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The University Daily Kansan
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Sports: Diver Kerri Pribyl rebounds from arm surgery and is back on the board.
SEE PAGE 1B
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2000
Inside: Minnesota and 25 other states sue Publisher's Clearing House for false advertising.
SEE PAGE 6B
(USPS 650-640) • VOL. 110 NO. 82
WWW.KANSAN.COM
University calls off late-night parties
Police, KU officials to discuss night safety because of shooting
By Ryan Blethen
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
James Kitchen, dean of students, issued a
moratorium suspending late-night parties. He said that late-night parties would not resume until safety measures could be put into place to ensure the safety of students. He was not sure what changes would be made.
David Mucci, director of the Kansas and Burge unions, said finding an answer to improve student safety had to be a collaborative effort between the police, the unions, the Office of Multicultural Affairs and students.
Kitchen said that there used to be more safety measures in place, but he did not know why they were abandoned. Seven late-night events have been canceled because of the edict.
The shooting happened shortly after 1:30
am. Sunday at the Frontier Room in the Burge Union Game. Gregory J. Davis, Denver, Colo., senior, was shot in the hip and released from the hospital yesterday. Police are still looking for a man suspected in the shooting, said Sgt. Troy Mallen of the KU Public Safety Office.
When a group uses one of the unions for an event, a building manager works with them. The manager does not act as an event supervisor, Mucci said. It is the group's responsibility to provide security and check for alcohol and weapons. Neither are allowed at campus parties, he said.
Between 300 and 400 people went to the party sponsored by Albha Phi Albha fraternity.
Zeta Phi Beta: Jan. 29
Alpha Phi Alpha: Feb. 5, April 8
Kappa Alpha Psi: March 4
Alpha Kappa Alpha: March 11
Delta Sigma Theta: April 15
Sigma Gamma Rho: May 6
EFFECTED EVENTS
Problems of campus violence are not specific to the University.
"It happens across the nation," Mucci said. "It tends to be nonstudents who come on campus and cause problems."
Todd Cohen, assistant director of University Relations, said that nothing similar to Sunday's shooting had happened before at a campus late-night party.
Selecting flowers for a wedding is just a small part of the planning.
Aimee Hixson, Garden City junior, and Ryan Curnut, Wichita junior, planned much of their June wedding during winter break.
Photo illustration by Lucas W.
Krump/KANSAN
Torn between trends and tradition
writer@kansan.com
By BriAnne Hess
Kansan staff writer
Aimee Hixson, Garden City junior, and Ryan Curnutt, Wichita junior, said they knew marriage was inevitable when they started dating more than seven months ago.
When the couple ties the knot in the middle of June, they will defy current trends by getting married before they graduate. Hisxion said she had three more years of school to complete her visual arts education degree, and Curnutt said he probably would go to seminary or graduate school after his May 2001 graduation.
"We thought about waiting one more year, but I don't want to," Hixson said. "I just want to be married to him. It's going to work for us."
The couple said several factors influenced their decision to get married this summer. Curnutt said their financial situation would improve because they might be eligible for a grant and his parents would assist them. Curnutt also said that getting married now instead of waiting was not easy to describe — it was just something they knew was right.
"It was God's timing for us, which was something we hoped for," Curnutt said.
This mirrors a national trend of marrying later in life. Between 1950 and 1970, the average age for men to marry was 22.8 years old. For women, it was 20.3 years old, according to U.S. Census Bureau. By 1998, the average age had risen to 26.7 years old for men and 25 years old for women.
The couple joins the dwindling population of recorded married students at the University. Since 1983, the number of married students has dropped more than 2,000, according to the Office of Institutional Research and Planning.
"The average college student doesn't feel ready for marriage," Crandall said. "That feeling is a good indication that the person really isn't ready. People who juggle being married and going to college at the same time perform a neat trick."
Chris Crandall, associate professor of psychology, said people tended to negatively correlate going to college and getting married. He said society thought the two did not go together, but sometimes they did.
Crandall recommended that married students wait to have children and develop friends besides one another.
Rosa Skinner, Topeka junior, will marry her high school sweetheart Daniel Billen, Topeka junior, this summer. Skinner had three more semesters left at the University. She said marriage would be easier and cheaper for them.
"The whole relationship thing can take up a lot of your time," Skinner said. "Now it will be really secure because you know you'll be with this person for the rest of your life."
