Wednesday
March 12, 2003
Vol. 113. Issue No. 115
Today's weather
67°
Tonight: 46°
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
Tell us your news
Contact Kristi Henderson, Jenna
Goepfert or Justin Henning at
864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
Find out where students live, work and play in Student Life p.1B
MRC resolution promotes funding
By Cate Batchelder
cbatchelder@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Building a new Multicultural Resource Center was a campaign promise last spring when Jonathan Ng ran for student body president. Now he's trying to raise awareness in order to fund that new MRC.
Ng spent $738 of the senate advertising budget on a full-page ad in The University Daily Kansan last Wednesday to show the student body "what the hell has Student Senate done for me?" The ad answered with a new Multicultural Resource Center.
Ng is trying to get the rest of Student Senate officially behind him at tonight's Senate meeting by passing a resolution stating that Senate would supplement private donations with student fees for the immediate construction of the $2.75 million MRC.
In January, university administrators and officials approved Ng's MRC proposal. All that's needed now is a donor.
"The MRC is something that contributes directly to the mission of the University," Ng said. "It's a facility to help all graduates become more culturally versatile, so that they can become
more competitive in the job market."
The original MRC resolution was revised in committee last week so that Senate would not have to match a donor's funds halfway. Instead, the resolution states that Senate will supplement, not match, funds.
Karen Keith, Multicultural Affairs committee co-chairwoman, said she was worried that if the Senate and the student body offered to match funds halfway, then a donor might not have the motivation to pay the full $2.75 million.
Keith wants the donors to give as much and students to pay as little as possible. With the new changes, Keith said she supported the resolution.
"It's much better to have everyone excited and happy about it, so it can have that much more momentum," she said.
The resolution shows that students are behind it, which tells a donor that it's not a controversial topic, said Kevin Corbett, senior vice president of development at the Kansas University Endowment Association.
"I think the attention and obvious interest is just outstanding," Corbett said.
more effective if it clearly stated that Senate would match funds halfway.
But the new, vague wording shows commitment without being binding. Keith said.
Corbett said the resolution would be —Edited by Leah Shaffer
With or without the MRC resolution, the Endowment Association is compiling a list of potential donors to identify who might be interested in the project. Corbett said the Endowment Association was in its eighth year of a 10-year campaign to hit donors for $1 million or more. With two years left, the donor list is getting smaller.
Students prepare for spring break
By Nikki Overfelt
overfelt@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The spring break clock is ticking, and students are racing to prepare for trips.
Whether they're migrating to some place warmer, going on a road trip or traveling to a big city, students are preparing to insure their trips are enjoyable and successful.
Three to four weeks before spring break, the lifeguards at the pool in Robinson Center saw an increased number of students, said Dianna Waller, Topeka junior and lifeguard at Robinson.
"They come in and get themselves in shape so then they'll look good in their swimsuits," she said.
Maggie Groner, Chicago freshman, is going to the Florida Keys with friends for spring break. She said she had been working out more in preparation for the trip.
The lifeguards see the biggest increase after the first of the year when people set New Year's resolutions. Then the numbers drop off and rise again a few weeks before spring break, Waller said.
Students going someplace warmer also have to think about time in the sun.
For the past three weeks, Lindsy Alleman, Leawood senior, has been going tanning to get ready for her trip to Miami and then a cruise.
"I have to go tanning or otherwise I'm going to fry," she said.
Road trips are another popular option
for students wanting to get away for spring break.
Kristin Ashby, Leawood freshman, is driving to Virginia with friends for the break. Her friend, whose car they are taking, is getting it tuned up before they leave, she said. They are also packing other items to make the ride more enjoyable.
"We bought road food and burned a bunch of CDs," she said.
Matt McGuire, Lawrence senior, is flying to New York with friends during the break. In order to get ready, he's been researching the different methods of transportation. Traveling in New York is not a concern for him, he said.
"A couple of us have traveled in Europe, so we are aware of the safety issues of traveling in big cities," he said.
Watkins Memorial Health Center is helping students prepare for these trips. Since last Thursday, Student Health Services has been sponsoring events to give students travel tips.
"We want to give students some information to keep them safe while they are away from KU,"said Melissa Smith, public health educator for Student Health Services.
