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NEWS | KANSAN.COM
Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2015
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CAROLINE FISS/KANSAN
Precious Porras, the interim director for the Office of Multicultural Affairs, leads a small training session in the Sabatini Multicultural Resource Center on Aug 14. The small group addressed social justice on the University's campus.
Social justice talks in program lineup for Multicultural Affairs
JOHN PAULDINE
@john_pauldine
The Office of Multicultural Affairs is creating campus-wide programs to engage students in conversations about social justice.
Precious Porras, the interim director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, plans to get students involved in both learning about social justice
promoting social, economic and political equality and educating their peers.
These programs, like the OMA's group conversations, will give students an opportunity to participate in social justice discussions on campus. Students who choose to participate in the monthly group conversations will discuss topics like gender, ethnicity and sexuality.
"Last year a lot of things
happened on campus and nationally that led to student unrest," Porras said. "We are taking steps this year to be proactive about these things."
At these programs, students will be encouraged to openly
"Last year a lot of things happened on campus and nationally that led to student unrest. We are taking steps to be proactive about these things."
PRECIOUS PORRAS Interim Director of the OMA
express their opinions on social justice topics on camp
"We realize students want to have these conversations so we have created community conversations that take place once a month throughout the year so we can be proactive
and have a space for them," Porras said.
Porras said. OMA is also starting a peer education program.The peer educators will present to campus organizations and students in residence halls about social justice.The educators will also speak to fraternity members,students in residence halls and groups that have questions about social justice.
Porras said she also hoped to increase access to higher education for underrepresented populations, including first-generation students and students of color. OMA wants to improve retention rates by encouraging first-generation students move in a week earlier to adjust to campus life.
developing a plan to fix this," Porras said.
Porras has also worked with admissions to encourage diversifying recruiting.
"The retention rates of minorities at KU are low, so we are collaborating with admissions on recruiting and
"We have presented to them before about retention rates and diversifying where we are recruiting students from," Porras said.
Emily Gullickson, a project coordinator for OMA, works closely with Porras on programs throughout the year and encourages students to join the peer educator team. Advertising for the positions will begin the first week of classes, and job listings will be on the KU job portal in September. The team will be made up of eight to 10 students.
"They will be going into organizations, residence halls, and engaging students on an informal and formal basis on a peer-to-peer level," she said.
Senate works to create free airport shuttle
ALANA FLINN
@alana_flinn
When most students were thinking about how much turkey they would devour during Thanksgiving break, Samantha Orender, then a freshman from Burbank, Calif., spent her week in Lawrence because of the hassle and expense of driving to the Kansas City International Airport from campus.
Student Senate has set its sights on resolving that issue issue this fall. Student Senate executive staff members are working to implement a free shuttle service between Lawrence and the airport.
The shuttle system has been in the works since last year, said Isaac Bahney, the communications director for Senate, but the current executive staff ran on a platform that fully intended to finally carry out the plan.
The Student Senate chief of staff, Adam Moon, who is in charge of planning the shuttle service, said the free system would give any student a convenient way to travel to and from the airport during breaks.
"It's a real problem for international students to get to and from campus to the airport, and having the security and knowing there's a service associated with the University would be something nice we could do." Moon said.
Senate doesn't yet know how much the vehicle would cost. Bahney, Development Director Tomas Green and Student Body Vice President Zach George collected data
to find whether there is sufficient demand for the shuttle.
So far, Senate has distributed surveys to freshman at orientation, which asked if they would use the shuttle service. The survey results have not been counted yet. By fall, Moon said he hoped to have had focus groups and testimony that established a need for the shuttle.
When Eleanor Gorton, an international student from Manchester, decided to study at the University, she didn't realize how difficult it would be to get to and from the airport during breaks.
"It was easy to book a taxi or a shuttle, but that was very expensive for me, and people were-obviously reluctant to take me to the airport when it clashed with their classes or it was a very early flight," she said.
For Orender, a free shuttle service would mean more breaks spent at home and a much cheaper way to travel.
"I think I would consider not even having a car if there was a shuttle because the only reason I have a car is to get to the airport," Orender said. "Including gas and the cost of leaving my car at the airport, I spent at least $350 this year."
Without a University-sponsored transportation system, some students have resorted to using other methods of transportation to and from the airport, including a ride-share Facebook group, which has more than 1,000 members.
— Edited by Emma LeGault
STUDENT SENATE
Each student pays $455.50 each semester in campus fees.
31. 5% STUDENT HEALTH
20%
CAMPUS
TRANSPORTATION
19. 9% STUDENT RECREATION
12%
STUDENT UNION
FACILITY
4. 5% STUDENT SENATE ACTIVITIES
3. 2% LEGAL SERVICES
1.5%
ATHLETICS
FEE
OTHER FEES:
1. 2% RECYCLING
Multicultural Affairs, Educational Opportunity Fund Student Union Activities. Newspaper Readership, Hilltop Child Care Facility, KJHK Radio, Student Support Services
Student Senate is the primary advocate for students on campus. We allocate $20M in student fees in ways that best serve the student body.
Interested in getting invloved? Contact the Student Senate Chief of Staff at senatecos@ ku.edu for more information!
Student Body President Jessie Pringle sbp@ku.edu
Student Body Vice-President Zach George sbvp@ku.edu
/KUStudentSenate
@KUSenate
@KUSenate
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