---
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Inside Entertainment
Kansan
Couples going to the chapel this summer must devote time to their wedding plans.
Pro basketball
The Sacramento Kings selected Ryan Robertson as the 44th pick in the NBA draft and the first from the Big 12 Conference.
Wednesday
July 7, 1999
Weekly Edition
Section:
A
Vol. 109 · No.153
SEE PAGE 3A
Magical dining
A KU student's magic tricks help increase numbers of restaurant patrons in Lawrence and Leawood.
SEE PAGE 7A
Contact the Kansan
WWW.KANSAN.COM
News: (785) 864-4810
Advertising: (785) 864-4358
Fax: (785) 864-0391
Classifieds e-mail: classifieds@kansan.com
Editor e-mail: editor@kansan.com
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
"Three Tall Women"
Roberta Lee Gingrich, playing "A," and Jeanne Averil, playing "B," run through their lines at a dress rehearsal for Edward Albee's play "Three Kansas Summer Theater season. Photo by Aaron Lindenbargk/KANSAN
Curtain rising for summer theater
"Three Tall Women" starts season on Friday
Bv Katie Burford
Kansan campus editor
The Kansas Summer Theatre will kick off its season Friday at 8 p.m. with the Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Three Tall Women" by Edward Albee. The play will run July 9 to 11 and July 14 to 17 in the Inge Theatre in Murphy Hall.
"Three Tall Women," first produced in 1991, addresses the issues of family relationships and aging from a contemporary perspective, said director Jack Wright, professor of theater and film.
"It's a play about change, about how things don't always turn out the way you expect them to," he said.
The play is billed as a dark comedy, but Lawrence resident Roberta Le Gingerich, who plays the lead role, said that the description was a misnomer.
"It is dark, and there are funny parts, but it is not a heehaw," she said. "It's a thoughtful examination of aging."
Gingerich, 75, said that the challenge of playing the main character, a 92-year-old widow, was memorizing her sizable part.
"The line load is extremely high," she said.
"The line load is extremely high," she said.
Through most of the first act, her character — whom Gingerich described as lonely, fearful and cranky — is recounting her life.
Gingerich said that she had to prepare emotionally for the part.
"I had to find the parts of myself that are in the character." she said.
Because the character has traits that aren't exactly endearing, Gingerich said this wasn't easy.
Christian Day, Lawrence graduate student, plays her estranged son. His role is challenging, but for a contrasting reason — he has no speaking parts.
"It's a minor role, but I'm on stage for a long time," he said. "I have to convey that part of the story without speaking any lines."
He plays the woman's son who comes back after an absence of 30 years to sit at his mother's bedside while she is dying. The cause of the 30-year rift was that the mother could not accept her son's homosexuality.
None of the characters are referred to by name in the play, a device that Day called expressionist. He said that he would classify the play as more dark than comic.
Wright said that the subject matter sounded negative but that the outcome was positive.
"It's a serious play dealing with issues of aging and family relations. It's a very timely tonic," he said.
"It's a play about change, about how things don't always turn out the way you expect them to."
Jack Wright
director
After setting the scene in the first act, the play takes an unexpected turn in the second. The change is subtle, but fundamental to the plot. Even some critics have missed it. Gingerich said.
"It is a play that calls for attention on the part of the audience — intellectual and emotional attention," she said.
This play is somewhat autobiographical for Albeo, who was in a similar situation with his adoptive mother, Day said. The 1994 Pulitzer Prize he received for the work was the third of his career. Previous awards were for "Seascape" in 1967 and "A Delicate Balance" in 1975. He also wrote "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
"Three Tall Women" is the first of two plays being produced by the Kansas Summer Theatre. "Godspell," directed by John Stanianus, assistant professor of theater and film, will run July 23 to 25 and July 29 to 31 at 8 p.m.
—Edited by Kimberly Erb
Edited by Chad Bettes
Alcohol task force continues campaign
"We can't monitor them; we can't follow them around," she said. "If you really want your children to be safe, then these are things we really need to work together on."
Strategy includes media messages, family sessions
Ballard said that the goal of the task force would be to involve other campus organizations and student groups in promoting alcohol-free weekend activities.
Kansan staff writer
Among the tactics are alcohol awareness sessions for students and parents during new student orientation and a media campaign aimed at reducing binge drinking.
The University of Kansas alcohol task force is continuing the campaign against both underage and binge drinking.
By Clint Hooker
Barbara Ballard, assistant vice chancellor, said that presentations were given during orientation that encouraged parents' participation in educating their children about alcohol use as well as promoting or discouraging certain behavior.
Part of the University's effort to reduce binge drinking will be the Social Norms Media Campaign, funded by a $450,000 grant from the Kansas Health Foundation and headed by Jannette Berkley-Patton.
