University Daily Kansan/Friday,February 14,1992
CAMPUS/ AREA
3
Clinic is special for team and kids
By Jay Williams
Kansan staff writer
Allen Field House will be filled with smiles Sunday afternoon. The Kansas men's basketball team will be there, but the bleachers will not be full
About 120 Special Olympic athletes from eastern Kansas will be the Jayhawks' guests for a basketball clinic from 1p.m. to 3p.m.
Junior forward Macolim Nash said that both the team members and the Special Olympians had on hand.
"It goes both ways," he said. "It's a thrill to work with the kids."
Kansas coach Roy Williams said the experience was good for the players.
"It shows the kids how fortunate they really are," he said.
The clinic comes in the middle of the Big Eight Conference season and the day after a game with Colorado, but Williams did not think that was a problem.
"We have done it in the middle of the season before," he said. "It's good to have a break."
Senior forward Alonzo Jamison also said the break was beneficial.
"You need some type of break during the season," he said.
Jamison said he enjoyed working with the athletes.
Jerry Green, assistant coach, said the Kansas players and coaches would instruct the visitors about the fundamentals of the game.
"To see their faces light up when they make a basket, for me, is special," he said.
"We take it on a project because we only have a certain amount of time we can give," he said. "It is a challenge to make sure the project
Chuck Weinhardt, assistant director for the Kansas Special Olympics, said the clinical always was one of the highlights of the year for the athletes.
They recognize the players and watch them play. He said, "It's fun for them to play basketball with them."
Weinhardt said the event was publicized throughout the state.
Kansas Special Olympics had to restrict the number of participants because too many people showed interest this year. The athletes who cannot attend are placed at the top of the list for next year, he said.
The clinic has been conducted since 1984, Weinhardt said.
He said the Jayhawk staff made all the arrangements after Kansas Special Olympics made the initial request.
"The clinic is a great opportunity to get college athletes involved with Special Olympics," Weinhardt said.
KU involvement does not stop with the clinic. Kansas Special Olympics worked with the University on a summer sports camp in which coaches, playwrights and volunteers of variety of sports work with the athletes, Weinhardt said.
"The University has always been very supportive of our efforts," he said.
African Americans live with potential for blood disorder
By Katherine Manweiler
Kansan staff writer
African Americans have faced many obstacles throughout history, but sickle cell disease is one obstacle that people may not have thought much about.
Sickle cell disease is a blood disorder predominantly diagnosed in
cans. It affects red blood cells, making the cells long and thin instead of round and flexible. When many of the diseased cells become trapped and clog the blood vessels, oxygen
cannot travel through the body normally.
Sickle cell disease often is diagnosed when the first year of a child's life, Valeh
The oxygen deprivation causes severe pain in the joints, arms, legs or chest, said Tribahwan Vats, director of pediatric hematology and oncology at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
No cure exists for the disease, but it can be treated with antibiotics, intravenous fluids and pain medication.
"The only possible cure is to some how alter the sickle cell gene," Vats said. "We are trying to do research on it to control it effectively."
He said bone marrow transplants could be performed in an attempt to replace diseased red blood cells with healthy ones. He also noted that procedures still in the resource stage
According to a medical report, about 0.2 percent of African Americans have sickle cell disease.
Ten percent of African Americans carry the sickle cell trait.
Carriers of the sickle coil trait rarely have symptoms of the disease unless they become severely dehydrated from activities such as strenuous exercise. But sickle cell carriers can pass the disease on to their children, Vats said.
"We tell them that if you marry another person with sickle cell trait, the chaness of having a child with sickle cell disease are very high." he said
Charles Yockey, chief of staff at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said three KU students had been treated for sickle cell disease at Watkins in the past five years.
Vockey said the reason the University did not have a large number of students with sickle cell disease was that the disease made college life difficult.
"They tend to have to drop out for whole semesters because of flare-ups with their disease," Yockey said. "The disease sickle cell anemia is a tremendous obstacle to a college education It's not a handicap, but it's like a handicap because of the obstacles it presents to college students."
One student now is being treated at Watkins for the disease. The student
Sickle cell disease
Affecting one in 1,600 U.S. African Americans, sickle cell disease is an incurable genetic disease. It prevents affected red blood cells from carrying oxygen to the body's tissues.
Evolution of the disease: a hypothesis The coincidence between malaria and sickle cell gene frequency in Africa has led some scientists to believe that the mutation came in response to malaria.
Sickle red blood cells
Sickle red blood cells
Sickle cells are stiff,
rod-like structures with irregular shapes. They don't easily move through blood vessels,
causing clots.
The numbers:
.2%
of U.S. African Americans have sickle cell disease
8-10%
of U.S. African Americans carry the gene
25% chance of having disease if one parent has the trait
Jeff Meesey. Daily Kansas
has trouble walking on campus because of the pain involved with sickle cell disease. Yockev said.
"It's a miracle that he's in school," he said.
Yockey said it was unusual, but possible, for a person with sickle cell disease to live past the age of 30.
Athletes are tested for the sickle cell trait at Watkins because strenuous exercise in high altitudes could bring on the symptoms of the disease.
