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KU men's basketball alumni shine in NBA All-Star weekend
New coffee shop Uplift opens in North Lawrence
Thursday, February 20, 2020
The Student Voice Since 1904
WHAT’S NEW AT KU
Zero tolerance
News on deck at kansan.com
Spencer exhibit
University Ph.D. candidate Sara Stepp has curated the exhibit “Past Presence” at the Spencer Museum of Art now on display until June 21.
Illustration by Nichola McDowell/UDK
Students at the University have reported discrimination in response to the coronavirus.
In an effort to be crowned Miss Kansas, KU sophomore Hannah Budreau started a fundraiser for Children’s Mercy Hospital.
Sofia Berrospi/UDK
Coronavirus event
The Center for East Asian Studies and the Office of International Affairs sponsored an event, "Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction," to inform the University of Kansas on the myths of coronavirus and combat misinformation on the illness.
On the horizon
Emma Pravecek/UDK
Jayhawks tip off against Baylor Bears Saturday Kansas men’s basketball plays pivotal rematch against No. 1 Baylor Saturday, Feb. 22, at 11 a.m. in Waco, Texas.
Kansas students may be required to pass civics test
Amid global fear surrounding the novel coronavirus, KU officials make efforts to protect students from xenophobic discrimination
Contributed by Spencer Museum of Art
Hospital fundraiser
Vol. 140/Issue 10
Nicole Dolan
@NikkiDolan279
Asian-Americans across the country have faced varying racist attacks since the novel coronavirus was first reported in the United States on Jan. 21. Lawrence had its own suspected case of the virus one week later. At least one University of Kansas student of Asian descent was asked by a faculty member not to attend class, and others reported experiencing growing hostilities, according to an email from Interim Vice Provost for Diversity and Equity Jennifer Ng. “It is understandable that people may be feeling fearful,” Ng said in the email. “There are many ways to stay safe and prevent the spread of respiratory viruses...Discriminating against others because of their race, eth-
nicity, or national origin, however, is not an effective preventative measure.” The Center for East Asian Studies moved quickly to inform the University and prevent ignorance and misinformation about the virus. An information sheet was released on the department’s Instagram.
“These people already have a disposition toward a certain race, and this was just an excuse to let it out.” John Kennedy Director of Center for East Asian Studies
John Kennedy Director of the Center for East Asian Studies said xenophobic responses are a ca-
veat of the Chinese government’s extreme reaction to the virus. “It does create a reaction internationally that this is a pretty scary situation,” Kennedy said. “The idea of the Chinese government is not to generate fear but to try to generate confidence for the local [population],but internationally, it could generate a different interpretation.” Kennedy said the xenophobic reaction does not mean the virus should be used as justification for it. This fear of the Chinese demographic is due to years of preconceived notions against them, he said. “These people already have a disposition toward a certain race and this was just an excuse to let it out,” Kennedy said. “But I think the more information people have, the more that it leaves them no room to really say anything like that.” The department canceled its annual Lunar New Year Festival, which was planned for Feb. 8, out of respect for China. Some speculated that the cancellation was out of fear, but in reality, Kennedy wanted to show that the understanding of the outbreak was two-sided. “It was very clear that we knew that the likelihood of anybody getting sick from the coronavirus was extremely low,” Kennedy said. “We didn’t want people to feel uncomfortable or to be in an environment where they may feel uneasy. And actually, it's been more Chinese who've been very cognizant of this, and concerned.” Continue on page 2
KU architecture studio wins design award for tiny houses Taylor Worden @TayNoelle7
Architecture Studio 804 built small, but mighty, houses in East Lawrence for its project last year and won a Residential Design Award from Architect Magazine. The magazine awarded the project honorable mention in its affordable housing category. Studio 804 is a class in the School of Architecture and Design offered to graduate students in their final year of the program. Taught by architecture professor Dan Rockhill for the past 25 years — since the studio’s creation — the class offers a unique and valuable experience to architecture majors, Rockhilll said. “We have an international reputation,” said Rockhill, the executive director of Studio 804. “It’s a very unique program. We have name recognition at quite a few places, which is nice to help students get jobs.” Although the studio is related to the architecture department at the University, the studio is an independent not-for-profit cor-
Contributed by Dan Rockhill
Studio 804 designed two small houses for its project last year.
poration and is not funded by the University. Rockhill said he wants the studio to focus on projects that will help prepare students for the current architecture field. He said the tiny house project fits that mission. “That’s part of what our mission is,” Rockhill said. “I try to bring issues that are important to the culture of building to the forefront for these students to address.” Rockhill and his students constructed two small homes in East Lawrence as their project last year. Although the homes would not
be technically classified as tiny homes, which are typically defined as being under 600 square feet, both of the Oak Hill Avenue homes are under 1,000 square feet. Rockhill said he “isn’t splitting hairs.” The decision to build these smaller homes came from the growing trend in Lawrence’s development to increase density in older neighborhoods, Rockhill said. Since the city of Lawrence places importance on increasing density, Studio 804 solved the issue by placing two smaller homes on one Continue on page 3
UDk file photo
Tristan Allen
@TristanAllen129
A new bill in the Kansas House of Representatives would require high school students to pass a civics exam, featuring content similar to a U.S. citizenship test, in order to pass high school. HB 2573, currently in the House Committee on Education, would require students pass a 100-question exam on American civics in order to graduate from high school. Starting in seventh grade, students could take the test as many times as they need “in order to achieve a passing score,” although that score is not defined in the bill. The bill would only affect students who enroll as freshmen on or after July 1, 2020, and students on individualized education plans would be governed by their respective IEPs No specific part of the bill alarms Don Haider-Markel, the political science chair at the University of Kansas, but he said he is wary of creating another condition to graduate high school. “[Requiring students to pass a civics exam] to graduate just puts another barrier in front of graduation, and for a lot of students, those barriers are already pretty high,” Haider-Markel said. The likelihood of the bill passing is apparently low because of the barrier it would create for high school students. “There’s still, especially in some parts of the state, a significant portion of the public that doesn’t complete high school," Haider-Markel said. "I think putting another barrier is problematic and makes it less likely that this would get through the legislature.” Some students on campus do not see any problems with such a bill. “They have you do a lot of random tests in high school,"said David Pitts, a senior at the University. "Some people might not like it, but I generally don’t think there is an issue with it.” A few students understand the sentiment behind such a bill but are still questionable about it. “I think it’s good for people to be informed citizens," junior Logan Stuart said. "I think it’s good that we have requirements for people to take government and civics classes, but setting specific test requirements like that are a little more iffy for me.” A 2018 survey from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation concluded that roughly one third of U.S. citizens would pass a citizenship test. “Even when people were more engaged citizens, most people wouldn’t have passed a citizenship test,” Haider-Markel said.