monday,november 17,2003
news
the university daily kansar
4
3A
Hate Out Week attracts fewer students than in previous years
By Johanna M. Maska
jmaska@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Something was missing at Hate Out Week's "Diversity Dialogue" event last week. There was no dialogue.
Only the panelists made an appearance at event, which was supposed to be held at the Hawks' Nest in the Kansas Union last Tuesday.
The Diversity Dialogue was not the only event to have disappointing attendance during this week's Hate Out Week.
Hate Out Week, which is held every year, is a week's worth of events sponsored by the Multicultural Resource Center, the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Diversity Peer Education Team seeking University attention as a way to promote respect diversity.
The week's events lead up to Colors of KU, a weekend retreat. This year, however, Colors of KU closed a weak week.
Though she said she was not worried about Hate Out Week, Santos Nunez, who organized the events, said a variety of factors played into lower than average attendance.
A basketball game on Tuesday conflicted with a the Diversity Dialogue, which was supposed to discuss how to get hate out of the University of Kansas.
Windy weather limited participation in Field of Flags, where people put flags in Staufer Flint lawn for victims of hate crimes.
For the closing ceremony of Field of Flags, cold weather kept many from staying too long.
Diversity retreat concludes events
Other students found that Hate Out Week events conflicted with their schedule.
By Johanna M. Maska
jmaska@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
This weekend a little brown bag served as his mailbox. Antwon Winkfield was awaiting messages.
So on Sunday, when the Kansas City, Mo., freshman checked his bag and found 19 messages, he reoiced.
"I was like, whoa, I'm loved," Winkfield said.
Raymond Rico, Kansas City, Kan., junior, said he only had time to help promote the week's
This activity, which had Winkfield and 44 other students exchanging messages, was part of Colors of KU, a diversity retreat at Tall Oaks Conference Center in Linwood. The weekend-long retreat sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Multicultural Resource Center and the Diversity Peer Education Team. The conference was three days of activities on issues of power and oppression.
"Consciousness was raised this weekend," said Tony Daniels, associate director of
the Office of Multicultural Affairs
The intent, Daniels said, was to bring up issues ranging from body image to cycles of socialization.
In the third year for the event, Daniels said it always gave closure to Hate Out Week. Because the program is more interactive than some other events, Daniels said it gave students more of a feeling of what multiculturalism meant.
Multiculturalism is learning about other people and their cultures, said Santos Núñez, director of the Multicultural Resource Center.
"It wasn't only the activities that were learning experiences," Núñez said. "At other times people were playing games and learning dances from other cultures."
The point of the weekend, Núñez said, is to give people a chance to interact.
Sonja Heath, Overland Park junior, said the weekend was more than she expected. She
hoped she would meet new people. Dancing was just one opportunity. Yesterday, as everyone walked away from the bus, hugs and exchanged phone numbers were just one sign that she achieved her goal.
Núñez' goal was a little more overarching. Two weeks ago she said the event would change people's lives.
And for Winkfield it did. He waited until he got home to read his messages. He almost started crying. "I'm going to keep the letters by my bed and when I'm down, I'm going to read them." Winkfield said.
He wrote a poem because he wanted to express how he felt. The last three lines mimicked the message Daniels and Núñez said they wanted Colors of KU to promote with regard to hate;
"We can't let it happen/ We have to be strong/ We must try hard to pass our knowledge along."
— Edited by Shane Mettlen
events. He was working most of the week, he said.
Tony Daniels is the associate director of the office of multicultural affairs, one of Hate Out Week's co-sponsors.
He said that because the events were planned so far in advance it was hard for students to know what their plans would be.
Although some events had low attendance, Nunez said many of the week's events went well. She
was particularly happy with Colors of KU.
the weekend-long retreat required an application and acceptance.
This year they turned away many people. They didn't have the budget to support more than the 45 students who attended.
Tony Daniels, associate director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs said Colors of KU was the interactive part of the week.
"In other events, you can be a participant in the crowd," Daniels said.
"We really had a lot students that were not ethnic minorities," Daniels said.
Daniels said awareness was most important.
He said the point was to promote respect and that was achieved.
Edited by Shane Mettlen
Former professor dies in accident; wife in hospital
By Abby Mills
almills@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Each year members of the psychology department gathered at professor Paul Gump's Oskaloosa home for a corn feast. The feasts had become less frequent since Gump retired in 1990. Now they will cease entirely.
Gump. 83, Oskaloosa, died Thursday in an accident on U.S. Highway 24-59 just north of Lawrence.
Franklin Shontz, Gump's friend and former colleague, said the corn feast was one of several activities Gump enjoyed with friends.
"Paul was always a very social person," he said. "He set those things up. He made them happen."
The accident happened when Gump, driving a Toyota sedan east on the two-lane highway, went left of center and struck a west-bound Mercury sedan driven by Vera D. Neal, 70, Williamsburg.
Neal was transported by ambulance to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, where she was treated and released.
Gump's passenger, his wife, Natalie Gump, was taken by a LifeStar air ambulance to the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kan. She was in critical condition yesterday.
An employee of Barnett Funeral Home in Oskaloosa said funeral services were pending while Mrs. Gump was in the hospital.
Gump joined the University
"Paul was always a very social person. He set those things up. He made them happen."
Franklin Shontz friend of Paul Gump, on his corn fest
in 1963 and became a professor in 1967. He worked with colleagues Roger Baker and Herb Wright in the field of ecological society studying how environment affects behavior.
Gump focused on schools in Oskaloosa, comparing how students in small schools develop differently than students in large schools. He found that children in small schools participated in more extra-curricular activities.
"If schools are going to do these things they have to have people to participate," Shontz said of after-school activities. "Small schools may not have thousands of kids to draw from. Kids will do a lot more, but will not get as deep into activities."
Gump became a major advocate of less populated schools. He said allowing more breadth in activities, rather than depth, allowed middle and high school students to discover their interests before they received specialized training in later life.
Funeral services for Gump are being handled by Barnett Funeral Services. Services will be announced at a later date.
Edited by Shane Mettlen