THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY MARCH 5, 2009
NEWS
3A
ADMINISTRATION
Changes in KU leadership unlikely to affect students
BY ALEXANDRA GARRY agarry@kansan.com
As the search for Chancellor Robert Hemenway's replacement continues, the departure of Provost Richard Lariviere leaves another vacant spot in the University's administration to be filled.
Administrators and student
unlikely to feel any direct effect but should take a strong interest in new candidates for the positions.
Hemenway.
Alex Rock, Lawrence senior and coordinator of the
Dole Institute Student Advisory Committee, said students generally didn't realize the importance of the chancellor's and provost's jobs because of a lack of "face-to-face contact." But, he said, students should still pay attention to and care about the leaders of the University.
"Students take it for granted what these positions do, but the chancellor and provost dictate the culture and environment of the whole school." Rock said.
The top administration openings mean more of the weight of running the University will fall to the six vice provisors, officials said.
Steve Warren, vice provost for
research and graduate studies, said the vice provosts would feel the effects of Lariviure leaving to become president of the University of Oregon.
But, Warren said, they were well-equipped to keep everything running smoothly. Warren said the increased workload would not continue to trickle down the administration.
"We're not leaderless or rudderless just yet," Warren said. "You can rest assured that everything will be fine."
The chancellor search committee has set the end of June as the deadline for announcing a finalist candidate. Though the nominations are still being taken and no stand-out candidates have been
selected, Drue Jennings, the chairman of the search committee, said it was on track to keep the deadline.
Lariviere
Jennings said once the chancellor search committee made their selection, the new chancellor would then pick the new provost.
"No one wants the University to endure any kind of vacuum." Jennings said.
Adam McGonigle, Wichita junior, student body president and member of the chancellor search committee, said students were taking a strong interest in the chancellor search and many had contacted him asking how they could make a difference.
"The administration has a tremendous impact on students they shape the mission and the vision of the University and set the goals," McGonigle said.
McGonigle said he hoped students were also involved in the selection of the new provost and he planned to speak with Chancellor Hemenway to try to ensure that it would happen.
Rock said he "would like to see a younger chancellor or provost, making more of an effort to reach out to students beyond those who are heavily involved."
"Those students who can't get involved because they have to work the part-time jobs to pay for school, those are the students who need to be heard even more." Rock said. "Those are the students who need more help, and that's something we're going to see more of."
Paul van Donkelaar, chairman of the president search committee at the University of Oregon, said the ability to communicate effectively with legislators and grant writers in order to better provide resources for students was a crucial quality in a good university administrator. He said it is also why students should care about the selection process.
Picking apart pornography
LECTURE
BY LAUREN HENDRICK
lhendrick@kansan.com
Professor will speak tonight about how porn affects relationships
Edited by Carly Halvorson
Poya Naderi, graduate student in the department of sociology, said Jensen was the first graduate student-sponsored lecture for the department. Naderi said Jensen's talk was the beginning of what he hoped would become a series of lectures.
The basic definition of pornography, according to Merriam-Webster, is any material depicting erotic behavior intended to cause sexual excitement. But for professor Robert Jensen, the definition of pornography includes a few more adjectives.
"The content of contemporary pornography is relentless sexist and overtly racist." Jensen said.
In his book, "Getting Off Pornography and the End of Masculinity," Jensen discusses what he describes as a "porn-saturated society" that greatly influences how men and women are socialized.
One of the graduate students' goals in the department was to invite speakers who were critical of society because it was important for engaging in academic scholarship, Naderi said.
Jensen, associate professor of journalism at the University of Texas, will speak at 6:30 p.m. in the Big 12 Room at the Kansas Union. His lecture, "Pornography and the End of Masculinity," will be followed by a documentary screening of "The Price of Pleasure: Pornography, Sexuality and Relationships."
TONIGHT'S LECTURE
WHO: Robert Jensen associate professor of journalism from the University of Texas WHAT: Jensen will present his lecture, "Pornography and the End of Masculinity" WHEN: 6:30 p.m. WHERE: In the Big 12 Room at the Kansas Union COST: Free
Naderi thought Jensen was a good choice to speak at the University of Kansas because he wasn't afraid to discuss controversial things.
