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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 3
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014
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can get away with anything."
RECORD VOTER
TURNOUT IN 2013
Last year, students reacted. Students voted.
Last year's Student Senate election 25 percent voter turnout was a record high for the University.
"I hope it's broken," Tetwiler said. "I hope it is."
"I don't think it will be," said Tyler Childress, chief of staff. "There's not as much fervor, it doesn't seem like the student body cares as much, and even though the campaign is shorter, I don't think the coalitions have done as good of a job at differentiating themselves."
Childress thinks the student body won't bother to vote if there isn't a difference between coalitions' platforms.
"Even in the debate last week,
"We never did that last year," Halling said.
"Yeah, sustainability," Tetwiler quoted. "I actually agree with you. I could work with you on that."
there was a lot of agreement," Tetwiler said.
Rapp said student campaigns in the past have encouraged a higher voter turnout when they emphasize how their platforms and candidates differ.
"Students, I think, respond to
PREDICTIONS FOR THIS YEAR
well-established differences," he said.
Jake Rapp expects this year's voter turnout to be high. He predicted about 20 percent.
"Students need to believe that there's a choice and that it's a choice that they can make," Rapp said.
Due to this year's campaign reform, Tetwiler said this year's election is an experiment.
Campaigns are shorter and less aggressive, so students are less annoyed, but also may not be as informed.
Tetwil remember's surprise and disbelief after last year's election results were announced. There's no Gallup poll prediction of Student Senate election winners.
"There's no way to know," Tetwiler said.
Edited by Callan Reilly
STORIFY ON KANSAN.COM SEE WHAT THIS YEAR'S CANDIDATES SAID ABOUT WHY STUDENTS SHOULD VOTE.
LBGTQ FROM PAGE 1
the intersection of identities.
"We desperately need to do more work on campus exploring the other identities of students and how those identities intersect," Detmer said. "So that is definitely going to be a priority for the coordinator."
According to Detmer, the addition of someone with a background in higher education and counseling will be valuable because they will be able to provide guidance and support for students who come into the resource center.
"Students who identify with the gender and sexuality minority community often are going through a struggle with identity in their college years and we need to provide an office of support and a network of support for those students," Detmer said.
Although the LGBTQ Resource Center has been working on getting this position for years, the administration never had the funding because of state cuts to higher education. The resource center then turned to Student Senate for funding to accommodate the growing gender and sexuality minority population.
"I really felt that we had an obligation to those students who are either here and are struggling or the students that will be coming in future years to KU, just to make sure that they have that resource, whether or not they actually need that help, just to make sure it's there," said senior Tyler Childress, Student Senate chief of staff.
Other than providing a fulltime safe space for students, the coordinator would also be creating connections and building an inclusive environment through events and programs.
Currently, the LGBTQ Resource Center has campaigns and events to spread awareness and encourage inclusivity, including the Lavender Graduation Ceremony, which celebrates the achievements of gender and sexuality minority students during their time at the University. The event will be held on May 15 at 7 p.m. in the Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union. Students can register for this year's ceremony at silc.ku.edu/lavgrad.
"It's to honor and celebrate gender and sexuality minorities and ally graduates so that they leave feeling a sense of empowerment and achievement," Detmer said. "They know that this is a place that values their sexual orientation or gender identity."
"I think it's going to have one of the largest impacts that we can have on this campus and I know that we are reaching out to a lot of students," Childress said.
The hope is that with the addition of this position and the growth of the LGBTQ community on campus there will be more expansion in the resource center, both in number of positions and presence on campus.
KU IN COMPARISON
K-State has a full-time coordinator, a graduate student assistant and an undergraduate student working in its LGBTQ Resource Center.
Mizzou has a full-time coordinator, a graduate student assistant and four student hourly positions in its LGBTQ Resource Center.
UMKC has a full-time coordinator and student workers at its LGBTQ Resource Center.
STATE
Kansas teachers vow to fight for rights
TOPEKA, Kan. — Leaders of the largest Kansas teachers' union vowed Tuesday to fight through November's elections against the Legislature's vote to eliminate tenure.
The provisions were added to a school funding bill adopted Sunday by legislators that increases state funding for public schools by more than $129 million. The funding increase was made to satisfy a Kansas Supreme Court ruling last month that ordered the state to increase funding to poor school districts. The measure is now on Gov. Sam Brownback's desk.
The tenure provisions are similar to language that has been
introduced or adopted across the country in recent years, including North Carolina, Indiana and Colorado.
Mark Desetty, a lobbyist for the Kansas National Education Association, said that ending tenure would limit teachers' ability to advocate for their students' best interests. The union also believes depriving teachers of the admin-
"I think it has become much more common in recent years;" he
said. "This is political retribution by people who believe they have an unfettered right to run roughshod over people who disagree with them."
istrative due process provided by tenure puts their jobs in jeopardy.
Deseti said while there had been hostility in the air toward teachers in recent years there was no indication that the tenure issue was coming until it was sprung on the Senate floor during debate of the funding bill.
Proponents of the change included conservative Republicans and the group Americans for Prosperity. They argued the move would give local school boards and administrators more power to
remove underperforming teachers and would improve the quality of public education.
"There's no reason for tenure. There is no reason to have any protected class in this state or in this country," said Rep. Allan Rothlisberg, a Grandview Plaza Republican.
Associated Press
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