MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017 | VOLUME 134 ISSUE 05
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
Students hope campus carry has limited effect ANGIE BALDELOMAR @ AngieBaldelomar
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s concealed carry begins at the University, students expect some minimal changes to the overall campus atmosphere. Any person over the age of 21 now has the right to carry concealed weapons in any building owned by the state that doesn’t have the security measures required (metal detectors and security guards at any point of entrance). Universities and hospitals were given a fouryear exemption that ended Saturday. A 2015 Board of Regents
survey done across all universities in Kansas said that out of the 10,886 student responses, 70 percent wanted the law amended so that guns were not allowed on campus. Many bills in the legislature attempting to amend this law have failed to gain traction, making guns on campus a reality. For many, the exemption ending won’t change much, if anything, in the campus atmosphere. Sophomore Travis Perkins, from Maize, said he doesn’t think anything will change. “I think after the first year of it nobody’s going to care because they’re just going to get used to the
fact that people might have guns,” he said. The fact that people are allowed to carry handguns open and concealed outside campus grounds is a reason why Perkins thinks this won’t change. That and the fact that people won’t know who is carrying a weapon, he added. At the University of Kansas, in the fall of 2016, 41 percent of undergraduates, or 7,637 students, were 21 or older, making them old enough to carry a weapon. This number does not take SEE GUNS PAGE 2
Andrea Ringgenberg/KANSAN Students and faculty gather on Wescoe Beach in April to protest the upcoming implementation of concealed carry on campus.
July brings significant administrative changes to KU CHANDLER BOESE @Chandler_Boese
This past Saturday, July 1, brought plenty of changes to the University, from a new chancellor to concealed carry on campus to the departure of several senior administrators. But there are some changes that will be delayed this July as well. The position of vice chancellor for public affairs has been unofficially empty for a couple of weeks now and will continue that way until incoming Chancellor Dr. Doug Girod names an interim vice
Andrea Ringgenberg/KANSAN Dr. Doug Girod speaks to the press after being named the University’s next chancellor in May.
chancellor. Tim Caboni left the post in mid-June to become the
president of Western Kentucky University, but his tenure officially expired July
1, said Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, the University’s director of News and Media Relations. She said the University is waiting for Girod to take office before naming a temporary replacement. Like the Public Affairs Office, the Department of Student Housing will go without a leader for a couple weeks, as outgoing director Diana Robertson retired in the last week of June and incoming director Sarah Waters won’t begin until July 17. However, some of the most high-profile adminis-
trative changes should go off without a hitch. Outgoing Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little officially stepped down Saturday as Girod took her place. Incoming business dean L. Paige Fields of Trinity University was scheduled to take over the School of Business on July 1 and incoming social welfare dean Michelle Carney is beginning in July as well. Both of those positions have been held on an interim basis for a year. Girod’s previous role as executive vice chancellor of the University’s Medical
Center should also transition smoothly to Robert Simari, the dean of the School of Medicine who’s been named interim vice chancellor. The provost’s office is also undergoing two internal shifts. Acting vice provost for diversity and equity Jennifer Hamer is stepping into the role permanently. Internal pick Christopher Brown, currently head of the environmental studies department, takes over as vice provost for faculty development just as his predecessor Mary Lee Hummert steps down.
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2 FROM GUNS PAGE 2 into account international students who are not allowed to carry concealed weapons. Although there were 6,155 graduate students, over a sixth of them were international students. International students, who make up around 9 percent of the University’s total population with 2,300 students, could feel particularly unsafe with the carrying of concealed weapons on campus. Ed Saragih, an international student from Indonesia who graduated in May, said international students face not only coming to a country with a radically different gun culture than their own, but the overall experience with them might be completely different from their home countries. “One reason why people decide to go to the United States for education is because they know it’s at least a safer place than the area near where they could go to college in their country, and if that feeling of safety is being discounted, what else do they have?” he said. Charles Olcese, director of International Student Services, agrees that it all comes down to safety. Amidst dealing with executive orders and regulations, the spring semester also
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What you need to know about concealed carry on campus Q: Why are we getting guns on campus? A: Back in 2013, the state legislature passed an amendment to the Personal and Family Protection Act. The law mandates that all public facilities, with the exception of K-12 public schools, should be open to concealed carry unless they provide adequate security measures. Adequate security measures include metal detectors at all public access entrances and armed security personnel to go with them. Q: So anyone will be able to walk into Budig 120 with a gun?
