Campus/Area
University Daily Kansan / Friday, April 20, 1990
3
Volunteers erase barriers
Hall (left) and Junod are members of Compeer, a program that provides friends for the mentally ill.
Compeer offers companionship to mentally ill
By Bryce J. Tache
Kansan staff writer
Jana Junod and Cathy Hall have been friends for nine months. They have a lot in common. They both love cats and outdoor life.
The only thing that makes their friendship different is that Hall has a severe, persistent mental illness.
Junod and Hall, Lawrence juniors, are members of Comperee, a volunteer organization that provides friends for mentally ill people.
"Mental health does not mean we're going to kill somebody or going to lose it at any moment," Hall said. "We need friends. We just want people who are around us. That's all we ask of the world. Treat us as human beings."
Kelly Merrick, Lawrence resident, started a local chapter of Compere in August. There are 120 chapters nationwide.
Merrick said Compeer tried to erase stereotvies.
"We don't want a therapist-client relationship," Merrick said. "We want an equal relationship where the individuals are on the same level."
"That's what we are trying to do every day," she said. "We need to de-stigmatize mental illness. These people don't deserve to be shoved away in institutions. When you are sick, you can go to the doctor to withdraw. And that is what has happened. We're trying to turn that around."
Volunteers are asked to spend a minimum of four hours a month with their adopted friend, who is called a consumer.
"You can do anything," Merrick said. "Go see a movie, get a cup of coffee, take a walk by the river, go bowling. Do whatever you want to
do“
Merrick said that when she started the program, she was hoping for 16 matches. There have been 30. She estimated that KU students composed about half of the volunteers in Lawrence, which is the fastest growing chapter in the country.
She said volunteers were carefully screened and interviewed.
"Volunteers must be at least 18 years of age," she said. "They must have an automobile because many of the consumers do not drive, and they must be willing to be a friend for at least a year."
Consumers also must meet certain
criteria.
"They must show no signs of physical aggression," Merrick said. "They must be under the treatment of a therapist, psychiatrist or case manager. But most importantly, they must want to participate. This is strictly up to them. That is why it works so well. They aren't forced into anything."
Hall said her friendship with Junod was one of the best things that had happened to her.
"This type of program has been needed for a long time," she said. "I was really nervous at first. I was thinking, 'Great, she's a young col
lege student who is probably immara-
te. But Jane is great. I love her!
You are equally happy she volunteered. She said she had found a friend for life.
"It's really important to see that everyone has a need for friendship," she said. "Deep down, everyone is the same."
Merrick agreed.
"This is a chance to give somebody something that can never be repaid," she said. "That is the gift of friendliness and that is the best gift in the world."
Student urges administrators to hire Blacks
By Jonathan Plummer
Kansan staff writer
The University should create a position that would oversee minority recruitment and hire a Black administrator to fill the position, a representative of Black Men of Today said yesterday.
Speaking to about 25 students and members of the press, Mark McCormick said that the University should address its lack of Black administrators while it addressed the number of Black students.
"They talk about 'browning in' the University, yet they have not even 'browned in' their own office," McCormick said.
After the meeting, McCormick said that he did not necessarily want any member of the administration replaced by a Black but that the creation of a position should be considered.
Michael Diggs, a member of Students Concerned About Discrimination who was asked to speak at the conference, said that the group had contacted C.T. Vivian, a nationally known speaker, about conducting a sensitivity training clinic.
The group recommended that faculty, teaching assistants, greek leaders and members of Student Senate and the University Daily Kansan attend sessions with Vivian.
McCormick also recommended that the Office of Minority Affairs be placed directly under the supervision of the executive vice chancellor because the office had to go through too many other officials and couldn't get action quickly.
Caryl Smith, dean of student life, said in a later interview that when minority affairs was moved into the
'They talk about 'browning in' the University, yet they have not even 'browned in' their own office.'
Mark McCormick
Mark McCormick Black Men of Today spokesman
department of student life two years ago, both departments thought that students and constituents could be better served
Black Men of Today again called for action by the University in the case of Ann Dean, St. Louis sophomore, who was struck and subjected to a racial slur at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, according to police reports.
