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THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016 | VOLUME 130 ISSUE 21
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
UNNOTICED & UNDIAGNOSED
Chlamydia is the most commonly diagnosed STD on campus, but symptoms can be easily missed
ANISSA FRITZ @anissafritzz
Editor's note: The student quoted in this story is described only by their first name to protect their privacy.
When Elizabeth, a University student, went to her gynecologist last summer, what was a routine check up became much worse. She was diagnosed with chlamydia.
Dr. Douglas Dechairo, director and chief of staff at Watkins Health Clinic, said that in 2015 there were 159 positive cases of chlamydia, 16 cases of gonorrhea, 15 cases of syphilis and four cases of HIV. Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control.
"Trends don't tend to fluctuate up and down throughout the year," Dechairo said. "But we do see an increase in the spring semester because you know, spring break."
The CDC reported that 2014 was a record year for chlamydia cases in the U.S. with more than 1.4 million diagnoses -456 cases in 100,000 people. That is a three percent increase from 2013.
Dechairo said common signs of chlamydia are urinary track infections and penal or vaginal discharge. The officials of the CDC report that chlamydia can be contracted through vaginal, anal or oral sex.
"But some people who have [chlamydia] show no symptoms and therefore could unknowingly spread it to other people," Dechairyo said.
This was the case for Elizabeth. A few days after her checkup, she received a phone call from her doctor saying she tested positive for chlamydia.
"I was very surprised because I hadn't noticed any symptoms; I felt totally fine," Elizabeth said. "So when I told [the doctor] that, she said it is actually very common for women to not have symptoms."
Elizabeth had a boyfriend at the time, and had him get tested as well, but his results were negative. Elizabeth's doctor said it is common for men who have echlamydia to not test positive for the disease.
Elizabeth said if she had not gone to her gynecologist for her check up, she could have gone months without knowing she had contracted the sexually transmitted disease. She has since been
treated.
"I guess not knowing seems nice, but actually it was really scary because sexually transmitted diseases can seriously affect your body later on," Elizabeth said. "I could have really been hurt."
If left untreated for an extensive period of time, chlamydia can make it difficult for a woman to get pregnant, according to the CDC.
Confidential tests for STDs are available for students at Watkins Student Health Services. The health center accepts walk-ins or appointments to test for multiple infections by a blood sample or urine test. For more information, visit its website.
- Edited by Samantha Harms
Infographic by Sam Billman/KANSAN
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Senate coalitions to debate Thursday
CONNER MITCHEL1 @ConnerMitchell0
A Student Senate debate will be held between presidential and vice presidential candidates for OneKU and CARE KU, the two coalitions in the upcoming Student Senate election, on issues facing Senate and the University as a whole. The debate will be held at 7 p.m. on April 7 in Woodruff Auditorium, level five of the Kansas Union.
Stephonn Alcorn, currently the Student Senate government relations director, and Gabby Naylor, a current School of Business senator, are the presidential and vice presidential candidates for OneKU.
Jesse Burbank, chair of the Student Senate Elections Commission, will moderate the debate and ask questions predetermined by himself and other Commission members. Students are also encouraged to send in questions for the candidates on social media using the hashtag #KUSenDebate.
Richie Hernandez, a junior from Kansas City, Kan., and John Castellaw, a junior from Wichita, are the presidential and vice presidential candidates for CARE KU.
In an Elections Commission meeting March 28, Burbank and Commission members determined candidates would make opening and closing remarks. They also determined answers to questions will be limited to one minute and 30 seconds.
OneKU, the first coalition to form for the current election cycle, has introduced 12 campaign initiatives including mental health services, a first-generation peer mentorship program, a campus sustainability plan, an initiative to revitalize Potter Lake and funding reform within Student Senate.
CARE KU formed nearly two weeks after OneKU and introduced campaign platforms addressing mental health awareness, equality and inclusion on campus, campus safety and security, services for military and veteran students, and student resources, specifically focusing on gender-neutral housing options.
