On Sunday, MU football player Michael Sam publicly came out as gay in interviews with several media outlets. There has of course been a lot of reaction to the news, with many praising the defensive lineman’s decision and others questioning whether it’ll affect his prospects of being drafted into the NFL. Sam would be the first openly gay player in the NFL if he is drafted. Before his announcement, he was projected to be taken in the third or fourth round.

This week on Intersection, we’re breaking format just slightly to talk about this developing story. In the first part of the show, w'e'll talk about the significance of Michael Sam's announcement. Later in the show, we’ll talk about the implications of Missouri’s shortage of mental health professionals. 

Panelists:
MU football player Michael Sam comes out
Jim Buzinski is a cofounder of Outsports, a sports website which helped break the story.

Missouri's mental health professional shortage
Keith Schafer is the director of the Missouri Department of Mental Health.

Cindi Keele is the executive director of the state chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Brent McGinty is the president and CEO of the Missouri Coalition of Community Mental Health Centers.

Later this week, MU will host a panel discussion exploring the civil rights history of the university. The talk, which takes place this Thursday night at the Missouri Theater, is just one of a number of events scheduled across town to honor Black History Month.

Locally, much has improved since the days of Jim Crow, but some believe that more can be done to make Columbia a more inclusive community.

This week on Intersection, we’ll take a look back at some of the civil rights gains at MU and the town at large, and talk about the lessons that can be learned from them.

Panelists:

Michael Middleton is MU’s deputy chancellor. Prior to that, he was a professor in the university’s School of Law. He also was the first African American student to enroll and graduate from MU’s law school.

William Horner is a Professor of Political Science at MU, and the co-author of a book on Lloyd Gaines, who was an early civil rights pioneer who challenged the Law School’s ban on African American students.

Mary Ratliff is the president of the state chapter of the NAACP, and has lived in Columbia since 1959. (joining by phone)

Last week, Americans across the country took time to celebrate veterans and their contributions to the nation. Here in Columbia, the festivities included a Veterans Day Parade that made its way down 8th Street, ending at the Boone County Courthouse. To mark the occasion, each day since Veteran’s Day KBIA had been airing a variety of personal interviews with soldiers during Morning Edition. The series, which was done in partnership with Storycorps’ Military Voices Initiative and the MU Extension Community Arts Project, will continue through Wednesday.

Today on Intersection we’ll listen to a few of these interviews, and try to get a better understanding of what it’s like to be a veteran returning home, and about military life in general.

Panelists

Eugene O’Loughlin works for the Missouri Veterans Commission as the Veterans Service Supervisor for Boone County.

Shawn Martin is the acting acting team leader of the Columbia Vet Center.

Columbia’s downtown may soon become the home to yet another luxury housing development. A New York developer is considering plans to build a 24 story complex on the corner of 6th and Elm. The development echoes a trend being seen in many public university towns across the nation -- to create luxury housing for an affluent student population. But is this trend sustainable? 

This week on Intersection, we’ll take a closer look at student housing in Columbia. In the first half of the show, we’ll discuss how it’s changing the college experience for students. In the second half of the program, we’ll talk about how it’s changing Columbia.

Panelists
First half of the show
Kristofor Husted, KBIA reporter
Frankie Minor, Director of Residential Life, MU
Elizabeth Armstrong, associate professor of sociology and organizational studies, University of Michigan

Second half of the show
Kristofor Husted, KBIA reporter
Frankie Minor, Director of Residential Life, MU
Ian Thomas, Columbia 4th Ward Councilmember
Brent Gardner, Chair, Columbia Downtown Leadership Council

Over the last week, an alleged rape case in Maryville Missouri has attracted national attention, and fostered many public discussions about the way the public and judicial system handles the aftermath of such allegations. In Maryville, charges against two high school boys had been dropped, but after the uproar prompted by articles by KCUR and the Kansas City Star, a special prosecutor will be appointed to handle the case. But some in the Maryville community have also been a focus of the discussion, as the then-14 year old victim and her family say they eventually moved away from the community because of bullying and threats after the alleged rape occurred in January 2012. 

This week on Intersection, we'll discuss the issues cases like these bring up. 

Panelists

Zachary Wilson is the Development Director of the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.

Mary Beck is the Director of the MU Domestic Violence Clinic. She’s also a Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Missouri.

Samantha Sunne is former reporter for the Columbia Missourian (joining the program by Skype).

This month, folks around town will be discussing this year’s One Read selection, the Ruins of Us by Keija Parssinen. Set in Saudi Arabia in 2005, the novel tells the story of Rosalie March, an American expat married to a wealthy Saudi businessman. Their happy union starts to crumble after she discovers her husband’s secret second marriage. The book examines the emotional toll the revelation takes on Rosalie, her husband, her son and daughter and a family friend.

This week on Intersection, we’ll talk about the novel with the book’s author. In the second half of the show, we’ll chat with other local authors about what it’s like writing in Columbia.

Panelists

Keija Parssinen, author, the Ruins of Us
Alex George, lawyer and author, A Good American
Marlene Lee, author, the Absent Woman

On Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department announced its plans to take legal action to force the state of Texas to seek federal approval before making changes to its election laws. The move comes weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 requiring some Southern states and jurisdictions to obtain such permission from the federal government.

While Missouri isn’t included in that provision of the Voting Rights Act, it still got us thinking: Are there any modern barriers to voting in our state? Today on Intersection, we’ll explore that question and talk about ways to make voting more accessible. 

Panelists:
Nancy Copenhaver, board member, Missouri League of Women Voters
Mary Ratliff, president, Missouri NAACP
Denise Lieberman, Senior Attorney for the Advancement Project’s Voter Protection Program (joining by Skype)

Last week, President Obama became the latest public official to question expanded self-defense laws such as Florida’s stand your ground statute. Speaking at a press conference on Friday, the president challenged the law, asking if it really contributed to “the kind of peace and security and order that we'd like to see.”

Opponents say that stand your ground laws promote vigilantism and undermine public safety, while supporters say they empower law abiding citizens. So which is it? This week on Intersection, we’ll take a closer look at expanded self-defense laws.

Panelists:
Frank Bowman, Floyd R. Gibson Missouri Endowed Professor of Law, MU School of Law
Dale Roberts, attorney
Ben Trachtenberg, Associate Professor of Law, MU School of Law (joining by Skype)

Last month the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act. The 5-4 decision effectively means that federal benefits afforded to married couples will also apply to same-sex couples married in the states that allow it. So, how does the supreme court ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act affect places like Missouri? What might change for same-sex couples in our state? And will the ruling have any effect on businesses, taxing authorities and the like?

This week on Intersection, we’ll work through what is and is not changing with regard to marriage benefits in Missouri, and we’ll look a bit more into the legal context that led to the supreme court’s ruling.

Panelists:
Justin Dyer, assistant professor, MU Department of Political Science
Michelle Cecil, Curators' Distinguished Teaching Professor, MU School of Law 
A.J. Bockelman, executive director, PROMO

Estimates place Columbia’s dropout rate at about 3 percent in 2011, close to the state average. Nationally, the  U.S. Department of education places the dropout rate at around 3.4 percent in the school year ending in 2010.

So what’s being done to reduce these numbers? Intersection explored the factors that lead students to drop out of high school, and heard about what's being done in our community to change that.

Hosted by Ryan Famuliner.

Panelists:
Eryca Neville, principal, Douglass High School
Lorenzo Lawson, executive director, Youth Empowerment Zone