Missy Minear/KANSAN New signs on campus doors, put up last week, warn individuals not to openly carry a weapon in campus buildings.
brought more students inquiring about concealed carry and how it would affect them. To assuage their feelings, his office hosted a variety of forums, one of which included Chief of Police Chris Keary. Olcese said that the fact that international students, as individuals with nonimmigrant visas, are not allowed to possess guns is another point of worry for them. “That is another level of anxiety or feeling vulnerable, so what we tried to do was to address that, trying to put that in context for them, and one of the things that the police chief was very helpful in doing was in articulating that while cam-
A: Yes, and no. There are certain restrictions that still apply with this law. Only concealed carry, not open carry, is allowed on campus, so you should never be able to see another student’s handgun in a public area. Moreover, the law only applies to people 21 years old
or older. As of 2015, though, people are not required to go through training or be issued a permit to carry a gun, but they do have to possess it legally. The University has a policy about how the weapons have to be carried, like it always being in a holster and in the owner’s possession if it’s in a bag. Q: What do most people think about the change? A: In fall of 2015, the Board of Regents conducted a statewide survey of student, faculty and staff. The results showed that campus carry isn’t popular for the majority of those people. In response to whether they want concealed guns on campus, 82 percent of faculty and 70 percent of students said no. As for if they thought campus carry would impact their decision to live or work at the University, 61 percent of faculty responses and 58 percent of student responses said it would.
pus carry or concealed carry is new to the campus, it has been the law in Kansas for five years,” he said. Still, for Saragih, concealed carry coming to campus was what propelled him to finish college a year earlier than expected. “My experiences with guns are not experiences where guns are fun, or guns are the best thing in the world,” he said. “Guns are terrorizing people, that’s what I know of guns.” Cody Campbell, a junior from Wichita, said his fear comes from the easy access to guns. In 2015, Gov. Sam Brownback signed a bill that allows people to carry concealed weapons with-
out a permit. This might be another factor to explain many people’s uneasiness with concealed carry being allowed on campus. Now, Saragih said, he expects students to be more cautious of how and what they talk in class discussions, especially in controversial topics. If he hadn’t been able to graduate earlier, he said he would have taken more online courses or courses where attendance was not required. Nic LaPonte, a law student from Seattle who spent five years in the army, said carrying a gun is a big responsibility, and whoever who does it needs to be aware of this responsibility. “Unless you’ve had a
tremendous amount of weapons training, of handgun experience, of that sort of experience with those weapons, it can be seen as more of a novelty than it can be a serious responsibility,” he said. Ultimately, Perkins thinks that the number of people who will carry would be “minuscule,” an idea Olcese agrees with. “You won’t know people have guns, it’s not open carry; it has to be concealed,” he said. “It really should be business as usual; it’s just a new reality for us, and for many of us it’s a scary reality. It means something more philosophically more than it does practically.” LaPonte said the Uni-
versity needs to implement programs and trainings to reduce the risks of accidents happening. Perkins agreed. “I think the University should be very open about what they’re doing to make sure that for those people who want to bring guns on campus have the proper training and know what they’re doing,” Perkins said. In late June, the University released more details on implementation procedures where a required training for staff, faculty and students is mentioned. However, it does not say when or how these trainings would happen.
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How a new alcohol law could boost Lawrence festivals ANGIE BALDELOMAR @AngieBaldelomar
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recently passed bill might help festivals and summer events promote Lawrence by allowing the consumption of alcoholic beverages in designated common consumption areas. Earlier this month, Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law a bill that would allow counties and cities to choose areas for consumption of alcohol outside bars and restaurants that sell it. As it is, Lawrence does not allow the consumption of alcoholic beverages in any public street, sidewalk, alley, highway, road or public parking lot. Sgt. Amy Rhoads, Public Affairs officer from the Lawrence Police Department, said that as of now, Lawrence has no ordinance up
for consideration regarding the adoption of this bill, so no changes are expected for the current ordinances on alcohol consumption in public areas. “This bill does not immediately change anything in Lawrence unless the City takes advantage of the language allowing it to adopt an ordinance,” she said in an email. Under this bill, these designated consumption areas can be created for special events such as festivals. Quinton Cheney, one of the Lawrence Field Day Fest organizers, said a bill like this could help improve the experience of festivals like the one he organizes. “Knowing something like that was a possibility, especially if it’s going to be a possibility in years going forward, and we have a lit-
tle more time to plan for it, might lead us to talk to the bars,” he said.
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Anything that brings more people to the city and gives more freedom to the people here to enjoy themselves responsibly, I think that that’s a win for the city.” Quinton Cheney Lawrence Field Day Fest organizer
Lawrence Field Day Fest, in its sixth year, celebrates local music by bringing together more than 100 bands from Lawrence, Kansas City and Topeka. Cheney said the imple-
Photo illustration/KANSAN
mentation of this bill could improve festival goers’ experience. “They could take their drinks with them and finish it on the way to the next venue,” Cheney said.
