KANSAS CITY - Minority students at the University of Kansas are pushing for an independent governing body to represent their interests - and have won recognition and funding to start the long process that could let them do so.

Students insist they're not trying to set up a wholly separate student government. But they are frustrated by what they see as a lack of attention to issues they care about. They want a structure that focuses on social justice issues and multicultural students, with programs such as longer orientations for some students or funding for those with financial emergencies. They say it would complement the work of the traditional student government.

Experts see the novel approach as the latest example of the impatience minority students feel after generations of exclusion from campus government.