TODAY'S WEATHER: High of 86 with chance for showers. SEE PAGE 4B SPORTS: Softball team has slim chance of making NCAAs. SEE PAGE 1B
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KANSAN
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Supersized Students
As food portions increase, so does the average weight of University of Kansas students
By Summer Lewis Kansan staff writer
Supersize it, please!
In a world where everything is getting bigger, it may come as no surprise that University of Kansas students appear to be coming in bigger sizes. Health statistics show that obesity among college-age students has increased during the past 40 years. With one out of two KU students overweight, it has nearly become abnormal to be a normal size.
become conform to be a nice teacher. Throughout the years, an average KU student's weight has increased and auditorium seat sizes have expanded. Food portions served at the Kansas Union cafeteria have grown and soda portions on campus have increased, raising students daily calorie intake and causing them to pack on more pounds. At the Gap in Lawrence, a size six today used to be a size 10, and today's 10 used to be a plus size. Everywhere at KU, students are moving to supersize, perhaps even without noticing.
The average weight of KU students has increased dramatically since 1960.
Dennis Jacobsen, associate professor of health, sports and exercise science, said that, though there had not been any studies done at KU that would give average weights of students, national statistics show substantial increases.
"We use the statistics that the Center for Disease
Control and Prevention has found over the years," Jacobson said. "The numbers represent KU students well."
Those numbers show that since 1960, the average weight of men has increased 20 pounds, and the average woman has put on 24 pounds.
For a 5-foot-9 man,18 to 24 years of age,the average weight increased from about 160 to 180 pounds. For a 5-foot-4 woman,the average weight increased from about 128 to 152 pounds.
Bigger clothing sizes worn by KU students offers more proof that waistlines are expanding.
Clothing chains on Massachusetts Street, such as the Gap and Eddie Bauer, no longer follow the USDA approved measurements for clothing sizes. Though store officials refuse to say why, what used to be a size six is now between a size 10 or 12, which means that the current size 10 used to be a plus size.
Along with clothing, seat sizes have grown throughout the years in Lawrence.
Gaylord Richardson, associate professor of architecture administration and academic, said that the trend of wider seats could be a result of people getting bigger.
Central Junior High was the high school in
Lawrence during the 1960s. The seats in the auditorium are 16 inches wide—6inches narrower than most seats today.
Mark Reiske, associate director of design and construction management, said that seat sizes have gradually gotten bigger through the years.
"The seats were 16 inches wide in the old Hoch Auditorium before it burned down. You can't even buy that size anymore." Reiske said of the building that is now Budig Hall. "The seats are now around 20 or 22 inches wide. The trend is to buy larger seats."
Supersized students seem to be experiencing bigger health problems, too.
"There are more students at KU with elevated cholesterol than we used to see five or 10 years ago," said Ann Chapman, nutritionist as Watkins Memorial Health Center. "I know this is, in part, diet related because the more you weigh and the higher fat diet you have, then the higher your cholesterol will tend to be."
"If you have elevated cholesterol in your 20s, ther you are automatically at greater risk for a heart attack
She said that obesity would have an even larger effect on KU students in the long run.
even in your 20s," Chapman said. "It puts you at an increased risk now and it puts you at an even greater risk when you are in your 40s if you continue on in that same lifestyle of eating unhealthy food."
around the corner on
But unhealthy food in larger portions is everywhere. Vending and soda machines, stocked full of unhealthy, high-calorie snacks, are always just
campus.
Treat America, the only vending machine supplier for the Lawrence campus, keeps its machines filled with candy bars and chips. Elyse Fleck, purchasing department employee, said that the company only offered unhealthy items at the
University because those were what the students bought.
"We don't make the decision of what to buy." Fleck said. "Our products are decided by the consumer. We have healthier choices, but those aren't the ones that people want."
She said that it was more profitable for the company to offer only unhealthy items to students.
"It's a small supply and demand model for us," Fleck said. "If you put it in and it's gone, next time you put in twice as much for more of a profit."
But Chapman said Treat America could do more to help students eat healthier.
"Some college studies have found that if the vendor lowered the prices on the healthy items and raised the prices on the junk food, students started taking the healthier choices," she said. "It is a shame that healthier items aren't available so that the students had the option."
Chapman said that it shows that money is more important than teaching healthy eating.
"There is no question that that is the message the University is giving when it makes those choices," Chapman said.
She said educating students about how to eat healthy was as important as teaching math, science and English. 'I think the food that is offered has
I think the food we eat in University provides a subtle education," Chapman said. "As an educational institution, we should be providing food choices for students that further our heart health and our health in general."
But when it comes to eating, size matters too
Beyer said that students had a lack of realistic reference about the size of a true proportion of food, as evidenced by the sizes of soda bottles sold on campus.
"The portion sizes have gone bonkies," said Peter Beyer, associate professor of dietics and nutrition at the University of Kansas Medical Center. "I have a Coke bottle from the 1940s that is six ounces. Today, 12- to 22-ounce bottles are considered a serving of soda."
