The overlooked, underrated, and forgotten ...

[tequila]

Given Lawrence's history and that of your own educational institution, that sounds pretty much like what you would expect. Delegitimization of the "other" side's activities as little more than criminal violence is one of the more historically common propaganda tactics. Of course, as you noted, the proslavery "ruffians" from Mizzou would probably view the "outlawry" as legitimate resistance against an aggressive invasion by ideologically-driven abolitionist partisans.

Actually, I think Gian's point and the historical example of Kansas show just how much local politics can be influenced by national disputes. Kansas would never have bled at all, and likely Lawrence would never have been founded, if not for the Kansas/Nebraska Act of 1854 and the nullification of the old Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850.