To him, an implementation of this bill would be not only possible now, but also beneficial for the city. “One of the things that makes Lawrence what it is is live entertainment,” he
said. “Anything that brings more people to the city and gives more freedom to the people here to enjoy themselves responsibly, I think that that’s a win for the city.”
New campus carry info suggests more training to come CHANDLER BOESE @Chandler_Boese
Just days before concealed carry was legalized on campus, the University released a few more details about the implementation of this policy. On Thursday, June 22, the University posted a policy online that gives the implementation procedures for concealed carry at the Lawrence campus. According to the notes on the procedures, they were posted in conjunction with the University’s official weapons
policy. As of Saturday, anyone over the age of 21 is allowed to carry a concealed weapon on the University’s campus and in any buildings, unless they are equipped with adequate security measures. This change is the result of a 2013 state law, which the University had been exempted from for four years. The implementation procedures give more details to the University’s plans regarding adequate security measures, training and communication. In the training portion of
the policy, it states that “all faculty, staff, and students are required to receive training concerning the University-Wide Weapons Policy and these Procedures.” Though the University has previously held information sessions on campus carry and the change is a topic of discussion at freshman orientation, the University has previously not announced any plans for any sort of mandatory, all-student training. Not only will large athletic events be given a permanent exemption to weapons,
but so will the entire Law Enforcement Training Center that the University operates in Yoder. Under the law, both of these will require adequate security measures, which include metal detectors and security guards. KU Athletics has previously announced plans to purchase this equipment, but the Yoder campus has not. The procedures also say that individuals or groups holding an event on the Lawrence campus can request adequate security measures through an ap-
plication. There are specific guidelines on who can fill out the applications, what they must include, etc. The communications portion of the procedures state that “The University shall widely distribute the University-Wide Weapons Policy and these Procedures to its faculty, staff, and students and shall prominently publish the University-Wide Weapons Policy and Procedures in the University’s Policy Library and on a webpage dedicated to the carrying of concealed handguns on University campus
premises.” The link was not added onto the University’s concealed carry information site, concealedcarry.ku.edu, until this past Wednesday, June 28. The Kansan had previously requested access to further details on the implementation of concealed carry on the Lawrence campus and had been denied. Spokespeople from the University’s Public Affairs Office have not commented on whether or not these procedures were related to that request.
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Illustration by Roxy Townsend
Swan: Rising tuition may deter potential students KATY SWAN @catladykaty
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t the end of 2016, the total national student loan debt exceeded $1.4 trillion. The average debt per student is over $37,000, and 43 million students borrow money to attend college. Nonetheless, millions of people do not attend college due to financial problems. State universities in Kansas will see a tuition increase for the 2017-18 school year. Most of the increases span from 2.5 to 2.9 percent for both in-state and out-of-state students.
For a resident student, this is approximately a $200 increase, and for a nonresident student, about a $520 increase. With the University’s tuition being the most expensive in the state, tuition already higher than the 2015-16 academic year, and Kansas’ ongoing budget problems, things are looking grim for students who pay their own way through college. While a 2.5 percent increase seems minuscule to many, to some it is a breaking point. That’s simply more money to borrow, more hours to work, more stress to have.
According to the National Student Financial Wellness Study conducted at Ohio State University in 2015, 70 percent of college students feels stressed about money issues. Approximately 32 percent of students reported neglecting their studies because of finances. Some students reduce their class load to cut costs, while others take breaks from school or transfer to a cheaper institution. However, more than 75 percent of students surveyed think college is “a good investment for their financial future.”
This is with good reason. It is stressed time and time again that those with a college degree make more money in their lifetime than someone who does not, on average. But, paying off loans can delay many life events, such as owning a home, getting married and starting a family, and saving for retirement. The idea that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” and pay for higher education is an outdated one. For some, this is simply untrue. Many different factors influence a person’s ability to pay
for the costs of college. For most, this is not due to laziness or grades but to genuine financial problems. While loans are able to cover a large portion of tuition, especially students who receive pell grants, there are unceasing additional costs included in higher education like housing, meals, books, fees, parking passes, sports tickets, travel costs and entertainment (because who wants to work their way through the alleged “best years of your life” and have absolutely no fun?). Countries with free (not entirely free, taxpayers
absorb portions of the costs) tuition like Germany and Denmark have received praise. While it would be a complicated endeavor for the United States to employ such a plan, and no one attending the University currently will probably see improvements before graduation, I can only hope to see progress towards the growing issue of college affordability.
Katy Swan is a junior from El Dorado studying community health and psychology.
