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Monday, January 19, 2015
Volume 128 Issue 1
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Kansan.com | The student voice since 1904
ROCK CHALK BARACK
President Barack Obama to make first visit to University on Thursday
President Barack Obama speaks in Kansas City, Mo., on June 30, 2014. Obama will be the first sitting president to visit campus since William H. Taft in 1911
ALLISON CRIST
@AllisonCristUDK
President Barack Obama will visit the University this week for an event, according to a KU News press release. The president will come to campus on Thursday, Jan. 22.
The press release included a statement from Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little.
JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
"Our community will be honored to welcome President Obama to the University of Kansas," Gray-Little said. "This is an exciting time for KU, and to welcome the President of the United States and have an opportunity to share our bold aspirations with him only adds to that excitement."
This will be Obama's first time coming to the University, after having to cancel his first scheduled visit in April of 2013 to attend a memorial service after the tragic events of the Boston Marathon.
There were no details about the nature of his canceled speech, but this time around. President Obama will be at the University two days after his State of the Union address.
The President plans to roll
out a new tax code during Tuesday night's State of the Union. Major points include closing the trust fund loophole that allow for the wealthiest tax brackets to avoid some taxes on inherited funds, according to a White House press release.
Obama will be the fourth sitting U.S. president to visit the University. In fact, no siting president has visited the University since William H. Taft in 1911.
Other U.S. presidents have come to the University, but only after they left office. George H.W. Bush was the most recent, who visited in 2008. Bush received the Dole Leadership Prize from the Dole Institute of Politics. He spoke at the Lied Center, and discussed a multitude of topics, mostly focused on his political career.
Edited by Miranda Davis
Along with former President Bush, four other presidents — Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton — visited the University after leaving office, according to the University's news release.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BEN LIPOWITZ/KANSAN
PHOTO IDENTIFICATION OF DETAILS IN ENTRIES TO smoke outside 20 feet away from buildings.
Breathe Easy at KU is an initiative to make the University a tobacco-free campus. Current policy allows people to smoke outside 20 feet away from buildings.
Policy changes work toward a tobacco-free campus at KU
ALICIA GARZA
@AliciaoftheUDK
Members of an initiative for a tobacco-free campus met on Jan. 12 to discuss proposed revisions to the University's smoking policy. Ola Faucher, director of human resources, moderated the meeting, which covered the future implementation of the possible changes and the cultural and environmental aspects of smoking.
Faucher and Ashley Hrabe, a senior from Salina, are members of Breathe Easy at KU, the group pushing for policy revisions. Breathe Easy is working with Student Senate and reaching out to the student body to see about changing the current tobacco policy. Currently, the policy is still in the pre-formal stage of the policy review process.
The current policy for smoking cigarettes on campus limits people to smoking outside and at least 20 feet away from any buildings. Hrabe and Faucher wish to eliminate smoking cigarettes and electronic tobacco products from the University campus.
“[We want to] enhance the university, and not just for a short time period, but in the long-term policy to better the institution,” said Hrabe, president of Breathe Easy at KU. “We want to harness a more respectful environment.”
The negative effects of secondhand smoke is one reason why a tobacco-free campus would be beneficial to the University, said Hrabe. Other topics touched on at the meeting included environmental consequences from smoking as well as littering.
Faucher said it is important
for the University to be healthy and be a part of the cultural change regarding tobacco.
"[We want to] enhance the university, and not just for a short time period, but in the long-term policy to better the institution."
"This is part of a national trend," said Faucher. "Universities are thought leaders, universities are creative in looking for new ways to improve our community and our world at large. There are over a thousand universities nationwide who are moving or have
ASHLEY HRABE President of Breathe Easy at KU
moved in the direction already of tobacco-free."
However, some students don't see smoking as a big deal on campus. Courtney Menifield, a freshman from Oak Creek, Wis., said she feels indifferent about the proposed policy changes.
The proposed policy changes are expected to take time. Faucher and Hrabe recognize that not every person on campus will be happy with policy changes, but agree that over time the students will begin to embrace the changes.
"I've never thought that smoking on campus was an issue," she said. "I don't see cigarette butts all over the ground or anything and I think those who smoke are pretty respectful and don't smoke wherever they feel like it — they're always in the designated area."
Edited by Kate Miller
Lawrence dubbed 'Most Hungover Place in America'
ALLISON CRIST
@AllisonCristUDK
Business Insider recently pegged Lawrence as the No.1 "Most Hungover Place in America."
The article provided the methodology that named the 25 cities, calling it the "Hangover Index." The indicators for the index, like binge drinking and number of bars, come from results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and the Census Bureau's 2012 County Business Patterns program.
The Hangover Index then created the "Hangover Score," the average of the percentile rankings of the five categories, with a theoretical range from 0 to 100.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BEN LIPOWITZ/KANSAN
Lawrence's score was a 90.22.
There's more to it than the numbers, though.
"We were aiming to capture the amount of alcohol production, the availability and ease of purchasing alcoholic beverages, and actual levels of heavy alcohol use in each metro area," said Andy Kiersz, the author of the article.
These factors were the highest not only in Lawrence, but throughout the entire Midwest.
"There are a few interesting geographic patterns: Midwesterners are much more likely than Southerners to admit on the CDC health behavior survey that they had binge drank in the last month," Kiersz said. "Similarly, 19 out of the top
Some bar owners, like James Shaffer, owner of RBar & Patio, had neither a positive or negative reaction to the study's findings.
"My initial reaction was to smile and laugh," Shafer said. "As far as the number of bars compared to the number of residents, I'm not sure it really says much about Lawrence as a city. In most towns with a big college, there will be more bars. Some students responded with the same attitude on Twitter.
Index
"Same as I feel when Kansas is ranked 'most bong state.' It's an arbitrary study that shouldn't affect anyone." Tyler Daniels, a sophomore from Hutchinson, tweeted.
20 metro areas with the most bars per capita were above the Mason-Dixon line. Whether or not these are good things or bad things is in the eye of the beholder."
CLASSIFIEDS 2A
CROSSWORD 6A
CRYPTOQUIPS 6A
OPINION 4A
Edited by Casey Hutchins
SPORTS 1B
SUDOKU 6A
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2015 The University Daily Kansan
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