The University Daily Kansan
today: Clear skies with a high of 85 and a low of 55.
Tomorrow: Partly cloudy,with a high of 82 and a low of 58.
Sunday: Windy,with a high of
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Friday, September 29, 2000
85 high and a low of 58
Sports: The Kansas football team will have its hands full against Oklahoma's top passers. SEE PAGE 1B
Inside: University officials warn students of a possible honors program scam.
SEE PAGE 3A
(USPS 650-640) • VOL. 111 NO. 24 For comments, contact Nathan Willis or Chris Borniger at 864-4810 or e-mail editor@kansan.com
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Abortion drug approved
By Kursten Phelps
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A pill that induces abortion was approved yesterday by the Food and Drug Administration, and while some students applaud the decision, others say it's a step in the wrong direction.
The FDA approved mifepristone, also known as RU-486. According to the FDA, the drug, which is used within 49 days of conception, terminates a pregnancy by blocking the hormone progesterone, which is necessary for a pregnancy to continue.
The pill, known by the brand name Mifeprex, will be available to doctors within a month.
The health center does not have the proper ultrasound equipment to ensure that a pregnancy is early enough, which is a main requirement for mifepristone providers. Also, Rock said, Watkins does not have the capacity to provide surgical procedures that might be necessary to complete the abortion.
Randall Rock, chief of staff at Watkins Memorial Medical Center, said despite the legalization of the pill, there were no plans to provide the drug at Watkins.
Although the abortion pills will not be supplied at Watkins, opinions on campus are split about the FDA's decision.
Sally Puleo, coordinator for KU Pro- Choice Coalition, said legalizing the drug was a step in the right direction for abortion accessibility.
RU-486: THE ABORTION PILL
Mifeprex, the brand name of the pill known chemically as Mifepristone, will be available to doctors within a month.
The drug can be used within 49 days of conception and terminates a pregnancy by blocking the hormone progesterone, which is necessary for a pregnancy to continue.
"It's about time," she said. "Europe has had it for about 10 years. It's sad that it took this long to get around the politics for something that's so beneficial for so many people."
Puleo said she didn't think the pill's availability would significantly increase abortions, but said it would offer more privacy for women who wanted abortions.
"I think the main benefit is for the women who would have to drive a hundred miles for an abortion, only to be harassed outside the clinic," Puleo said.
Scott Wallisch, co-chairman of KU Students for Life, said the FDA's decision was dangerous and that it likely would increase the number of abortions performed.
“It's been approved for use up to 49 days after the last menstrual cycle, and by then you could have a baby with a beating heart that's being aborted.” Wallisch said.
Rock said that although the health center would not provide mifepristone, it would likely provide information about the drug.
"I see our role as that of informing people of their options," he said.
- Edited by Shawn Hutchinson
Worth the trip
Eddie Bauer officially opened today in Lawrence. Sarah and Mary Holliday of Tonganakey made a special trip to Lawrence instead of visiting Oak Park Mall's Eddie Bauer location in Overland Park. Ashley Whitham, Leoni sophomore, rang up the Holliday's purchases. Photo by Melissa Carr/ KANSAN
Rosh Hashana begins tonight at sundown
By Leita Schultes
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
For Jewish students, sundown tonight marks the beginning of Rosh Hashana and a new year. But unlike Jan. 1, which is often thought of as a day to party, the event is a time for solemn contemplation.
"Services are sort of a formalized time for asking forgiveness," said Sue Shafer-Landau, adviser for Hillel, a Jewish student organization on campus. "What you're hoping for is you'll be written into the book for next year."
Andrew Zidel, Minneapolis,
Minn., senior, said that many students would go home to spend the holiday with their families, but that he was planning to stay in Lawrence to help with religious services.
Shafer-Landau said there would be services at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Lawrence Jewish Community Center. Private buses, provided by Hillel, will leave Naismith Hall at 7 p.m., and will also pick up students on Daisy Hill and at Grace Sellars Pearson-Corbin Hall. There will also be services at 9:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, with buses leaving campus at 9, she said.
Zidel said that Rosh Hashana was Hebrew for "Head of the Year," and that the services would be traditional.
A member of the congregation will blow a shofar, or ram's horn, the traditional call to worship, to begin services, he said. Challah breed, which is usually brashed, will instead be shaped like a circle to represent God's eternity.
Members of the congregation also eat apples and honey on Rosh Hashana to symbolize a "sweet" new year, Zidel said, and they greet one other with the words L'Shanah Tovah — Have a good year.
The celebration marks the end of a month of self-reflection; and is the precursor to Yom Kippur, which is Hebrew for "Day of Atonement."
Edited by John Audlockhain
Med Center, state should survive Menninger exit
By BritAnne Hess writer@kansan.com
Kansas senior staff writer
The Menninger mental health center rejected an offer of nearly $100 million in incentives and a partnership with the University of Kansas Medical Center, but that shouldn't have an impact on the Med Center, the executive vice chancellor of the Med Center said.
Even without the new programs Menninger would have offered, Hagen said the Med Center still was improving its neurosciences branch and had developed programs to expand brain research. It is also offering a new doctorate degree and plans to add brain imaging and research to its neurosciences program.
"We'd hoped they would stay in Kansas but we understand," said Donald Hagen, executive vice chancellor of the Med Center. "Texas put up what looks like an impressive cash incentive. The question is does that affect us — and the answer is no."
"It would have fit nicely with what we were doing so we worked very diligently with other partners — the governor's office and the state — and made a bid for it."
Hagen said the Med Center was already thinking of those advances when Menniger approached the center.
Meninger, which is based in Topeka, announced Wednesday that it had set up a partnership with the Baylor College of Medicine and Methodist Health Care System in Houston for a reported $200 million — a price tag that Kansas could not afford.
"The most lasting resonance will be its impact on mental health care in northeast Kansas," Brown said. "I don't think financially that any entity in Kansas could have matched the offer from Baylor that I heard was almost $200 million — nearly double what we offered. We're not second-guessing ourselves. We did what we could."
Don Brown, communications director for Gov. Bill Graves, said the state was concerned about the loss of Menninger on several levels, including the center's 1,200 jobs and the 1,000 or more families who could move to Houston.
But Brown said the brain research facilities in Houston already were built, whereas the Med Center had none. The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas also offered Menninger a bld, which Brown said was less than Kansas' offer.
Brown said Menninger did not know how much of a clinical presence it would leave in Toneka.
According to a press release on Manninger's Web site, it planned
"The cultures of the three institutions are compatible," said Walter Menninger, psychiatrist, chief executive officer and president of Menninger, in a written statement. "We are being welcomed into a community of international medical institutions. Expect great things to come from this alliance."
to establish a national center for specialty psychiatric services for the mentally ill and to create a new brain and behavior research institute with Baylor.
A final agreement among Menninger, Baylor and Methodist is expected in February, and programs should be moved to Houston by 2002. Menninger will operate in Topeka until its move to Houston is final.
"We were fortunate that several institutions sought out Menninger to explore mutual opportunities," Menninger said in a written statement. "The work has been intense and exhaustive. We are convinced we have made the right choice of partners in Baylor College of Medicine and Methodist Health Care System."
Menninger said the decision to relocate was not easy. For the past two years, potential alliances with other institutions, such as the one with the Med Center had been discussed.
Edited by J. R. Mendoza
Comedian entertains at Lied Center
By Meghan Bainum
Kanson staff writer
Steve Allen, inventor and original host of The Tonight Show, sang, joked and played his way into the hearts of young and old last night at the Lied Center.
Though some of the approximately 1,000 people were there to see him for the first time, others had seen him for years on their television sets.
At times the Lied Center was filled with laughter, especially at the question an 11-year-old girl asked 78-year-old Allen on a note card which he read during his comedy routine.
"Who are you?" she asked.
Who are you? Are they asked
Allen might be a mystery to the Jay Leno generation, but to those who remember TV's "Golden Age," which Allen spoke of many times in his program, a better question was who Allen isn't.
He's definitely not boring.
But he is a comedian, songwriter, composer, singer, producer, conductor and political activist. Even those who had never seen Allen before, like Chicago senior Chris Haynie, were entertained.
Allen brought a different kind of entertainment to the Lied Center — one that often combined comedy and music. Many of his jokes centered around comparing this generation unfavorably to the "Golden" generations of the '20s, '30s, '40s and '50s. He poked fun at the Rolling Stones's song "Satisfaction" by reciting the lyrics in a deadpan voice.
"I like it," he said. "It's good to have something that's not modern and mainstream. It's kind of a bridge between generations. You can understand what people liked back then."
Allen then moved to the piano to show the audience his idea of real music. As he played through the jazz hits of yesteryear, Allen turned his head toward the audience to bring them into his performance.
"Listen to these harmonies," he said.
Larry Timmons and his wife, Margaret, drove from Emporia to hear Allen joke and play. Both remember watching Allen as The Tonight Show host.
At the end of Allen's last piano performance, which was done in the boogie-woogle style of musicians such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Timmons was smiling with delight.
"I love that music. It makes you want to get up and
Steve Allen, comedian and creator of The Tonight Show and the Steve Allen Show, gave a performance last night at the Lied Center. Photo by Craig Bennett/KANSAN
dance." Timmons said. "Good dancing — not jumping around, hopping around — real dancing."
Haynie said Allen definitely was a legend. a vaudevillian holdover from times when jokes were cleaner and, as Allen would say, you could understand lyrics
and, as Allen says, you love to trip back even those of the most popular songs. That little trip back in time was the reason that some KU students came to see Allen.
"I've always been interested in stuff not from my generation," Jeff Lang, Ellinwood freshman said. "So being able to see a legend is kind of intriguing."
Edited by Kathryn Moor