by police, where I’ve been stopped by officers for no reason. You know, it’s something that’s really indescribable— the fear of someone who’s supposed to be a public servant. Chandler Frierson: Coming to school, especially at the University of Kentucky, it’s been extremely apparent to me that my blackness in this setting is looked differently upon, like in a negative way, like I have to overperform and people are always surprised I’m smart and teachers are surprised. Or I’m the first person they call on to speak for Black people as a whole or they’re surprised that I’m on time, or surprised that I’m sitting in the front row of the classroom. Just stuff like that that I have to deal with on a daily basis. Jaida Hampton: Even at the University of Kentucky there are limited opportunities. And so when I did my internship for WilDCats at the Capitol, it was like I had
to work 10 times harder just to fulfill my duties of being an intern and getting scholarships compared to my white counterparts. WHAT WERE YOUR VIEWS ON RACE AND DIVERSITY BEFORE COLLEGE? NOW? Khari Gardner: I kind of glossed over the fact of some of the lack of diversity and inclusion at UK when I chose to come here… I had experiences at the beginning of my college career which were very intense and really shook me to my core. You know I never had dealt with really overt racism in such a way. I was followed back to my dorm. I’ve been called racial slurs from people at my dorm. So it’s something that I didn’t expect to be at the forefront of my college experience, but it’s transitioned into that… It just reignited some type of passion I had for, you know, to make the spaces more inclusive and diverse and to see things that I wasn’t seeing before. Brandon Colbert: I saw myself as a gifted Black person KENTUCKY KERNEL | 17
who was the exception to what I was shown of what the caricature of what a Black person is, and because I centered myself I wasn’t able to see the fact that it wasn’t that I was, I guess, so exceptional but that other individuals had been so hindered by these systems and inequities in these systems, these systemic issues. And so learning from the time from junior, senior year of high school throughout college and even now, doing the work that I do, learning that really this happens on much more than an individual level was probably the biggest change I would say that has happened in my perception. Mia Lapointe: Not only did Audre Lorde identify as multiple different minority groups, if you will, but she also was an activist for each and every one of them altogether because she brought up the point that if you’re against one ‘minority’ group then technically you’re against them all. And that’s something that’s always stuck with me. For example, racism is another ugly form of sexism, it’s another ugly form of ageism, it’s another ugly form of ableism. So on, so forth. So that really kind of rammed home. If one of us isn’t free then all of us aren’t free, to quote a Black Lives Matter quote.
DO YOU THINK UK IS A SAFE, WELCOMING AND UNDERSTANDING UNIVERSITY FOR BLACK STUDENTS? Brandon Colbert: When I was a student, there were a lot of instances where Black students had to be very intentional about centering blackness. I think as UK continues to strive to better their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, we can get more comfortable centering blackness and not making it feel like a sort of otherness that Black students tend to feel. And as we strive for that, we can get to a place to where UK is a safe, welcoming, and understanding environment for students. Chandler Frierson: I would say the University of Kentucky promotes diversity, but I would say that that’s about it. Everything else is surface level. Inclusion to me is surface level. It’s not well thought out. It’s very whitewashed, if you will. Like if you let white people as a group define what diversity and inclusion look like, I feel like that’s what UK is. Jaida Hampton: No. I recall having to create our own spaces. Luckily NAACP was able to get an office but
PHOTO BY ISAAC JANSSEN
Chandler Frierson on July 20, 2020, in Lexington, Kentucky. 18 | INSIDE UK
before then, all we had was the MLK Center. And so it was like we had to create spaces within our own living situations, like our dorms, spaces on campus. And so I think that no, it’s not a safe community at all and we’re still fighting through that. Mia Lapointe: I believe they’re very welcoming because they want those diversity numbers. Every university, every school, every job wants those diversity numbers. They want you to be a statistic. They want to be able to paste you on all their little brochures and flyers or whatever showing, ‘We have diverse community.’ Whatever.
als. Being an activist to me doesn’t mean that you go out and protest at every protest, you don’t write every letter that there is to write, you don’t email every politician that there is to email, or call or whatever. It’s being willing to take the extra step other than just posting a black screen on your Instagram. It’s more than just retweeting someone else’s words. It’s going out and saying something yourself and providing your voice in the dialogue in support of yourself and others. DO YOU THINK UK IS TRYING AND SUCCEEDING TO HELP ITS BLACK COMMUNITY? Brandon Colbert: I definitely do. I am part of UK’s effort in doing so. And so I definitely feel that as an institution we are working to rectify that.
HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE AN ACTIVIST? Khari Gardner: Activism comes in lots of ways… I can tell you it’s not posting a black square on Insta- Jaida Hampton: I will put a hard emphasis on trying. gram and calling it a day. It’s not making sure you get, They’re trying… The plans we’re asking for now, how you know, your sign up on Snapchat for the clout and long will that take? Are we looking at a five to 10-year everything. It’s not that. What it is is actively educating span as well for a change? Mia Lapointe: They’re people and advocating just riding the wave of for a better communipopularity because it’s ty. Now there’s a lot of good and it gives good ways to do that. I’m not rep. And all the universaying everybody has sities and schools, in to be out in the streets, my opinion, see what not everybody has to JAIDA HAMPTON they have to do is make be making the calls and donating money. But at the same time, if you take the bare, bare, bare minimum efforts to show that, yes, we time to educate yourself and educate others around you are going to do something, that way they have positive and have them start to learn that our communities can press and then they just ride the wave and let it die down and then they drop all their efforts. be better, you’re an activist in your own way.
“If I was to define an activist,
they’re for the movement and not the moment.”
Jaida Hampton: I would define an activist as someone who put others first. I’ve been a part of NAACP for probably about five years now and at that time I just saw it as something to do. Like I would still go out and live my regular life and then I would probably carve out five percent to give to NAACP. But now it’s 100 percent. I’m giving 100 percent not just to the organization but to the people and all. And I feel like with every great activist and leader gives 100 percent, if not more. And they always put themselves last. And so now it’s like I have no problem with my social media just being full-on for the movement because to me it’s movement and not a moment. And I think that’s another thing: If I was to define an activist, they’re for the movement and not the moment. Mia Lapointe: Someone who is able and willing to knowledgeably speak on subjects of diverse individu-
WHAT DO YOU THINK UK NEEDS TO DO TO HELP ITS BLACK COMMUNITY? Chandler Frierson: I think that making fundamental, foundational commitments to this work and commitments that are not tied to a time period, commitments that are not dependent upon leadership or who the president is or who’s this person in this office. People should be able to rotate in and out, and the mission should stay the same. So I think that when it becomes a part of the culture, when it makes it into the mission statement of what’s the purpose of this university here in the Bluegrass, what do we want to do as a university, what do we want to be known for… I think that when it makes it up there to what they truly, truly care about, I think that that’s when some work can actually be done because honestly right now, and I told this to administrators, to me this is the makeup exam. All of the work that you’re doing now is the makeup exam KENTUCKY KERNEL | 19
because we’ve been telling you for years. I can personally attest for the past threeand-a-half years we’ve been telling you this. And there’s students that can attest for that since Black students have been on this campus. We’ve been telling you how you can serve Black students and now you care when there’s some heat and when there’s some pressure. This is a makeup exam. And you know, in my family we don’t celebrate
PHOTO BY HANNAH PHILLIPS
Brandon Colbert on July 25, 2020, in Lexington, Kentucky. good grades on makeup exams. The best you can get is a 50 percent. Mia Lapointe: I think the things that UK needs to do the most first of all is listen. Like not just, ‘Oh, we’re in a room with you. We hear you.’ But actually hear what Black students or diverse students in general are saying. See it, hear it, roll it over in your mind. You’re thinking about it. You’re actively listening versus passively listening. 20 | INSIDE UK
