THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2009
NEWS
3A
Teresa Collet, visiting professor from St. Thomas University, speaks to law students about the difficulty of investigating sexual offenses with minors. The session was organized by the Federal Society of campus.
STATE LAW (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
"There can be no legitimate expectation of privacy regarding a criminal act," she said.
Collett said the state felt its interest in protecting minors from sexual assaults was more significant than the privacy concerns of the victims.
Jelani Exum, associate professor of law at the University, also spoke during the event and said she saw how these laws could help catch assaulters and protect the general public, but didn't think they were completely effective.
"If we really want to help these minors, we need to be able to find out if this was a 16-year-old boyfriend or a 60-year-old schoolteacher," Collert said.
Exum said it had been suggested that these laws may make victims who are unsure about a sexual act less likely to seek treatment because they know their visit to a doctor or hospital would result in a legal investigation.
Exum said there were other issues with these mandatory rape reporting laws and the way they affect children, but privacy wasn't one of them.
"There are a lot of times when law is in conflict with privacy concerns," Exum said. "There's no such thing as absolute privacy."
Baylee Suskin, second-year law student from Parker, Ariz., said she found the event to be very informative as a whole, but didn't think Collett addressed every situation that minors could experience.
"She didn't really talk about the cases where you have two 13-year-olds having consensual sex and why only one of these children would be charged with a crime but not the other," Suskin said.
— Edited by Samantha Foster
Collett has also helped the state defend a challenged opinion issued by former attorney general Phill Kline in 2004 regarding mandatory rape reporting laws. In this statement, Kline said any sexual behavior by those under the age of consent,16, should be considered a criminal act that would be required to be reported to the state.
Kline explained this opinion because he wished to subpoena the records of abortion clinics to make sure they were complying with state mandatory rape reporting laws.
A group of 14 health professionals challenged Kline's interpretation of mandatory rape reporting laws after he asked to see abortion records for the state. After three years of court battles and appeals, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that Kline's interpretation of the law was correct and that he could legally request these records.
The group of health professionals asked that a federal court examine the issue, and federal Judge J. Thomas Marten reversed the Kansas Supreme Court's decision and said it should be up to the health professionals to decide if the patient was harmed during the sexual activity.
"Attorney General Kline's opinion would violate a minor's limited right of informational privacy," Marten said in his ruling.
However, the battle wasn't
over there. Another federal judge eventually overturned Marten's ruling and ordered that the abortion clinics must provide Kline with the records under the condition that no personal information be included.
Kline attempted to use these records to charge abortionist George Tiller with multiple charges of violating the state's law on mandatory rape reporting and late-term abortions, but Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston dismissed these charges. Kline lost reelection to Paul Morrison in 2006. Morrison publicly rejected Kline's interpretation of the mandatory rape reporting laws. Collett said this was the main reason professionals may be unclear on the exact situations that would require them to file a report.
Morrison eventually used those same records to indict abortionist George Tiller on charges that he illegally performed late-term abortions without a valid second opinion from a physician. However, none of the charges specifically dealt with the mandatory rape reporting laws. Tiller was eventually acquitted of all these charges in March of this year, about two months before he was murdered. Authorities have charged anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder in the murder.
Brandon Sayers
T-SHIRTS (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Sinks had to pay was "ridiculous."
Sinks had to pay was trifacious.
"He's just trying to make a living with his T-shirt shop," Siebert said.
Marchiony, however, said Sinks had been contacted on multiple occasions to correct his illegal practices and Kansas Athletics Inc. did not want to go to trial.
"The amount is something we don't have a real feeling about," Machiony said, "It's the message from the iury."
Sinks, who was not available for comment Tuesday, told the Lawrence Journal-World that he didn't have $667,507.
He said if Sinks made the decision to file an appeal, the case would move to the 10th district federal appeals court in Denver, the next step in this process.
Alex Herman, Hays third-year law student, said Sinks had 30 days after court ruling to file an appeal under federal law.
; Sink's attorney, James Tilly, said he wasn't sure what Monday's ruling meant for Joe College's future.
Herman said he didn't like seeing the shirts and thought they confused people who weren't familiar with the store, but he also said he saw the value in having an independent business.
"This is clearly a devastating decision," Herman said, "I assume this would put him out of business."
"On one hand he should have known the risk, but at the same time it's tough to see a business owner shaken down by the university," Herman said.
Marchiony said the intention was never to put Joe College out of business, but rather see that Sinks not continue selling shirts that breach trademark infringement.
Edited by Betsy Cutcliff
Hoelscher said when patients couldn't furnish an interpreter, they pointed to images on visual cards the technicians carried to indicate the level and location of their pain.
"We try to communicate as best we can," Hoelscher said.
After the Fire and Medical Department technicians wheel all non-speaking English patients into the Lawrence Memorial Hospital Emergency Room, the hospital provides full-time over-the-phone interpreters, said Julie Sailors, LMH care coordination specialist. The LMH E.R. contracts with Jewish Vocational Services in Kansas City to provide more than 100 languages, Sailors said. She said the wide selection had been useful with the diverse international University community nearby.
