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News >> 3 Freshman starts nonprofit to raise awareness about sexual assault
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THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016 | VOLUME 130 ISSUE 25
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
Second Title IX lawsuit filed against KU
▶ KELLY CORDINGLEY & VICKY DIAZ-CAMACHO @KansasNews
A second student athlete has filed a Title IX lawsuit against the University this year. The student is unnamed in the lawsuit; however, in the complaint she alleges she was assaulted in Jayhawker Towers in August 2015 by the same football player listed in former rower Daisy Tackett's lawsuit from March.
She said in the lawsuit that the University created a hostile educational environment after she reported her alleged assault, which violates Title IX. She said the University also violated the Rehabilitation Act when it discriminated against her because of a disability, which was unnamed.
The lawsuit says the University excluded her from participating in the rowing team. The lawsuit also alleges a University physician told her she was a "liability."
"KU made me feel worthless," the student said in a statement, which was submitted by her lawyer, Dan Curry, who is also representing Tackett. "After I reported my assault, everything KU did made me feel like they were trying to get me to crack and leave.
"My rowing team coaches didn't care, didn't help, and they did not protect me."
She, like Tackett, was on the rowing team. She withdrew from the team in February of 2016 and one day later, the University cancelled her athletic grant effective after the 2016 spring semester, the lawsuit says.
She was also allegedly assaulted in Jayhawker Towers, like Tackett. In 2014, 10 rapes were reported to have happened in University dorms on campus, according to Clery data.
The alleged assailant was expelled from the University in March 2016. The lawsuit was filed in the District Court of Douglas County. The plaintiff, Jane Doe, says in the lawsuit she confided in a friend following the alleged assault but chose not to immediately report it.
In October 2015, she met with the team's sport psychologist, Sheriece Sadberry, according to the lawsuit. On the same day, she reported her alleged assault to Lawrence Police and the KU Public Safety Office, according to the lawsuit.
"How many women need to be victimized before KU will take action? I reported my assault, and KU turned my experience into a living nightmare," another portion of her statement said.
Later that month, she met with the office of Institutional Opportunity and Access and filed her complaint, according to the lawsuit. It goes on to say that from January 2016-March 2016, IOA "kept extending the time for the investigation."
The lawsuit says that because of the University's conduct, she has "suffered and continues to suffer great pain of mind, shock, emotional distress, physical manifestations of emotional distress, embarrassment, loss of self-esteem, disgrace, humiliation, missed educational opportunities and out-of-pocket costs."
Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director for news and media relations, said the University does not comment on cases of sexual assault.
"To protect the rights of all parties involved, the University of Kansas does not comment on individual sexual assault investigations," she said in a statement. "When the university receives a report of sexual assault, we quickly take action to support the person who came forward and work to investigate and resolve the matter. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false."
Contributed Photo
Tom Babb, a University freshman from Evergreen, Colo., sits with his Beta Theta Pi brothers at a Denver Nuggets basketball game at the Pensi Center.
Road to recovery: Paralyzed fraternity pledge inspires brothers to better KU'
▶ BEN FELDERSTEIN
@Ben Felderstein
Tom Babb turned on the television for the first time since being paralyzed.
Staring out the window from his hospital bed he could see Honolulu's grass-covered mountains reaching into the clouds. But the landscape was out of reach, particularly now.
The movie "Forrest Gump" fills the TV screen. After losing his legs in the Vietnam War, Lt. Dan Taylor sits motionless in his hospital bed. He realizes that without legs, his future,
his life isn't the one he had planned.
Babb began to sob. He understood his life, too, had changed forever. Being paralyzed from the chest down as a 19-year-old carries a daunting realization. Babb reflects about his life before the accident. Then he contemplates his future.
I want to succeed and get better.I still want to be the best I can be."
Tom Babb freshman
After a couple of hours, Babb comes to a conclusion. He finds a new determination, one that says he is stronger than his disability. He wasn't going to give up. He wasn't going to feel sorry for himself. He was going to beat this.
Life before the accident
Babb arrived at the University as a freshman in fall 2015. He finished rushing and moved into the Beta Theta Pi house, excited to begin a new chapter in his life with his new brothers.
Babb's father Steve Babb said he is a good student,
had a full pledge class worth of friends and was ready to spend the next year meeting some of his older brothers. He was involved in a community service group called Natural Ties, which is a Greek life program that pairs students with people who have developmental disabilities.
His pledge father, John Killen Jr., was excited to introduce Tom both to older brothers and traditions of the Beta house. Killen and his pledge brother, Mitch Simmons, described Tom as a "brand in himself," saying he always held court during dinner and group activities.
"He just has a very charismatic personality and always had something interesting to talk about," Simmons said.
Babb's parents said he has never been afraid to try new things and take risks. As a high school junior, Tom left his family's Evergreen, Colo., home to study abroad in a rural Spanish town for 10 months. He wasn't getting along with his parents and felt complacent in his life.
"He was in a small rural town two and half hours south of Madrid. That is
SEE BABB PAGE 2
Administrators reframe student retention goals
- CONNER MITCHELL
@ConnerMitchell0
Increasing the retention and graduation rates for students is a top priority for the University. The goal is to reach 90 percent retention and 70 percent graduation by 2022, according to the University's Bold Aspirations strategic plan, released by Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little in 2012.
According to the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, in 2014, 80 percent of students returned to the University after one year, and 76.3 percent returned after three semesters. Matt Melvin, vice provost of enrollment management, said the University takes a "holistic" view towards enrollment marketing, which is directly tied to the University's retention goals.
"We take a very holistic view towards enrollment in terms of trying to make sure that the recruitment enterprise is linked and aligned with the retention agenda," he said. "So obviously there is a direct and powerful correlation between entering student profile and ultimate retention and graduation rates."
Melvin said his views on retention differ slightly from the goals outlined in the Bold Aspirations plan.
"I think retention is a
bad metric," he said. "The national drumbeat is all about retention. I tend to talk, and we're trying to reframe the orientation here to talk not necessarily about retention but talk about progression. Retention without progression is almost the worst case scenario. Our aspirations are not to retain students. Our aspirations are to graduate students."
Retention is measured by students coming back for their third semester "with a pulse," Melvin said. He said students can come
back for that semester with only 12 credit hours built up, which makes the University's aspiration to graduate students more difficult.
"You're measured as a success because you're retained. I would say that student has a harder time graduating than a student that has completed that threshold in terms of academic momentum," he said.
DeAngela Burns-Wallace, vice provost for undergraduate studies, said enrollment and retention
"I think a lot of times when we say enrollment, people think of just students coming in the door," she said. "But when you really are managing enrollment, and what enrollment management as a field was designed to be, was actually the management of your enrollment across a period of time."
Burns-Wallace said a key focus has been the importance of helping students understand the
management goes beyond students simply walking onto campus.
graphic by Cassidy Ritter
progression of their degree. She said the University has begun the process of offering one-on-one advising appointments at initial student orientations as opposed to the previous system of small group advising appointments.
"The goal is that overall what we're trying to do is ensure students are feeling like they have an individualized experience, that students feel like they have a
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