6A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
>> LAWRENCE
TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2008
Hawk talkin' with KU coaches
Weston White/KANSAN
Kansas coach Bill Self answers a caller's question during the Hawk Talk radio show. The show runs from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. every Monday. Self, women's basketball coach Bonnie Henrickson and football coach Mark Mangino go to local restaurants during their respective on seasons to discuss past and upcoming games.
Weston White/KARSM
BY LUKE MORRIS
lmorris@kansan.com
Radio programs with Jayhawk coaches have given three Lawrence restaurants a way to draw in customers and support the University of Kansas athletics teams. At the same time, successful seasons increase program attendance.
Paddy O'Quigley's, 200 McDonald Drive, Henry T's Bar & Grill, 3520 W. Sixth St., and Salty Iguana, 4931 W. Sixth St., all play host to "Hawk Talk" radio programs featuring coaches from Jayhawk sports teams. During the program, coaches will talk about previous games, upcoming games and player progress and sometimes answer fans' questions.
Monday night more than 115 people were at the Salty Iguana as men's basketball coach Bill Self recorded his "Hawk Talk" program live in the restaurant. Customers seated out of view of Self lined up against a wall, drinking from glasses with a portrait of an iguana-like Self on them. One employee said that attendance was increasing with every victory.
Chris Atkins, hospitality manager at Carlos O'Kelly's Mexican Cafe, 707 W. 23rd St., said that when his restaurant played host to "Hawk Talk" with Self two seasons ago, 75 to 100 customers showed up for
"There were quite a few people who came in week after week to listen to what Coach had to say," Atkins said.
the program. He said that many regulars would attend "Hawk Talk" every week.
Carlos O'Kelly's did not renew its contract to play host to the show. Salty Iguana signed a three-year contract to play host to Self's program beginning last season.
The allures of hosting the programs are customer attraction and advertising, according to Jason Booker, general manager of Jayhawk Sport Marketing.
"We give hosts plenty of advertising benefits," Booker said. "They're on the video board at games and in the programs."
Henry T's plays host to women's
basketball "Hawk Talk" with coach Bonnie Henrickson. Manager Sean Gerrity said that plenty of customers came in on "Hawk Talk" nights to listen to Henrickson.
"We typically get around 40 to 80 customers on those nights, but it's been around 100 before," Gerrity said. "That's about 30 to 50 percent more customers than other nights."
Paddy O'Quigley's food and beverage manager Matthew Rudy said that his restaurant picked up "Hawk Talk" with football coach Mark Mangino for the customer attraction.
"We just wanted to get more business and more people in here," Rudy said. "We're a sports bar, so having him here was a great fit."
Booker said that most often Jayhawk Sports Marketing
approached venues about playing host for the programs, but that there was still competition to play host.
"They love having that tie with being a part of KU athletics," Booker said. "It's an integral part of the community. It is a branding of 'Hey we're involved with KU'"
Neither Jayahawk Sports Marketing nor any restaurant would reveal what was paid to play host, but Gerrity said that Henry T's had previously quit playing host to Henrickson's program for a few years because the rights were "too expensive." He also said that Henry T's couldn't afford 'Hawk Talk' with Self or Mangino.
"Hawk Talk" programs air on two stations in Lawrence, KLWN 1320 AM and KLZR 10.5 FM
Edited by Katherine Loeck
CAMPUS
Lectures will focus on climate change
BY MARY SORRICK msorrick@kansan.com
Many classes across campus win share a similar focus on Wednesday and Thursday; global warming.
Almost 50 professors at the University from an array of academic departments have signed up to participate in a nationwide effort to incorporate issues related to global warming in their Wednesday or Thursday lectures. The event called the National Teach-In is an initiative devised by Focus the Nation, a national organization dedicated to global warming education.
The Center for Sustainability, which promotes research for environmental improvement, and KU Hillet, an organization comprised of Jewish students, joined together to sponsor the Teach-In at the University.
Matt Lehman, program director for KU Hillel, said the Teach-In was tailored to fit in at the University.
"We decided to adapt the Teach In so that the issues could be brought directly to class." Lehrman said.
Stacey White, director of academic programs at the Center for Sustainability, said the event would provide the opportunity for discussion in any class with a connection to climate change.
White, who also teaches an urban planning class as a faculty member of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, will devote a portion of her Wednesday lecture to the role of planners in addressing climate change.
Jane VanderVelo, lecturer in the department of English, said she likes to keep students informed about global warming.
"We're already behind on educating people about it." VanderVelde said. "I want to use the opportunity to have students read and write and learn about it."
VanderVelde plans to have the students in each of her three sections of English 101 read articles about cocoa farming, deforestation and reducing the use of plastics.
>> FORUM
Bruce Lieberman, professor of geology, has also committed to the Teach-In for his Geology 121 lecture on Thursday.
The class, which focuses on prehistoric life, lends itself to the aims of the Teach-In.
"I always talk about this stuff!" Lieberman said. "But I'll adjust the lecture a little to look at how humans influence climate change and major episodes of extinction."
Lieberman said students too often get information about climate change from unreliable sources in the media rather than in the classroom.
"People need to know the scientific evidence of global warming and what the consequences will be," he said. "Taking steps to fix it certainly beats dying or living under water."
