TODAY'S WEATHER: Chance for thunderstorms with a high of 73.
SPORTS: The baseball team beat Nebraska-Omaha in the ninth.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
TALK TO US: Contact Leita Walker, Jay Krall or Kyle Ramsey at (795) 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
WWW.KANSAN.COM
THURSDAY APRIL11,2002
ISSUE 128 VOLUME 112
'Geek Central full of books, man with tail
By Summer Lewis Kansan staff writer
Geek Central isn't just a place for studying.
The third-floor room in Battenfeld Scholarship Hall is filled with computers, a Sony PlayStation, a tiny TV, roleplaying games, 300 pounds of books and a man with a tail. The room is also known as the Nerd's Nest and the Tool Shed because of its computers, games and four occupants: Erick Anderson, Chris Bertrand, Bob Irwin and John Smith, Perry Hall, Md., freshman.
Anderson, Hutchinson junior, named his computer Megalith because of its enormous size and decoration.
He painted his computer black and covered it with little red and blue light bulbs. It also has a viewing window with neon glow tubes inside.
"Megalith isn't like any computer you've seen before," said Irwin, Martell, Neb., freshman. "The computer almost reaches up to my waist, which would be about two and a half feet tall. It is definitely the biggest computer in the hall."
"The guys come in and comment on how cool Megalith looks," he said. "The only reason that we got Megalith was because Erick's old computer got stolen."
Irwin said the computer was widely admired throughout the hall.
Irwin said another unique thing about Geek Central was that it was the only room at Battenfeld where a guy with a tail lived.
"I have a long, spotted tail covered with white fur that I wear all of the time, except to class," Irwin said. "It attaches to my belt and looks pretty real."
Irwin said he got the tail from a friend who makes them.
"I got it because I thought it would be neat to have a tail," he said. "It is just something weird about me and our room."
Irwin said that his tail helped his dating life.
"I have had a lot of chicks tell me that it looks pretty cool." he said.
The room also has 300 pounds of books, ranging from fiction to fantasy, that roommates have collected. Bertrand, Wichita sophomore, said he thought Geek Central was a special place because of all of the books.
"We know that our collection of books weighs 300 pounds because we have had to move them all several times," he said. "Not many people can say they have 300 pounds of books in their room."
Contact Lewis at stewls@kansan.com
This story was edited by Jeremy Clarkson.
Student Senate election worker Carrie Lloyd helps run the polling site at Wescoe Hall yesterday. Students also may cast their ballots until 4 p.m. today.
Voter turnout below last year
By Sarah Hill
Kansan staff writer
Turnout for the first day of this year's Student Senate elections is almost 8 percent less than last year's first-day participation.
Elections Commissioner David Mitchell said that 2,271 students voted Wednesday. This number is down from the 2,466 students who voted on the first day of last year's elections.
Mitchell said that other than the decreased turnout, the first day of elections went smoothly.
"We haven't had any significant problems yet," Mitchell said. "We're happy we have one successful day to put on the books."
Elections continue today at eight polling stations around campus.
Final election results will be announced after 8 p.m. tonight in the Kansas Union. Results will be broadcast live on JKJH 90.7 and KUJH cable channel 66 and posted on kansan.com.
Students who voted yesterday gave various reasons for participating in the elections.
Camille Andress, Lake Forest, Ill., sophomore, said she went to the Kansas Union to vote to avoid long lines at Strong Hall.
Andress said she voted because she was upset by information on a campaign flier she received on Wescoe Beach.
"At least now they'll stop harassing me." Andress said.
Thao Nguyen, Garden City junior, voted at Wescoe Hall. She thought that it was important for students to vote.
"I know it's a big thing on campus," she said. "It's for us."
Both Andress and Nguyen voted for Referendum B, which continues the Newspaper Readship program.
"I'm used to the Chicago papers at home." Andress said. "It's nice to read something other than the Kansan."
Campaign chalking around campus was defaced before the polls
In other election news:
opened yesterday morning.
Delta Force chalk messages were altered to read "Delta Farce," and the word "communists" was written above the messages. Some other Delta Force messages were marked off or damaged.
Karen Keith, Tulsa, Okla., junior and presidential candidate for Delta Force, said she was more concerned about getting students to vote than about the chalk messages.
"I'm not going to spend time worrying about the chalking," she said.
Keith said she and other Delta Force members would erase the negative markings after the polls closed.
KUnited presidential candidate Jonathan Ng, Leawood junior, said he had no idea who defaced the chalking.
"My strategy is just to focus on KUnited," he said. "I seriously doubt that this came from anyone in our coalition."
Elections Commissioner David Mitchell said that no campaign violations had been filed yesterday about the chalking.
Polling sites
Polling sites for today and tomorrow's Student Senate elections will be in the following campus buildings:
Strong, Wescoe and Haworth halls 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Kansas and Burge unions 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Mrs. E's 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
GSP-Corbin Hall 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Contact Hill at shill@kansan.com. This story was edited by Molly Gise.
Dallas junior Amber Ford, center, performs "Ten Minutes of Funk, Phase 6" with Sarah Mahoney, left, Dunlap, Iowa, junior, and Jessica Huebner, right, St. Louis, Mo., freshman, yesterday in front of Wescoe Hall. The three are members of Unity Hip-Hop Dance Troupe.
HIP HOP AND FUNK
SARA SHEPHERD/KANSAN
Med Center thrives amid budget cuts
By Lauren Beatty
Kansan staff writer
While the hospital component of the University of Kansas Medical Center is thriving — and hiring — the School of Medicine component is in the throes of a budget shortfall.
The hospital, which has been privately operated since 1998, has a different budget from the state-run School of Medicine.
This week, eight classified staff members of the school received word that their jobs would not be renewed this summer.
Kevin Boatright, associate executive vice chancellor for university relations, said other vacant classified positions would be eliminated, but he did not know the exact number.
Last week, 11 unclassified staff members including one professor, received letters explaining that their jobs would be eliminated June 30.
Ten vacant unclassified positions will also be cut, Boatright said. More cuts are expected. He said a total of 90 full-time positions would be eliminated, including 20 faculty members.
Boatright said classified staff included cleri-
"It is not performance-related, and they are not layoffs."
Kevin Boatright
associate executive vice chancellor
cal workers, janitors and other 40-hour work week employees. Unclassified staff jobs require a college degree and include positions such as research assistants and professors.
Boatright said the cuts were in preparation for a tight state budget next fiscal year, and because of rules in the faculty/staff handbook, the University gave advance notice to staff about the job cuts.
INSIDETODAY
"It is not performance-related, and they are not layoffs," Boatright said. "What happened was each department made an evaluation of positions that could be eliminated. That was the basis for the decisions. It's not so much as individuals as it is positions with less impact on the academic functions of the medical center."
On the other hand, the hospital is searching for
CAMERA ON KU ...2A
HOROSCOPES ...2B
WEATHER ...6B
CROSSWORD ...6P
COMING IN TOMORROW'S KANSAN
MED CENTER
SEE PAGE 5A
STUDENT SENATE: Read about the results of this year's elections.
DRINKS: New malt beverages are on the market but at least one is not yet legal in Kansas.
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The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents. Subscriptions can be purchased at 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
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