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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2005
REGION
Sprint shrugs off big rivals' merger
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sprint Corp. was unfazed yesterday by Verizon Communications Inc.'s announcement that it plans to buy MCI Corp.
Focused on its own merger
Focused on its own merger — a $35 billion deal with Reston, Va.-based Nextel Communications Inc. Sprint said the latest round of contraction in the telecommunications industry wouldn't force a change in its strategy to base its future around cell phones instead of land lines.
"We like the hand we're playing," said Scott Stoffel, a spokesman for the Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint. "Our focus is on executing our 2005 plan and that's our merger with Nextel."
The Associated Press NATION
Follow No Child Act, secretary advises
WASHINGTON — Colleges should use President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act for K-12 students as a model for measuring university performance and cutting the minority achievement gap on their campuses, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said yesterday.
Openings and past "One of our biggest challenges is a lack of compatible and comprehensive measurements — the kind of information parents have come to expect from K-12 schools." Spellings told the annual meeting of the American Council on Education.
In her first speech since becoming a member of Bush's Cabinet, Spellings said she had experienced the college admissions process firsthand as the mother of a high-school senior
"Parents see a mosaic of fine higher-ed institutions, each with wonderful qualities," she said, "but find it difficult to piece the puzzle together."
Alumnus leaves legacy of success
BY ESTUARDO GARCIA
egarcia@kansan.com
KANSAN STUD WRITER
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
The Associated Press
The KU Black Alumni Association, which regrouped after a 20-year absence last semester, will try to raise $10,000 to reoffer its first scholarship through the Endowment Association. The Bruce-Smith scholarship is named after Bruce, who was the son of an emancipated slave, and Lizzie Ann Smith. They were the first African-American students at the University.
With a record number of black students enrolled 120 years later, the University has honored the man who spent his life dedicated to education. Honoring the Past
Before Martin Luther King Jr. shared his dream in Washington D.C., and before the Supreme Court ruled that education could not be separate and equal, Blanche Ketene Bruce left the University of Kansas as its first African American with a degree.
In September 1999, the University dedicated each floor of the then-newly renovated Lewis Hall with the name of a person special to the University. It dedicated the seventh floor, "Bruce House."
"I'd like to see between $500 to $1,000 for a couple of scholarships," said Marshall Jackson, associate director of Academic Achievement and Access Center and association member.
"They all were significant," Ken Stoner, director of student housing, said of those people who had floors dedicated in their name.
Neal Bates, Hoisington sophomore and seventh floor resident assistant, said he researched the story and explained the significance of the floor to students at the beginning of the semester.
beginning Stoner invited Norma Rozzelle, Bruce's third cousin to the September dedication of the floor.
Rozzelle has taken a strong interest in Bruce's legacy. She has become the historian of this history-rich family and often has family members coming to her to learn about their heritage.
"More and more people want to know about their history," she said.
Bruce's story as an educator started with his grandmother, Polly.
Educating the Family
Between the ages of 16 and 38, Polly had
11 children. Two of her masters,
and William B. Bruce, fathered all of her children.
For the children to survive, she knew they would need education.
Polly's ability to read and write was essential to the education of her children, Rozelle said.
"Education was a
"Education was a priority — reading and writing," she said. "Education was the key to all of it."
Because the ability to read and write was not common among slaves, Rozelle said Polly would send one of her children along with her master's son while he was getting tutored.
When the two returned, Polly's child would come home and teach the rest of the children that day's lesson.
It was the most important thing Polly could have done for her children, Rozzelle said.
It paid off. All born into slavery, each of her children were literate.
After emancipation, the family moved from Virginia to Missouri.
Photo provided by Archives
Bruce was born in 1861 in Brunswick, Mo., and was named after his uncle Blanche Kelo Bruce who later became the first African-American U.S. senator from Mississippi. Continuing the Legacy
Bruce attended Lincoln University to pursue an education degree.
After realizing that he couldn't get a teaching certificate at Lincoln because it was only a two-year university, Bruce traveled to the free territory of Kansas. He enrolled at the University of Kansas in 1881.
After his time at the University, Bruce became a school teacher and principal of the all-black Sumner School in Leavenworth. He held the position for 54 years until he retired in 1939.
A section of his small home was set
Blanche Ketene Bruce was the first African American to graduate from the University of Kansas. He finished his four years at the University in 1885. (Top) Bruce sits with his daughter Louise. Bruce had two daughters, Erma and Louise, with his wife Molly. Louise was killed in an auto accident in the 1930s.
aside as a classroom where he would tutor white students.
Rozzelle said Bruce tutored about 3,000 students in his home.
Bruce died on Nov. 20, 1952 while living with his daughter Erma in Baltimore,
Md. His body was moved to Leavenworth where he is buried in Mt. Muncie cemetery along with his wife, his two daughters and Polly.
Edited by Ross Fitch
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