Bryce Petty, president of SAE, who attended yesterday's meeting, said that although he agreed with Black Men of Today on issues of recruitment, he did not think SAE was fairly represented on campus.
"They are right in their statements about recruitment and integration. These are all great ideas," Petty said. "But SAE is not at all what he described."
Petty said that he was not sure how to clear the stigma that has surrounded the house since the incident was reported.
McCormick said that parents considering colleges should not shun the University of Kansas because of the recent controversies.
"I want to inform all parents that all colleges have the problems of racism," McCormick said. "If your child comes here, he or she will at least be in an environment where the problems are dealt with openly."
Council delays deciding on shorter finals period
Amendment would allow test time changes
For the third time this semester.
By Pam Sollner
Kansan staff writer
For the third tirt
the University
Council has
tabled a decision about
the calendar for the
1 9 9 2 - 9 3
academic year.
from the University Committee on Organization and Administration, approved an amendment to Uni-
The SenEx amendment would give students a way to reschedule final exams if they had three or four in one day.
the Council's decision, would affect the finals period, which would be shortened to provide six additional instructional days required by the Board of Regents.
When the item was called for discussion yesterday, Steven Hamburg, council member, suggested that the decision be delayed.
Because his agenda and information were not delivered until the day before the meeting, he said, he had only 24 hours to review the information. He said council members needed more time to make such an important decision.
In a special meeting yesterday, the University Senate Executive Committee, after getting approval
versity Senate Rules and Regulations that would provide a way for a student to reschedule a final exam if he had three or more exams scheduled in the same day.
The proposed final exam period has four exam slots scheduled for each weekday. SenEx and council members were concerned that students might have four exams on one day.
The amendment allows students who have three or more final exams scheduled for the same day to notify the instructor from the highest numbered course at least
Mike Schreiner, SenEx student representative, drafted the amendment and presented it to the committee last week.
two weeks before the last day of classes to set up a makeup exam.
The Council is expected to consider the proposed amendment at its next meeting.
Scott said Ramaley also would give a report about the ROTC and Department of Defense policy concerning members' sexual orientation and how that policy related to KU's policy forbidding discrimination in University organizations.
The ROTC program, which is run by the Department of Defense, forbids homosexuals from joining its organizations.
Lesbian poet inspires courage
By Carol B. Shiney Kansan staff writer
Audre Lorde, lesbian poet and educator, is inspiring because she is a survivor, said a member of Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas.
"I think Audre Lorde would be very inspiring because she's a Black woman, she's a lesbian and she's a feminist," said Wendy Griswold, GLSDK member.
Lorde was born Feb. 18, 1934, in New York, N.Y.
She earned a bachelor's degree of arts from Hunter College in 1959 and a master's degree in library science in 1961 from Columbia University.
Lorde has been a librarian and lecturer and now is a professor of English at a college in New York. She has also worked as the member of Women of Color Press.
In 1980, she won the American Library Association Gay Book of the Year award. She received a National Endowment for the Arts grant for poetry and a Cultural Foundation grant for poetry.
In an excerpt from "I Am Your Sister," an essay in the book "A Burst of Light." Lorde discusses being Black and a lesbian:
Audre Lorde
"When I say I am a Black Lesbian, I mean I am a woman whose primary focus of loving, physical as well as emotional, is directed to women. It does not mean I hate men. Far from it. The harshest attacks I have ever heard against Black men come from those women who are intimately bound to them and cannot free themselves from a subservient and silent position."
Lorde's poetry has been published in anthologies, lesbian books and periodicals. Her books of poetry include: "Cables to Rage," "The First Cities," "From A Land Where Other People Live," "Coal," "The
I do not want to lie.
I have loved other
tall young women deep
into their color
who now crawl over a
bleached earth
hent into
questionmarks ending a sentence of men
who pretend to be brave.
Even this
can be an idle defense protecting the lies I am trying to reject.
from Blackstudies by Audre Lorde
New York Head Shop and Museum," "Between Ourselfs," "The Black Unicorn," "Chosen Poem - Old and New," "Zami: A New Spelling of My Name," "Sister/Outsider: Essays and Speeches" and "Lesbian Poetry: An Anthology."
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