8A the university daily kansan
news
tuesday, february 10, 2004
FEBRUARY: Group sponsors speakers, festivities to raise awareness
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City commissioner David Schauner said that the issue of a waiver has come up four times in the last month. Three establishments were granted the waiver and one was not.
The establishment that was not granted a waiver was Pepper Jax, which opens in two weeks. The Salvation Army Methodist Church is the church within 400 feet of Pepper Jax.
Tonight, the city commission will determine whether a waiver should be granted to the Replay Lounge.
"I think the Replay has a good argument for a waiver based on the extenuating circumstances," Schauner said. "We'll have to see what everyone says, though."
Rich Forney, administrator for the Salvation Army's Methodist Church, said that the burden of proof would not rest on the church.
Schauner said that the decision would be made after both sides stated their claims at tonight's meeting.
Forney said he would attend the meeting and present the Salvation Army's position.
preach against drinking and against alcohol," Forney said. "I have seen first-hand the destruction it can have on families."
Forney said that he would not be attacking the Replay's presence, and that the church would have to show that the Replay Lounge would cause physical harm because of its closeness to the church.
"What's going to happen is going to happen." Forney said.
Representatives at the Replay Lounge declined to comment on the situation.
Tina Browne is a regular patron of the Replay Lounge. The Kansas City, Kan., sophomore said that the bar was a great place and that it was a shame that its drinking license could be revoked.
"There should be some way to work around this obvious paperwork issue," Browne said. "It doesn't seem good for the community that any small business would have revenue taken away."
Tonight's meeting is a public hearing, and individuals will be allowed to voice their opinions on the matter.
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Events started last night with a screening of the 2003 film Return to Kandahar. The movie's codirector, Afghan-Canadian filmmaker and journalist Nelofer Pazira, will give a free lecture at 7:30 tonight at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union. Other planned events include a discussion panel on lesbianism and a forum on women and Islamic law.
"I am a preacher, and we —Edited by Joe Hartigan
Roksana Alavi, co-chairwoman of February Sisters events for 2004, said she expected Pazira's lecture tonight to attract the largest audience. Pazira, who recently returned from an assignment in Iraq, will speak on the political and social situations of
The February Sisters will also sponsor festivities to support V-Day, an international women's anti-violence campaign started by Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues. The V-Day festivities will be held from 7 to 8 p.m. on Feb. 12-14 at Alderson Auditorium in the Union. The event will feature 13 information booths from local and national women's organizations, games and refreshments.
Roksana Alavi
Co-chairwoman of February Sisters events for 2004
"Considering nearly half our population is male, they're probably a good ally to have."
women in Afghanistan and Iraq in a lecture entitled "Kabul to Baghdad: Tell Us About Democracy." Alavi said she hoped the lecture would appeal to both women and men because of the topic's prevalence on an international level.
"Women's issues are human issues," Alavi said. "Considering nearly half our population is male, they're probably a good ally to have."
Kathy Libal, lecturer in women's studies and international studies, is part of the forum on women and Islamic law on Feb. 25 at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave. She said the panel would be a good way to rekindle interest in issues in Afghanistan while keeping the focus on women across
different cultures.
"This is a unique opportunity," Libal said. "The panel will allow people to ask questions about gender and Islamic law while remembering the important role that the February Sisters had at KU."
The February Sisters Association is named after a group of women who peacefully occupied a classroom in February 1972. They demanded daycare services and a women's studies program, which both exist at the University. The women refused to leave the building until University officials granted their wishes.
Women's studies students have commemorated the February Sisters' accomplishments with informal educational forums every year since 1972. In Fall 2000, three graduate students established the February Sisters Association, a University-sponsored organization, to raise funding and to better plan events for the yearly forum.
Carly Hayden Foster, graduate teaching assistant in political science and a co-founder of the organization, said she and two
FEMINISM FEBRUARY
"Kabul to Baghdad: Tell Us About Democracy" - 7-30 to 9 p.m. Feb. 10, Woodruff Auditorium
v Day Festivities - 7 to 8 p.m.
Feb. 12-14, Alderson
Auditorium
Discussion panel on
Discussion panel on lesbianism - 5:00 to 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 11, Kansas Union lobby
Forum on women and law law - 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Feb. 25, Ecumenical Christian Ministries
other students organized an official organization to expand on what other women's studies students had already started.
"We wanted to get more funding and do something bigger," Foster said. "We wanted to bring in better-known speakers and really publicize what the February Sisters did in bringing a women's studies program to our campus."
For more information, visit www.geocities.com/febsisters.
Edited by Danielle Hillix
WOMEN: GTA dispels notions of Islamic women
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family members have migrated to the United States. Her grandparents lived in the United States during the Iran hostage crisis and dealt with the backlash directed at Middle Eastern immigrants. They advised her to tell people she was from Greece, not Iran.
