TODAY'S WEATHER: High of 35 with a chance of snow all day. SPORTS: Kansas slips by Nebraska to stay undefeated in the Big 12.
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
WWW.KANSAN.COM
MONDAY FEBRUARY 25,2002
ISSUE 100 VOLUME 112
Vanilla Ice chills in Lawrence
By Jessica Tims Kansan staff writer
JOHN NOWAK/KANSAN
Rob VanWinkle sat silently in the back seat of an SUV on the way to his hotel Friday night. His silence was broken after a Z95.7 DJ announced Vanilla Ice would be performing in Lawrence that night.
"Yeah!" said VanWinkle, also known as Vanilla Ice. "I still love to hear that... whoa, look at that line."
Rob VanWinkle, also known as Vanilla Ice, bombards the crowd at Abe & Jake's Landing, 8 East Sixth St., with an aggressive mix of hip-hop. During the Friday night performance, he thanked the crowd for supporting him and said fans and artists should focus solely on making music rather than the advertising and money-making aspects.
His attention was stolen by a line of about 200 people winding through the parking lot of Abe and Jake's Landing, 8 East Sixth St., to hear him perform a mixture of rap and rock music.
A total of 1,000 people saw Van Winkle perform a sold-out show Friday.
VanWinkle provoked some of the ladies on stage to bare their chests to the audience.
Few obliged without help, but one girl, who had caught his eye early in the show, was not so easy to convince.
After following the girl around the stage, he took matters into his own hands and lifted the girl's tank top himself.
Elena Detrixhe, Salina junior, said she was bruised by people while trying to get on stage, but it was worth it to dance with Ice.
Detrixhe said the one downfall of
the show was its length.
"The show was way too short," she said. "It wasn't worth $12 for him just to come out and do what, like five songs."
Yet some fans left early.
"I am leaving," Cassie Gilmore, Pittsburg senior, said. "I just wanted to hear him sing' Ice, Ice Baby.' I don't need to see the rest of this."
Earlier in the day, VanWinkle entered the Kansas Union for an interview with KJHK radio station.
About 150 people, including college and high school students and even the Union cafeteria workers, mobbed the former rap star for pictures and autographs.
VanWinkle said he was not annoyed or aggravated about the herds of people swarming around him or the constant requests for his signature.
0He said he was just happy that people were still interested in him and his music.
"You know it's cool, I'm so grateful I can't even tell you," he said. "I am very humble I still kind of live the rock star kind of life style or whatever, but I don't portray that image. Kid Rock really kind of blew that whole thing out of proportion."
After the interview he was mobbed by autograph seekers and fans with disposable cameras, as he made his way to the door.
SEE ICE ON PAGE 5A
Students protest coffee giant
AARON SHOWALTER/KANSAN
KU students display signs and hand out information on Starbucks Coffee to encourage support of local coffee shops. Members and friends of Delta Force and KU Green Party gathered at 7th and Massachusetts streets Saturday as part of Global Week of Action.
By Melissa Shuman Kansan staff writer
About 20 members of KU Greens and Delta Force gathered Saturday morning to protest Starbucks Coffee's coffee beans and milk.
The group held up posters outside Lawrence's Starbucks, 647 Massachusetts St., and encouraged passing motorists to honk to show their support.
Laura Adams, Topeka freshman, said she and the other students were protesting to show their support of independently owned coffee shops and to criticize Starbucks for not using more Fair Trade
coffee in its products. Adams said the protesters were also concerned with Starbucks' continued use of hormone-enhanced milk.
Local Starbucks management was unable to comment.
Dalyn Cook, Colorado Springs junior, brought her mother to the protest.
In Colorado Springs, the Cook family had seen two independently owned coffee stores struggle when Starbucks moved in two blocks from each business.
"I don't want Lawrence to be an Anytown, U.S.A.," Dalyn Cook said. "Lawrence is unique because
SEE PROTEST ON PAGE 5A
Fire burns in Towers
By Rachel Keesee Kansan staff reporter
A fire broke out in Jayhawker Towers early Saturday morning causing about $10,000 in damage.
The occupants of room 605 in Tower D were setting off fireworks in their room, said Lt. Schuyler Bailey of the KU Public Safety Office. No one was injured, he said.
In addition to fire damage in room 605, the apartment directly below it on the fifth floor was damaged because of leaking water from the fire department's fire hose.
