Eli Capilouto) VER2

UKY Video Production | 2019-02-24 BTB (Eli Capilouto) VER2 (SINGING) On, on, U of K. We are right for the fight today. Hold that ball and hit that line. Every Wildcat star will shine. We'll fight, fight, fight for the blue and white. [MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER: From the campus of the University of Kentucky, you're listening to Behind the Blue. KODY KISER: This year marks the 70th year of integration at the University of Kentucky due to the efforts of Lyman T. Johnson, who broke the color barrier with his successful legal challenge in 1949. As progress has been made since that time, more can and will be done. I'm Kody Kiser with UK PR and marketing. On this edition of Behind the Blue, University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto sat down with UK Public Relations and Strategic Communications Intern Aaron Porter Jr. to discuss the importance of Lyman T. Johnson's historic action, the progress the school has made, and more room for improvement in the areas of belonging and diversity on UK's campus. AARON PORTER: My name is Aaron Porter. And today, we have the 12th president of the University of Kentucky with us today, President Eli Capilouto. We thank you for coming in today, sir. How are you doing today? ELI CAPILOUTO: I'm great, Aaron. How are you? AARON PORTER: I'm good. I'm good. As you know, February is-- well, 2019 the year marks the 17th year of integration here on UK's campus. 70 years ago, Lyman T. Johnson broke down the racial barriers here at the University of Kentucky being the first African-American to attend the university. What does that mean to you and what does that mean to this university as well? ELI CAPILOUTO: I think Lyman T. Johnson's story is a powerful one. It's one that we need to pass on to this generation since it's been 70 years. And we need to pass on to the next generation. It is filled with lessons of sort of courage, persistence, perseverance driven by a commitment to fairness and justice. So we can apply all those values and traits today to many things that we have to confront. I believe students will be inspired by the story. One of the powerful images-- and there are many-- of Lyman T. Johnson on this campus-- and I know you'll find busts in different offices around campus of Lyman T. Johnson-- there's a powerful photograph in one of our buildings of Lyman T. Johnson and Thurgood Marshall who represented him. When we have the annual Lyman T. Johnson dinner, I meet those who were close to him and knew him in his time and hear another story one lady told me that they really couldn't get any office space when he was working on his case. And he and Thurgood Marshall, a future Supreme Court Justice, had to sit in the back of a car and type the brief. So all those stories are rich and the opportunity to retell them and the opportunity to pause and think about our unfinished work. AARON PORTER: So like how do you, being the president, how do you want his legacy or how do you see the university keeping his legacy alive and his spirit going forward with you being the leader of this campus? Do you think about some of the daily things that you spoke about, some of the different issues that you knew about with his journey coming to University of Kentucky? Does that spirit still live in you or in the makeup of the university? Like how do you want his legacy to never not be remembered? ELI CAPILOUTO: I'd have to say personally for me, the 70th anniversary of what he did coincides with my 70th birthday. So it's a milestone for the university, somewhat of a personal milestone. And I think what I've witnessed in my lifetime knowing that some of the things he did opened doors. And I also know that he was a pioneer. And I'm glad to know he's a pioneer in Kentucky. Many of us know that this should have happened earlier. These freedoms and amendments added that guaranteed full access and so forth at the close of the Civil War still were never fulfilled. It took individual and collective bravery like this I think for us to realize. He did this in 1949. Brown vs. Board of Education is handed down five years later. So although we all hope that we would have begun this work a century ago, even with our faults here in Kentucky, we took a big step early. He forced us to. And then I've certainly heard stories of what his courage meant to others who came forward. I know the four men we honor in a statue in front of our football training facility and football stadium, their courage. They're the first to integrate the Southeastern Conference. So I think it's important that we recall those days. We should also pause during this sort of year of observance and celebration to say, what else is there to do? And there's much to do. AARON PORTER: So I want to say two words to you. And I kind of want you to-- the first things that pop into your head when I say these two words and kind of let it be known. So inclusion and belonging, when you hear those two words, what do those two words mean to you? ELI CAPILOUTO: So and as many people have said, there's diversity. We can have representation along all kinds of differences, I'd call them, faith, ethnicities, nationalities, skin color, and one can go on and on. So my vision of belonging and inclusion is one can hold on and be proud of an identity, or a multiple set of identities. Your mind is open to learn and embrace others in terms of their story. And I hope that, at least it's been the case for me, when I profoundly listen, I found I find traction within somebody else's story. I also want that our students-- and it is the case in the United States most of us grew up in some of the neighborhoods where people were very similar to us. You come here, and sometimes, it's the most diverse community you've been involved in. But it is almost certain the case that when you go forward in work and life, you're going to either professionally or personally be in a community that has differences. And I believe your ability to succeed in those future communities depends on how well you master the skill set and develop a comfort level while you're at the University of Kentucky. AARON PORTER: So dealing with those two words, in some instances, we'll see on campus that certain students may not feel the inclusion of belonging that the university puts out there, or they may not have that feeling of I'm welcome in this building, or in this classroom, or in this establishment on campus. And in some cases, if the students aren't the majority, they really feel like they don't include-- they're not included or belong anywhere. To those students, like, what would you want to say to those students who may feel that sense of I don't know where I can fit in on this campus, or I don't know where I can find a home on this campus? What would you say to those students? ELI CAPILOUTO: First of all, I would say I could never know fully what you feel. But I work at trying to understand as best I can what you feel. And I hope we as the collective-- and I believe in the power of we-- if we all take it upon ourselves to develop a deeper sense of empathy to walk in someone else's shoes. I think when we stop to listen, we are going to find our common humanity, those things that inextricably link us together in a common destiny. We work to provide those kinds of opportunities. We certainly have more work to do. We have built spaces here and activities, many around student life or academic programs, where we try to facilitate this. Our numerous living learning communities, the facilities we have where-- someone said to me the other day in the Gatton Student Center. We were having lunch in Champion's Kitchen. And they said, wow, this place is packed. It forces me to sit at a table with people I don't know every day. And that's with purpose. You had to have an attractive place with good food where people wanted to be. But then it lends itself we hope to communication. We also recognize that there's one thing students share here every day. And that is they go to class. And we've undertaken efforts through our self center focuses on learning teaching to provide courses for faculty on how you can handle moments within your class where these issues arise regardless of the discipline you're in with hopes that they can further facilitate. I appreciate the robust activities of different units across campus. Certainly, the Martin Luther King Center comes to mind. I get their weekly email of all their activities. And I'm impressed because within all of those is a deep intention to build community, a sense of belongingness.

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