From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu
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KU Alumni Association sets dates for Homecoming 2022
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas will celebrate its 110th Homecoming Sept. 26-Oct.1, culminating in the KU football game against Iowa State Oct. 1 in David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. The Alumni Association will continue to update kualumni.org/homecoming as information becomes available.
Study shows how rural transgender youths are resilient, resistant to oppression
LAWRENCE — Transgender and gender-diverse youths face a great deal of discrimination, hostility and tension in their daily lives, especially those who live in rural areas where there are fewer transgender youths and low levels of support and resources. A new study from the University of Kansas found that these youths not only have strategies for surviving, but they often turned from resilience to resistance, and that path can lead the way forward for defending their rights.
KU Legal Aid Clinic, Douglas County DA’s Office to host Expungement Clinic
LAWRENCE – The University of Kansas School of Law’s Legal Aid Clinic and the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office will host a virtual Clean Slate Criminal Record Expungement Clinic, with two virtual intake clinics planned March 2-3. An expungement seals an arrest record or conviction from public view, with certain exceptions. The Legal Aid Clinic will provide free legal representation to eligible individuals seeking to expunge records in Douglas County District Court and/or Lawrence Municipal Court.
KU junior to compete for Beinecke Scholarship
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas has nominated a student for the Beinecke Scholarship Program. Anna Madrigal, a junior from Shawnee majoring in history and political science and graduate of Shawnee Mission Northwest High School, will compete for one of 20 national scholarships for undergraduates who intend to pursue a research-focused master’s or doctoral program in the arts, humanities or social sciences. Selected students receive $30,000 to be used for graduate study and $4,000 in their senior year.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Jennifer Sanner, KU Alumni Association, 785-864-9782, [email protected]; @KUAlumni
KU Alumni Association sets dates for Homecoming 2022
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas will celebrate its 110th Homecoming Sept. 26-Oct.1, culminating in the KU football game against Iowa State Oct. 1 in David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
The KU Alumni Association and the Homecoming Steering Committee will coordinate Homecoming activities, led by Paige Freeman, the association’s director of student programs. KU’s Homecoming tradition began in 1912.
Homecoming leaders will meet throughout the spring semester to select a theme and finalize the schedule of both in-person and online events, including the Jayhawk Career Network’s Kyou Networking Week, which helps alumni and students connect based on shared industries, affinity and interests. Another Homecoming highlight will be the selection of student finalists for the Excellence in Community, Education and Leadership (ExCEL) Awards. The winners will be announced during halftime of the football game Oct. 1.
This year’s celebration includes Best Western Plus-West Lawrence as the exclusive hotel category presenting sponsor.
The Alumni Association will continue to update kualumni.org/homecoming as information becomes available.
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Contact: Mike Krings, KU News Service, 785-864-8860, [email protected], @MikeKrings
Study shows how rural transgender youths are resilient, resistant to oppression
LAWRENCE — Transgender and gender-diverse youths face a great deal of discrimination, hostility and tension in their daily lives, especially those who live in rural areas where there are fewer transgender youths and low levels of support and resources. A new study from the University of Kansas found that these youths not only have strategies for surviving, but they often turned from resilience to resistance, and that path can lead the way forward for defending their rights.
Meg Paceley, associate professor of social welfare at KU, and colleagues have been working with transgender and gender-diverse — or TGD — youths in rural areas and throughout Kansas and the Midwest for several years. In interviews originally intended to determine the role of families and communities on the youths’ perceived well-being, they found something more.
“With qualitative research, sometimes we find things we weren’t originally looking for. In this case, that was resilience and just surviving in difficult or hostile situations,” Paceley said. “The more we analyzed the data within a resilience frame, we realized there was more there, including resisting oppression.”
Paceley and co-authors Jacob Goffnett of the University of Arkansas; April Diaz, KU doctoral student in social welfare; Shanna Kattari of the University of Michigan; and Jennifer Navarro and Emera Greenwood, KU graduate students in social welfare, wrote a study about their findings from in-depth interviews with 19 TGD youths in two Midwestern states. It was published in the open access journal Youth.
The study found the youths’ resilience and resistance strategies fell into three primary categories: Intrapersonal, interpersonal and community/macro. Previous research has demonstrated the negative effects discrimination and hostility can have on TGD youths in areas such as health outcomes, mental health and academics.
In terms of intrapersonal responses, or those on an individual, personal level, the youths’ resistance often took the form of affirming themselves, maintaining authenticity, resisting oppressive narratives and finding hope. The strategies were ways to oppose messages meant to disbelieve, harm or oppress them.
“Sometimes I just allow myself to feel sad, and I just say, ‘I know these people are saying these things about me. And I know they don’t think that I can be this, even though this is what I am…it doesn’t matter what they think. I’m still valid,’” one youth said.
Interpersonal strategies, or those in which the youths resisted oppression in their relationships with others, fit in themes of avoiding hostility, educating others and standing up for themselves and others.
“We saw youth talking about not necessarily cutting someone off, but saying, ‘I don’t deserve to be treated this way, so I’m not going to be,’” Paceley said. “Or advocating for others who maybe didn’t have as good of an experience as them, so they decided they would stand up for them.”
