Wichita State University’s student government has agreed to shut down operations for a week so that its top leaders can undergo emergency diversity training.
The decision was made to help ease tensions between the student government’s president, Paige Hungate, and the peers who are protesting her, The Witchita Eagle reports.
At issue is “an alleged confrontation involving former student president Joseph Shepard and Hungate’s parents. The incident happened after an end-of-year student government banquet,” the Eagle reports. “Shepard says he was called a racial slur by Hungate’s mother and that her father tried to fight him, pushing Shepard’s parents in the process.”
Hungate’s mother, an assistant principal at Wichita Northwest High School, has categorically denied the allegation she used the n-word, and police are still investigating the incident and have not announced any conclusions, the Eagle reports.
Nevertheless, it added, posts about the confrontation spread like wildfire on social media and promoted many students to express concerns that Hungate could not effectively lead the school as student body president.
Hungate stood her ground and refused to step down despite students protesting her, calling her privileged, and presenting her with a list of demands that sought her temporary resignation while the investigation occurs, as well as asking her to declare “Black Lives Matter,” the Sunflower campus news outlet reported.
“I’m not stepping down,” Hungate said.
Truth matters.
— Paige E. Hungate (@pehungate) May 12, 2017
The emergency diversity training was forged as a compromise of sorts.
“The agreement includes a one-week shutdown of the Student Government Association while top student leaders complete diversity training. It also calls for diversity town halls, initiatives for diversity-related content during student orientations, the creation of a multicultural council and several initiatives to support LGBT students,” the Eagle reports.
MORE: Professor faces disciplinary proceedings for calling diversity training a waste of time
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