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LAWRENCE
HELPING THE HOMELESS
Local woman finds needed support through Lawrence Community Shelter
EMILY DONOVAN
news@kansan.com
Until recently, nearly everybody Lawanna Crow knew was either using or dealing dope.
Crow, a 49-year-old woman from Wichita, has been sober for two and a half years. She found the support she needed after hitting rock bottom: homeless and addicted to crack. She knocked on the Lawrence Community Shelter door to ask for help.
"They saw something in me here at the shelter that I didn't see in myself." Crow said.
She's always optimistic, complimenting others' accomplishments and smiling. Next month, Crow hopes to pass the GED test.
In sixth grade, Crow dropped out of school. She was slower than other people in class. She didn't want to be put in special education classes or get teased by the other kids.
"I was embarrassed so I quit going." Crow said.
Crow started working parttime at a Burger King. She helped around the house too, babysitting some of her three brothers and six sisters.
It was 1987 when she really got into the crack scene. The first time she used, she didn't know the weed joint her cousin passed her was laced.
She smoked on a pipe at her apartment, other peoples' houses or driving around town.
"I didn't get paranoid or psycho like some people do on it; I just had fun," Crow said. "And I felt popular. Because people hung out with me when I was partying."
Crow thinks she'd be a millionaire if she could go back and count all the money she stole and hustled to spend on crack.
"You don't care who you hurt. All you worried about is that next high."
LAWANNA CROW
Lawrence citizen
She voided receipts of big meal orders to steal from work. She shoplifted. She stole a friend's 42-inch flat-screen television. She was in and out of jail for prostitution. One time, she said, a dope dealer put a hit out on her after she drugged his drink and stole his stash.
"When you're out there on that, you don't care what you do to get it." Crow said. "You don't care who you hurt. All you worried about is that next high."
When she left her husband, she had nothing to take with her and nowhere else to go but the Lawrence Community Shelter. A case manager
Lawrence Community Shelter facts
SEE HELP PAGE 3A
40 family members, 85 single clients
One-third of clients stay for fewer than 10 days. One third stay for 10 to 20 days. One-third stay for more than 20 days.
In constant need of:
cereal, coffee, socks
Check out the video on kansan.com
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY GEORGE MULLINIX/KANSAN
Lawanna Crow, a 49-year-old woman from Wichita, has been sober for two and a half years. After seeking help from the Lawrence Community Shelter, she now volunteers at the shelter's kitchen and is taking classes at the Adult Learning Center in Lawrence to prepare for the GED test.
CAMPUS
Student Senate addresses social media policy
Student Senate passed a resolution on Wednesday opposing the Kansas Board of Regents' social media policy that gives chancellors the right to penalize faculty or staff for improper social media use.
AMELIA ARVESEN
news@kansan.com
Student Senate voted 57-7-3 to oppose the new social media policy in a resolution during the weekly meeting Wednesday evening.
The resolution urged the Kansas Board of Regents to suspend the policy and replace it with something new that respects public-employee speech protected by the First Amendment.
"The policy is really, really vague," said Garrett Farlow, university affairs associate senator and author of the resolution. "It can apply to any type of situation involving social media if a professor were to send out anything putting the University in a negative light."
Farlow said the policy is more intrusive to the rights
FRANK WEIRICH/KANSAN
of students and professors than helpful in restricting controversial comments.
Following journalism professor David Guth's controversial tweet regarding the National Rifle Association in September, the Kansas Board of Regents approved an amendment in December addressing social media use of KU faculty and staff.
The policy change grants the chancellors of board universities the right to suspend, dismiss or terminate faculty or staff based on improper social media use. The term "improper" blankets actions like disclosing confidential information, inciting violence, and communication through social media to accomplish official duties.
Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said in a previous article that faculty and staff are
The Kansas State University publication The Collegian also indicated that faculty felt the policy endangered free speech rights. This included professor Phillip Nel, who responded with what he called an experiment of civil disobedience.
concerned the policy will be too restrictive, limiting their ability to voice important issues.
Nel encouraged his Twitter followers to tweet anything using "#kssspeech"to determine the restrictions of the social media policy. Farlow recommended taking part in the movement.
Student Senate also condemned the policy unanimously in a meeting on Feb. 6 because members felt it infringes upon the
"The more steam we get behind this, the more change we'll see," said Farlow.
CLASSIFIEDS 2B
CROSSWORD 5A
First Amendment, conflicts with principles of academic freedom, hurts the recruitment and retention of faculty and poses a threat to the higher
Index
education systems of Kansas.
CRYPTOQUIPS 5A
OPINION 4A
SPORTS 1B
SUDOKU 5A
education systems of Kansas.
In addition, Student
Senate resolution asked for a suspension of the policy until April, when a work group set
up by the board will attempt to address concerns and offer
Don't Forget
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To tell someone you love them.
Today's Weather
SEE SENATE PAGE 3A
Sunny. Zero percent chance of rain.Wind SW at 10 mph.