Safe alcohol consumption, sexually transmitted diseases, international travel and skin care while in the sun are some of the topics addressed by Watkins, Smith said. Giving students tips on how to keep both their bodies and personal belongings safe while traveling is the goal, she said.
SEE SPRING ON PAGE 7A
By Cate Batchelder
cbatchelder@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Your Elected Leaders Lending Out Wheels is a new club trying to live up to its name.
Y. E.L.L.O.W., a group made mostly of senators, will present a bill to fund a $6.945 trial yellow bike program at tonight's Student Senate meeting. Past elected leaders tried to get the bicycle-sharing program off the ground in 1984 and 1997 but failed.
"The problem is there are so many logistics, especially when dealing with a campus like KU." said Holly Krebs, transportation coordinator from 1999
to 2001.
Bicycles left at the bottom of hills, liability issues, theft and maintenance were concerns Krebs remembers when she was an undergraduate student during the 1997 trial. Senators addressed the same concerns and cited new ones such as set-up fees, helmet safety and nonexistent bike lanes.
After the bill's run-around in committees and full Senate, Y.E.L.L.O.W. will bring its bill back with those questions answered, said Tim Akright, club member and transportation coordinator.
"I think that Student Senate needs to open its eyes and take a chance on a remodeled, revamped yellow bike program," Akright said.
In the trial program, 90 randomly chosen student applicants would pay $10 and sign a waiver to participate. They would have the freedom to ride the 30 yellow 12-speed bikes bought for $59.99 by Y.E.L.L.O.W., around campus but not beyond. Sunflower Bike Shop would maintain the bikes. Each student would have a universal key to unlock and re-lock the $49.99 Kryptonite locks.
The locks are a new feature from 1997's version. Using locks, fees and a waiver will deter theft, said Jeff Dunlap, Y.E.L.L.O.W. club member and Nunemaker senator.
SEE BIKE ON PAGE 7A
Possible war in Iraq could affect museum
Linda Trueb, senior curator at the Natural History Museum, shows a rare holotype frog specimen yesterday. The museum has approximately 600 type specimens, which ranks with the collections at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Kelley Weiss/Kansan
By Kolley Weiss
kweiss@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas boasts worldrenowned collections in its museums all of which could be lost if the United States goes to war with Iraq.
Linda Trueb, senior curator of the University's Natural History Museum and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, said the museum had a collection of 600 herpetological, or amphibian and reptile type specimens that rivaled the Smithsonian Institution and the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Type specimens are new additions to the species. They have not been defined and are the first specimen to be found, which makes them rare and valuable. For example, while doing fieldwork in South America, Trueb found a frog that had never been identified. She then named it and published the information and this made it a type specimen.
Trueb said the Spencer Research
Library had one of the world's best collections of rare natural history documents. The bee collection in Snow Hall is one of the most comprehensive in the world, Truth said.
All of these rare collections could be lost without people having realized they were even here, Trueb said.
Joseph Lampo, assistant to the director of the Spencer Museum of Art, said the possibility of terrorist attacks destroving
Trueb said a similar situation happened during World War II, when the Munich Natural History Museum moved its entire herpetological collection to a farmhouse outside of Munich to protect it from bombings. Unfortunately the basement of the farm house was not enough to preserve the one-of-a-kind type specimens when a pilot leaving Munich decided to drop a bomb on the outskirts of the city.
"People here need to realize that there are resources here that are irreplaceable," she said. "We just have to recognize that we have something that valuable in our backyard."
or damaging works on loan was unlikely, but, if a war were to start, the museum would be selective in where its works were loaned internationally.
For example, a Manet painting from the museum that is on loan in Treviso, Italy, is not in danger. Lampo said. The oil-sketch, "Portrait of Lise Campineanu," has been on exhibit since early November 2002, and Lampo said the exhibit had not experienced any problems.
So far the collections are safe, but the University could reconsider how often it lends and receives art, specimens and other rare collections, Lampo said.
Susan Earle, assistant professor of art history and curator of European and American art at the museum, said it did not usually loan large collections to international museums.
"Clearly there will be terrorist attacks if we go to war." Earle said, "It is quite possible that museums and universities will be hit. If Bush forces us to go to war we might reconsider lending our exhibits."
-Edited by Christy Dendurent
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