Thursday
March 13, 2003
Vol. 113, Issue No. 116
Today's weather
67°
Tonight: 47°
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Contact Kristi Henderson, Jenna
Goepfert or Justin Henning at
864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
Students swap fashion statements for an afternoon downtown Jayplay
Jayplay
Trading
Places
p.8
Chalmers fails; yellow bike rides
New rec center still in search of name
By Cate Batchelder
cbatchelder@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas has a lovehate relationship with E. Laurence "Larry" Chalmers.
As chancellor from 1969 to 1972, Chalmers dealt with the Vietnam War protests, the civil rights movement and the women's feminist movement. Because of his actions to each, he is remembered in different lights.
Last night and 30 years after his term, it was the undertaking of Student Senate to decide where it stood in remembering the former chancellor. In a majority vote, Senate failed a recommendation for a petition to name the new student recreation center after Chalmers, one of the only chancellors who doesn't have a
building named after them.
Chalmers, who lives in Durango, Colo., said before the meeting that even if the bill didn't pass, he was still honored by the students' efforts.
Senate's reasons for failing the recommendation had been heard before.
Loren Malone, student body vice president, went to get firsthand information from Emily Taylor, dean of women from 1956 to 1975 and name-sake of the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center.
After hearing what Taylor said about Chalmers, Malone opposed the recommendation.
Taylor, 87, served as chairwoman of the panel presentation, titled "The Chalmers Years," at the Watkins Community Museum of History Tuesday morning. She wore a pin that said, "This
is what a feminist looks like."
The presentation gathered firsthand sources who were present during Chalmers' years. Some of them were inside the rooms where Chalmers had to make some big decisions.
Taylor said she wasn't allowed in.
In fact, Taylor sat outside the chancellor's suite with other February Sisters to pressure Chalmers to grant the feminist group their requests: a female vice chancellor, affirmative action enforcement, a day care center, a civil rights commission, a women's studies department and better women's health care at Watkins Memorial Health Center. Those demands were met with Taylor's help but not fast enough, she said.
Taylor criticized Chalmers' inaction.
SEE CHALMERS ON PAGE 5A
Senate approves program to start after spring break
By Nikki Overfelt
overfelt@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
More KU students will have the option of biking on campus after springbreak.
A bill passed last night to fund a $6,945 trial yellow bike program. The bill was sponsored by Your Elected Leaders Lending Out Wheels.
The yellow bike program would allow 90 randomly chosen student applicants to pay $10 and sign a waiver to participate in the program for the rest of the semester. They would be allowed to ride the 30 yellow
12-speed bikes around campus.
The same kind of program has been successful implemented at other universities and should be a success at the University as well, said Kyle Johnson, Y.E.L.L.O.W. president and engineering senator.
Johnson said applications for the trial program were not available yet but would be soon either online or in the Student Senate office.
"I think lots of students are going to benefit from it," he said. "I definitely see this as something that will continue far into the future."
Lab assistants maintain order
SEE YELLOW ON PAGE 5A
By Amy Potter
apotter@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Students masked in safety goggles ask him whether he has a mop for a small chemical spill in a laboratory. But he is not the professor.
Matt Seger, Newton junior, works in the chemistry stockroom. Though it's a job that often goes unnoticed, the stockroom ensures that chemistry labs run smoothly for 1,000 students.
"It's kind of a thankless job," Seger said. "Some students take it for granted."
"It's very hard for one instructor to get all the labs set up and teach the class," Teague said.
Susan Teague, department of chemistry business manager, said there were usually 1,000 students for general chemistry, with most labs having 20 students.
The employees' tasks include laboratory set-up, chemical preparation for experiments and handing back graded exams, Teague said.
Bruce Johnston is one of two full-time laboratory education technicians who manages the three stockrooms for the chemistry department. He also supervises Seger.
