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THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2016 | VOLUME 130 ISSUE 29
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
VETOED
Paige Stingley/KANSAN
Clarence Lang, co-chair of the DEI Advisory group, addresses student questions during Wednesday night's Multicultural Student Government Forum.
Trinity Carpenter (left) and Katherine Rainey (right) emotionally address attendees of the second Multicultural Student Government forum as they announce that the Chancellor vetoed the proposed budget.
Paige Stingley/KANSAN
After Chancellor vetoes bill, students plan to push for Multicultural Student Government
▶ LARA KORTE
@lara_korte
Faces were somber and comments tense in the Big 12 Room Wednesday night after leaders of Multicultural Student Government announced that the Student Senate proposal to fund and approve the group had been vetoed by Chancellor Bernadette Grav-Little.
At a second MSG forum Wednesday night, Katherine Rainey, a leader of the group, said the Chancellor sent out an email earlier that day explaining why she had vetoed the government.
In the email, Gray-Little said the MSG can not exist because of problems within the University Senate code.
"Current University Code does not allow the existence of multiple independent groups representing a constituent group (students, faculty or staff) within University Senate," the email read.
The Chancellor also
stated that conflict arises with representation on the Board of Regents. According to Kansas statute 743229, each regent university is allowed one student government representative at the state level.
In wrapping up the email, Gray-Little said she has her own personal reasons for vetoing the Multicultural Student Government.
"I believe that the independent student government proposed in the document sent to University Senate is not an optimal way to achieve the goals we have for diversity and inclusion at the university and, indeed, may lead to greater divisiveness." she wrote.
"We are going to continue to fight for this because we believe this is important. There are way too many
With the disapproval from the Chancellor, Rainey said the MSG will face problems, but it is not going to quit.
students and organizations that believe in this and that support this. We've gone through so many steps already where we're not going to let this go." Rainev said.
Rainey said the group has reached out to the Chancellor multiple times this year, but has not had any meeting with Gray-Little. She said they hope they can meet to discuss and reinstate funding for the MSG.
The group has been the center of many University conversations since it was approved by Student Senate on March 9, making it the first of its kind in the nation. Advocates said the purpose of the group is to center the needs of multicultural students that do not receive enough attention at the University.
"We do believe that if we continue to push for this and students continue to show that they support this and they want this and they need this, that we can get that resolved and continue to move through the channels," Rainey said.
I'm tired of people coming up with all sort of objections about code,about policies, to get in the way of doing things that are right."
Clarence Lange
co-chair of the DEI Advisory Group
Trinity Carpenter, a junior from Ottawa, Kan. and leader of the MSG, said she thinks the veto shows disregards for the needs of its students.
Last Friday, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Group released their list of recommendations, which included recognition and support of the MSG as well as a critical review of student governance at the University.
"At this point I feel like the University has not taken the advice of their students or others," Carpenter said.
"The MSG campaign symbolizes a deep sense of alienation from the Student Senate among KU students of color; it also speaks to a general crisis in the functioning of student governance," the report read. "For many years, the KU Student Senate has been criticized for its exclusivity and Greek life-centeredness. Although power has shifted in rare instances, it generally has been retained by a small group of students, to the detriment of the larger student body."
At the forum Wednesday night, Clarence Lang, cochair of the DEI Advisory Group, said he thinks the decision to veto the MSG is "institutional racism" and that the Chancellor "fully recognizes" the inequalities in student governance at the University.
"This is not what you do at an institution, if you argue on the one hand that you value diversity, equity and inclusion, and speaking personally, I'm tired of people coming up with all sort of objections about code, about policies, to get in the way of doing things that are right," Lang said. "If there is a will to do things, we can find the way."
Rainey said the MSG will continue as planned by reaching out to students, receiving feedback and holding workshops in the summer. She said she hopes to continue to make MSG a vocal presence on campus, and that the group has no intentions of slowing down.
"We're going to fight for this until something happens," she said.
The Chancellor's office could not be reached for comment.
- Edited by Brendan Dzwierzynski
Moore Reading Room struggles to stay afloat
▶ SAMANTHA SEXTON
@sambiscuit
With KU Libraries recently losing access to a number of databases and journals, it is unsurprising to hear that one of the largest department reading rooms on campus, Moore Reading Room in Smith Hall, has barely been keeping afloat this past academic year. Since August, the reading room has been relying on a handful of dedicated students to keep its doors open. But that may not be enough, Daniel Stevenson, chair and professor of the Department of Religious Studies, said.
"The students who are working in the reading room are those that were previously trained by our former librarian and archivist who left before the fall semester," Stevenson said. "We don't have the resources to hire a new archivist and without a new archivist, we can't train new students to take over after our current volunteers have all graduated."
"There's no way to keep the doors open throughout the day." Stevenson said. "We've been lucky that the students we have now have had schedules that allow for them to keep it open most of the day, but there will be hours when they are all in class or at other extracurriculars."
Thankfully, Stevenson said, only one of the student workers will be graduating this May. But he said this will mean the room will be functioning at an even lower level.
He said current students do not have a set schedule, meaning the reading room hours vary and the students are not qualified to train other students.
Timothy Miller, a professor of religious studies, said the room is important not only because of what it brings to the community, but because of its history with the University as well.
"The Moore Reading Room has over a hundred years of collections of knowledge that you could not find in any other library; certainly not in any other library in Lawrence." he said.
"The school has budgeted for a full time librarian but we've not been allowed to find one," Miller said. "We have the necessary funds but we've been told that budget cuts will not allow for one."
Miller said that he does not know why there has been a freeze on the hiring of a new archivist, as finances are not the issue.
Stevenson said that he pleaded with the administration to have a new librarian appointed, but was told to wait given the University's financial issues.
"Nobody I've spoken.
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Contributed Photo/KANSAS Visual art student Miguel Calderon, a senior from Peru, has begun an art intervention to spur conversation about the gun laws on campus.
Contributed Photo/KANSAN
Senior confronts campus gun policy with art intervention'
▶ VICKY DİAZ-CAMACHO
@vickyd_c
Miguel Calderon, a senior Fulbright student from Peru, is a familiar face on campus. His infectious, wide smile has greeted many students in the food court at the Underground, where he works part-time.
He has tried on a couple
of different hats throughout his undergraduate career, from computer science, to acting to film. Even though he came to the University to study engineering, he said it "just wasn't for me." He switched his major from computer science to visual arts.
"Art has a lot of social meaning for me," he said.
Most recently, this social meaning has prompted the senior to do what he calls an "art intervention" on the gun laws that allow open carry on campus and will be effective next year.
For four nights, he will shine projections of student's reactions on the
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