Volume 126 Issue 118
kansan.com
Monday, May 5, 2014
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CAMPUS
Students throw powdered dyes in the air to commence the celebration of Holi Festival of Colors, an ancient Hindu festival. The event was sponsored by the South Asian Student Association and the Center for Global and International Studies on Saturday at Robinson Field.
AARON GROENE/KANSAN
ANDREW NELSON news@kansan.com
Students celebrated the ancient Hindu holiday known as the Holi Festival of Colors on Saturday. The event consisted of participants throwing powdered paint and water balloons at each other.
The actual date of Holi, March 17, is based on the moon's cycles and the Hindu calendar, but because of inclement weather the event was rescheduled to May 3.
The South Asian Student Association (SASA) and the
Center for Global and International Studies co-sponsored the festival, which attracted around 200 people. This is the sixth year that SASA has been hosting the event and it plans on continuing the tradition for many years to come.
According to Rajvi Shah, a freshman from Overland Park and the secretary of the SASA, Holi is the celebration of good triumphing over evil. The throwing of powdered paint symbolizes the arrival of spring and the renewal of relationships Shah said.
"The amount of color that
you throw on someone is proportional to how much you love them," Shah said.
Shah sees Holi as an oppor-
have been around much longer than she has. While she was unable to go home and celebrate the holiday with her fam-
"To have the opportunity to experience another culture's tradition is what I love most about KU. Holi is just one of the numerous examples of students' opportunities to do something new."
AUSTIN BRANCH
Norman, Okla., freshman
tunity to respect her culture and partake in traditions that
ily and friends, she thought hosting the event here at the
University was incredible
Austin Branch, a freshman from Norman, Okla., who attended the event, thought it was a great way to start off spring and that being able to throw the paint and watch everyone getting covered in it was really exciting. While this was Branch's first time experiencing Holi, he says that he definitely plans on attending next year.
"To have the opportunity to experience another culture's tradition is what I love most about KU," Branch said. "Holi is just one of the numerous examples of students' opportunities to do something new."
Annie Matheis, a sophomore from Overland Park, who volunteered at the event, said that Holi focuses on aspects that people cannot control and being able to live your life in spite of those circumstances.
"Experiencing another's culture is so influential," Matheis said. "I don't know of a single American tradition that can be compared to the Holi celebration. It's just so unique."
Edited by Amber Kasselman
CAMPUS
DeBruce Center construction begins with groundbreaking
TOM DEHART news@kansan.com
DeBruce Grain CEO Paul DeBruce, University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, KU Endowment President Dale Seufering, men's basketball coach Bill Self, women's basketball coach Bonnie Henrickson, Endowment trustee Kurt Watson, and University Director of Athletics Sheahan Zenger break ground on the northeast side of Allen Fieldhouse to mark the location of the DeBruce Center.
TOM DEHART/KANSAN
Eight shovels broke the ground on the northeast side of Allen Fieldhouse on Friday to mark the future location of the DeBrue Center, which will house James Naismith's original rules of basketball that were purchased by David and Suzanne Booth in December 2010.
The DeBruce Center was made possible through a large donation from Paul DeBruce and his family. Aside from being the new home to the original rules of basketball, the building will also house displays highlighting the Kansas basketball tradition and the lives of James Naismith and
Phog Allen.
"What Paul, his family and, of course, the DeBruce Foundation has done is to ensure that it's not debatable anymore," men's basketball coach Bill Self said. "It's been debatable that this is the best home court in college basketball. It's been debatable that there are other schools out there that can challenge. But it will not be debatable any longer once this structure is erected and we are able to house the rules."
The DeBruce Center was designed by architects at the Gould Evans architecture firm and will be just one of the few new constructions, along with the new business school and Fieldhouse Apartments, to be erected along Naismith Drive
in upcoming years.
"It will be a place that draws visitors to the University of Kansas — visitors who want to see the rightful home of the original rules of basketball," Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said.
"We will be eternally grateful to him and that's not just a word," Athletics Director Sheahon Zenger said. "I mean eternally because future generations of KU students will forever be able to enjoy what we
The 32,000-square-foot building and the commitment of the DeBruce Foundation is something that Self hopes will allow Kansas basketball to move forward in the next half-century as it has in the past century.
enjoy with the history, the legacy and the tradition of Kansas basketball."
Regarding Naadir Tharpe's decision Thursday to transfer schools and be closer to his daughter, Amara, Self said after the ceremony that it is a decision he applauds, and it
might be beneficial for Tharpe in the long run.
"I applaud that. I think it's a good decision on his part, and one that he'll really be glad he made as he gets a little bit older," Self said.
Though ESPN's Jeff Goodman and other news outlets
have reported that Devonte Graham, a point guard at Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., has chosen to play at the University of Kansas, Self was not able to comment on the matter.
Index
CLASSIFIEDS 9
CROSSWORD 5
CRYPTOQUIPS 5
OPINION 4
SPORTS 10
SUDOKU 5
— Edited by Paige Lytle
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2014 The University Daily Kansan
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Today's Weather
Plentiful sunshine. Warm. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.