Friday
January 17,2003
Vol.113.Issue No.78
Today's weather
27°
Tonight:11*
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSA
Tell us your news
Contact Kristi Henderson, Jenna Goepfert, and Justin Henning at 864-4810 or editor@ kansan.com
Men's and women's basketball double-header tomorrow p.1B
A. R.
Speech, dance celebrate MLK
By Henry C. Jackson
cjackson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
rvonne Thornton, an author, practicing physician and renowned civil rights advocate, will speak at the Lied Center on Monday, culminating four days of Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations at the University of Kansas.
Thornton, an award-winning orator, co-authored The Ditchdiggers Daughter in 1995, an autobiographical work detailing her rise from poverty to an Ivy League doctorate.
Leo Barber, vice president of the Ecumenical Christian Fellowship, which arranged for Thornton to come to the University, said Thornton offered a unique perspective for Martin Luther King Jr. Day because of her humble roots.
She shows what you can do through perseverance and praver. Barber said.
"She's living proof of Mr. King's work," he said.
Barber said he was looking forward to Thornton's speech and said other activities this weekend offered opportunities to reflect on Martin Luther King Jr.'s impact.
Other events throughout the weekend include a banquet tomorrow and a gospel concert on Sunday. All events are sponsored by the University and the Ecumenical Christian Fellowship.
Concerned, Active and Aware Students received a $3,000 grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service. The money will be used for workshops on conflict resolution. Children will be able to attend the workshops and celebrate the day with signing and dancing.
Mark Dupree, president of the Black Student Union, said he was encouraging people to attend as many of the weekend's events as possible.
"It's important to note what Martin Luther King has done for everyone, white and black," Dupree, Kansas City, Kan., junior, said.
The organization was not planning any public activities for the weekend but planned to support the weekend's other events, Dupree said.
Kristin Lambert, the president of the KU chapter of the National Association
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
DAY ACTIVITIES
Saturday Jan.13
Saturday Jan. 18
Martin Luther King Jr. banquet at 6:30 p.m. at the Big 12 Room in the Kansas Union. Banquet will feature Carl Boyd, an educational consultant from Chandler, Ariz. Banquet and dinner program are $10 for students and $20 for adults. Students can attend only the program for free.
Sunday Jan. 19
Martin Luther King gospel sing at 6:30 p.m. at the Free Methodist Church, 3001 Lawrence Ave. The event will feature local adult and youth choirs and guest director Anthony Jones and guest soloist Eugene Blackmon from Portland, Ore.
Monday Jan. 20
Vyonne Thornton will speak at 11:15 a.m. at the Lied Center.
Concerned, Active and Aware
Students will host a Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration of Diversity Service Project. From 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. the children's portion of the event will take place in the Union. Events will include a wide array of activities honoring the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., such as singing and dancing, conflict resolution training and creation of homelessness survival packages.
The adult portion of CAAS' Martin Luther King Day program will take place at 6:30 p.m. at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave. Events include a free dinner, a video on the civil rights movement and a candlelight peace vigil around the peace pole at the ECM.
for the Advancement of Colored People, said she would attend Thornton's speech, but that her group didn't have any activities planned either.
"Martin Luther King Day is just a representation of how far our country has come," Lambert said. "Every step I take I remember, everyday is a remembrance."
-Edited by Amber Byarlay
After sledding on Campanile hill, Jesse Plous, Leawood freshman, slams a snowball on John "Gusto" Gustafson, Albuquerque, N.M., junior, as Wichita sophomore Lei Shi looks on. Lawrence received four to five inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service.
Lindsey Gold/Kansan
Snowstorm strikes
Crews work after 5 inches of snow buries campus
By JJ Hensley
Old man winter returned to Lawrence with a vengeance Wednesday as a snowstorm left almost five inches covering the area.
The winter mix started falling around 6 p.m. Wednesday and diminished to light snow by 9 a.m. yesterday, according to the National Weather Service in Topeka. While that was enough for Lawrence Public Schools to cancel classes, the area's slick roads and plunging temperatures didn't keep KU officials from holding the first day of class.
