KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2010 / NEWS>
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CAMPUS
ECM credited for open door, mind
The Ecumenical Christian Ministries building will receive a place on the Lawrence Register of Historical Places. Known for its open-door policy, the ECM has been a place of acceptance in the Lawrence community.
Howard Ting/KANSAN
BY ALEESE KOPF
akopf@kansan.com
For more than 100 years, the Ecumenical Christian Ministries, often referred to by insiders as the "front porch of KU," has offered an open-door policy for the marginalized and socially unaccepted. And now the building is being recognized for its role within the Lawrence community with a placement on the Lawrence Register of Historical Places.
The ECM building, already on the state and national registers, gained this particular distinction primarily for its acceptance of social and political groups during the 60s and 70s, an era marked by violence and a period of dramatic social change throughout the nation.
In the 1960s ECM building, then known as the United Campus Christian Fellowship building, became a place where people could openly experiment with new lifestyles and beliefs surrounding race, religion and gender.
Richard Crank, a 1989 graduate, described himself as a gay kid from a military family, never able to openly be himself. He first discovered the ECM after attending a meeting for the Gay Liberation Front as a freshman in 1971 and remembers instantly feeling accepted and comfortable.
"It felt like being in a home away from home for a gay guy," Crank said. "I felt like I could be in this room and be gay. You can be who you are here. It has always told me that."
Other marginalized groups of the time, such as the American Indian Movement and the February Sisters, also played an important role in ECM history. The February Sisters used the ECM building as a safe place to meet and discuss women's rights issues such as birth control, equal pay and childcare on campus.
When The Oread offered to buy the ECM building in late 2007, Tom Harper, a '92 KU graduate, was spurred into action to preserve the ECM's legacy and its contemporary resources. After receiving approval from Thad Holcombe,
the current ECM campus minister, Harper began the lengthy process of nominating the building for the Lawrence Register of Historical Places.
"First I wanted to demonstrate its significance and importance to the community," said Harper. "Second, I wanted to help preserve the ECM building by making it eligible for tax credits that can go towards portions of renovations."
Harper said the "part of KU but not of KU" attitude of the ECM made it a neutral place for dialogue surrounding issues such as race, civil rights, the anti-war movement, women's movement and gay and lesbian issues.
"I knew that KU was a turbulent area in Kansas in the 60s, but I didn't realize the extent of how much this center was involved with what was going on." Holcombe said. "It played a pivotal role in some ways in terms of what came out of the 60s."
dents gather every month for a variety of educational, spiritual and social gatherings at ECM, Holcombe said.
Decades later, the same open door hospitality is still available to students. About 1,100 students, faculty, staff and community resi-
Members of ECM have initiated their first capital campaign to raise $832,000 for restoration, renovation and repair. The campaign booklet states that the 105-year-old building is one of the oldest campus ministries in the United States.
Jason Hering, a senior from Hutchinson, is a member of the ECM administrative board, the Student Leadership Team and is President of Eco Justice, a group that seeks to improve environmental injustices nationally and globally. Hering described the ECM as a community hub that helped him get involved and stay active on campus.
OTHER CAMPUS
PROPERTIES
LISTED ON
NATIONAL
REGISTRY OF
HISTORIC PLACES
Bailey Hall
"It's an outlet for students and the community for any reason — especially radical — that wouldn't necessarily be accepted somewhere else." Hering said.
Chi Omega house
Dyche Hall (Natural
Dyche Hall (Natural
History Museum)
Green Hall
Spooner Hall
Edited by Becky Howlett
Strong Hall
STATE
Lawmakers could ban death penalty
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA — Sixteen years ago, Gov. Joan Finney allowed a death penalty bill to become law without her signature. The feisty Democrat said she was doing so because it was the will of Kansas' people.
Senators are prepared to give that law its first significant review when they debate a bill in the coming days to ban capital punishment and replace it with life in prison without parole. Supporters of the bill say the impetus lies again in the will of the people.
"I don't think it's a bad idea to review a significant public policy on a regular basis," said Sen. Laura Kelly, a Topeka Democrat. "We wouldn't be having this debate if the people of Kansas hadn't
brought it before us. We didn't gin this up"
The bill is a revision of a measure that emerged last year in the Senate and would end the state's practice of sentencing defendants to die for committing the most heinous crimes. It would be replaced with a sentence of life without parole, and the 10 men now under death sentences would still be executed.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Tim Owens said the original bill was flawed and needed more work. He held three days of hearings on the bill, listening to victims' families who support the law and want justice, as well as advocates including the Catholic church, which says there are alternatives.
ODD NEWS
Drunken thief hides in a police station
RIVERTON, Wyo. — Police say a man suspected of stealing a bottle of Schnapps from a Wyoming grocery store didn't have the best escape route planned.
Riverton police say the 26-year-old ran out of the store after grabbing the bottle of booze and a package of cough drops Wednesday and hid in a nearby building, which happened to be the police station.
Police say the man then ran out of the police station, but not before a dispatcher had spied him on the station's surveillance camera and alerted officers.
The man, who police say was drunk, was caught soon after. He was taken into custody on preliminary charges of resisting arrest and shoplifting.
Bald eagle receives makeshift beak
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Alaska dentist has given a bald eagle a unique beak — using a temporary crown, sticky poster putty and yellow highlighter.
The bird was found in December with severe damage to its beak, apparently from fishing line that wrapped around it and started cutting into it.
Cindy Palmatier at the Bird Treatment and Learning Center says staff there decided to turn to dentist Kirk Johnson, who thought of patching up the beak with the same material used to make temporary crowns for people.
The "crown" is being held on with poster putty, and Johnson colored it in using highlighter to give it a yellow tint.
The bird center says the eagle is doing just fine but won't be able to return to the wild.
Check out a photo gallery online at kansan.com
Associated Press