FRIDAY,MARCH 7,2003
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5A
Summit to discuss minority issues
By Henry C. Jackson
cjackson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
James Owen says he often fields questions when he brings up the issue of diversity in graduate school.
"People ask. 'Why is this white guy so interested in diversity?' said the Springfield, Mo., second-year law student. "But my experience is that you get a much better perspective when you have many cultures. Great ideas come from a diverse outlook on things."
Because there are fewer minority graduate students than minority undergraduate students, minority graduate students and the issues they face can easily be forgotten. But Owen wants to change that.
This weekend Owen, executive director of the Graduate and Professional Association, will attempt to address issues
facing minority graduate students when the association hosts its first annual Diversity Issue Summit. The conference will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Multicultural Resource Center.
"There's always the underlying issue that diversity is something you need to bring attention to," Owen said. "But it's always been geared to undergraduate students. This is going to focus on graduate issues."
The limited number of scholarships available to minority graduate students, new federal guidelines for travel and health plans and better insurance for professional students who have families are among the issues that Owen said minority graduate students faced.
Though Owen said he was eager to hear about minority issues, he was most looking forward to tomorrow's conference because several KU officials,
including Provost David Shuilenburger, Richard Johnson, dean of students, and John Augusto, assistant dean in the graduate school, are attending. In addition to a large KU contingent. Owen said the top six finishers from recent city commission elections would be attending the diversity summit.
Inviting KU and city officials to the conference offers the opportunity to make a bigger impact, Owen said.
"We're not only talking about these problems, but we're going to do something about it," Owen said. "I think this is one of the first times we have had people from the University and the city coming to listen to students about diversity."
Augusto said tomorrow's conference would help the University build toward Chancellor Robert Hemenway's goal of becoming a top-25 public university.
"If you look at other universities in the top 25, they have large.
DIVERSITY ISSUES SUMMIT
Hosted by the Graduate and Professional Association
Where: The Multicultural Resource Center
When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For more information contact
James Owen at 864-4914 or
gpa@ku.edu
Lynn Goodell, city commission candidate, said he was attending the summit because it would offer new views on diversity in higher education.
diverse student bodies," Augusto said. "We want our student body to reflect the greater society."
"I think I know something about diversity," Goodell said. "But I want to hear if there's something new, something I haven't heard yet."
- Edited by Michelle Burhenn
Author's descendent to talk about writings
Oxford professor visits University to lecture on Austen
By Eddie Yang
eyang@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
in the Kansas Union.
The great-great-great-great nephew of Jane Austen will give a lecture about his new book about Austen on Monday. Richard Jenkyns, professor of the Classical Tradition at Oxford University, will speak on "A Park with a View: Jane Austen's Mansfield" at 4 p.m. at the Centennial Room
"This is going to be one of the most distinguished professors the English department has brought to this campus," said Marjorie Swann, associate professor of English.
Swann said Jenkyns specialized in the English literature and the classics.
The lecture, sponsored by the department of English, is free and open to the public.
Swann said the department paid for his visit through anonymous donors.
Jenkyns is a visiting professor at Boston University this year.
He has been published in The New York Times, The New York Review of Books and The New Republic. His book, The Victorians and Ancient Greece, won the Arts Council National Book Award for Creative Non-Fiction.
Swann said students would be able to interact with Jenkyns informally after the lecture.
"We are having a reception after the lecture in the Centennial Room which will give students an opportunity to talk with him and enjoy punch and chocolate cake," Swann said.
and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion.
Austen lived from 1775 to 1817.Her novels include Sense
"Some people call her the greatest writer of the 19th century," said Dorice Williams Elliott, English professor who teaches a Jane Austen class.
Elliott recommended that KU students attend the lecture.
"She has been one of the very few woman that has always been considered a great writer," Elliott said. "She didn't have to be resurrected like many female writers. She has always been great."
- Edited by Michelle Burhenn
Group practices Hebrew at dinner
By Cal Creek
ccreek@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
"Timsor li et ha schnitzel!"
While many on campus might not be able to understand this, a group of about five or six Jewish students, professors and community members did last night. They understood that it is the Hebrew equivalent of "Pass me the schnitzel."
Once a month, the group meets at the University of Kansas Hillel house, 940 Mississippi St., to have a traditional Israeli dinner and hold Hebrew conversations. They call the dinner Shulchan Irvit, or Hebrew Table.
Ally Tash, Jewish campus service corps fellow, organized the dinners last semester beginning in October. She wanted students from Israel to have the opportunity to speak their native language.
"They really enjoy having the opportunity to speak in Hebrew," Tash said.
For students who speak Hebrew as a second language, the dinners provide the opportunity to polish and practice it.
"I haven't been around people who speak Hebrew in a while, so it's definitely beneficial," Yoel Malashock, West Orange, New Jersey, freshman said.
The meal was prepared by Wichita senior Tony Jacobson. Jacobson prepared chicken schnitzel, hummus, pita bread and Israeli salad, which is made up of chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, vinegar and oil.
Jacobson said that their kitchen was a kosher kitchen.
Kosher food laws are a series of laws given in the book of Exodus that include not eating pork and shellfish, and not mixing meat and dairy within a dish or meal.
"We observe the kosher laws," Jacobson said, "so the people who come and cook need to understand the kosher laws."
Jacobson said he learned to cook Israeli food from Israeli friends and after living in Israel for one year.
Hillel Director Jay Lewis said students appreciated the linguistic opportunity that the dinners provided for them to have conversations with other people in their mother language. The dinners also serve as social functions.
"For the Israelis on campus, it's an opportunity to come meet other Israeli students," Lewis said.
Tash said that all levels of Hebrew skill are welcomed and that the dinner was open to anyone in the community. The topics of conversation are very relaxed, she said, ranging from what's going on around campus to what classes people are taking, to where people are from and what dorms they live in. Hillel charges $3 per person to help cover the costs of the dinner.
Students said they appreciated the dinners because it was a great way to meet people.
"I met my best friend here, Emily Kravit," said Dalia Rosenstein, Tel Aviv, Israel, freshman.
Malashock said it was the best way to meet other Jewish people.
The next Shulchan Irvit will be April 10 at 6:30 p.m.
— Edited by Christy Dendurent
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