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2A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2005
INSIDENEWS Four KU teams' academic standings scrutinized
The Kansas football, baseball, women's basketball and men's basketball teams scored under the Academic Progress Rate that all Division I athletic teams must meet. The purpose of the APR is to ensure student-athletes graduate, said Chancellor Robert Hemenway. PAGE 1A
Lied Center slated for expansion
The University of Kansas is $1 million closer to expanding the Lied Center. The planned project, which will cost $15 million, includes a new 800-seat theater, a visual arts gallery and a 2,000-square-foot education center that will be used for master classes with artists and teacher workshops in the arts. PAGE 1A
Haworth Hall to receive backup power system
Thousands of dollars of research rely on the electricity in Haworth Hall. More than 10 years of research in defrosting freezers could be lost and research could be halted if the building is without power for several hours. Currently, only half of Haworth is wired for the emergency power. The Office of the Provost is funding a $142,000 project that will provide backup power for the entire building. PAGE 1A
HALO kicks off week of awareness, education
HALO Week organizers showed "A Day Without a Mexican" last night in an effort to raise awareness of Hispanic issues and stereotypes. The group has a number of educational and social activities planned this week, including Salsa 101 today. PAGE 1A
Large lead sphere has questionable future
More than two years ago, students built the lead sphere that sits in front of Marvin Hall. Because it wasn't built to withstand the elements, the sphere has suffered interior damage because of the weather. Architecture professors aren't sure if they will repair the damages or get rid of it. PAGE 2A
Former 'Kansan' reporter remembers Dr. Gonzo
The author of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," Hunter S. Thompson, committed suicide last week. Thompson, also known as Dr. Gonzo, came to the University of Kansas in the late 1980s, and left an indelible mark on the people who attended. PAGE 2A
INSIDEOPINION
Column: Activity is the cure for obesity
Sara Zafar explains that obesity, except in rare cases, can and should be avoided. Although getting around it will take some work on students' parts, the payoff is obvious and necessary. PAGE 5A
Column: Gay marriage ban won't curtail relationships Maureen Warren and Allison Hansen might not be allowed to get married because of the impending ban, but it won't stop them from loving each other and living together. PAGE 5A
Don't mix up on the value of life
Some people support and the death penalty and oppose abortion, and others oppose the death penalty while supporting abortion. Sadly, the value of life is a line drawn in political sand. PAGE 5A
INSIDESPORTS
Women seek sixth Big 12 victory
The Kansas women's basketball team will play its last game of the season tonight at Iowa State. The Jayhawks will try to exceed the success they had on Senior Night against the Baylor Bears and overcome the emotional setback of Saturday's drubbing at the hands of Kansas State in Manhattan. PAGE 1B
Seniors prepare for tomorrow's speeches
Seniors Aaron Miles, Keith Langford, Mike Lee and Wayne Simien will take the floor in Allen Fieldhouse for the last time tomorrow. The four have put together a 107 all-time record while at Kansas. PAGE 1B
Column: Senior should stay in lineup
Senior guard Mike Lee will start on Wednesday night against Kansas State. Sportswriter Jack Weinstein says that lineup change should stay intact beyond Senior Night, as Lee clearly outperformed sophomore counterpart J.R. Giddens on Sunday. Kansas coach Bill Self acknowledged that Lee could see increased minutes in the near future. PAGE 18
Lone swimmer qualifies for nationals
The Kansas swimming team took fourth place out of six teams at the Big 12 Conference Swimming and Diving Championships during the weekend. The Jayhawks trailed thirdplace Nebraska by just seven points. Senior Amy Gruber will now focus her efforts on the NCAA and World championships, while the rest of the team looks to next season. PAGE 18
After taking two of three games from Colorado over the weekend, the Kansas baseball team will play against Southwest Missouri State today. The Bears and the lajahawks split last year's two-game series. Neither team has announced a starter for the game, which begins at 3 p.m. PAGE 2B
Javhawks, Bears to meet in one-game stand
Tennis team loses seventh-straight match
The tennis team's drop continued over the weekend, as the squad fell to Utah. Kansas won the doubles point, but lost overall and has won only one match all season. The team will face Iowa State and ina during the weekend. PAGE 3B
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The lead ball in front of Marvin Hall, located west of Budig Hall, is made of wood on the inside. Over the past two years, the wood has gotten too wet and is rotting. Some of the ball's lead plates are also falling off.
Famed sphere eroding
BY NATE KARLIN
nkariln@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
After two years, the weather has taken its toll on the lead sphere in front of Marvin Hall.
During the time it has spent sitting outside, the sphere has deteriorated on the inside, and architecture professors don't know if they will repair or remove it.
First-year graduate students built the sphere in fall 2002 to promote that year's spring Art and Design exhibition, Dan Rockhill, professor of architecture, said.
