THE UNIVERSITY DABY KANSAS
NEWS MANAGEMENT
Editor-in-chief
Brian Hillix
managing editor
Paige Lytle
Production editor Madison Schultz
PAGE 2A
Web editor
Christian Hardy
Social media editor Hannah Barling
ADVERTISING MANAGEMENT Advertising director Sharlene Xu
Digital media manager Kristen Hays
NEWS SECTION EDITORS
News editor
Miranda Davis
Sales manager Jordan Mentze
Associate news editor Kate Miller
Opinion editor
Cecilia Cho
Sports editor Blair Sheade
Arts & features editor Lyndsey Havens
Associate sports editor Shane Jackson
Art director Cole Anneberg
Design Chiefs
Hallie Wilson
Jake Kaufmann
Designers
Frankie Baker
Robert Crone
Kelly Davis
Grace Heitmann
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Multimedia editor Ben Lipowitz
Special projects editor Emma LeGault
Copy chiefs
Casey Hutchins
Sarah Kramer
ADVISERS Sales and marketing adviser Jon Schlitt
Content strategist Brett Akagi
Associate multimedia editor
Frank Weirich
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 50 cents. Subscriptions can be purchased at the Kansan business office, 2015A1 Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS, 66045.
The University Daily Kansan (ISSN 0746-4967) is published daily during the school year except Friday, Saturday, Sunday, fall break, spring break and exams and weekly during the summer session excluding holidays. Annual subscriptions by mail are $250 plus tax. Send address changes to The University Daily Kansan, 2051A Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue.
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ASSAULT FROM PAGE 1A
to the KU community, according to an email from records custodian Andy Foat.
wnite the list includes information about the policy and what it includes, it doesn't include demographic information about neither the case nor the violators, including the violator's sex, whether the incident happened on or off campus or the sub-violation within the sexual harassment policy. (It lists eight types of harassment that fall under the policy, from unwanted attempts, to unwelcome efforts in starting a relationship, to sexual violence.)
After Student Affairs released that list, Kansan editors submitted another KORA request Feb. 11. This request asked for specific details regarding not only the 32 cases that did find a respondent in violation of University policy, but also the hundreds of cases that are reported to IOA that don't result in sanctions. The Kansan asked for the supporting findings of all of these cases, the specific policy violation within the sexual harassment policy for each case and demographic information respective to the 32 violators.
"While your publication may believe these documents are appropriate for publication, the University does not share that belief. Release of these documents would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy and would discourage future victims and witnesses from reporting sexual assault and cooperating with investigations," Potterff
At a sexual assault task force meeting earlier this semester, Executive Director of IOA Jane McQueeny said IOA received 168 sexual assault complaints in 2014, which is more than double the amount it received in 2012.
James Pottorff of the University's general counsel denied The Kansan's request to access these complaints in a reply sent Feb. 16.
said.
The Kansan does not intend to use this information in any way that would re-victimize these students, Kansan Editor-in-Chief Brian Hillix said. The editors at The Kansan hope to create a database that paints a more accurate picture of sexual assault on this campus and gives the community more context about what happens to these reported cases and to investigate whether the cases that result in sanctions are treated fairly by the University. Hillix said The Kansan believes that providing more information to the public is the best way to prevent future assaults.
them to publish, you might be requesting them for your own personal curiosity, you might be requesting them to share informally with your friends — it just doesn't matter."
"The fact is, the way that a person is going to use public records has no bearing on their entitlement to receive the records," said Frank LoMonte, director of the Student Press Law Center in Washington D.C. "You might be requesting
However, The Kansan does not have to legally justify why it requests information. If the information is a public record subject to KORA, the University is legally obligated to produce it.
Schools like the University of Virginia and Ohio State have already produced records like this to the public when requested. Because of the fulfillment of similar requests at other universities, The Kansan editors do not believe they are asking for something outlandish or extreme.
many of them would abuse that authority to keep secrets," LoMonte said.
subject to open records laws don't get to decide which records to release or when to release them based on they think the requestor is planning to use them.
When The Kansan asked to meet with the University's general counsel, the general counsel directed editors to the
He said if this were allowed, those entities could potentially use it as a way to cover up information they don't want to release.
After meeting with Kansan editors on Feb. 18 to discuss potentially sharing some information about reported sexual assaults, McQueeny told The Kansan in a March 2 follow-up email. She did not respond to additional emails and messages.
$ \bigcirc $
LoMonte said public entities
from the editor: We don't normally write about ourselves on the news pages, but because of recent developments in the paper's efforts to get records about sexual assault cases from the University, we're making an exception with today's story. We believe that, as part of the newspaper's mission, it serves readers to provide in-depth information about serious issues and happenings on our campus. No issue is more important than the safety of students.
printed publicly. Additionally, we will not release information likely to allow students to be identified. We take our obligation in this regard very seriously."
"You would never want government agencies to get in the business of deciding what uses are or are not suitable, because
The Kansan also contacted the office of Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little for comment.
