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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
3A
ENVIRONMENT
Housing looks to conserve
Towers and scholarship halls hold conservation competitions
BY AMANDA THOMPSON
athompson@kansan.com
For the first time, some campus housing is using the month of February to inspire residents to think about sustainable living through a competitive atmosphere.
The towers program is called "Towers Going Green"
The Jayhawker Towers and scholarship halls have started programs to inspire residents to reduce energy and water usage for the month.
Megan Gerwick, Derby junior and senior staff resident assistant for the towers, said she would work with two other resident assistants to head up the towers' efforts on green campus living. Gerwick said fliers would be posted around the towers each week with suggestions on how residents could reduce their effects on the environment. This week's tip: Reduce shower time by two minutes and save 180 gallons of water a month.
"With the info we're showing, it's kind of eye-opening to realize how much water and energy were using and how much we can save by changing really small habits," Gerwick said.
To gauge the success of the program, Gerwick said, the program leaders collected the water and energy bills for the month of February from the past two years. They will average the two bills and set that average as the number to beat. Gerwick said results would be calculated in the middle of March.
Travis Kimple. Beloit sophomore, is the All Scholarship Hall Council environmental chairman. The scholarship hall program Kimple leads is called "Rock Chalk Turn it Off". This is the first year the halls are participating in a conservation program and all 12 halls are getting involved. Similar to the "Towers Going Green" program, the competition among the halls emphasizes the reduction in energy and water usage based off the previous year's February energy and water bills.
The results for each scholarship hall will be calculated by the percentage decrease in use from the February 2008 totals. Kimple said the scholarship hall with the highest percentage drop in energy and water usage would receive atrophy.
"It's actually going to be a big indoor plant." Kimple said. "It will have a plaque on it recognizing the winning hall, so there's definitely incentive."
Kimple said he wanted scholarship hall residents to remember the tips put around the building for longer than just a month.
"What I'm primarily looking for, and I think most residents understand this, is that this program is designed to change your lifestyle." Kimple said. "This isn't just some silly competition. We all know it's an exercise in lifestyle, and that's really what it's all about."
Tyler Enders, Leawood sophomore, had a new vision for a campus wide green living competition that would take place after spring break. Enders said he wanted all campus housing, including Greek houses and residence halls, to participate in a competition similar to that of the towers and scholarship halls called Green Wars.
Enders said he got the idea from LeaderShape, where students came up with ideas that could change campus. Enders said that after LeaderShape his inbox was flooded with offers for help from other LeaderShape members. He said the positive support for his idea made him feel responsible for following through with it.
"The support made me much more gung-ho about it." Enders
tips
- Kimple offers these tips to scholarship hall residents:
- Turn off lights when leaving a room — no one needs a light if no one is there.
Don't spend too long in the shower, even though it's tempting with cold weather.
Turn off printers. Printers are often left on, and they can use a sizeable amount of energy.
said. "A fire has been lit under me."
For the Green Wars competition in the spring, Gerwick said she would team with Kimple, as well as a representative of Greek housing and a representative of the residence halls, to start the program.
Gerwick said she hoped to make saving money on energy and water a habit for towers residents by the time Green Wars started.
"We think of it as a continuation of what we're doing now" Gerwick said.
Kimple said the scholarship hall program would act as a test to see how the larger campus-wide competition would work. He said that although the competition was still in the planning process, he didn't think the scholarship halls would participate in a second official round of the green housing competition.
Enders said he hoped the findings from the scholarship halls would translate well to Greek housing, and the findings from the towers would translate into valuable numbers for the residence halls.
- Edited by Chris Hickerson
STATE
Witnesses testify in Cowley County murder trial
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WINFIELD — Jurors in the capital murder trial of a man charged with abducting and killing a Cowley College student traveled Tuesday to sites connected with the case and heard from witnesses who testified the man had stalked them.
Justin Thurber, 25, of Arkansas City, is accused of kidnapping, raping and strangling 19-year-old Jodi Sandherm in January 2007. Thurber could be sentenced to death if the jury in Cowley County District Court convicts him of capital murder.
The jury saw photos and videos of the Kaw Wildlife area where Sanderholm's battered body was
discovered several days after her Jan. 5 disappearance. They had also seen pictures of nearby Cowley State Fishing Lake, where her car was found submerged.
But prosecutors wanted the jurors to get a firsthand look at those scenes.
