CAMPUS/ AREA
University Daily Kansan/Thursday, September 19, 1991
3
'Street theater'in front of Stong Hall decries violence; Protesters say woman victimized every 15 seconds
Whistle-blowers protest against sexism, hate crimes
By Rochelle Olson
Kansan staff writer
Several women blew whistles yesterday on the front steps of Strong Hall to illustrate a statistic.
Jennifer Boyle, Lake Buff III, senior participates in the whistle-blowing protest.
"It's appropriate to let people have a chance to internalize the fact that every 15 seconds a woman is severely beaten," said Connie Burk, member of Students Against Violence Against Womyn.
"All we want to do is raise awareness," Burk said.
The women remained outside and blew a whistle every 15 seconds from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
"It's a kind of street theater to annoy and inform simultaneously," Burk said.
She said that the idea had evolved through conversations with friends and that no particular reason existed to think about it.
"All we want to do is raise awareness, 'Burk said.' Signs posted outside the front entrance of Strong Hipster has signed up, 'You can't be a woman,' "Sexism is Wear. "We can be silent" and "Domestic violence is a hate crime."
Representatives from the Women's Student Union, Students Against Violence Against Womyn and the Women's Concerns Committee of Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas participated in the demonstration.
Heather MacLaren, member of WSU, blew a whistle for two and one-half hours.
"Ithinkitreallyyouthinkhint," MacLaren said. A whistle echoing through campus cannot be ignored.
MacLaren said she thought that a whistle was an appropriate symbolic noise because women sometimes carried rape whistles to blow when they were attacked.
Ami Hytien, Lawrence junior, blew a whistle for most of the dav.
Hyten said that students had approached her and
asked questions.
But she said that one man had ripped up a sign with a foot and another had beaten his fist against a sign with
Julia Kessler, Overland Park, freshman, passed by the women at Strong and said, "Good for you."
At first she was unsure of what they were doing, but then she saw the posted signs, Kessler said.
"It's easy to hear a statistic, but to have something there. it makes it lazier obvious" *Kessler said*
Ndomby Fhunus, Caracas, Venezuela, sophomore,
questioned the results of the demonstration.
"We have to take action in our own lives," Flunus said, "just wonder what specific action they are tak
By Kerrie Gottschalk
Kansan staff writer
Stephanie Coleman-Marks' boyfriend never hit her during the three years that they dated.
KU professor says most domestic violence occurs against women, but men can change
The first slap came two days after they were married. From that point on, the beatings became more frequent and brutal.
"He was a very tall man and he worked in a meat-packing house," said Coleman-Marks, who is community facilitator at Women's Transitional Care Services. "The way he pushed sides of meat around at work was what he did to me at home.
"One time he picked up a full ring of keys and threw them full force at my face.
"I put my hand up to protect my face and the keys stuck in my hand. I still have them."
WTCS, a shelter for battered women, is where Cole-Marks first sought help.
Coleman-Marks, 31, was a victim of domestic violence, which Liane Davis, KU associate professor of social welfare, can call woman battering or woman abuse.
The term domestic violence plays down the fact that most victims of family violence are not.
Davis said women who were in abusive relationships often found their boyfriends or spouses trying to take control of their lives.
The abuser tends to threaten, intimidate
and isolate his wife or girlfriend to maintain control of the woman's life, she said.
Men who batter women often have poor self-esteem and have a need to be in power, said Marilyn Ault, director of the Alternative to Battering program in Topeka.
She said that not all men completed the program because they thought they did not
The alternative program is designed to help reform men who abuse women.
The program operates with groups of six to eight members and lasts 24 weeks. Ault
Through therapy, lectures and videotapes, men in the groups learn how to change their behaviors and attitudes about beating women. Ault said.
She also said that the men's girlfriends or spouses could participate in separate groups to learn what kind of changes to their lives they would like, what they could do to help the relationship.
"If we think that we only need to work with the victims, then we're missing a big opportunity."
Davis said family violence was part of a larger social problem. Until society changes its portraits of violence, families will continue to struggle with it, davis said.
Coleman-Marks said healing the wounds of family violence was a gradual process. "It is difficult to measure," he said.
"You can't work in this field if you are expecting to see changes made immediately."
Senator criticizes Regents proposal presented for board approval today
Kansan staff writer
StateSen. Wint Winter Jr., yesterday criticized the Board of Regions mission statement staff proposal at a University forum.
At the luncheon sponsored by Ecumenical Christian Ministries, Winter, R.Lawrence, called the proposal an attempt by Regents executive director Stanley Koplik to tight control of higher education in Kansas.
The Regents staff announced the proposal in late August. It would consolidate educational programs at the high school and accepted to make the system more efficient.
The proposal will be presented to the Regents for approval today.
Sen. Wint Winter Jr., addresses the topic of social and economic respon-
sibilities in state budgeting. He spoke at a University forum yesterday.
"The last time anyone tried to consolidate authority like that, it lasted three days, and they had a lot more tanks than Mr. Koplik." Winter said.
