Complying with a new Kansas Board of Regents directive

Colleagues,

Following the passage of a budget proviso directed towards various DEI measures at state agencies, the Kansas Board of Regents has recently issued the following directive to state universities, effective no later than July 31, 2025, to:

1. eliminate any positions that relate to diversity, equity and inclusion;
2. eliminate any mandates, policies, programs, preferences and activities relating to diversity, equity and inclusion;
3. eliminate any training requirements in diversity, equity and inclusion for any employee;
4. cancel any state grants or contracts relating to diversity, equity and inclusion; and
5. remove gender identifying pronouns or gender ideology from email signature blocks on state employee's email accounts and any other form of communication.

Items 1 through 4 of the directive have already been addressed at KU. Item 5 now needs your involvement.

In keeping with the Regents directive, university employees – including student employees – are required to remove gender-identifying pronouns or gender ideology from the signature blocks of their state email accounts (including but not limited to ku.edu, kumc.edu, kletc.org, and all affiliated organizations using ku.edu or kumc.edu accounts), and other forms of university communication conducted pursuant to the employees’ official duties.

Expectations of Compliance

The deadline for complying with the proviso is July 31. All employees shall comply with this directive by removing gender-identifying pronouns and personal pronoun series from their KU email signature blocks, webpages and Zoom/Teams screen IDs, and any other form of university communications.

Employees who need assistance revising their email signature block setting should use the help feature in Outlook or refer to the KU IT Knowledge Base. Please remember, your KU email account is your only official means for sending emails related to your employment at the university. Do not use an alternate third-party service, such as Gmail, to conduct university business or communications.

KU Information Technology will remove the gender pronoun field from the “people” pages on websites by July 31. There may be other webpages or bios that contain personal pronoun series that will need to be addressed individually.

Business cards, multi-use name badges and stationery with gender-identifying pronouns do not need to be discarded; rather, they should be updated as production cycles and budgets allow.

A policy has been developed to clarify our responsibilities under the proviso. The policy is available online in our Policy Library.

Supervisors

Prior to the July 31 deadline, supervisors should direct all employees who report in your unit (including student employees) to comply with the new email signature block requirement. Employees who have not complied with the new proviso by July 31 should be reminded of it and the deadline to comply. If after additional discussion, an employee does not comply, please contact Human Resources at hrdept@ku.edu for guidance on appropriate next steps.

Support

Each Jayhawk contributes to the community of learning and growth that is KU. Our community is founded on the respect and support we each provide to others. If you know of a student, staff, or faculty member who needs assistance as a result of this new requirement, please consider submitting a Support and Care referral.

At KU, we elevate the university and each other through our mission of education, research and service. Thank you for your dedication to the university and the people we serve.

Respectfully,

Doug, Barb and Steve

Douglas A. Girod
Chancellor

Barbara A. Bichelmeyer 
Chief Academic Officer/Provost & Executive Vice Chancellor for KU-Lawrence & Edwards

Steve Stites
Chief Health Sciences Officer & Executive Vice Chancellor for KU Medical Center