University of Missouri-Kansas City Pledges to Boost Recruitment of Black Students and Faculty and to Build a Strong Black Studies Program

Guy Bailey, the chancellor of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Anita Russell, president of the Kansas City chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Under the agreement, which was brokered by the U.S. Justice Department’s Community Relations Service, the university pledges to increase the recruitment of black students and black faculty, to build a strong black studies program, and to act quickly to investigate complaints of racial discrimination.

The NAACP agreed to help the university reach the goals outlined in the memorandum and to meet quarterly with administrators of the university to discuss the progress in achieving these goals.

Currently blacks make up 12.5 percent of the 9,500-member undergraduate student body at the university.

Readers who want to read the entire 17-page memorandum of understanding can do so by clicking here.

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