By most accounts though, the weather kept many students from the classroom.
"If it were any day other than the first day of class I wouldn't have come in."
Dawn Gale
Dawn Gale Overland Park graduate student
"I've noticed some significant absences," said Rita Napier, associate history professor. "I had a class of 90 people this morning and I would estimate that no more than 70 were there, and I've talked to some other professors whose classes were practically empty."
Dawn Gale, Overland Parkgraduate student, considered staying home before she braved a treacherous Kansas Highway 10 to show up for school.
"There was a single lane open sort of
in the middle that everyone was driving in, and it was slow." Gale said. "If it were any day other than the first day of class I wouldn't have come in."
First day of class or not, students shouldn't expect inclement weather to cancel classes. According to the University's official inclement weather policy,the campus generally does not close because of snow or other inclement weather.
At the Lawrence campus, that decision falls to Vice Provost Jim Long, who makes an early-morning recommendation to the provost and chancellor. Long began assessing conditions about 4:30 yesterday morning. After talking to KU Public Safety Office, Facilities Operations and KU on
SEE SNOW ON PAGE 8A
Officials praise hybrid cars
By JJ Hensley
jhensley@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Kelley Weiss/Kansan
What would Jesus drive?
That question has been a hot topic of conversation since a national group of religious environmentalists started a publicity campaign a few months ago to promote environment-friendly cars.
Chances are if he worked as a housing inspector for the City of Lawrence, Jesus would be driving a Toyota Prius.
That's what zoning enforcement officer Brian Jimenez found himself driving last spring when the department of neighborhood resources acquired the electric-gas hybrid cars because of their cost and efficiency. As a former police officer, Jimenez was accustomed to the roomy and responsive Crown Victorias used as police cruisers.
Brian Jimenez, City of Lawrence zoning enforcement officer, fills up his electric-gas hybrid car. The city purchased three hybrid cars for city employees because of their cost and efficiency. The cars have 10-gallon gas tanks, and Jimenez said his hybrid car could get up to 48 miles per gallon and more than 450 miles per tank when driving in the city.
"They get around fine and pick up speed just like a regular car. It does take bumps in the road pretty hard, but I think that's just because it's small."
"I didn't really know what to think when I saw this car but it's turned out great," Jimenez said of the compact Prius.
Indeed, with only a 10-gallon gas tank, the Prius' electric and gas-powered motors couldn't handle much more car. But what the Toyota lacks in size and stature, it easily makes up for
in efficiency.
SEE HYBRID ON PAGE 8A
The car runs by sharing power between an electric motor, a gas-pow-
By Amy Potter apotter@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Thanks to a $10.1 million grant last semester, Bob Hanzlick, professor of medicinal chemistry, will be able to provide support for young faculty members interested in protein structure and function.
The efforts of Hanzlick and other faculty to obtain grants contributed to a record-setting year of money spent on research at the University of Kansas.
KU spent $243 million on research for the 2002 fiscal year.
That total is up 8.4 percent from last year's record of $224 million. This marks the sixth consecutive year that research expenditures have increased at KU.
Robert Barnhill, vice provost for research and president of the KU Center for Research, attributes the continued rise to a more active involvement of faculty in research.
James Roberts, associate vice chancellor of research and public service and vice president of the KU Center for Research, and Barnhill both said increased research led to better faculty and students.
"Research means doing something new. That's what students do every day." Barnhill said. "Classes are much better because they are taught by people doing the new developments."
With more faculty conducting research, Barnhill said any faculty positions cut would ultimately hurt research numbers at KU. If the number of faculty positions remains the same, Barnhill said next year's research totals could increase substantially.
"We could increase by another $20 million. We never know. That is what has been done in the last few years." Barnhill said.
Barnhill said Chancellor Robert Hemenway's goal of becoming a top-25 public research institution was achievable, but the question was when the University would meet the chancellor's goal.
"In life sciences we are already No. 35," said Barnhill. "The biggest part of our portfolio is very promising."
Barnhill said the measure for a top-25 research institution was federal funding in life sciences. The $243 million total includes spending on all research.
— Edited by Michelle Burhenn
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