Secret society's sealed file revealed
SEE SUPERSIZE ON PAGE 6A
File offers insight to legacy of defunct student organization
KIMBERLY THOMPSON/KANSAN
pachacamac, a secret society at the University of Kansas that began in 1912 and is rumored to still be around today, used to use these items as tools for their club. Pictured from left are the Ritual of the Society of Pachacamac Master Copy, the Pachacamac seal stamper, a bronze bowl with a Pachacamac engraving, and a few candle holders.
By Sarah Hill Kansan staff writer
In the early days of student government at the University of Kansas, one coalition, named Pachacamac, dominated other coalitions.
But after the group went underground in the 1950s, its actions and influence on Student Senate elections and University politics have remained shrouded in secrecy. Rumors of a present-day Pachacamac organization still circulate throughout Senate.
"People talk about it, people say they're part of it, but it doesn't exist in its original form," said Justin Mills, former student body president. "It's so difficult to pin down who is in it, or what they do."
The University Daily Kansan obtained access to the University Archives' sealed Pacachamac file last week. The Kansan wrote a letter to University Archives citing Kansas open-records law, which granted the Kansan access to the file.
Documents within the file said the political party, formed in 1912, promised campus reform and ran future University leaders such as Chancellors Laurence Chalmers and Raymond Nichols. Both Chalmers and Nichols were chancellors in the 1970s.
In a 1931 issue of The Pachacamac News, the official publication of the society, the party's slogans
were "Action—Not Conversation" and "Pachacamac —The Party of Progress."
These men and women, which according to The Pachacamac News were largely independent of the greek system, consistently won student government elections until the late 1930s and early 1940s. A rift in the legitimate party resulted in the birth of the new Pachacamac Society, a Greek offshoot of the former progressive party. The new party consisted only of men.
In 1954, the society went underground. The group's official documents contain mission statements, such as, "The fulfillment of our solemn duty is activity toward the common good of all Greeks." "There is no evidence of how many members were in the society.
Documents from the society said the original Pachacamac was an Aztec figure. They also describe customs of the ancient Aztecs, a preColumbian indigenous civilization based in what is now Mexico City.
"Legend has it that this group controlled IFC elections and picked the student body presidents," said David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs. Ambler has been an adviser to senate for 25 years.
Until about 15 years ago, the inner workings of Pachacamac were still kent secret.
The documents said members took an oath to never reveal their identities as members of the Society, but ties have been found linking it to the Interfraternity Council.
About 15 years ago, two greek men, Craig Hughes and Scott Rutherford, whom Ambler described
as "courageous," infiltrated the group and exposed its actions. The group shut down as a result.
"Scott acquired the paraphernalia that the group used in their secret rituals and put it in a file in the University Archives, and had the file sealed," Ambler said. "He had it sealed to make sure the group was not revived. It was clearly not in the interest of the greek community."
Rutherford's file contained folders of pamphlets and newspaper clippings about political races from the group's first phase, as well as the items used in Pacachac initiation ceremonies.
The group's official seal is in the archives, depicting an Aztec monument and rising sun. An urn inscribed with "Pachacamac," candle holders and the master copy of the group's ritual book, bound in wood, still remain in the file.
Potential candidates received a letter that described the society as "dedicated to the progress of the University and its Greek system ... Its members, who represent the elite core of the fraternity system, operate in secrecy to better Greek life at K.U."
SEE PACHACAMAC ON PAGE 5A
Professor emeritus who 'pushed the envelope' dies
Shelly, professor emeritus of psychology, collapsed Friday while mowing his lawn. When emergency personnel arrived at about 3:30 p.m. they declared that Shelly was unresponsive and not breathing, and shortly after that he was pronounced dead, said Sgt. Mike Pattrick of the Lawrence Police Department. He was 73.
By Rachel Keesee Kansan staff writer
Felix Moos, professor of anthropology and Shelly's friend, said Shelly pushed the envelope while at the University.
"He certainly was a most innovative thinker, who always had new ideas, looking at change, the world and the behavior of human beings." Moos said. "He was an individual who went far beyond his field, which was social psychology. He was one of the most unusual persons in Fraser hall, in the sense that he had very strong views, which he defended to the best of his ability."
Shelly joined the psychology department at the University in 1965. He retired in December 1991 and became a professorementus Jan. 17, 1992, according to University Archiv-
The University of Kansas lost an original thinker and a dedicated educator with the death of Maynard Shelly.
Moos said Shelly thought of new ways to teach social psychology.
"He was one of the first people to use computers in the classroom." Moos said. "He was very science oriented. He tried to apply natural science and mathematics to his insights in social psychology."
Moos and Shelly worked together on a research project in Micronesia for four years in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They also began a course in the 1980s on aggression, violence and terrorism of the modern world, Moos said.
"He was a great asset," Moos said. "I will miss him greatly."
SEE PROFESSOR ON PAGE 5A
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