4
KANSAN.COM
NEWS
3
+
IOA will create training for student employees
MCKENNA HARFORD
@McKennaHarford
Student employees will soon go through training to be mandatory reporters in cases of sexual assault and sexual harassment.
The Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access is working on a student employee training that would include instructions on how to be a
mandatory reporter in cases of sexual assault and harassment. All University employees, including students, are mandatory reporters, which means they are required to report allegations brought to them of sexual assault and harassment. Jane McQueeny, executive director of IOA, said the training will help clarify student employees' responsibility as
mandatory reporters and let them know whom they can report to. She said she hopes the training process will be finalized in November.
McQueeny said student employees are currently notified of their status when they go through job training. The IOA training would be an additional step.
The only way we can make campus safer is if people come forward, so if nobody tells us about it then we can't change anything."
JANE MCQUEENY Executive Director of IOA
Employees can report to their supervisors or directly to IOA, she said. Anyone, including student workers, can also fill out an anonymous report form that IOA offers, McQueeny said.
Though McQueeny said not all student employees will deal with this issue often, it's important to know the information. She said she hopes knowing what to do will encourage reporting.
"In the three years that I've been here, no one has ever gotten in trouble for not reporting, but the only way we can make campus safer is if people come forward, so if nobody tells us about it then we can't change anything," McQueeny said.
- Edited by Kate Miller
Visitors flock to farm for sunflowers
AP
Associated Press
LAWRENCE, Kan. — More than 25,000 people — including some from other countries — took the time to travel to a northeast Kansas farm this summer to walk among fields and fields of sunflowers.
Ted and Kris Grinter open the fields where they have planted more than a million sunflowers to visitors, asking only $1 donations for each sunflower taken. For years, most of the visitors were from the region but social media has helped spread the word about the Griner Farms sunflower fields between Lawrence and Tonganoxie. The couple talked to people this year from Japan, California, Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon and New York, as well as thousands of Kansans.
The Grinter Farms Facebook page boasts nearly 23,000 followers and includes updates from Kris, photos from visitors and professionally produced videos. The BBC did a segment on the fields, and people from as far away as Guatemala visited. The Lawrence Journal-World reported
The fields don't have any tourist trappings. The Grinters carved out a gravel strip to relieve the parking problem on the county road adjacent to
the farm. There is no gift shop or visitors center - not even a public bathroom.
Ted Grinter admitted he was surprised by how many people visited the farm this year.
"I thought I had enough parking with the field in front of the house and the grass strip I planted, and that didn't even begin to cover it," he said.
It's too late for any more visitors this year. The sunflowers have begun to droop and harvesting of corn has begun on the farm, prompting the Grinters to ask on their Facebook page for people to stay away until next year.
The Grinters don't make much off the visitors, other
than voluntary donations left in collection boxes. He wouldn't say how much he collected this year but estimated about 50,000 sunflowers were taken or damaged by visitors. He said the donations don't offset the $10,000 it costs to plant and care for the sunflowers.
Grinter also sells corn to local consumers and in the coming weeks will harvest the sunflowers for seeds he sells as bird feed.
The Grinters say the payoff is the opportunity to share something special with many people, who usually take pictures. The farm has been the site of senior pictures, engagement pictures and even a wedding party.
CHARLIE RIEDEL/AP PHOTO
Rawly Stanhope walks with his daughter Cambrin, 3, through a sunflower field, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015, near Lawrence, Kan. The 40-acre field, planted annually by the Grinter family, draws hundreds during the weeklong late summer blossoming of the flowers.
TRAINING FROM PAGE 2
students.
According to the introduction video, the modules will reinforce three themes: what sexual harassment is, how the University handles these cases and what students can do to make campus safe.
The release date of the new training is tentatively set for this week, according to McQueeny. The training should take roughly 20 minutes, and students will have two weeks to complete it. After completing
the training, students will be required to pass a quiz.
An academic hold will be put on any student's account who does not complete the training.
does not complete the training. This new training is one of the efforts the University is making this year to deal with the nationwide issue of sexual harassment on college campuses.
The new training videos feature the phrase: "Speak Up. We're Listening" to encourage more students to reach out to the University in cases of sexual assault.
The previous sexual harass
ment training was available for students but not required. Unlike AlcoholEdu, which incoming students must complete, there was no penalty for failing to complete the previous sexual harassment training.
McQueeny said she hopes students will find the video modules more engaging than the old training, which was a long slideshow.
Casey Boyd, a junior from Chicago, said he recalled sitting in front of his computer two years ago, mindlessly speeding through the old sexual harassment training for students.
"I actually did finish it, but really didn't pay attention to it," Boyd said. "I just kept hitting next without reading much."
"Honestly I'm not even sure if I finished it," said Sean Franklin, a junior from Overland Park. "I remember it was just like a very long powerpoint."
The changes stem from a student outcry last fall when a highly-circulated story from the Huffington Post detailed problems in one student's sexual assault case at the University.
things that the students wanted last year, for it to be mandatory and that there be a [hold] put on students enrollment if they didn't take the course," McQueen said
"That was really one of the
University students worked with IOA to develop the new sexual harassment training.
"Research shows that students don't engage or relate to it unless it involves their campus, so it's very KU-focused," McQueeny said.
Emily Schwertdfefer, a junior from Columbus, Ohio who works at IOA and helped put
the training together, said the training makes the issue of consent an important topic.
"Part of what the new training does is help people understand that just because someone is drunk that doesn't mean that it's okay to have sex with them," Schwerdtfer said.
- Edited by Scott Chasen
+
+
+