The sphere gained a bit of fame when it was part of the festivities surrounding the men's basketball team's trip to the Final Four in 2002.
John Gaunt, dean of architecture, received a phone call at about 3 a.m. from the police who said the
giant ball was found across lahwawk Blvd.
"My suspicion is some enthusiast and very strong man — with the help from a few beers — decided to move it." Gaunt said.
have ripped up the woods.
Placing the sphere outside, however,
made it susceptible to the weather,
which it was never meant to withstand.
The giant sphere was supposed to be placed inside the Art and Design Building, located west of Budig Hall, for its annual exhibition, said Randy Taylor, St. James, Mo., graduate student and one of the students who built the sphere. But it remained outside because it was too big and would have ripped up the floor.
The giant sphere, which took about a month to build, is composed of plywood rings and sheet rock covered by lead triangles. It weighs a little less than 1,500 pounds.
"There's a human fascination with giant objects," Taylor said.
Professors wanted the first-year graduate students to build a platonic solid for that year's annual Art and Design exhibition.
Design composition Rockhill suggested the students build an object using extra lead he had, Taylor said.
The students then decided between a cone or a sphere. They chose to build a sphere because the cone would have been too difficult, Taylor said.
Two years later, Taylor said he was not sad to hear about the sphere deteriorating because he has moved onto bigger projects in the graduate program. But he said he enjoyed building it because it was different.
"It was fun to see this giant sphere as tall as I am," Taylor said.
Edited by Laura Francoviglia
▼ HISTORY
Reporter recalls writer's visit
BY ADAM LAND
aland@kansan.com
KANAN STAFF WRITER
University Archives, Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas
Hunter S. Thompson, the self-proclaimed "gonzo" journalist, brought his addictions and his wit to the University of Kansas almost 18 years ago to the day of his tragic death. The University Daily Kansan staff reporter, Jennifer Forker, covered the event and spent an entire day with Thompson.
Hunter S.
Like his idol, Ernest Hemingway, Thompson killed himself Feb. 20, with a shotgun blast to the head. Author of the book, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," Thompson was known for his substance abuse and his derisive wit.
Thompson gestures to the crowd during his last speech at the University of Kansas. The journalist and author recently committed suicide.
Riding to the airport with a University student liaison, Forker did not know what to expect.
"First of all, we spent several hours trying to find him and get him out of the airport," Forker said.
Forker and the liaison waited for almost an hour because Thompson had wandered into the bowels of the airport where the baggage was handled. Eventually, Thompson found them.
Accompanying Thompson were famous pornographers Jim and Artie Mitchell, and a young unnamed girlfriend, whom Thompson referred to as his "assistant."
The University provided a limousine and a car for the Kansan writer and student liaison, Forker said. Thompson would not take the limousine and demanded the two students drive him to the University.
"We didn't know who he was going to have with him," Forker said. "We were a little surprised to see the people he brought."
Once in the car, Thompson had to stop for liquor and food, because he said he had not eaten in two days. The students went to a liquor store, where Thompson bought a bottle of scotch, and then to Hardee's for roast beef and fish sandwiches, on which Thompson only nibbled.
Thompson may try to "He drank nearly the entire ride back and began acting obnoxious," Forker said. "He started squishing ketchup packets against the seats of the car."
By the time the Kansan reporter and KU liaison delivered Thompson
The event was supposed to be a speech, Forker said, but Thompson turned it into a question and answer. He asked for a question from the person who "is the most pissed off and articulate, and whoever is the ugliest and the meanest."
to the Kansas Union, he was a half-hour late.
Students were yelling, and the room was filled with, what Forker called at the time, "smoke, confusion and more smoke."
Students at the speech came with different expectations for what they would hear.
The question and answer session lasted for about an hour, and culminated with one audacious student asking him why he came, and asking if it was because of the money.
A little slowed by the booze, Thompson pondered and then answered the question.
'I kind of expected a verbal brawl',
said William Volmut, Topeka senior
at the time, in the original Kansan
article on the event.
"No, I just wanted to come out here and talk to you guys," Thompson said. "I was puzzled as to what the college people were thinking."
Sitting in the stands watching the people leave, Forker remembered that not all people felt the way she did.
The question would be the last indelible memory Thompson would leave at the University. The answer left an impression with many of the attendees.
"Maybe he slurs his speech all the time," said Jim Farquhar, Olathe sophomore at the time, in the article. "I think he was high."
"I remember sitting there realizing that his fans loved him; they ate it up," Forker said. "He personally repulsed me, and I didn't understand the appeal."
After his death, Forker does not have the fondest memories of Thompson.
"Ever since the interview, people have given me his books to read, but I never do." Forker said.
The last wish of Thompson was to have his remains shot from out of a cannon over his Colorado ranch.
Thompson, then and now, epitomized a line in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," he was "too weird to live and too rare to die."
— Edited by Kendall Dix
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