A Senate committee on Tuesday favorably passed out Gov. Laura Kelly’s reappointment of Jon Rolph to the Kansas Board of Regents.
The panel voted 5-1 to recommend Rolph’s nomination to the full Senate. He is now in his second term on the Board of Regents after first being appointed in 2019.
Initially, Republican state Sen. Beverly Gossage of Eudora proposed sending Rolph’s nomination to the Senate floor without a recommendation after he was questioned last week about diversity, equity and inclusion on state university campuses.
Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes opposed the motion, saying the Wichita businessman was well qualified for a job that he had already been appointed to five years ago.
Republican state Sen. Kristen O’Shea of Topeka made a substitute motion to send Rolph’s nomination to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation. It passed on a 5-1 vote.
Sykes expressed disappointment that the committee tried to send his nomination to the floor without a recommendation.
She said she believed it was unprecedented to hold Rolph’s nomination over for so long for a reappointment. He was renominated for the position last June.
She said it would have been traditional practice to have run his nomination through the Senate’s confirmation oversight committee during the interim.
In an earlier interview this month, Senate President Ty Masterson said Rolph had become known for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion and that wasn’t sitting well with some.
“I just want him to go back through the process. I want him to be able to explain it,” Masterson said in the interview.
Last week, senators asked Rolph – now the chair of the Board of Regents – what he thought about various aspects of DEI, leaving one senator unsatisfied.
Gossage said she didn’t think Rolph’s answers led her to believe that he understood the concerns her colleagues and constituents have about DEI.
“I didn’t think he fully understood what this can mean as far as entrance and admissions into colleges,” she said.
Republican state Sen. Renee Erickson of Wichita questioned Rolph about university job postings at the University of Kansas, Kansas State University, Washburn University and others asking about DEI.
She said there was one university with 27 positions in the office of diversity, equity and inclusion. She asked Rolph how diversity could be implemented in the university system.
“I don’t think our mission is to create diversity,” Rolph said. “Our campuses are becoming more diverse, and we’re really trying to make sure we’re responsive to that.”
With more campus diversity, Rolph said, there’s more “richness” and many more opinions and life’s experiences at state universities.
“Most of the work that I see in diversity isn’t about creating diversity, it’s recognizing what’s already going on on our campuses,” Rolph said.
Rolph said as he looked at university programs and offices related to diversity and inclusion, he found them to be connected to enhancing student success.
“They’re tied in to the programs around welcoming students,” he said.
“That’s generally what those programs are about,” he said. “They’re about helping students find a place on the campus, know that they’re valued and help bring the services around them that are going to set them up for success.”
Rolph is president and CEO of Thrive Restaurant Group, which owns and operates more than 100 restaurants including Applebee’s, Carlos O’Kelly’s, HomeGrown, and Bake Sale Treat Parlor in 12 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.
He recently underwent surgery for a paraganglioma tumor, which was found when he underwent an executive physical last year.
A paraganglioma is an abnormal growth of cells that forms from a specific type of nerve cell that’s found throughout the body, according to the Mayo Clinic.
They are generally benign, but some rare forms can become malignant and spread.
He told the Senate Education Committee that surgeons removed the tumor and his left kidney along with an adrenal gland and some lymph nodes.
About two weeks ago, Rolph said he had a follow-up scan and it was clear.
