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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Kansan
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Thursday
April 30, 1998
Section:
A
Vol. 108 • No. 148
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Kansas Basketball
The Jayhawk basketball team continues its search for future players overseas. Kansas could land one of the top players in Europe.
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SEE PAGE 1B
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Commencement process nearing a close
(USPS 650-640)
Stadium renovations should not interfere with May 17 program
By Gerry Doyle
gdoyle@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
The end of the year is approaching, and the University of Kansas' administration is gearing up for one more event: commencement.
The event, which is scheduled for May 17, will involve about 4,000 students and all University faculty. Although the walk down the hill will occur May 17, the commencement activities begin May 15, said Jeff Weinberg, assistant to the chancellor.
Weinberg said the whole process took longer than it might seem — arrangements for this year's commencement began immediately after last year's.
"The planning begins in the fall and continues clear until the program begins at 2:30," he said. "It's a significant commitment for many people at every level of the University. Recent sophistica-
ations in weather forecasting have made it much easier for the committee. It's still no guarantee, but it's better than it was five years ago."
The program begins at 2:30 p.m., but if it is raining, the program will be postponed until 4:30 p.m. and then until 6:30 p.m. If rain persists, the program will be moved to 9 a.m. May 18.
Because of renovations, sections of seating that have been available in the past will be closed, Weinberg said. Commencement still will be in the stadium, he said.
Two committees plan commencement; the traditions committee, which examines the activities of the past and works to maintain those traditions; and the logistics committee, which is responsible for the nuts and bolts of the program, Weinberg said.
George McCleary, associate professor of geography and logistics committee chairman, said that beyond rearranging things for the stadium's construction, there was only one major change. Graduating seniors will be invited to Chancellor Hemenway's house for lunch the day of commencement, he said.
McCleary said the committee had to plan the process to go smoothly and quickly in a potentially adverse situation.
"We're doing this in the middle of a construction site," he said. "It's hot and hard on parents and
"We're doing this in the middle of a construction site. It's hot and hard on parents and grandparents. The critical thing is that everyone has a good time."
Chairman of commencement logistics committee
George McCleary
grandparents. The critical thing is that everyone has a good time."
There will be bus service between the Lied Center, Daisy Hill and the stadium. McClearay said.
Although preparing for commencement is a large project, the actual commencement proceedings are just another part of life, said Shawn Weber, Topeka senior.
"My dad's coming from California," he said. "I've got so many other things on my mind that it doesn't seem that important right now, like what I'm going to do after graduation."
Weber said the ceremony would be important to him because family members would be attending. However, he said commencement was getting lost when compared to other end of the year activities.
Contributed graphic
Revenge of the nerds
Matt Woodruff/KANSAN
Scaling the social ladder
Before the Internet was ubiquitous, before hip magazines about technology, such as Wired, existed and before graphical computer interfaces became the norm, recreational computing carried a stigma.
Computer savviness sheds its former 'geeky' stigma
By Aaron Knopf
aknopf@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
People who enjoyed tinkering with computers were labeled, negatively, as geeks. They were portrayed in pop culture as pocket-protector-wearing nerds.
computers is cool.
William Staples, associate professor of biology at the University of Kansas, said the cultural shift occurred because many people recognized the economic opportunities that computer knowledge provided.
All of that has changed. Using computers is cool.
"There was a kind of stigma attached to knowing about computers," Staples said. "When people see
the enormous amounts of money and power that people in the computer industry have, that changes the whole perception."
For example, take the blockbuster movie Independence Day. The entire might of the U.S. military is ineffectual against alien invaders, but a character with technical skills breaks through the aliens' defenses using a Macintosh computer.
Staples said people's increasing familiarity with computers through using computers at work also helped change attitudes. He said early computer education had helped young people grow up with the attitude that computer knowledge was desirable.
"It's chic to be geek," said Dan Simons, director of new ventures for WorldWest, L.L.C., the parent company of Geeks on Wheels.
Movies and other forms of media spread the change in perception that understanding computers is cool. Staples said.
Geeks on Wheels is a consulting company that sends technicians to people having computer prob-
See COMPUTERS on page 2A
Several computer crimes reported at University
By Laura Roddy
lroddy@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Only four months into the year, the KU Office of Public Safety has had three reported cases of computer crimes. Two cases were reported in 1997.
"The increase in computer crimes is probably a reflection of an increased availability of computers themselves and in the number of e-mail accounts," said Sgt. Chris Keary.
The public safety office and academic computing services have advice for students about how to protect their e-mail accounts and Web sites from unwanted tampering.
Wes Hubert, assistant director of Academic Computing Services, said the best advice for students was not to share e-mail passwords. "It is the only protection you have." he said.
Students also should log off after
checking their messages so that no one else can send messages from their accounts, Hubert said.
In one incident this semester, a KU student's privacy was violated when someone forwarded an e-mail message to another address. The student had forgotten to log off the server and realized the account had been tampered with when a message was returned undelivered.
"If you're using a computer in a multi-user area, then it's really important that you sign off after you're done," Keary said. "In this case, you're not protecting your property, you're protecting your access."
In another incident this semester, someone tampered with the department of civil engineering's Web site and posted pornographic pictures. The pictures were posted for about 8 hours before they were discovered and removed.
TIPS FOR AVOIDING COMPUTER CRIMES
Hubert also said students could take some precautions with their
Do not tell anyone your e-mail account password
- Make sure to log off the server so no one can access your account after you leave a multi-user area
Check content of guest book messages before allowing them to be posted on your Web site
Web sites.
"If you have a guest book on your Web page where people can leave information, you probably need to check it frequently," he said. "That is a case in which you don't have control."
Hubert recommended that students set up their guest books so that messages were not posted immediately on the site. That way students can review the contents before posting the messages, he said.
Transportation racks up funds for Saferide, buses
By Marc Sheforgen msheforgen@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
The transportation board's budget for the 1988-1999 school year has been decided, and with more money, services will be expanded.
Saferide is expected to become more user-friendly with four additional cars running each week, and an earlier starting time of 7 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. The increased hours and cars will cost $25,000 per year.
Money for the increase in services will come from a $2 increase in student transportation fees.
Scott Kaiser, new student body vice president and this year's transportation coordinator, said the additional cars probably would be implemented on Friday and Saturday nights, when the cars were
needed most because of the patrons coming from bars or parties.
The budget also made room for a pilot program that would put bike racks on five of the KU on Wheels buses.
"I would just guess that most people aren't studying on Friday night," Kaiser said.
Nicole Skalla, next year's transportation coordinator, said that by having bike racks on buses, students who did not live near a bus route could ride their bikes to where the bus would pick them up.
The increase in hours will fall on week nights because more people may need rides earlier in the evening after getting out of night classes or the library, Kaiser said.
Grey Montgomery, transportation board chairman, said that he was hesitant about the bike-rack plan and that there were a lot of
logistics to be worked out.
"We're going to have some pretty frustrated customers if they bike all the way in and can't put their bikes on the bus," he said.
Montgomery said that although the program was in the pilot stage, with only five of the buses having bike racks, students would need to be made aware of which routes would offer that service.
CORRECTION
The budget also will add one bus to the Daisy Hill route, at a cost of $26,000. Montgomery said it was important to provide a service that was not over-crowded to the students who made up the largest percentage of bus riders. He said that if those people did not have a favorable first impression of the bus system, then when they moved off campus, they might not look to the buses for their transportation needs.
On the front page of yesterday's Kanson, Tory Howze was misidentified as a Lenexa sophomore. Howze is an Atlanta junior.
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