Kansan
Weather
Today: Partly cloudy with a high of 65 and a low of 49.
Tomorrow: Mostly sunny with a high of 75 and a low of 49.
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Monday, September 25, 2000
Sports: The Kansas football team put a 42-0 drubbing on Southern Illinois Saturday.
SEE PAGE 1B
Inside: Many students deal with the toothaches that come with wisdom teeth removal.
SEE PAGE 5A
For comments, contact Nathan Willis or Chris Borniger at 864-4810 or e-mail editor@kansan.com
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Online sales scuffle
Athletics Department pulls union bookstores' radio ads
By Kursten Phelps
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Memorial Stadium isn't the only place where competition is
heating up at the University of Kansas
— add a clash between the Athletics Department and the Kansas and Burge Union Bookstores.
The Jayhawk Radio Network, which broadcasts KU football games, has refused to run the bookstores' radio advertisements at the request of the Athletics Department, said Pat Warren, associate athletics director.
"Our understanding was that they were moving forward to promote their on-campus presence," he said. "In my
The bookstores' emphasis on its online component,www.jayhawks.com, was the concern that influenced the department's decision to pull the advertising, Warren said. The department is limiting the promotion of KU-related Internet sites during athletic events.
opinion, that's not what they're doing."
opinion, that's what they're doing. Warren said the department wanted to avoid confusing KU fans who could mistake the bookstores' Web site for the official Athletics Department Web site, www.jayhawks.org. Other schools, he said, used their mascots as part of their athletics departments' Web site addresses.
See ONLINE on page 6A
"It presents a confusing picture to fans about where to buy and who they should support," Warren said. "We're trying to get this resolved in a way that works for both parties."
The bookstore advertised during the first football game of the season but has not advertised the last two weekends. Mike Reid, director of the Kansas Union Bookstore, said the Athletics Department didn't express any advertising concerns to him before the first game.
Reid said the bookstores had been a long-term corporate sponsor of KU Athletics, and he wasn't sure what the Athletics Department
International GTAs may face language woes
By Jennifer Valadez
writer@kansan.com
International graduate teaching assistants are often confronted with a language barrier that hinders communication and can cause confusion for both teachers and students.
Pinfei Lu, Kaohsiu, Taiwan, GTA in the department of philosophy, said communication was a major problem in her classes.
"The students are either talking in slang or just murmuring, and I can't understand," said Lu, a third-year graduate student. "If they're patient enough and speak more slowly, I would understand."
"It's not philosophy that's difficult, it's the language," she said.
Matt Ward, Kingman freshman, is in Lu's philosophy discussion class and said the language barrier was frustrating. He said he wanted to learn more by attending the discussion, but got little out of it. He said he couldn't convey his questions and couldn't understand the responses.
"I see that she's got a wealth of knowledge but doesn't have the communication skills," he said. "I'll get an idea but feel that I can't express it. I want her to push me so that I can get her opinion, too."
"They get a kick out of teaching me"
The language barrier often turns GTAs into students as they work to learn English.
Mirko Wojnowski, a mathematics GTA from Stuttgart, Germany, said he sometimes found himself becoming a student in the classes he taught.
Wojnowski said language didn't often present a problem for him. However, he said, some students have used it as an excuse to get out of class work.
"At times, some of the math terms are different for me," said Wojnowski, a third-year graduate student. "But they get a kick out of teaching me."
Fan hooked on Phish concerts
"Sometimes the student has a valid
See GTAs on page GA
Student to see his 90th performance
By Meahan Bainum
Kansan staff writer
Thousands of barefoot "Phishheads" will be dancing on Sandstone Ampitheatre's lawn tonight.
Yes, Phish is swimming its way to Bonner Sortings.
Loyal University of Kansas Phish fans who aren't on tour with the band already, like David Leathers, Overland Park senior, are anxiously awaiting the show. For them, Phish is more than a band — it's an obsession.
Leathers will see his 90th Phish show at 7:30 p.m. His Phish obsession began more than six years ago and has taken him to 26 states and Toronto, Canada.
He owns 100 bootleg CDs and tapes of various Phish shows, and said his fixation stemmed from his love of the band's music.
"They're amazing, and I don't see how people couldn't like them." Leathers said. "They put on the best live show around."
The four-man band began in 1983. The members are Page McConnell on keyboards, Trey Anastasio on guitar, Jon Fishman on drums and Mike Gordon on bass. All members of the band sing.
