+
236
ARTS & CULTURE Despite its doors being closed, Spencer Museum offers exhibitions online.
NEWS
A breakdown of the University's title IX lawsuits
> Page 5
SPORTS
Up close and personal with KU's baton twirler Nicole Johnson.
> Page 3
> Page 11
THURSDAY, SEPT. 15, 2016 | VOLUME 132 ISSUE 08
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
'Guarded' highlights threat of sexual assault
Taylor Yocom's photo series, "Guarded," is on display at the Kansas Union Gallery. "Guarded" displays black and white photos of people, mainly women holding various items like keys, knives, mace, etc. that they carry to defend themselves from sexual assault.
Alex Robinson/KANSAN s of people, mainly women.
▶ HAILEY DIXON
@_hailey_dixon
A new photo gallery at the Kansas Union is shedding new light on the fight against sexual assault.
"Guarded," a photo series by Iowa-native Taylor Yocom, is a series of black and white photos, showing women holding various objects meant to be weapons of self-defense, such as keys, bottles and pocket knives. It is currently on display in the Kansas Union Gallery, on the fourth floor.
"I came up with the idea for 'Guarded' when I was a junior in college," Yocom said. "There were sexual assaults in the area and as a response, my female classmates and I showed each other what we had on our key chains. The men in the class were taken aback and that's how I knew I wanted to represent it visually."
The photographs come from women in
places such as Iowa City, Omaha and Chicago.
"Guarded' is a visual representation of rape culture and gender discrepancy in vulnerabilities," Yocom said. "Through photos of what female-identified people use to protect themselves with from sexual assault, I want to show how widespread rape culture actually is. Everyday objects such as keys or phones become loaded when used in this other context, shedding light on how the threat of assault is there from having to walk home at night to being at a party."
Yocom said she wants viewers to realize how prevalent the threat of sexual assault is to some people.
"When viewers see the photos, I want them to be more understanding of other people's realities," Yocom said. "I hope this series widens mindsets and speaks to how pervasive of a problem sexual assault is."
A reception was held on Sept.11 to open up
the gallery to visitors.
"We had 120 University members attend," said Jen Brockman, director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center.
Yocom also took photos of individuals while visiting campus to use in her next photo series.
"I would like to say that at the opening, I found the KU community very receptive to the
photos and I'm super thrilled with the work SAPEC and Jen Brockman is doing on campus," Yocom said.
Brockman said she is glad to have the series on campus for awhile.
"We are very excited to to bring this photo series to campus," Brockman said. "It is making a powerful dialogue."
- Edited by Lexanna Sims
Andrew Rosenthal/KANSAN
(back (right)) took differentiating
Andrew Rosenthal/KANSAN Panelists Mark Johnson (left) and Kris Kobach (right) took differentiating stances on voting rights through the discussion.
Kobach, Johnson debate voter ID laws at Dole Institute of Politics
TANNER HASSELL
@rhassell17
Editor's note: Mark Johnson is the chairman of the Kansan Board of Directors.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Mark Johnson, a professor of law and journalism at the University, discussed issues of election integrity and vote suppression at the Constitution Day forum held at the Dole Institute of Politics last night. A controversial Kansas voter ID law was one of the central topics.
The discussion was moderated by law professor Stephen McAllister, who opened the forum with a question about a 2013 voter ID law that Kobach helped draft.
Throughout the night, Johnson and Kobach acknowledged they have found themselves on the opposite sides of legal proceedings regarding the voter ID law.
According to VoteKS org, voters in the state are required to bring proof of citizenship with them to polling stations. Proof of citizenship includes driver's license, state ID or passports.
"Kansas created a model for other states to follow with the voter ID law," he said. "In a manner of speaking, we took the high ground on this issue."
Kobach opened discussion of the state voting law with comments about the role of the U.S. Constitution and the states.
"The constitution would never have been ratified if it had featured more specific language about voting," Kobach said.
Kobach said that Kansas is, in a sense, leading the pack when it comes to voting integrity.
Johnson said many states began implementing voter ID laws after
"I think it needs to be easy to vote,and hard to cheat."
Republicans took control in said states after the 2010 elections.
Kris Kobach Kansas secretary of state
"A question that we need to keep in mind is Why were these laws created?" Johnson said. "I believe they wanted to write a voter ID law that would affect minority voters, especially in the example of the North Carolina law."
Johnson also said the voter fraud these laws would prevent isn't prominent enough to justify their implementation.
"When the legislation was presented, many Kansas Democrats in state house and senate voted for the measure. So if it was a Republican plot, they didn't get the memo," he said.
Kobach defended the law's legitimacy by saying that the legislation received bipartisan support.
"There just isn't a record that supports the articulated rationale for these laws, that they are intended to deal with voter fraud." Johnson said.
The discussion turned to topics like ease of voting and the potential for voter ID laws to create additional "hurdles," as Johnson described them.
"Whenever there are more hurdles to jump over, you are going to lose voters." Johnson said.
Both Johnson and Kobach said voting should be as simple as possible, with Kobach issuing one caveat.
"I think it needs to be easy to vote, and hard to cheat," he said.
Potter campaign blasts student interns
@lara_korte
LARA KORTE
One current and one former member of the University's Student Senate have been accused of unethical campaigning tactics by a U.S. congressional candidate.
Former Chief of Staff Adam Moon and current Journalism Senator Victoria Snitsar were among the interns that Democratic candidate Britani Potter said used aggressive tactics on behalf of Republican Rep. Lynn Jenkins, her opponent.
Potter originally voiced her complaints in the Topeka Capital-Journal where she explicitly named Moon and Snitsar as part of Jenkins' team of "personal spies."
When she spoke with the Kansan Wednesday afternoon, Potter claimed the interns followed her around the state to different campaign events, lying about their identities. She said the students claimed they were interested in helping out with her campaign, or were writing a paper for a college course.
Potter also said the interns would film her
at campaign events and record conversations with her. She said when she asked the students to talk with her after the events, the questions got "aggressive" and "nasty."
"They just kept following and there would be more of them, and it would just get more aggressive and intense as it went on," she said. "There were a couple stops where I was alone and I was concerned that someone would show up and I didn't know how aggressive they were going to get."
Jenkins' campaign manager, Lee Modesitt, told the Topeka Capital-Journal that a few of the college-age campaign staff were "overly aggressive when trying to get answers."
In an email statement to the Kansan Wednesday afternoon, Modesitt confirmed that both Moon and Snitsar were hired as interns in June of 2016, but said the two did not specifically engage in any overly aggressive tactics.
"The KU students mentioned in this article did not participate in overly aggressive campaign tactics," he said
SEE INTERNS
PAGE 2
INDEX
NEWS...2
OPINION...4
ARTS & CULTURE...5
SPORTS...11
KANSAN.COM
GALLERY
See more photos of the Haskell Native American Art Fair at kansan.com
ENGAGE WITH US
@KANSANNEWS
/THEKANSAN
KANSAN.NEWS
4.4
@UNIVERSITY
DAILYKANSAN
+