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vol. 135 // iss. 22 Mon., Nov. 6, 2017
Free bus services offered for Tuesday’s election p. 3
Joe Dineen Jr. shines in Kansas loss to Baylor p. 11
KU’s rape reports: Where are they?
In 2016, 13 rapes were reported. The entities involved in these investigations make getting details on them or any subsequent charges nearly impossible DARBY VANHOUTAN @darbyvanhoutan The University’s Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access received 28 complaints of sexual misconduct involving students last year including 13 alleging rape, according to interviews and documents obtained by the Kansan under the state’s open records act. Nine of the 28 complaints resulted in punishments for student violators. The 28 complaints received and investigated by the IOA included students either as the responding or the reporting party. Officials declined to provide information about what happened with the other 19 complaints or whether any of the punishments to the nine student violators were related to any of the 13 rape complaints. As a result of a separate open records request by the Kansan, the University’s Public Safety Office also released copies of four of the 13 rape reports. The four complaints alleged that two of the rapes occurred in University dorms — including one in Oliver Hall and one in McCarthy Hall, which houses, among other residents, the men’s basketball team. The two other complaints were reported in Jayhawker Towers and Wescoe Hall. The University did not release police reports on the other nine rape complaints. This indicates those reports were made to agencies other than the KU Public Safety Office. According to the University’s annual Jeanne Clery Act report, which documents crime statistics, seven of the 13 alleged rapes occurred on what officials call “non-campus” properties. These include properties operated by officially recognized student organizations such as fraternities and sororities, and property controlled by an institution used in support of the University. The Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson is still considering charges in the McCarthy Hall case in which a 16-yearold girl was allegedly raped. Spokespeople for the IOA and PSO said they did not have information on whether charges were filed in connection with any of the other 12 rape complaints. Branson, who has responsibility for rape charges in Lawrence, reviewed three of the four rapes reported to PSO for charging consideration, according to Cheryl Wright Kunard, assistant to the DA. The alleged rape in McCarthy Hall is still under review, Kunard said. Another,
which was reported to have occurred in Jayhawker Towers in February 2016, resulted in no charges from the DA’s office due to a “lack of sufficient evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that a crime had occurred,” Kunard said. In the third, which occurred in Oliver Hall in October 2016, the defendant plead guilty to sexual battery in May 2017, according to Kunard. As punishment, the court ordered a 12-month probation, recommended counseling from mental health and substance abuse providers and random alcohol/drug testing, Kunard said.
“IOA has to render a finding for me to take action on it.” Lance Watson director Student Conduct and Community Standards
Kunard said she could not comment on the remaining nine reported rapes without case numbers or suspect names, which were not immediately available. At the University and in Lawrence, many different agencies can take sex-related complaints from University students and some are not required to report those to police or IOA. As a result, there is no central record of complaints that can provide the public with a complete picture of how many University students report or seek help for being victims of sexual assault or harassment. “Sexual assaults that are reported, for example, to the Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access, might be included in the Clery report,” Mike Leitch, associate general counsel for the University, said in an email with the Kansan. “But they may not result in a police report to KU PSO, either because the victim elects not to make such a report, or because the incident occurred beyond the jurisdiction of KU PSO and thus the police report would be made to a different law enforcement office.” Also, unlike some other universities, the University does not routinely release to the public how many sexual misconduct complaints IOA receives or provide descriptions of the alleged incidents. The University also doesn’t routinely provide the sanctions or punishments issued in cases where a violation has been investigated and found to have occurred. To get that information on the public’s behalf, the Kansan filed the
two open records requests and spent $425.50 to get the documents. The nine students sanctioned by the University for sexual assault or harassment were among more than 226 students in 2016 who received some form of punishment from the University’s Office of Student Affairs, many for violating alcohol and/or drug rules. In two of the cases, students were expelled and banned from campus for three and five years. Another student was suspended for a semester. Five others were put on disciplinary probation and one was issued a warning. In most cases, violators were required to take sexual education courses and some were ordered to receive counseling. The 28 complaints about sexual harassment and sexual assault made to IOA in 2016 was significantly lower than the number of similar complaints filed in in 2014 and 2015. There were 98 such complaints in 2014 and 64 in 2015, said Shane McCreery, IOA director and Title IX coordinator. The decline is due to a change in what’s counted, McCreery said. He said the 2016 numbers include only complaints filed directly by a student, faculty or staff member. In previous years, the numbers included third party reports regardless of whether the actual parties involved responded to IOA outreach to discuss the complaint. McCreery said that made the previous years’ numbers “misleading and high.” Cases that undergo a formal and complete investigation through IOA, McCreery said, are evaluated to determine whether the University Sexual Assault policy was violated. If so, the office recommends a sanction congruent to the Student Code of Conduct and is passed to the Office of Student Affairs for adjudication. According to Lance Watson, director of Student Conduct and Community Standards in the Student Affairs office, the only Title IX offenses that see punishment at a University level are ones that have gone through the full IOA investigative process. “IOA has to render a finding for me to take action on it,” Watson said. “If IOA makes a finding I’m going to move forward with our student conduct process. If they’ve investigated and they find a violation of sexual harassment policy, they send it over to me for adjudication.” — Edited by Paige Henderson
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Growth needed in city LGBTQ inclusion
“We know individual instances of harassment, hate speech, targeting, bullying [and] micro aggressions, they still happen. We know that from our fairly recent climate survey, so we still have a ways to go and we need to keep working,” Rose-Mockry said. “We need to recognize we’ve come some of the way, but we need to go further.”
