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MONDAY, APRIL 26, 2010
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 143
In the aftermath
College-age women seek justice, peace and healing while coping with the pain of a sexual assault
BY HALEY JONES | hjones@kansan.com
Editor's Note: The names of three of the victims and all of the assailants have been changed to protect the privacy of the women who shared their stories. Amanda said she was comfortable using her name in the article.
Kate awakens to the sharp pain of an IV needle inserted in her left arm. She opens her eyes to a room in Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Why am I here? Alcohol poisoning? She doesn't remember drinking that much, but she does remember she has a test in two hours.
I have to get out of here.
Before she can unhook her IV, a nurse and police officer enter the room. "Do you remember anything from last night?" they ask.
A short pause, the nurse's and police officer's eyes meet and turn back to Kate.
Nothing.
"We think you have been sexually assaulted," the nurse says. She suggests Kate have a rape kit and blood tests done.
Kate doesn't comprehend what she's hearing,but she feels her throbbing head and churning stomach and thinks she might vomit.
Confused and traumatized, Kate declines to stay for a rape kit, and instead goes home to shower and sleep.
Kate, a KU sophomore, had joined the one of every four undergraduate women at U.S. colleges who have been victims of sexual assault, according to a 2000 National Institute of Justice Report. The same report found that women who drank enough alcohol to get drunk had a higher risk of being victimized sexually. The American Academy of Pediatrics calls alcohol the "most common daterape drug." It makes women more vulnerable to an assault, less able to resist an assailant and impairs their judgment afterwards when they make critical decisions about reporting to police and preserving evidence.
But no amount of excessive drinking ever justifies a sexual assault.
SEE AFTERMATH ON PAGE 4A
CAMPUS
Students work to restore beauty of Potter Lake
BY SAMANTHA FOSTER
sfoster@kansan.com
Three years ago Potter Lake was a dirty, unattractive eyesore.
But since then, students with the Potter Lake Project have been trying to restore it to its former beauty.
Derek Hannon, a Senior from Shawnee, rakes dead vegetation off the edge of Potter Lake. Hannon heard about the Potter Lake Project in an e-mail sent to all the Environmental Studies Majors.
Students spent a few hours Saturday cleaning dead leaves from the banks of Potter Lake and planting a flower bed. The group used the work day to beautify the area around the lake in preparation for the dredging that will take place this summer.
Timarie Trarbach, a senior from Salina, said she had been involved with the Potter Lake Project since it started more than two years ago and enjoyed working with the team.
Spencer Walsh/KANSAN
"I think it's a good thing to get the lake cleaned up and looking better," Trarbach said. "It's an important part of KU."
Saturday was the group's first work day this semester, but last year's work days included projects like putting in aerators, which add oxygen to the water so fish can live in it, and pulling out coontail that was growing in the middle of the lake.
Matt Nahrstedt, a junior from St. Peters, Mo., and president of the project, said the temporary fixes and work days the group has done in the past improved the lake's condition, but didn't solve its problems.
"They've helped, but there's been nothing with as major an
Ezra Huscher, a senior from Salina and officer of the project, said there was a need for students to take care of Potter Lake, but that
he hoped the University would start viewing it as a responsibility. He said University administration had neglected the lake during the last 50 years, which led to its poor condition.
impact as this summer will have." Nahrstedt said.
"Hopefully the administration will pay more attention in the future and it won't need to be such a grass roots movement anymore," Husser said.
Student Senate approved
$58,000 in funding earlier this month to dredge Potter Lake. The chancellor's office is contributing another $50,000 and alumni have also contributed to the project.
Edited by Becky Howlett
ENTERTAINMENT
Storyteller finds niche: puppeteer for all ages
BY KELLY STRODA kstroda@kansan.com
Everybody thinks Trixie is a witch.
Between her pale, olive green face, big, crooked nose and wiry gray hair, it's arguable.
But say that to her face, and she'll let you have it.
Or rather her handler, Priscilla,
will — after all, Trixie a puppet.
Priscilla Howe, a storyteller and puppeater from Lawrence, started telling stories full-time in 1993. Howe has a bachelor's degree in French and a master's degree in library science, but she never fore-saw frogs, turtles, babies and bats as her future co-workers.
"It doesn't surprise me now," Howe said. "But it would have been a surprise to me to think of it ahead."
Howe didn't always know storytelling and puppetry were what she wanted to do.
In 1988, she began a job as a Slavic cataloger at the University of Kansas. After two years, Priscilla said she realized that wasn't what
SEE PUPPETS ON PAGE 3A
index
Classifieds...3B
Crossword...8A
Horoscopes...8A
Opinion... 9A
Sports... 1B
Sudoku... 8A
All contents, unless stated otherwise; © 2010 The University Daily Kansan
Student loses senate seat because of credit hours
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The Elections Commission said the candidate did not qualify because she didn't have enough hours to be a junior. STUDENT SENATE | 6A
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