The housing department estimated damage at $10,000, mostly from smoke and water. Bailey said.
Brian Hopkins, who lives on the sixth floor of Tower D, said he was using his computer when the alarm sounded at about 4:20 a.m.
"I wasn't worried about my possessions because I didn't think there really was a fire," the Hoisington junior said. "I heard the alarm but couldn't smell anything."
By the time he got his shoes on and went out the door, policemen were in the hall, he said.
"I was surprised, because this was the fifth or sixth time fire alarms have gone off," Hopkins said. "I think we've gotten our practice down pretty well for fire alarms."
He and other residents of Tower D were evacuated while firefighters worked to put out the fire.
"It was really cold out there, colder than you would expect for as warm as it had been during the day." Hopkins said. "My roommates were in their pajamas, and they were freezing."
Josh Talley, who lives on the fifth floor, said he was sleeping when the alarm sounded.
By 6:15 a.m., residents were allowed back in the building.
Bailey said the fire report was forwarded to the district attorney's office.
Fireworks are prohibited in student housing, according to the Department of Student Housing handbook.
Contact Keesee at rkeesee@kansan.com. This story was edited by Eve Lamborn.
Tired,cold residents rise up after alarm
By Mike Gilligan Kansan staff writer
Cold, restless students, stranded outside McCollum Hall on Friday because of an early-morning fire alarm decided they had had enough.
The alarm sounded in the residence hall at about 2 a.m., keeping the students outside until after 4 a.m. The Lawrence-Douglas County Fire and Medical Department, Lawrence Police Department and KU Public Safety arrived at the residence hall shortly after the alarm sounded because of a fire in a trash can. Lt. Schuyler Bailey of the Public Safety Office said a cigarette butt caused the fire on the fourth floor. The fire didn't cause any damage.
After more than 30 fire alarms last year and two hours waiting in the cold this time around, the students, full of frustration started shouting "Bullshit" while grouped into a mass of 800 strong in the Ellsworth Hall parking lot.
But the students got tired of waiting two hours to be let back in. Resident
Assistants had to keep the students, who were outside in front of the residence hall in 20-degree weather, from going back into the building before they were allowed to.
Bailey said students did not rush the doors to get back into McCollum, but he did say nine officers provided backup. He said no one was arrested during the disturbance. He said it was not the police's decision to keep the students outside.
"Everyone was impatient," said Lauren Murray, Naperville, Ill., freshman. "The R.A.s were trying to keep everyone out, but people were trying to get back in."
"Housing decided not to let them back in," Bailey said. "Along with the R.A.s we Kent the students out."
Todd Cohen, assistant director of University Relations, said he sympathized
Ken Stoner, director of student housing, was unavailable to comment yesterday.
SEE FIRE ON PAGE 5A
KU NAACP plays host to Black Heritage Ball
Kristen Lambert, vice president of the University of Kansas chapter of the NAACP, wanted a Black History Month event to be more than just the usual history lecture
So Lambert, Overland Park sophomore, along with other members, decided to celebrate Black History month with the First Annual Black Heritage Ball. More than 200 people attend the event last night at the Ballroom in the Kansas Union.
The Ball also marks the first big event for the KU chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People since it formed in July. The group, which has more than 30 members, was the first college chapter to form in the state of Kansas.
Timothy Lambert, Overland Park senior, and president and founder of the group, said he wanted an event that would raise funds and celebrate Black History Month. He said he got the idea for a ball after seeing one at his previous school. Illinois State University.
INSIDETODAY
Lambert said proceeds from the ball would go to the building of a new Multicultural Resource Center. He said he didn't know how much was raised, but he hoped to have at least $300 to donate for a new center.
By Leah Shaffer Kansan staff writer
The ball, which was sponsored by the Lawrence chapter of the NAACP, the Multicultural Resource Center and the
SEE HERITAGE ON PAGE 6A
SARA SHEPHERD/KANSAN
Candyce Gocha, Columbia, Mo., freshman, listens to an after-dinner speaker at the NAACP's Black Heritage Ball. The ball took place last night at the Kansas Union Ballroom.
STATE NEWS ...6A
HOROSCOPES ...2B
WEATHER ...4B
CROSSWORD ...4B
COMING IN TOMORROW'S KANSAN
HUME DEPOT: Some Lawrence residents view the coming of the new store with trepidation.
BODY IMAGE: Student health services prepare to celebrate all body types.
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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