Volume 124 Issue 71
kang com
Friday, December 2, 2011
FINALS
SPEAK
"And I Quote, "
I can still remember calling my mom the afternoon I was hired to cover the Kansas football team for The University Daily Kansan. You couldn't have removed my smile with a jackhammer. None of my parents, grandparents or siblings had ever graduated from college, and here I was, officially a Jayhawk and officially writing for thousands of eyes. As I approached my vehicle, one of the signature pink parking violation envelopes rested under my windshield wiper. It didn't matter. I was exuberant. The childlike enthusiasm and optimism had consumed me.
But as uplifting as the day I was hired was, my downfall would be 10 times as devastating. One foolish mistake took everything away in an instant, and my life has been a journey in redeeming myself ever since.
One writer's journey from resignation to redemption
The job took its toll on me those first few months. Writing one, two or sometimes three stories a day was taxing, but the pride I felt when I saw someone reading my work on the bus or on campus was worth it. I was in awe of the gorgeous view from the press box at Memorial Stadium that first home game. I barely paid attention to the action on the field, choosing instead to take in the sights and sounds of that game day.
Then, only three months after it all began, it ended. The workload caught up with me and I made a careless mistake. In a story about coach Turner Gill's strange rules prohibiting player interaction with the opposite sex at night, I used a quote from senior punter Alonso Rojas that I first read on a story published by another reporter at the press conference earlier that day. Unfortunately, the quote in question was not spoken during the press conference itself but rather in a one-on-one with a reporter from The Lawrence Journal-World.
This, of course, is plagiarism. And this did not once enter my mind when I was writing the piece. But the day the article printed, my boss gave me a rare day off. The next day, I was summoned to the Kansan offices for a mysterious meeting.
I should preface this by saying I have a slightly paranoid personality. I always envision the worst possible scenario in every situation, and this was no different. I was in full-on freak-out mode. The situation only got worse when I
arrived and my editor moved our meeting into a closed-door room. He had a hard time even making eye contact with me. What could I possibly have done wrong?
crying, pathetic mess, I told him that I'm not a quitter. But after consulting some of my closest friends, I determined resigning was the best course of action. On Oct. 7, 2010, I officially and reluctantly resigned from the Kansan. The weeks following my resignation are a blur of resentment, shame and depression.
I resented staff members at the Kansan. I felt they refused to even lift a finger as I self-destructed. I almost obsessively looked for mistakes in subsequent football articles to make me feel better about myself. Most of all, I resented the University of Kansas itself and all of
I was asked about the quote and I gave an honest answer. Suspension, the editor said, was the only course of action from there. Devastated, I accepted my fate, left the newsroom and began praying. My prayers were not answered, because less than an hour later my phone rang. It was my boss telling me I needed to resign or be fired, and he needed an answer within the next 30 minutes. Now reduced to a
MATT GALLOWAY
my peers. I contemplated everything from transferring to another university to changing my major from journalism to marketing.
There were other less visible scars. Where I used to feel pride and accomplishment when I saw someone reading the Kansan, I now felt shame. A short story about my resignation was printed the day after I left, and in what was likely an overinflated sense of self-importance, I figured everyone knew. Showing up for class right across from the Kansan offices proved to be a nerve-wracking experience. Looking back, I think I was most ashamed because I felt I had let everyone down. I knew how hard everyone worked to make the Kansan happen, and through my own carelessness, I felt I unintentionally betrayed them.
The depression, and I don't use that word lightly, contributed most to why I call that time period a blur. I found myself sleeping upwards of 16 hours a day when I could. I sank under my covers and took lengthy breaks from the problems of the real world. My weight ballooned to an all-time high as I carelessly shoved down any food that would comfort me. And my heart sank every time I heard or read a story relating to the football team.
Thankfully, I do think I was able to at least partially pull myself out of the enormous hole I was in. Through the Kansan's adviser, I was able to reconcile with the writer at The Lawrence Journal-World. My banishment was lifted and I was able to work for the summer edition of the Kansan. Flashes of the youthful joy and enthusiasm I had the previous summer returned slowly but surely, and this fall I was brought back to cover the volleyball team.
Getting fired by a friend sucks. At least when someone you dislike shows you the door, it can be blamed on jealousy or pettiness. But when a good friend tells you to pack your bags, you know you've really screwed up beyond repair. The road to redemption hasn't been easy, and I know it's not over yet. But I can feel better about the man looking back at me in the mirror. One of the many coaching clichés I've heard in my years covering sports is "adversity builds character." But in my case, I think it revealed it.
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Edited by Jason Bennett
CAMPUS
Student Senate provides funding for Occupy KU group
IAN CUMMINGS icummings@kansan.com
Occupy KU secured $200 in funding from the Student Senate Wednesday night after offering assurances that they will not start a riot or large-scale disturbance on campus.
The group is required, according to Senate funding rules, to use the money to buy office supplies or paper and printing.
Brian Sultana, a senior from Man
hattan, sponsored the bill as a student senator for the School of Social Welfare. He said the group wants to get students involved in issues including student debt and University contracts with multinational corporations.
"The issues are many," Sultana said. "But the goal right now is to get that information out and get students talking about it."
Sultana has been involved in the Occupy KU group from the beginning, he said. One issue the group
is talking about is the University's exclusive contract with Coca-Cola. Sultana said Occupy KU members are discussing accusations of environmental abuses, union busting and even murder at the cola company's overseas bottling plants. That same issue has been raised by the New York Times, Businessweek and the PBS program Frontline since 2005.
Occupy KU meets each Tuesday at noon and 4 p.m. and each Friday at 4 p.m. on the 4th floor of the Kansas
Union. The group is making plans to start tabling in the first week of the spring semester as part of an effort to attract more students. Sultana said the group now counts around 15 regular members. The group's Facebook profile has 60 members.
Hannah Bolton, senate chief of staff, said some senators did have concerns about approving funding for Occupy KU.
"We were kind of questioning their validity as a group." Bolton said.
But the group met Student Senate requirements of being open to all students, which entitled it to $200 for office supplies and a banner just like any registered student group. Bolton said senate is not able to discriminate against any group that applies for funding and meets those requirements.
Edited by Josh Kantor
"They assured the senators that they are not planning any takeover on campus," Bolton said.
CLASSIFIEDS 11 CRYPTOQUIPS 4 SPORTS 12
WORD CROSS 4 OPINION 5 SUDKU 4
Occupy KU on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/
DEFENSE1207104097
Occupy KU on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#1/occupyku
OCCUPY ONLINE
Occupy KU meets each Tuesday at noon and 4 p.m. and each Friday at 4 p.m. on the 4th floor of the Kansas Union.
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2011 The University Daily Kansan
There is a men's basketball game on Saturday at 4:15 p.m.
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4.