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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, DEC. 10, 2015 | VOLUME 130 ISSUE 30
NEWS ROUNDUP »
YOU NEED TO KNOW
CAROLINE FISS/KANSAN
DAY IN THE LIFE. From a Brazilian violin student to a Pi Phi house mother, check out the stories of University students, faculty and staff. Section inside >>
STUDENT FILMMAKER.
Savannah Rodgers shines in film festivals with her short film "Politically Correct."
Read her story:
Arts & Culture >> 5
CAROUNE FISS/KANSAN
CHANCELLOR INTERVIEW. Bernadette Gray-Little weighed in on concealed carry and mental health care. News >> PAGE 3
KANSAN.COM >> FOLLOW NEWS ONLINE
JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
SECURITY ON CAMPUS. The Student Safety Advisory Board is planning to request an increase to the Campus Safety fee to help fund additional security cameras on campus. Kansan.com/news
NATALIE CRAIG/KANSAN
MUSIC IN FOCUS.
Pianist and student
Yuliana Wijaya
moved from
Indonesia to Kansas
after a music
professor heard her
perform.
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JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
Katherine Rainey addresses a group of demonstrators on Wescoe Beach. JAMES HOY/KANSAN
JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
Mary Burg, executive assistant to the vice chartellor, makes a call as demonstrators file in to the chancellor's office.
For Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk, a tense but rewarding month of advocacy
LARA KORTE
@Lara_Korte
Capping off almost a month of diversity forums, demonstrations and conversations, another call to action was directed at administration on Wednesday by the group Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk.
The group began by entering classes in Blake and Fraser Halls and the dean of Social Welfare's office, calling for allyship before moving on to demonstrate on the steps of Wescoe Hall. The demonstrations ended in a two-hour sit-in and discussion in the chancellor's office.
Wednesday's events wrapped up a tense semester and what Kynnedi Grant, a member of Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk, called "a roller-coaster of emotions."
The group first emerged at the Nov.11 town hall meeting, where members presented 15 demands and called for an administrative response to systemic discrimination against minorities on campus.
During the same meeting, Grant gave an account of her own experience of an alleged hate crime. Since then, Grant and other members have been meeting with faculty members, attending department forums and talking with students in an effort to continue advocating their demands.
Grant said she feels the group has experienced more growth in the past three months than most people would experience in five years.
"It's challenged us as people first — our humanity and why we do what we do. It's challenged our friendships. It's challenged our relationships, our professionalism," she said. "It's challenged us in so many ways that are just on a scale that people never really experience sometimes in a lifetime."
Grant said that although the work has been stressful and exhausting, it's important.
"People see us as leaders and as people that they trust to use their voices," Grant said. "They trust us to voice on behalf of them because they either can't physically do it themselves — they're not able — or they vocally can't articulate what they're experiencing. And it's just the most humbling thing to have people that trust you're saying and trust that you're going to be representative and inclusive all the time."
Although Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk has focused largely over the past month on combating anti-black racism,
the group has made a point to consider intersectionality by being an advocate for all marginalized groups on campus. During the demonstrations on Wednesday, Grant, along with Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk members Jyleesa Hampton, Caleb Stephens and Katherine Rainey spoke about issues facing LGBTQ+ students and students with disabilities, mental health care on campus, and creating a safe space for students of color.
Stephens said it's important on issues like these to be supportive of each other.
"Oftentimes when you experience racism, sexism or any of the '-isms', you get worn down, and you feel like you're all alone so you just try to survive, you go into survival mode," Stephens said. "Oftentimes, speaking to the different students of
color and the different intersectionalities, we're saying. 'We're fighting for you, too, and you can fight for yourself, and we'll be here, and we'll stand with you.'
For Rainey, one of the main things she has taken away from the semester is that change is possible.
"I'm in awe, and I'm definitely humbled by the amount of students that have come out in support of us, and again, acknowledge us as leaders and as people they can trust to carry forward," Rainey said. "Change is possible, and it's a very real expectation to have of this University and of students."
The group has been publicly supported by several departments and organizations on campus, including the Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity, the Black
SEE RCIH PAGE 2
Cheap drinks, bigger risks: Bar specials could fuel binge drinking habits, health experts say
MIKE MAICKE, DUNCAN
MARSHALL & HALLIE
WILSON
@KansanNews
Binge Drinking Behaviors and Consequences Results from 2015 KU College Health Assessment Survey
40% had five or more drinks at one sitting in the last two weeks
This is the fourth and final story in a series from The University Daily Kansan exploring issues impacting student wellness.
