Monday
February 3, 2003
Vol.113. Issue No.88
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Miles and rest of team prepare to take on Missouri tonight p. 1B
Tell us your news
Contact Kristi Henderson, Jenna Goepfert or Justin Henning at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
Crash stirs KU response
John Nowak/Kansar
The KU flag atop Fraser Hall flies at half mast. President Bush asked that all flags be displayed to honor the space shuttle Columbia, which broke apart Saturday.
By Kelley Weiss
kweiss@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
As the space shuttle Columbia broke apart over Texas Saturday morning, Suzy Thompson was on her way to California to start working for NASA.
Thompson, Youngstown, Ohio, graduate student in Aerospace Engineering, was driving through Flagstaff, Ariz., when she first heard the news on the radio. Thompson tuned into AM radio stations and followed the news while trying to remain calm.
"In the morning, I was shocked," she said. "And I was thinking that things will
be different and kind of wondered about my own job security."
Although the Columbia space shuttle crashed Saturday, Thompson said she thought the NASA program would survive. The NASA programs across the country are close-knit, and if something happens, all employees are affected, Thompson said.
But Thompson is still enthusiastic about working for the space program. She said she could bring new energy to NASA. All the other students interested in working for NASA across the country also will be able to bring innovative ideas to the space program.
This is a great time for upcoming stu
ents to bring their ideas to NASA," Thompson said. "I'm hoping to bring all the knowledge I've learned in the last few years and make space exploration and experimentation better."
Trevor Sorensen, associate professor of aerospace engineering, said students would not be deterred because they were so passionate and determined to be involved in space travel.
"I don't think the Columbia disaster will change their minds," Sorensen said. "This proves to students they have to be very conscientious when working on something that involves a lot of money and people's lives."
Both Thompson and Sorensen said
the tragedy would bring the public's attention back to the space program and there would be a renewed interest in NASA.
When the space shuttle Challenger exploded in the mid-1980s, Sorensen was working in mission control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Sorensen was friends with several of the astronauts who went up in the Challenger. The Columbia disaster was not as personal for Sorensen as the Challenger was, but Sorensen said he understood what NASA and the families of the astronauts were going through.
Illegal art outlet for expression
By Cate Batchelder
chathelper@kansan.com
kansan staff writer
SEE CRASH PAGE 8A
Graffiti and golf are one and the same they demand walking, a lot of it.
For Andrew Giessel, a former graffiti writer, only one of those hobbies has taken him all over Lawrence and only one could have taken him to jail.
In tomorrow's paper, part two of the five-part series will highlight Nata Vormahr, a local graffiti writer who got caught.
His illegal hobby carried a lighter load, though. Compare a one-pound spray can that rattles faintly as he walks down the alley to a 30-pound bag of clinking golf clubs on the green.
Graffiti writers break the law and are beating the law in Lawrence. It involves spraying or marking a surface — sometimes the back door of The Children's Book Shop on Massachusetts Street, the sidewalk in front of the courthouse or the catwalks under the I-70 bridge over the Kansas River.
Their motivations for writing graffiti vary, considering their different walks of life:
Andrew Giessuel — a Larned senior majoring in computer science and biochemistry, self-described as a farm boy who picked up a spray can and started painting.
Kat Dessert, a soft-spoken "earth momma" and Wheatfield's pastry chef whose cosmic persona is instilled in her aerosolized stencils. Her artwork delights those walking the alleys and the rooftops
Eric Braem/Kansan
Kat Dessert, Lawrence resident, examines her tag as she removes a stencil from a chimney atop a roof downtown. Dessert said she enjoyed soreving graffiti on rooftops because she found it relaxing.
Biology class gives deep-sea experience
By Amy Potter
apotter@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Jessica Proctor didn't think she was going to have a course in marine biology until graduate school.
This summer, the Lenexa freshman will have the opportunity to take a three-credit marine biology course with an optional eight-day field trip to an island in the Caribbean Sea.
"Talways figured I'd have to transfer to a coastal college to get that kind of opportunity." Proctor said. "It was not
something I expected at KU."
James Thorp, professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology, will take at least 11 students to Roatan Island off the coast of Honduras. He said his class would give students an unusual opportunity to take marine biology at the University.
Students will learn about ocean and deep-sea topics with a strong emphasis placed on coral reefs in the course offered at the Lawrence campus, Thorp said. During the optional field trip, students will study everything from dolphins to algae.
"I graduated from KU in 1970," Thorp
Anyone can take the course, but the department recommends that students complete a year of biology or environmental science before going. Thorp said.
said. "I was interested in marine biology but they didn't teach it here. One of the things I wanted to do when I came back was to teach it."
Working with Thorp, the Office of Study Abroad is responsible for processing student applications for the trip, said Angela Dittrich, program coordinator.
"It's a rare opportunity being a student in Kansas to experience something not so readily accessible," Dittrich said.
"Obviously, firsthand experience is much more educational," she said.
The field trip will cost between $1,500 and $1,700, which includes airfare, room and board and activity fees.
Proctor said she was grateful to be able to see the field of marine biology at such an early stage in her college career.
"It will be a good learning experience and a way to make contact with other people in the field." Proctor said.
Applications are due to the Office of Study Abroad by March 1.
Edited by Lindsay Hanson
University helps fund Christian association
The University of Kansas Student Senate approved about $400 funding last Wednesday for College Community, a campus Christian organization, making them the first Christian organization to be funded by the University.
By Cal Creek
creeek@kansan.com
kansan staff writer
Roland applied for about $400 in funding from Senate in early January. On Jan. 22, he spoke before the student affairs committee.
When Overland Park sophomore Mark Roland went to the Senate offices, he was simply curious about the legislative process for organizations to receive funding from the Senate.
"I had no idea what was going on," Roland said.
He hoped to begin work on a bill that would allow College Community to receive money for advertising, Web sites and upcoming projects. Soon he was in the middle of a legislative movement involving question-and-answer sessions with the Senate, rules and regulations, and a ground-breaking decision.
"There was really no discussion whatsoever," said Kyle Johnson, finance committee chair and Wichita junior. "They were just requesting the general amount."
A week later, Senate approved the funding when the bill was put on the consent agenda.
"They asked me if we were open to everyone," Roland said, "They had a lot on their agenda."
Senate approved the bill because it must fund all groups in the same manner. While the organization received the full amount of funding, Senate made it clear that the money was to be used to promote its meetings, but not its activities or beliefs. Johnson said if the money was misused, all funding would be severed and an undecided disciplinary action would be created and enforced.
Worship leader Jon Crawford said the money would ease finance problems for the group.
"Up to this point, any expenses the members have to pay themselves," Crawford, Tulsa, Okla., junior, said.
Student Senate allotted the money for advertising, postage, office supplies printing and duplication.
The group meets Sundays at 11 a.m. and Crawford said he thought people would enjoy coming to the College Community.
Johnson encouraged other Christian organizations to apply for funding.
—Edited by Anne Mantey
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