From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

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Contact: Mike Krings, KU News Service, 785-864-8860, [email protected], @MikeKrings

Accountability standards based on rules of democracy needed in times of rising political violence, scholar argues

LAWRENCE — When a family or group of friends sit down to play a familiar game they’ve played many times before, they generally don’t need to refer to the rules — unless someone breaks them. The values of liberal democracy have been transgressed in numerous forms in the last decade, yet many are unfamiliar with what the “rule book” would say those values are.

A University of Kansas scholar who fears Americans have forgotten the rules of democracy has published a study calling for a renewed dedication to democratic values and assigning accountability standards for government workers and scholars.

Christopher Koliba, Edwin O. Stene Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs and Administration at KU, has written a piece that draws from contemporary political and legal philosophies of “small-l liberalism” and democracy to define a set of seven standards focusing on authority, rights, tolerance, truth claims and professional deference. The standards are especially timely in an age of growing populism, democratic backsliding and polarization, he wrote.

The work, published in the journal Public Administration Review and subject of a recent presentation by Koliba at the Kansas City and County Managers Conference, stemmed from research he conducted on the public health and administration crisis of 2020.

“I was looking for the potential that norms and standards were being violated here and then started to look at the literature on democracy, especially the small-l liberal variety that the U.S. and other systems were founded on,” Koliba said. “That led to revisiting the works of political philosophers about what is liberal democracy in the context of modern society and what it entails. I argue we’ve taken those values for granted and assume we all know what we’re talking about. I feel that is what we’re up against.”

Koliba examines liberalism not as it is commonly referred to in political discourse as being associated with certain political parties, such as the Democratic Party in the U.S. or Labor Party in the United Kingdom. Instead, he means the version that has shaped democracies with values such as eschewing abuse of power, preeminence of individual rights, honoring tolerance and restraint, and appealing to reason and truth.

Those values have been challenged the last decade as democracies around the world — including the United States, Poland, Hungary and Brazil — have seen rising populism, openness to authoritarianism, retractions of rights and apathy to truth-telling, Koliba said. That has also resulted in increasing threats of violence, incivility at public government meetings, polarization and false accusations.

“Politics has always been a contact sport, but when it comes to poll workers and local government administrators having their lives threatened while carrying out the public’s business, we need to have a clear set of democratic principles that we can at least debate and then hold each other accountable to. This should be the beginning of a conversation,” Koliba said.

That process should begin with a renewed dedication by public administrators and public administration scholars to a set of seven liberal democratic accountability standards outlined in the study:

Citizen authority standard: Citizens have authorizing and monitoring power over elected officials and democratic institutions.

Individual rights standards: Individuals in liberal democracies are endowed with rights to freedom of expression, assembly and pursuit of “the good life.”

Checked authority standard: Liberal democratic institutions and elected officials and public administrators who run them will have their powers checked and balanced.

Tolerance standard: Policy actors will exercise tolerance of differences.

Institutional forbearance standard: Policy actors will willfully restrain coercive actions to preserve existing accountability standards and democratic institutions.

Truthfulness standard: Policy actors are obligated to pursue and draw on truth claims as the basis of their practices and actions on behalf of the public.

Professional discretion standard: Professional policy actors will adhere to codes of conduct, ethics and standards of practice associated with the legal, political, bureaucratic and professional institutions of liberal democracies.

The standards can and should be debated, Koliba said, but they are especially timely given growing distrust in the government, deep and persistent polarization, growing expressions of intolerance and apathy toward truthfulness. Those trends present potential irreparable harm toward democratic institutions, necessitating the need for public officials and scholars to commit to historical standards and principles of liberal democracy.

While there has long been such disagreement, polarization and populism throughout democratic history, especially in the United States, current trends and resulting threats of politically motivated violence make the standards especially salient, Koliba said. For example, populist movements of the past such as the American Revolution, Women’s Suffrage and Civil Rights movements were dedicated to expanding rights instead of restricting them. Given recent exacerbation of those trends as well as democratic backsliding, liberal democratic accountability standards should be factored into public standards of accountability as well as empirical studies and theoretical frameworks, he said.

“It’s easy to take democracy for granted. I myself have done it,” Koliba said. “I’m thinking deeply about how to embrace these standards in the curriculum I teach. Our field is globalized, and there is a debate about universal values in public administration. I think there is a lot of work to be done to elevate democratic governance principles. And in speaking with some of our leaders of city and county government, I believe this sentiment resonates with them as well.”

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KU News Service

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Lawrence KS 66045

Phone: 785-864-3256

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http://www.news.ku.edu

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

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University of Kansas receives top-five ‘Military Friendly School’ ranking

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas ranks fifth nationally among Tier 1 research institutions in the annual “Military Friendly Schools” survey. The annual survey is the longest-running review of college and university investments in serving military-affiliated students. Institutions earning the Military Friendly School designation were evaluated using public data sources and survey information. More than 1,800 institutions participated in the 2024-2025 survey, with 537 earning special awards for going above the standard.

