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Professor: SEC wants to regulate ‘unicorns,’ but law stands in its way
LAWRENCE — For the second time in two years, the United States’ top corporate regulator has proposed a sweeping overhaul to crack down on large private startup companies, commonly known as “unicorns.” And for the second time in two years, the proposed overhaul falls outside of the agency’s legal authority, according to a new analysis by a University of Kansas professor of law. Alexander Platt’s new article is forthcoming in the New York University Law Review Online.
Junior Cherin Russell named KU’s 2023-24 Newman Civic Fellow
LAWRENCE — From across the country, college and university presidents of Campus Compact member institutions have nominated promising student leaders as Newman Civic Fellows. Cherin Russell, a junior in English, is KU’s Newman Civic Fellow for 2023-2024. She is from Lawrence and a graduate of Lawrence High School. Russell is a McNair Scholar who plans to earn a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies and become a grant writer and environmental nonprofit advocate.
Final spring 2023 ‘Wellness in Our Democracy’ events planned April 12, 26
LAWRENCE — A collaborative series at the University of Kansas that centers misinformation, disinformation and the wellness of democracy continues in the spring 2023 semester with discussions on climate change April 12 and domestic terrorism April 26. Lori Arguelles, director of strategic communications for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will take part in the climate change discussion. To attend, register at https://bit.ly/DemocracyKU.
Spencer Museum announces 2023 Brosseau Creativity Award recipients
LAWRENCE — The Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas has announced the 2023 recipients of the Jack & Lavon Brosseau Creativity Awards, which honor innovative and risk-taking creative work in the categories of writing and diverse media from KU undergraduate students in any area of study. Students receiving awards or honorable mentions include Kansans from Goodland, Lawrence, Overland Park, Shawnee and Topeka.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Mike Krings, KU News Service, 785-864-8860, [email protected], @MikeKrings
Professor: SEC wants to regulate ‘unicorns,’ but law stands in its way
LAWRENCE — For the second time in two years, the United States’ top corporate regulator has proposed a sweeping overhaul to crack down on large private startup companies, commonly known as “unicorns.” And for the second time in two years, the proposed overhaul falls outside of the agency’s legal authority, according to a new analysis by a University of Kansas law professor.
In a widely covered January speech, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw called on the agency to require these private companies to make the same regular detailed financial disclosures as public companies. In a new article, forthcoming in the New York University Law Review Online, Alexander Platt, associate professor of law at KU, shows why such an action would be outside of the agency’s legal authority.
“It’s just Civics 101,” Platt said. “Only Congress has the power to write laws. Agencies like the SEC can do a lot of things. Rewriting the laws is not one of them.”
The “laws” involved here are a pair of statutes passed by Congress 90 years ago to rein in Wall Street after the stock market crash of 1929: the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. As Platt said, those two laws together created a fundamental rule at the heart of the government’s system of corporate regulation.
“Public companies have to make comprehensive ongoing disclosures; private companies don’t,” Platt said. “That’s the essential line drawn by the federal securities laws. Commissioner Crenshaw would like to change that. But she can’t. Only Congress can rewrite the laws.”
Given the recent rise of unicorns – and the scandals involving companies like Theranos, WeWork, and FTX – Platt acknowledged that it is appropriate to revisit that fundamental distinction. But a fundamental change like the one Crenshaw proposed would have to be authorized by Congress. If the agency proceeds on its own with Crenshaw’s plan, a court would likely block it, he said.
For Platt, there is some déjà vu here. Two years ago, a different SEC commissioner proposed a regulatory overhaul that would force most unicorns to go public, and Platt published a legal analysis in the University of Michigan Law Review Online showing why that proposal was outside the agency’s authority. After Platt’s analysis was posted, the agency seems to have shelved that earlier plan.
“Policymakers can make an important contribution to public debate by offering up bold reform ideas,” Platt said. “Perhaps the public debate would be even better served if these proposals for bold agency action were limited to items the agency actually had authority to implement.”
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Contact: Erin Wolfram, Academic Success, 785-864-2308, [email protected]
Junior Cherin Russell named KU’s 2023-24 Newman Civic Fellow
LAWRENCE — From across the country, college and university presidents of Campus Compact member institutions have nominated promising student leaders as Newman Civic Fellows. Through service, research and advocacy, these fellows have demonstrated an investment in their community and are working to better understand themselves, the root causes of social issues and effective mechanisms for creating lasting change.
Cherin Russell, a junior in English, is KU’s Newman Civic Fellow for 2023-2024. She is from Lawrence and a graduate of Lawrence High School. Russell is a McNair Scholar who plans to earn a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies and become a grant writer and environmental nonprofit advocate.
“Cherin has brought her strong convictions about working for the good of the community to campus. Her dedication to advocating for historically underrepresented communities and people experiencing homelessness, for example, demonstrates she lives out these convictions in long-term volunteerism and service. We are proud to have her as this year’s Newman Civic Fellow,” KU Chancellor Douglas A. Girod said.
Russell was awarded second place for the Helen Rhoda Hoopes Award for best English undergraduate essay written by a woman and earned the Certificate of Excellence in French Studies three semesters in a row, the Trio 1st Year Achievement Award and the Paul B. Lawson Memorial Scholarship given to outstanding juniors. She recently joined the volunteer team at the Ballard Center, a local early childhood education nonprofit, to assist with grant writing and environmental concerns. Russell also serves as a mentor within KU’s Academic Engagement & Retention Center and a tutor for the Academic Learning Center. She has been a community volunteer and advocate in Lawrence for more than 10 years and currently serves as an advocate at KU for nontraditional students and students with invisible disabilities.
