Statewide Tilford Conference addresses disparity among students

  • Carlos Cedillo-Silva, senior in history, gives a presentation exploring student organizations at Washburn and their history with people of color. Cedillo-Silva discovered through research a collection at the Kansas Historical Society that gave insight into some of the first clubs that existed on Wahsburn’s campus.

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  • Charlize Easter, sophomore in mass media, speaks at a round table discussion as part of the Tilford Conference. The round table discussed inclusion at Washburn and the university’s past history with diversity.

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  • Jane Miller from Fort Hays State University asks Johnson for clarification when talking about assimilation in a negative and positive context. Johnson discussed strategies that universities can implement to help students that feel marginalized.

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  • The audience in the Washburn A/B room applauds Royal Johnson after completing his lecture on structural belonging. Questions were taken from the audience for about 30 minutes following Johnson’s lecture.

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  • Jolene Benham works as one of two American Sign Language interpreters for the Tilford Conference. Benham traded places with Sarah Chambers, the secondary ASL interpreter, throughout the two-hour long keynote speaker session.

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  • Royel Johnson, associate professor of higher education at the University of Southern California, discusses structural belonging. According to Johnson’s research, “structural belonging refers to institutional conditions, policies, practices, and cultural norms that demonstrate that one is accepted, supported, respected, valued by, and important to a community.”

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  • Shayden Hanes, senior in international business and marketing, introduces the second keynote speaker, Royel Johnson. Hanes prepared a speech highlighting Johnson’s accreditations and dedication to the academic field.

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  • Danielle Dempsey-Swopes, director of diversity and inclusion at Washburn, introduces WSGA President Shayden Hanes. Dempsey-Swopes helped organize the Tilford Conference.

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  • Alex Red Corn explains to a large audience of educators the importance of land acknowledgments. Red Corn has also served as the executive director of the Kansas Association for Native American Education.

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  • Alex Red Corn, keynote speaker, discusses tribal lands in Kansas. As a citizen of the Osage Nation and assistant professor of educational leadership at Kansas State University, Red Corn has taught research methods and specializes in autoethnography.

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The Michael Tilford Conference on Diversity and Multiculturalism was held Oct. 6-7, 2022, at Washburn University.

Several dozen professors from universities in Kansas and two other states were on campus to participate in workshops and discuss their work at the conference. The conference is named in honor of Michael Tilford, who was a founding member of the Kansas Board of Regents Diversity and Multiculturalism Committee in 1996.

The research presented will help attendees continue to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in Kansas education so that the full promise of Brown v. Board of Education may one day be realized.

Keynote addresses were delivered by Royel Johnson from the University of Southern California and Alex Red Corn from Kansas State University.

Johnson, who has authored two books, spoke about shifting away from what he calls “deficit mindsets” to more “equity-oriented mindsets.”

“Most of our students’ success is predicated on this idea that in order to be successful at our campus, they have to integrate academically and socially to white-normed environments,” Johnson said. “Some educators wrongly interpret a student’s disengagement as a sign that they don’t care about education. Is it that they don’t care or is it that we haven’t created conditions such that they feel they belong and feel compelled to be engaged?”

Red Corn, the executive director of the Kansas Association for Native American Education, also spoke about the importance of land acknowledgements and how to make them meaningful.

KANAE states on its website that a land acknowledgement “explores the history of the land you currently occupy … and offers recognition, representation and inclusion of current and past Indigenous populations.”

For 50 years, land acknowledgments by institutional organizations have become increasingly more common in Australia, Canada and the United States. Critics from all backgrounds have labeled them as hollow and performative.

“Do you actually want to improve learning about Indigenous peoples and nations? Or are you just trying to check a diversity box?” Red Corn said. “To go beyond the acknowledgement and make them meaningful, we need to have action to go with it.”

Most universities have celebrations, speaker series and identity-based groups which aim to close the cultural gap.

“All of those things are important,” Johnson said. “But they’re not sufficient for addressing the institutional structures that make those programs important in the first place.”

Earlier this year, the Kansas Board of Education formed the Kansas Advisory Council for Indigenous Education to create change. One of the first orders of business is to get schools with offensive mascots and imagery to retire these practices.

“Some folks are privileged to come to campus every day with no consideration of what happens in the world,” Johnson said. “When Black students are protesting statues that honor white men with ties to slavery, they too are raising questions that get to the essence of what it means to belong to a place that doesn’t seem to respect or value your identity.”

Red Corn said KANAE is asking critical questions about student access to teachers and Indigenous languages in Kansas institutions. They are also uncovering how students are invisible to their institutions and work to inform them about the programs and laws stemming from the federal trust responsibility.

“How are we preparing faculty, staff and students – especially those who are white – to interact and collaborate with minoritized students across race, gender, sexual orientation and other marginalized identities?” Johnson said. “So that they’re not reducing belonging for students?”
No university in Kansas governed by the Board of Regents has made an official land acknowledgement, though several schools and organizations within them have posted their own available online.

Edited by LeSha’ Davis, Glorianna Noland