EMILY BECKMAN @emilybeckman7 Although Lawrence was recently ranked the most inclusive city in Kansas, there is room to improve experiences for LGBTQ people both in the city and on campus. In the Human Rights Campaign’s 2017 Municipal Equality Index Lawrence earned a score of 74 (out of 100), up from last year’s score of 61. The index focuses on non-discrimination laws, municipality as employer, municipal services, law enforcement and relationship with the LGBTQ community. There are also several opportunities for cities to get bonus points in certain categories. Since last year, one measure that the city took to improve inclusivity was designating a liaison to the LGBTQ community. That liaison is Assistant City Manager Casey Toomay. “I think it’s important that we have a point of contact in the city manager’s office for people who may have concerns or issues that they want to bring forward, or they may just be looking for resources,” Toomay said. “And if we’re able to provide a point of contact I think that’s always an improved customer service level.” The city manager’s office was pleased with the increase in Lawrence’s score, but it could still be improved, Toomay said.
IMPROVING EXPERIENCES ON CAMPUS, IN COMMUNITY
Lawrence’s inclusivity is “not a new trend, but a continuing trend,” according to Kathy Rose-Mockry, director of the Emily Taylor Cen-
MOVING FORWARD
Kansan file photo Students with Spectrum KU hold a demonstration on Wescoe Beach to protest the election of Donald Trump. Lawrence was recently named the most inclusive city in Kansas by the Human Rights Campaign’s 2017 Municipal Equality Index. ter for Women and Gender Equity. “Historically, Lawrence has been a welcoming community for the most part,” she said. Areas that the city could continue to improve in, she said, include advocating for change to state-wide policies, ensuring that services are intentionally inclusive and continuing trainings for those who interact with the public. “Certainly the hiring of a specific liaison in the [City Manager’s office] is very important [and] looking at ways that issues related to LGBTQIA [people] are intentionally brought into broader issues, those are ways I think that the Lawrence community has done a good job,” Rose-Mockry said. Payton Wilson, a junior from Iola, Kansas, also said he was not surprised by Lawrence’s high score, but believes there is still work to be done. Wilson is the marketing chair for SPECTRUM, but did not speak on behalf of
the group. He emphasized that he holds privileges, and therefore, his thoughts do not necessarily reflect the experiences of the entire LGBTQ community. “I’m speaking from the lense of a middle class white male who, you know, just happens to be gay,” he said. Wilson said that an area that still needs improvement is the inclusion of all identities. “When looking at that score, I think that it is great, but there are still a lot of problems and there are still a lot of things that can be worked on, just because there are so many other identities that need to be encompassed that are so often overlooked. And I think that that is where we get a lot of issues in the community,” Wilson said. Something that people can do to make Lawrence feel more inclusive is educating themselves, Wilson said, rather than “relying on queer folk to educate you.” He recalled that his “duty” after coming out as
gay in a small Kansas town was to answer people’s questions. “I didn’t necessarily mind but there’s some times where like it takes a lot of energy and a lot of strength to be able to constantly do that,” he said. But overall, Wilson said he feels that people in Lawrence are good at “taking action and being aware.” There is still work to be done at the University itself in terms of inclusivity, according to Rose-Mockry. “KU has a history of looking at ways to make the campus more inclusive,” Rose-Mockry said. “It does not mean we have been totally inclusive of many groups. That includes members of the LGBTQIA community, minoritized individuals, marginalized individuals [and] women.” There have been several recent improvements at the University, she said, such as continuing trainings and education, and opening The Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity, but incidents still occur.
Since the city recently received results from the index, they do not yet have specific plans in place to improve inclusivity, Toomay said. But they plan to look into the results and decide where to keep progressing. “We’ll be kind of looking at which items we can accomplish at the staff level and which items we need to seek input from the city commission and then moving forward with those as appropriate,” she said. Wilson believes that communication between the City of Lawrence and the University is important. “Because I know a lot of the times being part of a minority is really frustrating because you have these ideas and these things that you want to say, but you are afraid, because of the identities that you hold, that they’re not going to be heard,” he said. It is important for the City of Lawrence to communicate with the University, so the University can then communicate with LGBTQ students and organizations, Wilson said. Toomay reiterated, “If there are ways that the city can help, certainly we would ask that folks bring that to our attention.”
Lawrence code thwarts HERE’s Airbnb plan KATIE BERNARD @KatieJ_Bernard Just days after announcing vacant apartments could be rented as shortterm rentals on Airbnb, the HERE Apartments removed the listing due to a violation of city code. Currently Lawrence has nothing within its codes regulating, or even mentioning short-term rentals such as Airbnb, therefore these types of rentals are prohibited. According to Brian Jimenez, the code enforcement officer for the city of Lawrence, when HERE’s short-term rental plan was announced he received two calls, one from parents of a student and one from an unnamed individual inquiring about the legality of the rentals. “Within a day or two after getting the inquiry from the parent, they had taken their advertisement down on the Airbnb website,” Jimenez said. He said the complex told him that their attorneys
had checked into the issue and directed them to take down the advertisement. Jimenez said complex staff will not be punished for their actions since they acted to take down the advertisement before anyone stayed in the units.
