CAMPUS/AREA UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, February, 1993
3
Common issues, common goals
Daron J. Bennett / KANSAN
Above, members of Delta Sigma Theta sorority from Central Missouri State University dance at the "Throw Down Show Down Stomp Down" step show. The show, held Saturday night at Haskell Indian Junior College, featured step shows by African-American fraternities and sororites from around the Midwest. Below, the KU Inspirational Gospel Voices sing at the Gospel Extravaganza at the Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vermont.
Conference events stress African-American unity
By Jess DeHaven and Frank McCleary Kansan staff writers
A three-day conference held at the University of Kansas brought about 750 students from the Midwest together to discuss issues facing African-American students.
Speakers, workshops, entertainment and a career fair highlighted the 16th annual Big Eight Conference on Black Student Government, which ended Saturday.
"It's In Our Hands: Shaping Our Community Through Campus Involvement" was the theme of the conference. Students from Big Eight schools, regional universities and high schools attended the conference, sponsored by KU's Black Student Union.
"The conference was magnificent," said James Bacom, president of KU's Black Student Union. "My hope and main concern is that people follow up on the issues that were discussed at the conference."
"You realize you're not alone," he said.
Calvin Brown, a student at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, said the event presented a good chance for African-American students to get together and talk about common issues.
"You realize you're not alone," he said. Tanisha Davis, a sophomore at the University of Colorado, said, "I wanted to see what other people were doing to make life more comfortable on their campuses."
On Saturday afternoon, Yelena Khanga, a former journalist and author of the book, "Soul to Soul: The Story of a Black Russian American Family, 1865-1992," held a question-and-answer session. Many of the questions were related to what could be done about racism.
Paul Kotz / KANSAN
"We're related no matter what color we are," she said, "we just don't know it."
Charles Barron, president and chief executive officer of Leadership Dynamics Inc., spoke about leadership skills necessary for African Americans to move into the 21st century.
He said meetings such as the Big Eight conference were a learning experience
for him as well.
Eight fraternity and sorority groups competed in a step show competition Saturday night at Coffin Sports Complex at Haskell Indian Junior College.
KU's chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority won their division at the competition, which about 2,000 people saw. KU's Kappa Alpha Psalms were performed.
On Friday, representatives from KU schools and area businesses were on hand for a career fair to provide information such as scholarship opportunities.
A gospel extravaganza Friday night at Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vermont St., featured performances by gospel groups from several universities.
Unity is motto of African-American greek system
By Will Lewis
Kansan staff writer
"Where there is unity there is strength!" These words are the motto of the National Panhellenic Council and are followed by KU's African-American Greek system.
The words have been developed as a result of hard and trying times: Stages when students and faculty scoffed at the idea of African Americans being able to have their own system and times when college was not an option for African Americans.
Juanita Cotrhine, president of Black Panhellenic Council, said the African-American creek system provided support for its members through unity.
Members of the eight African-American greek letter organizations at KU use the system to express their concerns and needs and to take advantage of the brotherhood and sisterhood the system offers.
"The reason we were founded is because a lot of the Black women didn't have a sun
port system and they needed each other for support," Cothrine, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, said. The same goes for African-American fraternities, she said.
The system has been actively involved in the community through the years, providing tutoring services for younger children, fund-raising drives for bone marrow transplants and involvement in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization.
The Black Panhellenic Council was organized to establish rules and regulations for the Greeks and to coordinate philosophies and activities.
The council's KU chapter began about 10 years ago to oversee the eight fraternities and sororites and to avoid hostility among
the organizations by improving communication.
The system has seen many improvements in the last few years, including the elimination of hazing in favor of better initiation rituals and eliminating schedule conflicts between organizations.
"Our relations have improved," Cottrine are more unified than we have ever been.
"I still think we're heading upwards," she said. "I think we're flourishing."
Adams said that many people questioned the role of an African-American organization on campus but that those organizations were essential.
Samuel Adams, associate professor of journalism, was an adviser to the African-American greek system at KU in the late 1970s and part of the 1980s.
"It would be stupid to close down a Black organization simply because another organization says we are now desegregating," Adams said. "Desegregation is not integration."
African-American greek history at KU
ΑΦΑ Founded: Dec. 4, 1906 Founded at KU: 1917
AKA Founded: Jan. 16, 1908 Founded at KU: 1915
KA$ \Psi $ Founded: Jan. 5, 1911 Founded at KU: 1920
$\Omega \Psi \Phi$ Founded: Nov. 17, 1911 Founded at KU: 1976
ΔΣΘ Founded: Jan. 13, 1913 Founded at KU: 1925
$\Phi B\Sigma$ Founded: Jan. 9, 1914 Founded at KU: 1979
Z.ΦB Founded: Jan. 16, 1920
Founded at KU: 1979
$\Sigma \Pi F$ Founded: Nov. 22, 1922 Founded at KU: 1976 Source: KU Black Panhelenic Council
Derek Nolen/KANSAN
Roles inspire theater major to start group
Rape-awareness organization may take form in mid-March
By Kathleen Stolle Kansan staff writer
Sean Kaplan, inspired by his own on-stage portraits of rapists, is taking on the new roles of rape-awareness activist and group organizer.
"I really believe that awareness and education are really what's going to change people," said Kaplan, a Northbrook, Ill., sophomore. "Rape is a man's problem. It's not a woman's problem. Women can only try to prevent rape whereas men can end it."
Since the recent closing of "The Conduct of Life," the second KU theater production this year in which Kaplan portrayed a rapist, the theater and English major has been busy laying the groundwork for a new campus organization dedicated to raising awareness about rape.
Men will be the primary — but not exclusive — focus of the embryonic group, Kaplan said.
He said that he thought men would talk more openly about rape with other men than with women. But he hopes the group will explore the definitions and parameters of rape, as seen by both men and women.
"Date rape is such a huge problem, and I still talk to people who think date rape isn't a problem." Kanlan said
He said some people thought rape had different levels of severity.
"They think that date rape is almost like first-degree compared to when someone jumps out of the bushes, which would be third-degree. That's mind-boggling me because either way, a crime is being committed."
Kansas law recognizes only one degree of forcible rape. Familiarity between victim and offender is inconsequential under the law.
Kaplan anticipates that the group officially will take form sometime in mid-March after he has had a chance to confer with rape counselors, social welfare professors and other campus and community professionals.
Kaplan said he wanted to tap these resources for suggestions on what specific needs the group may address. He said he also hoped that this group would be able to work in collaboration with other existing entities such as the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center, Douglas County Rape Victim Support Service and the Student Assistance Center.
Center.
This is not the first time a group concerned with women has been formed by a member of the opposite sex.
About two years ago, Leslie Jones and the DuFF Burt
"Men benefit from sexism because sexism means privileges." Jones said.
Within eight months the group dissolved because of dissension among its membership regarding the mission of the group, Jones said.
He advised that leaders in any new organization take care in clearly defining its role. He also suggests that men be cautious in addressing issues that affect women.
"I don't think men need to lead," he said. "They need to
ask, 'What can we do to help?' sit back listen, then help."
According to statistics released by the KU Police Department, five rapes were reported by KU students during the 1991 calendar year. Four of the five victims, all of whom were women, said they knew their attackers.
During that same time period, the Lawrence Police Department received 36 reports of rape.
Based on statewide rape statistics from 1991, almost half of all rapes occurred in residences and involved no weapons. The victim was most commonly a white female between the ages of 15 and 19 while the offender was most often a white male between the ages 20 and 24.
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