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Volume 128 Issue 80
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Kansan.com
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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The student voice since 1904
AARON GROENE/KANSAN
Student Senate to vote on sexual assault transcript notation policy
Angela Murphy and Emma Halling address questions during a Student Senate meeting on Feb. 4. Student Senate will consider a proposal that will students' transcripts who have been disciplined in sexual assault cases.
ABBY WALSH
@abbywalsh20
Students disciplined in sexual assault cases by the University would have a notation placed in their academic transcripts under a new policy proposal that student government leaders will consider Wednesday night.
The practical effect of this proposal would be that other universities would know if a student applying for transfer or graduate school had previously been suspended or expelled for non-academic misconduct, including sexual assault. Currently, student files at the University do not include mentions of non-academic misconduct, according to KU's online policy.
Student Senate committees are scheduled to discuss a resolution encouraging the Kansas Board of Regents to adopt the new notation policy, which was developed in response to concerns about how the University handles sexual assault. The policy would apply to all Kansas universities under KBOR control.
Student Senate's Graduate Affairs Director Angela Murphy believes that this would be a tangible way to carry on the activism that's been happening on campus at the state level. Murphy is also co-chair of the chancellor's sexual assault task force, which was appointed to examine
how the University responds and prevents sexual assault.
"We can't directly affect national policy, but as a leadership institution in the state of Kansas, we can encourage a statewide policy that would reflect the climate that we have on KU's campus," Murphy said.
Not everyone believes this bill is a perfect fix. Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center an advocate for student's first amendment rights does believe that anyone
found guilty of a violent offensive should not have a clean record, and should also not be able to transfer without anyone knowing of their past misconduct. However, LoMonte does see potential problems with the language of the bill that Murphy wants to pass.
"It's clear that something needs to be done when it comes to incidents on the scale of sexual assault," LoMonte said. "But it sounds like 'non-academic' is going to be any type of behavioral
issue, no matter how slight. That becomes a judgment call as to whether there is some threshold of severity that shouldn't be anyone else's business."
LoMonte said that something like sneaking a beer into a dorm might not merit the same response as someone found guilty of sexual assault. He believes that KBOR would need to have a serious discussion as to whether or
SEE SENATE PAGE 2
Commissioners approve sexual violence memorandum
RILEY MORTENSEN
@RileyMortensen
On Tuesday night, the city commissioner's council voted on the approval of a memorandum of understanding between the University and the city on sexual violence procedures and information sharing.
The council heard from KU Chief of Police Ralph Oliver and Lawrence Police Chief Tarik Khatib who presented a brief overview of the memorandum to the council before they unanimously voted in favor of the partnership.
The memorandum is specifically between the Lawrence Police Department and the University's Office of Public Safety, which Khatib said have always maintained a great working relationship.
"It basically spells out that we agree that we have mutual interests both from the criminal side of investigating what happened and also from the administrative side of the University in ensuring a safe school environment free of harassment for the victim." Khatib said. "So in those situations
where the victim allows, we will communicate that information."
The agreement was drafted by city officials and KU administrators who began talk of a written partnership in October of last year according to documents shared with the city commissioners.
According to KU News, there does not appear to be any comparable memorandums between a university and local law enforcement.
"We looked at other communities across the nation, and we can't find any other MOUs like this between a university and local law enforcement related specifically to sexual violence," Tim Caboni, vice chancellor for public affairs, said in a statement. "As a community, Lawrence can be proud of the leadership role we are taking on this topic."
The memorandum also has a continuing agreement for the two parties to educate each other further about the investigative and administrative side of sexual violence investigations. For
SEE CITY PAGE 2
GRAPHIC BY COLF ANNFRERG/KANSAN
Screenshots from LiveSafe show how the safety app might work on KU campus if the board decides to implement it.
Student Safety Advisory Board discusses safety app
KATHERINE HARTLEY
@kat hart9
At Tuesday's Student Safety Advisory Board (SSAB) meeting, the board further discussed their plan to implement the student safety app LiveSafe on the University's campus. However, because of concerns about planning and implementation from the Public Safety Office, discussion on this topic will be
tabled until the next meeting. The board plans to research the app more as well as find out how effective it has been since being introduced on Kansas State's campus.
They also moved to bring back the Campus Safety Fee, which was originally cut in 2009. SSAB will ask for either a $1 or $2 Campus Safety Fee charge for all undergraduates, in order to help fund campus projects that aim to keep
students safe. Now that the board has voted on it, the fee increase will go on to Student Senate fee review.
Pennie Liu, the All Scholarship Hall Council Environmental Chair, presented the board with a plan to repave the sidewalk that leads up to campus from the scholarship halls, and asked for funding for the project.
SEE APP PAGE 2
Tibetan monks create spiritual art at Union
CHANDLER BOESE
@Chandler_Boee
At the Kansas Union this week, a traveling troupe of Tibetan monks are creating a traditional mandala sand painting as part of their exhibition "The Mystical Arts of Tibet."
The Cultural Programming committee of Student Union Activities brought the troupe to the University. The monks have been creating the sand mandala since Monday, and will be working on it through Thursday.
"One of their main goals is to make people knowledgeable about Tibetan culture and really keep it alive and spread it in North America," said SUA Cultural Programming Coordinator Sam Eastes, a sophomore from Pratt.
One of the monks visiting this week, Geshe Lodem, said his monastery, the Drepung Loseling Monastery, was originally based in Tibet until 1959. At that time, the Buddhist spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama challenged the Chinese Communist regime that occupied Tibet. As a result, the Dalai Lama was exiled and approximately 80,000 people followed him into India.
"Since then, we have been exiled in India. The situation
"When those elements are in the outer or inner parts, there is a balance, there is a harmony;" he said.
This week, the monks have been creating a painting of colored sand, known as the Green Tara Mandala Sand Painting. Lodem said the monks are using the colors to represent the elements: white, yellow, green, blue, and red.
is that, in Tibet, it's very hard to practice and continue our traditions, language, religion and culture, so we try to preserve this in exile," said Lodem.
In the Malott Room at 7 p.m. on Thursday, the monks will give a lecture entitled "The Symbolism of the Sand Mandala" to further discuss what it represents in the Buddhist faith.
"By making the mandala, we believe that it will bring healing and harmony to this area and all the inhabitants," Lodem said.
Q&A WITH LODEM
Lodem has been a monk since he was 13 years old and just began to travel with The Mystical Arts of Tibet this month. He spoke to the Kansan about his life as a monk and how he learned about the Buddhist faith.
KANSAN: What is it like to be
PUZZLES 6
SPORTS 7
LODEM: To be a monk was much more than what I had thought. Monks have to study a lot. In our monastery, it takes 17 years to complete the course of our monastery. The main focus at our monastery is on the Buddhist philosophy. We used to spend four, five hours a day debating the Buddhist philosophy. In the early morning, we have to memorize the root text, and go to the classes, and hear a lot of different commentaries on that root text, and we have to debate it. We are debiting it because the founder of Buddhism, the Buddha, said "Do not accept my word, what I have taught, because of reverence. You should analyze it and debate how the goldsmiths used to analyze gold in the ancient time, by cutting and scratching, and know that it is a pure gold. That, there, is how you should analyze my word. And if you find it suitable, then you can take it. Otherwise, you can discard it."
KANSAN: What do you do after that education is completed?
Index
LODEM: After completing the 17 years of education in the monastery, we are titled
OPINION 4
A&F 5
a monk?
CLASSIFIEDS 8
DAILY DEBATE 7
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2015 The University Daily Kansan
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Don't Forget
To brush your teeth before your 8 a.m. classes.
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