"The response you received from the University's general counsel is very clear and, in its totality, represents the University's statement on the KORA request," Caboni said in a Feb. 24 email. "The University will not allow details of the most harrowing moments of these students' lives to be
"The letter from the Office of the General Counsel represents the University's statement on the records reed the office of Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little for comment.
Office of Public Affairs. When The Kansan contacted Tim Caboni, vice chancellor of public affairs, he also declined to meet with the Kansan.
Hillix and Kansan editors believe there are some inconsistencies between what The Kansan requested and the reasoning the University provided for denying the request.
quest," said Jack Martin, director of strategic communications for the University.
The reasons the University included for not providing this information include a KORA exemption for information regarding "medical, psychiatric, psychological or alcoholism
or drug dependency treatment records which pertain to identifiable patients"
The Kansan did not request medical or treatment records. The response from general counsel said the University also denies to provide "information that would reveal the location of a shelter or a safehouse or similar place where persons are provided protection from abuse or the name, address, location or other contact information of alleged victims of stalking, domestic violence or sexual assault."
The Kansan did not request neither information on safe houses that the University may or may not own or operate nor information about accusers or victims.
For a research project, Emma Halling, former acting student body president and a senior from Elkhart, Ind., filed a public records request for names of offenders, date of the offense, specific violation and sanction from 2010 to present on Feb. 27. Like The Kansan, she also received a denial Tuesday afternoon from the University's general counsel. "It's important that non-identifiable information be made available on these cases so we can understand any trends on sexual assault and therefore adequately address it," Halling said.
Edited by Mitch Raznick
SENATE FROM PAGE 1A
Before fee review, the regular agenda to approve bills are as follows:
recycling programs; and 50 cents added to the original $1 allocation to the University Daily Kansan.
3. The newly-formed KU Violin club was given funding for an electronic metronome and sheet music.
2. AbleHawks and Allies was granted $1,500 for an Alison Kafer honorarium event.
1. A bill to fund $110 for Her Campus KU Jayhawk lamboe, an event to tie-dye t-shirts, which will take place on Daisy Hill during March Madness.
5. The KU percussion group was given $1,500 in funding to commission a composer to write a piece for the group. It plans to use this music for concerts throughout the year.
6. A bill to fund a portion of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers conference also passed. This conference will be held for 12 schools of the student chapter in the region. The conference will showcase work in the engineering department.
4. A bill passed to fund an Interactive Andean concert
hosted by the Latin American Graduate Organization on Earth Day. The concert is open to the public.
Edited by Mackenzie Clark
There will now be a separate caucus forming, "which will be a homogenous mixture of people who believe in the same values and working towards our goals," Dickerson said.
"This is an opportunity that will allow KU students to be represented in a way they have never been before," Dickerson said. "This is bigger than Student Senate elections. This is progressive thinking, progressiv action and progressive strategy. This will be something that will unite students on all fronts."
Legacy coalition folds
The recently formed Legacy coalition has decided to fold "in order to achieve the inclusive goals set by leaders at KU who are the representative of a diverse student body," according to former Legacy affiliate Madeline Dickerson.
Dickerson encourages anyone who wants to be involved with a coalition to attend the meeting.
— Alana Flinn
be held in the Big 12 Room at the Union tonight at 8:30 p.m.
In an article titled "Uncork Kansas bill making its way to House" in Wednesday's issue, Tuck Duncan was misidentified. The story has been updated online to reflect this change.
The new caucus formation will
hall and using the Crimson Flex dining plan (12 meals a week, $200 Cuisine Cash) is $9,880. K-State is slightly below that, with the average cost of its residence halls and a comparable dining plan being $9,865. Both Wichita State and UMKC are above the University's average costs at $10,753 and $10,471, respectively.
CORRECTION
The University's rates are still too high for some. After a semester of living in the residence halls, Paxson moved into the scholarship halls to save money.
"It seems ridiculous that I'm paying just as much to live as go to school," Paxson said.
The increase was approved by the Kansas Board of Regents in December, said Diana Robertson, the director of KU Student Housing. Housing staff, along with the Student Housing Advisory Board (SHAB), spent the last semester determining the new rates.
LIVING FROM PAGE 1A
"Student Housing is what's called an auxiliary service, so we operate fully on' money we bring in from room rates and rent rates," said Robertson. "So, as a self-funded operation, we have to be able to look ahead, estimate what our operating costs will be and how much the rate needs to be set at."
KU Student Housing splits up its budget into the costs of operating the buildings. making improvements, paying employees and maintaining facilities. When determining the rates and budget for the coming year, housing works to use money as efficiently as possible, which keeps prices low for students.
"We're certainly not a for-profit. We're simply trying to cover expenses," Robertson said. "We want to bring that right to the wire, but we certainly can't come up short either."
A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE SINCE 1880
Because utilities have become one of the biggest forces driving up the rates. Robertson said energy conservation can make a difference in the budget.
"[There's] lots of electricity, lots of gas, lots of water in these buildings, so [utilities] tend to be most volatile. They can have a six to eight percent increase, next year, for instance," Robertson said. "One of the things I would love to see our student government groups do more of is advocating for conservations of utilities."
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