ARTS & CULTURE
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Lawrence Arts Center artist-in-residence Tressa Jones explores space in time in ‘a capacity to become more’ COURTNEY BIERMAN @courtbierman
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he Lawrence Arts Center opens exhibitions of four artists’ work today, including printmaker-in-residence Tressa Jones as part of Final Friday. Jones’ exhibition is the culmination of the year she’s spent in Lawrence working at the Arts Center. Her solo show, titled “a capacity to become more,” is an exploration of space and time through the juxtaposition of sea and sky-inspired prints. Lawrence is the latest stop on Jones’ journey. Born in Boston, she’s lived and worked across the United
States. She received her MFA in Montana, whose vast, open landscape partially inspired “a capacity to become more” when she thought about it in comparison to the “more manageable” landscape of Kansas. “That western landscape is so expansive it almost does overwhelm you, and it can be awe-inspiring in kind of a dreadful way,” Jones said. “So coming here I felt like the landscape seems a little bit more manageable, more attainable. The horizon was there, but it wasn't so far, and it wasn't so overwhelming.” “a capacity to become more” includes a series of rectangular prints in various
shades of blue evenly spaced along the middle of the wall. Stacks of prints sit atop a line of sawhorses of varying heights that runs through the center of the oblong gallery space. The viewer is meant to stand directly in front of the sawhorses, the wall prints hung on either side, to convey a sense of distance. It feels a little like gazing at the horizon. The work of artists Bisa Butler, Sonji Hunt and Lola Jenkins is on display as well in adjacent Lawrence Arts Center galleries as part of the upcoming National African American Quilt Convention. Cate Richards is the exhibitions coordinator of the
Missy Minear/KANSAN Tressa Jones is the artist-in-residence at the Lawrence Arts Center. Her solo show “a capacity to become more” will be on display at the Lawrence Arts Center from June 30 to July 22.
Lawrence Arts Center. “We're celebrating not just our Final Friday in a community that loves art so much, but also these two dis-
tinct facets in our arts community: the National African American Quilt Conference and our residency program.” Jones said no matter
where she is, she finds a sense of hope and calm in the rich blue colors of the horizon. The sea and sky are infinite, but that means they contain more possibilities. “It can relate to hope in that it's also a lot of potential for things to expand into something else, and to embrace that unknown aspect of things being overwhelming — and think of it as hope as opposed to something being anxiety provoking,” she said. "a capacity to become more," will be on display at the Lawrence Arts Center from June 30 to July 22. It is free and open to the public during the Arts Center's normal operating hours.
Barry Crimmins visits Free State Festival for night of politics & comedy COURTNEY BIERMAN @courtbierman
Comic Barry Crimmins bared his soul at Lawrence’s Free State Festival. The comedian visited the festival on Friday night to perform a 90-minute set. The show, titled “Atlas’s Knees,” was mostly about his life experiences, including heartbreak, childhood trauma, the political climate, and, of course, his love for Lawrence. Crimmins was greeted with a standing ovation immediately upon walking onstage. “I miss this town when I'm
not here like I miss my dogs when I'm on the road,” he said. “Atlas’s Knees” wasn’t a traditional comedy show. Crimmins was testing the waters with material that seemed to be mostly improvised. Although it was a funny evening, there were long stretches of time during which little laughter was heard from the audience — this was when Crimmins went on impassioned tirades against a host of political issues. “It was fun to see somebody early on in the process rather than a fully-fleshed hour-long setup,” said audi-
ence member Alex Joyce. The show began with a dig at campus carry, which was scheduled to go into effect the day after the show. “God knows when you're a freshman in college you can't overreact to anything,” Crimmins said. Continued with his take on the Trump administration’s attempts to discredit the media: “We shouldn't hate the media. We should hate podcasters, but we shouldn't hate the media.” And kept going with a handful of one-liners sprinkled throughout the show. “Savaging women's repro-
ductive rights makes some men feel less impotent.” These were delivered at a podium placed stage right, which Crimmins said was the designated area for comic relief. Crimmins ended the night by taking questions from the audience. What does he think of Brownback? He despises him — more specifically, Crimmins thinks he’s a “punk, phony, dishonest creep." What are his dogs’ names? Lettie and Lu. When is he moving to Lawrence? He doesn’t know, but he assured everyone that we’re not getting rid of him so easily.