“We have a bunch of them, we know that they’re illegal and yet we’re moving forward with making them legal.” Brian Jimenez code enforcement officer
Scott Manning, regional manager for HERE’s parent company, CA Student Living, said the complex usually would check city policy before instituting short-term rentals but that Lawrence’s prohibition of the practice is one he has never encountered. He said
that trend among cities was the reason the complex didn’t check prior to posting the advertisement. “It’s actually a pretty rare occurrence, in all of the cities we have, Lawrence is the only city we’ve come across that has such a local ordinance,” Manning said. Jimenez, however, said the problem of addressing short-term rentals is one cities across the country are dealing with. “The use of [short-term rentals] has exploded in the last 10 years,” Jimenez said. “Hundreds of cities now going back and creating ordinances to regulate them in some capacity.” Lawrence’s current approach to it is a loose prohibition. Although shortterm rentals are prohibited, action is only taken after the city hears a complaint, which Jimenez said happens seldomly. Offenders aren’t actively sought out. “Our development code does not specifically address (short-term rentals) and say they’re legal so by
Emily Wellborn/KANSAN The HERE apartments removed its listing on Airbnb after learning it was illegal. definition of uses, Airbnbs … are not permitted within the city in any zoning district,” he said. “We recognize this so we’re not actively going out and looking for this.” Lawrence is currently in the process of changing that code. On Nov. 13, there will be a study session with the city commission in order to hear from residents and begin the process of developing a code regarding short term rentals. Jimenez said he believes the new
code could allow shortterm rentals anywhere in the city but it is too soon to tell. “We have a bunch of them, we know that they’re illegal and yet we’re moving forward with making them legal,” Jimenez said. Manning said that if the city code changes anytime soon the HERE apartments will once again employ Airbnb to rent out any vacant units.
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CARE Sisters advocate against rape culture
SYDNEY HOOVER @sydhoover320 In light of an increase of news and discussion surrounding sexual assault, a group is looking to continue to promote educating students on gender-based violence and reduce rape culture on campus. Based out of the KU Panhellenic Association, the Campus Assistance, Resource, and Education Sisters is a program dedicated to reducing rape culture on the University’s campus. The CARE Sisters are preparing for their third year in operation. “I think what has made the program so successful is that the students take some leadership and some initiative,� said CARE Coordinator Merrill Evans. “We really are just looking for students that are engaged, that have similar values in terms of addressing rape culture, addressing gender-based violence.� The CARE Sisters task force were founded in 2015 by a group of sorority women in response to a study on nationwide sexual assault statistics and the potential for the University to be investigated for Title IX-related issues. Since then, the CARE Sisters have expanded beyond the Panhellenic Association to Multicultural Greek Council. In the 2017 fall semester alone, the CARE Sisters have responded to six incidents, according to Evans. “It’s been really interesting to see how the women in my chapter have been using it, because every call I’ve gotten has been a friend who’s not in a soror-
Illustration by Miranda Anaya/KANSAN Care Sisters is a program through KU Panhellenic that forms a group of women from the different greek chapters who can help peers with issues of sexual assault. ity,� said CARE Sister Ellen Edmonds, a sophomore finance and accounting major. “It makes me feel good that sorority women are using these resources and then sharing it with other people who aren’t in the
greek system to also use those resources.� The CARE Sisters are primarily hoping to allow students to feel comfortable talking about their experiences. CARE Sisters are trained on how to respond
“If we don’t have a culture in which folks that perpetrate acts of sexual violence can survive in and thrive in, then they can’t perpetrate those acts.� Jenny McKee CARE Sisters
and how to keep information confidential in order to be an effective resource to those who may have experienced some form of gender-based violence. “CARE Sisters are what we like to call really well-informed friends,� Evans said. “So basically they’re women within the greek community that are going to understand, believe and validate their sisters if they’ve experienced any form of sexual violence.� Now that they are a much more established group in both the greek
community and across the campus, the CARE Sisters are hoping to start more dialogue on campus and in the community about gender-based violence with the recent spike in media coverage the issue has been receiving. This is due to Secretary of Education Betsy Devos’ potential changes to Title IX by repealing the Obama-era procedures behind sexual assault and how campuses should go about dealing with such situations, as well as the #MeToo trend on Twitter and other social
media platforms and even recent allegations surfacing at the University. “The more well-informed folks we have out there that can kind of like chip away at rape culture, we can kind of tear down that scaffolding that allows folks that facilitate acts of violence and those perpetrators,� CARE Sisters leadership member Jenny McKee said. “If we don’t have a culture in which folks that perpetrate acts of sexual violence can survive in and thrive in, then they can’t perpetrate those acts.�
Transit to offer free Election Day rides Tuesday EMILY BECKMAN @emilybeckman7 Lawrence Transit will offer free services Tuesday in order to help individuals get to polling sites and vote in local elections. Rides on fixed-route buses will be free for the entire day. The service, in its second year, was implemented in an effort to encourage people to vote, Public Transit Administrator Robert Nugent said. “A lot of times people don’t realize that they can get on a bus – they may feel shut in and feel like they can’t get to a voting booth,� Nugent said. “But we want everybody to vote [and] might as well offer this and give people the opportunity and option to do that if they don’t have a way to get to the polling place.� Assistant City Manager Diane Stoddard highlighted the importance of local elections and local issues.