"It's based on the understanding that, for the large part, most students have a misperception of how much other students drink," she said. "Because they have this misperception, what they need to do is drink up to levels that aren't reality, drinking up to the levels of their misperceived reality."
"We know, from surveys that we've done, that a lot of students said they don't want to drink, but there is nothing else for them to do," she said.
Berkley-Patton said that the program was modeled after a campaign at Northern Illinois University that targeted misconceptions about student drinking.
The task force is working to come up with ideas for other activities.
Berkley-Patton said the campaign would place weekly ads in The University Daily Kansan that displayed positive messages about responsible, moderate and abstinent drinking behaviors.
Kerry Durig, Overland Park senior, said
"Underage drinking is a problem at any university, but there's a problem when freshmen enter thinking they're adults, and they're really not yet," she said. "And on any given night, there are tons of students out just getting plowed. That's a little scary."
she recognized the problems of underage and binge drinking at KU, especially now that she's of legal drinking age.
Charles Erickson, a 20-year-old Chicago junior, said that efforts to influence underage drinking were mainly limited to campus, and law enforcement participation came only at certain times.
"The only time I see them trying to cut down is at the beginning of the semester," he said. "I haven't seen anything or anyone this summer in the bars or liquor stores."
James Kitchen, associate vice chancellor and dean of students, said that it was critical for University and community officials to cooperate.
"You can't buy liquor on campus," he said. "They have to buy it off-campus and that's within the Lawrence community. So we all have to play a role in this and hopefully we can do that."
StudEx removes vacant grad seats
Positions considered irrelevant by Senate
By Matthew Friedrichs Kansan editor
Graduate students lost potential clout on the Student Senate committee that determines senate agendas and has broad legislative powers.
The Student Senate Executive Committee voted 5-4 on June 30 to remove the executive director of the Graduate and Professional Association — a nonvoting, ex-officio member — and the chairman of the Graduate Executive Committee — a voting, ex-officio member.
None of the current committee members were aware that the positions existed on StudEx until Marlon Marshall, StudEx chairman, introduced legislation to eliminate the positions because they are not listed as members of the committee in the University Senate Code.
In fact, no one on StudEx could remember anyone attending a meeting to represent the two positions.
"Why don't they know about it?" Walker said. "Why doesn't Pat (Partha Mazumdar) know about it? Why aren't they here?"
Ben Walker, Student Senate legislative director and University Senate Executive committee member, said the positions were irrelevant because graduate students had not been taking advantage of them.
Mazumdar, chairman of the graduate affairs committee and Graduate and Professional Association director, defended the positions. He said the GradEx chairwoman had not attended because she was unaware of the opportunity.
Mazumdar and Amy Cummins, one of three student members of SenEx, are the graduate students on StudEx. About 24 percent of students enrolled on the Lawrence campus last fall were graduate students.
Aravind Muthukrishnan, Student Senate finance committee chairman, said the positions were unnecessary because graduate students have double representation — they're involved in regular committees and events, and they're involved in graduate committees and events.
"I don't think those seats ought to be on StudEx," he said.
Student Senate — composed of elected and appointed students. Allocates student fees, represents students in University governance and represents students to the administration.
University Senate — composed of all faculty, student senators and some classified and unclassified staff members.
Rules and Regulations — Student Senate's enumerated procedures and policies. Subservient to University Senate Code.
versity Senate may change any of the code.
The executive committee of the University
Senate
University Senate Code — rules that determine how the University governs itself. Student Senate may change some portions, and the Uni-
GradEx— executive committee of the Student Senate graduate affairs committee.
StudEx — composed of the chairpersons of five standing Student Senate committees, three student SenEx members, the student body president, the student body vice president, and StudEx chairman. Has broad powers to write and approve legislation. Also approves agendas for Student Senate meetings.
Graduate Professional Association — represents graduate students and allocates student fees designated for graduate students by Student Senate.
Luke Pfannenstiel, Student Senate university affairs committee chairman for the summer, spoke in favor of keeping the seats, even though that would put senate rules and regulations in conflict with the University Code.
"Cutting these seats will cut them for good." Pfannenstiel said.
Instead, he proposed asking the University Senate to modify the code this fall, and keep the graduate students seats in StudEx.
Marshall said his main concern was getting the rules and regulations to conform with the code so that Student Senate started the fall in agreement with the University Senate and the University Code.
By eliminating the positions, StudEx clarified a discrepancy between its rules and regulations and the University Code, but the change might not last.
Mazudmari has written a bill to change the University Code which would reinstate the graduate seats in StudEx. The bill will be debated at today's meeting.
Edited by Mike Miller
Bursting with patriotism
Over the Fourth of July weekend, thousands of people in the area enjoyed fireworks displays like this one in Independence, Mo. Photo by Aaron Lindbang/KANSAN
1
1.
A