TODAY'S WEATHER: Cooler and rainy with a high of 57. SPORTS: Football team prepares for first public practice tonight
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
TALK TO US: Contact Leita Walker, Jay Krall or Kyle Ramsey at (785) 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
FRIDAY APRIL 26, 2002
WWW.KANSAN.COM
ISSUE 139 VOLUME 112
Rodents lead radio station to seek new home
By Meredith Carr Kansan staff writer
A possible fire hazard, animal infestation problems in the past and an outdated building are some of the reasons why KANU-FM 91.5 is moving to a new location next year.
KANU-FM 91.5, located in the Broadcasting Hall behind Marvin Hall, has been home to news, sports, cultural and educational programing as well as Audio-Reader, a service for the visually impaired, since 1952.
But J. Shafer, news director for KANU-FM, said the station had also been home to rodents during the years. He said a family of possums lived in the building before 1996, and squirrels were in the building around the same time. A skunk made a temporary appearance in the building in October 2000.
Shafer said the rodents eventually left and didn't return.
He also said the state fire marshal declared the building a fire hazard during an inspection earlier this year because of all the electrical equipment housed in an outdated building.
But Bob Rombach, commissions inspector for the State Fire Marshal's Office said the building wasn't cited as a hazard. He said he inspected the building.
"There were no violations in the building because everything is properly installed," Rombach said. "So there wasn't a citation, but we strongly recommended they are careful with the equipment in the building for their remaining time."
He said the only way Broadcasting Hall could be seen as a risky situation is due to the amount of electrical equipment in such an old building.
Shafer said the Broadcasting Hall had been given the nickname 'the mud hut' because it was built in 1942 by a University of Kansas professor during World
War II. Eighty percent of the building was made of mud and hay because bricks took too long to make.
The new KANU building will cost about $2.2 million, and gifts for the project are still being accepted. The station has raised $1.5 million so far.
John Scarffe, director of communications for the KU Endowment Association, said the station would receive money raised from the endowment's KU First fund-raising campaign, the largest fund-raising campaign in University history.
He said philanthropist Hortense Oldfather donated a $1 million gift to the radio station. Her husband is Charles Oldfather, Jr., whom Oldfather Studios was named for. He is a former law professor at the University.
The money is going toward the new building scheduled to open in 2003 at 1120 W.11th Street.
The Sutherland Foundation, a charitable family-owned foundation based in Overland Park, also donated $500.000.
Janet Campbell, director of KANU, said she was excited about the move to the new building.
"I think the change will be good because right now we are housed in three different locations on campus." Campbell said. "The new building will also have more acoustical treatments which we are not currently use to."
The station has a tower near the Lied Center and offices in Carruth-O'Leary Hall.
Campbell also said the new building would be nice off-campus because KANU was not an academic unit, but shared the current building with professors from the School of Architecture and Urban Design.
"After all 50 years we have grown as a station and in size," Schafer said.
Contact Carr at mcarr@kansan.com. This story was edited by Brooke Hesler.
COLLECTING IDEAS
Wichita senior Jeremy Engels won first prize for his collection of books on American Pragmatism in the undergraduate division of the University of Kansas Libraries Snyder Book Collecting Contest. Engels' collection is on display with other winners on the first floor of Watson Library.
SARA SHEPHERD/KANSAN
Collectors win money
Book contest winners take home dollars for odd collections, essays
By Mike Gilligan
Kansan staff writer
One KU student has an extra $750 to spend on his upcoming honeymoon to Glacier National Park in Montana after winning the 46th annual Snyder Book Collecting Contest.
"I'm getting married this summer, so I'm going to use the money toward the
Jeremy Engels, Wichita senior, took first place in the undergraduate division of the contest. He won $750 and a $100 gift certificate to Mount Oread Bookshop on the second floor of the Kansas Union.
honeymoon and getting set up when I move to Illinois," he said.
Engels submitted his collection of 43 books on American pragmatism. He said the books centered on the tradition of American philosophy.
Engels said he became interested in the topic when he took a graduate seminar on pragmatism. He said he built his collection over the last three years.
Engels said he would attend graduate school at the University of Illinois in the fall where he would major in communications and focus on American pragmatism.
"It's something I'm going to continue to study, so the collection is important for my future." he said.