Black-Cheslik family provides $1 million gift to support Department of History professorship

LAWRENCE — Members of the Black-Cheslik family of Kansas City, Missouri, are avid University of Kansas basketball fans and equally passionate about the power of a liberal arts education. Julie Cheslik and her husband, Paul M. Black, provided a $1 million gift through KU Endowment to establish the John P. Black Professorship in History. It was named for their son John Black, of Fairway, who graduated in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in history. The professorship honors the faculty who inspired John Black and provides the opportunity for more students to be taught by top scholars in the field.

Religious demographic change shifts support toward Christian nationalism, study finds

LAWRENCE — Newly published research from a University of Kansas professor of political science suggests that exposure to religious demographic change shifts support for Christian nationalism and perceptions of discrimination against whites and Christians, but exposure to racial demographic change has limited influence. Don Haider-Markel’s work was published in Public Opinion Quarterly.

Full stories below.

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Contact: April Blackmon Strange, Lt. Gen. William K. Jones Military-Affiliated Student Center, 785-864-6715, [email protected], @KUvets

University of Kansas receives top-five ‘Military Friendly School’ ranking

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas ranks fifth nationally among Tier 1 research institutions in the annual “Military Friendly Schools” survey.

The annual survey is the longest-running review of college and university investments in serving military-affiliated students. Institutions earning the Military Friendly School designation were evaluated using public data sources and survey information. More than 1,800 institutions participated in the 2024-2025 survey, with 537 earning special awards for going above the standard.

“This ranking reflects KU’s long-standing commitment to serving our more than 1,900 veterans, service members, spouses, dependents and ROTC students,” said April Blackmon Strange, director of the Lt. Gen. William K. Jones Military-Affiliated Student Center. “It’s also a testament to the collaborative efforts across campus that foster a welcoming and inclusive environment for our military-affiliated community.”

Methodology, criteria and weightings were determined by Viqtory with input from the Military Friendly Advisory Council of independent leaders in the higher education and military recruitment community. Final ratings were determined by combining the institution’s survey scores with the assessment of the institution’s ability to meet thresholds for student retention, graduation, job placement, loan repayment, persistence (degree advancement or transfer) and loan default rates for all students and, specifically, for student veterans. The rankings and survey criteria are available online and will be published in G.I. Jobs magazine’s May and October issues.

The Military-Affiliated Student Center at KU – a nearly 3,000-square-foot center in Summerfield Hall – serves as a centralized resource for KU’s military-affiliated community. It includes a lounge with 24-7 access, study spaces, headquarters for the KU Student Veterans of America organization, VA Work Study opportunities, staff to help with GI Bill benefits, military tuition assistance and more.

The university is one of just 104 campuses nationwide to have the Department of Veterans Affairs VetSuccess on Campus program with a dedicated VA VSOC counselor on campus.

In addition to the center, KU has several scholarships and an emergency fund for military-affiliated students, a Veterans Upward Bound program and a series of Graduate Military Programs. KU is one of more than 50 universities to have all branches of ROTC and one of eight universities designated as a Department of Defense Language Training Center, which educates hundreds of service members in strategic languages and regional area studies.

The KU Edwards campus has a Veterans and Student Leadership Lounge. Additional KU academic programs and certificates are available both on Fort Leavenworth and in Leavenworth for military and civilians in the area. KU also has a 4,000-member Veterans Alumni Network.

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The official university account for X (formerly Twitter) is @UnivOfKansas.

Follow @KUnews for KU News Service stories, discoveries and experts.

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Contact: Jon Niccum, KU News Service, 785-864-7633, [email protected]

Religious demographic change shifts support toward Christian nationalism, study finds

LAWRENCE — The proportion of Christians relative to non-Christians in the United States has been declining for decades. For those identified as “Christian nationalists,” this religious falloff is considered inseparable from the decline of America itself. Simultaneously, the nation is becoming more racially diverse.

While some might assume this implies a correlation between Christian nationalism and racism, a new study indicates the relationship is more complex.

“This paper reveals that a big part of what’s driving support for Christian nationalism is in fact this fear and anxiety over religious demographic change and not specifically about racial demographic change,” said Don Haider-Markel, professor of political science at the University of Kansas. “That being said, we still find those with higher racial resentment are more supportive of Christian nationalism.”

His new paper, titled “Fear and Loathing: How Demographic Change Affects Support for Christian Nationalism,” suggests that exposure to religious demographic change shifts support for Christian nationalism and perceptions of discrimination against whites and Christians, but exposure to racial demographic change has limited influence. This effect is mediated by emotion because such religious change increases anxiety and disgust.

