TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2003
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan
Shane McCall, Kansas City, Mo., senior, used his roommate's computer to enter data pertaining to his research on traditional or nontraditional farming methods in the Lawrence area. McCall interviewed local farmers for his research.
Student researches farming techniques
By Amy Potter
BY Amy Potter
apotter@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Shane McCall wants to cultivate trust with farmers in both Lawrence and third-world nations.
The two go hand-in-hand for McCall, Kansas City, Mo., senior, whose research on conventional and organic farming will help him when he joins the Peace Corps.
"I won't just be teaching them and saying. This is the reason you should do this," McCall said. "You have to make sense and be reasonable so they can trust you."
McCall said one work area for the Peace Corps focused on motivating farmers to develop better agricultural systems.
"They don't want people to use a lot of pesticides and fertilizers which cost a lot of money and they pollute." he said.
McCall's research on farms began this semester. He wants to apply this research of basic farming practices when he works with third-world farmers.
For his research, McCall conducted two-hour interviews with eight farmers in the Lawrence area.
Four of the eight farmers are
organic or nontraditional farmers who grow their products naturally without the assistance of synthetic chemical pesticides or fertilizers.
The other four are considered traditional farmers because they grow only one crop and use pesticides and fertilizers. They typically sell their crop through wholesale markets instead of straight to the consumer in farmer's markets like the organic farmer.
The main purpose for McCall's research was to discover why some farmers chose the organic route and others opted for traditional farming. McCall received a $500 Undergraduate Research Award for the spring of 2003.
Joey Sprague, associate professor of sociology and McCall's sponsor, said McCall's research would look at the circumstances farmers face that make traditional farming the easier option.
"I'm convinced that sustainable agriculture is vital to the future of our species. I think we need to be eating food free of pesticides and other kinds of chemicals that are not human-friendly." Sprague said.
- Edited by Lindsay Hanson and Andrew Ward
BSU members bond at conference
Conference teaches leadership lessons, networking skills
By Henry C. Jackson
cjackson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Elora Gregory, Kansas City, Kan., sophomore, and C Nea Hatches, Valparaiso, Ind., sophomore, laugh about the events at this year's Big 12 Conference on Black Student Government. The organization traveled to Norman, Okla., for the conference to participate in workshops and other events.
Jared Soares/Kansan
As conferences go, last weekend's Big 12 Conference on Black Student Government in Norman, Okla., may not have been the most organized.
But problems with buses and scheduling didn't stop the experience from being a positive one.
Last night Bates, along with other members of the University of Kansas' Black Student Union gathered at their weekly meeting in the Burge Union to discuss this year's conference.
About 60 KU students joined more than 1,000 African-American students from throughout the Big 12 and beyond. They converged in Norman, Okla., for the conference at the University of Oklahoma, said the organization's president, Mark Dupree, Kansas City, Kan., junior.
Though the event had its share of logistical problems,the group's members had mostly positive feelings about their weekend.
Norman said that downtime at the conference offered a
"Meeting people that work hard, and seeing other black people on other campuses doing something with their lives was such a positive experience,"said Renita Norman, Topeka sophomore and the organization's coprograms chair.
unique opportunity for networking among African American students from other schools.
"There were a lot of instances at the hotel when we had hours to kill," she said. "So we all just hung out in the hall and started talking and there are people from Mizzou, other schools and you just get to chatting."
Kriston Guillot, Shawnee freshman, attended his first conference in Norman, and said it opened his eyes to the importance of communication between African-American student bodies at other campuses.
"There's an opportunity for us to unite and to find out what's going at these different schools," Guillot said. "You don't really understand what's going on on other campuses and you don't really understand what you're
doing on your campus until you network."
In addition to all the schools in the Big 12, universities not belonging to the conference also came to Norman.
Smaller schools offered a unique perspective to those in attendance, E.T. Thomas, Kansas City, Mo., sophomore, said.
"It was great to see people from smaller schools that aren't in the Big 12 come out, Thomas said. "Seeing their leadership is a positive thing."
As is tradition at the Big 12 conference, a new head of the conference's leadership board was named.
Dupree was named as the new head of the Big 12's Black Student Leadership board. Norman said that Dupree's appointment was a big step for the University.
"A lot of times some schools
get overlooked," Norman said. "KU doesn't have the largest numbers, so it's beautiful to see somebody from your school elevate to that position."
Dupree said that the University's ability to produce strong African-American leaders would only increase with additional University support.
"If KU would put more power behind their recruiting, I think KU would be more recognized than just I being the chair of the Big 12 conference of black student leadership," Dupree said.
The University has a 2.5 percent African American population.
"If we can produce this kind of leadership out of only 2.5 percent, imagine what it would be like if we had 8 percent," Dupree said.
Edited by Erin Chapman
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