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Volume 128 Issue 79
V
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
The student voice since 1904
Cofas
Student aims to improve mental health awareness on campus
RRFET IVY/KANSAN
Rachel Hagan tables on Wescoe Beach to promote Active Minds. Active Minds is a national organization that works to remove the stigma associated with mental health issues.
BRET IVY
@bretdaytonivy
"Believe in yourself." "You did the best you could."
These are just two of the many messages that Rachel Hagan and members of KU Active Minds draw on the sidewalks along Jayhawk Boulevard. Hagan said she hopes the messages serve as a small reminder to students who feel depressed or anxious. She said she hopes the chalk reminds students that they're not alone.
Hagan is president of KU Active Minds, a student organization that promotes talking about mental health and provides students with information about therapeutic services and other ways to get help. Hagan wants to facilitate a more open discussion about student mental health problems and remove the stigma around mental illness in general.
"I think the change in talking about mental health has already started," Hagan, a senior computer science major from Topeka, said. "More and more people have been coming forward saying. I want to talk about this.' This has been a part of Active Minds' success."
In a 2014 study by the American College Health Association, 32.6 percent of college
students reported they "felt so depressed it was too difficult to function," while 54 percent felt "overwhelming anxiety."
These feelings can cause students to struggle with schoolwork and creating a healthy social life. Sometimes, students drop out as a result.
"Mental health is like an underlying current," Hagan said. "If you have family issues or financial issues, you might also have mental health that gets tangled with that. Then your mental illness might make it harder with everything else that is going on, which is already really hard for an
18-year-old to deal with'
"A mental illness can be very isolating," she said. "The illness wants to tell you, it's just you, this is your fault, this isn't real." I think there's a lot of power in talking to other people going through the same situations, so that you don't feel so alone. Then you can share resources and share ideas on how to cope."
18-year-old to deal with."
Hagan said she believes that one of the worst parts about
Hagan said her own experience with anxiety led her to want to help others.
"Growing up, I had a lot of friends with mental health is-
"I think the change in talking about mental health has already started."
SEE HEALTH PAGE 2
RACHEL HAGAN President of KU Active Minds
having a mental illness is not being able to talk about it due to a negative stigma.
BEN BRODSKY/KANSAN
Sophomore Gabby Yeager lifts a barbell during weightlifting. Yeager is the leader of KU Babes, a group for women on campus who are interested in weightlifting.
All-female club strives to empower, strengthen women
KELLY CORDINGLEY
@kellycordingley
Nearly 30 girls squat in unison holding barbells above their heads while "Lose Control" by Missy Elliot blares throughout the gym. But the high-energy music can't compete with the instructors encouraging the girls to push themselves through the exhausting workout. With its graffitied walls and upbeat environment, CrossFit Lawrence is a fitting facility to host KU Babes, the only women's weight lifting club on campus.
Yeager said she never expected to have such a large turnout, but was thrilled when roughly 35 girls showed up to the first workout. She said this style of working out is more beneficial than going to a regular gym because the workout is better for you and a tight-knit community is formed.
Gabby Yeager, a sophomore from Wichita, started the club at the beginning of the spring semester because she saw a need that wasn't being met by any other club at the University.
"I was going to join the Strength Club at KU, and someone said 'Oh, it's all guys,' as like a passing comment, and I thought, 'Well, I'll just make a club with all girls then.'"
"A lot of people don't want to do this because the rec is free," she said. "But what you get out of this is so much more than working out by yourself at the rec. Technique and form is really important to how good of a workout you can get. Also, there's a community of people pushing you. Like, I'll see a girl stop and then 10 girls are like, 'You can keep going, keep pushing yourself.' So, you're going to see more results because you're pushing yourself harder with all the other girls around."
Yeager founded the club with the help of two other girls, Morgan Shapiro, a junior from Leawood, and Cora Burgoyne, a sophomore from Wichita. Shapiro became interested in CrossFit
when her boyfriend began doing CrossFit workouts over the summer for the Marines and brought her along to his CrossFit-style workouts.
"I became obsessed," Shapiro said. "When I came back to school, I was like, 'I have to find a CrossFit gym.' I started coming here like six days a week. Then, I met Gabby here and Cora and Gabby was like, 'I really want to start a weightlifting club because there's not one at KU.' She got the ball rolling, and I helped her out."
Yeager said she wants women to recognize the benefits of weightlifting and not be concerned with any stereotypes related to lifting
FILE PHOTO/KANSAN
SEE BABES PAGE 5.
Gov. Sam Brownback shares his experiences with seeing human trafficking in multiple countries ranging from Uganda to North Korea on Feb. 2, 2012, in the Kansas Union Ballroom.
Online Brownback petition growing with over 30k signatures
KATHERINE HARTLEY
@kat_hart9
OPINION 4
A&F 5
PUZZLES 6
SPORTS 10
Several University students have added their name to an online petition for the recall of Gov. Sam Brownback, expressing their feelings about the governor's recent legislative decisions.
As of Monday, Feb. 16, there are more than 34,000 signatures on the petition. The petition now has a goal of 40,000 signatures and can be found on the website, MoveOn.org.
"I signed the petition on Saturday, after I saw a friend post it [on Facebook]," Leawood sophomore Melissa Berger said. "I was prompted to sign it and share it because I really feel Brownback is making really poor choices for Kansas."
The unofficial petition was posted over 10 days ago and started with an original goal of 10,000 signatures. Created by Tony Piazza, the petition claims "Governor Brownback is morally and financially bankrupting the state of Kansas." This, as well as his political agenda, are cited as reasons for the recall petition.
If passed, Senate Bill 158 would establish a program, called CARE, for heterosexual foster parent couples who have been married for seven years with no alcohol or tobacco use or any history of drug use. To qualify, the foster parents also must be members of either a church or a similar social group that meets regularly, and one must not be employed.
"I thought of this as a civil rights issue and couldn't stand by without taking some sort of action," Topeka
ALLISON CRIST
@AllisonCristUDK
Brownback has recently been in the national news after he decided to overturn the executive order by former governor Kathleen Sebelius, which protected LGBTQ+ state workers.
SEE PETITION PAGE 2
CARE program bill concerns faculty, foster parents
Some University faculty are concerned about a proposed Senate bill that would prioritize foster parents who match specific criteria.
Jeremy Fite, executive director at the Hillop Child Development Center and a former foster parent, is worried that
ALICE LIEBERMAN Social welfare professor
Don't Forget
the state is going too far by determining who is a "better parent."
CLASSIFIEDS 9
DAILY DEBATE 7
"There may be problems in child welfare, but this bill doesn't solve any of them, that's for sure..."
Today is the first day you can start credit/no credit classes.
"There are great foster parents out there who don't fit into any of these categories, and there are probably terrible foster parents who do," Fite said. "As a former foster parent, my wife and I did not
All contents, unless stated otherwise, $ \textcircled{c} $ 2015 The University Daily Kansan
SEE BILL PAGE 2
Today's Weather
Sunny with a 55% chance of snow. Wind NWN at 9 mph.
HI: 28
L0: 9
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