#weCUkennedy

April 15, 2021

#weCUkennedy

University of Colorado Board of Regents:

We the students, staff, faculty and administration of the University of Colorado, as well as members of the university’s community, write to express our sentiments regarding University of Colorado (CU) President Mark Kennedy ahead of his annual review that will take place at the Board of Regents’ meeting on June 17, 2021.

We are calling for President Kennedy's contract to be terminated by the Regents because of his long and consistent history of racist, sexist, and homophobic words and actions. Furthermore, we are calling for a re-evaluation of the hiring policies and practices that led to his selection.

Eradicating systemic racism requires systemic change. Systemic change happens by challenging and changing every process and policy that drives daily business. This requires conviction and leadership. It requires education as to what racism is in 2021 (as opposed to what we were told when we were younger), what racism in academia looks like, and then a re-education of both. Most importantly, it requires practice. This translates to this work becoming part of our daily practice.

Instead of witnessing daily practice on the part of CU President Mark Kennedy, we have witnessed harm, thoughtlessness, and performative apologies when (and only when) community members have called him out. His apologies carry no meaning because they do not demonstrate understanding of the harm he has caused. He continues to make similar mistakes without a willingness to learn from them. We are deeply disappointed in CU President Mark Kennedy’s performance as a leader and representative of the CU community in regards to striving to be an anti-racist institution. Words matter; what does it say to the nation and world when CU’s leader cannot lead?

diversifyCUnow compiled public records about the history of CU President Mark Kennedy’s racist and problematic statements and actions. Although this collection may not cover all of CU President Mark Kennedy’s actions, the four-part timeline gives valuable insight into his behavior. The timeline can be found at www.diversifyCUnow.com/kennedytimeline. We ask for you to review it as you may come to realize that there is not only failed leadership regarding anti-racism work but instead, and even worse, a pattern of disturbing behavior displayed by CU President Mark Kennedy.

Consider this letter as community feedback of our displeasure of CU President Mark Kennedy, as well as a demand that you take action during CU President Mark Kennedy’s annual review. If CU President Mark Kennedy is not removed, he will continue to inflict harm and to actively detract from our community's aspirations to behave in a way that is socially just, culturally inclusive, and actively anti-racist.

Kennedy's words and actions are unjustifiable. However, they are symptoms of a wider, racist culture that unjustifiably centers whiteness, especially heteronormative, male whiteness. His appointment as the CU System's president, despite his history, is also a symptom of the systemic problems of racism and white supremacy culture that permeate CU and our society. To achieve lasting, systemic change at our university as we strive to be an actively anti-racist institution, we must have a leader who has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to that change.

Mark Kennedy is not that leader.

Here we provide several examples from diversifyCUnow’s website where full citations are provided (listed in reverse chronological order):

March 2021: President Mark Kennedy did not release a statement of solidarity with the Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) peoples after the shooting in Atlanta. Instead, he “paralleled” his support for the AAPI community in a statement following the mass shootings in Boulder.
October 2020: President Mark Kennedy failed to protect the university’s academic freedom and free speech by not resisting the Trump administration’s executive orders around international student visas and anti-equity training.
October 2020: President Mark Kennedy released a Land Recognition statement that described the genocide experienced by Indigenous People as “ill treatment,” grossly minimizing and mischaracterizing that genocide.
September 2020: President Mark Kennedy said the “drumbeat of activity” on campus will pick up in the spring, drawing on harmful racialized tropes. He again apologized for his “poor choice of words” but provided no indication that he understood why his comment was harmful.
August 2020: President Mark Kennedy compared the lack of online education options to the Trail of Tears, an act of genocide by the United States government to remove Indigenous people from the U.S. American South. In September 2020, President Mark Kennedy apologized for his “Trail of Tears” statement and said, “I apologize for my poor choice of words” and said he “can and will do better.”
July 2020: President Mark Kennedy’s office sent a memo titled, “Shared Communication Protocol,” calling on communications administrators to “write in purple ink, not blue or red,” when talking about “sensitive topics'' such as race relations, LGBTQ+, First Amendment/free speech, international student visa, DACA, climate change, and more. All statements written in purple ink were directed to be sent to President Mark Kennedy’s office for review before publication, positioning Kennedy as an inappropriate censurer of such statements.
July 2020: During the Trump administration’s anti-international student visa changes, universities around the country signed onto a lawsuit against the changes and rallied around their international student communities. Instead of demonstrating leadership, President Mark Kennedy released a statement only three sentences long that did nothing to alleviate the fears of the international student community. Its brevity and failure to address the seriousness of the Trump administrations’ discriminatory actions showed a lack of respect for the international student community.
January 2020: President Mark Kennedy’s Strategic Plan included a Diversity, Inclusion, Equity & Access pillar that defined a plan for “attracting and graduating an increasingly diverse student body, while embracing the university’s broad definition of diversity.” Such a broad definition likely acted as a roadblock to needed change, and continues to do so.
October 2019: President Mark Kennedy initially refused the advice of the CU Faculty Council and CU Staff Council to include diversity, equity and inclusion as a standalone pillar in his administration’s Strategic Plan.
October 2019: President Mark Kennedy did not use his position as President to publicly support Proposition CC, the push to retain revenue for education, while Colorado public universities posted updates and publicly supported the measure.
April 2019: When answering questions about diversity and inclusion, President Mark Kennedy used “exclusive” several times instead of “inclusive” and otherwise stumbled over language regarding race, sexual orientation, and gender. Some of the time he caught himself and apologized, but other times it was the crowd booing that made him stop and realize his mistake.
April 2019: President Mark Kennedy asked to not answer when asked by a Colorado Public Radio journalist for his thoughts in general on affirmative action in college admissions.
As a US Congressman (2001-2007), Mark Kennedy voted numerous times in ways that harm the LGBTQ+ community, including voting to ban same-sex marriage and define marriage as between one man and one woman. Soon after being hired at CU in April 2019, President Mark Kennedy wrote an open letter to the community where he stated his position on marriage had “evolved” and he pledged “to foster a welcoming, safe and inclusive environment at CU.” No specific plans were offered.

The students, staff, faculty and administration of the University of Colorado, as well as members of the university’s community, as represented by the undersigned co-authors and signatories, therefore call for the termination of CU President Mark Kennedy's contract by the Board of Regents.

You may reach us at diversifyCUnow@gmail.com. Thank you for your consideration.

Holly Olivarez

CU Boulder Diversity Scholarship Recipient

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow

Environmental Studies Program

Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR)