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Kansan Staff
Editor-in-chief Lara Korte
NEWS MANAGEMENT
Managing editor Christian Hardy
Digital operations editor Matt Clough
Associate social media editor Emily Juszczyk
Social media editor Emily Johanek
Business manager Tucker Paine
Associate news editor McKenna Harford
ADVERTISING MANAGEMENT
News editor
Chandler Boese
Arts & culture editor Omar Sanchez
Sales manager
Mitch Tamblyn
Associate sports editor Skylar Rolstad
SECTION EDITORS
Opinion editor Vince Munoz
Sports editor Amie Just
Visuals editor
& design chief
Roxy Townsend
Associate arts & culture editor Courtney Bierman
Photo editor Missy Minear
Copy chiefs
Candice Tarver
Brendan Dzwierzynski
Ashley Hocking
Chief financial officer Jon Schlitt
ADVISERS
Editorial adviser
Gerri Berendzen
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KANSAN.COM/NEWS | THURSDAY, FEB. 16. 2017
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Tense political climate tests local businesses
EVAN LAY
@KansanNews
The recent political climate has created an atmosphere that local businesses have never had to deal with before, a University marketing professor said.
Ladybird's political involvement has gotten some backlash, Heriford said, but she said she respects people's ability to express their opinions.
Meg Heriford, operating partner at Ladybird Diner, is one of the locals who has voiced her opinions on political issues through her business. Yusra Nabi/KANSAN
"It just seems like smart business to me to do everything I can to help foster a healthy, strong community," Heriford said.
The recent tension between ends of the political spectrum has led consumers to demand that businesses take a stand on issues.
"In the past, after an election, people forget about what's going on politically," said Noelle Nelson, assistant professor of Marketing and Consumer Behavior at the University. "That's really not happening right now."
In the past, most local businesses have tried to stay apolitical.
"I recognize it's not been a common practice, especially for small businesses, to voice their opinions or beliefs," said Meg Heriford, operating partner at Ladybird Diner on Massachusetts Street.
Ladybird has been outspoken in their support of groups, like Black Lives Matter and Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), which supports foster care.
"There are some people that tell me to get back in the kitchen and worry about the pie and stop talking about stuff," Heriford said. "I think considering we live in a free market and people can vote with their dollars, it's nice for people to have that information. If they genuinely don't believe in supporting [those causes], then they totally should not spend their dollars here."
Noelle Nelson University professor
"It's new territory for businesses and brands."
Activist groups, like Black Lives Matter, have published lists of businesses who have pledged support to them, businesses to boycott and businesses that didn't respond to their inquiry.
Nelson sees part of the shift as a generational shift. Millennials, she said, are more conscious of the image of the brands they support.
"Millennials care that they're supporting something bigger than just giving money to a company," she said. "They want to make sure they're supporting
Social media plays a big role in the divide.
something they believe in."
A recent example that Nelson discussed was Uber. When President Donald Trump signed the executive order on immigration, New York City's taxi fleet took the afternoon off in protest. Uber, meanwhile, kept running during the protest. Coincidentally, the hashtag #DeleteUber began trending on social media because the company didn't respond quickly enough. Despite Uber CEO Travis Kalanick
"In the past, part of the reason that we didn't care about a company's point of view was because we didn't know and didn't think we would know," Nelson said. "Now, the CEO of a company can easily say, 'Here's how I feel about anything,' and now everybody knows,' so consumers come to expect that level from everybody."
later making a statement against the immigration order, Uber still suffered.
Nelson said that companies are making a lot of mistakes right now in regards to social media.
"It was misinterpreted as, 'Uber doesn't care about what's happening and doesn't care about the issues,' when, really, that wasn't the case," Nelson said. "It was kind of a misunderstanding, but that's where you need really strong social media managers - people who understand and can take the temperature of the public, can figure out what they're going to care about, and how they're going to respond to certain statements. A lot of companies probably have never had people like that."
"It's new territory for businesses and brands," Nelson said. "It's constant PR spinning all the time. Businesses must make sure
every move they make is very deliberate and careful because it spreads so quickly that there's no putting an end to it if it's bad publicity. If Twitter gets it, then it's everywhere."
