KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas State University will not expel the student whose insensitive tweets about George Floyd prompted many to urge that he be kicked off campus.
“There have been many calls for us to expel a student who posted racist messages on social media, and while these messages are disrespectful and abhorrent, we cannot violate the law,” K-State President Richard Myers said Wednesday in a statement to the campus community.
“What we can do is use these incidents as a catalyst to more crisply define the way we will work to stop hate at K-State and combat racism on our campuses.”
K-State has been under a national spotlight in recent days since Jaden McNeil, a junior in political science and head of K-State’s controversial America First Students chapter, tweeted about Floyd.
The death of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man killed under the knee of a white police officer on a Minneapolis street in May, sparked protests for Black lives and against police brutality and led to a national reckoning on systemic racism.
McNeil’s tweet — “Congratulations to George Floyd on being drug free for an entire month!” — drew a flood of responses from across the country. Many supported his right to free speech. Most denounced the tweet. K-State students called for him to be expelled. And some K-State athletes said they refused to be involved in any athletic activities on campus until McNeil was gone.
But legal experts have said that it’s a free speech issue and that a public university might not have the right to expel McNeil.
Myers’ statement included a list of action steps the university would take instead, including improving the process for receiving complaints of discrimination, developing a policy on social media usage for students, training for staff, and scholarships for minority students.
The K-State athletic department also announced Wednesday that it would create a more diverse atmosphere and help its athletes combat racism.
That means the Wildcats will institute some new policies, including:
— The launching of a diversity and inclusion fund, which will allow K-Staters to directly support diversity initiatives.
— Mandatory diversity and inclusion training for student athletes, coaches and staff.
— Promote the Black Lives Matter movement at all home games.
— Help all student athletes vote on Nov. 3 by providing transportation to and from voting locations and limiting team activities on that day.
— Julian Jones, who is the assistant athletic director for student-athlete development, will also take on the role of chief diversity officer for the athletics department.
