Update: Matt Keith, the director of communications for the Kansas Board of Regents, said in an email that while The Tilford Conference, an event hosted on a rotating basis by different KBOR universities is not being held this year, The Tilford Commission is a “WSU Entity and I’m not familiar with it.”
On March 26, Wichita State’s Student Government Association Senate voted to give $9,000 in student fee funding to The Tilford Commission, an organization that no longer exists.
According to a page of the university’s website that also no longer exists, The Tilford Commission was “a campus-wide group of faculty, staff and students dedicated to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion at Wichita State University.”
On Wednesday, April 2, when the Senate discussed passing the $9,000 of funding for the commission, it learned that The Tilford Commission, a statewide program under the Kansas Board of Regents — the body that oversees higher education in Kansas — was discontinued in February.
According to Gabriel Fonseca, SGA’s adviser, The Tilford Commission’s director of operations, Tia Owens, who spoke at the March 26 Senate meeting to ask for the funding, was apparently not informed that the commission she was advocating for no longer existed.
In light of the news, which appeared to surprise most senators, the Senate broke from its traditional student fee proceedings. Typically, the Senate follows a three-week process in which it must repeatedly vote on student fees. However, after declining to move funds to the non-existent Tilford Commission, the Senate voted to make the final decision then and there and passed the recommended student fee allocations.
Why was the commission discontinued?
Fonseca said he had no concrete answer as to why KBOR decided to end the commission.
However, Government Oversight Chairperson and Finance Commissioner Andrew Bobbitt alleged that the change was due to shifting policies in regards to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at the state and federal levels.
“It’s been indicated to me that this program was slated for review and ultimately dissolved as a result of some of those changes that are occurring,” Bobbitt said. “… I think this is the beginning of the end. A lot of programs are currently being reviewed.”
The Sunflower contacted KBOR and has not received a response.
Funding concerns
Sen. Josh Mallard questioned what would happen to SGA funding already given to different agencies, departments and organizations if those organizations were discontinued due to DEI challenges.
Fonseca said that the Senate may have the ability to recall funds if that were to occur.
Bobbitt said that the situation added to his concerns about the management finances, stemming from the shortfalls that SGA is facing for 2025 and 2026.
The 2025 shortfall was caused by an oversight in the estimate for student fee revenue. Students in the Teacher Apprentice Program, who do not pay typical student fees, were counted within the student fee tier system. Combined with a decline in international student enrollment, this resulted in a roughly $900,000 shortfall for 2026.
“At this point, I have no faith in the university’s financial systems to actually be able to account for student dollars,” Bobbitt said.
The student fee act must be approved by SGA treasurer Jia Wen Wang, Student Body President Kylee Hower and university President Richard Muma. It will then be sent to KBOR for approval.
