THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2007
NEWS
3A
AWARENESS (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
--their boundaries down on campus because they felt like it was a safe environment, or they would even accept rides from other students because they felt like they identified with the college population in general.
Sarah Leonard/KANSAN
A clothesline was attached to a fold-up chair next to the table 'to string up additional pairs of panties.
"It was just one night to you ... but it will be with me FOREVER." Each pair of undergarments was decorated by either a victim of sexual assault or a family member.
"Keep out," was written on a white pair of flower-imprinted panties. Another pair of black Hanes Her Ways were painted with the message, "This used to be my favorite pair of underwear, now it is ... EVIDENCE."
The survivors had written messages of fear, hate and hope on the panties.
Ten percent of survivors are men who are assaulted by other men who are generally heterosexual, Abell said.
On a pair of blue boxer shorts, the message, "Men are objectified too," was written as a reminder that men, too, are sometimes victims of sexual assault.
Will Sellers, Sterling, Va., senior and president of One in Four, said his group formed to educate men about the prevalence of sexual assault and to develop ways for them to help victims cope.
He said he wanted the pantyline project to impact passersby and educate them about the nationwide sexual assault problem.
"The items speak for themselves," Sellers said. "Students should take an awareness of sexual assault. It's real, and it happens to 25 percent of college women."
People don't have to be victims to get involved. Abell said men could help each other, as well as women, prevent becoming a victim.
"It's important for men to look out for each other and make sure they're being respectful." Abell said.
She said there were ways women could lower their likelihood of being victimized.
She said students would often let
Students need to consider these situations and remember that alcohol is involved with 90 percent of
"Alcohol use on campuses is high er than elsewhere." Abell said.
sexual assaults, she said.
Kansan staff writer Tyler Harbert can be contacted at tharbert@ kansan.com.
Edited by Kelly Lanigan
BLOX (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
"Every cell phone user could go to a Web site and select which text messages they want to receive," he said. "We could have an unlimited amount of message groups separated by faculty and students and their interests."
Reid said he was unsure what criteria student groups would have to meet in order to have access to the mass-messaging system because the University had not developed the system enough to have a policy on that yet.
Each group or department at the University that receives approval to use Message Blox will select a system administrator. System administrators will log on to the Message Blox system on the Internet when they want to send a message. When a message is sent through the Message Blox system to users' cell phones, it is also sent to their e-mail and is posted on television monitors located in the Kansas Union and other hot spots on campus.
The capability to receive messages from the University is already included in Sprint phones bought from the KU bookstore in the Union. The University began selling Sprint
phones on March 26.
The University plans to offer Message Blox to all students and faculty regardless of their cell phone provider. Negotiations regarding who will fund the program are still underway among the Office of the Vice Provest of Student Success, the University's marketing department, and other departments at the University who will most benefit from Message Blox.
During the first six months Message Blox is running at the University, it will be free to Sprint users who buy their phones from the KU Bookstore in the Union. Visix Inc., which owns Message Blox, will provide the service for free as a trial period to the University.
The University plans to use central institutional funding to provide Message Blox to the rest of the University. Central institutional funding is money provided not by one specific department or departments, but from core institutional resources like the provost or chancellor's funds. If there is not enough money in the fund or the administration does not endorse using the fund to provide the program to all students and faculty,
those who wish to receive text messages from the University will have to pay a $5 fee.
"The assumption is whatever program we are going with will be available to incoming students," said David Mucci, director of KU Memorial Union. "Our focus is to be ready for orientation. We would like to get (Message Blox) up and running through the summer."
Desalvo said the University was implementing Message Blox because most people did not use their e-mail anymore or they deleted important messages from University administration because they thought they were spam messages.
DeSalvo said it was Sprint's idea to utilize Message Blox for Sprint users. The University saw the program as a solution to the question of how to alert students and faculty more quickly than through e-mail.
Kansan correspondent Francesca Chambers can be reached at fchambs@kansan.com
Edited by Trevan McGee
and discipline, but couples who choose instant ministers appreciate the freedom to have a close friend preside and tailor ceremonies to personal needs rather than following religious dogma.
MINISTERS (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Guardian angel, presiding
While ordination is free, the church tells new ministers that parking permits, press passes and various credentials are available for purchase via Universal Life Church's Internet boutique.
Shortly after El Hodiri applied online, he received a congratulatory e-mail from the church entitleting the divine applicant to "all privileges and courtesies normally offered to members of the clergy"
El-Hodiri was Maska's Honors counselor at the University. She began going to El-Hodiri's house every Friday to drink wine and talk about the world, she said. Topics ranged from religion to the culinary arts. Maska said the student-teacher friendship between her and El-Hodiri was like daughter-father.
Mohamed El-Hodiri dances with his bride. Johanna Maska, at the wedding reception Sundav.
El-Hodiri said that after the ceremony, "Everybody was in such a rush to go to the bars, they forgot to have me sign the certificate." For that, he charged the couple a $1 late fee, even though the wedding itself was free of charge.
Jackson said having the wedding officiated by El-Hodiri, who turned 70 the day before the ceremony, allowed the couple to tailor the ceremony to their own personalities.
"I went into college and expected to have friendships with my professors," Maska said, "but with Mohamed, he's my guardian angel."
At the wedding, El-Hodiri, who wore a prayer shawl over his shoulders, and recited a five-line verse from Proverbs 31 in three languages: Hebrew, Arabic and English. After the couple's vows and marriage blessings both the
"I'm sure there are some members of our family who wish we were in a church." Jackson said, "but it's not who we've been for a while."
To pay El-Hodiri for his minister services, Maska and Jackson gave him a new baseball cap that read "Rabbi Mohamed," adding to his eclectic collection of hats with sayings such as, "I'm big in Europe," and, "Trust me, I'm a liar."
Instead of instructing the bride and groom to kiss, he simply prompted, "You guys go do your thing."
parents and the entire audience, ElHodiri pronounced them "spouse and spouse."
Mail-order holv order
Tim Miller, professor of religious studies who specializes in alternative religions, said at one point Kansas had an official list of officiators. Nowadays, the Internet makes it easy for anybody who wants the title without the work to become ordained, he said. Other online churches offering ordination include the Love Church and the Church of the Latter-Day Dude.
Kansas law once limited who could perform weddings but now doesn't even require an officiate.
— no purchase necessary. Hensley transformed his garage into a church and chapel, holding Sunday services and ordaining aspirants in person, by mail-order application
Miller said Hensley founded the Universal Life Church to "break up the monopoly" of the holy order
"If you've got the spirit, God will give you the on-the-job training," Miller said.
Budding business
Still, some instant ministers take it seriously. Jenna Coker, business manager for the geology department and part-time Universal Life Church minister, has performed five weddings for friends and patrons since she was ordained Feb. 10, 2004. Coker said she converted good will offerings she received from ceremonies to grocery store gift certificates, which she donated to homeless people. She said she lived by the Universal Life Church's only maxim, "Do only that which is right." She is a former Episcopalian subdeacon.
or online.
"I left the church because it wasn't fulfilling the need for me," she said. "That need is filled now, every day."
When preparing a couple for matrimony, Coker sits down with the bride and groom and asks their
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