THE UNIVERSITY DARYA KANSAN
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007
NEWS
3A
DOLE INSTITUTE
Conservative writer to discuss memoir
Author involved in 2003 Valerie Plame leak
BY SASHA ROE
sroe@kansan.com
Robert Novak, the author who in July 2003 wrote the column that identified Valerie Plame as a CIA operative, will visit the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics tonight to share 50 years of experience in political journalism. Novak will discuss both controversy and success as he talks about his new book, "The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington," at 7:30 p.m.
Novak has worked for The Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal. Today, he writes a nationally syndicated column, "Inside Report," for the Chicago Sun-Times, and he is a contributor for CNN and FOX News. His memoir came out last summer.
The nickname "The Prince of Darkness" came from Novak's friend, reporter John Lindsay, who thought Novak had a dismal view of humankind.
Beka Romm, Dole Institute student outreach coordinator, said she expected some interesting questions and responses because of Novak's recent notoriety from the scandal.
Novak received information regarding Plame's CIA involvement from two Bush administration officials, and he published what he learned in a column titled "Mission to Niger." Plame's husband, former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson, had written a column discrediting reports of Iraqi attempts to obtain uranium from Niger. The leak scandal led to a federal grand jury investigation and former White House aide Scooter Libby being convicted of lying and obstructing the investigation.
Along with Novak's fame, Romm said his abundance of experience
with political reporting also made him a notable guest.
"Students on this campus may not necessarily be a huge fan of his, but I think he's kind of one of those guests they are curious about," Romm said. "They want to see what makes him tick."
Barbara Ballard, Dole Institute associate director of outreach, said Novak's visit highlighted the diverse range of guests the institute brought in and the purpose of their visits.
"We try to bring in a diverse population of speakers so our students have an opportunity to hear what these people think." Ballard said.
Ballard said Novak was an exciting person to have visit because he was well known and people might have read his columns or watched him on the news. She said that with so much experience and one of the longest-syndicated columns, the conservative Novak reached a large audience of both fans and foes.
"He has one of the longest-running columns in the nation, so he's got to have sustainability," Ballard said. "Regardless of how far right or left you are, people develop a mutual respect for what you do."
Ballard said Novak would bring in an inquisitive audience. She said it served a campus well when students could see the speaker in person, regardless of their personal views, and form their own opinions.
"You'll have people that will just love him and people that will just hate him, and others that come out because these are the people they've seen on TV and they want to see their viewpoints," Ballard said.
Novak also will have a book signing following the lecture.
Edited by Tara Smith
》 STUDENT SENATE
Inflation causes University organizations to request more money from students
BY ERIN SOMMER
esommer@kansan.com
Committee to discuss fee increase
The Campus Fee Review Committee will meet today to discuss whether to raise student fees for next year.
The committee, a subcommittee of Student Senate's Finance Committee, will discuss presentations that were made on Saturday by eight entities that depend on student fees. At that meeting, all eight entities asked for a raise in their current fees.
The presentations included a simulation showing how much each entity expected its costs to rise through the fiscal year 2015.
"If your costs go up, something has to go up," Chappell said.
Mary Chappell, director of Recreation Services, said her organization, along with the other entities, had to ask for an increase in fees to make up for inflation.
Alex Porte, Great Falls, Va. sophomore and assistant treasurer.
said the meeting would look at the necessity of the fee requests made in the presentations.
"If there are any fees raised it will be in the line of what the University needs, rather than what the University wants." Porte said.
He said that no final decisions would be made regarding student fees at today's meeting, but the committee would use the meeting as an opportunity to discuss the Annual Fluctuation Fee Bill, a list of fee increases.
Porte said that the committee would then write the Annual Fluctuation Fee Bill sometime after the meeting. That bill will then be voted on in the Finance Committee. If the bill passes in the Finance Committee, it will be voted on by Student Senate.
Porte also said he expected the Annual Fluctuation Fee Bill to be presented to the Finance Committee before the end of the fall semester.
According to Student Senate Rules and Regulations, the Campus
Fee Review Committee spends the fall semester reviewing possible fee changes because of inflation and rising oil prices, and spends the spring semester reviewing possible fee changes for service costs, such as a new program that a University entity may want to implement.
Emily Williams, Overland Park senior and member of the Campus Fee Review Committee, said the committee existed to provide input into and oversee student fees.
"Student fees have to be increased for maintaining quality of programs and services and our consensus is that it's going to be easier to raise fees in small increments than burdening certain groups of students with large increases," Williams said.
The Campus Fee Review Committee meets today from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Wheat Room in the Kansas Union.
Edited by Jeff Briscoe
making requests
Eight University entities met with the Campus Fee Review Committee on Saturday and asked for increases in the amount of money they received from student fees. They are:
- Campus Environmental Improvement Fee
- Campus Transportation Fee
- Legal Services for Students Fee
- Borrowing
» WORLD
- Student Health, Facilities,
- Maintenance, Repair and
- Equipment Fee
- Student Health Fee
• Student Recreation Fitness Center Fee
- Student Union Building Fee
Egypt announces nuclear power aspirations
BY SALLY BUZBEE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO, Egypt — Egypt's president announced plans Monday to build several nuclear power plants — the latest in a string of ambitious such proposals from moderate Arab countries. The United States immediately welcomed the plan, a sharp contrast to what it called nuclear "cheating" by Iran.
President Hosni Mubarak said the aim was to diversify Egypt's energy resources and preserve its oil and gas reserves for future generations. He pledged that Egypt would work with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency at all times and would not seek a nuclear bomb.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. did not object to the program as long as Egypt adhered to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and International Atomic Energy Agency guidelines.
The United States has accused Iran of using the cover of a peaceful nuclear program to secretly work toward building a bomb, an allege-
But Mubarak also made it clear there were strategic reasons for the program, calling secure sources of energy "an integral part of Egypt's national security system."
"The problem has arisen, specifically in the case of Iran, where you have a country that has made certain commitments, and in our view and the shared view of many ... (is) cheating on those obligations," he said.
"For those states who want to pursue peaceful nuclear energy ... that's not a problem for us," McCormack said. "Those are countries that we can work with."
tion Iran denies. Iran asserts it has a right to peaceful nuclear power and needs it to meet its economy's voracious energy needs.
Iran's program has prompted several Mideast countries to announce plans of their own — to blunt Tehran's rising regional influence.
"A lot of this is political and strategic," said Jon Wolfsthal, a nonproliferation expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Egypt's nuclear ambition is a response to the proposed opening of Iran's nuclear plant next year.
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