THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
+
N
NEWS MANAGEMENT
Editor-in-chief
Brian Hillix
Managing editor Paige Lytle
PAGE 2
Production editor Madison Schultz
Digital editor
Stephanie Bickel
ADVERTISING MANAGEMENT
Advertising director
Sharlene Xu
Sales manager
Jordan Mentze
Digital media manager Kristen Hays
NEWS SECTION EDITORS
News editor
Miranda Davis
Opinion editor
Cecilia Cho
Associate news editor Kate Miller
Associate sports editor Shane Jackson
Arts & features editor Lyndsey Havens
Sports editor Blair Sheade
Social media editor Hannah Barling
Web editor
Christian Hardy
Art director Cole Anneberg
Design Chiefs Hallie Wilson Jake Kaufman
Designers Frankie Baker Robert Crone
Multimedia editor
Ben Lipowitz
Multimedia editor Frank Weirich
Special sections editor Amie Just
Special projects editor Emma LeGault
ADVISERS Media director and content strategist Brett Akagi Sales and marketing adviser Jon Schittt
Copy chiefs Casey Hutchins Sarah Kramer
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.
KANSAN MEDIA PARTNERS
Check out KUH-TV on Wow! of Kansas.
Channel 31 in Lawrence. See KUH's web at tv.ku.edu.
KJHK 99.7 is the student voice in radio.
CONTACT US
editor@kansan.com
www.kansan.com
Newsroom: (785) 766-1491
Advertising: (785) 864-4358
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
KANSAN.COM
2000 Dole Human Development Center
1000 Sunnyside Avenue
Lawrence, Kan. 68045
The Weekly Weather Forecast
weather.com
MONDAY
HI: 61
LO: 32
Sunny skies with a 0 percent chance of rain. Wind W at 15 mph.
TUESDAY
HI: 57
LO: 36
MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015
Sunny skies with a 0 percent chance of rain. Wind E at 8 mph.
WEDNESDAY
HI: 67
LO: 38
Sunny with a 0 percent chance of rain. Wind SSW at 20 mph.
THURSDAY
HI:46
LO:25
Cloudy with a 0 percent chance of rain. Wind NWN at 20 mph.
Teachers adjust attendance for Obama
LAUREN METZLER
@MetzlerLauren
When President Barack Obama visited the University last Thursday, he was scheduled to speak at 11 a.m., a time which presented a conflict for many teachers and students. In a memo to the faculty, Sara Rosen, senior vice provost for academic affairs, answered the
question on many students' minds: Would classes still be held? The answer was yes; classes were held as scheduled.
In the memo, Rosen gave two reasons explaining why classes should not be interrupted. The first reason was that the University is a place of learning, and learning should come first. The second listed the possible misconception that
all students could attend the event when, in actuality, the number of tickets available was limited.
Rosen ended the memo with, "students and faculty can make their own choices about attending the event should they have the opportunity to do so."
Joseph Erba, a journalism professor, decided to excuse his students from class if they could provide photo
"Most importantly, it was also to encourage civic engagement for our young people," Erba said. "I would have done that regardless of the president's party, whether he was a Republican or Democrat."
evidence that they had attended the event.
"I think I read that the last time a sitting president visited KU was more than 100 years ago." Erba said. "I thought it would be nice for the students to have the opportunity to see the president live, while he is the president."
This was not the only reason Erba made it possible for his students to
Edited by Kayla Schartz
attend the event.
GOP presses state bills limiting gay rights
RAY HENRY
Associated Press
ATLANTA — A Texas lawmaker would strip the salaries from government officials who honor same-sex marriage licenses.
Other states would protect government officials who opt out of performing gay nuptials.
Michael O'Hara, a retired Fulton County firefighter and current Coweta County paramedic attends a rally to support former Atlanta fire chief Kelvin Cochran following his termination in Atlanta. Even as the U.S. Supreme Court gets ready to decide whether gay couples can marry, lawmakers are backing longshot legislation targeting gay rights.
In Georgia, where lawmakers are considering a bill that critics fear could allow businesses to discriminate against gay customers, the former head of the country's largest Protestant denomination recently urged lawmakers to rein in "erotic liberty."
DAVID GOLDMAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in April and could decide by June whether gay couples can marry, and national opinion polls show U.S. voters increasingly unopposed to gay rights. Yet lawmakers in a handful of states are backing longshot legislation targeting gay rights, doubling down on the culture wars. Most, if not all, of the efforts are led by Republicans.
of gay marriage a few months later, supporters of the bills would be exposed to criticism that they've been fighting for a fringe issue.
The bills are more political theatre than serious policy. Few seem to have widespread support among lawmakers, and senior Republicans are not adopting these efforts as their own. In Georgia, well-funded business groups oppose them.
If the bills' backers manage to force a sharp debate in coming weeks, and the Supreme Court rules in favor
Still, the legislation remains popular with vocal and organized voting blocks in states or parts of the states where they've been proposed. But any political points they score could come at a price.
"On no issue during my 40-year career have opinions moved as rapidly as they have on the issue of the morality of gay relationships and ultimately gay marriage," said Whit Ayres, a Republican consultant for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and the National Rifle Association. "When you have conservative organizations like the U.S. military and the Boy Scouts openly accepting gay members, the debate is close to being over."
