Tuesday, November 28, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 3
Non-Christians celebrate holiday season
Jewish, Muslim students observe winter holy days
Christmas decorations flood the aisles of the "In Season" section at SuperTarget, 3201 Iowa St. Even though University of Kansas students are from many religious backgrounds, with the onslaught of Christmas, it's easy to forget that some people on campus don't celebrate the holiday. Photo by Tara Kraus/KANSAN
By Leita Schultes writer@kansan.com Kanson staff writer
The lights are on, and the sale signs are up. Holiday music is infiltrating the airwaves, and pine trees are making their way into living rooms.
With the onslaught of Christmas, it's easy to forget that some people on campus don't celebrate the holiday.
Some of those people are Muslim and acknowledged the beginning of Ramadan — a holy month of fasting in the Islamic calendar — yesterday.
Asma Latif, a Shawnee Mission freshman who has fasted since she was 10 and will fast again this year, said many Muslim students would refrain from eating during the day for one month instead of buying gifts for one another. Fasting during the day is required of every able adult Muslim.
Other non-Christians, such as the approximately 1,500 Jewish students at the University of Kansas, also divert from the norm during December. But they face different challenges than other non-Christians
because of the close associations made between Christmas and Hanukkah.
Sue Shafer-Landau, faculty adviser for Hillel, an organization for Jewish students, said both holidays occurred near the winter solstice, and both involved bringing light to a
dark world. But the similarities end there, she said.
("Hanukkah) is more or less a political holiday," Shafer-Landau said. "It's about religious freedom."
Shafer-Landau said the irony was that Hanukkah was only a minor holiday in the Jewish
faith, but its association with Christmas made it seem more important than Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur.
Sarah Shik, president of Hillel, said Hanukkah was a miracle story of Jewish perseverance.
It is based on a Jewish revolt
against Rome, Shafer-Landau said. Although the Jews were triumphant, their temple was defiled, and there wasn't enough oil left to keep the Menorah, or eternal light, burning.
"But, magically, there was enough oil to keep the flame lit for eight days." Shik said.
"We consider Christmas a religious holiday, and most people out there in the world don't." she said.
As Christmas has become more commercialized, it also has become more secular. And Shafer-Landau said some people didn't understand why non-Christians didn't celebrate the holiday.
Shik said Hanukkah was not traditionally a gift-giving holiday, but like Christmas, it had been affected by consumerism.
Jewish people traditionally light candles on the holiday, eat traditional food and play traditional games with their families, Shafer-Landau said.
But in the United States, which is marked with religious diversity, people borrow from the religious customs of their neighbors.
Sometimes it means giving gifts, Shik said, and sometimes it means putting up a Hanukkah bush instead of a Christmas tree.
- Edited by Lauren Brandenburg
Senate Web site updated; page to offer housing guide
By Kursten Phelps
writer @kansan.com
Kansan stuff writer
The Student Senate Web page is up and running, paving the way for an online off-campus housing guide.
The page's design had not been updated in more than two years, and the current page has several new features, including a legislation page, email links to current senators and an application to join Senate committees, said Greg Smith, Senate webmaster and Olathe senior.
"I think it'll help a lot with out.
reach, because it's now really easy to join a committee, and it keeps people apprised of what's going on in Senate," Smith said. "We're hoping that by keeping legislation and minutes updated, students can log on and see that we do actually do stuff."
Smith said he also updated the Student Legislative Awareness Board and Center for Community Outreach Web pages.
An interactive housing/apartment search will be added to the Senate Web page in February, said Ben Walker, student body president.
UPDATED WEBPAGE
Student Senate has updated its Web page, with links to senators' e-mail accounts, current legislation and meeting minutes. The site is located at: http://www.ukans.edu/~senate
http://www.ukans.edu/~senate
"We have sent out all the letters to apartment complex owners with the questions we wanted to ask them and have received most of them back." Walker said. "We're going to start putting all that on the Web, with the
target date of Feb. 1 for it to be ready."
Walker said Senate's upgraded Web page was an effort to keep up with a more Internet-oriented society.
"I think that so much of the world today is online that it is high time for Student Senate to get with the times," Walker said. "Hopefully, by updating our Web page to be more user friendly, it will be used as a resource."
Senate approved the webmaster position this summer, and Walker said Senate would have to address extending that position on a permanent basis.
"There was a lot of start-up work this year, but a lot of the work in the future will just be maintenance. We'll need to have a discussion in Senate next semester about how we'll deal with that position." Walker said
Smith said ideally, a webmaster would not be needed in the future.
"If it works perfectly, which nothing ever does, we won't need a webmaster because the page is designed so senators can update the information," Smith said.
Student Senate's Web page is at www.ukans.edu/~senate.
- Edited by Shawn Hutchinson
Democrats challenge vote count
Continued from page 1A
counts Friday. It decided yesterday not to let the proceedings be televised.
Gore's Florida lawsuit seeks an injunction to prevent Harris from declaring the winning presidential electors until proceedings are completed in the contest.
In Miami-Dade, Gore lawyers want a count of the 10,000 votes they said could not be read by a voting machine and were not hand-counted.
It asks the court to examine ballots and order recounts in the three counties, and to declare Gore the winner of the electoral votes.
In Nassau County, Democrats are seeking to add a recounted total that would give Gore 52 more votes.
In the three-county contest filed by Gore, lawyers alleged that the vote totals reported to the secretary of state Sunday were inaccurate.
Multiple problems were alleged in Palm Beach County where Harris refused to extend the 5 p.m. Sunday deadline for hand counting and then rejected the partial count submitted.
The brief said the final total, completed at 7:30 p.m. would have added 215 votes to the Democrat.
Beyond that, the brief said some Palm Beach voters did not completely perforate their ballots. No allowance was made for partially perforated or indented chads on the presidential votes unless similar dimples were seen in other races.
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December 1,2000
World AIDS Day
Tuesday, November 28th Movie Night at Multicultural Resource Center.7:00 PM The movie "Jeffery" will be shown; refreshments will be served.
Wednesday, November 29th Service of Prayer and Rememberance at 7:30 PM First Methodist Church, 946 Vermont, Lawrence
"Names Project Quilt": Emporia A van will carry interested individuals to Emporia at 4:00 PM to view the Quilt. Seating is limited; for more information call Laurie Sisk at 864-2801.
Thursday, November 30th World AIDS Day Band Benefit, Hashinger Hall 8:00 PM - 11:00 PM Three bands will perform to benefit the Douglas County AIDS Project.
Friday, December 1st - World AIDS Day KS Union & Wescoe Terrace Information Tables 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM Pick up your free condom, red ribbon, and HIV testing information.
Twenty Bells Project at 2:00 PM
Twenty Bells Project at 2:00 PM The Campanile will ring the bells 20 times in recognition of 20 years of the epidemic.
World AIDS Day Reception Spencer Art Museum, 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Guest speaker Dennis Daily. The "Names Project Quilt" panels will be displayed Nov. 17th - Dec.1st
For more information, call 864-9573
Events sponsored by Watkins Memorial Health Center, Coca-Cola, DCAP, Jayhawk Communication, Student Development Center, and Kansas & Burge Unions