It’s published in Public Opinion Quarterly.

Co-written with Brooklyn Walker, who earned her doctorate at KU and now teaches at Hutchinson Community College, the research notes how modern Christianity is increasingly packaged around a political identity.

“I don’t see Christian nationalists as true believers,” Haider-Markel said. “They are just people who are willing to use the language and symbols of Christianity to appeal to a broader public. They aren’t necessarily adhering to or especially concerned with the underlying theology.”

However, he said he was surprised to learn the extent to which non-whites will also adhere to the beliefs of Christian nationalism – even when it seems potentially detrimental to their own community.

“When I first thought about titling this piece, I wanted to title it ‘Christian Nationalism So White,’ Haider-Markel said, before settling on the infamous Hunter S. Thompson reference.

“But instead we see how support for Christian nationalist beliefs isn’t just occurring amongst whites. It’s also happening amongst Blacks and Hispanics. It suggests that maybe for whites, their Christian identity is very much tied up with their whiteness, and I wouldn’t dispute that. But for racial minorities, their Christianity isn’t specifically tied up with their racial or ethnic identity.”

To explain this apparent incongruity, Haider-Markel found the answer in community perception.

“If I’m an ethnic minority or racial minority, having a strong racial identity doesn’t really help me that much. But having a Christian identity does elevate me. So adhering to Christian nationalist beliefs — and basically believing that my religion should play a bigger role in our government — really helps Black and Hispanic people elevate themselves within this broader social system.”

He notes groups such as the Proud Boys or Boogaloo Boys that took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection often call themselves “Western chauvinists.” That’s seen by many as coded language for being white nationalists. But the Proud Boys actually have non-white members. In fact, leader Enrique Tarrio, who was just sentenced to 22 years for seditious conspiracy, is Hispanic.

“So how is it that non-white people can adhere to a group that seems to have white supremacist beliefs?” Haider-Markel said. “It’s for that same kind of reason. Because they’re not explicitly racist, non-whites can affiliate with this group and elevate their own status.”

For the research, he embedded an experiment from an online survey of 1,459 total participants from across the country. Among the survey questions asked: “How do religious and racial change emotionally affect white Christians? How does awareness of demographic change affect Christian nationalism and perceptions of anti-white and anti-Christian discrimination?”

Now in his 27th year at KU, Haider-Markel has done extensive studies in criminal justice, policing, gun rights and LGBTQ rights.

“I hope ‘Fear and Loathing’ helps people understand what’s motivating Christian nationalist beliefs. Because I do see it as a potential threat to a multiracial democracy,” Haider-Markel said. “Presumably, if strong supporters of Christian nationalism had their way, the role that religion might play in our politics and policymaking in the future would be ‘problematic.’”

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Don’t miss new episodes of “When Experts Attack!,”

a KU News Service podcast hosted by Kansas Public Radio.

https://kansaspublicradio.org/podcast/when-experts-attack

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Contact: Michelle Keller, KU Endowment, 785-832-7336, [email protected]; @KUEndowment

Black-Cheslik family provides $1 million gift to support Department of History professorship

LAWRENCE — Members of the Black-Cheslik family of Kansas City, Missouri, are avid University of Kansas basketball fans and equally passionate about the power of a liberal arts education.

Julie Cheslik and her husband, Paul M. Black, provided a $1 million gift through KU Endowment to establish the John P. Black Professorship in History. It was named for their son John Black, of Fairway, who graduated in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in history. The professorship honors the faculty who inspired John Black and provides the opportunity for more students to be taught by top scholars in the field.

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, John Black moved home with his parents, which provided a unique window for them to witness his growing enthusiasm for his KU classes. He was particularly engaged with those taught by Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor David Farber and others in the KU Department of History, which is known for its award-winning faculty.

“I was just floored by the great education he was getting, particularly in his history classes,” Cheslik said. She even joined her son in watching films during his HIST 356 class, titled At the Movies: US History on the Silver Screen, and delved into assigned readings for another course, HIST 374: The History of Modern American Conservatism, both which ignited lively family discussions.

“For us, as parent and adult child — having that experience with him was really valuable to me,” Cheslik said.

The family has previously made gifts to support Kansas Athletics and the University of Kansas Medical Center, as well as numerous programs with other organizations.

Laura Mielke, KU professor and current interim chair of the Department of History, said the gift is transformational.

“Julie Cheslik and Paul M. Black have recognized our department as a home to scholar-teachers who, like Professor David Farber, bring their research and wisdom into the classroom to create spaces of transformative exchange,” Mielke said. “This gift will allow us to add and retain world-class scholar-teachers to our faculty. We also see the John P. Black Professorship as a unique opportunity to celebrate the students like John who bring a passion for learning to KU.”

