Wichita businessman Jon Rolph’s reappointment to the Board of Regents whipped through the Senate on Wednesday after lingering more than eight months.
The Senate voted 31-3 to approve Gov. Laura Kelly’s reappointment to the board after reservations had been expressed about his views about diversity, equity and inclusion.
Rolph was confirmed with six Republican senators passing, including Senate President Ty Masterson, Senate Majority Leader Larry Alley, Beverly Gossage of Eudora, Renee Erickson of Wichita, J.R. Claeys of Salina and Kellie Warren of Leawood.
“I’m very grateful for the opportunity to serve the state for another term,” Rolph said in an interview. “I’m grateful for the consideration of the Senate, and the conversations we’ve been having need to continue.
“We want to be a great partner,” he said. “We want to deliver the best and brightest future for the state and the best and brightest future for all the people who choose higher education in the state of Kansas.”
The governor reappointed Rolph to the board at the end of last June, and his nomination idled in the Senate even as the chamber moved along other nominees.
Rolph didn’t get his confirmation hearing before the Senate Education Committee until late January, partly because of concerns about his views about DEI.
During the confirmation hearing, senators asked Rolph – now the chair of the Board of Regents – what he thought about various aspects of DEI.
Rolph was asked about what he thought about DEI, including job postings at state universities that sought information about a candidate’s experience or background in diversity, equity and inclusion.
“DEI can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people,” he said.
“For us in the state of Kansas, this isn’t about reverse racism,” he said. “We try very hard to make sure that’s not happening on our campuses.
“By that I mean, the stories you hear that based on your race, oftentimes being white, that means that you’re naturally a bad person,” he said.
“We don’t promote that on any of our campuses,” he said.
The Senate Education Committee voted 5-1 to recommend his appointment, but comments he made about DEI weeks later at a Regents meeting enflamed his relationship with Republican Senate leadership.
During a recent budget committee meeting, Masterson expressed frustration about Rolph’s comments at the Regents meeting as the panel decided to withhold $36 million from state universities unless they can show they haven’t participated in certain DEI practices.
“We probably wouldn’t even be here if we didn’t have the current chairman of the Board of Regents verbally flip off the Legislature, come up with his own personal definition of DEI,” Masterson told the Ways and Means Committee.
“We don’t get to personally decide what DEI is,” Masterson said. “It by its fundamental core is dividing people up by their immutable, unchangeable characteristics, subdividing them into groups on those bases and treating them differently based upon that.”
Masterson said the budget proviso withholding the $36 million was not personal, adding that he personally liked Rolph and considered him a friend.
“This is in no way personal, but I will concede it is obvious,” Masterson said.
An effort to reach Masterson for a comment was unsuccessful late Wednesday.
Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes praised Rolph’s contributions to higher education in Kansas.
“During his time on the Board of Regents, Jon Rolph has shown that he has a real understanding of how to position Kansas’ higher education system to meet the needs of students, families and businesses,” Sykes said in a statement.
However, Rolph’s comments from the Regents meeting still lingered with some senators, leading them to pass on his confirmation.
Erickson said that Rolph didn’t appear to acknowledge that DEI was a “valid concern.”
“I don’t have an issue with him. I think he’s a nice person. It is strictly the DEI. That’s the big concern,” Erickson said.
“Making those comments at the Board of Regents meeting really kind of said to me that it might not be as easy to have those conversations with him going forward.
“I hope we can have those conversations going forward, but it did give me pause.”
Claeys shared a similar view.
“His answers to DEI-related questions were troubling,” Claeys said.
“I don’t believe that I have full confidence at this time that he either understands the issue or is capable of making the changes necessary to eliminate DEI from our college campuses,” he said.
Rolph is president and CEO of Thrive Restaurant Group, which owns and operates over 150 restaurants including Applebee’s, Carlos O’Kelly’s and Modern Market.
Thrive is the nation’s second-largest Applebee’s franchisee with restaurants in 15 states.
Rolph was a two-time student body president at Baylor University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 2001.
After graduating, Rolph worked with college student leaders as an intern for the National Student Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C.
He returned to Kansas in 2002 to work in the family-owned businesses started by his father and his uncle.
Republican state Sen. Alicia Straub praised Rolph’s success in the restaurant industry.
“I commend Jon Rolph for succeeding in an industry in which most fail. Eighty percent of
restaurants fail within the first five years. Fifty percent of construction businesses fail
within the first five years,” Straub said in statement joined by five other senators.
“Jon Rolph is to be commended for his outstanding skills in not just managing people, but in managing cash flow,” she said.
“I appreciate his contribution to the Kansas Board of Regents, and sharing his skills with our state universities and colleges.”
