+
Volume 128 Issue 121
kansan.com
Thursday, May 7, 2015
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN The student voice since 1904 WEEKEND EDITION
+
SUMMER FLICKS
FRANK WEIRICH/KANSAN
The Interfraternity Council vote to ban hard alcohol from campus chapter houses hopes to target issues like alcohol abuse, cultural competency and sexual violence in thereek community.
Interfraternity Council plans hard alcohol ban for next fall
MIRANDA DAVIS
@MirandaDavisUDK
The University's Interfraternity Council (IFC) voted Tuesday night to ban hard alcohol from all chapter houses on campus.
The ban, along with other measures IFC is taking, hopes to help target three main issues - alcohol abuse, cultural competency and sexual violence - within the greek community.
+
students."
"The Interfraternity Council has been having extensive conversations for several months on creating healthier and safer environments, and we believe that this policy is a critical first step in changing the drinking culture within the Greek community," IFC President Chris Pyle said in the statement. "I am very proud of our fraternity presidents for having the courage to pass this policy in an effort to make fraternity houses a safer place for all KU
The statement said this decision was made in collaboration with the University's Panhellenic council, the governing body of sororites. According to the statement, Panhellenic council plans to pass a resolution supporting the ban.
insensitivity. Panhellenic also plans to implement a peer advocacy program to assist survivors of sexual violence and raise awareness of the topic. According to the statement, these programs were the result of several months with the Greek Sexual Assault Task Force — which was established in light of campus events this year.
SEE BAN PAGE 2
The IFC also announced the creation of a peer education program along with the hard alcohol ban. The program will help address sexual assault education and cultural
Douglas County plans to address mental health and homelessness
HALLIE WILSON
@halliew20
As jail space decreases and homelessness rates increase, Douglas County officials face two major problems: addressing mental health issues in the community before they lead to criminal activity and finding a way to help the homeless.
In the past 20 years, the state of Kansas has reduced the number of mental health beds available in jails, leading the Lawrence County jail to struggle to provide beds for incarcerated individuals. Additionally, homeless rates in Lawrence rose in recent months due to the economic downturn.
The county is working to find impactful solutions to these problems, which are oftentimes tied together. The ultimate goal is to help community members lead a life that includes proper treatment and keeps them out of jail. The solution may be to create new facilities to help people with mental health issues.
Brian Blevins, CEO of the Lawrence Community Shelter, believes the solution is in helping addicts and homeless individuals recover, get off
the streets and pursue normal lives.
"Nobody is in favor of more jail beds," Blevins said. "The U.S. jails more people than any other country, and it shouldn't work like that."
Douglas County Administrator Craig Weinaug agreed. He said the goal is to help people through a crisis that, if unaddressed, might cause them to end up in jail.
Weinaug said the county jail would ideally implement a crisis intervention center, which is a place where someone might stay for a minimum of 23 hours or up to a maximum of 2 weeks.
The county's proposed solution to these two main issues isn't as obvious as one might guess. Instead of expanding facilities and buying more beds, it wants to create a short-term crisis center for those in mental crises, as well as a longer-term recovery center for community residents.
Blevins said the hope is that the county will reach out to more people and offer them long-term help, which would in turn potentially decrease arrests.
"The idea is that if someone is in a mental health crisis,
they can go there to heal instead of going to jail," Weinaug said. "Some of the crisis center options mean they wouldn't be involved in the justice system at all."
The crisis center would help those who had a mental breakdown or large dispute because of a mental health issue, for example. The recovery center would help people with substance abuse issues, mental health problems and those living on the streets who deal with these problems. The latter has become a bigger problem due to the economic downturn.
The crisis center goal is to get someone through a crisis and also keep them out of unnecessary jail time, Weinaug said. The additional creation of a long-term recovery facility run by Blevins would include programs tailored to individuals, still with the goal of helping them heal and keeping them out of jail. People could go to the recovery center after their time at the crisis center or on their own fruition.
"Regardless of when our economy even begins to bounce back, you still have a lot of people that don't recover economically as fast as
the community or even the nation does," Blevins said. "The longer stretch we have of a bad economy, the more homeless rates rise."
