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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, FEB. 1, 2016 | VOLUME 130 ISSUE 5
inside this issue
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CAMPUS SURVEY. The second part of phase one has begun for the Campus Climate Study. News>>2
Paige Stingley/Kansan ART IN FOCUS. Jai Nitz found success with his creation of superhero El Diablo, who will play a major role in the upcoming film "Suicide Squad." Arts & Culture >PAGE 11
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KANSAS TOPS KENTUCKY. In front of a raucous crowd, Kansas won in Allen Fieldhouse. Check out our galleries from both the game and ESPN College GameDay >> Kansan.com/ sports
BURGLARIES NDATE
UPDATE. Almost two weeks ago, six burglaries took place in Lewis Hall. Students are now voicing their safety concerns.
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LOWKEY LISTENS.
February's abbreviated Lowkey Listens includes Brick Grillins, Earl Sweatshirt and Lontalius.
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A Kansas dodgeball team takes on Mizzou in the third annual "Take it for the Taken."
Students fight human trafficking with dodgeball
▶ LARA KORTE
@lara_korte
The competition was fierce and activism strong as eight teams from The University of Missouri, Baker University and Kansas State University joined with KU students Sunday afternoon for the third annual "Take It for the Taken" dodgeball tournament, hosted by Trade61.
Originally started as a student group in 2011, Trade61 has since grown to a non-profit organization geared toward raising awareness of human trafficking in the area.
Ryan Schlesener, director of research and event coordination for Trade61, said the purpose of the event was to raise funds for a Topeka trafficking prevention shelter, Alden's House, but also to raise awareness of a serious local issue: human sex trafficking.
The Kansas City area is a hotspot for trafficking due to two major highways, Schlesener said. The intersection of I-70, which runs to California, and I-35, which runs down to the Mexican border, makes Kansas City a prime location for trafficking.
"It can be happening right underneath your nose and you don't even realize it," Schlesener said.
Denton Keller, a junior from Garden City, played in the tournament last year, and said he thinks it's a great way to spread awareness while having
While Trade61 partners with other outreach and prevention groups, Schlesener said the group's main purpose is awareness and education.
"It's really just a hotspot, and people don't realize as they're driving along I-35, trafficking is happening all around them," he said.
"I really like what this supports, awareness, raising awareness for sex trafficking and all of its different forms," Keller said.
Grace Monroe, a junior from Alton, Illinois, joined a few of her friends to be on tournament team this year. Monroe said she likes the methods and outlook Trade61 takes when it comes to combating sex trafficking.
fun.
"I feel like a lot of people are trying to fight this," Monroe said, "but Trade61 does it in a Godly way."
One of the hardest things about educational work, Schlesener said, is challenging the misconceptions people get from the movies.
"Most of the people who have heard of trafficking maybe know of it from the movie 'Taken' and they think it always looks like a woman being kidnapped and drugged and sold and
somebody breaking down the doors and rescuing her," Schlesener said. "In reality, it's a very small percentage of people that actually look like that."
Katie Harris, a sophomore from O'Fallon, Mi., has been helping with the organization for about a year, and said she doesn't think most students understand the problem that's happening so close to home.
"We get a lot of questions like, 'Is this still a thing?' and 'If it is still a thing, why hasn't it been stopped already?'" Harris said. "I don't believe a lot of people are aware of the rising problem that it is."
Trade61 is in the process of rolling out a new educational presentation designed for college campuses. Schlesener said they will work with a focus group in February before debuting the curriculum at other state colleges such
as Wichita State, Kansas State and Baker University.
The dodgeball tournament lasted for about three hours, with the final victors being a team comprised of KU and Baker Students called "One-Sixteen."
In the future, Harris said she hopes events like the dodgeball tournament convince more people to get involved to help stop human trafficking.
"I am hoping more people will get involved to try and stop or try and help the awareness of human sex trafficking." Harris said. "The more people we have involved in the more opportunities Trade61 will have to get involved and go out to the community and actually do intervention."
Edited by Garrett Long
Proposed KU wheelchair basketball team faces funding issues
Caroline Fiss/Kansan
The proposed wheelchair basketball team lacks funding from the University
CONNER MITCHELL @ConnerMitchell0
An announcement that the University is not financially equipped to support a National Wheelchair Basketball Association Intercollegiate Division team was made during Wednesday's Full Senate meeting.
Last semester, Student Senate unanimously passed legislation supporting the addition of a wheelchair basketball team. The bill, sponsored by former Kansas senator Bob Dole, outlined various funding sources for the team. These included University Endowment donations or additions to student fees. The bill also included $550,000 in funding from the Kansas Legislature because of a scheduled $50 increase to all state DUI fines.
Tymon Wall, a junior senior College of Liberal
Arts and Science senator who authored the legislation, announced to senators Wednesday night that Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little decided the University could not support the formation of a wheelchair basketball team at this time.
"I was just emailed on [Jan.] 11. The Chancellor had concerns about the budget and KU's relationship with the Kansas
"The legislature decided that somehow, raising the DUI fine was in some way politically disadvantageous," he said. "In addition to that, there's also the leftovers from the appropriations fund, which is complicated, and it's not usually going to be much. So they went down from $600,000 a year minimum to now we'd be lucky to get $100,000."
Wall said a change in the DUI fine law also contributed to the funding issues prohibiting a team from being formed at this time.
"As the Chancellor explained in her email to Tymon Wall, she is supportive of these kinds of opportunities for students with disabilities, but we are
State Legislature and other concerns about hosting a wheelchair basketball team specifically on campus," he said. "She supported the idea, but not necessarily now."
Joe Monaco, director of strategic communications for the Office of Public Affairs, outlined Gray-Little's concerns with the formation of a team in an email.
"We have many competing priorities for funding, several of which have been proposed for legislative funding for at least two years. Our concern is that the timing is not right to add another large funding item to that list, despite the merits of such a team."
Wall said a team could potentially still be funded through an extensive private donor network and that most funding would have to come from the endowment.
unable to support the proposal at this time because of the ongoing costs of such a team during an uncertain time in the state and KU budget," Monaco wrote.
"We're still looking into that," Wall said. "We're still hopeful that we might be able to get a donor network connected and donating a significant amount of money. But if it's not enough, if it's not what we need, it doesn't look good for the program."
- Edited by Deanna Ambrose
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