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Committees pass resolution opposing Safe Campus Act
ALANA FLINN
@AlanaFlinn
Several student groups at the University say they are opposed to a campus safety bill that is being discussed on a national level — the Safe Campus Act.
The bill was previously supported by national Greek organizations, but the National Panhellenic Conference and the North American Interfraternity Conference reversed their position on Friday.
On Nov. 11, both the Student Rights and University Affairs committees of Student Senate passed a resolution opposing
the national bill. Interfraternity Council Senator John Rebein said he spoke with fraternity members and contributed ideas in support of the resolution.
The resolution, written by four senators and three executive board members, urges for the Safe Campus Act to be killed in the Federal House Committee on Education and the Workforce, the U.S. House of Representatives committee to which the bill was referred.
The Safe Campus Act would prohibit university investigations into a sexual assault case unless the victim files a police report and the police investigate the crime first.
The bill has faced both criticism and support since its introduction in February. The National Panhellenic Conference and the North American Interfraternity Conference, both of which hired lobbyists to get the bill passed, withdrew their support on Friday after hearing feedback from their chapters.
Rebein said last week that none of his constituents all KU fraternity members agreed with their national organizations views.
"Our voices are being overshadowed by our nationals because all of us personally in Greek life do not support it." Rebein said.
KU Panhellenic President Hannah Reinhart did not comment on KU Panhellenic's perspective on the resolution or national bill.
Some oppose the bill, saying that requiring those who are reporting an assault may be less likely to report if they know they will have to go through a police investigation. Police can't carry out university-specific sanctions and actions, like interim measures for victims.
"Sometimes law enforcement can make things a whole lot worse," said Tomas Green, Student Senate development director. "Sometimes it can put the victim in greater danger. In essence, this bill deprives victims of sexual assaults the freedom to
pursue their cases how they see fit."
"This is a huge step for the Greek community at KU to say, 'Our national organizations are making decisions on our behalf that don't respect our values and needs."
ANGELA MURPHY Graduate Affairs Director
Graduate Affairs Director Angela Murphy, who co-authored
the resolution, said she was impressed with the Greek community's involvement with this bill, especially since several of the houses initially went against their national affiliations' views.
"This is a huge step for the Greek community at KU to say, 'Our national organizations are making decisions-on our behalf that don't respect our values and needs,' Murphy said. "It's been an honor seeing these people working so hard to fight for something they truly believe in instead of taking the easy route and allowing their national counterparts to silence them."
Freshmen revive Lawrence branch of Amnesty International
KATIE BERNARD
@KatieJBernard15
Freshmen Peter Sang, Trevor Bashaw and Flora Riley work to start an Amnesty group at KU and in Lawrence.
Informed by their background in high school debate and forensics and encouraged by an anthropology professor, three freshmen from Manhattan, Kan., are reviving the Lawrence branch of Amnesty International.
Amnesty International is a worldwide organization founded in 1961 that focuses on promoting human rights and raising awareness for human rights violations. The organization fights global issues such as poverty and war, but it's active in local communities through its chapters.
MISSY MINEAR/KANSAN
[we aim to] just to spread [the word] that these problems are happening and we need to fix them."
"Amnesty is an international organization, so at the top of the hierarchy you have agents working to solve these huge international problems like transnational human trafficking, war, poverty," co-founder Trevor Bashaw said. "It's all a very global struggle, but at the same time change does sort of start at a local and community level, so by starting this grassroots effort
Flora Riley, another co-founder, chose to help spearhead the start of a University chapter at the suggestion of her anthropology professor. The professor had been involved in a former KU chapter of the organization nearly six years ago, but it petered out when the students running it graduated. The new chapter aims to include the community outside of Lawrence as well as KU students to encourage longevity.
help those in need.
"College organizations have transient members," Banshaw said. "They're there four years, then they leave, so you need to have an ongoing cycle of people maintaining interest or a solid base of Lawrencians who live here engaged in this organization along with students."
"Nobody really associates Kansas with things like domestic violence or abuse firsthand, but those things do happen, especially in metropolitan areas like Lawrence and Kansas City," co-founder Peter Sang said. "It's really important that there are outreach networks and as many outreach networks as possible to have sort of a net over an entire area; that way there's support if it's needed."
Specifically within Lawrence and the Kansas City area, the founders say they hope to be able to shed light on parts of the community that are not noticed. The chapter will ideally have the ability to motivate change and
The students said they hope to make this chapter about the needs and wants of the members. While they consider themselves founding members of the chapter, they will not set up much of a hierarchy within the system. They said the goal of this chapter is to allow students and community members to advocate for the issues they care about.
"There's a lot of issues that I care about, but it's really hard to get going as just one person just to find awareness and continue gathering momentum for your issue, but if you have an organization such as Amnesty where you can pitch ideas to people
The KU/Lawrence chapter of Amnesty will be a bipartisan organization for students to get involved in political issues.
who share the same sort of conscience as you do and the same sort of awareness, it's a lot easier," Sang said.
trum, and those are great organizations, but their focus is kind of limited, so Amnesty kind of gives a chance for anyone, regardless of political affiliation, to get involved in a way that they want to," Bashaw said.
"KU has a lot of political student organizations, but a lot of times it falls on dividing lines like young Democrats, or it might be something like spec-
The chapter is still in its early developmental stages. The founders are currently focusing on drumming up interest in the organization through Facebook and discussing the club with
friends. The group hopes to be an official chapter by fall of 2016.
"People can start up at any time. If you want to help us right now in our beginning stages, if you are passionate about human rights violations, anyone can come and join," Riley said.
- Edited by Colleen Hagan