BREAKING THE SILENCE
Forum provides space for community to respond to University sexual assault allegations
MCKENNA HARFORD
@McKennaHarford
"One of the things I heard over and over tonight, which I thought was really remarkable and exciting was the call for KU to be a leader on this issue, to be a national leader, and I think that's very possible," said Alesha Doan, chair of the Department of Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies.
At an open forum Tuesday night held by the September Siblings, a new campus organization working to change the University sexual assault policies, discussion ranged from survivors' stories to the lack of education and training to the frustration with victim-blaming. The recurring topic was a call for the University to make a change in its policies.
Around 275 people, including students, faculty, advocates and community members, attended the meeting at the Ecumenical Campus Ministries.
The discussion began with the September Siblings sharing its demands and showing an antirecruitment video it will promote until the University sexual assault policies change.
"We've organized this event because voices aren't being heard by KU administration, because students are experiencing sexual violence and they have no control over what justice they receive," said Hobbes Entrikin, a junior and a September Siblings member who helped organize the forum. "KU administration is not allowing students to be involved in a way that will change policies."
The goal of the forum was to create a space for people to share these stories, along with messages of support and calls
One survivor shared her story of being raped while trying to ensure a friend's safety. Another survivor said she had been raped by a close friend and still wasn't completely comfortable calling it rape because of their relationship.
to change policies to support victims, Entrikin said.
"This conversation has helped put a face on the idea of rape and surviving rape, which is something people don't seem to understand and connect with, so providing a connection is making a very big difference in
"This conversation has helped put a face on the idea of rape and surviving rape..."
HOBBES ENTRIKIN September Siblings member
Emma Halling, a senior from Elkhart, Ind., and acting student body president, said changes need to happen because they are negatively affecting the education and environment at the University.
this," Entrikin said.
"If women are being raped
at this 20 percent rate and the University is not doing everything in its power to a) prevent it and b) remedy the situations after it happened they are inhibiting these womens' these survivors' ability to pursue their education here," Halling said.
Angela Murphy, a graduate teaching assistant and development coordinator for the Title IX Roundtable said in a Sept. 8 interview that studentled discussions are what motivate change.
"When you have students, young people, age ranges over a decade, gathering together over the same issue then you are doing something right," Murphy said. "I fully believe that that's the one thing we are doing right is students mobilizing to affect positive change at the University."
Halling said students can continue putting pressure on the University to change by discussing it in class and writing to the chancellor.
Doan also said students can continue to push for change through social media and spreading the word.
"Creating a consent culture is not as difficult as we pretend it is as a society" Doan said.
- An investigation of the Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access and Student Affairs;
- Members of the organization called for 10 demands of the University:
- Having a victim advocate involved in the judicial process;
- An immediate budget increase to $35,000 for the Emily Taylor Center;
- Mandatory sexual assault
training for students;
- Increasing the minimum punishment for sexual assault:
- Revision of sexual assault policies;
- The revisions to be done by a committee of at least 51 percent students;
- Reinvestigating sexual assault cases of those still at the University;
- Allowing for filers to appeal cases;
- Eliminating the term non-consensual sex.
"We will be heard one way or another," Entrikin said.
Edited by Casey Hutchins
Student Senate Announcement
Full Student Senate will meet tonight to discuss a resolution that suggests the University hire a victim advocate for those going through the hearing process, implement mandatory sexual assault training and re-examine current policies.
Survey: Jayhawk is most recognized brand in state
AMBER VANDEGRIFT
@AmberVandegrift
The University and Jayhawk brand came out as No.1 when RSA Marketing conducted a survey in July of the most well-known Kansas-based brands.
The 500 people surveyed were asked what he or she thought the most well-known Kansas-based brand is, and the Jayhawks came out above brands like Sprint, Russell Stover and Dillons.
"I think it's just a reflection of our fans and our alumni," said Paul Vander Tuig, trademark licensing director for the University. "Not only that we have across the nation, but particularly here in Kansas, obviously we've got a very recognizable brand, and the institution is very well represented in the state."
Vander Tuig said it's his job to make sure University trademarks are only used by authorized companies, the trademarks are used appropriately and the University is compensated for
"Comeing from Overland Park ... if I was asked the question I would have to say Sprint." Patel said. She said she first thinks of Sprint because of its location in Overland Park, but she said she is glad the University is No. 1 in this survey.
"I would have been a little disappointed if it weren't certainly high in the rankings in our own state," Vander Tuig said. He said he thinks the results of the survey reflect what people at the University probably already believe.
their use.
Shivani Patel, a freshman from Overland Park, said she is not surprised the University came out as No.1 in this survey, even though another brand is more prominent in her hometown.
Vander Tuig said he believes the recognition the University has across the state may have helped the University come out on the top of this survey.
"Literally everywhere you go you see a Jayhawk somewhere," Patel said. "I go outside of my house anywhere I would see a KU little logo on a car or I'd see a Jayhawk in a store. I mean, it's pretty big. As a child ... my parents never grew up here, they never had a college that they supported or anything so I always fell into KU and KU basketball because I would see it everywhere."
penetration that we have not only, you know, here in Lawrence, Kansas City, even in Wichita, I think all lends itself to the promotion of the University," Vander Tuig said.
Besides placing higher than Sprint, Dillons and Russell Stover, the KU and Jayhawk brand came out above Free State Beer, Pizza Hut, Coleman, Boulevard Beer, Garmin, Koch Industries, Hallmark and Beechcraft in the survey.
Patel said she grew up seeing the Jayhawk trademark around her.
Edited by Logan Schlossberg
"I think all those things, you know, the retailers of our licensed product, the
The video, titled "A Great Place to be Unsafe," begins with clips of well-known campus buildings, transitions to students reading statistics on sexual assault and then to statements from anonymous sexual assault survivors in the KU community.
The September Siblings, whose name is an homage to the February Sisters, a group that jump-started gender equity at the University in the 1970s, is a collective of approximately 50 students. Acting Student Body President Emma Halling, a senior from Elkhart, Ind., said the group is working to create change because
A group of students who call themselves the September Siblings released an anti-recruitment video this morning in response to the ongoing look at sexual assault investigations at the University.
MIRANDA DAVIS
@MirandaDavisUDK
"Survivors' voices need to be heard and they have not been heard by this University."
Student video responds to sexual assault policies
KATHERINE GWYNN
Senior from Olathe
Katherine Gwynn, a senior from Olathe and president of SURGE, Students United for Reproductive and Gender Equity, is one of the leaders of the September Siblings. She said the video is a big statement but they can't support new students coming to the University
Index
University administrators could not be reached for comment as of 12:30 p.m.
The video is one of many student responses to a Sept. 2 article by the Huffington Post that reported how the University and Lawrence law enforcement handled a sexual assault complaint. Many students responded with outrage and used social media to spin the University's slogan from "A Great Place to Be" to #AGreatPlaceToBeUnsafe.
"The students who made the video came together not just because they are upset about the way things are being handled but because they really love this University and they want to see it be a safe place for all students," Halling said.
they care about the KU community.
CLASSIFIEDS 7 CRYPTOQUIPS 6 SPORTS 8
CROSSWORD 6 OPINION 4 SUDOKU 6
"KU needs to immediately work with students to make an overhaul of their sexual assault policy," Gwynn said. "Survivors' voices need to be heard and they have not been heard by this University, and the only way we can continue to make sure this doesn't happen in the future is for administration to work with students to overhaul the current policy."
until changes are made
Edited by Paige Lytle
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2014 The University Daily Kansan
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