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The Big 12 is no longer the best college basketball conference
Thursday, February 13, 2020
WHAT’S NEW AT KU News on deck at kansan.com
KU and Lawrence establishments host Valentine’s Day events
The Student Voice Since 1904
Vol. 140/Issue 8
Heteronormative holiday KU students and faculty criticize Valentine's Day
Student Senate contends over impeachment proceedings
Allicyn Burns @AllicynBurns
Grace Centeno @GL0105
Emma Bascom @EBascom3 UDK file photo
Transportation from CAPS to Bert Nash
KU Transportation Services worked with Student Senate and the Academic Achievement Access Center to create a pilot program providing transportation for students from CAPS to Bert Nash in Lawrence.
Women's basketball
The Texas Red Raiders dominated the Jayhawks, who now move to 11 conference losses. The final score of the game was 72-89.
Emma Pravecek/UDK
Human trafficking awareness
Two Lawrence organizations worked to spread awareness of local human trafficking during Human Trafficking Awareness month in January.
Professors in the University of Kansas department of women, gender and sexuality studies have evaluated the expectations and traditions tied to Valentine’s Day to encourage inclusion and representation in a diverse, modern society. Marta Vicente, a KU professor who specializes in the history of gender and sexuality, said Valentine’s Day has failed to evolve despite society’s growing acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community. "Valentine's Day needs to be revamped,” Vicente said. “While I know that many members of the LGBTQ+ [community] celebrate Valentine's, the way this holiday has been marketed is very much towards heterosexual cisgender relationships." According to the UCLA Williams Institute School of Law, there are almost 650,000 samesex couples in the United States. Vicente said each year Valentine’s Day novelties and traditions neglect the acceptance of all relationships, and that the holiday should become more inclusive. “If it is a celebration of love, it must embrace the diversity that our society represents,” Vicente said. “In a way, if we do need to have Valentine's cards, they must be crafted to include everyone: the diversity of gender, sexuality and social experiences of each one of us."
Nicole Asbury/UDK
Lucy Peterson
@PetersonxLucy
Nicole-Marie Konopelko @NicoleKonopelko Illustration by Emma Praveck/UDK
Lyndsie Harper, a sophomore from Olathe studying global and international studies, agreed that Valentine’s Day is not inclusive to the LGBTQ+ community. “It’s typically a hetero-dominated holiday, and that’s how it is proposed. You go out with your husband," Harper said. "It’s not terrible- you can make it work, but in all the ads and all the pictures and like what you see, it’s a prime time for proposals, and that’s usually a hetero thing that happens."
“It’s typically a hetero-dominated holiday, and that’s how it is proposed.” Lyndsie Harper KU sophomore
KU professor Katie Batza acknowledged the antiquated nature of Valentine’s Day as well. “I think celebrating love is never a bad idea in my opinion, but spending lavishly and reinforcing outdated gender roles need not
be a part of it,” Batza said in an email to the Kansan. Some feel this heteronormative marketing bleeds into the greeting card industry, too. According to Time Magazine, Hallmark introduced its first two cards targeted toward same-sex relationships in 2014. However, Danielle Rahto, a pre-nursing major from Overland Park, said one of the reasons Valentine’s Day is an exclusive holiday is because of the cards. “If you see any commercials [for Valentine’s Day], it’s always a man and woman," Rahto said. “Then a lot of cards are also tailored that way, and I think we could do better as a society to fix that.” That said, not all University of Kansas students dislike Valentine’s Day. Pierce Giffin, a senior from Leawood studying theoretical physics, said it is simply a day for love. “I think it’s just a reminder to show the people that you love that you love them, whether that’s a relationship or just the people close in your life,” Giffin said.
KU Jeeva club fuses Bollywood culture with competitive dance Tatum Goetting @TatumGoetting
On the horizon
Chance Parker/UDK
Jayhawks to compete at the Iowa State Classic
Kansas track and field travels to Ames, Iowa, for its competition Friday, Feb. 14, at noon.
When the lights came up at the 2019 Norman Nachle national competition for Bollywood dance, the audience saw University of Kansas students dressed in “Harry Potter"themed clothing with ties, sweater vests, leggings and no shoes. Quidditch goal posts lined the back curtain with the Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Slytherin and Ravenclaw crests hanging above. KU Jeeva, a Bollywood-fusion dance team performed its Harry Potter-themed number at the 2019 University of Oklahoma Norman Nachle national competition for Bollywood dance teams in Norman, Oklahoma. Following tryouts last semester, the team is now preparing for the upcoming competition season. KU Jeeva has combined Bhangra, hip-hop, Bharatanatyam, modern, contemporary and Bollywood dance styles for 12 years to create original dances. The team competes around
Audrey Kesler/UDK
KU Jeeva dancers practice for their upcoming competition.
the country in tournaments and competitions and is the only Bollywood-fusion team in Kansas. “When I got to college, I didn’t think I would do the team because I didn’t think I was the best dancer,” said co-captain Nehal Sutariya, a senior from Parkville, Missouri. “I thought it would just be more stress on myself but I couldn’t have been more wrong.” Sutariya said she started as a manager her first year so she could get more comfortable with
it. Her second year, she tried out and made the team. Co-captain Srishti Sharma, a senior from Overland Park, said she has been doing Bollywood-style dancing since she was 5 years old. She said the style of dancing she grew up with was similar to Bollywood fusion and incorporated modern dancing aspects. “Over the last four years, I’ve seen [the team] grow a lot and become more known,” Sharma said. Continue on page 3
In the same week that student senators are debating how to allocate $22 million in student fees, they’re also grappling with a call for impeachment of the individual responsible for organizing and maintaining communications between the entirety of Student Senate. A group of 20 senators sent a bill to Student Body Vice President Seth Wingerter Monday morning, alleging that Student Senate Chief of Staff Zach Thomason advocated for the removal of different executive staff members for his own political gain. The bill goes further on to say Thomason allegedly threatened a student senator and yelled at senators during a University Affairs meeting. The bill has caused polarization among Senate committee chairs and members of the executive staff. Thomason said he believes the impeachment charges are unfounded, but he won’t try to put an end to the impeachment process. “I refuse to call the impeachment a sham because I think that disrespects the political process,” Thomason said. “But with that being said, I believe that my arguments, my record and my support base more than drown out any arguments that have been made by opposition.” This would be the third Senate executive officer to depart from their role in the past month. Last week, Senate Government Relations Director Grant Daily was fired from his role, and he is currently going through the University’s appeal process. Graduate Student Body Vice President Chris Brown also resigned last week. The threshold for following through with an impeachment has always been high. In the past five years, Senate has only called for its executive officers to be impeached twice. The first happened in 2016 when then-Student Body President Jessie Pringle, then-Student Body Vice President Zach George and then-Chief of Staff Adam Moon refused to resign after the Student Executive Committee called for their resignations due to a lack of action from the three executive members on multicultural and minority issues on campus. But senators never followed through with it. They thought at the time there wasn’t sufficient evidence to move forward. Continue on page 2