“In talking to our drivers, we see a lot of people getting off around polling booths.� Robert Nugent Public Transit administrator
Elizabeth Will/KANSAN On Tuesday, Lawrence Transit will be offering free rides so people can participate in the local election. This transportation system has many stops on KU campus and around town. “Sometimes they just might not get as much publicity as some of the other levels of government do,� she said. “But hopefully we’re getting the word out about that importance of people to engage with local government and be involved in those elections.� She said local elections also impact college
students whether they live on campus or in the city. “A lot of times it is the level of government that citizens have the most day-to-day interaction with and the most direct effect on people’s lives,� Stoddard said. Tuesday’s election will determine who will fill three city commission seats and three USD
497 school board seats. Candidates for city commissioner are Jennifer Ananda, Mike Anderson, Bassem Chahine, Dustin
Stumblingbear and incumbents Matthew Herbert and Lisa Larsen. Candidates for school board members are
Ronald “G.R.� GordonRoss, Jill Hayhurst, James Alan Hollinger, Melissa Y. Johnson, Kelly Jones, Gretchen Alix Lister and Steve Wallace. There will also be questions pertaining to sales tax. “One for our transit operations, one for infrastructure and then a third that would be repurposing a tax that went for some special transitrelated equipment and things being repurposed for affordable housing,� Stoddard said. While Nugent said it is hard to determine how many people utilized the free ridership service last year, he does not see the service going away. “It’s been very well received and people tend to utilize it,� Nugent said. “In talking to our drivers, we see a lot of people getting off around polling booths.� Registered voters can find their polling place through the Douglas County website, and the bus route that meets their needs through the Lawrence Transit website.
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Anguiano: Be a happy camper group’s leader hanging with an empty Excel sheet, begging for someone to sign up for shifts. We get it, you’re busy, so is everyone else. Take a little bit of your time, and spend it at the Fieldhouse bingeing Stranger Things for the fifth time instead of at home.
FFA of the Day: it’s that time of year where you can see people in class on the KU GPA calculator website “Frockets are for your beer” One hundred percent on board for the return of short shorts “No credit cards for drunk me” My hobbies include sneaking food onto buses “K-State has viral racist incidents as often as we lose football games” heated blankets make it 10x harder to get out of bed the girl sitting next to me is on Saks 5th Avenue shopping and her bag total is 600+ dollars....... “I woke up this morning THINKIN about tequila” Harvey, I would ~ greatly ~ appreciate it if you didn’t try to eat the feces of other dogs. “slap on the diversity.” “Malik Newman has dimples that could cure diseases” “Put simply: wearing hoop earrings makes me feel like I have clout.” If all goes as planned enrolling I’ll only have two classes on campus and they’re one a day on Tuesday and Wednesday, I’ve never been more shook “This lamb chop tastes like Christmas.” “I don’t know if I trust men to cut my hair” *someone compliments me* “Please, tell me more, inflate my ego.” Daylight savings ends Hawk is open an extra hour! “I think a pigeon died in aisle one” Last night I put cat litter in my toilet and now it’s clogged :/ “Does anyone know how to transport a ferret to Illinois?” Kansas football is a hangover
K A N S A N .C O M /O P I N I O N
JOEY ANGUIANO @joey_anguiano Basketball season has finally rolled around here at the University, and with basketball comes the time-honored tradition of camping out for the games. While camping has evolved over the years, one thing that’s probably stood true throughout is having bad campers in your group. It seems like every group has them, the members you can’t rely on for anything other than a bad time. You’ve likely seen them, dealt with them or maybe even been one of them without knowing. They’re the type of people who probably don’t carry their weight on group projects, cheer for Kansas State in football, wear button downs under their jerseys or just hate having a good time. So here’s a few tips and tricks to making sure that you’re not the menace of your camping group leader because, to be honest, they’ve probably got a lot better things to do than worry about if you’re going to carry your weight for the group. First things first: SHOW UP. This is literally the most important part of the camping process. If you don’t go to lottery and you don’t camp, then what
makes you think you can come to the games? That’s like never being involved in politics yet somehow thinking you’re qualified to be president. Don’t do that. It’s very unbecoming of you and makes you look entitled if you don’t do the work and just reap the benefits. Once you realize you should put forth some effort for your group’s sake, make sure to sign up for shifts. Don’t just leave your
“If you don’t go to lottery and you don’t camp, then what makes you think you can come to the games?” If you do decide to be a quality person, sign up for shifts that you know you can make. If you’re going to sign up for the 6 a.m. shift, it’s probably not a good
idea to go out the night before. No one wants to pick up your slack (or clean up your hangover vomit) when you can’t make it to your shifts. So double check your schedule, and then check it again before signing up for a shift. If you’ve done all the above, congrats, you’re on your way to being a good camping member, but there’s one more step to remember. When it comes time to actually go to the game, don’t be that person that wants to bring along everyone under the sun with you. One season, a guy in my camping group brought along a different girl every game that season to try and impress them. The only problem was he wouldn’t tell us ahead of time, so we couldn’t account for the extra person. He and
his late additions ended up missing out on a couple of games because there wasn’t enough space to get in the people who did the work. Finally, as the leader of a camping group, I think I can speak for most when I say that at the end of the day, just put forth some effort and show that you actually care. Kansas basketball is one of my favorite things in the world, and it really means a lot, but when people are apathetic, especially the ones I’m supposed to rely on to help keep the seats we wake up at 5 a.m. for, it can make life a lot more stressful and the games less fun. So have fun, be loud and just show up for your shifts please.
Joey Anguiano is a senior from Berryton studying liberal arts and sciences.
Missy Minear/KANSAN Students wait to get tickets for a basketball game. Students who don’t pull their weight hurt everyone else, Anguiano argues.