Johnston's workday begins at 6:30 a.m. to prepare for the 7:30 a.m. labs. In his 31 years as an employee of the chemistry department, Johnston doesn't recall anything that has gone too terribly wrong in the stockroom
"I want uneventful experiences," Johnston said. "We try not to have anything eventful happen here."
Richard Givens, professor of chemistry, said the stockroom was a crucial aid to him as a teacher.
"They give faculty members time to spend on things they really need to spend time on, like planning experiments, planning for lectures and getting organized," Givens said.
Seger admits that a downside to the job can often be the smell coming from the labs across the hall or even the chemicals in the stockroom.
"Sometimes I take a break and walk up and down the hallway to clear my head." Seger said.
The end of the semester can also be tricky for the stockroom. That's when the stockroom collects bills from students for broken equipment throughout the semester.
"Students are really nice when they ask for things," Seger said. "They can get mean when we tell them their lab bill is due at the end of the semester."
Seger is majoring in journalism and has had only a couple chemistry classes.
"Luckily I didn't need that much science background," Seger said. "I learned on the job all the things I needed to know."
"They are key people in the department for sure," Teague said. "Without them the lab classes could not run smoothly."
Although they remain behind the scenes, stockroom workers are essential for the operation of the department.
Edited by Julie Jantzer
Matt Seger, Newton junior, sits in his office, the chemistry lab stockroom. He has worked at his position of lab aide in Mallott Hall since his freshman year.
Courtney Kuhlen/Kanser
Rain, hail hits campus
inhn Nowak/Kansan
Nathan Bushue, Overland Park junior, watches rain and hail smother the campus last night from the safety of the Wescoe Hall overhang. Power was momentarily knocked out on campus around 7p.m. because of the sudden storm.
Protesting the War on Drugs
By Eddie Yang eyang@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
As students have been gathering in front of Wescoe Beach to protest the probable war with Iraq, another KU organization is now protesting a different war.
"Water pipes on Wescoe!" said Chase Cookson, president of KU Students for a Sensible Drug Policy. "You can smoke your tobacco in there!"
According to its mission statement, the organization is dedicated to the eradication of human rights violations and encroachment of civil liberties caused by current drug enforcement techniques and policies in the war on drugs.
Cookson, Wichita junior, started the University's organization last year, which has 200 chapters nationwide. He said it was strongly opposed to the Higher Education Act, which denies federal funding to those with prior drug arrests.
"You can murder someone and get a Pell Grant, but you can't smoke a joint and get a Pell Grant." Cookson said.
A Pell Grant is a federal loan from the government generally given to undergraduate students.
"You can murder someone and get a Pell grant, but you can't smoke a joint and get a Pell grant."
Chase Cookson President of KU Students for a Sensible Drug Policy
Cookson said the organization was sponsoring a free showing of the 1999 documentary Grass, narrated by Woody Harrelson, at 7:00 p.m. today at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
"This movie does a good job of showing how the drug laws are based on non-factual information," Cookson said.
Blake Thomas, KU graduate and Lawrence resident, said the movie opened his eyes.
Cookson and members from the organization have been selling $1 raffle tickets for a 1-foot colored glass water
"Whenever I see these new marijuana commercials on TV, I want to cringe," Thomas said about the anti-drug campaigns. "It's scary that some people might believe the message in them."
"We are hoping to buy a vinyl sign with money from the raffle and to just promote the organization," Cookson said.
Cookson said approximately 15 people were involved with the organization so far.
pipe this week in front of Wescoe Hall.
"You know how it goes, sometimes people come, and sometimes they don't." he said.
The organization plans on having a rally as part of the Million Marijuana March in early May and hosting a medical marijuana user forum later in the year.
"We are bringing a guy that can actually bring his government-issued weed on campus, and it would be legal," he said.
Cookson said George McCann, the speaker, was one of the few remaining medical marijuana users left after the government shut down the program in 1992
"It would be good to show people a person who is dying and his only medication is marijuana," he said.
For more information about the organization, log on to the Web site www.kussdp.org.
-Edited by Todd Rapp
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