"The phone service we use about every other day," Sailors said. "Spanish is our number one, but we've had people from Sri Lanka. We've had people from
and numbers of friends who they can use spur of the moment," Hoelscher said. "Usually, they will provide that because they understand the challenge for us. They're frustrated a lot of times. They've encountered it previously, living and working in Douglas County."
THE STUDENT EFFECT
well over a dozen countries. Pretty much any country you can think of, there's a student from that country. They have visitors, and something happens and we see them."
Hoelscher said having a couple of Spanish speakers on staff helped the Fire and Medical Department, but predicting where or when they would need one of their bilingual officers was nearly impossible.
Foreign language professors aren't the only University affiliates helping break down communication barriers in Lawrence. Students, while not interpreting in emergencies, are also helping to lessen the language struggle through a proactive effort English as a second language
Friends of the Kaw Cafe Augusta Kansas Paddler The Bowersock Mills & Power Company
JULIE SAILORS
Lawrence Memorial
Hospital care
coordination specialist
"Obviously, we'd like to have tools at our disposal to help people at whatever our emergency is." Hoelscher said. "My hope is that we can still continue to work efficiently in those situations. Sometimes, they proceed at a slower pace because of the communication, having to work through alternative methods. You can't expedite the flow of information back and forth as readily."
Sponsored by Friends of the Kaw
Jessica Sain-Baird/KANSAN
LIBERTY HALL 646 Massachusetts Lawrence, KS
"Lawrence is diverse enough throughout geographically, and it's mobile enough there is no one specific location," Hoelscher said. "You try to be prepared for just about anything anytime, anywhere."
Hoelscher said at one point there was talk in Lawrence about providing the Fire and Medical Department with a full-time interpreting line similar to the Jewish Vocational Services used by LMH. But the proposal, he said, had yet to progress any further.
LANGUAGE (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
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"It's not just about learning English," Strobel said. "It's about helping people integrate into the community. I have a vested
Jillian Strobel, Great Bend junior, talks with Meg Winchell, writer and translator, before an ESL class at Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vermont St. Tuesday night. Strobel coordinates the English education program while maintaining a full course schedule and working three other jobs.
Citizens Bank & Trust, Kansas Wildlife Federation, The Watershed Institute and Land Trust, Kansas Land Trust, The Land Institute, Ozark Wilderness Waterways Club.
One of those students, Jillian Strobel, Great Bend junior, already had a full class schedule and worked three jobs when she added a fourth, volunteer position as coordinator of the Plymouth Congregational Church ESL classes. But Strobel noticed the church needed someone to help organize the program, and she offered her support.
interest in the immigrant populations, just helping people to have an equal opportunity at making a life for themselves"
Thursday,
OCTOBER 8
7:00 PM
Vanessa Aguilar, who began taking Small World classes when she moved from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in August, said her first month of classes had already helped improve her English.
The Office of Multicultural Affairs will lead an open dialogue Oct. 1 titled "English Only." The dialogue will examine the language barrier between monolinguals in multilingual societies.
for certain things in a restaurant and not fully being able to express myself." Mosier said. "Even those simple things can be a challenge when you don't fully know the language."
education.
Kansas Sierra Club, K.A.W. Council, KLWN
port a variety of ESL programs in Lawrence.
"The students list any language they've studied and if they have a preference for countries," Mulinazzi said. "That also helps the students, and it's a connection between KU and us that's direct."
Small World, another ESL class in Lawrence, facilitates a "Students Tutoring for Literacy" program in which college students coach Small World students in English one-on-one, Kathy Mulinazzi, Small World director, said.
"A pesar de que han sido muy pocas las clases he aprendido mucho," Aguilar said, "Even though there haven't been very many classes so far I have learned a lot."
'ENGLISH ONLY'
"It's not just about learning English. It's about helping people integrate into the community."
IILLIAN STROBEL Great Bend junior
Whitney Mosier, Manhattan senior, who is about to begin her second semester with the program, said she began teaching two women, one from Honduras
and one from Mexico, when she returned from a study abroad program in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The experience abroad, she said, gave her added empathy for her new students.
"I was able to personally experience that barrier just in the daily life of simple things like going to the store or gas station, asking
Aguilar moved to Lawrence with her daughter, Alheli, to join her husband, Hispano Durón. He is beginning a doctoral program in film this semester after completing a master's degree at the University of Southern California.
It was, he said, her 'primera meta' — her biggest goal.
Duron said he felt fortunate that both he and his wife could start off their first fall in Lawrence together
Angular isn't alone in her connection to the University. Eighty percent of the Small World students this fall have familial ties to KU faculty or students, Mulinazzi said. She said the program, which
is only for women, began in 1968 as a way to help the wives of faculty members and students from other countries adjust to Lawrence life.
"Tenia mucha expectativa de tomar classes de inglés." Duron said of his wife. 'She had high hopes for taking English classes.'
with positive educational experiences.
— Edited by Tim Burgess
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