Hendrickson: KU Core hurts engineering WYATT HENDRICKSON @WRH_KU
In 2013, the University drastically increased the general degree requirements for all majors with the implementation of the KU Core. Most degree programs had their required hours reduced. However, degree programs with specific accreditation policies are unable to do so. Engineering students in particular have been harmed by the KU Core. The KU Core disadvantages engineering students because, unlike a lot of other degree programs, the KU Core objectives are not already counted as part of engineering majors. Even though most engineering courses include an ethics component, they do not satisfy that part of the KU Core. Engineering students have to take an extra class in order to fill each of the
KU Core requirements, except the science and math classes. A lot of these requirements are not relevant to engineering students’ future careers. Engineering students, like myself, find we often run into class scheduling conflicts due to engineering classes often being offered at only one time every semester.
“A lot of these requirements are not relevant to engineering students’ future careers.” The KU Core claims to offer a lot of courses, but most require humanities prerequisites — which are already incorporated into degree programs — that engineering students would not have, restricting the possible courses engineering students could use to
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fill KU Core requirements. A reason many engineering students chose the University was because of our highly regarded faculty. In an email, Ron Barrett-Gonzalez, professor of aerospace engineering, said “the KU Core has usurped school and departmental curricular control, allowed individuals who are not subject matter experts to force down curricular content changes upon individuals who are subject matter experts, led to the stripping of critical technical content from classes to make room for unrelated, nontechnical content, and degraded the academic freedom of instructors across the institution.” Engineering degrees have strict accreditation requirements by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Inc. that prevent the number of required hours from being reduced to offset the
KU Core. An analysis of the degree requirements on the engineering website shows that an engineering degree at the University now requires 130.5 credit hours in order to graduate. This was calculated by averaging the credit hours required for ABET accredited engineering degrees. Taking 15 credit hours every semester, an engineering student would require over 4 years to graduate. This will hurt the University’s engineering rankings and potentially dissuade incoming students from attending. The additional requirements of the KU Core were part of my decision to originally attend Kansas State’s engineering school as opposed to the University’s engineering school as a freshman in 2015. From my own experience, other Kansas Board of Regents institutions, such as K-State,
contact us Conner Mitchell Editor-in-chief cmitchell@kansan.com
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have an easier threshold to their equivalents of KU Core, making it easier for their engineering students to graduate in four years. The KU Core obviously offers some benefits for engineering students. English 100, English 200 and Communications 130 teach the practical communication skills necessary for future success. However, there are not a lot of added benefits from the other components of the KU Core that are not already present in the science, technology, engineering and math curriculum. And the problems caused by the KU Core are not restricted to engineering students. STEM students should not be singled out to spend extra time and money for frivolous classes they might not want to take.
Wyatt Hendrickson is a junior from Olathe studying civil engineering.
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K A N S A N .C O M /A R T S A N D C U LT U R E
Self-defense workshop popularity increases JAYME LINK @KansanNews The Emily Taylor Center prides itself on educating and assisting women with a variety of issues. On Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m., the center will host the EmPower! Self-Defense Workshop at the Ambler Student Recreation Center to teach women the basic physical and mental skills for self-defense. “We do some talking at the beginning of the workshop about being aware of your surroundings and different strategies besides the physical encounter,” said Annie McBride, assistant director of the Emily Taylor Center. Mark Taylor, owner and head instructor at Premier Martial Arts, has been teaching the self-defense workshop at the Emily Taylor Center for eight years. His instruction focuses on
Kansan file photo Rachel Beach, a freshman from Manhattan, practices a shuffle drill during self-defense training in Hashinger Hall. strategies such as de-escalation, which includes what a woman should do if approached in a threatening way. “My goal and philosophy in life is to educate our
community and encourage self-defense,” Taylor said. “We really want to make the community safer and so that’s why we do what we do. It’s not traditional martial arts, it’s all about
self-protection.” In addition to teaching women self-defense, the workshop also focuses on how to stop attacks from happening in the first place. The center’s goal is to re-
duce violence of all kinds. “We have to stop people from committing the crimes,” McBride said. The workshop has been provided through the University since the 1990s
but was not hosted as frequently as it is today. Over the years, the workshop has increased in popularity, according to McBride, because more people have shown interest in learning ways to defend themselves. “An interesting thing I think about how many times we’ve done the workshop is that we are offering the workshop four times this semester and we offered it three times over the summer, and that is a significant increase over the times that we typically offer the workshop,” McBride said. The self-defense workshop aims to provide more than just strategies against attacks. Women will learn about healthy mindsets, ways to prevent attacks and how to help others defend themselves.
— Edited by Paige Henderson
Mindfulness club president talks meditation, goals JORDAN WINTER @KansanNews The walls of Mike Thibodeau’s room are covered with posters of the universe. Books about astronauts and nebulae are scattered across his bed, and he even has a UFO tattooed on his chest. Outer space is a huge theme in his life. Between weeks filled with 16 credit hours of classes and overnight shifts as a dorm desk assistant, all he wants after a long day is to be transported out of this world. That’s something he can achieve through meditation. Thibodeau, a junior studying psychology, has been a member of the Mindfulness and Meditation Club since he was a freshman, and he has worked his way up to being co-president this year. The student organization is dedicated to helping students learn mindfulness and meditation techniques. These techniques have been proven to change your brain by reducing stress and increasing cognitive flexibility. In a recent interview with the Kansan, Thibodeau
explained what KU Mindfulness and Meditation is and how it helps students achieve peace of mind. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
ORGANIZATION OF THE CLUB:
“KU Mindfulness and Meditation was a group set up four years ago by the now-graduated Danny Theisen. This is our first year continuing the group without him in charge. We are led by myself, Matthew Farrahi, and Brianna Marsh, with a couple other students on the board.
