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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, SEP. 17, 2015 | VOLUME 130 ISSUE 8
NEWS ROUNDUP >>
YOU NEED TO KNOW
JESSICA LARSON/KANSAN
A LGBTQ+
DEDICATED SPACE opened in the Union on Wednesday. The space is part of the Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity.
News >> PAGE 2
ALEX ROBINSON/KANSAN
WHERE DOES YOUR COFFEE COME FROM? A look at where some local coffee shops get their beans. Arts & Culture >> 5
YANGENG LIN/THE DAILY
TARGLIM
THE RUTGERS
FOOTBALL
PROGRAM fired
head coach after an investigation. Kansas will play Rutgers a week from Saturday. Sports >> PAGE 12
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An activist stands on a platform in front of Wescoe Hall and speaks to assembled demonstrators in August 2014.
Discussing racial inequality on campus
LARA KORTE
@lara_korte
More than a year after the shooting of black teenager Michael Brown and the resulting protests in Ferguson, Mo., leaders on campus are looking for ways to bring the conversation about race to all students at the University.
"I think that for us to engage in these complex things that are happening around us, we
During the event "Making Black Lives Matter: A Year in Review" last Wednesday, students and faculty were able to talk about race on campus.
have to understand the narratives, the stories of everyone that participates in this system," said Cody Charles, associate director at the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
Charles said that while the conversation about race has certainly increased on campus within the last year, the talks are limited.
jameelah Jones, a second-year graduate student,
"I think a pocket of students are having some dynamic conversations about what's happening around them, around us, and it's specifically fueled by what's happening nationally," Charles said.
said conversations need to be expanded beyond those pockets to reach more students.
"I think that unfortunately, the conversation is necessary but it ends up only happening in places like American studies, or African-American studies or the women and gender sexuality studies or the Office of Multicultural Affairs," Jones said. "And in those spaces, you're often preaching to the choir."
One of the first steps, according to Jones, to encourage wider-reaching conversations is to bring it into more classrooms.
"I really want the conversation to be had in other spaces,
particularly in a lot of courses," she said. "As a freshman and sophomore, you're exposed to so many different classes, and I think that if we can incorporate this conversation into those courses and into places that universally all students have to hit, I think it would really be an important thing, something that's not happening at every institution."
Another part of bringing the conversation into classrooms, Jones said, is increasing representation of minorities in classes by studying more works that were created by minority scholars.
"What message is it sending
me if I look at my syllabus and everyone that I'm supposed to be reading, everyone that the instructor deems as smart ... is white," Jones said. "If you don't see anybody in powerful positions in society that look like you, the message is that you don't belong."
Clarence Lang, chair of the department of African and African-American studies, said his department is involved in on-campus programming like the Black Lives Matter Event last week. Lang also said that there are other departments,
SEE #BLM PAGE 6
State will test more unsubmitted rape kits
MCKENNA HARFORD
@McKennaHarford
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation will receive a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. The money will pay for the testing of unsubmitted sexual assault kits, often called rape kits.
The National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Grant that the KBI will receive supports efforts to reform the approaches used by law enforcement agencies across Kansas to investigate and prosecute sexual assault cases, test kits and notify victims, according to a KBI news release.
The purpose of a sexual assault kit is to use forensic evidence to catch a rapist and support testimony, according to Lawrence Police Department spokesman Sgt. Trent McKinley. According to the KBI news release, testing previously unsubmitted kits can lead to prosecuting serial rapists as well.
McKinley said kits would not be submitted by the department to the KBI if the victim was unsure about continuing to prosecute the case after having the evidence collected so as to not waste testing resources.
The rape kits that would be tested, using the grant money, are considered "unsubmitted." That means they have been completed by a hospital but never submitted to the KBI by a police department.
"We need to be giving people the time they need to decide what they want to do," McKinley said.
Untested kits are those that have been submitted for testing, but the testing has been delayed for more than 30 days, according to a KBI news release. The grant is only for unsubmitted kits.
McKinley said the LPD must get approval from the District Attorney's office in order to dispose of rape kits that haven't been submitted, and because of the statute of limitations on sex crimes, some kits are held for years.
In 2014, KBI found that statewide law enforcement had not submitted a total of 2,008 rape kits, which the KBI has since collected.
Sexual assault kits are collected and tested by the KBI so that there is a standard kit for the state. Kits can be tested by other labs if a special test is needed or if a city has the capability, such as the Johnson County Crime Lab and the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center.
According to the KBI, the LPD had 50 unsubmitted sexual assault kits as of November 2014. Since then, the KBI has begun testing the unsubmitted kits and investigating what causes law enforcement not to submit kits, according to the news release.
KBI declined to provide any additional interviews beyond the news release for this story.
Hospitals also treat victims for injuries, STIs or give emergency contraceptive if needed. The Lawrence Memorial Hos-
SEE KITS PAGE 6
Unsubmitted rape kits in Kansas
Ten jurisdictions, including Lawrence, have more unsubmitted rape kits than the rest of the state. Top jurisdictions include several University towns.
Number of unsubmitted rape kits collected in 2014
Note: Some of the jurisdictions are cities and some are counties.
Source: Kansas Bureau of Investigation Hallie Wilson/KANSAN
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