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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, JAN. 18, 2016 | VOLUME 131 ISSUE 1
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While marriage age is trending upwards, some people still opt to marry younger
HIGHER GPA FOR SCHOLARSHIPS. New scholarship requirements at the University may make it more difficult for students to keep their financial aid. News >> PAGE 3A
GRACIE WILLIAMS/KANSAN
Sunny Walsh, 77, is the house mother for Pi Phi. First a house mother in Iowa. Walsh came to the University of Kansas in 1980 GRACIE WILLIAMS/KANSAN
Sunny Walsh Pi Beta Phi house mom will retire after 27 years
KATE MILLER
@ Kate Miller
"I'll never forget. I just thought, 'What were they thinking?' she said. "I don't want to know what they're doing."
When Sunny Walsh's twin granddaughters were accepted into Pi Beta Phi, Walsh's response was not the typical, congratulatory response expected from a grandmother.
By accepting a bid to Pi Phi, Walsh's granddaughters weren't just entering a society of Greek women — they were committing themselves to living in the same house as their grandmother for two of their college years.
Walsh is the 77-year-old house mother for Pi Phi. First a house mother in Iowa, Walsh came to the University of Kansas in 1988 to be closer to her daughter and granddaughters. Taking a job as a house mother on the University campus was just a convenient way to do that.
"My whole plan was to take one class [of women] through and then go to a different campus," she said. "I thought, 'My gosh, you could live all over the country,' because you don't have to have furniture or anything. But it just worked so well here, so that plan didn't work out, [and] 27 years later, I'm still here."
Walsh compares being a house mother to "running a hotel, only your guests never go home." She's responsible for overseeing the maintenance of the house and its grounds, which is located on 15th Street across from the Jayhawker Towers. That includes
organizing the kitchen, the staff of the house and, of course, caring for the women living inside.
"There isn't really anything you don't do," she said. "It's a challenge every single day, and you just never know what it's going to be."
While Walsh acknowledges the importance of getting to know the 199 women in the house, she also says that it's not her duty to be their "best best friend." Her favorite part of the job is seeing those young women grow.
Before the numbers of sorority women increased, women lived in the house from their sophomore to senior year. Walsh established a habit early on of eating breakfast and dinner in the dining room with the young women, inviting freshmen and
sophomores to eat at her table during dinner.
"Every year, the house has a different personality because the people are different," she said. "You never get tired of it. It's never the same thing every year. I really liked that because whether you had a good group or kind of a tough group, it was always a challenge."
Sydney Chrisco, a sophomore from Baldwin City and a Pi Phi member, said Walsh has always been a welcoming presence in the house.
"It's really personal with her" Chrisco said. "She's like a mom to us."
It's not all fun and games at the house, though. Walsh says snowstorms present difficulties for the women, who share a small parking lot. She also recalled a flooding of the
house that cost $40,000 to repair.
After 27 years of dealing with both mishaps and triumphs, however, Walsh will retire at the beginning of January.
"I'm 77 years old and there aren't very many people who can work like I have done for 27 years," she said. "I have been really blessed, and I've done something that I really enjoyed."
She has no plan yet for post-Pi Phi, but trusts that something will come along.
She does, however, have an idea of what she'll do first.
"I think I'll sleep for six months," she said with a laugh.
Edited by Leah Sitz
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sault Prevention and Education Center.
The center was established in October to centralize the University's sexual assault prevention methods. Previously, education and prevention efforts were coming from several different offices, including Public Safety, Student Affairs, Watkins Health Center and the Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access.
Vice Provost of Student Affairs Jane Tuttle said the new center will initiate its own programs as well as help steer other offices to ensure all components are on the same page.
“[Before the center], there [were] no centralized folks, so sometimes our efforts weren’t as effective as they could be if
Tuttle said she believes Brockman is the best person for the director position because of her experience.
Brockman, who will begin Jan. 20, has a history of tackling sexual assault issues. After getting a bachelor's degree in criminology and sociology with a focus in victimology from Drury University, Brockman went on to get her master's in organizational leadership from Gonzaga University
She has since gone on to work in several sexual assault prevention coalitions in the Midwest.
Brockman served as a sexual assault prevention educator at the University of Arkansas, and most recently, executive
Brockman said she thinks University students are poised for helping prevent assault.
"I think KU is positionng itself well to really have an intentional approach and effort to curb and eliminate sexual violence on the campus," Brockman said.
The first item on her to-do list is to build trust and cooperation within the community by understanding the culture and the components at work, Brockman said.
"You're high-activist, high-energy, and you've got students who already ready to go," Brockman said.
"I think the first step is to really understand KU's culture and make myself available and
long. Brockman said there a few ideas she's got in mind. The center's main focus will be prevention work, offender accountability and behavior recidivism work, that is, working to curb patterns of repeating sexual violence.
Brockman also said she looks forward to working with the University to make sure its policies are "reflective of the work and the philosophical standing of the center's charter" as well as developing victim resources.
The University currently offers several options for students who have experienced sexual violence, including off-campus advocates, medical and psychological counselors and resources for filing a com-
concern to remain asleep.
"We need to be able to promise them we have their back," Brockman said.
Brockman said the center will hire two more employees sometime in the spring. She said the hires will be two educators, one focused on male engagement and bystander intervention, and the other on dating and healthy relationships.
Although Brockman said she feels nervous about being the first director of the newly-established center, she's said she's excited to get started.
"There's a lot of unknown, but this is really the opportunity to create something amazing from scratch," Brockman said.
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