Tuesday, November 21, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 3
3
Former student dies after battle with cancer
By Meghan Bainum
writer@kanson.com
Kansas staff writer
Kouadio "Marcel" Brou, 45, died Saturday after battling cancer for nearly three years.
Brou was born on Aug. 29, 1955, the son of Marcellin and Theresa Brou in the Ivory Coast, West Africa. He moved to Lawrence in 1989.
Brou earned his master's degree in political science at the University of Kansas in 1993. He was a KU student senator, a member of Amnesty International, a graduate teaching assistant in the department of French and Italian, and president of the African Student Association.
Brou served as the L.I.N.K. coordinator from 1994 to 1996 and continued to serve on the L.I.N.K. board for several years. He also was involved with the Knights of Columbus and was the assistant director of development at St. Lawrence Catholic Center.
John Flyn, director of development at the Catholic Center, worked with Brou. He said Brou was a good man with strong faith who never had a harsh word to say about anybody.
"He treated everyone with dignity," Flynn said. "He was a good man, and he accepted every challenge that was presented to him. He always had a can-do attitude."
"He was a very fine person, a very giving person — extremely friendly and service oriented," she said. "I am very sorry for his family because I know this is a great loss to his wife and children, but also to his friends and the others who knew him here."
Surviving Brou are his wife, Toni Brou, and his three sons, Franklin, Frederick and Freeman Brou who live in Lawrence, as well as four brothers, Maxime, David, Phillipe and Laurent Brou; five sisters, Patricia, Mathilde, Michellin, Monique and Emma Brou; and his mother, Therese Brou, all of Abidian, Ivory Coast, West Africa.
Services for Brou will be at 2 p.m. today at the St. Lawrence Catholic Center, 1631 Crescent Road. Burial will be at Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Lawrence.
Memorials in Brou's name can be sent to the Brou Children Education Fund at the Douglas County Bank in care of the Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence
Study says KU African Americans have difficulty identifying racism
By Jason Krall writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
African-American students at the University of Kansas have more difficulty identifying racism than students at a predominantly African-American college in Louisiana, according to a study conducted by a KU researcher.
- Edited by Amy Randolph
Shannon Campbell, assistant professor of communication studies and journalism, measured how seven African-American KU students and six African-American students at Xavier University in Louisiana identified their race.
All the Xavier students had a stronger sense of identity as African Americans, while five of the KU students identified themselves as Black and two as African American.
Campbell said that students who identified with the uniqueness of the African-American experience identified themselves as African American, while students who thought of themselves as Black tended to hold more integrationist views.
Campbell found that the KU stu
dents had more trouble picking out racist content in two sitcoms popular with African-American audiences — a finding Campbell said could be associated with how the students identified themselves.
But the limited sample of students has drawn some skepticism.
Alberta Wright, assistant director of Multicultural Affairs, said she didn't think the study's findings indicated how most African-American students at the University viewed their race.
"It's not fair to ask seven students to represent 500-some students," Wright said, referring to all African-American students at the University. "Everyone has a different background, and everyone has their own sense of racial identity."
Students viewed an episode of UPN's Moesha in which a Caucasian police officer, the only Caucasian character in the episode, arrested Moesha's brother. Xavier students took issue with the show's lone authority figure being Caucasian, but KU students did not, Campbell said.
"Students at KU never identified that as any form of racism, the fact
"It's not fair to ask seven students to represent 500 some students. Everyone
has a different background, and everyone has their own sense of racial identity."
racial identity."
Alberta Wright
Alberta Wright assistant director of multicultural affairs
that the only White person on the show was in a position of power," said Campbell, who released the findings of the study last week after conducting the focus groups last spring.
The KU students also seemed to see racial conflicts only in situations involving African Americans and Caucasians. When viewing an episode of UPN's The Parkers in which two African-American characters went to Mexico on a vacation, the Xavier students caught on to racial overtones in their interaction with Latino characters in the episode, and KU students did not, she said.
"If it didn't affect them; it was really difficult for them to identify." she said.
But Wright said she wasn't surprised that KU African-American students had trouble identifying racial overtones in interactions between African Americans and Latinos, who tended to identify closely with one another on the Lawrence campus.
"There's not a great deal of racism between Blacks and Latinos," she said. "They're not enemies here — they're contemporaries."
Campbell said she chose the two programs because they rated as the most popular with African-American households. She added that the KU students found the two shows more humorous than the Xavier students.
"They allowed comedy to act as a cloak for the racism that was exhibited in the shows," she said.
Campbell declined to outline possible reasons for the differences in the two groups, but she said most of the KU students were from Kansas, and the Xavier students hailed from several different Southern states.
- Edited by Warisa Chulindra
A standing ovation
Cadet Todd M. Craig, Lawrence junior and member of the Air Force ROTC, right, hears the applause of the Allen Fieldhouse crowd at halftime of the KU men's basketball game against Boise State last night. Kevin McNellis, left, presented Craig with the Gold Valor Award for personal bravery and self-sacrifice because of a recent life-saving effort in which Craig pulled an unconscious victim out of a burning car. Photo by Nick
a burning car
Photo by Nick
Krui/KANSAN
Downtown Lawrence retailers starting to clean up their acts
writer@kansan.com
By Matt Merkel-Hess
Kansan staff writer
It may not shine like the top of the Chrysler Building, but downtown Lawrence has cleaned up during the past month.
"It's 1,000 percent better in the front," said Nancy Ness, owner of
In October, concerned business owners met with the City Commission to resolve trash problems associated with the active downtown nightlife. Tonight, the commission will revisit the problem and see if things are better than before.
It appears they are.
Carmesi, an interior design store at 1012 Massachusetts St. "I'm alright pleased with the improvement. There's still a mess in the alleyway, but it's a lot better."
Ness said bar owners were taking a proactive approach to the problem and picking up paper plates, bottles, cups and other debris. She said the nightlife and daytime retail shops fed off each other, and she hoped a mutual respect could be maintained.
"When you keep your store frontage clean, and behind your store, it shows that you care about your store and your city." Ness said.
Commissioner Erv Hodges said he noticed more business owners cleaning the sidewalks, but he still was concerned about products such as disposable cups or plates.
Hodges said everyone, especially young people, needed to be aware of where they were putting their trash.
The city is buying six additional trash receptacles for downtown, and the Kansas Licensed Beverage Association has recommended the city select an ashtray receptacle design that businesses could purchase to reduce cigarette butts.
"All I can do is encourage everyone in this city to take care of their trash, and then we won't have a problem," he said.
Peach Madl, president of the KLBA
CITY COMMISSION MEETING
When: 6:35 tonight
When: 8:35 longgm
Where: City Hall. 6 E. Sixth St.
At tonight's meeting, the commission will:
Receive a report on downtown trash problems and the recent efforts to clean up the mess from bars.
up the mess from bats
Receive an East Lawrence neighborhood revitalization plan.
Receive a report concerning the use of city right-of-way for telecommunications purposes.
and owner of the Sandbar, 117 E. Eighth St., said that, according to city code, each business was responsible for the sidewalk in front of its business. She said raising the issue at the City Commission meeting made all business owners aware of the problems.
"It isn't inclusive to a certain type of business — it's everybody," she said. "Now everybody is on the alert; we're all aware, and we're trying to do a better job."
— Edited by Casey Franklin
Senate denies club more funds
By Kursten Phelps
Kansan staff writer
The Sketch Comedy Club is not too happy with Student Senate after the Senate Finance Committee voted against hearing a funding bill to grant the group extra money last Wednesday.
Marty Grusznik, producer of the Sketch Comedy Club, said he was disappointed the Finance Committee refused to consider the bill for additional funding.
"Understandably, it was last minute," Grusznis said. "But they didn't even give us the opportunity to hear us. They didn't even vote whether to pass the bill or not, just why we wanted this money, and they voted against it."
Chiles said the group was granted $317, the standard funding for an organization, earlier this semester. But as a new organization, she said, it didn't realize it was going to need more money to advertise the premiere of its sketch comedy show Tuesday, Jan. 23. Thus, the group tried to introduce a bill requesting an additional $800.
Tracy Chiles, Numemaker senator, sponsored the bill and tried to bring it off the floor for consideration. The bill was not on the regular agenda because the club came to her after the deadline to submit bills for last Wednesday's committee meetings. To pull a bill off the floor, a senator must make a motion to do so, and the motion must be approved by a majority vote.
"But they were willing to accept $400 or $500," Chiles said. "They were willing to go that low."
But Ben Burton, Finance Committee member, said the group was asking for too much money.
"I would have voted against it, anyway," Burton said. "To me, it's just kind of ridiculous to ask for that much advertising money. There's a reason there's a set limit for funding."
The group wanted the money to advertise in the Kansan, but Burton said other means of advertising, such as sidewalk chalking and filers, were cheaper and more effective.
Chiles said she suspected another reason the committee voted against hearing the bill was the full agenda that night.
"They saw that they had previously funded the group, and there were three other huge bills going through," Chiles said. "They probably thought we needed to get through the regular agenda. I was frustrated because they didn't even give us a chance to hear us out."
Grusznis said the committee's actions reflected poorly on Senate.
"It's extremely horrible." Gruszniz said. "They're supposed to represent students, and our club is for the whole campus. Everyone can see the show and have an opportunity to work with production. It was kind of a big slap in the face to not even try to listen to us."
- Edited by Warisa Chulindra
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