Instead of cutting out entire programs, Winter said that all state programs, including higher education, could continue to operate under budget constraints. Some activities, however, would have to be limited.
Howard Baumgartel, a retired professor of psychology who attended the speech, said that something must be done to improve quality of education at the University.
"You have to either get more money or less students." Baumgartel said.
Winter said that unrestricted tax increases were not the answer.
the cases were not answers.
"We must begin to bite the bullet and make funding reforms." he said.
State taxes have been raised four times since 1938. Winter said.
Higher education is not the only area of concern for the state, Winter said. Secondary education, health care and drug-related social programs also are important areas that face high costs and limited budgets.
During the last four years, the number of inmates housed in state prisons has tripled from 2,000 to 6,000 criminals, he said.
Instead, there needs to be an objective analysis of offenders to insure that those who could benefit from other programs are not wasting state money by sitting in maximum security prisons, he said:
Criminals who are not considered dangerous will not benefit, and the state will not benefit from them staying in prison for a long term. Winter
"We cannot solve a prison overcrowding problem by building our way out of it," the senator said.
A key concern is the status of the state prison system. Winter said.
School of engineering raises requirements to avoid overcrowding, maintain quality
KU standards change
Students trying to get into the school of engineering may find it harder to get in now than before.
The school's new admissions standards went into effect this fall.
Harold Rosson, associate dean of engineering, said that all of the professional schools needed to control enrollment to avoid overcrowding.
Limiting the number of students would keep the student-teacher ratio low so that a high quality of education could be maintained, he said.
Rosson said enrollment to the engineering school had dropped by about 8 percent this semester because of the new admissions standards.
"This is a procedure to limit in-state as well as out-of-state enrollment," he said.
Rosson said that four changes had been made in the new admission standards:
In-state high school students must be in the top half of their graduating class.
An in-state student must score 22 or higher on the math ACT.
Out-of-state high school students must be in the top 25 percent of their graduating class.
An out-of-state student must score 28 or higher on the math ACT.
But women and minorities from out- state are treated under the in-state guidelines, Rosson said.
"We want to give them a break," he said.
Foreign students, however, need to have attended the University of Kansas or another U.S. institution for foreign study. Students who are interfering to the school of engineering.
Kansas State University had about the same decrease and did not have the same admissions policy.
Rosson said the apparent decrease in enrollment was artificial because
He said the decrease could be a national or state trend that was yet to be determined.
Rosson said he expected that next semester's enrollment would increase again because international students would transfer to KU.
He said that 14 percent of the engineering students came from foreign countries. Out of the 1,619 students, 231are international students.
Jerry Bailey, associate dean for teacher education and undergraduate studies, said that the school of education also had new admission policies but that they would not go into effect until next year.
"The admissions control enrollment policy affects some of our programs," he said.
Bailey said that particularly the elementary education and secondary social studies program would be useful. Mrs. Bailey had an abundance of applicants.
Max Lucas, dean of the school of architecture, and urban design, said the school had not had any significant changes in the last eight years.
"We have essentially the same admissions standards,"he said.
Lucas said that out of 800 applications, 144 freshmen were admitted every year.
"Our problem is a space problem," he said, referring to the school's need for more room for design tables and other school materials.
Ann Weick, dean of the school of social welfare, said the school's admission standards remained the same.
"We have not had changes for the last few years," she said.
Academic success can breed racism speaker says
By Rochelle Olson
Kansan staff writer
The academic success of Asian-Americans has inspired resentment and racist attacks, said a professor of social work from Loyola University in Chicago.
The profess-
sor
Daniel
Lee
about to
40 people at
Downs
Auditorium
in
Hall last night.
Lee said that Asian-American were committed to high educational achievement despite great family commitments and problems due to recent immigration.
He said the myth should be destroyed because it often led to others blaming Asian-Americas for lacking academic opportunities.
Because of educational achievements, Asian-Americans often are seen as the mythical model minority. Lee said.
It also diminishes opportunities for Asian-Americans, he said.
"Many schools have attempted to limit dollars for scholarships and admissions of Asian-Americans," he said.
Lee said that other minorities often were blamed for their inability to reach the level of trust in a client, an attitude that led to hostility.
A bridge between all minority groups needs to be established, Lee said.
He said another challenge that Asian-Americans faced was a lack of socio-economic integration.
"Asian-Americans are far behind other ethnic groups," he said.
Limited English proficiency and stynness can keep them from swift integration. Lee said.
He said that culture clashes led to generational gaps in Asian-American families.
Older people who were born in Asia sometimes feel left out because they cannot communicate with their grandchildren, who have spent their entire lives in the United States.
Children also move into the mainstream culture more quickly than their parents, creating a gap. Lee said.
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"These families experience tremendous conflicts in dealing with emotions," Lee said.
He said that Asian-Americans were taught to keep their emotions inside and were unaccustomed to seeking outside help.
Michael Ma, Changsha, China
graduate student, attended the speech and said he had received
an education that marked the status of Asian-Americans.
"Because Asians have a tradition of working very hard and high value education, they will be successful in the states as long as the U.S. gives them the opportunity." Ma said.
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