“We are very diverse, so we try to keep it secular.” Mike Thibodeau KU Mindfulness and Meditation Club
“Our meetings are usually set up to where we have one speaker and then everyone sits in a big group circle. First, we teach a basic meditation, then we talk
about mindfulness and life. At each meeting we usually have 15 to 30 students. The students vary everywhere from freshman up to seniors, from all different majors and walks of life. We pull in a pretty big group of people and they’re all fun.”
GUIDING PHILOSOPHIES:
“We pull a lot of our ideas from a school of psychology that was created in the U.S. in the 1960s by Jon Kabat-Zinn. It’s called ‘mindfulness-based stress reduction,’ and it’s a secular way to teach mindfulness and meditation. It draws on ideas from things like Buddhist and Hindu ideas, but it’s more of a secular version. “We try to leave out the spiritual because we know we have Christian students; we have Hindu students; we even have some Muslim students who come to the club. Atheist, agnostic, a whole wide range. We are very diverse, so we try to keep it secular. “In the meetings I’ve led, I’ve talked about things like uncertainty, and I’m hoping to talk about vulnerability, seeing patterns in life, and the ways that our mind processes the world. How we
can use our mind more effectively as a tool to help make our lives better. One thing we’ve added new this year that we do at each general body meeting is ‘diad’ (short for ‘didactic’) interviews, where you just turn to the person sitting next to you. One talks for two minutes, and then there’s a switch off and the other person talks. The other person is just silent while the other person talks, so we can focus a bit more on being present in the conversation, simply listening rather than feeling the pressure to respond right then and there.”
REFLECTION ROOMS:
“This was a big project of the club that Theisen started about two years ago. He pushed for the Student Senate, and the schools themselves, to dedicate one room in every couple of buildings on campus to be a place where you can sit and reflect. They’re called reflection rooms and they’re found all across campus in certain locations. They are just quiet, blank rooms where you can go sit for a couple minutes to catch your breath in the
middle of the day. Students can go there if they would like to pray, or just simply meditate or reflect.”
life and be a bit happier and mindful in the moment.”
“A lot of the board members are returning from last year because of a new leadership change, now we’re just kind of focused on getting the club running and functioning without Danny. So far, we’ve done a pretty good job of that. We focus on the little things, like making sure our meetings run smoothly. Even though we try to do different speakers each year, we try to go through the same phases while still adding our own personal flair to them. “We’re just focused on trying to organize the club and have a real focus this semester on building a sense of community in the club. So when people show up, even if they’re new, they can come and just feel like they are free to talk right off the bat. Or just sit there in a warm, welcoming place where, instead of being judged for what they say, you can simply come talk about life and maybe leave with a bit more of an idea what you’re going to do. Or an inspiration to live your
CLUB EVENTS:
“I actually started meditating every single day probably about eight months ago. When I started doing it every single day, I realized the practice helped a lot with boosting my confidence and simplifying my life in a way. Instead of having all these things running through my mind, I wouldn’t get so caught up with them and attached to them. I haven’t even been practicing all that long, but I’ve noticed a lot of positive changes, so I keep doing it. We have this idea of wanting to introduce people to meditation and this idea of positive psychology because we’ve seen what it’s done in our lives. We like trying to share it. But we also realize we’re all college students — none of us are psychologists — so there is a limit on what we can do, but we like being able to do what we can.” KU Mindfulness and Meditation meets every alternating Wednesday and Thursday in the Malott Room of the Kansas Union, from 6-7 p.m. The meetings are open to the public.
AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18) Have fun today and tomorrow. Raise your level of social participation over the next three weeks with Mercury in Sagittarius. Accomplish great things together.
HIS EXPERIENCE WITH MEDITATION:
horoscopes ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19) Communications especially flow today and tomorrow. Long distance communications improve for about three weeks with Mercury in Sagittarius, so consider expanding your territory. Travel beckons. TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20) Your actions could get lucrative. Saving money comes easier for the next three weeks with Mercury in Sagittarius. Set longrange financial targets. Measure results.
GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20) Get expert coaching. Over three weeks with Sagittarius Mercury the competition’s extraordinarily fierce. Support your team. Ignore petty stuff and pull together. Rely on each other.
LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22) Your team comes to the rescue. Creative expression flowers with Mercury in Sagittarius for three weeks. You’re especially persuasive. Talk about what you love.
LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22) Explore and investigate. Enter a three-week intensive study phase with Mercury in Sagittarius. Write reports and investigate assumptions and ideas. Share your discoveries.
SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21) Compromise to get results. For the next three weeks with Mercury in your sign, you have an intellectual advantage. Create a masterpiece. Express your passion.
CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22) Slow down and consider. How can you make your work easier and more fun? Keep practicing for mastery. Find efficiencies and delegate what you can.
VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22) Focus on your career today and tomorrow. Make home improvements over three weeks with Mercury in Sagittarius. Rediscover forgotten treasures. Beautify your space.
SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21) Monitor shared finances today and tomorrow. Cash flow (in and out) increases over the next three weeks with Mercury in Sagittarius. Take care.
CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19) Exercise your body while your mind roams free. Begin a three-week philosophical and spiritual phase with Mercury in Sagittarius. Ponder secrets and mysteries. Notice dreams.
PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20) Enjoy domestic comforts. Networking can benefit your career over three weeks with Mercury in Sagittarius. Professional opportunities arise in conversation. Tell people what you want.
