Kevin Wright is a member of the inaugural team that launched the office of student diversity and social justice in the Division Student Affairs. Now its assistant director for student diversity, he is focused on influencing institutional and systemic change and empowering students who hold historically marginalized identities. The former bodyguard and poetry buff learned his approach to work and life at an early age with the women in his home who encouraged him to question the systems around him. He is pursuing a doctorate of education in organizational leadership at Northcentral University. He holds a master’s degree in student affairs administration from Lewis & Clark College, and a bachelor’s degree in business communications from Northern Arizona University.
What is your job in the student diversity and social justice?
I serve as the inaugural assistant director for student diversity. My main priorities involve overseeing student diversity and social justice’s social media, website, internal recruitment, and administrative process, advocating for all students who hold historically marginalized identities, and executing large-scale programming such as the Multicultural Mixer and Festival of Communities.
How did you become involved in social justice?
I don’t exactly know when, to be honest. I was raised in a household of Black womxn who taught me to challenge and question things that didn’t seem right to me. At first, I thought I was a person that asked too many questions until someone told me my questions could lead to people having critical and necessary conversations that could lead to effective change. I developed the habit of questioning things that didn’t seem right to me, in hopes I could change them.
When I was a senior in high school, we had a lot of teacher turnover. So, my cohort ended up having lots of substitute and temporary teachers. They were all phenomenal people, but as a result of constant turnover, there was a lot of inconsistency in grading or the teachers fell behind in the grading. By the time our mid-term grades came out, it looked like everyone in my program was struggling. This program also happened to have the most ethnic diversity. About then, a teacher nudged me and encouraged me to question the grading. My peers and I challenged school administrators to take a look at what was going on. Unfortunately, we were suspended indefinitely because of our "radical" behavior. After our suspension, other students at the school started a petition, and within 24 hours, the suspension was reversed and the grading policy was changed.
From that point on, I questioned issues within the education system, the health care system, the environment, and historically marginalized identities. Eventually, someone told me that what I was doing was a form of social justice, and the rest is history.
What is the biggest challenge in your field?
White supremacy.
You are a founding member of the Anti-Black Racism Task Force. Tell us why 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ needs this campuswide focus now.
In light of the multiple events on campus that targeted students within the African diaspora — for instance, the note that was found in the Lied Library last year threatening Black students and supporters of Bernie Sanders — it is imperative to have a focus on addressing anti-Black racism to prevent such incidents from happening at 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ. (The African diaspora, for people who may not be familiar with the term, refers to anyone whose lineage can be traced back to the continent of Africa, and acknowledges the mass dispersion of people who were taken from their land and transported to the Americas and the Caribbean.)
Black students already contend every day with social and systemic threats to their