Community and macro resistance strategies happened when the youths decided to take action such as engaging in activism and organizing or enhancing visibility and representation. Several respondents described joining organizations, advocating publicly for transgender and gender-diverse rights or being active in campus organizations. Some said others were not speaking up about discrimination and their rights, so they were moved to take action.
The findings are especially important at a time when states across the country are passing anti-transgender laws, curtailing rights or dehumanizing gender-diverse individuals. Young people in rural areas have been shown to experience higher levels of discrimination, harassment and the negative effects that come with them, Paceley said, and even when such laws don’t pass, the rhetoric and public discussion surrounding them can have lasting, traumatic effects. For that reason, understanding how TGD youths foster resilience — but more importantly, resistance — is vital in advocating for at-risk populations and understanding how they can avoid the common negative outcomes seen among TGD youths.
“Resilience is important for several factors such as health outcomes, how individuals cope or respond to things that shouldn’t be happening to them,” Paceley said. “But we also need to realize that resilience is often passive while resistance is active. We should also identify how to reduce the harms that come to TGD youth in the first place, so they don’t have to demonstrate resilience to oppression.”
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Contact: Margaret Hair, School of Law, 785-864-9205, [email protected], @kulawschool
KU Legal Aid Clinic, Douglas County DA’s Office to host Expungement Clinic
LAWRENCE – The University of Kansas School of Law’s Legal Aid Clinic and the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office will host a virtual Clean Slate Criminal Record Expungement Clinic in March.
An expungement seals an arrest record or conviction from public view, with certain exceptions. The Legal Aid Clinic will provide free legal representation to eligible individuals seeking to expunge records in Douglas County District Court and/or Lawrence Municipal Court.
Prospective clients for expungement can call the Legal Aid Clinic at 785-864-5564 during two virtual intake days. Legal interns and staff attorneys will talk with clients to determine eligibility for expungement. Virtual intake will be available:
1. Wednesday, March 2: 3-6 p.m.
2. Thursday, March 3: 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Individuals can also schedule an in-person or Zoom meeting to complete their screening. Individuals who are not available during the intake days can schedule an appointment during the first two weeks of March by calling Legal Aid at 785-864-5564.
“Criminal record expungement is such an important possibility under Kansas law for individuals who have completed their sentences, made changes in their lives, and who are now seeking to move beyond the stigma and barriers resulting from those past mistakes. It can be life-changing,” said Melanie Daily, director of the Legal Aid Clinic at KU Law.
“We appreciate the renewed collaboration with the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office that helps us streamline this process, making our free legal representation in these matters accessible to even more people this year,” Daily said.
The clinic can accept clients with income up to 250% of the federal poverty level. Clients who do not qualify for a waiver of the filing fee will need to pay those court costs, but no attorney’s fees, as long as they are eligible for services. After the intake clinic, clients will need to attend one additional appointment and any required court hearings with their attorney.
“A criminal record can make it difficult to get a lease or to find employment – the basics for building a life in a community. The second chance offered by an expungement should not be limited to those with the means to pay an attorney to help them navigate the system,” said District Attorney Suzanne Valdez. “We are honored to co-host this event with the Legal Aid Clinic.”
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Don’t miss new episodes of “When Experts Attack!,”
a KU News Service podcast hosted by Kansas Public Radio.
https://kansaspublicradio.org/when-experts-attack
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Contact: Andy Hyland, Office of Public Affairs, 785-864-7100, [email protected], @UnivOfKansas
KU junior to compete for Beinecke Scholarship
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas has nominated a junior for the Beinecke Scholarship Program. Each year the Beinecke Scholarship offers 20 scholarships to undergraduates who intend to pursue a research-focused master’s or doctoral program in the arts, humanities or social sciences. Selected students receive $30,000 to be used for graduate study and $4,000 in their senior year.
Award recipients will be announced in April.
KU’s nominee is Anna Madrigal from Shawnee, a junior majoring in history and political science and minoring in Spanish, European studies and global & international studies. Madrigal is the daughter of Pedro and Laura Madrigal and a graduate of Shawnee Mission Northwest High School. She plans to earn a master’s degree and work for a nonprofit community group focused on public history in Kansas City. She is a resident of Douthart Scholarship Hall, where she serves as both secretary and as an All Scholarship Hall Council representative. Madrigal is also a member of KU’s Multicultural Scholars Program, Phi Alpha Theta and Mortar Board. This spring, she is participating in a research internship within the Department of History under the supervision of Jonathan Hagel, assistant teaching professor of history, in which Madrigal is working on a podcast to showcase research in history.
Only 135 colleges and universities around the country are invited to nominate one student for the scholarship each year. KU is the only participating institution in Kansas. At KU, the nomination process is coordinated by the Office of Fellowships.
The Beinecke Scholarship Program was established in 1971 by the board of directors of the Sperry and Hutchinson Company to honor Edwin, Frederick and Walter Beinecke. The board created an endowment to provide substantial scholarships for the graduate education of young people of exceptional promise. Candidates should be U.S. citizens and college juniors who demonstrate superior standards of intellectual ability, scholastic achievement and personal promise during their undergraduate career.
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