Tuesday, October 7, 1997
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 7
Prank calls reach out and touch students
Mary Corcoran
mcorcoran@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
"Hello?"
Is your refrigerator running?
Well, you'd better go catch it!
Telephone pranks have often been used by college students as amusing entertainment, especially after a long night at a bar.
Pranks,however,are viewed as a form of harassment by police departments and Kansas law.
A harmless prank becomes harassment if the caller's actions fit into one of six categories: saying lewd, lascivious, obscene or filly comments; making repeated hang-
up calls; causing the telephone to ring repeatedly; calling only to harass the answering party; playing an unsolicited recording; or allowing a person to use a phone for harassment.
Telephone harassment is a misdemeanor charge less serious than making criminal threats over the phone, such as bomb and death threats.
"The main ones we see reported are obscene and hang-up calls," said Sgt. Chris Keary of the University of Kansas Police Department. "It's a pretty close tie between the two."
In 1996, the police department received 27 reports of telephone harassment. Through Oct.3, police
have filed 20 harassment reports.
"Most of the ones we respond to are in the residence halls and other communal living buildings on campus." Keary said.
Because the residence hall telephone numbers are in sequential order, Keary said police often had to deal with multiple victims of harassing calls as pranksters dialed down the floor.
Students often do not want to talk about harassing calls because of their intimidating nature and the anonymity of the caller.
When students receive harassing calls they should write down how often and at what time the calls happen, police said. Then, after filling a police report, students should
contact Networking and Telecommunications Services in Ellsworth Annex.
NTS provides harassed students with phone trap equipment. The phone trap works as a form of caller identification, said Anna Hines, assistant director of NTS. The caller information is printed out in the NTS office and given to the investigating officer.
The NTS phone trap has some limitations. It will not pick up past calls. The calls also must be made from the caller's residence, not from a public phone.
Police also encourage phone trap users to keep a log of their phone calls so officers can pick out the harassing calls for investigation.
Weeklong activities bring visibility to queers, allies
Continued from page 1A
would also like students to make a statement with their clothing. Wednesday is "Queer T-Shirt" day. Black clothes or black arm bands on Thursday will be worn in memory of victims of violence.
"The black clothing stems from an idea by the feminist union. They wanted people to commemorate victims of violence in general," Beck said. "There are so many victims of queer bashing and gay
bashing we integrated it into our theme."
Queers and Allies will have an information table set up in the lobby of the Kansas Union every day this week. Because October is also Domestic Violence Awareness month, donations for Women's Transitional Care Services of Lawrence will be accepted at the table and in the Queens and Allies office, 400 Kansas Union.
said. "We'll be handing out cupcakes and saying, 'Good for you,' as long as our cupcake supply lasts."
"Stop by the table on Friday and say, 'Hey, I'm gay!' MacRae-McKie
While on campus Friday, Beck and other members of Queers and Allies will dress as fairies, complete with bags of fairy dust, to help hand out the cupcakes, she said.
In celebration of National Coming Out Day on Saturday, Queers and Allies wants everyone to "Come Out Shopping" at noon at the South Park gazebo, 12th and Massachusetts streets.
928 Mass. Downtown 843-0611
*Flexible Hours
Looking for temporary help in conducting a warehouse sale of ladies fashions from Oct.22nd-26th at Tanger Outlet Mall. Apply in person at: Saffees Downtown 922 Mass. on Friday Oct.10th from 1:00pm-4:00pm.
OCTOBER 1997
OFFICE OF MINORITY AFFAIRS
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS