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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2014
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KU officer diversity at all-time high
ALANA FLINN
@alf_1212
In light of the racial divide among officers and citizens in Ferguson, Mo., the KU Public Safety Office reported its fall 2014 staff is more diverse than before.
There are four female officers, as well as one Asian officer, two African-American officers and two Hispanic officers.
Director of Public Safety and Chief of Police Ralph Oliver said he thinks this diversity will improve relations among
students and officers.
"It's important that any police department reflect its community," Oliver said. "When you're reflecting your community, that means that your officers are able to interact, and they're able to function well within that demographic."
JOHN GRIFFIN/KANSAN
From left. KU Public Safety Officers Sam Olker, Jacob Hout and Jamie Johnson meet for roll call on Tuesday.
Oliver said his officers were knowledgeable and sensitive to this topic even before Ferguson occurred.
"One thing that we're doing, and I hate to say since Ferguson, because we've been doing this even before Ferguson, is to make contact with our community and to get out more and be available more so people feel more comfortable with us," Oliver said. "Students are our community. We're here to support your educational desires and the University's initiatives to fill those desires. That's what we focus on."
Oliver said having four female officers in the department is extremely rare, as applicants are typically white males. Female and minority officers are usually recruited to larger departments in more diverse areas, such as Dallas or New York.
"Probably in the last 20 years, we have only had four female officers on the force," Oliver said. "We ended up hiring, in a
six-month period, four female officers. "That's shocking."
Freshman Rachel Abercrombie from Eden Prairie, Minn., likes the addition of the female officers.
"I feel more comfortable talking to someone who is the same gender and can relate more in a sense," Abercrombie said. "It's just different when a female is on the same level as you and has a similar understanding and could potentially have gone through a similar situation."
While University statistics for the fall of 2014 are not yet published, the KU Office of Institutional Research and Planning reported 6,173 racial minority students attending classes on the Lawrence and Edwards campuses during last spring semester. Approximately half of all students were female.
Although the numbers say there is a more diverse police force to match the student body, Mitchell Cota, a senior
Friday is KU's 148th birthday! The very first classes began on Sept 12, 1866.
from Overland Park, said he still notices predominantly white male officers.
"I haven't noticed the increase in diversity personally, but if this is true, they need to make sure these PSOs [Public Safety Officers] are visible to students," Cota said.
"Students feel comfortable identifying with these diverse public safety officials," Cota said. "The PSOs need to keep in mind there are students who are different in racial composition from their officers."
Cota said the large student minority population should motivate the officers to interact more frequently with students.
Hybrid, flipped courses allow students to learn from home
- Edited by Emily Brown
LAUREN METZLER
@MetzlerLauren
Many hybrid classes are currently offered through the University in a variety of formats and engagement levels. Being uneasy with the idea of non-traditional classes is understandable, but hybrid classes are far from intimidating.
This semester, Marlee Slaughter, a junior from San Mateo, Calif., is taking a hybrid finance class. Her class is set up so she has to watch online video lectures, complete online assessments three times a week and attend a two-hour lecture on Thursdays.
She said she spends a lot more time on online materials than she would if she only had to go to a lecture twice a week
“It’s nice because you can listen and pause if you want to take notes on something.” Slaughter said. “You can go at your own pace even if it takes longer, which is a bummer.”
In addition to the hybrid format, the University also offers flipped classes. In a flipped class, homework is done in the classroom with the help of a professor and lecture material is taught online outside of class "in their jammies at 2 a.m. should they wish," said Chris Hauffler, Dean's Project Leader for Educational Innovation and Course Redesign.
Haufer works closely with alternative formats, as well as working to bring them to the classroom. Instructors have complete freedom over how their course is run, and Haufer hopes that more instructors choose to take advantage of the services.
One resource available to instructors looking to revamp their courses is the Center for Teaching Excellence, located in 135 Budig. Haufler has office hours there and is even part of a group of instructors, called C21, who meet to discuss successful and unsuccessful strategies they've tried in the classroom.
Another aspect of course innovation are PhD consultants who are hired to work with different departments and help instructors utilize tools and strategies to make their classrooms more engaging and accessible. For seasoned instructors, like Haufler, this can be easier said than done.
"I was trained to give lectures, so that's what I'm comfortable with. When I go into a classroom where students are going to be working amongst themselves, and I'm supposed to be helping them in this process, it's a new world," Haulfer
said.
Although it took some adjusting, Haufler is an advocate for alternative learning.
"And yet, I recognize that it's the right thing to do," Hauler said. "It just means a lot of time invested on my part to change the way that I'm approaching the work that I do as a professor."
Hybrid courses have been tested scientifically in the study, "Improved Learning in a Large-Enrollment Physics Class" by Louis Deslauriers, Ellen Schelew and Carl Wieman. In this study, fostering group work and critical thinking with active instructor interaction resulted in higher attendance, engagement and increased learning.
"The message that we need to send is the data is demonstrating that this is an enhanced way of helping students achieve what they're supposed to at an institution like KU," Haufler said.
For more information on hybrid classes offered through the University, go to classes. ku.edu.
Edited by Emily Brown
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