University Daily Kansan, May 2, 1983
Page 3
Commencement pranks a KU tradition
By ANDREE BURKE Staff Reporter
They wore nothing beneath their gowns as they streaked across the Memorial Stadium field, with their cap on and their gowns flapping open at 22,000 people looked on in disbelief, some rolled with laughter.
The two men ran out of a gate at the south end of the stadium, where they were arrested and charged with creating a disturbance.
THIS INCIDENT took place during the 1974 University of Kansas Commencement. This was one of many pranks that have occurred during the commencement, said Lt. Vic Stroud of KU police, who was one of the arresting officers.
"It was unbelievable," said Strnad. "There have been a lot of pranks at commencements, but that one stands out. Most of the pranks in the past few years have been costumes and get-ups like that."
For the past 14 years Strnad has been on duty at each commencement ceremony. He said that most of the pranks were harmless, but that sometimes he was concerned about the safety of students.
"I've seen it all — the helium-filled
surgical gloves, the Mickey Mouse balloons and the rubber chickens." Strnad said. "Those things are harmless, but throwing someone in the fountain or doing something that could hurt somebody is serious."
Strand said he was concerned about the fireworks students ignited during commencement. He said students lit baskets of fire and Roman candles and bottle rockets.
SGT. MARY ANN Robinson said she was also concerned about the issue. Although there is a ban against smoking, students seem to ignore it, she said.
"There's a fine of $100 or 30 days in jail," she said. "We do take away some of the fireworks, but we can't stop all students. Our main concern is safety."
Strand said the police could never stop the pranks that go on at com
"That isn't our purpose," Strand said. "We basically look out for people's welfare and help out if we can. We have to deal with accidents and interrupt the ceremony."
Commencement pranks have become a tradition at KU. The tradition of cutting-up at commencement goes back to KU commencement, on June 11, 1873.
THE 1832 ceremony was in University Hall, later known as Fraser Hall.
Through a hole in the unfinished roof, the students hung a skeleton and attached a sign to a toe that read "Pex. One story says that 'Pex' is short for president and was meant to be a nickname to Hancock Joonckel Fraser and the faculty.
Also this is clearly true.
This prank may have set the atmosphere for the next 110 commencements.
In 1949 one student ran into the marching line late and forgot his cap and gown. After marching into the stadium, he borrowed a cap and gown from another student when it was time to walk across the stage.
Unfortunately, the student wore cowboy boots and spurs and the borrowed gown was too long. As he was walking across the stage his spurs caught on his gown and he tripped. Turned to one story, the audience roared.
THE FIRST TIME Strand attended a commencement ceremony was in 1970, the last one for former Chancellor Clark Wescoe. During the ceremony, an nursing student embraced and kissed her diploma. Other women followed her, and soon almost all the female graduates were kissing Wescoe.
Not all the incidents at KU's commem­
nences have been pleasant ones.
According to Strand, in 1980, 16
students were arrested and charged
with disorderly conduct after waving
the balloons at the stadium at the time
of the ceremony.
During that time, there was a campus policy stating that no banners or posters were allowed at public assemblies on campus. The 12 students who held the banners, which read "Protect First Amendment Rights at our University," were being forced to "Invest in Kansas and in racist South Africa," to remove from the banners, and that triggered a struggle with KU police.
THE PROTESTERS opposed investments by the Kansas University Endowment Association in companies with holdings in South Africa.
Since this incident, the campus policy outlawing banners has been removed.
Mark Cline, 21, Lake City graduate student, one of the protesters, said he
"The policy should never have been made in the first place," Cline said. "I believe the protest was the reason KU uplifted the policy."
Daniel Wildcat, 30, another of the protesters, said he agreed with Cline.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Yale University isn't begging for students even though a year's college bill has hit a record $12,980.
Applications to high-priced schools still abound
mid-April that they could not be accepted.
The story is the same at the nation's other high-priced schools, from Stanford to Princeton.
$52,000 or more.
EVEN IF FESS remain the same for four years, the base sticker price on a bachelor's degree at such expensive, highly selective schools will come to
By United Press International
An analysis of the bill at Yale shows $3,900 goes for room and board — which one would have to pay whether in school or not. Tuition comes to $9,050.
According to a Yale spokesman, that covers just half of the actual cost of instruction. The remainder is subsidized from the school's endowment
Thus for $9,000 the student gets instruction costing $18,000.
income.
The situation is similar at other high-priced schools.
About 9,000 people who applied for entry next September were notified in
The $9,000 buys nine academic credits over a year, each worth three hours of instruction a week — a total of 24 hours. Yale spokesman Steve Kezarian said.
"I try to line up employers so that when a student graduates, he or she can establish contacts within their home countries," she said. "I give the students contacts, and the teachers, and the students who have get placed or not. The fact that nationals are going home to work really please me."
SHE HAS CONTACTS with personnel directors at banks, accounting firms, educational institutions and government agencies as well as travel industry businesses and restaurants.
Administrator locates foreign students' jobs
HONOLULU — An coordinator of career development and placement at Brigham Young University, Hawaii, H. Calley Hanenberg travels 17,000 miles a year to the Far East, Southeast Asia and the Pacific
By United Press International
BYUH has a large foreign student enrollment and Hanenbang arrangements job interviews for students in their home countries.
For foreign students studying elsewhere, she offers some advice if they intend to return to their homeland to seek employment.
- Complete a course in a viable area — "something the student's country needs or has a demand for."
- "There are five basic prerequisites I consider most important," Hanenberg said:
- Besides earning good grades,
* the student should research early on what he or she wants, and do homework on it. Begin as a junior by writing the companies for information and interviews. No matter what the economic conditions, companies are always looking for good people."
- Bone up on interview skills.
Also, multinational companies are interested in students who hold several visas.
Hanbenberg said students who earned advanced degrees had a better chance at a job, and that manned the aircraft graders with a B.A. degree.
One area where countries need help now is hotel management, she said.
- Book up on late new home.
- Make contacts before returning home.
"It's an extremely viable area," she said. "Hotels are going up all over the place."
HANENBERG SAID she delighted in watching the transformation of foreign students from unsure freshmen to mature seniors;
"Many of them come here on a sheoostring — some married and with children. What they do is really inspiring to me," she said.
Her job of developing contacts for future graduates takes her to the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Fiji, New Zealand, American and Western Samoa, Australia, Tonga, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Nepal and Thailand.
"I CARE for the foreign students, and anything I can do is not too much. The majority of them are very well educated wherever they work," she said.
Hanenberg began working as placement coordinator six years ago after operating several businesses in Hawaii for 40 years.
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