The Weekly Rose

Faculty Senate has drafted a petition of no confidence in Chancellor Doug Girod and CFO Jeff DeWitt for their refusal to negotiate with the UAKU. They asking everyone at KU, including staff, faculty, students, and even alumni, to weigh in.

KU management sent a letter outlining their intention to end negotiations and enter a period of forced mediation if the Union does not agree to their 1% raise proposal in 7 days. Rather than meet with the Union face-to-face, admin has chosen to strongarm their way through the process, without even giving UAKU an opportunity to respond.

The Weekly Rose has received transcripts of two group chats implicated in the ongoing KU Student Senate drama relating to allegations of collusion by members of the Required Student Fee Committee. Is it still a ‘nothing burger’?

In American politics, discourse is saturated with appeals to freedom. While this concept is often ill-defined, these appeals are nevertheless very effective, as ‘freedom’ is a sacrosanct American value.

When the legislature budgeted for raises for state employees, faculty and staff at KU may have expected raises. Instead, they went to a few at the top, including one administrator who may have played a unique role in appropriating the funds.

As students already struggle to pay for tuition, those attending KU are forced to pay an additional tax of over $500 a semester to fund basic infrastructure like mental health counseling and transportation services.

Unionization is the natural conclusion when an administration igrnores Shared Governance. A university that doesn’t respect its workers cannot respect its students. A university that doesn’t invest in sustainability cannot claim to care about our future.

Back with a vengeance on Wescoe Beach after getting kicked out of Kansas in 2023 for violating state gambling laws, the sports betting app Underdog Fantasy has returned to targeting college students with cash giveaways during Hawk Week in exchange for creating an account and placing a bet.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) ranks colleges based on their free speech environment. These rankings feign neutrality while excusing fascism, they do not represent the full picture of how free speech operates on campus.

Management takes months to produce counterproposals and is often underprepared to bargin, but tell UAKU "Don't punish us for good deeds". Over a year after winning their union, there is still no contract in sight for faculty and academic staff as the University of Kansas’ management stalls negotiations.

Private equity billionaire David Booth has contributed a portion of his multi-billion dollar fortune to KU’s latest vanity project and its floundering football team.

State Universities, financially bound to the legislature, are overcomplying in lock step with their every demand at the expense of diversity initiatives and trans students, faculty, and staff.

Formatting your email signature in the face of the pronoun ban may seem daunting. Comply with the letter, but not the spirit of the law, and fill your email with non-gender identifying pronouns.

CapFed is a facade beyond its modular facade; it is a shell over an institution that exists to reproduce the logics it teaches and the capitalists it relies on – no matter the ‘external’ costs. It understands its role in the community, it knows it will always have support from private actors and University administration, and doesn’t care that it eliminates contingent possibilities, both practical and theoretical.

In 1992, former Kansas Senator Bob Dole tried to kill public broadcasting. Trump is pushing Congress to finish the job.

While administrative compensation has skyrocketed, the purchasing power of faculty and academic staff salaries at KU has declined by almost a fifth. Girod sits inside his cushy office, separated from the rest of the university by a passcode lock, while the departments he oversees make enormous sacrifices to make ends meet.

Criticism and misinterpretation has erupted following the passing of a Resolution Recognizing the Ongoing Genocide in Palestine. Let’s clear that up.

On Wednesday, April 9th, 2025, the University of Kansas (KU) Student Senate voted to pass Resolution 2025-306, “A Resolution Recognizing the Ongoing Genocide in Palestine”. This eight page-long resolution, written and submitted by JSPL (Jewish Students for People’s Liberation), KU SJP (KU Students for Justice in Palestine), and KU YDSA (KU Young Democratic Socialists of America), documents war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide committed by the Israeli state against the Palestinian people.

A Resolution to Recognize the Ongoing Genocide in Palestine is passed by the Student Senate in a vote of 35-5.

A Resolution to Recognize the Ongoing Genocide in Palestine” Introduced to the KU Student Senate by Jewish Students for People’s Liberation (JSPL), KU Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), and the KU chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA)