Tomorrow's weather
AAAAAAHHH
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
sunny and balmy.
Kansan
Campus today
KU Environs and national environmental activist groups are pushing Coca-Cola to use recycled materials in its bottling process.
Wednesday
November, 3 1999
Section:
A
Vol. 110 • No. 54
SEE PAGE 3A
Vol.110No.54
Sports today
The Kansas men's basketball team was voted to win the Big 12 Conference by the media, and the women were picked to finish second.
SEE PAGE 1B
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Suggestion for traffic restriction still idling
By Nathan Willis
writer@kanson.com
Kanson staff writer
Jayhawk Boulevard may be closed to all traffic except service, delivery and emergency traffic and KU on Wheels buses for most of each school day as early as next year — if a proposal by the provost can clear several obstacles before then.
Earlier this semester, Provost David Shulenburger asked the parking board to consider the ramifications of removing all the parking spaces along the street from Bailey Hall to the Chi Omega fountain.
"My concern is safety," Shulenburger said. "Lots of people are going back and forth across the boulevard, and their sight distance is blocked off by cars around them."
However, greater safety would come at a price. For one, the loss of the 110 parking spots along the boulevard, which are zoned blue and reserved for faculty and staff, would make an already tight parking situation on the Hill worse, said Morris D. Faiman, parking board chairman.
However, Shulenburger said he would like to close the boulevard after the new 818-space parking garage being built north of the Kansas Union opens in the summer of 2000. The new garage could alleviate most of the problems caused by the loss of spaces on the Hill, he said.
But the parking board has discovered several other problems.
"The reaction has been, 'Ooh, this is going to present a lot of problems,' " Faiman said. "It's not a simple matter just to close the boulevard. Can it work? I don't know."
One of the major obstacles is providing access for the handicapped and remaining in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires handicapped-accessible parking, he said.
Another problem is that closing the boulevard would impede visitors' access to the main section of campus, he said.
"There are a lot of visitors to this campus," Faiman said. "A lot of them come to Strong Hall. How do you get those folks up there?"
"We need to think about those things," he said.
"But I'm more concerned about human life."
Shulenburger said he recognized that there were difficulties to be overcome, but he said the safety of everyone on campus remained his overriding concern.
with safety in mind, Shulenburger also said he would consider restricting traffic flow on the boulevard for a longer period each school day than the present 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. restricted hours.
Faiman said nothing was likely to be done soon. He said the parking board probably would not make any decisions until after the new parking garage was open.
Don Kearns, parking director, said at yesterday's board meeting that Shulenburger had asked him to hold off acting on closing the boulevard for now.
Meanwhile, Korb Maxwell, student body president, said students should benefit from the proposal because no student parking spaces would be affected, it would improve the campus' beauty and would increase students' safety.
"We aren't the ones losing spaces," he said. "It's not even a student issue, really."
Artistic seating
Jeff Burtin, Topeka sophomore, and Tamara Christensen, vice-chairwoman of the Industrial Designers of America, observe a handful of the One Hundred Giants of Chair Design exhibit last night at the school of Fine Arts. The exhibit featured 100 exhibits by different artists including one by Frank Lloyd Wright. Photo by Nick Krug/KANSAN
Manning the house not just women's work
Male housemom adds variety, fun to fraternity
By Lori O'Toole
By lari O'Toole
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Dave Ryan does not mind being called a housemate — he said it's an honor.
Ryan, who also will answer to housedad, has been Triangle fraternity's house director for nearly five years and was the University of Kansas' first male housemom.
As house director, Ryan, who would not give his age, has done many things he never imagined himself doing, including teaching etiquette to male college students.
Dave Ryan has been a housemate at Triangle fraternity for almost five years. His favorite part about the job is that it gives him the chance to work with fraternity members, including Jason Bogner, Washington D.C., junior; Justin Poplin, Baldwin junior; and Robert Hamm. Newton junior, pictured left to right. Photo by Roger Neman/KANSAN
"I'm sure some of the other housemoms do a better job than I do," Ryan said. laughing.
However, with his help, dozens of men have learned how to properly set a table and prepare for job interviews.
There was also the time several years ago when Ryan performed in a Blues Brothers skit with fraternity member Patrick Everley, a Eudora junior who is now the house president.
Ryan works from the fraternity
The two men, dressed as John Belushi and Dan Akroyd, danced and sang on stage in the Kansas Union for part of a Mr. Greek competition. Ryan also did a cartwheel, which the fraternity members had taught him to do in the basement of their house.