When homeless rates rise, more people need the shelter and the services it offers. This is a challenge for Blevins and other shelter administrators.
Blevins said the best choice is to develop programs and create better environments for people to heal in. Blevins said the ultimate goal is to create a restorative environment for everyone that passes through, which once again ties back into the idea of reduced arrests.
"Our staff deals with all of the problems that people come in with that have created the homeless situation," Blevins said. "We get about 20-25 people housed every month, on average. And we're not keeping up."
A recovery center works as a sort of full-service environment tailored to each individual's personal situation.
This includes transportation to outside medical services, like the doctor and dentist, as well as psychological treat-
Future Majority gives funds to Topeka to help Kansas' budget crisis
SEE HEALTH PAGE 2
KELLY CORDINGLEY
@kellycordingley
With a giant $17.25 check in tow, Clay Cosby, co-founder of the Future Majority club at the University, drove to Topeka on Wednesday to draw the legislator's attention to the severity of the budget deficit. While he was under no impression that the club's contribution would make a dent, he said he wanted to make a point.
"We were trying to get the message out there and show how significant our shortfall is," said Cosby, a senior from Overland Park.
OPINION 4
A&F 5
"It was a funny way to get students to engage in a budget crisis," he said. "It can be a difficult
On April 21, Future Majority members handed out cookies on campus to engage students in a discussion of the budget crisis, and some students decided to donate to the cause. Cosby said in some cases, they had to explain to students that the club didn't expect to fix the budget crisis.
PUZZLES 6
SPORTS 14
issue to engage with. It's ridiculous what's happening."
The club finished the day with $17.25 total and decided to run with it.
"We wanted to milk this as much as we could, so we were like, 'Let's get a giant check printed for $17.25 made out to the state of Kansas and we'll take it to the Capitol and we'll walk around and play the part of earnest students who head there's an issue and were trying to help," Cosby said.
Once in Topeka, Cosby met with Sen. Laura Kelly (D-Topeka) and Rep. Stephanie Clayton (R-Overland Park), both of whom he said were very receptive to the cause.
"These are two very sympathetic legislators," he said. "They described the poor policies that led to these massive shortfalls. I asked Laura Kelly, 'What are some crazy instances of spending out of control?' Her response was that it's irresponsible tax policy."
SEE FUTURE PAGE 2
Don't Forget
On-campus diversity cultural competency discussions continue
Director of Diversity and Jamielah Jones ages with senior biology major Paige Whiteside (left) and sophomore community health major Rose-Bertier Mercier.
FRANK WEIRICH/KANSAN
MACKENZIE CLARK
@mclark59
Looking back at this semester, several events have brought attention to topics that encouraged conversation on diversity and cultural competency.
The Office of Multicultural Affairs held an open conversation for underrepresented students Wednesday evening. No definitive plans were made, but students discussed concerns and questions.
Organized by Melissa Peterson, multicultural community coordinator, and Nathan Thomas, vice provost for diversity and equity, the event brought approximately 50 students, faculty and staff to the Sabatini Multicultural Resource Center lobby.
CLASSIFIEDS 13
DAILY DEBATE 8
Student Senate appoints first director of diversity and inclusion
Happy Stop Day Eve!
In December, Student Senate approved the creation of a position that had been in the works for most of the fall semester:
However, Jones said it shouldn't always take an open forum for measures like that one to pass. She said she believes her position comes into question more often than others because people don't have a true understanding of the needs of underrepresented populations.
director of diversity and inclusion. On Jan. 28, Jameelah Jones, graduate student from Conyers, Ga., was appointed to the new position.
The bill to create the position originally failed in committee, but was brought up again after an open forum on Dec. 10 and passed 47 to 1 with no abstentions.
"If [all or most] of your needs are met, it's hard to see that someone is here whose needs are not always met, especially if we're in the same place," Jones said in an interview April 10. She said having someone whose sole job is to advocate for those individuals is crucial.
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2015 The University Daily Kansan
SEE DIVERSITY PAGE 3
Today's Weather
Partly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of rain. Wind SW at 23 mph.
HI: 81
L0: 62