UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday.October 14.1996
5A
Instructor mugs students in violence demonstration
By Andrea Albright Kansan staff writer
Steve Puoo / KANSAN
Two women were mugged by their instructor in front of Strong Hall on Friday.
Amy Turnbull, Lawrence senior, confronts Model Mugging instructor Rick Gibbins. Model Mugging, a self-defense school in Kansas City, Mo., demonstrated women's defense techniques Friday in front of Strong Hall.
About 30 people watched as Model Mugging of Missouri demonstrated self-defense skills with help from the Tumbull sisters, who have each taken the 25-hour course.
"I took Model Mugging three years ago," Amy Turnbull said. "I wanted to be able to defend myself. I haven't been mugged since the class, but the adrenaline is here. It's just going to come out."
Model Mugging has graduated 600 students from its basic course since the school started in 1988. Classes are $200 for a 25 hour course, and are held at a facility in Westport.
Rick Gibbins, instructor and mugger at the school, attacked each of the women in three separate scenarios: from behind, during mock sleep, and face to face.
Jonson said model mugging began about 20 years ago when it was recognized that defense techniques taught to men were ineffective for women not only because they must use their stronger, lower bodies in defense, but because their attackers were usually closer to them. Also, women are culturally conditioned not to fight back.
"Women are attacked differently than men," Jonson said. "But once she has given herself permission to use her power, a woman can fight
"We can transform ourselves into capable and strong individuals."
Amy Turnbull Lawrence senior
back very hard."
Turnbull, co-director for the Center for Community Outreach, said she wanted students to fell empowered when they saw the demonstration.
"It's very important for people to be aware that we don't have to live in fear," Amy Turnbull said. "We can transform ourselves into capable and strong individuals."
Jonson said that the presentation could not substitute for self-defense training.
"We're here to advocate about the issue, not to teach the techniques," Jonson said. "It's important to have training."
Bob Grunzinger, St. Louis senior, said he was intrigued by the demonstration, and asked Jonson how to appear non-threatening on the streets.
Jonson said the most important way to make women feel safe was to remain a safe distance from them.
"I wanted to know how to avoid scaring women," Grunzinger said. "Walking late at night creates some awkward situations."
By Neal Shulenburger
Kansan staff writer
Kansas voters can tilt power
On Friday, Republican Senate candidate Sam Brownback tried to convince 30 students that their vote was critical to the fate of the nation.
"This is a critical election and Kansas is a critical state," Brownback said. "The old William Allen White saying couldn't be more true: 'As Kansas goes, so goes the nation.'"
Brownback's speech was sponsored by the Student Legislative Awareness Board and the College Republicans. Brownback was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994. He and Democratic candidate Jill Docking are running for the Senate seat formerly occupied by Bob Dole.
Every U.S. congressional seat for the state of Kansas is up for grabs in the 1996 election. Brownback said that the balance of power at the federal level
Sam Brownback
could be tilted in either direction by who Kansas chooses as its'representative in Washington D.C.
Only four votes separate the Democratic party from gaining control of the Senate.
"If that happens we've got Ted Kennedy chairing the committee that Nancy Kassebaum was chairing," Brownback said. "We have a whole swing in philosophy back
toward bigger government, and I don't think the American people want that."
Brownback said that his objectives in congress could ,be summed up in three words: reduce, reform and return.
"We need to reduce the federal government in size and tax rate." Brownback said. "Reform the congress with things like term limits, pay cuts and pension reform. And we need to return to the basic values that we built this country on."
Brownback did say that the Republican congress cut 300 programs and would cut more to try to balance the budget. However he said that the programs that were slashed were all unimportant.
Clothesline Project a reminder of violence against women, children
Kansan staff report
You beat me 'till I bleed/ I thought I deserved it/ You held a carving knife to my throat and with a laugh said/ You are nothing, you might as well die/ I believed you/ I thought you take everything from me/I was wrong/I'm still here, stronger than ever.
From a distance, the scene of T-shirts hanging limply on a clothesline Saturday in South Park looked like the backyard of a happy family home on a summer's day.
But these T-shirts were vivid reminders of terror, sexual abuse and violence that every day are inflicted on women and children in domestic situations.
"It's a slap in the face that says 'Look, we're here; we're not going to take this anymore,'" said Rebecca Mockus, Lawrence junior and a survivor of incest.
T-shirts were painted or embroidered with words, images or symbols recounting stories of abuse and celebrating new-found freedom and empowerment.
lence; yellow or beige for women who had been battered; red, pink or orange for those who had been raped or sexually assaulted; blue or green for survivors of incest or child sexual abuse; and purple or lavender for women attacked because of their sexual orientation.
"I think it's a larger problem than we realize," said Andrea Nyhoff, Hays junior and a survivor of violence. "There's so many people out there who don't press charges, who haven't come forward; children who don't say anything."
the colors of the T-shirts represented different crimes. White represented women who died from vio-
The Lawrence branch of the Clothesline Project began in Fall 1995 and now comprises more than 40 T-shirts of each color. Emotional support, materials and a safe space were provided for women to make a T-shirt in conjunction with Womyn Take Back the Night
"The display honors and celebrates women's survival," Rachel Cristauda, Carbondale, Ill., freshman said. "It's good for raising consciousness, but it's a memorial, and that's the part I feel strongest about."