Before Crimmins left the stage for good, he told the audience about a show he did a recently. After this show, he was approached by a former comic from the Boston area who told Crimmins about his time in federal prison, serving a sentence for possession of child pornography. The man was looking for sympathy, and Crimmins, who has dedicated decades of his life to helping victims of sexual violence, wasn’t having it. Crimmins had a few explicit and impassioned choice words for the man before ending the night, leaving the audience to walk out of
C H E C K O U T T H E Q & A W I T H B A R RY C R I M M I N S
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the theater almost in a daze, processing the rollercoaster range of emotions they’d witnessed. The takeaway from the show was how genuinely grateful Crimmins was to be there. He praised the Lawrence Arts Center for holding the Free State Festival despite reduced funding. He said that if we had any hope that we would emerge from these trying times, it was because of the arts. “Where there's art, there's hope,” he said. “And that's why I love this place.”
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Sofia Coppola creates haunting, erotic thriller ‘The Beguiled’ COURTNEY BIERMAN @courtbierman
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ofia Coppola is back. After a four-year hiatus (not including “A Very Murray Christmas”) the director, screenwriter and heir to the Coppola throne returns with “The Beguiled,” a Southern Gothic meditation on sexual repression and deprivation. Isolation is the signature emotion of Coppola’s characters — she’s built her career on it. And as Coppola’s grown up, we’ve seen the characters in her films put in increasingly adult situations. Now “The Beguiled,” a remake of a 1971 film of the same name, deals with that emotion in a more sinister way. Union soldier Corporal John McBurney (Colin Farrell) is on
death’s door when he finds 12-year-old Amy (Oona Laurence), a student of Miss Martha Farnsworth Seminary for Young Ladies. She takes John home, where he’s fawned over by the roughly half-a-dozen women and girls of the school. The residents of the boarding school haven’t seen a man in years. It’s the middle of the Civil War, and any sweethearts, husbands or brothers they might have had are long gone — and possibly dead. Essentially, the girls are all dressed up with nowhere to go. They were raised in a culture of high necks, lace and pastels that taught young women that every action should be done with men in mind. It’s hardest for Edwina (Kirsten Dunst) who’s obviously infatuated with the corporal from the start. Although
still young, she’s probably an old maid by the standards of the bellum South. Martha (Nicole Kidman) is even older, and her age allows her to show more restraint. Alicia (Elle Fanning) is a teenager, and shamelessly flirts with the corporal — who returns her advances. Underneath the women’s lovely, doll-like appearances is something sinister. When their soldier’s presence becomes more threatening, they find that years of sexual deprivation are good fuel for survival. All of Coppola’s films can fall back on two redeeming qualities: production design, and Coppola’s thoughtful, steady directing. “The Beguiled” has both. The dreamy production design frames the boarding school’s stunning
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Associated Press Nicole Kidman in a scene from “The Beguiled.”
Greek revival architecture against a bleak backdrop of dim light and grayish vegetation. The looming wrought iron fence around the house is a barrier between the women and the hell of the outside world. Every scene toes the line between menacing and ethereal. Coppola lets the scenery
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and the subject matter speak for themselves. The camera is more a voyeur than a participant in the sexual tension between the characters, and it drifts through the rooms of the house like a ghost. “The Beguiled” has flaws. For one, Hallie, the slave character played in the original film by Mae Mercer, has been
omitted from the remake altogether. Coppola explained her decision by saying that the film was more about gender than race, and that it would be disrespectful to include the character when the story doesn’t deal with slavery as a political issue. That might not be totally unfair, but it does seem evasive — especially since no one in the Coppola family seems to go out of their way to include people of color in their films. But, “The Beguiled” is still a welcome project from a director whose work we’ve been lucky enough to see mature over the last two decades. Coppola is still relatively young, and she’s still growing as an artist and a human. Maybe with her next project she’ll listen to criticism and grow up even more.
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Q&A: Comic Barry Crimmins talks Lawrence, Trump and bears COURTNEY BIERMAN @courtbierman
Barry Crimmins loves Lawrence. The veteran comic and activist returned to Lawrence for the Free State Film on Friday with his new show “Atlas’s Knees.” Crimmins filmed an hour-long comedy special titled “Whatever Threatens You” at the Lawrence Arts Center last summer. The Louis C.K.-produced special is available for streaming. The Free State Festival first hosted Crimmins after the release of the 2015 documentary “Call Me Lucky,” directed by fellow comic and Crimmins’ longtime friend Bobcat Goldthwait which details Crimmins’ life, from cutting his teeth on the Boston comedy scene (and helping numerous others do the same), to opening up about being molested as a child and using his experiences to help others. In the ‘90s, Crimmins found a corner of an AOL chatroom that was being used to traffic child pornography. He contacted the FBI and eventually testified before Congress. Almost 150 convictions were made as a result. The Kansan caught up with Crimmins to talk about his career, the political climate, and what it is that makes Lawrence special. You're a truth-teller comedian. What are the truths that need to be told today?
and I clean up the litter after them. What kind of animals do you see up there?
