THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
INSIDE
SPORTS
How universities, including KU, handle free speech on social media p. 2
Bill Self, among other coaches, prepares for big postseason payday The University Daily Kansan
vol. 136 // iss. 16 Thurs., Mar. 8, 2018
Underground tunnels in Leavenworth rumored to be haunted p. 5
SEE BONUSES • PAGE 8
No. 1 senior duo aims to top debate tourney
Quaram Robinson and Will Katz will compete later this month after dominating the majority of their regular season tournaments
Sarah Wright/KANSAN Quaram Robinson is a member of the nationally-ranked Kansas Debate team. RYLIE KOESTER @RylieKoester Quaram Robinson only has one tournament left of her University debate career. Robinson, a senior from Austin, Texas, will compete at the National Debate Tournament starting March 20 to determine the top team in the country. However, the success of this season is not new to Robinson. She finished second at the NDT in 2016. Robinson’s debate partner this season is Will Katz, a senior from Topeka. They make up the top ranked team in the country. “I think they have a pret-
ty good chance,” said assistant coach Sean Kennedy. “I believe that they can win the tournament, but a pretty good chance, much like the NCAA tournament, is still very uncertain.” Robinson said it was difficult for her to continue debating after getting to the finals of the NDT her sophomore year. “It’s just a hard game,” Robinson said. At the beginning of the year, Robinson said she set a goal to win the Rex Copeland Memorial Award, which is given to the debate team with the best performance throughout the season. The award is given at the beginning of
the NDT. “It’s really hard to determine a goal that isn’t going to hurt your own feelings,” Robinson said. In terms of her debate style, Kennedy said, Robinson has a different way of thinking than many other debaters in the country right now, and that sets her apart. Robinson is also good at managing judge and audience perception, according to Kennedy, which is key to winning a debate. Kennedy said Robinson can take an abstract concept and relate it to digital culture, such as memes or Miley Cyrus twerking. He said this often works well for Robinson because de-
bate tournaments last full days and judges become tired after judging hours of debates. Kennedy said when Robinson makes a comparison like that, it cuts through to the judges. “If the judge isn’t buying it, you’re not going to win,” Kennedy said. During the regular season, Katz and Robinson won three out of five tournaments, including the first two tournaments they competed at. Robinson said she and Katz do an “unbelievable amount of research” before the season begins, but they did not expect to do so well right at the beginning of the season.
“We were both shocked when we won the first tournament,” Robinson said. Robinson said it is uncommon for a team to consistently win national debate tournaments because once a team wins, it usually puts a target on their back. However, Katz and Robinson continued to win, and in the tournaments they didn’t win, they finished second and fifth. “I cannot remember, in a decade plus of doing college debate, a team having a season this overwhelmingly successful,” Kennedy said. Robinson and Katz are both seniors, so this will be their last debate tourna-
ment. Kennedy said he tells all debaters who are going into their last NDT that the trick to winning is to think like a judge because once a debater becomes a judge, they cannot debate anymore. Kennedy said a judge sees the debates more clearly than the debaters, so a debater must close that gap. “If you can figure that out, then it’s really easy to do well at the NDT because you understand how the judge is thinking about the debate, not just how you’re thinking about the debate,” Kennedy said. The NDT will last for seven days in Wichita, beginning on March 20.
Decision to not disband Jayhawker coalition appealed
DARBY VANHOUTAN @DarbyVanHoutan
In a recently appealed decision, the newly formed Jayhawkers coalition has been accused of improper registration in the upcoming Student Senate elections. These allegations were initially made in a complaint filed to the Elections Commission on Friday, Feb. 23, by the Crimson and Blue coalition. According to Crimson and Blue campaign manager Martin Doherty, Jayhawkers had only held their coalition launch by the time of the Feb. 16 registration deadline listed on the commission’s website. Because their required presidential and vice presidential caucus — which took place Feb. 25 — came after that deadline, Crimson and Blue requested that the Jayhawkers not be recognized as a coalition.
“The election schedule on the EC website is very clear, so the decision not to let them form should have been very clear,” Doherty said in an email to the Kansan. According to Elections Commission Chair Jeremy Latronica, the commission “overruled the complaint” and instead charged the Jayhawkers a $30 fine for registering after the deadline. Latronica, who did not have voting rights as chair at the Feb. 28 hearing, said the commission’s reasoning for not disbanding the Jayhawkers was based on incorrect information on launch forms. “There were some bits and pieces of text that pulled from previous Student Senate [Rules and Regulations],” Latronica said. Shortly after the hearing, however, Crimson and Blue appealed the decision to the Student Senate
Miranda Anaya/KANSAN Alex Dwyer, the campaign manager for the Jayhawker coalition, gives an introduction before asking for nominations for the presidential nominee of the coalition during the Jayhawker coalition launch on Feb. 25. Court of Appeals, saying that the Jayhawkers should never have been recognized as a coalition. “We are not appealing latter decision not to dis-
qualify, but rather the former decision to let the Jayhawkers form in the first place,” Doherty said in an email with the Kansan. The appeals hearing is
scheduled for Friday with an exact time and location to be determined. Crimson and Blue vice presidential candidate Charles Jetty will be representing the coali-
tion. Representatives from the Jayhawkers coalition declined to comment at this time.