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KANSAN.COM/NEWS | MONDAY, OCT. 19, 2015
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DAILYKANSAN
Midterm check-in: Student Senate makes progress on its 11 proposed platforms
ALANA FLINN
@alana_flinn
With half a semester under its belt, Student Senate is working on different projects to fulfill its campaign promises. Senate has also passed bills funding student organizations in addition to a controversial election reform bill.
Platform progress is being monitored in part by the Student Senate platform progress update webpage.
CULTURAL COMPETENCY
Platform: Student Senate is working with the Office of Multicultural Affairs to improve cultural competency on campus.
Progress: All Student senators were required to participate in cultural competency training provided by the OMA, said Director of Diversity and Inclusion Omar Rana.
AIRPORT SHUTTLE
Platform: "To improve student's access to Kansas City International Airport by providing a shuttle to and from KU's campus," according to the webpage.
Progress: Senate has been working since August to survey and measure student interest. They should be distributed within the next month. Senate will start receiving private bids
from contractors at the end of the semester, said Communications Director Isaac Bahney.
COURSE EVALUATIONS Platform: Senate is working to make the results of semester-end course evaluations public. According to the webpage, Senate thinks students should have more information available to them about the classes they take.
CONVERSATIONS Platform: Student Senate Outreach Board plans to host "University Conversations" on campus issues. These open-forum style meetings will be held several times a semester. Progress: The first University Conversations will be held on Thursday, Nov. 5. A time and location is to be announced, Bahney said.
Progress: An official proposal has been written, and it will be introduced to University Senate within the next month, Bahney said.
UNIVERSITY CONVERSATIONS
HUMAN TRAFFICKING EDUCATION
AND AWARENESS
Platform: Student Senate will take up human trafficking as an issue and work to address it in and around Lawrence.
Progress: Senate has partnered with the Willow Domestic Violence Shelter to provide
training on helping victims of trafficking. Senate set up the partnership, and Willow developed the training. So far, Watkins Health Center staff, Counseling and Psychological Services staff, and International Student Services staff have all received training, Bahney said.
100 PERCENT COURSE
REFUND
Platform: "Senate will work to extend the period of time in which you can switch out of a class and still receive a 100 percent refund. Currently, the cutoff is the day before classes, but the national average is 14 days," according to the webpage.
Progress: Development Director Tomas Green said Senate has been working with Strong Hall on this project. He said it has its own momentum, and it depends on the internal workings in Strong Hall to implement it.
STUDENT ATHLETICS Platform: Student Senate plans to create a Student Athletic Board that will create an incentive program to encourage students to attend women's and nonrevenue sporting events.
Progress: The best plan for an incentive program is in the research phase, but there is no progress on the plan itself.
Bahney said.
SENATE ACCOUNTABILITY
Platform: Student Senate will hold members accountable by requiring them to engage with constituents, attend events and reach out to students.
Progress: The Executive Board re-implemented the Outreach Points System, Bahney said. Each senator, excluding graduate and nontraditional senators, must reach 100 points per semester. They can earn points by going to meetings of their constituent organizations, meeting with their constituents, going to constituent events and going to mandated office hours.
CITY GOVERNMENT
Platform: To create a stronger relationship between students and city government, Senate plans to create a non-voting seat on City Council and establish an internship program in city hall for a University of Haskell student.
Progress: The non-voting seat has been established and is held by Stephonn Alcorn, Student Senate government relations director. An official written proposal for the internship and what it would entail is being drafted, Bahney said.
NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENT ADVISORY BOARD
BOARD
Platform: Student Senate has created a Native American Student Advisory Board to better represent Native American students. The board will work with Vice Provost for Diversity and Equity Nate Thomas.
Progress: The board has been created and has met once, Bahou said.
CAMPUS
SUSTAINABILITY
AND SUSTAINABLE
FACILITIES
Platform: To increase sustainability on campus, Student Senate is working to reimagine the purpose of the Student Environmental Advisory Board and establish a stronger connection to the Sustainability Leadership Board. Senate will also continue to invest in motion-sensor lighting and air dryers in bathrooms.
Progress: Green said he has been working with administrators at Strong Hall to make sustainability an issue important to the University. Right now they are coming up with projects and funding for the coming months.
Edited by Derek Johnson
UBER FROM PAGE
One of those stories was from 31-year-old Mike Saina, who has been driving with Uber for a month.
"I drive a lot of students home late at night," he said. "I gave a couple of women a ride home around two in the morning. It was a busy night, and I looked later and saw my rating had gone down by two stars. I realized soon after that someone had pooped in the back seat of my car."
