CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, April 1, 1994
3
Depleted department filling the ranks
Marcia Chan is one of three professors the microbiology department has hired to rebuild its staff.
Microbiologists now sought after exodus
William Alix / KANSAN
By Susan White
Kansan staff writer
Marcia Chan is looking forward to playing a role in rebuilding the microbiology department from the ground level up.
"I am on the search committee for new faculty members," said Chan, director of the Center for Neurobiology and Immunology on West Campus. "Our numbers have depleted over the years. Now we have the opportunity to hire new people."
Del Shankel, professor of microbiology and member of the hiring committee, said Chan was the first of three replacements for faculty who have left. Chancellor Gene Budig and University programs are helping to fill positions that have been vacant — some of them for years.
"Five years ago, 10 research-oriented people left the department," he said. "One retired, one moved to another microbiology department in a different state, two left to join staffs of medical schools, and the others left for various reasons. We were down to half a staff."
Chan, who has been hired as an assistant professor for virology and immunology, originally came to the University in 1990 because of its national reputation for research.
"In the past the department was wellrecognized scientifically," she said. "My husband is also a scientist, so we decided to come to KU because we were looking for a place with strong research activities."
Chan said she had worked with the microbiology department in the past but had yet to teach there.
Now, she said, she looks forward to working in the department as it undergoes those changes.
"It's really exciting to become a part of the department during this rebuilding period," she said.
Shankel said the department hopes to hire a molecular genetics specialist and a pathogenics specialist.
we were authorized by Gene Budig to recruit two other people for the staff using funding from the Franklin Murphy
Young Scholars program," he said. "The University also gave us the authority to hire one more person next year. Over the next few years we will rebuild the staff back to strength."
Shankel said 172 people applied for the three teaching positions. After hiring Chan, the department narrowed down the group to eight candidates.
"We are interviewing two candidates each week," he said. "After that we hope
to have the other two positions filled by May 1. Chan and the other two selected people will begin their jobs in the fall."
The department also hopes to recruit more graduate students to increase the number of students from the University going into the field.
"We hope to have the department rebuilt back to what it was before within two years with the staff working together as a group," he said.
Powwow celebrates Native-American culture
By Susan White Kansan staff writer
Kansan staff writer
Traditional dance, drum music and a group supper will highlight the Native American Student Association's annual powwow tomorrow afternoon.
M. C. Baldwin, Flagstaff, Ariz., senior and treasurer for the Native American Student Association, said the organization's goal for the powwow was to educate the Lawrence community about Native-American heritage and culture.
"Hopefully, people from all types of backgrounds will attend." he said.
Baldwin said the powwow kicked off at 2 p.m. with dances by men's and women's groups who will dance to war songs performed by Southern and Northern drum groups. The groups have two distinct styles of music. Baldwin said.
Baldwin said the organization would provide a special supper for the various groups and those in attendance after the afternoon dance performances.
"For most powwows, there is a supper," he said. "Whenever you invite guests, it is a tradition to feed them in order to share good feelings and spirit with them."
After the supper, various tribes from as far away as Canada will compete in a grand entry dance contest for money and other prizes. Baldwin said.
"There will be dances in all categories based on each group's style of dress and dance," he said. "The dancing will continue
on through the night until around midnight."
Area residents also will set up booths to sell traditional Native-American arts and crafts, including beads, baskets, jewelry and shawls, Baldwin said.
Students from the Haskell Indian Nations University also will help out on the event.
Students bontre Hasselman Nabors University also will help put on the event. Lyle Frank, North Battlefield, Saskatchewan, Canada, graduate student, said the organization hoped that the powwow would help the organization become more visible on campus.
"We want to show people that the University of Kansas has a viable Native American organization," he said.
Admission to the powwow is free.
Native American Heritage Month
Pow wowevents
2 p.m. — Gourd dancing perfor-
5 p.m. — Dinnerbreak.
6 p.m. — Gourd dancing perfor-
7 p.m. — Grand entry.
Circumcision panelists decry ritual
At least 100 million women have endured 'rite of passage'
By Denise Neil Kansan staff writer
When Enid-Mai Frost was a child living in Monrovia, Liberia, her girlfriend told her that she had been circumcised.
KANSAN
Frost, a graduate student and president of the African Affairs Student Association, is among the few women who grew up in Africa and avoided circumcision. The act, considered a rite of passage and a way to ensure a woman's virginity at marriage, is practiced mainly in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It is estimated that at least 100 million women in the world have been circumcised.
"I couldn't believe what my girlfriend told me had been done to her," Frost said. "I couldn't believe someone would do something that cruel."
Many different types of female circumcision are practiced, the panelists said. The most severe involves the removal of the clitoris, and the labia minora and labia majora, the folds of skin surrounding the vagina. The least severe involves the removal of only the tip of the clitoris. Girls usually are circumcised between the ages of five and nine years old.
Frost and three other panelists lead a discussion about female circumcision as part of African Awareness Week last night at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave. About 50 people attended.
Frost said that she had known women who had been circumscribed and that she disagreed with the practice.
"We will respect the fact that they say it's a traditional rite of passage," she said. "But female circumcision takes away a woman's right to take control of her body."
Muneer Ahmed, panelist and Kansas City, Kan., resident who grew up in Khartoum, Sudan, said women who were circumcised often believed that if they were not, men would find them unattractive and that they would have difficulty finding husbands.
"You can't say this custom is wrong," he said. "You have to be in their shoes to see why they're doing it."
Finda Mbayo, a panelist and student nurse at Washburn University, grew up in Sierra Leone and worked as a nurse in various parts of Africa.
Mbayo said female circumcision often resulted in serious health risks.
"All of the sudden, people are becoming aware of it, and hopefully things will be done about it," she said. "To be able to criticize one's own culture is very healthy. It allows change."
Mohamed El-Hodiri, professor of economics and panelist, said that he opposed the practice. He said he thought the rite of passage was not so deeply embedded in tradition that it could not be eliminated.
"It is my view that there is no such thing as an intrinsic human value," he said. "Just like societies create these things, they can uncreate them."
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