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Senior Goodbye
Pitsinee Winyarat reflects on her defining moments with the Kansas women's golf program KATIE TRIGG @kat_trigger8 Golfing has always been a part of Pitsinee Winyarat's identity. The Kansas senior golfer has been consistently golfing since she was 7, and as she looks back on her years at Kansas, she’s thankful for all of the hard-working, friendshipcreating and knowledgegaining experiences she has had. Winyarat, who goes by the nickname “Lizzie,” comes all the way from Bangkok. As a young girl, she often tagged along with her dad to the golf course to watch him play. She soon realized she wanted to be more than just the little kid riding in the golf cart. She wanted to play and make a name for herself. “My dad is inspirational. He’s probably the reason I play golf,” Winyarat said. With time and years of experience, she was ultimately recruited by the Kansas women's golf program. In early October, the team captured a first-place finish in the Nebraska Invitational. This will forever be one of Winyarat’s most memorable and proudest moments of her golfing career. “That’s our first team winning ever in my college life. I was crying after the round … thank you so much for everyone [who] helped me, coach and teammates,” Winyarat said. “After every tournament I feel there’s
Sarah Wright/KANSAN Pitsinee Winyarat is a senior from Bangkok on the Kansas women's golf team. something that I can pledge … I learn every single time.” It takes an open-minded and brave person to join a new world in a different country, especially while becoming a student athlete at the same time. Starting out as a freshman, Winyarat had a lot on her plate. Getting used to the transition was no easy task, but not impossible for her. “It’s nice to be out of the country and live with the people that I had never been living with my whole life. It’s just fun," Winyarat said. "At first it was tough, but then I learned 'OK, I can get over it and I can apply [those] skills to my future and after graduation.'” Winyarat is majoring in math and minoring in geology, and after college, she is considering going to
graduate school. However, if she is able to continue her high level of play in the spring semester, she will set her sights on another goal: the Ladies Professional Golf Association.
“I’m going to miss college golf a lot. I didn’t realize how important [it is that] you rely on your teammates.” Pitsinee "Lizzie" Winyarat senior
“If I play well, I might go professional,” Winyarat said.
She also has plans to stay in the United States since her sister is considering coming to the country for school as well. Along with her sister, her family back at home has seen how she has not only developed as a player, but also as a person, thanks to all of the new opportunities she has had in the U.S. “I feel like I gained a lot, like especially when I look back at my freshman year. I was everywhere … I didn’t realize that I can live on my own. People say I’ve grown up so much. I didn’t realize it until my parents [said] it, like when I went back home it was like ‘Oh my gosh, you’ve changed a lot’ [from] the way that I think to the way that I act,” Winyarat said. The women’s golf team
may not be her family from Bangkok, but the team certainly is her family in Lawrence. Team chemistry can be one of the most important tools for a team, and the Jayhawks surely don't lack it. Winyarat has made several close friendships during her time spent with several teammates over the years. And as a senior, her role has turned into more of a mentorship one. “We kind of help take care [of] everyone as a family, so I’m kind of more of an older sister, but sometimes I can be a younger sister, too," Winyarat said." I feel like I can switch my role all the time. I just see how things are going, how people interact with each other, and that’s how I get along
with everyone.” She’s learned valuable lessons about what the definition of a team actually is. “Golf is not an individual sport anymore because we have to rely on teammates when [we] play in college," Winyarat said. "I’m going to miss that feeling of having a family here and [I’ll be] missing coaches and everyone who supported me here … I’m going to miss college golf a lot. I didn’t realize how important [it is that] you rely on your teammates.” Kansas just wrapped up its fall season after a ninthplace finish at the Palmetto Intercollegiate on Oct. 24. This is Winyarat’s fourth and final year playing for Kansas, and she said her time instantly passed by. She will cherish all of the memories she has made and will always have a special place for Lawrence in her heart. When she reminisces on her time at the University, she’s thankful for the little things, like her time spent on Daisy Hill. “Oh my God that view is like the most amazing view … that’s my favorite part of the day, seeing campus," Winyarat said. "I can’t wait to come back in the next five years, next 10 years ... I really love KU.” Winyarat will return to the golf course for her final run with the Jayhawks when the spring season begins in February in New Orleans.
Dineen dominates despite defensive struggles MICHAEL SWAIN @mswain97 It has been a tough year for the Kansas defense. The offensive struggles have led to the defensive unit spending more time on the field. With so much time spent on the field as the games enter the latter stages, the entire defense can end up being exposed. One player who has yet to be exposed and continues to dominate is Joe Dineen Jr. Entering the game, Dineen ranked third in the nation in total tackles and tackles for loss as well as leading the nation in solo tackles. Dineen's performance this year has left coach David Beaty speechless. “I don’t really have any words,” Beaty said. “He is a tough, tough dude. He is hurt and to play that consistent, man he is a stud.” Dineen continued to outperform the rest of the defense against Baylor as he added another 10 solo tackles, four tackles for loss and one sack despite the defense giving up 455 yards. The way Dineen plays is recognizable. At 6-foot2 and 230 pounds, Dineen has the ideal balance of size and speed. This mixture of size and speed allows him to play the way he does.