To complement the Teach In, the Center for Sustainability and KU Hillel will also sponsor a Focus the Nation roundtable on Thursday at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics. The round table will feature a discussion of climate change solutions by panelists, including U.S. Sen. Nancy Boyda (D-Kan.), U.S. Sen. Dennis Moore (D-Kan.), Lawrence mayor Sue Hack and provost and executive vice chancellor Richard Lariviere. The event will start at 7:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
— Edited by Sasha Roe
Department of Defense looks to students for military blogs
BY FRANCESCA CHAMBERS fchambers@kansan.com
The Department of Defense has figures like President Bush and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at its finger-tips. But tonight, the department is looking to students for advice on how the military can become more transparent through blogging.
Jack Holt, chief of new media operations for the Department of Defense, said he was interested in finding out what students see in the future of blogging because he said students are the group of people blogging most affects.
Holt asked.
"If we're investing money in the way we communicate, what's going to be a better use of taxpayer dollars?"
Holt and two military bloggers, Ward Carroll and John Donovan, will speak and answer questions with students and the rest of the Lawrence community at 7 p.m. at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics. David Perlmutter, associate dean of the School of Journalism, will moderate the session, "Military Bloggers and Americas Wars."
Donovan is a retired soldier and is currently a defense contractor. Carroll is the editor of military.com, which provides information about a range of military related topics, including military blogs. He is also a former naval officer and an author of military fiction novels.
Holt said the Department of Defense's new media program began in 2006. His job was to search for bloggers that have demonstrated an interest in the military and send them e-mail updates about military issues. He said he was also in charge of the military bloggers' roundtable at the department. He said the department usually held its roundtable discussions after military press conferences.
Holt said the U.S. Command Central combatant commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan initiated the new media program because they noticed there was a lot of erroneous information in the blogosphere. Holt said the lack of information in the mainstream media caused misinformation on the
internet.
Sean Borton, Lawrence senior and former Army member, said he thought it was essential that military bloggers have a military background to understand what happens in the military. But, he said he thought the Department of Defense was taking a positive step by reaching out to military bloggers and students.
"The way they are going about it is probably the best way because as this becomes more popular, you will have more people who try to put words in people's mouths," Borton said. "So people like Mr. Holt, for example, being a moderator, are positive."
Carroll said he and other military bloggers wrote about anything from
defense technology to rumors about the military. He said the reason military blogs have increased in popularity is because of the conversational tone of a blog.
"It has an edge you can't find in a newspaper," Carroll said.
Not only have military blogs increased in popularity, but according to Carroll the legitimacy of military bloggers has also increased.
With this legitimacy, Carrol said if he requested a meeting with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he would probably receive it. In fact, he said a group of military bloggers were
invited to a meeting with President Bush in September, which he said speaks to the impact of military blogs.
Carroll said the Internet has helped inform people in a more balanced way and so was interested in hearing students' feelings about the Bush administration.
Jonathan Earle, interim director of the Dole Institute, said the popularity of the institute's "Blog to the Chief" question and answer session was the inspiration for discussion.
INTERNATIONAL
Edited by Nick Manqiaracina
Hamas, Egypt cooperate to control Gaza border
BY OMAR SINAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
RAFAH, Egypt-Hamas militants joined Egyptian forces for a second day Monday in trying to restore control at three breaches in the Gaza border, building a chain-link fence to seal one opening and directing traffic at two others.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have flooded into Egypt unchecked over the past six days since Hamas militants blasted holes in the border partition. They have been voraciously buying up food, fuel and other goods made scarce by Israeli and Egyptian closures of Gaza's borders.
Hamas seized control of the Palestinian territory in June but before the breach, it had no role in policing the border with Egypt. Now the Islamic militant group is hoping that will change now and it is pressing for some kind of future role in border administration.
At a meeting in Cairo, Arab
governments were forceful in their opposition to that idea.
Egypt and the foreign ministers of the Arab League have firmly backed the Palestinian Authority led by moderate President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah in its power struggle against rival Hamas. They have called for a return to a 2005 international border monitoring agreement that excluded the Islamist organization entirely.
"They (Hamas) should not interfere. They should just simply get out of the way and allow this to happen," Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who heads a rival government in the West Bank, told reporters after returning from Cairo.
"There has been continuous and direct cooperation with Egyptian security officials over the last couple of days," said a bearded Hamas security official dressed in blue camouflage and sporting an assault rifle.
In the divided town of Rafah, however, Hamas forces were very much in control.
"They asked us to only allow trucks to enter and not civilian cars to make the operation as orderly as possible."
Food and fuel were in short supply in Gaza since Israel, responding to growing rocket attacks from Gaza, sealed its border days before the militants blasted open the Egyptian frontier further to the south.
Traffic was still chaotic on the Egyptian side as more Palestinians poured in to snap up whatever goods they could find.
"Egypt intends to gradually regain control of its border with Gaza and bring the situation back to an acceptable form," said Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abd郭 Gheit in a message to European countries and the United States.
In Washington, the State Department said it was critical to get the border under control while addressing both the humanitarian needs of the Palestinians in Gaza and
The Egyptians deployed about 100 riot police at the two remaining openings Monday.
Israel's legitimate right to defend itself.
Spokesman Sean McCormack said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke on Sunday to Aboul Gheit. He urged a return to an arrangement Rice brokered in 2005, before Hamas seized Gaza, in which the border was controlled by the Palestinian Authority, Israel, and European monitors.
The arrangement collapsed after Hamas forcibly seized control of Gaza from Fatah in June.
"It's a border that needs to be controlled in some form or fashion and that is previously what we had," McCormack told reporters. "You need to get back to a circumstance where it is under control. It's a very difficult situation," he added.
For their part, officials from the EU expressed a willingness to resume their monitoring role under the 2005 agreement, but only if it was under Palestinian Authority, rather than Hamas control.