THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2013
POLITICS
PAGE 3
Graduate student runs for political office
MACKENZIE CLARK
mclark@kansan.com
Abbie Hodgson, a graduate teaching assistant in the communications department, announced Monday that she is running for political office.
Hodgson, who calls herself a "lifelong lahwak" is running as a
democrat for the Kansas House of Representatives seat in District 46, which includes the University. She has worked for the Federal Election Commission in Washington, D.C., as a speechwriter for former Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius and as a communications director for various state agencies. In addition, she owns a small campaign con-
suiting business called Prairie Fire Consulting.
"Working in both politics and government has taught me what the process of governing looks like, and I've had the opportunity to see the ways in which public policy impacts the lives of real people." Hodgson said. "I think it's always important to keep real people in mind when you are making public policy."
Hodgson also said she has witnessed the impact state budget cuts have had on students.
"As a university we have had to cut faculty, we have deferred maintenance of our buildings, and ultimately all of those impacts trickle down and affect students and the quality of education they receive," she said, "and I think it is of the utmost importance that our students go out into the world really prepared to compete on a
national, if not a global, scale. We are really doing a disfavor to Kansas students by cutting funding to education."
Hodgson's top three priorities are
"Students should be vocal about the things that they care about, and should do all they can to make sure their voices are heard..."
ABBIE HODGSON Political candidate
known Hodgson since she was an undergraduate student. Although he cannot endorse any particular candidate, he spoke highly of Hodgson.
rebuilding the economy through job creation, restoring funding to education and reforming tax policies.
"I think in the last three years under Governor Brownback we
"She's very well-prepared to run for office by her previous background working in politics and government service and by her understanding of campaigns, especially the communication part, again." Rowland said. "She has a really strong sense of service, so those are all good things, I think, that prepare her."
"She's an extraordinarily gifted person, and very hard working." Rowland said. "She's also a fine teacher."
Hodgson is in the process of obtaining a doctorate degree. She currently holds a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in communications.
have seen a radical shift in the tax policy, and I think we are overburdening the lower class and the middle class," she said. "We need to make sure that our tax policy is fair and that everyone shares in the responsibility of funding state programs and services."
Additionally, Hodgson said that if elected, she would be a passionate advocate for University students and faculty.
Edited by Jessica Mitchell
Hodgson said whether students are interested in politics or not, she would encourage them to be aware of the impact of politics on the state and local levels.
"Students should be vocal about the things that they care about, and should do all that they can to make sure their voices are heard in the public sphere," she said.
Robert Rowland, professor and director of graduate studies for the communications department, has
HEALTH
MCKENNA HARFORD
Campaign gives students healthy tips and tools
mharford@kansan.com
KU Student Health Services (SHS) is launching a new health campaign tomorrow called "BEAK Healthy" aimed at helping students to become aware of the small ways they can make healthier choices. The campaign comes with the addition of a new utility vehicle, which SHS affectionately calls Beakers.
"We wanted a way to go to students because we know that when we have events on campus we are very stationary," said Heidi Garcia, the wellness manager at Student Health Services. "The utility vehicle, Beakers, allows us to be mobile; wherever on campus we find students we can go to them."
- The idea for the campaign came from the desire to reach out to students and provide the best information and wellness tips.
"We wanted something that we
could use a lot of different taglines or messaging with, so we came up with the BEak Healthy," Garcia said. "We wanted something not only to provide tips and tools about health and wellness, but we also wanted [the campaign] to be something that was very easily recognizable, so it's consistent."
According to Garcia, it is important for this campaign to reach students because it is a new way of making information available.
"We are at the forefront. It's exciting because we have a new way of delivering messages, and we want students to be excited about different things and not always get information the same way." Garcia said.
The campaign concentrates on six areas of wellness: alcohol, tobacco, other drugs, nutrition and weight management, sexual health, and stress management.
spawned from the SHS's desire to make wellness a priority for students. Random Acts of Kindness Mondays, Wellness Wednesdays and Condom Sense Fridays are the three main programs beginning this semester.
While BEak Healthy is the main campaign, other initiatives have
"We know you're college students,we just want to help you make some healthy choices."
HEIDI GARCIA SHS wellness manager
"BEak Healthy is kind of an umbrella and then we can tag on whatever health message we want to," Garcia said. "We are leading in this kind of health education and delivery system. This is definitely a program that we will keep building on."
Each initiative focuses on providing students with tools, as well as information. At each event, SHS wants students to leave with something that will remind them to make safe choices.
They made kits for student use to distribute at events, like firstaid kits and safe sex kits—which contains a condom, instructions on proper condom use, and contact information for the Watkins Health Center and STI testing.
In order to help tailor the campaign to students, the programs will be mostly mobile and direct. SHS also wanted to brand BEak Healthy so that students all over campus would be able to recognize Beakers and his message. To do so they created Beakers, which will be painted KU red and blue
"We know you're college students, we just want to help you make some healthy choices. They're just little things that you can do." Garcia said.
"We want to be fun, engaging, interactive so that students want to come up to us, they want to get information that we have, and that it's in a fun way by using Beakers," Garcia said.
and have a yellow beak, along with taglines and a Twitter page, @ BEak_Healthy.
Because of the broad nature of the campaign, SHS is hoping to expand BEak Healthy and build on the initiatives.
"The possibilities are endless because we have that BEak Healthy umbrella that allows use to attach whatever health message we need to get out," Garcia said. "We will always be trying to change it up so that there's new messages and there's new items, so that students want to still continue to check us out."
Edited by Sarah Kramer
It was 117 years ago tomorrow that the KU football team first wore crimson and blue uniforms. Prior to that day, the official uniform color was just crimson. Before we had a football program, the official KU
colors were yellow and blue.
POLICE REPORTS
Information based on the Douglas County Sheriff's Office booking recap.
- A 31-year-old male was arrested yesterday on the 1000 block of 23rd Street on suspicion of theft, valued at $100. Bond was set at $100.
- A 38-year-old male was arrested yesterday on the 1800 block of 6th Street on suspicion of disorderly conduct. Bond was set at $100.
- A 25-year-old male was arrested on Tuesday on the 400 block of McDonald Drive on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Bond was set at $500.