THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
SPORTS
INSIDE Sports videos bring viral fame to amateur video editor p. 5
Udoka Azubuike makes progress in his performance at the free-throw line The University Daily Kansan
vol. 136 // iss. 9 Thurs., Feb. 8, 2018
Student arrested in connection to campus vandalism p. 2
SEE BASKETBALL • PAGE 7
Scholarship halls struggle to recruit Enrollment continues to drop in scholarship halls, yet the University’s plans to fix it are unclear
RYAN LISTON @RyanListonUDK Enrollment in the scholarship halls has decreased over the past several years, from 583 students in fall 2012 to 552 students as of last fall, according to a report by the Office of Institutional Research and Planning. Combined, the 12 scholarship halls can house 600 residents, so there were 48 vacancies as of last fall, which is about the same as one full house. Low enrollment has raised concerns that the Department of Student Housing may close a scholarship hall if enrollment continues to decrease. While multiple scholarship hall residents said they had heard these rumors, Steven Johnson, the complex director for the scholarship halls, denied that it was under consideration. “I don’t think we anticipate closing a scholarship hall,” Johnson said. Scholarship hall residents are expected to complete shifts, such as preparing meals and cleaning various areas in their hall. The University’s Housing website says that each resident completes four to six hours of shift work per week, but residents say the actual time allotment is lower when the halls are near capacity. Currently, low enrollment has manifested in residents working longer shift hours or having to take on extra responsibilities on
Bettina Bugatto/KANSAN Two students walk into Stephenson Scholarship Hall. Enrollment has been low for many older halls at the University. existing shifts. “Say your shift is cleaning the third floor bathroom,” said John Drees, a sophomore from Hays who lives in Grace Pearson Scholarship Hall. “Instead of it being done six days a week by three different people, it’s being done four times a week with two different people.” Nick Rose, a sophomore from Edmond, Oklahoma, who lives in K.K. Amini Scholarship Hall, serves as the orientation and recruitment chair for the scholarship halls and helps Housing recruit prospective residents. Rose sets up scholarship hall tours and assists with advertising, generally targeting high school students. Rose said the topic of low
enrollment has been prevalent at recent All Scholarship Hall Council meetings. “It’s been a topic throughout mainly this year,” Rose said. “It’s been a big concern for a lot of halls, particularly some of the older halls.” Christian Espinosa, a junior from Lawrence and president of Battenfeld Scholarship Hall, believes that recruiting and advertising missteps have contributed to the low enrollment. He believes that Housing has not been advertising the scholarship halls prominently enough across campus. “I’ve never seen a flyer that is advertising for scholarship halls,” Espinosa said. “I see it for dorms,
maybe the new ones, such as Self and Oswald.” Drees agreed that enough information is not being provided regarding scholarship halls. “I was lucky enough that when KU came to visit my hometown on one of the road shows, there was a girl who mentioned something about a scholarship hall.” Drees said. “When I went up and I asked her, I was like, ‘Hey, you mentioned something about a scholarship hall,’ and she was like, ‘Oh yeah, those are a thing.’ It was like, ‘OK, what are they?’ and she didn’t know.” Along with distributing informational flyers throughout campus, Espinosa thinks that the promotional video on the
Housing website should be updated. “I believe there should be a more realistic promotional video that would show all of the events and dinners and concerts that go on in the scholarship halls,” Espinosa said. “I think that those aspects are disregarded, and the focus is more on maybe the shift, completing the shift.” Johnson said Housing is taking steps to increase awareness of the scholarship halls, including updating the Housing website and collaborating with current scholarship hall residents. “If you visit our KU Student Housing homepage, you’ll find ‘Live in a KU scholarship hall,’ so
it’s front and center right now when students are accessing this space, which is a primary information hub and a place where we direct a lot of students for information,” Johnson said. “We’ve been working with our student leaders to help to push out messaging as well related to how do you articulate your experience of living here to the folks that you know who are interested in coming here.” Espinosa said, while he has used “word of mouth” to recruit people to the scholarship halls, the University should be responsible for increasing enrollment. “It’s not our job to put the scholarship halls on the map,” Espinosa said. “I personally have enjoyed and take pride in what the community is about, but it’s not my job, and it’s not any other student’s job. It’s up to the University to incorporate us more in their outreach.” Scholarship halls are cheaper than most other housing options. For the 2017-2018 school year, the average rate for scholarship hall residents is $4,011, while the lowest rate for dorms is $4,616 for a two-person room in Oliver Hall, according to the student housing website. The only cheaper rate for on-campus living is $3,766 for a four-person room in Jayhawker Towers B and C.
City pushed to improve safety after counterprotest KALLI JO SMITH @kallijosmith All seats were filled at the Lawrence City Commission meeting on Tuesday night as members of the community called for the city to take action after a protest on Massachusetts Street led to one arrest Saturday. The protest included over 100 counterprotesters whose goal was to protest the flag-dragging march that was originally scheduled to take place at the same time. Multiple Lawrence citizens who live around the area spoke at the meeting, saying they felt unsafe and threatened during the protest. Members of the LGBTQ community also voiced their concerns over the gay slur that a protestor had used to address a pedestrian during the march. Cam Cameron, a Lawrence resident who lives on Kentucky Street and is a member of the LGBTQ community, said it was chilling to be a white per-
son and watch what was happening on Saturday. “It was completely disheartening to see,” Cameron said. “Displaying an American flag is something, but displaying a Confederate flag is something else, and I want to be a part of moving forward, making sure these things don’t happen again.” Other residents complained that they felt unsafe for people of color in Lawrence. Christina Davis said the protest was unavoidable, and she didn’t feel safe letting her kids go outside. “I spoke to my, one of my neighbors of color, and she expressed how terrified she was and she had to keep her kids inside,” Davis said. “Given our rich, wonderful history, action needs to be taken. We do not welcome this sort of thing in Lawrence.” Other residents, like local farmers’ market vendor Natalya Lowther, voiced concerns about how protests like this could interfere with business. “This is our livelihood
Kalli Jo Smith/KANSAN During its meeting Tuesday night, the Lawrence City Commission spent 40 minutes listening to residents’ concerns following Saturday’s Defend Our Flag counterprotest. and if people are afraid to come to downtown events on Saturday mornings, farmers lose our livelihoods,” Lowther said. “I need to know what the community is going to do to protect me and my fellow farmers and customers on Saturday mornings at the downtown farmers’ market.” Trevor Stevens, who also lives on Kentucky Street, said he thought the protest did not seem like a peaceful one after he and his room-
mate went out to see what was going on. “We passed by one of these groups, and without engaging we were paraded, yelled at and even as a white male it felt very dangerous, and I can’t imagine what persons of color might feel like,” Stevens said. “I don’t want that in my community and I hope we can move forward and make a conscious decision that we will do things differently.” Lawrence City Commissioners listened to com-
ments from the public about the protest for over 40 minutes until regular agenda items were able to be addressed. City Commissioner Matthew Herbert said while the commission recognizes the issue and doesn’t want to make downtown an unsafe place for people and their families, the city still has to be open to free speech, even if it’s speech that others don’t appreciate or like. “Obviously this hit a real deep note with a lot of
members of our community,” Herbert said. “It’s an incredibly difficult issue, because ultimately we have a statutory obligation to protect freedom of speech whether or not we agree with that speech or not. But I do believe there are some things we could look out to make sure that free speech is carried out in a way that is not in any way violent, or promoting violence or creating chaos in the community.”