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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2015
PAGE 3
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At yesterday's KU employee recognition, 13 people were honored for 45 years of service and 24 were honored for 40 years. That's a total of over 1.500 combined years of service to KU!
Class to hold 'Fantasy Government' event tonight
ALLISON CRIST
@AllisonCristUDK
The University's Department of Urban Planning's politics and planning class will hold "Play Fantasy Government: Tackle your Future."
The event will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight in the Community Room at the Lawrence Union Pacific Depot.
The event is open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to come fill out a roster as they would when building a fantasy sports team
- but instead for a fantasy government.
"They [participants] will choose whether or not they want a mayor, what power the mayor can have, using council elections — things like that," said Bonnie Johnson, associate professor of the class.
To help people make their decisions, students in the class have prepared displays about various topics.
One example came from Jillian Ogden, a second-year graduate student from Lenexa, who made a poster about partisan elections versus non-partisan elections.
Ogden said it will be interesting to see where
people fall on the local government spectrum.
"I wasn't too familiar with Lawrence because I'm not from here, but I've learned so much about the different elements and where I fall on the spectrum," Ogden said. "I'm excited to see for those who are actually native to Lawrence."
Despite the different aspects that go into local government, Ogden said the event simplifies the process.
"It's very interactive," Ogden said. "We'll give people the pieces for them to put back together."
There will even be a big
football field in the middle of the room to show the different choices people make.
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The letter was published in December by Charles Jones, former Douglas County commissioner and retired director of the Kansas University Public Management Center.
This is the first time this event is being held, and Johnson said a letter to the editor published in the LJ World was what brought about the idea.
elected by the city council.
Jones' reasoning came partly from a different article published by the LJ World that compared the "Most Educated Cities in America," by per-capita GDP.
"Lawrence ranked fourth on the list of most educated cities, but last when taking into consideration each community's GDP by its population," Jones said. "It's important to note we are the only ones on the list who have a rotating mayor."
Because of this, Jones said Lawrence is an outlier in the way leadership is structured.
called for the city commission to appoint a blue-ribbon panel that would explore the possibility of an elected mayor.
To move forward, Jones
"It needs to be a deliberate and thoughtful process," Jones said. "I think this event is a wonderful idea and will gather some input from the public."
Johnson said after the event, the class will send out a news release with the results.
"After that, it's up to the citizens or local readers to decide whether or not they want to take action," Johnson said.
DIVERSITY FROM PAGE 1
"Not a lot of people really know what inclusion looks like," she said. "Having someone who is trained in the areas of diversity, inclusion and cultural competency really helps to address student concerns."
"#ImNotPaco": Rock Chalk Revue character sparks discussion
- Edited by Laura Kubicki
A character named Paco in one Rock Chalk Revue show the first weekend of March upset students in the Hispanic American Leadership Organization and others on campus.
"Paco" was a stereotypical portrayal of a Hispanic man wearing a sombrero, rainbow poncho and drawn-on mustache. Many students took to Twitter in response to the performance, using the hashtag #ImNotPaco.
The next week, HALO opened its weekly meeting to allow the public to listen as members shared how they felt about the incident. The Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) also hosted an open forum to discuss race on campus, as the timing coincided with an incident at Oklahoma University's chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon involving a racist chant.
"This event [#ImNotPaco] has consumed my life," Marilynn Chavez, president of HALO and senior from Manhattan, said during the open meeting.
Since then, the Rock Chalk Revue executive team has revised its rules to make sure recommendations from its sensitivity panel are enforced.
Anti-muslim Yeti post leads fraternity to take action
An Islamophobic post on the social media app Yeti prompted leadership at Zeta Beta Tau fraternity to expel four of its members.
A statement Zeta Beta Tau issued April 27 said the four members had been expelled within 24 hours of them admitting they had taken part in the 10-second video, which showed a few men laughing as one yelled
"Allahu Akbar," which means "God is greatest" in Arabic.
"As an organization dedicated to our founding as the world's first Jewish fraternity, we take a strong stance against bigotry and intolerance in all forms," said the statement, which was submitted by Ben Felderstein, the fraternity's vice president of external affairs.
Shegufta Huma, president of the Muslim Student Association, also gave a statement on the group's behalf, which said the MSA and other Muslims on campus were "appreciative of Zeta Beta Tau's swift independent action."
"They demonstrated their willingness to ensure the Muslim community feels valued," the statement from MSA said.
Office of Multicultural Affairs director resigns; interim director named
Blane Harding, former director of the OMA, officially resigned at the beginning of May. He has moved on to the University of Nevada, Reno.
Before Harding left, he shared some concerns, which partly revolved around the direction of central leadership at the University.
"Having someone who is trained in the areas of diversity, inclusion and cultural competency really helps to address student concerns."
JAMEELAH JONES Graduate student from Conyers, Ga.
"I just wish that central leadership would do something concrete to support students of color." Harding told the Kansan in an April 8 interview.
Jones and Thomas discussed Harding's resignation with the Kausen. Jones said she understood how Harding felt, but also knew the administration was in a difficult place.
"[The administrators] don't want to just do things — they
want to do the right things," she said.
Thomas said one of the most important issues to deal with is making people who are part of underrepresented populations feel they belong at the University.
"When people don't feel like they belong— no matter whether they're faculty, staff or student—they will not want to be part of an organization," he said.
As of Monday, Precious Porras is serving as interim director of the OMA. Over the past 10 years at the University, she has served as a tutoring coordinator, programs coordinator and, most recently, associate director of the office.
Porras said a national search is "anticipated" to begin this month with a permanent director taking over Sept. 1, but she's keeping her fingers crossed that the search won't look too far from home.
At the open conversation Wednesday, Thomas said the
More to come
administration is putting out a request for a proposal seeking a consultant to conduct a comprehensive climate study this week. With that timeline, he said the study should be moving by June 1.
Thomas ended the evening on a question pertinent to ongoing talks at the University.
Thomas also mentioned a possible retreat, similar to Colors of KU, that would aim to build a greater sense of community among students of underrepresented populations.
Students also discussed accountability — not only for offenders who commit microaggressions or outright bigotry, but also for those who talk up solutions. As one example of bigotry, a student mentioned Confederate flags that still hang in some housing on or near campus, as evidenced by another Yeti post over the past weekend.
"We are in a state of crisis, nationally," he said. "[...] How is that going to change?"
- Edited by Mitch Raznick
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