Missy Minear/KANSAN Redshirt junior linebacker Joe Dineen Jr. makes a tackle against Baylor on Nov. 4. The Jayhawks fell to the Bears 38-9. “It’s just how I have played since I was younger. I just like to fly around and I think football should be played that way,” Dineen said, “Football should be played at 100 miles per hour from the first quarter to the fourth quarter.” Beaty is not the only one to be left speechless
by Dineen’s play this season. Defensive tackle Daniel Wise understands the significance of his dominant play. “He is stepping up huge… he is doing his job and more. We just have to help him out all around.” Being on the field for over 30 minutes a game
week in and week out is not easy. Being the star player on a defense that spends more time on the field than off is even harder. With all of the pressure that comes with being on the field for so long, Dineen doesn’t let the expectations dictate his play. “I just try and go out and
make as many plays as I can.” With only three more games to play, Dineen has already broken the 100-tackle mark. But if he can record his average tackles (12.4 per game) for the rest of the season, he would finish the season just shy of 150 tackles,
which would rank him seventh all-time in Kansas single-season records. Dineen and the Jayhawks will travel to Austin on Saturday to face Texas at 5 p.m.
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Monday, November 6, 2017
K A N S A N .C O M /S P O R T S
Uneven play drops KU to bottom of Big 12
Junior wide receiver Steven Sims Jr. attempts to hurdle the Baylor defense on Saturday. The Bears defeated the Jayhawks 38-9.
RAELEY YOUNGS @raeleyy An uneventful first quarter of three-and-outs, dropped passes and no scoring made it easy to see why both Kansas and Baylor have been winless in conference play this season. Unable to capitalize early in the contest, the Jayhawks fell to the Bears, 38-9. A Kansas defense that
looked relatively solid in the first quarter of play soon turned, as the Jayhawks struggled to get stops on crucial third and fourth downs for the remainder of the game. A fake punt resulting in a first down near the end of the first quarter gave the Kansas offense a small spark, eventually leading to a field goal to begin the second quarter. However, that lead was short-lived, when less than two minutes later,
Baylor scored a touchdown after getting down the field quickly thanks to a 56-yard pickup by sophomore wide receiver Denzel Mims. That Baylor score initiated a span of just over 10 minutes in which the Bears scored two more touchdowns, putting Kansas too deep in the hole by halftime, where they trailed 21-6. Mims, the leading receiver of the game, was one of many factors that
proved to be too much for the Kansas defense, ending the day with 122 yards. Another key player for Baylor was freshman quarterback Charlie Brewer, who made the first start of his collegiate career, going 23 for 29, recording 315 yards and three touchdowns. Conversely, the Kansas offense was lackluster, led by sophomore quarterback Carter Stanley in his second start of the season. After last week against Kansas
State, in which Stanley recorded the most yards for a Kansas quarterback since Todd Reesing, he did not near making a repeat performance. Stanley went 17 for 33 with 155 yards, one interception, and no touchdowns against Baylor, looking much less confident in his passing and play-calling than in the previous week. Redshirt junior linebacker Joe Dineen Jr. was once again the lone model of consistency, racking
Missy Minear/KANSAN
up 11 total tackles, a sack and four tackles-for-loss. Dineen broke the century mark in tackles in the game, and now stands at 110 on the season. Kansas will take on Texas next Saturday at 5 p.m. at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium. In the last meeting of the two teams, the Jayhawks beat the Longhorns 24-21 in overtime in Lawrence.
Jayhawks overcome key absence to defeat TCU
TIFFANY LITTLER @TiffanyLittler
In its 3-1 win over TCU on Saturday (25-23, 25-17,1825, 25-17), the No. 12 Kansas volleyball team secured its sixth straight season with 20 or more wins. Kansas (20-4, Big 12 9-2) won the first two sets of the match, while TCU (10-13, Big 12 2-9) gave the Jayhawks a minor scare after a third set win. Kansas couldn’t overcome TCU’s early 7-3 lead in the third set, eventually dropping the set, 25-17. However, in the fourth set, it was Kansas that jumped out to an early lead and ran away with the victory. Kansas closed the match by scoring eight of the last 11 points for the 25-17 fourth-set win. “Our program has been at a high level of consistency
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over the last few years and it speaks highly of the effort that the student-athletes and coaches have put in each and every day,” Kansas coach Ray Bechard said in a Kansas Athletics news release. “When you’re a member of the Big 12, reaching 20 wins is not an easy feat.” In the game, the Jayhawks were without senior outside hitter Madison Rigdon, who sat out due to an undisclosed injury. She is listed as day-to-day. Despite Rigdon’s absence, Bechard was pleased with how his team performed without the star hitter. “I was proud of the group and the way they rallied around each other,” Bechard said of playing without Rigdon, according to the release. “Not having Madison out there meant that everybody had to do a little bit more.” Doing more in Rigdon’s
place was sophomore outside hitter Ashley Smith, who posted a career-high 14 kills for Kansas. Smith colead the team in kills along with senior right side hitter
Kelsie Payne. Smith also had three blocks in the game. “This isn’t a shock to us that Ashley would have this kind of production,” Bechard
said in the release. “We have seen good things out of her in practice. She has been pretty diligent in giving a good effort each and every day. Today was her turn to
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Kansas football’s conference record this season
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Missy Minear/KANSAN Senior right-side hitter Kelsie Payne celebrates after winning a point against Texas on Wednesday, Oct. 11.
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produce for us and we are pleased that what we saw in practice translated to competition.” Another key producer was senior All-American Ainise Havili, who played her last Big 12 match in her hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. She produced 51 assists, seven digs, and two kills. Senior middle blocker Kayla Cheadle also recorded her second career ace in the first set and had eight kills, five blocks, six digs and two service aces. The Jayhawks now lead the all-time series against TCU 11-2. Next for the Jayhawks is a Sunflower Showdown against Kansas State on Wednesday. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center.