29% forgot where they were/what they did while drinking in the last 12 months
21% had unprotected sex while drinking in the last 12 months
13% physically injured self while drinking in the last 12 months
1% drove after having 5 or more drinks of alcohol in the last 30 days
Heather Pieczynski, a junior from Chicago, doesn't normally go out to the bars on a Saturday afternoon, but she can't resist the Beat the Clock special at the Jayhawk Café or cheap gameday specials at Bullwinkle's.
Source: Results from 426 student respondents to the 2015 University of Kansas National College Health Assessment survey, provided by Watkins Health Center.
"If the Hawk is doing Beat the Clock on Satdays, it's hard to pass up." Pieczynski said. "I typically wouldn't go out to the Hawk on a Saturday afternoon, but Beat the Clock is just a really good deal."
For Pieczynski and other students, the heavily advertised bar promotions give them opportunities to have relatively inexpensive fun. But health officials and police say there is a more significant expense at stake: student safety.
According to the 2015 University of Kansas National College Health Survey of 426 students, about 40 percent of students reported binge drinking at least once within the last two weeks. About 3 percent said they binge drank at least four times in the last two weeks, and about 2 percent said they had done so at least six times.
The promotions can lead students to binge drink, which in turn can lead to an array of problems such as students injuring themselves or others, getting in trouble with police, having unprotected sex or neglecting schoolwork.
Binge drinking is defined in the survey as having five or more drinks in one sitting.
Jenny McKee, director of the Health Education Resource Office at Watkins Health Center, said she believes bars that promote specific specials are "setting people up for failure."
"You're specifically targeting vulnerable groups, and the bars know they're doing it," McKee said.
The impact of college bar promotions as a point of concern isn't new with this generation of college students. A 1997 study by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest found the steady drumbeat of promotions can lead students to think it's the norm to gulp down several drinks in one sitting.
"Bar owners in many college communities supply that ingredient, advertising special deals that encourage students to drink heavily every night of the week. Those ads contribute to students' perception that binge drinking is the norm and encourage individual students to increase their consumption to keep up with their peers," the study said.
Sgt. Trent McKinley, a spokesman for the Lawrence
Not only do these promotions draw larger crowds than a normal night, but the people in attendance are often more intoxicated, McKinley said. The higher intoxication coupled with the larger crowds can fuel fights and other calls for help, like alcohol poisoning, he said.
The close proximity to campus of bars has an impact on a college's drinking culture, according to the Center for Science study. Students like the easy accessibility, particularly the ability to avoid drinking and driving. Some university towns, such as Berkeley, Calif., have developed zoning ordinances to control how close liquor-selling establishments are to campus.
Police Department, said police see an increase in the number of arrests and other serious issues when bars run popular promotions, such as Dollar Night at the Jayhawk Café, commonly known as the Hawk.
Four bars that are close to KU's campus — Bullwinkles, the Hawk, the Cave and the Wagon Wheel — are popular
largely because of their locations and their inexpensive drinks, which are made even cheaper when the specials are tacked on.
Efforts to interview the managers of the four bars were unsuccessful. A manager for the Cave declined, and requests to the other three went unanswered after multiple attempts to reach them.
"It almost feels like a bait- and switch with promotions, like the breast cancer awareness week specials," McKee said. "They make you feel like you're doing something good by going to their bar and getting drunk."
For the typical budget-conscious college student, drink specials make going out and drinking more enticing. That's particularly the case when the promotions mention a good cause.
Jen Salach, a bartender at the Hawk, said gameday specials are a big draw for students.
"When KU was playing (the men's basketball game against Michigan State) they would do dollar beers before tip off to try to get people in early," Salach
said. "That definitely entices a lot of people to go out to the bars."
The Hawk is well known for its Dollar Night, which takes place every Wednesday. Students can come in and expect to have nearly everything on the menu drop down to a single dollar.
"For example, offering a special where nearly any drink is $1 on a Wednesday is probably not going to encourage responsible behavior," McKee said.
McKee has some suggestions for how bar owners can limit their impact on the drinking culture. Among those is fewer drink specials.
McKee suggests that bars train staff to interact with patrons more effectively, noticing when they're intoxicated or exhibiting unusual behavior.
JC Hurt, a junior from Overland Park, said he has been drawn to the local bars indirectly by the nightly specials.
"For myself, drink specials usually don't totally draw me to a place, but that tends to be where most of the crowd goes, so, you know, I feel like I'd have to go as well." Hurt said.
"Bartenders typically receive training on alcohol poisoning, so that they are not over-serving a patron," McKee said. "While that is a good start, also understanding tactics on how to be an active bystander so that they can step up when they see any behavior that may be problematic would be helpful to all patrons."
She also suggested that bars continue to offer free non-alcoholic drinks to those who serve as a designated drivers for the night and have food available to help mitigate the effects of drinking.
— Edited by Maddy Mikinski
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