Engaging with mutual respect: Freedom of expression resources and support

Dear K-State community,

Welcome to the 2026-2027 academic year! The beginning of the fall semester is always a special time at K-State — one filled with promise, excitement and anticipation for all the great things to come. Our hope for you is a year filled with energy, intentional engagement and undeniable progress toward your goals.

We want you to know that there is an incredible infrastructure of resources and support available to you to help you successfully progress through the academic year.

K-State welcomes students, faculty and staff from a variety of backgrounds, geographic locations and disciplines, bringing together a wide range of unique perspectives and experiences. Meeting and engaging with classmates and colleagues from different backgrounds creates rich, meaningful collaborations and conversations, and it is critical that we as a university support this free exchange of ideas and perspectives.

As a public institution, K-State is firmly committed to upholding the principles of free expression. University policies support and protect these fundamental free expression rights while also providing appropriate guardrails to ensure the rights of others are not infringed upon — and that university functions are not disrupted.

Additionally, our university community is committed to fostering an environment of mutual respect and civility. While perspectives and opinions may differ, we want you to know that you and your fellow Wildcats have a responsibility to engage thoughtfully and respectfully. What does that look like? Listening actively, asking questions and above all, treating your fellow Wildcats with respect, no matter where you are engaging with each other — on campus, off campus, online or otherwise.

In that spirit, we encourage you to review the university’s free speech and expressive activity website, which outlines the numerous support services and resources available to you as you navigate this year. Additionally, the website includes aggregated policies and guidance that both reflect the university’s responsibility to uphold free expression and provide appropriate guardrails for respectful engagement.

To our students: Please know that numerous faculty and staff across many offices are ready to help you on your K-State journey. We highly recommend you explore the student campus resources website, which is a great way to connect with many K-State offices and opportunities.

To all university employees — students, faculty and staff: There are many policies, guidelines and state regulations that directly apply to K-State employees. As this semester coincides with Kansas’ gubernatorial election, the university’s political activity policies, in alignment with the state of Kansas guidelines (PDF), as well as the university’s upholding of voting privileges, may be of particular interest to you this fall. As a reminder, you may not use your university role or resources — which includes your university email and signature — to make personal political and/or ideological statements or endorsements, pursuant to both the university’s acceptable use policy for technology and university email signature standards. If you have any questions about these or other applicable policies and guidelines, your direct supervisor is the best place to start. If they do not have the answer, they can help get you to the right resource.

At K-State, we often say that our people are our greatest strength, and that is true in part because of how we commit to engaging and dialoguing with great care, empathy and mutual respect.

Thank you for all you do to make K-State a great place to learn, work and grow.

Go 'Cats!

Jesse Perez Mendez
Provost and executive vice president

Thomas Lane
Interim chief of staff and vice president for academic success and student affairs and dean of students