Friday
April 18,2003
Vol. 113, Issue No. 137
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Kansas Relays events continue throughout weekend p. 1B
Contact Kristi Henderson, Jenna Goepfert or Justin Henning at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
Final farewell
Eric Braemy/Kansar
Former basketball coach Roy Williams thanks the Lied Center audience after finishing his speech at the KU basketball awards ceremony. Williams received a standing ovation when he was introduced, but yells of "Go home, Roy" and "Traitor" also were heard. A trio shook newspapers in front of their faces when Williams took the podium. Fans responded to the negative comments, shouting "We love you, Roy," and directing, "You should be ashamed of yourself," at the hecklers. See full story on page 1B.
Building a better center
Donor, student fees to help build new MRC
By Cate Batchelder
cbatchelder@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Construction of a new Multicultural Resource Center jumped two steps forward Wednesday.
In the morning a donor expressed interest in making a $1 million commitment to the estimated $3 million building, said
Kevin Corbett, senior vice president of development at the Kansas University Endowment Association.
Later that day, the Student Senate Finance committee passed a bill 17-2 to create a student fee that would incur
half of the cost.
"The turnaround from idea to reality has been amazing," Jonathan Ng, student body president, said.
Senate will vote to finalize the student fee next Wednesday. The proposed legislation includes a $3.50 fee per semester if the student is enrolled in more than six credit hours. If a student is enrolled in six or fewer hours, the fee is figured for each enrolled credit hour, the amount as published in the Official Comprehensive Fee Schedule. The summer fee, if enrolled five or more credit hours, would be $1.75.If enrolled in less than five hours, the fee, again, is figured for each enrolled credit hour. The fee is set to last until 2014.
Kit Brauer, holdover senator and one of the opposing voters, said he was worried students would keep paying beyond the halfway mark.
"The turnaround from idea to reality has been amazing.
Jonathan Ng
Student Body President
Loren Malone, student body vice president, said not to worry because the University would stop charging the fee once the halfway mark was met.
The fee would also subside if funds were met sooner in other ways. Blake Shuart, MRCtask force member, said the group would continue to push the Endowment Association to find more donors even if the confirmed donor fully commits to paying for half the construction.
"With half of the cost, approximately $1.5 million, coming from students and $1 million from a donor," Shuart said, "that last $500,000 is unaccounted for."
Ng said there were definite options to attaining the last bit. If more donations aren't pledged, Ng said, Chancellor Robert Hemenway told him the University of Kansas would pick up the rest.
Hemenway also told Ng that he would lobby the Board of Regents to put the fee on its agenda before June so that the student fee could be instituted as soon as possible. If the fee passes Senate and the Board of Regents, an architect could be found this summer with hopes of completing the MRC by Fall 2005.
— Edited by Ryan Wood
New illness a concern among those going abroad
By Nikki Overfelt
noverfelt@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is hitting home.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two cases have been reported in Kansas, and 190 have been reported in the United States as of April 13.
For one former KU student, SARS hit way too close to home.
Lindsay Kincaid, May 2002 graduate, was about two-thirds of her way through a nine-month trip around the world when she became sick in Hong Kong in March. Kincaid was running a fever and was having some difficulty breathing but figured it was probably just her allergies and didn't want to let it ruin her trip, she said.
"Oh, this is nothing," she said she told herself. "It's not like I'm going to stay in bed for five days."
After spending five days in Hong Kong, Kincaid continued on to Thailand. She started to feel even worse, so she went to a hospital in Bangkok. The doctors did a chest X-ray at the hospital and diagnosed her with atypical pneumonia, she said. On March 11, Kincaid was sent home to Overland Park on an emergency flight — all before Kincaid had even heard about SARS.
After being home for a day, Kincaid started hearing news from Europe about the then mystery illness. She was feeling better, but went to her doctor just to make sure.
"It was all very suspicious because I was in the infected area at the time," she said. "I was kind of freaking out, for sure."
Kincaid had another chest X-ray done, which showed that she didn't have pneumonia anymore or SARS, she said
"It was all good news once I went to the doctor," she said.
Watkins Memorial Health Center has been fielding a lot of questions about SARS from students and faculty who plan on traveling, said Myra Strother, director and chief of staff of Watkins.
"Students here at KU, unless they're traveling abroad, probably don't have much to worry about," she said.
Students who are traveling for fun to the places most affected, such as China Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam, might want to consider changing their traveling plans, she said. If they do travel, students must realize they are putting themselves at risk of becoming ill and at being quarantined, she said.
SEE SARS ON PAGE 8A
Students react to fall of Baghdad, U.S. role in rebuilding
By Henry C. Jackson
cjackson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The forthcoming end of the war and United States' future in the Middle East has led to uneasiness among students.
Though the war with Iraq appears to be coming to a close, students at the University of Kansas remain apprehensive.
U. S. forces appear to be controlling the war after seizing Baghdad last week, but student reactions boil down to one basic question.
"Now what?" Conor Meagher, Overland Park junior, said.
about the United States' role in a post-Saddam Iraq.
Meagher said he was nervous
While many students are relieved that the war's most intense fighting is coming to a close, the same students question how successful the United States will be in reshaping Iraq.
"I don't think it should be the United States deciding for the Iraqi people," he said.
"It's like if you get a heart transplant but it's the wrong type," Sam Hopkins, Prairie Village sophomore, said. "It seems like it's a good thing, but it might not be."
Hopkins, who is a member of the KU Israel Alliance, said he also worried about how the fighting would affect Israel. He said the
United States' intensified language toward Syria, which is a country branded as a supporter of terrorism by the U.S. government, worried him. Hopkins is nervous because of Syria's proximity to Israel.
"It's sad; I have to look ahead to the next war, but that's the way it is." Hopkins said.
For Kristen Pedula, the end of the war isn't the fall of a Saddam Hussein statue, it's the return home of loved ones. Pedula, Leavenworth senior, has a brother and several hometown friends who are deployed in Iraq.
"It won't be over for home, when the yellow ribbons are down from the trees," she said.
Despite worries about the future, most students expressed relief that Saddam Hussein had been usurped.
"I'm glad he's out," said Ladan Behbahani, St. Louis sophomore. "He's killed thousands of his own people and thousands of Iranians."
Behbahani, who is of Iranian descent, said the Middle East would benefit from the fall of Hussein's regime. She was more worried about continued U.S. presence in the region.
"It makes me nervous, Western dominance in the Middle East," she said. "That's what Al Qaeda and a lot of extremists are upset about."
— Edited by Christy Dendurent
Donovan Atkinson/Kansan
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