The couple’s eldest son, Paul J. Black, is a doctor who also began his path in liberal arts, earning his undergraduate degree at the University of Notre Dame before attending KU Medical Center, where he graduated in 2023. He lives in Omaha, Nebraska, where he is completing his residency in urology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

“I was always pushing the kids to be liberal arts majors, and I think it served them both well,” Cheslik said. “We’re happy to be able to provide this professorship so other kids from Kansas or who come to Kansas to get this great education can learn from the best.”

Cheslik is a professor of law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and serves on the law foundation board of trustees. She received her bachelor’s degree and juris doctor from the University of Iowa, both with highest distinction.

Paul M. Black is a health care consultant who was previously COO of Cerner and CEO of Allscripts. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Iowa State University and holds a master’s in business administration from the University of Iowa. He serves on the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library board of directors and The University of Kansas Health System Advancement Board.

“I think it’s really important for everyone to have somewhat of a liberal arts background to know a little bit about authors, historians and events that have taken place that have shaped where we are today,” said John Black, who works in sales at Community CareLink, a health software company that serves nonprofits, community health organizations and government agencies. He discovered his minor and some of his favorite professors through a simple internet search.

“I looked up ‘best teachers at the University of Kansas,’ because I was trying to find some electives to take,” John Black said. “Dr. Farber’s name was one that came up, and that’s really what started all of this.”

Farber has written and edited numerous books on modern issues from World War II to the war on drugs and is regularly tapped by news organizations to provide expert commentary.

“I think the humanities provide a massively important background and understanding for our democratic citizenry,” Farber said. “It’s wonderful to see the Black family offer support for what we in the humanities do and what we in the history department, in particular, do. I’m grateful, and I think it demonstrates the importance of the kinds of things historians teach.”

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KU News Service

1450 Jayhawk Blvd.

Lawrence KS 66045

Phone: 785-864-3256

Fax: 785-864-3339

[email protected]

http://www.news.ku.edu

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

Abilene, Kan. – The D-Day 80th Anniversary Commemoration Week at the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kan., is set to be a truly memorable experience. Starting with the Symphony at Sunset Annual D-Day Concert on June 1, the week progresses with the World War II Emerging Scholars Symposium culminating in the Remembrance Ceremony and Veterans Panel on June 6.
The Salina Symphony is tuning up for an unforgettable Symphony at Sunset concert on Saturday, June 1. The schedule is packed with activities starting at 1 p.m. with various Hands-on History Carts in the museum, food vendors, Mounted Color Guard Demonstrations, a flight simulator and additional displays. Performances by the Flint Hills Children’s Choir, Everyday Lights, and Fort Riley’s 1st Infantry Division Band lead up to the 8:30 p.m. patriotic orchestral performance featuring the Salina Symphony, conducted by Yaniv Segal.
Join us in honoring our veterans and celebrating the spirit of togetherness at this patriotic event. While admission is free, your generous donations to the Eisenhower Foundation will ensure the continuity of programming for future years. Don’t forget, museum admission is complimentary for the entire day, offering you a chance to explore and to learn. Be sure to visit the D-Day Remembered—Photographs by Fabrice Bourge photo exhibition. The Symphony at Sunset Concert is generously sponsored by the Community Foundation of Dickinson County, Marshall Motors of Salina, and the Friends of the Eisenhower Foundation. Additional support is also provided by Kansas Gas Service and Vyve Broadband.
June 4-6, the Eisenhower, Roosevelt, and Truman Presidential Libraries host the annual WWII Emerging Scholars Symposium dedicated to honoring the significance of D-Day. This virtual event delves into specialized topics surrounding the Allied endeavors in World War II, offering a platform for budding scholars to showcase their expertise. This year participants will explore different ways in which the United States attempted to attain and maintain peace. Each presentation is allocated a one-hour slot, followed by a Scholar Spotlight segment that provides a glimpse into the promising futures of these historians.
The week-long commemoration of the D-Day 80th Anniversary concludes on June 6. Immerse yourself in the stories of heroes at the Meet a World War II Veteran Reception at 9 a.m, followed by a Remembrance Ceremony at 11 a.m. and the Veterans Panel at 2 p.m. Enjoy complimentary museum admission, engage with reenactors and delve into history with the Hands-On History Carts. The June 6 veterans spotlight events are generously sponsored by Tim and Brenda Holm, Nancy Gugler in honor of Wendell Gugler, 10th Mountain Division, and the You Were Worth It Foundation.
This commemoration week is not just an event; it is a chance to honor, learn and connect with the remarkable legacy of Dwight Eisenhower and our nation’s greatest generation. Complete schedule details can be found on the Eisenhower Presidential Library’s website at eisenhowerlibrary.gov/public-programs/commemorate-d-day.