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Tomorrow's weather
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
YU
Cool tomorrow with a chance for rain.
K
20
HIGH LOW 62 47
KS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PO BOX 3585
TOPEKA, KS 66601-3585
an
Monday
April 27, 1998
Section:
A
Vol. 108 • No. 145
Online today
Lilith Fair, a celebration of women in music, will make a stop this summer at Sandstone Amphitheater.
http://www.lilithfair.excite.com
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Sports today
Kansas runningback Mitch Bowles tore through the Jayhawks' secondstring defense in the annual Blue- White scrimmage on Saturday.
SEE PAGE 1B
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Attention deficit disorder
(USPS 650-640)
It's not just for children. Some students are tortured by their wandering minds.
Story by Erin Thompson Illustration by Matt Woodruff
emmifer Mai sits down, opens her marketing book, and begins to read. There are no thoughts of having to make her bed. No thoughts of split ends. She sits
and studies for hours at a time.
Study time may be something that students dread, but most students do not consider it an excruciating task.
Until four weeks ago, reading a textbook was similar to a mid-evil torture device for Mai, Hoisington junior.
Mai was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder in February. Since her diagnosis, Mai's life has come into focus. Now she can do things most people wouldn't think twice about. She can sit through all of "Beverly Hills 90210" since she began treating her disorder.
"I can read a textbook for four hours straight without even getting up to do anything," she said. "When before I'd sit there for 10 minutes and realize, oh, I need to make my bed, or 'I need to load the dishwasher,' or something like that."
Although the disorder is usually diagnosed between the ages of 10 and 11, it does not simply disappear with age and maturity as doctors once thought. In fact, it is becoming more commonly diagnosed in young adults.
The disorder has gained a reputation for being an excuse. It isn't a real problem, people say. It's just an excuse for bad grades or laziness, critics say.
David Holmes, professor of psychology at the University of Kansas, concedes that students who are getting bad grades likely could use the disorder as an excuse.
The disorder may conjure images of small kids running wild on the playground, second graders not being able to sit still, seventh graders constantly jumping out of their seats.
"I do think, however, that a lot of students will say 'Oh gee. I must have ADD' if they are not getting good grades," he said. "But the fact that some people misattribate their poor performance to the disorder does not mean that the disorder does not exist."
The diagnosis
was all of them, so that's why I went."
Mai had the misconception that it was a childhood disorder. But she stumbled upon a magazine article about ADD. When she read it, she recognized herself.
The diagnosis is one of the most difficult aspects of the disorder. There is nothing that shows up on a brain scan that indicates someone cannot sit still and read a textbook. There is no blood level that determines if someone has the right chemistry to sit and listen to
"I had no idea that adults even had it," she said. "I thought it was basically kids, or like junior high kids. I read an article that said if you see four or five out of these things you might go see a doctor. And I
a lecture about supply and demand.
"There isn't a specific test," Holmes said. "It's very difficult to diagnose. That's why a lot of students attribute their poor performance to it."
He admits it can be hard to demonstrate that the disorder is not simply poor performance.
Those diagnosed with the disorder have been found to have lower levels of metabolism in the area of the brain that controls attention and motor activity. When this area of the brain is not fully active, it does not inhibit quick shifts in attention.
See CONCENTRATION page 6A
Graves to decide fate of abortions
By Brandon Copple
bcoppe@kanson.com
Kanson staff writer
You know the feeling. You've got an assignment sitting there on your desk that you eventually will have to do, but you really don't want to deal with it so you put it off until the day it's due.
Kansas Governor Bill Graves knows how you feel. Today Graves must either sign or veto anti-abortion legislation that he has deliberated about for 10 days.
The bill would prohibit partial birth abortions and abortions of any fetus which could survive outside the womb. In either case, abortions would be permitted when necessary to prevent death or serious injury to the mother.
Graves, who will run for reelection in the fall, is under considerable pressure from both sides.