In the courtroom earlier Tuesday, prosecutors focused on events before Sanderholm's disappearance. They called three women who bore a resemblance to Sanderholm to testify about being stalked and harassed by Thurber.
Lori Leggiter, who was a member along with Sanderholm of the Cowley College dance team, testified that a car matching the description of Thurber's followed her after she got off work at a restaurant in the days leading up to
Sanderholm's death.
On the day Sanderholm disappeared, Legleiter said, she noticed Thurber in his car while she was parking for dance practice. After the practice, she and Sanderholm walked to their cars together.
Also testifying Tuesday was an Arkansas City police office who stopped Thurber for failing to yield the right of way on the Cowley College campus during the time Sanderholm would have been in dance practice.
Prosecutors allege Sanderholm was abducted near her home shortly after the practice ended.
Testimony Wednesday is expected to focus on what happened after Sanderholm's abduction.
BEER (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
continued to sell only 3.2 beer, which anyone 18 years and older could drink, Kansas later repealed its dry status in 1948, allowing people 21 years and older to buy full-strength beer and liquor, while those aged 18 to 20 could still purchase 3.2 beer. In 1985, the state raised the drinking age to 21 to prevent the loss of federal highway funding.
Ken Holloway, Miami junior, said no one would buy convenience store beer because liquor stores were allowed to sell full-streight beer.
Holloway said he hoped the bill passed because it would be easier for him to get beer.
Alex Melville, Rochester, N.Y., junior, said he would still go to the liquor store for beer because it was closer to his house.
"With the state of the economy, you can't go far on gas, you know." Melville said.
Jon Smiley, owner of Cork and Barrel, 2000 W. 23rd St., said the bill was hard to take seriously because similar bills had been proposed each year.
"I'll deal with it if and when it ever does happen." Smiley said.
"They will just keep sponsoring them until they win," jensen said.
Jeff Jensen, owner of Jensen Liquor, 620 W. Ninth St., agreed that there had been many similar bills in the past, but said for bills to be proposed so many times, someone had to sponsor them.
Jensen said that if the bill were passed it would have an adverse effect on his business, but he said he could still compete because of
Photo Illustration by Jerry Wang/KANSAN
the alcoholic selection liquor stores offered.
"You never get quite the selection that you do in a liquor store," Jensen said. "People looking for interesting beers would still have to come to a liquor store."
Joe Hagger, Overland Park graduate student, agreed with Jensen's
logic.
"I primarily go to the liquor store just for selection purposes," he said. Hagger said he preferred imported beers, which were not carried by many convenience or grocery stores.
- Edited by Chris Hickerson
PAINT (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
brighter colors to be a rewarding process.
"I had no idea something so separate from my life could be so satisfying." Sullivan said. "But it's a simple concept. Creation in itself is therapeutic."
Dawn Guernsey, chairwoman of the department of art, said that as needs and personalities changed, updating room colors was crucial for everyone, no matter where they were in life or what season it was. By choosing an appropriate color scheme, Guernsey said, students could create a more personalized and comfortable environment and ultimately improve their well-being.
"It's part of the human condition." Guernsey said. "It's proven that images keep people from getting depressed, and people need visual stimulation to be healthy."
Stacey Pope, Topeka junior, said that when she first moved into her apartment, she painted her room a bright reddish-orange color. Pope said that the color caused stress and that she decided to repaint her room light blue for a more tranquil environment. Pope said the shade of blue she chose became boring and she ultimately went with "candle yellow" walls. She said the search for an appropriate paint color was a trial-and-error experiment.
"When I moved into my apartment, I wanted to make it very warm and a place where you really
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"Now, I think painting has become something I like about myself and something I do when I want to start over," Pope said.
loved being there." Pope said. "But whenever I painted it was so spontaneous. Now I think it is going to pay more attention to colors and if they could clash."
Like Rose, Pope will move out in August, but she said she would repaint the walls of her apartment white. She said that although she first thought the white paint was depressing, it was actually a reward.
Mark Rose, Wichita senior, painted six of the nine wooden panels in his room different colors. Four of the panels feature original designs, such as a portrait of his girlfriend and a panel with graffiti designs. Rose said he was proud of the personality and atmosphere he had created in his room. He said he planned to move out in August and thought the incoming residents would appreciate his art-inspired room.
"I've been working on painting for a really long time, and my friends usually think my room is pretty cool," Rose said. "I hope the people moving in are cool with it."
Edited by Chris Horn
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