"There are certainly lots of people who just come in here and eat and don't think a thing about any of this, they're just looking for a quick bite to eat," Heriford said. "Ultimately, that's what we're here for."
Still, most people are indifferent to where they choose to spend their money, Heriford said.
It's important to remember that politics aside, these businesses are hoping to help make their communities a better place, Heriford said.
"I don't have a healthy business if I don't have a healthy community," Heriford said.
FROM UNION
PAGE 1
the current chief of staff for Student Senate, is also opposed to the referendum. According to Summers, who has requested across-the-board facts and figures regarding the renovation with no success, the initiative is not being transparent and truthful to students whose vote and money they're asking for.
"Along with cherry-picking certain facts, the campaign has placed them alongside this idyllic portrait of a 'new Union,' and it would seem to me that they are attempting to push students to blindly vote yes," Summers said. "Students are being asked to foot the bill for a non-academic project without any reasonable effort to educate the students on its cost and the whole, true story."
This is an issue that concerns Comolli and Finch as
1
well.
"The idea that the Union is trying to push is that the Union is the center of the entire campus, and that without these renovations we're going to just be less prestigious or less competitive, which doesn't make any sense," Comolli said.
Miranda Clark-Ulrich/KANSAN A student committee is leading the Redo Your U initiative, which is asking for students to vote yes to renovations for the Memorial Student Union.
In spring 2016, fee committee voted to put the referendum on the ballot and required that it be a student-led campaign.
According to Cox, there are a total of five student leaders such as himself, 30 additional student ambassadors and supporting staff like Mucci who are overseeing the initiative.
"The response from the fee committee was 'we think you should do it all.' It makes sense," Mucci said. "They also said, 'It's too big for us to wave a magic wand over and make it happen. You need to go out and get student support for this.'"
According to David Mucci, director of Memorial Unions at the University and one of the supporting staff on the Redo Your U initiative, the campaign pursued other options for financing the renovations before approaching Student Senate last year during fee review.
However, Finch said he thinks that although students are the ones leading the initiative, it will be students who lose if the referendum passes.
"You don't hear a lot from students who have to work full-time to pay for their tuition because they're always working. Fifty dollars more a semester, it doesn't sound like much, but that's huge," Finch said. "That can be the difference between being able to get groceries or not."
FROM CAMPUS CARRY
PAGE 1
er, because we do have a chance to save ourselves and there are events that are taking place that can contribute to saving our community in many ways," Barrett-Gonzalez said during the event.
"So I'm asking why don't we at least, on the public website, post information about the state of the laws and the legislators that are voting one way or anoth-
selves from the law and is still alive in the statehouse.
cealed carry. Keary and Williams explained it is illegal for University employees to use state resources to lobby issues.
However, the University faces a dilemma when it comes to stopping con-
people, mostly faculty and administrators. At the end of the night, Jones said she thought the information presented was helpful, but inadequate.
"The legislature's put the University in kind of a bind, really," Jones said.
The information session lasted two hours and was attended by about 30
"I'm glad it's happening, and I'm glad that we have some answers," she said. "However, I think that we need more."
FROM YAF PAGE 1
sion of people taking the test was there was a lot of confusion," he said. "It seemed like people were struggling. It took them a couple of minutes to just answer eight questions and that's good, we want people to think critically."
Lepinski said he hopes
"But if we found that the results are less than flattering, then we're going to consider avenues that our club can take as a political advocacy group and make sure that people do become aware of these rights," Lepinski said.
that everyone is educated about what free speech means on campus.
Rayfield Lawrence, a sophomore from Kansas City, Kansas, said he thinks that YAF, as an organization, is not a positive representation of the University.
However, YAF as an organization is not favored by every University student.
Going forward, Lepinski said that all individuals are welcome to attend his organization's meetings to participate in civil discourse and discussion.
inclusive to different identities," he said. "But when I have had interactions with YAF, I've been referred to as one of the 'blacks on campus."
"I came [to KU] because of its inclusivity and its equity and trying to be more
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