Courtney Bierman/KANSAN Comic Barry Crimmins performs a 90-minute set at the Lawrence Arts Center’s Free State Festival on Friday night.
First off, never trust anyone who claims sole possession of the truth. I try to be truthful. I try to do humor that if you at least dug away at it for a while you would find that it's basically motivated by love, even if the love is just behaving stupidly and looking dumb. I was a disciple of Twain from early on, and Vonnegut. I just realized there were big laughs in stating the obvious that no one was stating. I guess part of the truth is to tell it even if it might cost you a little something. And you've consistently done that. Not necessarily at the expense of fame, but definitely at the expense of emotional security.
Not to be self-aggrandizing, but it was at the expense of my fame, too (laughs). When I came into comedy, it was only 20 or so years since plenty of people in show business had suffered through McCarthyism. I realized that a lot of older people in show business were kind of suggesting I tone it down. I think there was a great, big, new unwritten rule in show business about kind of keeping your mouth shut. But generally if you went far enough for them to even begin to redbait you, you shut up. And I got red-baited early on. I mean, I’m not a communist — I could never take the meetings (laughs). But socialism’s fine, I just don't believe in it for the Pentagon. I believe
the stuff that sustains life and protects our incredibly delicate and remarkable coincidence of a habitat. Even today, you consider it a 'remarkable coincidence,' despite everything that's going on? All that stuff doesn’t change a lot of what a tiny little molecule on a speck of sand this planet is. It's cosmic, or whatever you want to call it. I'm no scientist, but I appreciate the fact that I'm sitting in my yard, which is attached to a beautiful forest that's 4,000 acres of state land. I could never afford to own 4,000 acres, but the only other time any other humans come up here is to kill the animals (laughs),
The bears up here don't bother anybody, and they're harmless. I’ve had bears pass through my yard in the summer you get to know it well enough, you can smell them coming through. One time I got out of my car in my driveway — it was like 4 a.m. I get out of the car, and I sense something. I turn around, and there's about an 8-foot bear standing there looking at me like, 'It's 4 a.m. You're not supposed to be here.' I go 'Sorry, man I'm just going home.' I left my bags in the car and just walked in the house. The bear just kind of went 'harrumph' and walked away. You've helped a lot of other comedians get their start. What does it mean to have helped people like Paula Poundstone and Tom Kenny and Bobcat Goldthwait? This is no knock on janitors, but comedians are the janitors of show business. There's a certain ilk of comic who's desperate and will do anything for a laugh, and it kind of applied to all of us. As a result, it's one of the reasons you get treated like crap. I'd been doing comedy in most of the country by the time I got to Boston in '79, and I was just looking to start a room. It was
just my idea that if people were treated well and felt like somebody, that would transfer to the stage. And I think it did. All I did was golden rule people. You need every advantage you have.
How did you first end up at the Free State Festival in Lawrence?
In the '90s I played it a couple of times, so I knew it was a hip town. I also know my history, and when I first got there I was very happy to see that Lawrence knew its history too. We did all these festivals for “Call Me Lucky,” [Bobcat Goldthwait] and I. The movie showed, and we did a Q&A with the audience, and we went 45 minutes longer than we were supposed to, but they let it go. It was really quite a remarkable night. While I was sitting up there and looking at that audience, I knew [Louis C.K.] wanted to shoot a special with me, and that was when I decided, 'I'm going to come back and shoot it at the Lawrence Arts Center because it's perfect.' I just love the people of Lawrence because they’re very progressive, but they're also kind and sweet. There's a courtesy and decency. They’re just very generous and open, and I just can’t think of a more ideal audience. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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Controversial officiating holds Sporting KC to draw SHAUN GOODWIN @ShaunGoodwinUDK
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hen defender Ike Opara missed a wide-open header from six yards out on Saturday night against the Portland Timbers, it looked like it was just going to be one of those nights for Sporting Kansas City. Despite missed chances, combined with a plethora of debatable calls made by referee Alan Kelly, Kansas City came from behind to claim a 1-1 tie. It was a game that few fans will look back on fondly, with the course of the evening producing sloppy passing and disruptive decisions from the referee. With both teams losing key players to their respective nations for the Gold Cup this month, the game seemed to lack a spark for the first 25 minutes, with only three shots and zero of them on goal. The game was also the first time this season in which Kansas City was pushed back into its own half at Children’s Mercy Park. It eventually culminated into the opening goal for the Timbers in the 26th minute. On a quick breakaway, Portland defensive midfielder Sebastián Blanco took the ball into Kansas City’s final third before playing it sideways to Portland captain Diego Valeri. Valeri ran into open space before firing into the roof of Tim Melia’s goal from 25 yards out. Seven minutes later,
File Photo/KANSAN Sporting Kansas City forward Dom Dwyer fouls in the box leading to a penalty kick in the 75th minute against Dallas in 2015.