Leathers said that every Phish concert he saw was different, and that he never knew what to expect.
Leathers said this combination of talent and innovation made him want to travel with the band. He said he watched all 20 shows of the 1999 summer tour and was ready to travel more — even though it meant spending thousands of dollars and traveling thousands of miles.
"They have a secret language — they do all sorts of things," he said. "The drummer will play the vacuum, they'll jump on trampolines. It's original. You don't know what's going to happen."
"It's a delicate balance between when you have tests and if you have the money and if you have a ride," Leathers said. "You've got to work your way around school and money."
He said the only negative aspect of Phish
shows were the people that attended just for the scene and the drugs — not the music.
"The problem with Phish nowadays is that they've become an excuse to get messed up," he said. "People go there just as an excuse to do drugs and act stupid."
David Brodie, Prairie Village junior, said that although he liked Phish and thought it would be fun to travel with them, he has only seen two Kansas City shows.
"I can't bend over backwards and dedicate my entire life to one piece of art," he said. "There's a lot of other things to explore and a lot of other things to do. It would be fun to do for a while. It'd be a great break from reality, but I've got my own life and I do other things."
"I never go in with expectations, just because it's going to be what it's going to be, and they're going to play what they're going to play," he said. "I'm going to take it for what it's worth, just like I do with any show,- and hope for the best."
But, as Leathers said, everybody has an obsession — and Phish happens to be his. He said that tonight's concert would be another great show as long as it doesn't rain.
— Edited by Clay McCuistion
David Leathers,
Overland Park
senior, sits next to
some of his Phish
memorabilia,
cassettes and CDs.
He has been a fan of
the band for about
six years and will
attend his 90th show
at Sandstone
Ampitheatre in
Bonner Springs
tonight.
Photo by Matt J.
Daugherty/KANSAN
By Matt Morkel-Hess
writer@kansan.com
Kansan sft writer
Bikers say ride raised energy; others say it damaged cause
Jim Turner, president of the Lawrence Bicycle Club,and member of the Lawrence Bicycle Advisory Committee, said the Critical Mass ride was not the best way to raise awareness of bike issues.
The fallout from Thursday night's Critical Mass bicycle ride left some local bike activists disgusted and others hooting to stance another ride.
Twelve bicyclists were issued traffic citations, and one was forcibly arrested Thursday night.
"I was totally disgusted," he said. "To go out and do what they do and blow off the traffic rules and lights in the name of safety is ironic. It's like beating somebody up who is against violence. I don't consider them part of the bike community at this point."
Lawrence resident Dave Strano helped plan the Critical Mass ride and said he thought it was successful.
"It raised a lot of people's energy and hopes for bike issues being raised," he said.
Strano said the group is going to
meet to plan another possible ride. He said he would like to see more bike lanes and the downtown open only to bikes and pedestrians.
"Lawrence is really congested with traffic lately," he said.
Turner said the 200 members of the Lawrence Bicycle Club have been working for more than 10 years to create bike lanes, educate cyclists and motorists and generally make Lawrence a more bicycle-friendly community. He said progress had been slow but that there had been progress — and this was not it.
"It annoys me to no end because all of the good work we've tried to do working within the system can be trashed in a heartbeat." Turner said.
Aaron Bartlett, Lawrence transportation planner and bicycle coordinator, said the streets in town with bicycle lanes were Louisiana Street from 11th to 13th streets, 15th Street west of Wakaraus Drive, and 19th Street between Harper Street and Haskell Avenue. The Traffic Safety Commission also removed parking along both sides of Naismith Drive to Sunnyside Drive so that bike lanes could be added eventually.
Bicyclists also need to follow traffic laws, he said.
"When I look back over the last few years, most of the bicycle-car accidents happen to be KU students running stop signs," he said.
Turner said that a plan to create a bike lane across campus had been rejected by the KU administration, but that bike lanes were not the only answer.
Tim O'Brian, Lawrence resident, participated in the Critical Mass ride, pulling a trailer with his 6-year-old daughter, Rosie. He said that Lawrence is very bikeable, but that
Eric Nicholson, Lawrence resident and head mechanic at The Bike Shop, 818 Massachusetts St., said he thought bicyclists needed more respect from motorists.
it could be safer.
"It's a little scary sometimes, but a lot of drivers are good about watching out for bikes," he said. "I just assume I'm invisible."
"When they see a biker they should slow down rather than give it more gas," Nicholson said. "People come in the store every day and say they almost just run over."
— Edited by John Audishakn