lifestyles
Turnout or Burnout?
Today Americans will choose many of their government representatives. But the majority of KU students will choose to keep their voice silent.
By Casey Barnes
Kansan staff writer
Today is Election Day. And if you are not voting, you are not alone.
Students on the KU campus and in the Lawrence High classrooms make up an age group that is generally not represented strongly at the voting booths.
Burdett Loomis, professor of political science, said he never had seen much excitement in voting at KU.
Illustration by Noah Musser
For some students, the issues are not important. Others said they simply did not care about the election or the issues being presented, which are not attitudes that are new to college campuses.
"There is a general lack of interest in politics for students," Loomis said. "I can't remember a time when the campus has been involved."
Loomis said there were many reasons why students did not vote.
Some students are from other states and are not registered in Kansas, others do not think that the issues affect them directly.
Loomis said this election could be to blame because there had not been important reasons for people to get involved in the process.
"People from the ages of 20 to 22 are interested in all kinds of issues, including health care and the deficit," Loomis said. "But the candidates have not brought forward issues that would encourage people to vote."
Another deterrent from the voting booth is the negative campaigning that has consumed most of the debates and television advertisements.
"There is a cultural disbelief and alienation from the election," he said. "There is a low trust of politicians in general because of the negative television cam-
Dan Hubbard, president of College Republican, said students, like most people, were getting lost in the candidates' mud slinging.
"People are getting tired of the candidates
cuss anything because they are too busy pointing fingers." Hubbard said. "Everybody feels like they are being left out because what is being discussed is not important to them or is too negative. Nobody wants to be a part of that dark mood."
James Nguyen, Wichita junior, said he had noticed candidates' mud slinging, and if he were voting, it would definitely influence
his decisions.
"I'm not that involved in politics," Nguyen said. "I have other things on my mind. But I think the commercials are funny because they just bash on each other. The people that impress me are the ones that don't have to use negative tactics to win. I would vote for them."
Maggie Wilson, Lawrence High School senior, said negative campaigning was a waste of time because it avoided the real issues. She has been interested in politics for many years, but this is the first election she has been able to vote in because she just
Politics are important to Wilson. She is concerned with the sales tax and supports the high school bond issue, but she said she was probably in the minority of those her age who cared.
She said campus groups such as the College Republicans and a few candidates have come to visit Lawrence High to get more students involved in politics.
She said that she thought students did not take an interest in local politics because they did not plan on living in Kansas.
METALSMITHING KU's program is the United States' oldest. An exhibit featuring examples of the program's art is on display now.
Editor's note: Because of a computer error, an article in Thursday's Kansan was illegible. Here is that same article.
Story and photo by Jenny Brannan
Kansan staff writer
Ebendorf is one of 34 Kansas metalsmiths featured in the exhibit "Kansas Metalsmithing: The History and Influence" at the Art and Design Gallery. The show opened Oct. 30 and ends Nov. 18. The show is free.
Bob Ebendorf walks the streets looking for junk — a piece of a taillight, a bottle cap, a stone from the beach. After he adds some silver, some creativity and some craftsmanship, he has a ring worth displaying in an art gallery.
The show celebrates the metalsmithing program at the University of Kansas, which is the oldest four-year metals program at a U.S. university. All of the artists involved either graduated from the University or teach in Kansas schools.
"The University has been extremely supportive of this venture, and I think rightfully so," said Lin Stanionis, assistant professor of design. "I think it speaks well about what happens at this University."
The show includes two works of jewelry, sculpture and functional art, as well as pieces from current KU seniors in metalmithing. Bob Havener, professor of design and the exhibit curator, said the exhibit took a year to plan, with the help of the other professors in the program. He
chose pieces from each artist's collection that illustrated the influences and history of metallisming in Kansas.
"We wanted the strongest point of view that showed the diversity and strength of their work." Stanionis said.
Stanionis said there was a strong sense of pride behind the show because many of the KU graduates in the survey had gone on to be known worldwide for their work.
"It shows the potential of the kind of students that come here," Stanionis said. "We want to be seen as a place of intellectual activity. There is cutting edge work being done here."
The survey includes everything from silver soup ladles to anodized aluminum space ships. Some of the pieces date back to the beginning of the KU metalsmithing program, illustrating how the art has changed.
Carlyle Smith, former professor of design, began the jewelry and metalsmithing program at the University in 1947 after apprentice work in jewelry manufacturing in Rhode Island. During the first year of the program, 14 students were enrolled for the bachelor's degree in metallings. Now there are three full-time faculty members, 32 undergraduates and four graduate students. The survey represented Smith's and KU's connection to the world of metalworking.
"The history in the show would be Smith and the people from his generation who have gone on to be successful, expand the field and now teach," Stanison said.
Stanionis said the program emphasized creativity in the students instead of concentrating completely on theory. It urges functional expression with as little compromise to theory as possible, which gives the artists styles of their own, she said.
"Even at a fairly early stage, we encourage the students to develop an idea of what their work is about and why they are making it," she said.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Lead Storv
News of the Weird
A small part of the reason for excessive mail delays around Washington, D.C., was revealed in October when thousands of pieces of undelivered mail were found in the upscale Washington apartment of postal worker Robert Williams Boggs, 48. Also found in the apartment — of more concern to his neighbors — were 58 live birds and turtles and 30 dead animals and large deposits of human and animal waste.
The Continuing Crisis
According to a grievance by workers at a Mississippi poultry plant, as reported in U.S. News and World Report in July, the company does not permit workers more than three bathroom breaks a week without a doctor's note and employees must pay 10 cents a cup for drinking water on the job.
Undignified Deaths
In October in St. Louis, according to police, Robert Puelo, 32, stole a hot dog from a 7-Eleven and left the store, cramming it into his mouth as he ran. Minutes later, Puelo choked to death on a 6-inch piece of the hot dog that lodged in his throat.
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