Kansas City forward Gerso Fernandes was taken down from behind in the penalty box, prompting calls for a penalty around Children’s Mercy Park. With Gerso staying down, referee Kelly let play continue until the ball was eventually kicked out of play. Gerso had to leave the field with what manager Peter Vermes described as a dislocated shoulder. The game continued in similar vein, with Kelly producing three yellow cards before half time, resulting in Kansas City heading into the break with two yellow cards and zero shots on target. Shortly after the break, it was the close-range miss from Opara in the 52nd minute that ended up springing Kansas City into life. Sensing a goal coming, the home crowd began to rile up, until finally substitute Daniel Salloi clinched the tying goal in the 61st
minute. “It’s huge," midfielder Roger Espinoza, who provided the assist on Salloi's goal, said. "Good for him on his confidence. He’s a guy who’s been fighting, playing well in practice and it’s great for him that he was able to do that for us.” Just when the momentum seemed to be swinging Kansas City’s way, Kelly interfered again, awarding Portland a penalty in the 73rd minute after he judged goalkeeper Tim Melia took down Portland forward Fanendo Adi. “It didn’t even look like Tim [Melia] had any effect on the play at all, he [Adi] just dove," Vermes said. "Just like there was quite a few other dives in the game from their guys.” Fighting off any kind of disappointment, Melia went on to save the penalty, which Valeri shot down the middle of the goal. Both sides continued to battle for the game-decid-
ing goal for the remainder of the game, but neither could gain the advantage. After beating Houston 2-0 on W e d n e s d a y, Vermes believes his side may have been a little fatigued. “Ph y s i c a l ly, and I think mentally, we were a little bit tired,” Vermes said. “I think a lot of it had to do with our mentality, but our mentality changed in the second half and I think we were a little bit of a different team there.” K a n s a s City will get another short break before
they take on the Philadelphia Union on July 6 at
Children’s Mercy Park. The match will start at 7:30
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KANSAN.COM
Dzwierzynski: Don’t blame KU for Border War hiatus BRENDAN DZWIERZYNSKI @BrendanDzw
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he Border War is dead. All of the tradition dating back to Bleeding Kansas, a heated football series dating back to 1891, and a basketball series that never failed to excite fans on either side, all of it is gone in the wake of Missouri leaving for the SEC in 2012. With all that in mind, it’s OK that Kansas has rebuffed any attempts to revive the rivalry. Earlier this month, Missouri athletic director Jim Sterk said he’d like to restart the rivalry. That was followed by statements earlier this week from Missouri's former chancellor, R. Bowen Loftin, blaming Kansas basketball coach Bill Self’s ego for the Border War not resuming. Add in a report from the Alabama website that there was a “lucrative” offer to start the rivalry back up, and it’s clear that Mizzou is trying desperately to bring the showdown with Kansas back. From Kansas’ perspective, there’s no practical reason to do so. First of all, it’s Missouri that left the rivalry behind. They chased the money and the exposure that comes with the SEC, and that’s understandable (also, who actually wants to be in a conference with Texas? Just ask Texas
Associated Press Kansas coach Bill Self holds the ball while directing his team during the first half of a game against Texas Tech in Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday, Jan. 7. Self responded to criticism from a University of Missouri chancellor last week over the topic of the dormant Kansas-Missouri rivalry.
A&M). It’s understandable why you would lead your program in that direction, but don’t forget that there are consequences for your actions. While it makes sense why you would chase greener pastures, it’s ludicrous to believe your relationship with past programs would just remain perfectly fine.
It’s you, Missouri, who walked out on the rivalry, so you have to deal with the repercussions. Secondly, it doesn’t make sense for Kansas to schedule Missouri in either basketball or football. On the basketball front, Missouri’s ineptitude in recent years would have negatively affected Kansas’ strength of schedule, and one year
of high-profile recruits doesn’t guarantee future success in Columbia. For football, it’s just not practical to add Missouri to the schedule. The Jayhawks are improving under their current format of scheduling, one that doesn’t need to be changed. With only three nonconference games to schedule (what a
concept, SEC, playing nine conference games), it becomes tougher for Kansas to maximize the number of home games they play in any given year. Also, splitting gate revenue from a game at Arrowhead Stadium or losing a home game and getting no gate revenue every other year by playing a home-and-home
series just doesn’t make sense given the current state of Kansas football. Obviously, the biggest drawback in all of this comes from the fans’ perspective. The Border War is one of college sports’ most revered rivalries. It was a unique one, too, considering its historic roots predating the modern age of college athletics. It’s harsh that fans of both programs don’t get to witness the fierce games between the Jayhawks and Tigers anymore. As unfortunate as that is, make sure you direct your anger toward the University of Missouri. Self, who snapped back with comments of his own in response to Loftin’s, shouldn’t concern himself with the opinion of a man who was disliked by faculty and students alike at Missouri before he resigned. The criticism from Loftin isn’t deserved, especially since Self is taking the most appropriate stance given Kansas’ situation. The Border War is dead, at least for the near future, and maybe forever. Before pointing fingers, maybe Missouri should remember that it’s the one that bolted from over a century of tradition to chase cash, not Kansas.