Both Hixson and Skinner will use their married names on their diplomas.
Fermin Santos, Shawnee senior, said he did not want to get involved in a serious relationship this year because he planned to go to medical school next fall. He said he probably had a different attitude than most of his classmates.
"I think that a lot of students are looking for their soul mate because it's their last chance and it's harder for them to have the opportunity to pick and choose on the job." Santos said.
He also said that society's focus on marriage and family had shifted.
"Times have changed where women used to get married and be housewives," Santos said. "I think people expect you to get your degree and settle down and then get married."
Hilltopics special
Homelessness doesn't stop Lawrence man
By Jessie Meyer
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
A man dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt sits in front of a laptop computer in the light of a frosty window in the back corner of a downtown coffeehouse. A customer dressed in black with pierced lips and a stud in his nose interrupts him.
"Hey man, I'm going to take this chair," he said, as he picks up the seat — backpack, jacket and all.
Without a second thought, the man at the computer tosses his things to the floor and relinquishes the chair.
Paul Matthew Bryant, the man at the computer, has done everything right. He went to college and worked diligently by staying up nights studying and writing papers. Now, Bryant, age 32, writes in the back room of a downtown coffee shop instead of at the library. He stays up all night; not to study, but because it is illegal to sleep on the streets in Lawrence.
Bryant is homeless.
He is a curious, destitute man with eight years of college education, a 860,000 student loan debt and a virtually useless bachelor's degree in computer science.
He is the modern homeless American, with dreams, jobs, even cars, but, still, has no place to live.
There is scarcely a whisker on this homeless man's face, and his prematurely graying brown hair is clean cut. It is the passbys who wear torn clothes, several rings through their noses and can use a bath. They pass Bryant without a glance. No one would know that he has been homeless for more than two years.
Those who work with the homeless say Bryant's case isn't really that unusual. Chris Hess, Wichita senior in social welfare and Bryant's case manager and advocate, said he had known men and women with Ph.D.s who had held jobs as lawyers and engineers before becoming homeless.
"The simple fact is that anyone can become homeless and stay homeless for a long time," Hess said. "Paul is intelligent, hard working, honest and makes good decisions."
No, Bryant, who ran for the Lawrence City Commission last year, is not mentally unbalanced, addicted to alcohol or a past victim of child abuse. His college degree and his graduate school record at the University of Kansas are legitimate. He is homeless because he did what everyone said he had to do; he went to college.
"I went to college because it was drilled into my head that if you don't, you'll never survive." Bryant said without hesitation. "A Ph.D. was the goal."
Now, struggling to survive, the Michigan native explained his life story over a cup of coffee in Java Break's back room, 17 E. Seventh St.
He fumbled through a couple of directionless years at Michigan State University before transferring to Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Mich. There, he decided to major in computer science and slid the system with ease. With a bachelor's degree in hand, Bryant and his wife moved from Michigan to Lawrence on Aug. 1, 1992. A KU master's degree and the chance to one day become a teacher became his dreams.
See COLLEGE on page 8A
Committee may eliminate some funding for athletics
By Erin R. Barcomb
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Korb Maxwell, student body president, said he expected an exciting debate when a proposition to eliminate a portion of student fees that funds the University of Kansas Athletics Corp. goes before the Campus Fee Review Committee next month.
Maxwell said he would like to eliminate the part of student fees that gave the KUAC about $650,000 annually. Instead, he wants the KUAC to pick up the cost. The money subsidizes the University's 18 nonrevenue programs.
While the idea has been reviewed in the past, this is the first time a proposal would eliminate that portion of the fees entirely.
Bob Frederick, athletics director, said there would not be enough money to support nonrev
"We're like a parent with 350 kids. We're not a service like the library or unions, but we're paying a lot of fees."
Bob Frederick Athletics Director
enue sports if fees were eliminated — despite the money earned from men's basketball, the only revenue-generating sport, and football, which breaks even.
"We can't replace that money without either finding a way to come up with another $850,000 or cutting programs," Frederick said.
See FEES on page 3A
Professor to retire
Bob Minor, professor of religious studies, speaks to one of his classes. Minor will retire at the end of the semester to continue his work as an activist. See full story on page 5A.
Photo by Melissa Thornton/KANSAN.