Friday, March 5. 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 3
Coalition gets student feedback
Korb Maxwell, candidate for student body president, and Dede Seibel, candidate for student body vice president, announce the beginning of the YOU Coalition. Maxwell, Seibel and the rest of the coalition's candidates packed The Hawk last night to celebrate the campaign. Photo by Ruben Navagero/KANSAN
Continued from page 1A
Seibel said that she wanted YOU to be a diverse and representative coalition. She said she wanted to incorporate the opinions of University housing residents and members of campus groups.
Maxwell said that if elected he would take a more aggressive lobbying agenda to the
state legislature.
Seibel said she would conduct more Senate meetings outside of the Union and try to improve Senate committee orientation so that it would become a more unified body.
Erin Day, St. Francis freshman, said that she decided to be a YOU candidate for Nunemaker senator because she appreciated the coalition's
"Dede and Korb's reputations precede them," Day said. "Because I'm a freshman, I haven't had enough time to really get to know the people who are running, but I liked the way they approached me."
Seth Hoffman, Nunemaker senator, said he and Mary Liu, College of Liberal Arts
and Sciences senator, would run as Delta Force candidates for student body president and vice president, respectively. But he said that the decision was not yet official.
Delta Force's kick-off party is at 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Granada, 1020 Massachusetts St., where the official announcement is expected.
- Edited by Liz Wristen
KU Women in Law readies for mentoring
Local junior high girls to learn, stage mock trial
By Corie Waters Special to the Kansan
KU Women in Law are hoping to make an impact on the lives of Lawrence junior high school girls.
Today 30 girls from Central Junior High will take part in a mentoring program sponsored by Women in Law. The 25 law school mentors will show the girls Green Hall, take them to a class of their choice and stage a mock trial.
"We want to show girls that women can go to law school," said Katie Wall, coordinator of the mentoring program and Plymouth, Minn., third year law student.
Wall said that the junior high students would spend the whole day at Green Hall. The students can choose to sit in either Criminal Law, Family Law, Local Government or Business Associations II classes, she said.
After sitting in a class, the girls will hear from five local attorneys before participating in a mock trial.
“It’s amazing the girls really get into it; they think of stuff we don’t.” Wall said.
When the program started in the mid-1980s, it targeted at risk and minority female junior high students in Lawrence. It tried to show them that hard work and perseverance was needed to become lawyers.
"I think the program is a great idea," said Jackie Stickle, Leawood first year law student. "Kids at that age base a lot of their behavior on role models. This is a chance for law students to provide a good influence."
Although Wall, who has participated in the program for three years, didn't know of an instance where a participant went on to enroll in law school, she did recall a story about a girl who changed her attitude after a day in the mentoring program.
"Before the program, the girl never thought she'd go to college," Wall said. "But when she left she had decided she wanted to go."
Ted Juneau, Central Junior High School principal, said he thought the program was a good opportunity for girls to explore possible law careers.
The program is sponsored by Central's gifted program, but is open to all female students who are interested.
"It is important that all kids get a chance to get motivated in spite of their situations," he said.
Edited by Duane Wagler
Former pledge sues Pi Kappa Alpha, others for past hazing incident
By Jamie Knodel
knodel@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
A KU student filed a lawsuit last week against the parties he holds accountable for a hazing incident that put him in a coma in 1997.
Matthew Prime, St. Louis junior and former Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity pledge, is asking for $75,000 for expenses and further relief incurred from a Feb.
26, 1997 hazing incident.
Prime fell into a 12-hour unconscious state caused by alcohol poisoning.
Prime named the KU chapter of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, the national Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, the University of Kansas, the Kansas Board of Regents and the Mount Oread House Corporation — which maintains the fraternity house at 2000 Stewart Ave. — as defendants in the lawsuit filed in Douglas County District Court.
Also named in the lawsuit were six individuals, including the chapter's president, vice-president and pledge trainers at the time of the incident.
Although the suit was filed by Prime's attorney, Theodore Lickteig, on Feb. 25, defendants have not yet been served with the suit as per Lickteig's request.
Brian Harper, defendant in the suit and Lake Forest, Ill., senior, said that he was surprised that Prime waited so long to file a suit.
"I can't understand why he would do this and a half years later," he said. Prime and Lickie could not be reached for comment about the lawsuit.
Also named as defendants in the suit were Todd Guerrieri, former president; Jeff Fay, former vice-president and treasurer; Cory Aubuchon and Aaron Harper, fraternity members who were in charge of sending the pledges through the series of bedrooms; and John Kosciulek, a former pledge trainer.
The lawsuit states that on Pledge Dad Night, an annual ritual in the fraternity's membership process, activities at the house included excessive consumption of alcohol, wrestling matches and rampaging on a public street.
Although Prime stated to members that he did not want to drink very much, other fraternity members encouraged
"As far as I'm concerned, I saved his life. I can't understand why he would be suing me."
Brian Harper
Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity member
ind coerced him to consume alcohol
The lawsuit states that members told Prime that "this would be the time of his life' and that he would, 'always remember this night.' Excessive consumption of beer and hard liquor was a de facto requirement of membership."
According to the lawsuit, pledges were taken through a series of six to eight bedrooms, where they consumed three to four shots of beer or hard liquor in each.
After the room-to-room shot drinking, pledges engaged in wrestling, rampaging and the serenading of a neighboring sorority house, the lawsuit stated.
According to the lawsuit, "Mr. Prime eventually fell down on Stewart Avenue and passed out in the living room of the fraternity house."
Harper, who was Prime's pledge dad, said that he was the one who took Prime to the emergency room of Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
"As far as I'm concerned, I saved his life," Harper said. "I can't understand why he would be suing me."
The suit stated that Prime had a blood alcohol level of .375 when he arrived at the hospital. For people over 21 the legal blood alcohol limit is .08, while under 21 it is .02.
Jim Yolch, Pi Kappa Alpha national fraternity director of services, said that after the Feb. 26 incident the KU chapter had its international charter suspended, but that since it had been regaining university privileges.
"Upon membership reviews, the fraternity went from about 108 members to 22 to 25 individuals committed to the fraternity's ideals." Yolch said.
He also said that none of the current members were involved in the Prime incident and that they were immune to the situation.
— Edited by Keith Burner
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