Russell joins a cohort of more than 200 students from across the country in a yearlong program that includes training, virtual learning opportunities and an annual fellow convening. The opportunities available to the Newman Civic Fellows include attendance at the national Newman Civic Fellows conference, participation in regional and state gatherings of Newman Civic Fellows, engagement with a virtual event series focused on skill development and professional learning and guidance from a local mentor.
Campus Compact advances the public purpose of more than 1,000 colleges and universities by deepening their ability to improve community life and to educate students for civic and social responsibility. For more information, please visit compact.org.
The Center for Service Learning will celebrate Russell as well as President’s Volunteer Service Award and Center for Service Learning award recipients and Certificate in Service Learning graduates at their annual Service Showcase and Celebration at 3:30 p.m. April 20.
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Contact: Emily Ryan, The Commons, 785-864-6293, [email protected], @TheCommonsKU
Final spring 2023 ‘Wellness in Our Democracy’ events planned April 12, 26
LAWRENCE — A collaborative series at the University of Kansas that centers misinformation, disinformation and the wellness of democracy continues in the spring 2023 semester with discussions on climate change and domestic terrorism. Led by Najarian Peters, KU associate professor of law and faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School; Patricia Weems Gaston, Lacy C. Haynes Professor of Journalism; and Emily Ryan, director of The Commons, the series offers additional opportunities to learn about the roots of misinformation, realms in which it has taken root and ways to combat it. These topics will be explored in cohesion with a focus on wellness — of ourselves and institutions that provide support for democracy.
The series continues April 12 with an examination of “Misinformation, Disinformation, and Understanding Climate Change.” It will offer a critical conversation that unpacks identity and climate denialism and includes strategies implemented at the highest levels in U.S. science communication offices. The discussion will feature Gaston, a Pulitzer Prize winner and a former editor at The Washington Post, in conversation with Lori Arguelles, director of strategic communications for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); Trevor Lies, doctoral student in psychology; and Reggie Hubbard, founder and chief serving officer of Active Peace Yoga.
On April 26, the 2022-2023 series will culminate with a closer look at “Misinformation, Disinformation, Extremism, and Domestic Terrorism.” The event features Gaston in conversation with Jonas Kaiser, assistant professor at Suffolk University and faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University; Paul Cope, director of KU’s Master of Science in Homeland Security: Law and Policy Program and judge advocate in the Kansas Army National Guard, where he holds the rank of lieutenant colonel; and Hubbard.
The events, which begin at 7 p.m., run 75 minutes each and include time for centering oneself through intentional breathwork. To attend, register at https://bit.ly/DemocracyKU.
Events in this series are supported and presented by The Commons, the School of Law, the William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications and the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging.
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Don’t miss new episodes of “When Experts Attack!,”
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https://kansaspublicradio.org/when-experts-attack
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Contact: Elizabeth Kanost, Spencer Museum of Art, 785-864-0142, [email protected], @SpencerMuseum
Spencer Museum announces 2023 Brosseau Creativity Award recipients
LAWRENCE — The Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas has announced the 2023 recipients of the Jack & Lavon Brosseau Creativity Awards. Established by benefactor Lavon Brosseau in 2011, the awards honor innovative and risk-taking creative work in the categories of writing and diverse media from KU undergraduate students in any area of study.
Submissions included videos, paintings, photographs, prints, poetry and prose. Students represented a range of disciplines, including English, neurobiology, theatre, urban planning and visual arts.
In the diverse media category, Raquel Ordoñez, of Goodland, was recognized for her video “Sweeping up the Pieces: The Story of the Lost City of Tenochtitlan.” Ordoñez, a senior in environmental studies and urban planning, created her video for a digital storytelling assignment in a History and Theory of Planning course taught by Bonnie Johnson, professor of urban planning. Ordoñez wanted to represent “the strength of Indigenous teachings that have lasted through destruction and fragmentation” and described the video as her “love letter to the lost city.”
In the writing category, Samiya Rasheed and Isabelle Parisi, longtime friends from Overland Park, were recognized for their illustrated creative essay “Electrochemical Translation: The Continued Relevance of Loewi’s Experiments.” Rasheed is a senior in biology and psychology, and Parisi is a senior in human biology and visual arts. The work centers on a metaphor comparing the translation of electricity and chemicals in neurons to miscommunication among family members. According to Rasheed, this was a true collaboration with Parisi that became “our own experiment into where the lines between science and art collapse.”
There were two honorable mentions in the writing category. Brad Mathewson, a senior in English and theatre from Topeka, wrote a personal essay, “How Cowboys Do.” Mathewson drew parallels between “the unattainable legend of the Kansan cowboy and the mythicization/allure of homosexual spaces and ‘ideal masculinity.’” Additionally, Jamie Hall, a junior in English from Shawnee, collaborated with Janie Rainer, a junior studying anthropology, microbiology, Spanish and creative writing from Overland Park, on the poetry collection “I LOVE DOGS.”
More information about the awards and excerpts from the recipients’ projects are available online.
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