"I told people that for a week, but then I felt stupid," she said.
When Alavi began telling people the truth about her heritage, she received a supportive response from most people. But one girl in her class advised against her honesty. She wrote a note that Alavi had to take home and translate, telling her not to say she was from Iran because Americans didn't like Iranians.
At first, the language barrier and cultural differences in high school caused so much trauma that Alavi would call her aunt in the middle of the day to pick her up from school.
and radio dialogues to memorize.
"I would call and say, 'I can't stand it, I can't talk to these people, I don't know what's going on and I'm scared,'" Alavi said.
After about five months, Alavi finally began to feel more comfortable. She began to learn English with her grandfather's help, who gave her English television
Alavi said that even with recent international conflicts and terrorist scares, the American perception of Middle Eastern immigrants was much better than it was 15 years ago. She said that the perception of Middle Eastern women still tends to be inaccurate.
"My students in women's studies classes say the girls on campus in head scarves must be submissive." she said.
Alavi said she believed that women have more opportunities in the United States, but that it was because everyone had more freedom here. She said people may see a woman in Islamic dress and assume she was exploited. The Middle East is not one overarching category, she said. For example, women in Iran are seeing more opportunities in government positions. She said the condition of women in all countries deserves attention.
"There are women everywhere being taken advantage of," she said.
Alavi now uses her work with the February Sisters Association, a campus feminist organization, to bring attention to women's situations internationally. Alavi began attending February Sisters Association events two years ago.
Now she is in charge of coordinating activities for the organization and bringing speakers to campus.
Molly Dingel, vice president and treasurer of the February Sisters Association, has been working with Alavi to organize events since the beginning of the fall semester. Dingel said Alavi had worked hard with the other members to draw attention to global issues concerning women. She said Alavi had a more personal experience with international issues than any of the other members.
Alavi said that coming from two different cultures had broadened her perspective, but her desire to stop abuses had roots beyond her background.
"It's what you think that matters, not where you came from," she said. "Anybody can sympathize with violation of human rights. You don't need to experience it to know it's horrible."
She said she hoped her continued work with the February Sisters could bring awareness to human rights violations against women, and ways others could help.
"There are a lot more abuses out there that need to be stopped," she said. "But I want to help without tanks and bombs."
Edited by Collin LaJoie
SHOULDER: Violations dealt with individual.
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Although Funderburk repaired the problems at 1812 Illinois St., the repeated code violations in her properties can't be seen as one problem, only as individual violations dealt with as the occur. Walthal said.
With no way to limit who can own property, there is little recourse against landlords who repeatedly violate building codes. Walthal said.
"When you regulate who can buy property, you can get in trouble with the legal system, with people's rights to buy," Walthal said.
Walthal said monitoring landlords for repeat offenses and informing potential tenants would be something worth looking into, but he said he could not comment for city or state lawmakers.
The Kansas Tenants Union provides an on-line discussion board regarding black-listed landlords. Funderburk did not appear on the discussion board, which had not been updated since the summer of 2002.
For now, Codes Enforcement can only monitor one violation at a time and ensure the repairs are made in a timely manner, or turn the violations over to prosecutor.
Codes Enforcement gave Fun
derburk until today to correct or attempt to correct all of the violations in the Beesley's house.
Aside from the furnace, violations in the house included many of the electrical outlets, ventilation work in the basement and ceiling height in the house's central staircase, according to Codes Enforcement reports.
Funderburk repaired many of the problems by today's deadline, but Beesley said some of the repairs were shortcuts Funderburk used to save money and stay out of trouble.
For example, Beesley said, the electrical outlets should have been replaced. Instead, Funderburk simply removed them from the wall and covered them.
As for the rest of the repairs, Beesley said Funderburk has made an effort to fix what was needed, including the heat, which was repaired last week.
Beeesley said she would still prefer to move out before August.
"We want out of our lease," Beesley said. "She's been a bad landlord from the start, and we're tired of dealing with it."
After the codes inspector informed Beesley and her roommates that the house violated code, Beesley contacted Legal Services for Students to see if the lease could be broken.
When students with landlord
individually "She's been a bad landlord from the start, and we're tired of dealing with it."
Penny Beesley Kansas City, Mo., senior
disputes come to LSS looking for help, it first looks at the lease for ways out, said Michele Kessler, associate director for LSS.
If the tenants don't have a legal way out through the lease, the process could become more difficult and legally complicated, Kessler said.
"They might have to jump through hoops with the Tenant and Landlord Act," Kessler said.
The Tenant and Landlord Act governs the legal duties of landlords and tenants when executing a lease.
A statute in the law does require that landlords maintain their property's heat and electrical systems.
Now, even with many of the violations corrected, Beesley said she still wanted to check with other lawyers to see if she could legally break the lease without affecting her rental credit.
Edited by Cindy Yeo