Multiple groups protested at a University of Kentucky Board of Trustees meeting Friday to advocate for canceled graduation ceremonies and higher stipend pay for students.
UK canceled on-campus graduation events earlier this month amid an anti-DEI push from federal and state lawmakers.
That includes celebrations for Black, LGBTQ+ and first-generation students.
UK President Eli Capilouto said during the meeting that complying with the law was the best way to protect and support students.
Protestors with Lexington activist group Peaceful Bluegrass Resistance sat in on the meeting to disagree. Sam Hacker is a UK student and one of those protestors.
“When the law is targeting specific populations of the university that you are a president of, how can you justify that? Everything that's happening is going completely against the mission statement of the University of Kentucky,” Hacker said.
They were joined by United Campus Workers, a group of grad student activists campaigning for higher stipend pay to cover basic needs.
Amounts currently range as high as $26,000 to as low as $10,000 dollars each year, depending on theprogram. They’ve been campaigning for a baseline of $25,000 each year to help cover basic needs.
Kathryn Copeland is a member of UCW and an instructor at UK. She says the administration has ignored their concerns.
“We decided we just needed to go to Capilouto, since no one else will talk to us. So we wanted to come today, so we have a chance to talk to Capilouto, give him our petition, and know that he's seeing that this is important to us,” Copeland said.
University spokesperson Jay Blanton says UK grants stipends based on an average benchmark from other schools.
“A majority of our academic disciplines or units were already at the benchmark or over it, but we made a commitment to raise those benchmarks up to that average for each discipline,” Blanton said.
The baseline for most stipends will also be raised by 11% next year.