Jensen said he had dedicated 20 years to anti-pornography activism and research.
"There tends to be a lot of porn in this world and a large amount of college-aged men consume it," Jensen said.
One of his many concerns about pornography's influence on society is the way it presents relationships and gender equality.
"If porn was presenting healthy relationships and gender equality," Jensen said, maybe there wouldn't be a reason to care."
Jensen said pornography was affecting the quality of relationships for both men and women.
"Men should care because this
is profoundly unhealthy," Jensen said.
Jensen said he visited with young men who told him they could no longer enjoy sexual interaction with their partners the way they did before porn.
Christian Crandall, professor of social psychology, said people tended to create expectations about how certain people should look depending on the types of media they were exposed to. He said fashion magazines often gave women visual representations about how the average woman should look and the same was true for pornographic material. If people are exposed to enough pornography, they begin to believe their sex lives should mirror those in porn.
According to the Lighted Candle Society, a society of concerned citizens dedicated to the eradication of pornography, 67 percent of young men and 49 percent of young women thought viewing pornography was acceptable. The study was printed in a 2008 edition of the Journal of Adolescent Research.
"For women, I hope the argument I present helps them understand their discomfort with pornography," Jensen said.
He said he hoped his lecture would also point out the underlying hierarchical relationships between genders and between races.
Edited by Heather Melanson
INTERNATIONAL Japanese prime minister criticized for oral gaffes
TOKYO — Reading Japanese isn't easy — even for the Japanese.
Take Prime Minister Taro Aso.
He's made so many public blun-
ders that an opposition lawmaker
tried to give him a reading test during a televised session of parliament.
government policy "stinks."
While the media and Aso's political rivals have been quick to heap ridicule, many Japanese have seen a bit more of themselves in Aso's goofs than they would like to admit. Since his missteps, books designed to improve reading ability have become all the rage.
Aso's nemesis is his mother
The Japanese leader bungled the word for "frequent," calling Japan-China exchanges "cumber-some" instead. Another time, he misread the word "toshu" (follow), saying "fushu" — or stench — and sounded as if he were saying
Literacy-boosting books are selling briskly. One titled,
tongue's notoriously tricky mishmash of Chinese characters and its two sets of indigenous syllabaries.
Just reading the newspaper requires knowledge of about 2,000 characters. Another 50,000 are less common but useful to recognize.
want to make mistakes like his."
The book has held the top spot in the weekly best-seller rankings compiled by Japan's largest distributor, Tohan Co., since the beginning of this year, ahead of "The Speeches of Barack Obama," which ranked second for weeks before falling to 17th this week.
"We owe a lot to Prime Minister Aso," she said. "Many people don't
"Chinese Characters that Look Readable but are Easily Misread," released a year ago, has sold more than 800,000 copies — most of them since Aso's mistakes first got national attention in November, said Yukiko Sakita, a spokeswoman for Futami Shobo Publishing Co.
kucu.mobi Mobile banking has arrived
Associated Press
A Better Way to Bank
KU CREDIT UNION
A DIVISION OF 86 FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
3400 W. 6th Street or 2221 W. 31st Street, Lawrence, KS I (800) 897-6991
NCUA
THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS funded by Student Senate
PAID FOR BY KU
SPRING 2009 Blood Drive KU Blood Drive Committee SAVES LIVES one pint at a time
Thursday, March 5 Kansas Union-Centennial/English Rooms-6th Floor --11 a.m. to 5 p.m. McCollum Hall - 1:00 p.m. to 7 p.m. Kansas Union-Vessel parked in front of Union - 11:00 a.m. to 5:00
Thursday, March 5
Kansas Union - Vessel parked in front of Union - 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Friday, March 6
Robinson Gymnasium 215 -- 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Kansas Union Ballroom -- 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Kansas Union--Vessel parked in front of Union -- 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
All presenting donors will receive a KU T-shirt! For more information, visit www.kubloodrive.com
ku swing society presents
"stray cat strut" charity dance
Benefiting the Lawrence Humane Society Mini-Lessons, Contests, and Swing Dancing Galore! Admittance totally FREE, Donations happily accepted for LHS
No Partner or Dance Experience Necessary Sunday March 8th,2009 1-5 PM - Kansas Room in the Union