Michelle Raney, nurse at Broken Arrow Elementary School, said most children with sickle cell disease were
diagnosed before entering school because of screening available through the Douglas County Health Department or private physicians.
*Unfortunately, our health care delivery system is such that my hunch is that we may be seeing more children who are not diagnosed before coming to school because of the lack of health care accessible to many families in this country. 'Raney said.'
Raney said she knew of one child with the disease at the four schools where she worked.
Valentine thief takes candy and present
By Michelle Betts
Kansan staff writer
Stephen had been the victim of a burglary in which someone entered her room and stole a Valentine's Day present.
Stephen, Bonner Springs freshman,
said she purchased leather boots as a
gift to her husband.
"The boots were wrapped in Valentine's Day paper," Stephen said. "I'd only had them for two hours. He hadn't even seen them yet."
The person also took a Valentine's day card and used Stephen's keys to unlock her car and eat a box of Valentine candy, she said. The box and
candy wrappers were left on the front seat.
The unidentified person has visited the fifth-floor room in McColm Hall twice and has taken almost $3700 for clothes, clothing, cash and electronic items.
The person entered Stephen's locked room and stole $3,105 worth of items between 6.15 and 7.15 p.m. daily, according to KU police reports.
Someone again entered the room between 2 and 4 p.m. Wednesday and took a velvet jewelry bag containing a gold herringbone chain and other gold jewelry. There was no sign of forced entry, according to KU police reports.
Jewelry belonging to Stephen's roommate, Carmen Rupprecht,
Stephen said she lost $475 worth of jewelery.
Kansas City, Mo., freshman, was among the items stolen.
Nothing has been recovered, according to police reports, but Stephen said that Rupprecht had stolen the bracelet in the stairwell of McColum.
Stephen said that she had been worried that the person might come back and that her or her roommate might be in the room to the room while the person was there.
Stephen's door was locked before both incidents, she said. Student Housing changed the lock vestied day.
Dawn Meisenheimer, resident assistant at McColum, said she had talked to residents on the floor about the burglary. Some residents said an unknown person had knocked on doors asking for residents who did not live there, she said.
"No one actually saw anyone going in and out of the room," Meisenheimer said.
Meisenheimer also said she and the floor's other resident assistant might plan a program to inform residents about personal security.
She said she had warned her residents to watch for strangers, male or female, and to call a resident assistant if they saw anyone suspicious.
Students have described the alleged burglar as a Black male, 19 to 20 years old, of medium height, with some facial hair. One student described the suspect's hair as a cross between a box cut and wet curls. The suspect may have been wearing a dark blue jacket and blue jeans, according to KU police reports. Anyone with information may call KU Crimesoppers at 864-8888 or 864-5572.
Christine McFarland/KANSAN
Native steps
Performing an adaptation of a native Iranian dance, Yassi Charmchi, Teheran junior, and Naz Zanjani, Teheran freshman, entertain a crowd at the fourth-floor lobby in the Kansas Union. The performance yesterday was sponsored by Student Union Activities.
Student panel talks about sex violence
By Jenny Martin
Kansan staff writer
A panel of six student leaders agreed yesterday that education was the key to eliminating sexual violence at the University of Kansas.
The panel was formed to respond to the results of "The University of Kansas Survey on Sexual Violence" that were released Wednesday.
A student affairs research committee randomly selected 1,500 KU students last spring and sent them the surveys in order to measure the extent and impact of sexual violence. Students returned 540 surveys.
The results indicated that 100 percent of men and 95.6 percent of women who have been forced to have sexual intercourse were acquainted with the rapist.
About 93 percent of both male and female respondents listed alcohol and the feeling of power or control as factors contributing to rape. Sexual harassment, campus lighting and pornography were cited as the remaining three of the five major contributors to rape.
James Baucm, off-campus senator and panel member, stated, "We need to emphasize that alcohol is a drug and Americans use it too much."
Greg Hughes, vice chairperson on the University Senate Executive Committee and panel member, said the state was obligated to provide a safe campus for students by covering the cost of improved campus lighting.
I don't know if campus lighting will
eradicate rape, but it might help curb other violence. "Hughes said.
"We still have problems with sexual roles and violence," she said. "People are tired of hearing it, but the problems are still there."
Loraine Reesor, coordinator of the panel and assistant director for new student orientation, said peer education was crucial.
Kristin Lange, student body vice president and panel member, said both sexes needed to be educated about sexual violence.
She said many programs sought to educate women about rape, but new programs needed to be directed at men.
"We need to look at male attitudes and how we can change certain male perceptions of sexual behavior," she said.
Jill Fritzemeyer, co-director of the center for community outreach and panel member, said she recommended a mandatory first-year class to educate all students about issues of sexual violence.
"It's a women's issue but not a women's problem — 99.9 percent of rape, whether the victim is male or female, is perpetrated by males," Lange said.
"We need to continue our education programs," she said. "I think they do eventually make a difference."
Student panel members were chosen because they represent different gender and ethnic groups and are active in organizations that relate to the subject.
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