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WWW.KANSAN.COM
TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2009
VOLUME120ISSUE86
CRIME
Police release suspect details
Lawrence police released a description of the suspect in the armed robbery of four KU students that occurred Sunday morning at a Burger King drive-thru.
KANSAN STAFF REPORT
The victims followed the suspect $ ^{*} $car until it turned north on Massachusetts Street.
The suspect is described as a black man in his early 20s, about 5-foot-10 and 250 pounds, and wearing a red and blue striped shirt, a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball cap and a gold chain.
A man robbed the four students at gunpoint at Burger King, 1107 W. Sixth St. He demanded money, which the victims gave, and then ran back to his vehicle and drove away.
Police are reviewing video caught by Burger King's external cameras and are still investigating the crime.
Watch a video detailing the events of the robbery at kansan.com/videos.
KUJH
BIODIVERSITY
Law class studies in Caribbean for break
BY AMANDA THOMPSON athompson@kansan.com
Five law students had the opportunity for a unique jumpstart to the semester: lying on the beach in the Virginia Islands
From Jan. 11 to 18, Andrew Torrance, associate professor of law, and his students experienced biodiversity law first-hand. Students studied the islands' problems with invasive species, coral reef degradation, overfishing, endangered species and more.
Before coming to the University in 2005, Torrance taught a similar biodiversity class for six years at Harvard.
SEE ISLANDS ON PAGE 3A
ATHLETICS
Kansas baseball team joins the club
New facility on par with rest of Big 12
BY ADAM SAMSON asamson@kansan.com
Caleb Sommerville/RANSMite
Lane Super from Lynn Electric sets up speakers and a plasma TV in the KU Baseball team's new McCarthy Family Clubhouse. The team moved into the new clubhouse, which is comparable to facilities at other major Big 12 nurses, at the beginning of the summer 2009 semester.
The Kansas baseball team inched its way closer to having facilities comparable to the top teams in the Big 12 Conference with the construction of the McCarthy Family Clubhouse.
the clubhouse opened Jan. 14 and is located behind the home team dugout on the first base side of Hoglund Ballpark.
The main features of the $2 million clubhouse include new locker rooms for the home team, a game-day training room, a study area with computers and a printer, a cardio room and a deck that overlooks the field. The players' louge, equipped with couches and flat-screen TVs, is already a favorite among the athletes.
Caleb Sommerville/KANSAN
Before the McCarthy Family Clubhouse, the baseball team used locker rooms in the Wagnon Student Athlete Center, adjacent to Allen House.
In 2006, the baseball team benefited from the addition of an $850,000 indoor facility located next to right field at Hogglund Ballpark, all paid for by alumni. Once the indoor project was finished, the clubhouse was the next item on Coach Ritch Price's list.
Price found donors who con
tributed more than $1 million to make the building a reality. The clubhouse is named after alumnus Kent McCarthy and his family, but each room in the building is named after a different donor.
"To see the progression and that the donors are investing in us — it's special that those people are making those kind of sacrifices," Faunce said.
He said the facility would be a
"The facilities were crucial for us to be able to get the best players in the state..."
Senior outfieldier Nick Faunce said it was extraordinary to see the evolution of the baseball facilities in his time at the University.
the facility would be a huge recruiting tool with its luxury and multiple uses.
Because the clubhouse was near Allen Fieldhouse, Price said, he wanted it have the same standards.
"We wanted a building aesthetically that was gorgeous and didn't take anything away from the
Fieldhouse", Price said. "We were going to build it first class, or we weren't going to build it at all."
Price said the Big 12 Conference
was second to none in state of the art facilities.
The University of Texas recently spent $35 million to renovate its stadium. In 2007, the University of Nebraska's Hawks Field won the Baseball Field of the Year award in the university division, an award given by the Sports Turf Managers Association.
"The facilities were crucial for us to be able to get the best players in the state to stay home and turn down Arkansas, Nebraska, Wichita State — that have phenomenal facilities as well." Price said.
There will be a dedication for the clubhouse before the May 16 game against rival Kansas State. Tours of the facility will be available for the general public at a later date.
Edited by Susan Mejqren
Caleb Sommerville/KANSAN
The new locker room in the McCarthy Family Clubhouse has lockers for each player, as well as several flat-screen TVs and a in-circling sound system.
AWARDS
Students win Hearst in-depth reporting contest
BY RACHEL BURCHFIELD rburchfield@kansan.com
Two School of Journalism students have been recognized nationally for their in-depth writing by the Hearst Journalism Awards Program.
Matt Erickson and Megan Hirt placed first and second, respectively, in Hearst's in-depth writing competition. Their combined scores are high enough to currently place the University in first place in the overall intercollegiate competition, said Jan Watten. Hearst Journalism Awards program director.
"I think KU has one of the best schools in the country," Watten said. "They've entered and won
many competitions and they have a long-running history of winning and doing very well in our
Erickson, Olathe senior,
won the competition for
"Facing the Music," a
piece about University stu-
program. It's a great school"
dents who were sued by the recording industry for illegally downloading music from file-sharing while on campus. The piece details how University officials waited nearly six months after being subpoenaed to tell students about the issue. The students paid $4,000 each, though
they could have paid $3,000 if University officials had informed them sooner.
Erickson
"I don't know if I feel deserving, but I definitely feel pretty pumped and excited," Erickson said. "This is a humbling experience, and I'm very thankful."
Erickson won $2,000 and went travel to San Francisco in June to participate in another writing competition hosted by Hearst. He credited the School of Journalism. The University Daily Kansan and his in-depth reporting professor,
Ted Frederickson, for his success.
"I think the biggest thing this reflects is that we work for one of the best, if not the best, student newspapers in the country;"
Erickson said. It reflects on the Karsan and the J-School, because both institutions have such a standard of excellence in reporting and writing."
national competition. Hirt, a 2008 graduate from Topeka, said she gave the credit for her secondplace piece not to herself but to her sources.
"I think KU has one of the best schools in the country."
JAN WATTEN Hearst Foundation
Frederickson could submit only two entries to the competition, and he chose Erickson's piece and "A Sobering Struggle," a story Hirt wrote about University students' and alumni's battles with alcoholism. The two entries swept the
"I was just telling stories that were told to me," she said. "It's a great honor that these people could open up to me and tell me something so personal. It was more the work they did —
it was their courage that made it what it was"
Ann Brill, dean of the School of Journalism, said Erickson's and Hirt's recognition was well-
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