Saina added: "Don't worry, it was proficiently cleaned."
Arensberg said her lack of throw-up in her back seats is luck.
"The main thing is I don't drive late at night, and Uber will charge a rider $100 if they throw up," Arensberg said.
When Arensberg wants to earn some extra cash, all she has to do is open her Uber app. After logging on, she can immediately find multiple people requesting rides to Jefferson's, the airport, or anything in between. It's then her job to accept it and head toward the rider.
"Their whole goal is to make things as seamless as possible," Arensberg said.
Tracy Jefferson, a 31-year resident of Lawrence, has been an Uber driver for nearly two weeks.
"At first I didn't know much about Uber," Jefferson said. "I started listening and heard more interesting things."
After looking into the service, he said he realized it was something he could do.
"It's a faster and quicker service
"Now I'm driving and I love it," he said. "It's one of the best things I've done."
Since Uber is new to Lawrence, it has to separate itself from other transportation services in the area.
than taxis," Jefferson said. "The longest it has ever taken me to get to someone is five minutes." Some students say they enjoy Uber for the convenience factor, while others say they enjoy getting to know the Uber drivers who pick them up.
Karina Ramos, a freshman from Waco, Texas, said she
"I was going downtown. Safe-Bus and SafeRide were taking so long. Uber was just so easy," Baker said. "We had it back in Minnesota, so when I saw it here, I was excited."
Athena Baker, a freshman,
took Uber during her second
week on campus.
中
doesn't prefer Uber but likes the people she has behind the wheel.
"It's a good way to get from point A to point B I guess. I don't go out of my way to use it, but I kinda like getting to know the drivers," Ramos said. "Once I took an Uber downtown and the driver had an auxiliary cord. I took it and put on some Chief Keef. The driver knew the words."
"Obviously, I felt safe at the same time, but it was awesome that this guy didn't make the ride awkward. It was like driving with a friend."
Edited by Derek Johnson
Experts: Domestic violence reports rising
MCKENNA HARFORD @McKennaHarford
According to Michael McRill, interim measures coordinator at the Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access, the University has seen an increase in reports of dating and domestic violence from students in recent years.
IOA received 10 complaints in 2014 and has received eight complaints so far in 2015, two of which are open cases. McRill said it could be related to the increase in awareness surrounding sexual assault or more coverage of dating violence in media.
McRill defined dating violence as occurring between two people in a relationship, while domestic violence usually involves people living together. But both forms of violence include emotional, physical and mental abuse.
The number of complaints made to IOA involving dating violence could be even higher because some sexual harassment and sexual assault complaints also include dating violence, but are categorized differently, McRill said.
"In many ways dating violence includes [sexual violence] behaviors, so there is a large degree of overlap," he said. "Sexual violence and dating violence are intimately related in similar ways but they have their own unique difficulties that you have to work
with."
KU's Clery data shows that there were 12 instances of dating violence on campus in 2014. There was one instance of domestic violence on campus and 22 instances of domestic violence off campus reported last year. The Clery Act was enacted in 1990 and requires campuses to report crime statistics to the U.S. Department of Education.
KU was not required under the Clery Act to report instances of dating or domestic violence until recent amendments to the act went into effect. KU began reporting both in 2013. In 2013, there were three reports of dating violence and five reports of domestic violence on campus and no reports of either off campus.
The Clery data is comprised of IOA reports and other crime reports, including those reported to the KU Public Safety Office. Ten of the 12 reports in 2014 came through IOA.
McRill said the increase in reports could be due to the increase in awareness on issues like sexual assault and more coverage in the media.
Executive director of the Willow Domestic Violence Center Joan Schultz said the Willow has also seen an increase in people using their services. Schultz said the increase started around when the tape of NFL player Ray Rice abusing his wife was widely publicized.
"I attribute it to the awareness work we do on campus and people are getting more aware of what feels right in a relationship and what doesn't feel right," Schultz said.
Schultz said people between the ages of 16 and 24 are most at risk for being victims and that students often call Willow's 24/7 hotline and some use their shelter. While she said Willow deals with many
situations, people often call the hotline just to find out if what happened to them was domestic or dating violence or asking how to talk to loved ones about their relationships.
"It's a heavy burden to carry on your own," Schultz said. "Many times victims will blame themselves. So we talk a person through fault and self blame and what next steps to
KU's Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity offers programs on dating violence, including an educational program on healthy relationships and the annual Jana Mackey Lecture Series, which focuses on domestic violence. Dating violence is also discussed in KU's bystander intervention programming.
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