Graves:decides today on legislation
Andrea Van Dyke, Atchison
sophomore and president of KU Students for Life, said she had asked members of her group to phone or e-mail Graves and to urge him not to veto the bill.
Sarah Page, Prairie Village senior and co-coordinator for KU Pro-Choice Coalition, said she planned to present Graves with a petition asking him to veto the bill. She said she collected about 60 signatures to send to Graves today.
"He's been bombarded with phone calls, e-mails, letters," Page said. "Whatever he does, he's not going to take this decision lightly."
All of the public input is especially meaningful because Graves is running for re-election this year. It appears that his greatest challenge will come from within the Republican party in the August primary, and if so, the key issue will most likely be abortion.
Van Dyke said Graves' decision today on the abortion bill could affect the way she votes this year.
"This is a primary issue for me that I will definitely take into consideration when I vote," she said. "A lot of people in our group only vote for pro-life candidates, so if he vetoes the bill he's not going to get their votes."
Page said it was important to make the case for a woman's right to choose.
"I's important that we protect the right of all people to choose," she said. "As a woman, I feel the government shouldn't have more control over my body than it already does. That's more important to me than politics."
ABORTION BILL
Gov. Graves must sign or veto, today, a bill that PROHIBITS:
- Abortions on viable fetuses — viable means that there is "a reasonable probability that the life of the child can be continued outside the mother's womb" with or without artificial life support
- Partial birth abortion — means abortion by evacuation of the contents of a fetus' skin.
with the means to commit suicide or participating in the act of another person's suicide
Members of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity perform a step dance for a packed Liberty Hall. The group was one of 10 who performed Saturday night for the National Panhellenic Step Show at Liberty Hall. Photo by Tara Bradley / KANSAN
Stompdown '98 rocks Liberty Hall
African culture honored despite sound problems
By Carl Kaminski
ckaminski@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
The National Panhellenic Council filled Liberty Hall Saturday night for its annual step show. Stompdown'98.
The historically Black greek letter organizations kept the crowd entertained for three hours, despite being plagued with technical difficulties all night.
The performers overcame problems with the microphone and the sound system, performing routines that some of them had been perfecting since last summer.
At one point, members of Omega Psi Phi fraternity put on an impromptu routine in the orchestra sections while the sound system was being worked on. Omega Psi Phi did not perform during the show.
The routines are a combination of dance, tap, R&B and chanting that at times
"It's really hard to explain what a step show is really," Ericka Morris, outgoing NPHC president and Lawrence sophomore.
involve the entire crowd.
Stepping has been a ritual of black greek letter organizations since the 1950s, Page said.
Each organization has its own style of stepping that no other group is supposed to copy without permission.
Although the groups take their shows to competitions all over the country, last night's show was strictly for entertainment, said Robert Page, NPHC adviser.
Men from the Interfraternity Council were invited to try stepping at the end of
He said the shows celebrate African culture and the students' pride in their organizations.
The crowd got a surprise late in the night when women from Pi Beta Phi and Alpha Gamma Delta sororities showed their support by joining Dion Jones, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, junior, and Mike Owens, Kansas City, Kan., senior, of Iota Phi Theta and putting on their own routine.
Tickets for the show cost $5 for students and $7 for the public at the SUA box office, and $7 for everybody at the door.
the night.
"This is what they are known for," Lung Huang, IFC vice president for public relations and Goodland junior. "They were nice enough to let us go out there and do our steps."
Morris said that, traditionally, all the money earned at the shows was donated to charities such as the Ronald McDonald House, Head Start and Hilltop, but this year was different. The earnings from this show are going to be used to make next year's show even bigger.
4.
Page said that he hopes to reserve the Lied Center next year for a show big enough to earn the $10,000 required to endow a scholarship.
The scholarship will be named for Latina Sullivan, Page said. Sullivan was a member of a Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and the editor of The University Daily Kansan last summer. She died last summer of a severe asthma attack.