K-State selected as Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Campus Center
Friday, Nov. 18, 2022
Tia Brown McNair, vice president of diversity, equity and student success and the executive director of the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Campus Centers program at the American Association of Colleges and Universities, congratulates Kansas State University on its selection as a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Campus Center.
MANHATTAN — Kansas State University is meeting a significant goal in its Action Plan for a More Diverse and Inclusive K-State with its selection by the American Association of Colleges and Universities to be home to a Truth Racial Healing and Transformation Campus Center.
The association announced its fall 2022 cohort of Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation, or TRHT, Campus Centers on Nov. 17. The program works with higher education institutions to prepare the next generation of leaders to break down systemic racism and dismantle belief in a hierarchy of human value. K-State joins 71 higher education institutions in the national program. K-State is the second higher education institution and the first university in Kansas selected for the program. Bethel College also hosts a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Center.
Implementing a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation framework at K-State is action step No. 8 in the university's diversity and inclusion action plan, launched in summer 2020 to address racial inequity and social injustice at K-State.
The university's center will focus on creating awareness about racism's effects and promoting racial and social justice, said Corey Williamson, executive director of the K-State Student Union and leader of the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Framework Action Team, which includes representatives from the Office of the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Division of Student Life, Office of the Provost and the Office of the Manhattan City Manager.
"K-State envisions a TRHT Campus Center that advocates for underserved populations, strives to eliminate hatred and prejudice, and amplifies historically silenced or ignored voices," Williamson said. "The goals of the center are to tell the inclusive history of the university, implement racial healing circles, enhance the wellness capacity within the university and surrounding communities, and engage community partners in TRTH work."
Learn more about the center and its action plan at k-state.edu/diversity-inclusion/initiatives/action-plan/students/truth-racial-healing-transformation-framework.
Establishing a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation framework at K-State has been a priority for Be Stoney, K-State interim chief diversity and inclusion officer, and Thomas Lane, K-State vice president for student life and dean of students.
"K-State must continue to cultivate a sense of belonging while removing barriers to equitable access to a college education," Lane said. "Our participation as a TRHT campus will help our students, staff, faculty and community members grow intellectually, socially, economically and civically. Our selection as a THRT Campus Center campus reinforces K-State’s commitment to building affirming environments and learning communities that value our backgrounds and intersectionalities and contributes to the inherent dignity and growth of us all."
K-State was selected to participate in the American Association of Colleges and Universities' 2022 Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Summer Institute this summer. At the institute, the K-State team worked with teams from existing Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation institutions to develop the university action plan for the center.
"Our shared goal is to dismantle the false belief in a hierarchy of human value that fuels our structures, our systems and our policies, promote inequities and serve as barriers to equal opportunity for us all. We also seek to prepare the next generation of leaders to build more just and equitable communities," said Tia Brown McNair, vice president of diversity, equity and student success and the executive director of the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Campus Centers program at the American Association of Colleges and Universities. McNair made the remarks in a video welcoming K-State as a new TRHT Campus Center for the recently concluded KSUnite Conference on campus.
