By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
At Tuesday’s Barton Community College Board of Trustees meeting, Vice President of Student Services Angie Maddy revealed responses from a survey reflecting students and employees. From the 288 responses, the majority of the entries had positive comments or ratings on their experience at Barton.
One
area of concern that Maddy addressed were the responses to the question, “Over
the past 12 months, have you ever experienced discriminatory events at Barton
because of your political orientation?” Of the answers, 22% of the students
said they experienced discriminatory events one to two times.
"I always tell the students I hope they make friends and meet people they like," said Maddy. "I hope that they will look out for each other and be good neighbors. I tell them that they don't have to be friends with each other but you do have to be civil to each other. So I bring it down to...at the very least be respectful to each other."
The survey results came from the spring 2022 semester, and only 4% of the
employees surveyed stated they experienced discriminatory events because of
their political orientation. Trustees Chairman Mike Johnson said some of those
experiences may have happened off campus and also may be a reflection of a
change in times.
"In today's society, I think a lot of people view a lot of things discriminatory that were never thought that before in the past," said Johnson. "I think that's a societal issue."
When asked if they were treated with respect at Barton, 84% of the student
responses agreed and zero percent disagreed.