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Wait nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year award WESLEY DOTSON @WesDotsonUDK
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ormer Kansas libero Cassie Wait can add another accolade to her successful career with the volleyball program. Wait was nominated by Kansas Athletics for the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year award on Tuesday. In 2016, Wait, a threeyear starter at libero, led the Jayhawks to their first-ever Big 12 Conference title. She also earned Big 12 Libero of the Year and Kansas City Sports Commission Sportswoman of the Year honors. According to the NCAA’s official website, the NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who no longer
Missy Minear/KANSAN Then-senior libero Cassie Wait celebrates after a point against West Virginia. Kansas won in three sets.
have eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership through their collegiate careers. Wait graduated with a business degree in three years in May 2016 with a
3.90 GPA before enrolling in law school, according to Kansas Athletics. She is a three-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team honoree and a member of the University’s Honors Program. The Gardner native just
finished her first academic year at the University’s School of Law. Wait was a key player in leading the Jayhawks to their first-ever Final Four appearance in 2015. She also finished her career with 104 wins and holds
the program's best fouryear winning percentage (.819). During her senior season, Wait led the Big 12 in digs per set (5.10) and finished second in career digs at Kansas (1,958). Wait is one of seven Big 12 athletes nominated by her school for the award. Others include Kansas State’s Katie Brand (volleyball), West Virginia’s Kadeisha Buchanan (soccer), Oklahoma’s Jennifer Carmichael (outdoor track and field), Oklahoma State’s Courtney Dike (soccer), Texas’ Gia Doonan (rowing) and Baylor’s Blair Shankle (tennis). In the next step of the selection process, NCAA conferences will select up to two conference nominees from each of
the school nominees. The committee will then choose the top 30 honorees — with 10 coming from each division. From the top 30, the selection committee will determine the top three honorees from each division and announce the nine finalists in September. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then chooses the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year from those nine. The top 30 honorees will be recognized and the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at the annual award ceremony on Oct. 22 in Indianapolis.
Swain: The Chiefs may be rebuilding, but future is already here MICHAEL SWAIN @mswain97
When the Chiefs fired general manager John Dorsey on the same day they extended coach Andy Reid’s contract, I was surprised. Why would an organization continue to take steps that, from the outside, look like the beginning of a rebuild? The Chiefs are currently stuck in the middle. They are not talented enough to compete with the likes of the Patriots and the other elite NFL teams. Yet, they have an aging defense and, in Alex
Smith, a quarterback whose arm isn’t getting any better. Their recent release of receiver Jeremy Maclin on June 2, and the departure of Jamaal Charles last year, combined with drafting quarterback Pat Mahomes II with the No. 10 pick, indicates the direction the Chiefs intend to head in — a swift rebuild. Reid, for all of his ingame faults, is one of the best coaches at developing quarterbacks and building offensive schemes that fit the quarterback best. Mahomes has a cannon for an arm and showed it
frequently in his three years at Texas Tech. Mahomes has all the tools to be a great NFL quarterback, but what he needs most is time. History has shown us that quarterbacks that sit their first two years behind a veteran starting quarterback tend to adapt better. Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers are two players who exemplify this. As a 49ers fan, I envy the position the Chiefs are in — according to Over the Cap, they have $11,355,262 in available cap room for this season, and will go into the 2019 offseason with $81 mil-
lion in cap room. With a rebuild comes tough decisions. Players who are on the books for $15 million plus have to be seen as moveable. In the Chiefs' case, Justin Houston ($22,100,000 a year) and Travis Kelce ($5,418,400 a year) are two players who could be on the move if the organization completely buys into a full rebuild. Both players will command a lot of return in a trade, and the Chiefs could be looking at a first-round pick and two second-round picks, as well as younger players for both Houston
Associated Press Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid stands on the field as players warm up for a game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati.
(28 years old) and Kelce (27 years old). By committing to a rebuild it allows the Chiefs to re-shift their focus from Smith to Mahomes. The
Chiefs should bide their time with Mahomes as a backup until they are able to make big moves and become a serious contender for the Lombardi trophy.
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