Not in Georgia. In a devotional delivered to newly convened lawmakers, the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention urged them to defend the freedom to act on religious beliefs, though he stopped short of endorsing legislation that supporters say would do precisely that.
"We are a living in a society that is on a collision course with a choice between erotic liberty and religious liberty," the Rev. Bryant Wright told lawmakers. "... Your role in government is about restraining sin."
Georgia politicians rejected tougher legislation last year, avoiding a showdown that occurred over a similar bill in Arizona, where Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a measure the Republican-controlled Statehouse had adopted.
This year, the toughest measure comes in Texas, where Republican state Rep. Cecil Bell has proposed stripping state and local officials of their salaries if
they issue or honor same-sex marriage licenses. In 2005, Texas voters approved an amendment to the state constitution banning gay marriage, but a federal judge struck it down last year. The judge stayed his ruling until an appeals court could consider the issue.
Republican lawmakers in South Carolina, Virginia and Utah have proposed giving government officials or wedding celebrants the right to opt out of gay nuptials if participating violates their religious beliefs.
In Georgia, the debate flared this month when Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed fired the city's fire chief after learning the chief self-published a book describing homosexuality
as a perversion. Reed, a Democrat, said the fire chief never got city permission to publish the book, but the fire chief said he did.
The Washington-based Family Research Council and others have used the firing to rally support for the latest legislation in Georgia, though wit's unclear the proposed law would have made a difference. The legislation would forbid the state government from infringing on a person's religious beliefs unless the government can prove it has a compelling interest.
Unlike legislation in other states, the bill in Georgia makes no reference to same-sex relationships, though critics fear it would allow businesses to discriminate
against gay customers. Other states have passed similar acts.
Republican Rep. Sam Teasley, the bill's sponsor, denied the bill is about gay marriage.
"This is a modest protection for people of faith," he said.
for people of faith. he said. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce says it will oppose any bill that allows discrimination. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, voted for a federal version of the legislation in Congress, though it was before gay marriage began in the United States.
"It's not a bill that I'm going to be pushing on my own initiative, but it is one that I have sentiment for," Deal said.
Sabaa Anees, a sophomore from Wichita, said shed heard President Obama was a great speaker, but it was amazing to see him in person. She was most interested in what Obama had to say about equal pay for women and men.
OBAMA FROM PAGE 1
"He definitely pointed out that it's 2015 and there's no legal protection at the federal level for getting paid the same as a man," Anees said.
"For me getting into the health career field, I thought his message about child care or family care was a logical next step after expending so much political willpower over the Affordable Care Act to pass over all the hurdles that it did," Bowman said. "Health care has a lot of moving parts so it makes
Connor Bowman, a senior from Lenexa, said as a pharmacy student, health care was a big topic for him.
sense to involve the family as a unit."
For other students, the journey to the speech was just as memorable as the speech itself. Alex Cushing, a senior from Chicago, got in line to see the president at 4:30 a.m.
Cushing had trouble sleeping the night before because she was so excited and realized when she got in line that sleeping in the cold was not an option.
Cushing said she got in line to see the president in the wee hours of the morning because she had to take advantage of the opportunity to see him in person.
"I'm exhausted," Cushing said. "My legs hurt, everything hurts, but it was totally worth it."
"To be that close and physically there is just a very cool experience," Cushing said.
Edited by Samantha Darling
VOLUNTEER FROM PAGE 1
this event differs from the last one she volunteered at because of the size.
"I knew this event would be larger, so I honestly don't think I was expecting it to run as smoothly as it did," Wagner said. "With so many people, I was expecting something to go wrong."
However, Wagner said the event went smoothly.
"It was just such a high-energy event; everyone that was there in such a good mood and so excited," Wagner said. "I think after all the craziness of last semester it was nice to have an event that brought us all together."
Volunteer Chance Maginness, a freshman from Westmoreland, said events concerning the president involve numerous people to run smoothly.
"I learned that it takes a crowd to make things work when the president comes." Maginness said. "It takes a lot of people for
Garrett said he noticed the speech did not emphasize politics, but instead general statements.
one man to come to Lawrence, especially when that man is the president. I'd say we had over 50 volunteers."
After the line of people attending the event had been admitted, the volunteers were able to enter the building to watch the speech.
"I don't think it was super political, most of it was 'thanks for having me KU', gearing it a lot toward college students, free community college and middle class economics", Garrett said.
"It was a fun, kind of relaxed college-directed speech to get the attention of the younger
Maginness also found the speech to be casual.
generation."
"I thought it was astounding," Maginness said. "It was well articulated and he seemed very humble and like a regular person, not the leader of the free world."
Overall, Wagner said volunteering was exciting and a learning experience.
"I learned that those events are crazy," Wagner said. "It would be really cool to work for the White House and have to do the event planning. It's cool to see that side of the White House, and I don't think a lot of people know what has to go into these events."
Edited by Lane Cofas
INJURIES COURT MIP DUI ACCIDENTS BE PREPARED 785-842-5116 HAPPEN Law Office of Sally G. Kelsey
strole-kelseylaw.com
+