Kansas Union officials still support their decision to allow Sun of a Beach Tanning to open in the student union despite growing tensions between indoor tanning advocates and doctors.

Pat Beard, director of building services for KU Memorial Unions, said the board that oversees the union was originally concerned about the health risks tanning presented. But after careful consideration, he said, it gave owner Emily Willis the OK to open the salon.

“It seems to fit the location. There’s not been any regrets by any means,” Beard said. “Emily takes pretty good care of the space. We’ve never received any complaints. In my opinion, that is a good lease.”

Sun of a Beach Tanning replaced the T-Mobile store on the third floor of the Kansas Union this past April after T-Mobile decided to shut down its store on campus.

Salon Hawk owner Emily Willis, a 22-year-old Lawrence resident, said she had been considering adjoining a tanning salon to the beauty parlor since she took over the shop in May 2007, and the opening in the space next door provided the perfect opportunity.

Yet, when Willis began making plans in January to open the store, neither she nor the union could have foreseen the confrontation that would occur between the Indoor Tanning Association and anti-tanning advocates only a week before Sun of a Beach would officially open. The Indoor Tanning Association launched an ad campaign denouncing the connection between the skin cancer melanoma and ultraviolet light. Two weeks ago, dermatologists refuted this campaign, publishing articles reinforcing the correlation between skin cancer and UV rays.

Bill Walberg, El Dorado Hills, Calif., senior and a former member of the Memorial Corporation Board, said the student union having a tanning salon was comparable to allowing The Hawk Shop to sell cigarettes and tobacco. He said he supported renting to Sun of a Beach from the beginning.

“I thought it was a great idea,” he said. “I can’t tell you how many friends of mine, especially girls, love to go tanning. It’s really convenient.”

In Lawrence, students can find several places to go tanning. Student-geared apartment complexes, such as The Reserve and The Legends Place, include tanning beds among their amenities. Last fall, Naismith Hall, the privately owned dormitory, became the first dormitory on campus to include tanning beds.

Naismith Hall may feature tanning beds, but the University does not necessarily support their use. The University does not technically own the Kansas Union; it’s paid for by student fees.

Willis said that each day 50 to 80 students used the beds at Sun of a Beach.

Aly Rodee, Wichita senior and former president of the Memorial Corporation Board, said business-wise, renting the space to Sun of a Beach was a smart choice. As far as students were concerned, she said it was up to them to make informed choices about tanning.

“Students know the health warnings that go along with tanning,” she said. “We’re supposed to be responsible adults here.”

In Kansas it’s difficult for commercial tanning bed users to miss the reminders of the health conditions tanning can cause or exaggerate. Kansas state law requires businesses that have tanning beds to hang warning signs and to allow users to tan no longer than the time recommended by the manufacturer of the beds.

Sun of a Beach goes beyond state regulations. Willis said the business required customers to wait at least 24 hours before tanning again and asked students how often they go tanning before booking their appointments. She said the business determined how long and how often students could tan based on their skin tone and tanning experience.

She said she didn’t favor either side of the indoor tanning debate, despite being a tanning salon owner. Willis said her family had a history of skin cancer, so she tried to take a more neutral stance.

“I don’t believe it should be swayed one way or the other,” she said. “There are people on both sides trying to sell you something.”

A study in Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research showed that melanoma cases have risen 2,000 percent in the last 75 years. The American Cancer Society projects that 60,000 Americans will be diagnosed with melanoma this year.

Not all students are mindful of their tanning habits, though.

Leina Rogers, Overland Park junior, said she usually went tanning a couple times a week. A friend of Rogers was diagnosed with skin cancer, but Rogers said her friend went tanning two times a day. Despite her friend’s problems, Rogers said she wasn’t worried.

“It would have to be me,” she said.

Rogers thoughts have been reflected in national studies. Some show most people are aware of the dangers of tanning, but they continue to tan anyway.

A 2002 study that focused specifically on college students found that 47 percent of students interviewed had used a tanning bed during the last year. More than 90 percent of the students who had used a tanning bed said they were aware that premature aging and skin cancer might be associated with cancer, according to an article in the Archives of Dermatology.

Daniel Aires, director of the division of dermatology at KU Medical School, said the lag time on skin cancers is usually between 10 and 20 years. He said there were a large number of people with skin cancers in their 30s, 40s and 50s who told him they regretted going tanning.

“The damage people do now when they are young and not thinking about it ends up haunting them later,” he said.

Aires said he would not endorse the use of a tanning bed at a KU facility or anywhere else and that if someone wants to look better, they should exercise at the gym, take a yoga class or, at the very least, use a self-tanner.

“Try to protect your skin because it’s a long term investment,” he said. “All of those things will help your looks immensely much more than an artificial tan.”

Warnings against the risks of tanning are not entirely going unnoticed. Margo Lawer, Eudora junior, whose father and grandfather have battled skin cancer multiple times, said she did not go tanning because of her family’s history.

Lawer said that her father was pale with red hair and that he used to play softball outdoors without sunscreen. She said before he contracted skin cancer her father would joke that beer was his sunscreen.

Now her family understands the threat is real, she said. Lawer’s father has had to undergo chemotherapy several times.

“I saw him in severe discomfort because he was sweating so much, and it got into his scabs,” she said. “After that, it’s not really worth it. If he can’t handle it, there’s no way I could.”

She said she had only been tanning about 10 times in high school and that she went then simply because prom was coming up. She said now if she comes home on the weekend looking even a little darker, her parents question her.

“I don’t want to die, and I don’t want my dad to yell at me,” she said.

— — Edited by Lauren Keith