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In Response To Student Protests, KU Hires New Director Of Multicultural Affairs

University of Kansas

The Office of Multicultural Affairs at the University of Kansas has named a permanent director after student protests last month.

Precious Porras has been interim director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs since May and will become its new director on Jan. 4. She joined the office in 2005 and was named its program coordinator of diversity education the next year.

Her appointment comes more than a month after protests led by a student group called Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk that says KU administrators haven't made progress on fixing problems faced by minority and "marginalized" students. Porras says the student group has worked hard to engage in conversation since the protest.

"As a result a lot of amazing changes are happening on campus," Porras says. "Lots of students, faculty and staff are having conversations, and we're in a really great place to push the envelope in make actual change on campus around inclusion and diversity."

Porras says the office is planning more training and focusing on retaining more students of color at KU. Porras expects to finish a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies at the university next year. She's one of just a few women to hold the position of director since the department was created in the 60s.

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Carla Eckels is assistant news director and the host of Soulsations. Follow her on Twitter @Eckels.

To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.

Carla Eckels is Director of Organizational Culture at KMUW. She produces and hosts the R&B and gospel show Soulsations and brings stories of race and culture to The Range with the monthly segment In the Mix. Carla was inducted into The Kansas African American Museum's Trailblazers Hall of Fame in 2020 for her work in broadcast/journalism.