So the first step is to actually actively listen to your students and what the students need. WHAT IS YOUR GOAL FOR BEING AN ACTIVIST AT UK? Khari Gardner: My goal is to just make sure I made a difference so that somebody, anybody who decides to be part of the Wildcat community in the future, feels a lot better and included and safe than I did. You know, I’ve always felt that walking in the classrooms in Gatton that I was the odd man out, I was the only Black student in a lot of my classes. I don’t want nobody to ever have to feel like they don’t belong in an institution that they fought to get into and that they worked hard to get into, that they had to go through unimaginable life humps to continue on their journey. I don’t want anybody to ever feel like they don’t belong. Brandon Colbert: My goal is to create spaces, ultimately, at an entire campus where people feel comfortable being their authentic selves. Not only to feel comfortable— they feel safe being their authentic selves. This is not just Black people, though. This is anyone, regardless of their race, their gender, their sexual orientation, their ability. Being able to name that you are who you are, especially those people who belong to groups that you still see marginalized and oppressed and discriminated against. Those people are who I hope to make space for or make spaces for on campus that they are safe in and comfortable in. Chandler Frierson: I want to be able to come back like five years from now and I want Black students to be able to be students, Black and brown students to be able to be students. That’s literally my goal. It’s for us to be able to be students, to be able to be worried about our schoolwork, and to be able to get an education and not have to fight just to exist on this campus. That’s literally all I want. •
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‘TIME TO ACT’ UK ADMINISTRATION RESPONDS TO RACIAL JUSTICE PROTESTS, CONCERNS OF BLACK STUDENTS BY UK PRESIDENT ELI CAPILOUTO
The following response from the UK administration to the concerns of Black students and activists comes from President Eli Capilouto’s letter to campus on June 19 and from information provided by UK spokesperson Jay Blanton. Dear Campus Community, This afternoon [June 19], I had the honor again of representing you— and your outstanding work— before our Board of Trustees. It is clear that our board has a deep sense of faith in you and an abiding sense of commitment to this special place. It is also clear that they are confident, as I am, that we can meet this moment— a time of unprecedented challenge for UK and, in so many ways, for our country.
in speeches and videos, commemorations and marches— that our intent is to do better. It is time to act. Today, we acted. We announced the first steps in what will be a comprehensive effort and commitment to an action plan, designed to accelerate progress at UK for Black members of our community and for diversity across our campus. Some of our first steps include: •
As one writer recently noted, we are in the midst of a “collision of crises.” To that end, we provided board members with an update on the restart playbook that we released earlier this week. It’s the product of thousands of comments from you and the tireless work of more than 500 members of our community. We also focused on the other historic challenge confronting us— the pain and stain of systemic racism that has prompted weeks of demonstrations across our country. The names of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and one of our former students, Breonna Taylor, have been painfully etched in our hearts and minds. But we must do more than remember. We must do more than give voice to our pain. We must do more than recite— INSIDE UK 22 | INSIDE UK
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Starting with this academic year, Juneteenth— June 19— will be a university holiday. That marks the day in 1865 when enslaved Texans learned they were free— the last remaining enslaved African Americans— more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Requiring cultural proficiency training for all faculty and teaching assistants; training on handling race discussions in the classroom; diversity and inclusion training for students prior to the start of the fall semester; and strengthening the diversity curriculum for UK 101. Earmarking more funds for greater diversity faculty and staff recruitment. Creating a mini-internship program and developing a student advisory group to
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increase the pipeline toward careers in higher education. Expanding the university’s supplier diversity purchasing program. Empaneling a principles of community committee (evaluate Creed and Code). Conducting a facilities audit as part of the development of a diversity/inclusivity master plan for the campus and creating a “percent for art fund” in which dollars for large capital construction projects would be earmarked to purchase diverse and inclusive art. Building out the development of— and consistency in policies around— diversity and inclusion officers within each UK college. Creating a research alliance— as UK did in response to the coronavirus— to study and develop strategies around the reduction of social and racial injustice and health disparities.
The action steps will be developed over the next several weeks and months. All of them will be put into motion by the end of the fall semester, and we will be communicating consistently and repeatedly throughout this process as we must involve our entire campus community in this effort. I read an interview recently with Vanessa Holden, an assistant professor of history and African American and Africana studies at UK, about the beginnings of slavery in 1619. Her words remind all of us of the paradox of history— moments of deep pain and peril, but also promise and potential. We can choose which path we take. “It is hard to move on,” Professor Holden said, “when you don’t know where you’ve been or where you’re at now. Slavery is everywhere. It’s in our architecture, our city plans and layouts, our place names, and our cultural institutions like our music, bourbon, and horses. Enslaved people’s labor, lives, and experiences shaped our state and our nation. 1619 is one beginning. But Kentucky has many other beginnings of its own. History is full of beginnings and the present can be one too.” Let us remember that history is full of beginnings. Let us be guided by the idea that the present can be one, too. Let us commit today to a new beginning, one from which we will not retreat ever again.
FROM UK SPOKESPERSON JAY BLANTON: There has been some real progress in recent years, not nearly enough as the president has stated, but it does create something of a foundation, we hope, to make much more progress: • We recently marked record six-year graduation rates for both underrepresented minority (URM) students and low-income students. Between 2011-12 and 2019-20, for URM students there was a 4.9 percentage point increase; for low-income students, there was a 9-percentage point increase. • A recent study featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education found that UK was among the top public flagship universities in the country in campus diversity. • Since 2011, UK is responsible for 80 percent of the growth in Black and African American students among all colleges and universities in Kentucky. • For the third consecutive year, the University of Kentucky received INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine’s highest honor: Diversity Champion. • The oldest and largest publication and website in higher education today, INSIGHT Into Diversity, recognized UK with a 2019 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award, also for the third year in a row. • The Campus Pride Index, the premier national benchmarking tool for LGBTQ* campus environments, gave UK 5/5 stars for its LGBTQ*-inclusive policies, programming and practices. • For the Parker Scholarship, scholarships in which diversity can be a factor in the award, total funding has increased from about $8.4 million in 2011-12 to a little over $14 million in 2018-19. It was $5 million in 2007-2008.
ELI CAPILOUTO KENTUCKY KERNEL | 23
DREAMING IN DENIM 24 | INSIDE UK
SUMMER 2020 KRNL LIFESTYLE + FASHION
KENTUCKY KERNEL | 24
PHOTO BY ISAAC JANSSEN
Nicolas Torres models in KRNL Lifestyle + Fashion’s summer 2020 fashion shoot, Dreaming in Denim, on May 9, 2020, in Lexington, Kentucky. KENTUCKY KERNEL | 25
PHOTO BY AMBER RITSCHEL
Anna Byerley models in KRNL Lifestyle + Fashion’s summer 2020 fashion shoot, Dreaming in Denim, on May 9, 2020, in Lexington, Kentucky.
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PHOTO BY AMBER RITSCHEL
Leanna Williams models in KRNL Lifestyle + Fashion’s summer 2020 fashion shoot, Dreaming in Denim, on May 9, 2020, in Lexington, Kentucky.
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PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLUBB
Kentucky quarterback Lynn Bowden Jr. and running back A.J. Rose celebrate after a UK touchdown during UK’s game against the University of Missouri on Oct. 26, 2019, at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky.
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF BAILEY VANDIVER
WRITERS ALLIE DIGGS AKHIRA UMAR BAILEY VANDIVER PHOTOGRAPHERS MICHAEL CLUBB ISAAC JANSSEN HANNAH PHILLIPS JORDAN PRATHER AMBER RITSCHEL ARDEN BARNES DESIGNER KENDALL BORON
BEHIND THE SCENES MAY MAY BARTON RYAN CRAIG ANDREA GIUSTI DAVID STEPHENSON
CONTRIBUTO R S KENTUCKY KERNEL | 31
74 YEARS OF SERVING KENTUCKY.
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