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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VOL.116 ISSUE 76
THURSDAY. DECEMBER 8.2005
FACULTY
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Mirecki resigns as chairman
BY FRANK TANKARD
itankard@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
KU professor Paul Mirecki resigned from his position as chairman of the department of religious studies Wednesday. He will continue to teach in the department.
last two weeks after e-mails he had sent to a mailing list became public.
Mirecki, who joined the KU faculty in 1989, drew criticism from University of Kansas officials and state legislators in the
In the e-mails, he made remarks about Christian fundamentalists that some considered offensive, including one message that the intelligent design class he
Mirecki
planned to teach in the spring would serve as a "nice slap" in the "big fat face" of religious fundamentalists. He apologized and canceled the class last week.
intelligent design controversy. Mirecki spent between three and four hours at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
On Monday morning, Mirecki reported to the Douglas County Sheriff's Department that two men beat him with their fists and a metal object in the head, shoulders and back on a roadside south of Lawrence. He said the attackers referenced the
Mirecki submitted his resignation letter to Barbara Romzek, interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He said in the letter that he decided to resign as departmental chairman because of the controversy. He also said colleagues in the department recommended that he step down.
Romzek said in a statement that she was in discussions with religious studies faculty about appointing an interim chairperson.
"This allows the department to focus on what's most important — teaching, research and service — and to minimize the distractions of the last couple of weeks," she said.
Andrew Stangl, president of the Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics, the 121-person student group for which
Mirecki serves as faculty adviser, said Mirecki told him on Tuesday that he would step down as department chairman.
"It's just another symptom of what's been going on the last couple of weeks," said Stangl, Wichita junior. "As a result of Dr. Mirecki sharing private opinions of his, he became public enemy number-one in the eyes of the Legislature."
SEE MIRECKI ON PAGE 5A
Snow savvy
Kim Andrews/KANSAN
Chelsie Foty, Hopkins, Minn. senior, has the snow removal routine down. She knew just the steps to take to get her car cleared off and running Wednesday, when Lawrence received its first significant snowfall of the year. Minnesota winters have made Foty accustomed to heavy snows.
STUDENT HOUSING
Alarms heeded even in snow
BY JOIN JORDAN
jjordan@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Melissa Evans left Margaret Amira Scholarship Hall at 10:45 Wednesday morning in her flip-flops and dashed over to K.K. Amira Scholarship Hall. When Evans, Topeka junior, left the hall, it was snowing and the wind chill was zero degrees Fahrenheit.
She and 20 other girls waited in the lobby of the neighboring scholarship hall because of another fire alarm.
Margaret Amini had two false fire alarms in less than 12 hours, during some of the coldest weather of the semester.
Tuesday night, alarms went
The detector in question was replaced and then cleaned and tested in the maintenance shop.
off about 11 p.m. and maintenance crews weren't able to turn alarms in the residents' rooms for three hours, Evans said.
Avila said the false alarms were caused by either the dirty detector or a power "bump." Avila said the cold or wind could have caused a power bump and that fire detectors were sensitive to them.
The hall's problems came from a fire detector in the laundry room, said Vince Avila, associate director for housing shop maintenance.
SEE COLD ON PAGE 5A
BUSINESS
Rachel Seymour/KANSAN
Tobacco groups use bars to hook students
By Gaby Souza
gsouza@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Just before stepping outside, the O'Fallon, Mo., senior, handed his driver's license to a young man dressed in a white T-shirt and jeans. The man slid the license through a scanner, gave it back to Kelly, and with a smile handed him a reward: Camel cigarettes.
Joel Kelly couldn't light up inside the Granada, but he scored two free packs of Camels in the nightclub and joined the crowd outside holding smoldering cigarettes between their fingers.
Tobacco marketers have made Lawrence bars hot spots to attract college-age customers, despite the city-wide ban on smoking in public buildings.
When Kelly gave his driver's license information to a representative from Camel cigarettes, he was signing up for frequent mailings, and gifts of shot glasses, money clips and cigarette cases — each of them containing tobacco companies' logos.
Long barred from television and radio advertising, tobacco companies were further restricted in how, where and to whom they could advertise by the 1998 settlement of a lawsuit brought by 46 states including Kansas. That kept tobacco companies from advertising through sponsorships in sports, such as NASCAR's Winston Cup. They were also banned from using product placement in movies, advertising on billboards and in publications circulated to individuals under the age of 18. Free samples were only allowed in
Tobacco companies are 'diabolically clever' in their advertising teqchniques to students,said Linda Lee associated professor of journalism.
adult-only facilities.
Bars in college towns have become target locations because they offer the youngest possible candidates to become new smokers in an environment where alcohol consumption could make them more vulnerable to those messages, critics say.
Young age high market
Tobacco companies focus 70 percent of their advertising on 18-to-24-year-olds, according to the Federal Trade Commission. In Kansas alone, tobacco companies spend $125.9 million each year in advertising, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. By that percent measure, about $88 million
SEE TARGETED ON PAGE 4A
Today's weather
Bowl special section
Bowl special section Kansas might not play Houston until Dec. 23 but everything you need to know about the Fort Worth Bowl is available now. PAGE 1B
Players switch strengths
Players switch strengths Ivana Catic's scoring and Erica Hallman's assists helped lead Kansas to a victory in last night's match-up against UMKC. PAGE 1C
Jayplay Deck the halls with lots of Jayplay's! Fa la la la la la la la la la. 'Tis the season to read Jayplay! Fa la la la la la la la la la.
Index
Comics...10A
Classifieds...9A
Crossword...10A
Horoscopes...10A
Opinion...11A
Sports...1C
All contents, unless stated otherwise.
© 2005 The University Daily Kansan