He has plenty to keep him busy when he's not turning cartwheels.
"We blew away that talent show," Ryan said.
house, 1144 W. 11th St., as an independent computer contractor. He also performs his typical housemom duties, including coordinating the meal menus, conducting house maintenance and keeping in touch with alumni.
His computer expertise also has allowed him to set up a computer network in the house, advise on computer problems and help the house with its Web site.
"I love working with these students," Ryan said. "This is my area of expertise."
He was a hall director for five years at universities in Nebraska and Wisconsin and handled activity planning for 18 years. Before he accepted his job with the fraternity, he also worked in KU's department of student housing and as a computer systems specialist in Strong Hall.
He said he missed the student interaction with those jobs and was glad to start working at the Triangle house. When he accepted the job in 1995, he said he'd stay for only two years. But he has yet to pack his bags.
"It's the most enjoyable thing I've ever done," he said.
Ryan said that gender boundaries had never been a problem. He attends the monthly housemom meetings and has convinced several housemoms to begin playing poker with him.
"I've never been welcomed into a group as fast before in my life," he said. "It's a peer group that's a lot of fun. I had no problem with any attitudes, especially considering this is an area that was gender specific for many, many years."
Ryan's lifestyle with the house led
him to be voted "least changed" by his former high school classmates at a recent reunion in Plattesmouth, Neb.
"I said 'Why should I change? I'm still with the same age group as when I was back with you guv.'" he said.
Although Ryan was the University's first male housemom, he is not the only one. Phi Kappa Tau fraternity has a new house director this year, Pat Martin, who replaced another male housemom who worked at the house for two years.
Jason Bogner, Washington, D.C., junior, has lived in the Triangle house for three years.
He said he was surprised when he found out his housemom was male, but that he was glad Ryan worked there. Bogner said Ryan was always willing to go pick up school supplies or to give him a ride anywhere he needed to go. He said he also thought that Ryan's sense of humor made him a good fit for the job.
"I think he knows a lot more what the guys are going through than the regular housemom would," Bogner said. "He's really easygoing, easy to talk to and down-to-earth. He's a really nice guy."
—Edited by Julia Nichols
Suicide quilt commemorates those lost; survivors take time to grieve
By Chris Borniger
Kansan staff writer
Courtny Gross knows what it's like to lose a friend to suicide. In fact, she's lost three.
The quilt will be at the Kansas Union today through Saturday. For Gross, Topeka junior, the quilt has a personal aspect to it — one friend, a former KU student who committed suicide, is mentioned on the quilt.
So when she heard about a suicide memorial quilt, akin to the AIDS quilt, she jumped at the chance to bring it to the University of Kansas.
"It brings back a lot of memories," Gross said. "It makes you appreciate what you have and makes you aware of what your friends go through."
Gross learned about the quilt from her mother, who works at the Kansas Historical Museum in Topeka. That's when she decided it would make for a worthy project at the University.
The quilt will go on display at 11:30 a.m. today at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave. At noon, Marcia Epstein, director of Headquarters Counseling Center, will lead a forum discussing the after-effects of suicide.
As part of the Suicide Prevention Advocacy Network project, each state in the nation will contribute a quilt with multiple panels, one per suicide victim.
In May, the quilts from around the nation will be assembled in Washington, D.C.
At the University, the event is sponsored by College Republicans, Headquarters, Counseling and Psychological Services and ECM.
Epstein said the rapidly increasing rate of suicides, especially for people ages 15 to 24, made the event especially relevant.
"By seeing the quilt and seeing the faces on there, it makes it more than just something people hear about it." she said. "I think it really can make a difference when people know they can talk about it. We hope people get that help if they need it."
Rev. Thad Holcombe, ECM director, also will lead a survivors of suicide support group next at 7:30 p.m. next Wednesday at ECM.
"Even then, I found it helpful to just tell the story," Holcombe said. "Part of it is
Holcombe is a survivor himself. In 1984, his father killed himself after a long battle with cancer. He said empathy and support were vital in the period after someone close took his or her own life.
grief, part of it is just the suddenness of it all. It's best to have a place to talk about it, not just think about it."
Holcombe said he hoped the quilt and the educational events surrounding it would end the taboo associated with suicide.
"We deny it all over the place," he said. "There are so many myths and fables about suicide. If anything, I hope this will help raise consciousness about those issues."
After Saturday, the quilt will be at Watkins Community Museum, 1047 Massachusetts St., until the end of the month.
— Edited by Rebecca Sutherland