The graduate level winner, Resha Cordone, Covelo, Ca., graduate student, submitted her collection of books dealing with writers before and after Gen. Pinochet's rule in Chile from 1973 to 1988. She also won a $750 and $100 gift-certificate to Mount Oread Bookshop.
The contest includes separate graduate and undergraduate levels.
"I'm getting married this summer, so I'm going to use the money towards the honeymoon and getting set up when I move to Illinois."
Jeremy Engels Wichita senior
Cordone said some of her books were rare and historical.
Writer explores science, religion
SEE BOOKS ON PAGE 3A
SARA SHEPHERD/KANSAN
The New York Times science writer Dava Sobel speaks to an audience of about 800 in the Kansas Union Ballroom yesterday. Sobel visited the University and signed copies of her best-selling books, Galileo's Daughter and Longitude after her talk.
By Sarah Hill Kansan staff writer
Best-selling author Dava Sobel had no idea she would write a book that would be of great interest to Kansans.
While writing Galileo's Daughter, Sobel said she quit reading newspapers and keeping up on current events so she could focus on her book. When she started to pay attention to the news again, she was surprised to hear about the debate over teaching evolution in Kansas.
A crowd of almost 800 filled the Ballroom in the Kansas Union last night during Sobel's lecture, as part of the Hall Center Humanities Lecture Series.
The conflict between science and religion was the focus of her book.
"I thought, how about that — I've written an issues book," she said.
Sobel spoke on Galileo Galilei's struggles with science and religion in the 17th century. She is the author of Galileo's Daughter, a New York Times nonfiction bestseller.
Victor Bailey, director of the Hall Center for the Humanities, told the crowd in his opening remarks that he insisted on inviting her to the series in a such a way that the center could not refuse.
"I made her invitation a condition of my appointment," he said.
"I had an image of a young woman in the early 1600s, having to fix a clock and having Galileo to go to for advice."
Dava Sobel best-selling author
Sobel's book is based on 124 letters written to Galileo from his oldest daughter, Maria Celeste, from the Italian convent she lived in until her death.
The author learned about Galileo's daughter from a treatise she read while writing her other bestselling book, Longitude. At one point when she was in the convent, Maria Celeste was assigned to fix the main clock. After failing to fix it, she wrote her father for help.
"I had an image of a young woman in the early 1600s, having to fix a clock and having Galileo to go to for advice," she said.
Students, faculty and visitors attended the lecture.
Kristen White, Olathe freshman, has read both Galileo's Daughter and Longitude.
SEE SOBEL ON PAGE 3A
Sororities celebrate historic anniversaries
By Caroline Boyer Kansan staff writer
Anniversaries of two campus sororities will bring more than 350 alumnae to the University of Kansas this weekend.
The Tau chapter of Alpha Delta Pi sorority will celebrate its 90th anniversary this weekend. Alpha Delta Pi was the first sorority in the United States, founded in 1851.
Alana Terry, president of Alpha Delta Pi, said the celebration would focus on the local chapter's own anniversary, but also would recognize its 150th national anniversary, which was in 2001.
"It's a great opportunity to celebrate our sisterhood and the fact that we have such a long history at KU," Terry said.
The celebration will begin tonight with a welcoming reception at 7 in the chapter house. A Founder's Day Ceremony, campus tours and a formal reception are planned for tomorrow.
The sorority's international president, Chris Stecher Dickey, will attend tomorrow's events. Terry said about 75 Alpha Delta Pi alumnae from many different classes and states would come for the celebration.
The KU chapter of Chi Omega sorority will also be celebrating an anniversary this year. The national sorority was first founded in 1895. The Lambda chapter of the sorority, founded at KU in 1902, will turn 100 years old this December, and members will celebrate with alumnae this weekend.
Michelle Guerry, centennial chairwoman for Chi Omega, said the chapter had been planning the celebration for two years.
Alumnae will have a social gathering in the Marriott Hotel at the Riverfront Plaza and the Wheel this evening. The chapter will also have a Centennial Banquet tomorrow in the Marriott, with guest speaker Joellen Sullivan, Chi Omega's international vice president, after house and campus tours. About 275 alumnae are expected to come, Guerry said.
Contact Boyer at cboyer@kensan.com. This story was edited by Jenna Goepfort.
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