Tuesday
October 22, 2002
Vol. 113. Issue No. 42
Today's weather 53° Tonight:41
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
Tell us your news Call Jay Krall, Brooke Hesler or Kyle Ramsey at 864-4810
Jayhawks voice disgust for border-battle nemesis Missouri p.1B
Coming out in America
For KU students and faculty, whether to come out queer can have everything to do with hometown values
By George Schulz
Kansan staff writer
gschulz@aansan.com
During high school, Katy Kirkpatrick's parents wouldn't allow her to have boys stay in her room.
That wasn't a problem for Kirkpatrick. She's a lesbian.
It wasn't until the Prarie Village senior came out of the closet to her parents during high school that sleepovers with girls became an issue.
By then, Kirkpatrick was nearly an adult, and her parents eventually accepted her sexuality.
sexual orientation. But Forest Swall of Parents, Friends and
"My parents were very cool with it," she said. "They've been very supportive."
However, depending on where some University of Kansas students and faculty are from, coming out can be either simple or traumatizing. From small towns to big cities, the politics of sexuality can have everything to do with a point on the map.
Kirk patrick grew up in Modesto, Calif., where she said the gay community was strong and coming out as a lesbian did not pose many problems for her. Friends and family were supportive, and sexual orientation was not an issue at her high school.
But for Chase Richards, who grew up in the small town of McPherson, coming out wasn't easy.
want to make his sexual orientation an issue. He said they tended to be non-confrontational and avoided conflict, much like the rest of
"It's not much more conservative than the rest of Kansas," said Richards, a junior. "But that's not saying much."
"I was really anxious and I really wanted to come out," he said.
Richards was a senior in high school when he told his mom he was gay. He said he struggled endlessly with questions about his sexuality, but it wasn't until his mother cornered him, sensing something was wrong, that he explained to her what he was feeling.
Richards said his parents did not
the small town of less than 30,000
"In small towns there's a compulsion to not let people know," he said. "People in small towns are sometimes pressured into silence."
Although Richards said he thought his experience went better than the experiences other students had, he said small town residents tended to sway with the majority's attitude toward sexuality, even if the majority was wrong.
"My mom tried to make me think I was confused." Doeblin said.
For Kristin Doeblin, Wichita junior, coming out to her friends and siblings wasn't a problem. But her friends and family couldn't imagine how a lesbian could come from a small town, she said.
Her parents eventually accepted her
Family of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and the Transgendered of Topeka and Lawrence, said even ultimate acceptance was not always a possibility for youth struggling to identify their sexuality.
"It is an enormously threatening experience for young people," Swall said. "When they realize they are gay or lesbian, they feel alone and they may not meet anyone else who is gay or lesbian. It's more true in our rural schools than in our urban schools."
Swall experienced a revelation when his daughter came out as a lesbian Since then, he has been an active member of PFLAG. He helped pressure Lawrence Public Schools to include sexual orientation and gender identity in the school system's anti-discrimination rules.
SEE COMING OUT ON PAGE 8A
University won't fill top posts
By Kyle Ramsey
kramsey@kansan.com
kansan staff writer
Two top administrators have left their posts at the University this semester, but the vacancies will remain unfilled.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway said not filling the positions was his way of sending a message to the University that losses because of budget cuts were campuswide and that no office was immune.
"We are truly engaged in the process of triving to do more with less," he said.
Both Reggie Robinson, Hemenway's chief of staff, and Rodger Oroke, director of the Energy Savings and Performance Program, left the University this semester. Robinson is now president of the Kansas Board of Regents and Oroke retired after a 27-year tenure at KU.
The responsibilities of the two men will now be divided and redistributed throughout their offices.
"You have to sit down and look at what the parting person did and ask yourself if you can assign those responsibilities to other administrators," Hemenway said. "We've just had to ask three or four people to take over the responsibilities."
Hemenway said he wasn't certain whether these positions would be reinstated in the future.
Orokex primary project, the Energy Saving and Performance program, came to a head in September when the University announced a new energy plan that would save $1.7 million annually in energy costs. Orokex estimated the University spent about $8 million annually in energy costs.
Cindy Strecker, assistant director of Facilities Operations Management Information, will now handle the energy saving plan. She said the shift of responsibility to her from Oroke would not delay the project.
"At this point, he had everything pretty well lined up," she said.
— Edited by Ryan Malashock
GTAs enjoy pay increase
By Molly Gise mgise@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Hard work pays off — literally, for graduate teaching assistants at the University of Kansas.
Two weeks ago, GTAs saw the first sign of a salary increase the Board of Regents approved last month. It came in the form of a check on Oct. 3 that retroactively paid the difference the salary increase would have made in wages since August.
"I didn't have to worry about paying my rent or asking my roommate to spot me money," Reed said. "It was really nice."
GTAs received their first paychecks that included the increase on Oct.11.
that included the increase on Oct.11. For Alicia Reed, a sociology GTA and Great Bend senior, the check could not have come at a better time.
The two sides tentatively agreed in July to a new three-year contract that included an improved salary package.
The arrival of the checks caps two years of contract negotiations between the University and the Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition.
City to vote on parking ban ordinance
SEE GTAS ON PAGE 8A
By Amy Potter
apotter@kansan.com
Special to the Kansan
The Lawrence City Commission tonight will try to resolve a dispute between students and a resident who wants parking restricted on Edgehill Road.
The commission will vote on whether to pass an ordinance prohibiting parking on a section of Edgehill Road. The ordinance would ban parking starting at the Louisiana Street intersection and continuing on the right side of the one-way street for 270 feet.
John Allen, Overland Park senior, said about 40 members of his fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, 1621 Edgehill Road, routinely parked their cars along the road. Allen said he was concerned that parking limitations requiring students, particularly members of Sigma Delta Tau sorority, to park farther away would jeopardize their safety. Allen said although some students were not respectful of Watts' and other private properties, many depended on the area to park.
Steven Watts, resident in the 1600 block of Edgehill Road, asked the city in September to restrict parking on the south side of the road to make it consistent with the rest of the neighborhood. It is the only street with parking on both sides, he said.
"He needs to realize he lives by a college campus — because of that there are
"He needs to realize he lives by a college campus because of that there are going to be students who park around him."
John Allen
Overland Park senior and Edgehill Road resident
going to be students who park around him." Allen said.
Lisa Yeddis, president of the KU chapter of Sigma Delta Tau, 1625 Edgehill Road, said the chapter had no comment on the issue.
Sue Hack, Lawrence mayor, said the city commission understood that limited parking was an inconvenience for people living in the greek houses, but said the ordinance was more of a safety issue. Members of Lawrence-Douglas County Fire and Medical told the commission they were concerned about the ability to get around the corner entrance of the road.
"It's not just the convenience for the property owner." Hack said.
Nick Blasi, Wichita junior, said Phi Delta Theta presented a proposal to Watts two weeks ago to put a sign in front of Watts' house to ban parking 24 hours for two or three car lengths in front of his house.
SEE PARKING ON PAGE 3A
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