After the debate, the two campaigns will have less than a week to campaign before the general election on April 13 and 14.
- Edited by Madi Schulz
Kansas author Robert Day jokingly enters 2016 presidential race
▶ COURTNEY BIERMAN
@courtbierman
Kansas author Robert Day wants to be president because he "doesn't want anyone else to be president."
However, Day is not really running for president. His latest book,"Robert Day for President," is not like his other work. It is non-fiction, for one, although certain details are "embellished," he said.
The 88-page memoir is full of movie references and musings on current events and the state of politics. Throughout the book, anecdotes give readers a glimpse into Day's life and to what shaped him into the 77-year-old progressive "agnostic pagan" he is today.
It could be said that Day started work on "Robert Day for President" during the last presidential campaign. A friend gave him the idea in 2012, but he didn't start writing it until 2015 when he felt the political climate grow more hostile.
"The Last Cattle Drive," Day's first and his best-selling novel to date, is about a modern Kansas rancher who decides to drive his herd of cattle across the state. It was a Book of the Month Club selection shortly after its release, and it hasn't gone out of print since.
"The book isn't political so much as it is a memoir of my political bearing," Day said.
"This time, it seemed like the election was so bizarre in so many ways that I proposed the book to a New York publisher and they said 'sure,'" Day said.
In 2007, the University Press of Kansas published a special 30th anniversary paperback edition of the book.
"The Last Cattle Drive" continues to be one of the publisher's best-selling titles
even more than 30 years after its initial publication, said Rebecca Murray, the University Press of Kansas' publicity and social media representative.
Robert Day author
Day was born in Shawnee in 1941. His father was a moderate Republican and a "fallen-away Catholic" who worked for Trans World Airlines.
The family spent much of Day's childhood relocating to various areas along the East Coast. Eventually Day found himself in Lawrence studying at the University, where he received both a B.A. and an M.F.A. He finished graduate school in 1965.
This time, it seemed like the election was so bizarre in so many ways that I proposed the book to a New York publisher and they said 'sure.'
When Day was a student, the University was home to only 9,000 students. West campus didn't exist. Rock Chalk Cafe and the Gaslight Tavern were popular hangout spots.
"Such longevity serves as testimony to Bob's literary importance and contributions among Kansas writers," Murray said.
Day was a student at the same time as former basketball great Wilt Chamberlain, and he claimed he once saw the athlete bowling in the Union, forced to crouch under the low ceilings.
When he took a break to grab a hamburger, Lawrence police came in and took the protestors to jail. Day narrowly avoided arrest and he continues to be proud of his role in the protest.
"I do still have a very strong feeling for how much good we did in the '60s by protesting things," Day said. "The demonstrations in the basement of Strong Hall—protesting discrimination against blacks and against Jews — worked."
Around that same time, Day and a friend participated
in a sit-in in front of Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe's office in Strong Hall in protest of racial discrimination in campus Greek letter organizations and in off-campus housing.
The sit-in is one of many politically formative experiences detailed in Day's book. He also discusses his Polish Socialist grandmother and her distaste for electricity, as well as his father, who, although they didn't agree on every issue, was willing to have thoughtful, respectful
conversations about politics.
Today, Day lives with his wife Kathryn and dog, Pokey, in northwestern Kansas near an unincorporated community called Ludell. After graduation he held various teaching and writing positions all over the country.
He spent time with the Iowa Writers Workshop and returned to Lawrence twice to briefly teach at the University. In 2007, he retired from his position as a professor of creative writing at Washington College in Chestertown, Md.
Day rejects the notion that people become more conservative as they age. He points out Eleanor Roosevelt and Bernie Sanders as examples.
"If you live as I do in an intellectual world — writers, screenplay writers, and professors and so forth — we're naturally more progressive in that sense," Day said.
- Edited by Shane Jackson
Robert Day got the idea to write the book during the last presidential election from a suggestion by a friend.
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