THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
SPORTS
INSIDE The story behind one of the names in the Campanile p. 2
How a love for the outdoors led to an award for one KU rock climber The University Daily Kansan
vol. 136 // iss. 29 Thurs., April 26, 2018
How ASL has shaped the life of University student Kirstin Slane p. 5
SEE CLIMBER • PAGE 12
Snapshot of Obama’s presidency
Pete Souza, photographer for the 44th president, spoke about his experience documenting Obama’s term
Sarah Wright/KANSAN Former Chief Official White House Photographer Pete Souza presents on his book “Obama: An Intimate Portrait” at the Lied Center on Tuesday evening. Souza spoke about the moments he got to witness in his role and the things his tried to do in documenting Barack Obama’s presidency. REBEKAH SWANK @SwankyMama Notable photojournalist and former Chief Official White House Photographer Pete Souza gave a presentation at the Lied Center on Tuesday night. Souza was the Official White House Photographer for President Barack Obama and President Ronald Reagan. His new book, “Obama: An Intimate Portrait,” features many moments of Obama’s time as commander in chief. From the 1.9 million photos Souza took during Obama’s presidency, the photographer chose
about 300 for the book. Hundreds of students and members of the Lawrence community filled the seats of the auditorium as Souza began his lecture. He clicked through photos of Obama in a multitude of settings, recounting names, events, dates and feelings. Souza spoke about how well he had gotten to know Obama, and the trips he took with the Obama family. “Even when he was on vacation, he was still the president of the United States and things might happen,” Souza said, while showing photos of the
Obama family vacationing in Hawaii. Souza’s words about the former president’s competitive spirit and sense of humor incited roaring laughter from the audience. Stories and anecdotes accompanied shots of Obama playing basketball with Secret Service agents, riding in limos with his wife Michelle, and playing in the snow with daughters Sasha and Malia on the White House lawn. Audience members were also moved to tears when Souza described Obama on some of the tougher days of his presidency. During Sou-
za’s recollection of the day of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, exclamations could be heard around the auditorium. Souza explained the difficulty of keeping his composure on the job on days like that. Junior Michaela Cantrell, one of the University students in attendance, is an amateur photographer and an admirer of Souza’s work. “You saw a lot of humanity [in President Obama] and I think that’s something [Souza] had the power to do and he chose to do it,” Cantrell said. Souza has toured the country to present to nu-
merous college campuses about his time as White House photographer. He enjoys speaking to audiences of primarily students because of the impact they will have on the United States. “I think a lot of young people are now becoming more aware politically, and are really the future of our country. I think they’re sort of like-minded individuals,” Souza said. “I like doing these events with a lot of people all sort of feeling the same way about the world, and you can feel the emotion coming back.” One thing Souza empha-
sized was his effort to incorporate historical elements into his photos. He captured pictures of Obama’s face framed by portraits of presidents before him, and Malia and Sasha Obama standing next to statues and monuments. Souza said he wanted to stay true to history in his book, while also showing Americans what the former president was really like. “All I’m trying to do is show people what this guy is like — was like — as president, what he’s like as a person, what he’s like as a human being,” Souza said.
Black greek organizations push for permanent home
HANNAH THURMAN @hthurmanUDK Darius Jones, coordinator for sorority and fraternity life, was all smiles when discussing the campaign launch for “Give Black Greek Lettered Organizations a Permanent Home at KU.” This campaign aims to give students of historically black greek-life organizations a place to call home for their respective organizations. The organizations hope it will be a place of comfort, as well as a place that can bring students together. “I think KU is in the place where they’re starting to recognize diversity and inclusion issues across campus,” Jones said. “Something like this could definitely help promote inclusion across campus and more awareness on campus.” The campaign is hoping to raise $50,000 through crowd-funding and donations from faculty and students. If the money is raised, the Divine Nine Plaza will be created at the new Burge Union that will have nine monuments to represent the nine historically black organizations. It will also have a storyboard of the National Pan-Hellenic Council to provide education and
bring awareness to these organizations. NPHC oversees all historically black greek organizations and is one of the four greek councils on the University’s campus. At one point in time, the University had all nine monuments to represent the organizations in the Divine Nine Room of the Kansas Union, which Jones said was rare at other universities. However, due to low membership numbers and students graduating, there was no longer enough funding to keep them up. NPHC has been on campus for around 100 years, and the Multicultural Greek Council has been on campus for about 10, but Jones said that despite this, most people only think of the Interfraternity Council or Panhellenic Association when they think of greek councils. “When people think of greek life, they automatically go to IFC and Panhellenic,” Jones said. “You know, we can’t blame them because they have the presence, they have the chapter facilities, and that’s what people see, so people don’t see that there are other options out there as well.” Jones told the Kansan that NPHC doesn’t have the numbers or financial
Bob (Jiatong) Li/KANSAN The Burge Union, the recently rebuilt Student Union building located at 1565 Irving Hill Rd., is the tentative site for the Divine Nine site representing all the National Pan-Hellenic Council. support to have a fully operating chapter facility like those in IFC or Panhellenic, but a space like this will promote visibility of NPHC and help spread education and awareness. This plaza has the chance to change that for students. Jones thinks that this will be a space where students can go to see themselves represented. “These students are some of the most hard-working and dedicated students on this campus,” Jones said.
“And it just makes me so happy to see this project come to life.” Shimeka Ayodele, a senior from Kansas City, Missouri, who is a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, wrote in an email that she thinks this campaign can enhance students’ experiences at the University. “This campaign has allowed us to raise awareness about our organizations in different communities around campus and the Lawrence area,” Ayodele
said. “The campaign will also provide us visibility and accessibility toward students who do not know much about our council and why we were founded.” Taylor Pullen, the NPHC president, told the Kansan in an email that there is a great support system in terms of school, personal matters and being on campus. “We are a community that really wants to see all its members succeed,” Pullen said. “And having this plot will really honor all the
work we have done and all the rich history we have on this campus.” This idea has been in the making about a year now. It started with conversations between the previous NPHC President, Tyler Allen, and the diversity and inclusion chair of Student Senate. They talked to Endowment to see what they were able to do, and to reach out to alumni. Pullen has been helping to get the project off the ground by working on the campaign, and also working on the layout of the plots and how the NPHC wants it to look. The conversation to start the campaign launch started up this April. Ayodele said that being a part of NPHC has taught her many valuable lessons throughout her four years at the University. “I enjoy learning about my history and working with other organizations to address joint problems in our communities,” she said. “I attribute much of my growth as a young African-American woman, first off, to Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and secondly, to NPHC, and that is why this campaign is so important.” People can make donations to the campaign at the Launch KU website.