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Volume 128 Issue 58
Monday, December 8, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Kansan.com | The student voice since 1904
DALTON KINGERYKANSAN
CarmaHop, a ridesharing service, officially launched in Lawrence over the weekend. The service gives Lawrence residents whiteboards so they can write their desired destination for passersby to recognize
Political groups prepare for legislative session
ALLISON KITE
@Allie_Kite
As students wrap up the semester,political organizations are already planning their programming for next semester.
From membership development to tabling,educating students seems to be key in programming among multiple political student organizations next semester. Chief among several groups' goals is education.
to speak. However, because she is transferring to Wichita State University, much of the planning will be up to the new president, who will be elected this week.
YOUNG DEMOCRATS
Brittany Bodenheimer, a sophomore from Topeka and president of Young Democrats, said they too would focus on outreach, hoping to attract more students and get them involved in the political pro-
zations," she said. "I think that the biggest issue that organizations in general are having right now — political or not — is just a lack of student involvement, so I would just encourage students to get involved with whatever fits best with their ideas and really grab on to something."
STUDENT LEGISLATIVE AWARENESS BOARD The Student Legislative Awareness Board, a bi-parti-
Roger Bush's day is much like that of a typical student. He wakes up early to take his dog for a walk before class, comes home for lunch, walks his dog again, then returns to campus to finish classes before coming home to have dinner with his girlfriend. He spends most of his free time working on homework and uses his weekends to master algebraic jumbles. His major is undecided, and he's spending his first semester getting acclimated to the college lifestyle.
Bush, however, can hardly be considered a typical student. In his 49 years, Bush, a 24-year veteran of the Navy, has seen 22 years and 8 months of active duty, co-owned a successful entrepreneurial business and raised a family, including three children and seven grandchildren. Following a short retirement phase, Bush is back working full time this time, as a student.
"[My retirement] brought me to KU," Bush said. "I'm trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up."
Born in 1965, Bush was raised in Parsons. The U.S. military was integral to his life from the beginning: Bush's nine uncles on his father's side were all members of the military, and his uncle on his mother's side was in the Navy, as well as Bush's older brother. Bush followed the family tradition, joining the Navy as a welder after he graduated from high school in 1984.
"About halfway through my senior year, I decided I was going to join the Navy," he said. "I wasn't interested in school at the time, and that was one way to get on a job track."
As a member of the Navy, Bush began to travel the country and, eventually, the world. Bush first traveled to Charleston, S.C., where he spent four years, met his wife and had his first child. He decided to stay in the Navy and was soon transferred to New Orleans.
In New Orleans, Bush did a short tour of duty on a patrol boat. His third child was born in New Orleans (the second was born in Kansas). Bush was soon back at sea in Northern Virginia. From there he began international sea tours, sailing to places like France, Italy and Australia.
"For me, [the military] gave me a greater sense of community and
appreciation for what we have here," he said. "When you go do tours in different countries, and see how these people live, and the lack of facilities that we have on a daily basis, it's hard to even fathom unless you've seen it."
The tours abroad were tough on Bush and his family. A self-proclaimed "mama's boy," Bush made a point to return to Kansas whenever he could, and he eventually lived in Missouri for three years as a recruiter for the Navy. However, Bush was soon at sea again in the second Gulf War.
"I got to experience some good leadership roles [on that ship]," he said. "This type of a ship was a smaller ship. In the first two ships I was on, we had maybe 1,000 or 1,500 people on them. This one had maybe 200 people, so it was a real close-knit community."
community. That tour was Bush's last sea tour After a period of shore tour in Washington, during which he was responsible for overseeing ship maintenance, he was promoted to the rank of Senior Chief. It was at this point Bush began to think about retirement — and found himself in the middle of another successful career.
"One of my friends who I had served in the Navy with called me up and was trying to get me to start a business with him," he said. "It was a spur of the moment decision. I decided, 'This is what I want to do.' So two days after I retired, I went and bought a drill and backhoe, and went to work."
Bush worked for seven years in the LMB Property Group, an underground utility and construction service based in Springfield, Mo. It was a successful career — the company installed a fair amount of the Google Fiber in Kansas City, as well as miles of cable for AT&T.
"The downside [of the success] is that it caused me to get a divorce," Bush said. "I was married to my career instead of my family. I just worked all the time."
About a year after the divorce in 2010 Bush began dating his ex-wife, Dana Bush, again — the reason he would eventually retire. Three months ago, Dana was named Dean of Nursing at Rasmussen College, responsible for both the Topeka and
Overland Park campuses. Lawrence was conveniently located halfway between, so that became Dana's new home — forcing Roger to make a decision: career or love.
"I decided, you know, life is too short," Roger said. "Four and a half hours of commute was too much on the weekends, and my partner agreed to buy my part of the business out," he said. "So I just decided I was going to go back to school, and try to figure out, for the first time in my life, what I wanted to do."
— it's terrible. Mainly, I want to do something like be a national park
"I'm a big proponent of the environment," he said. "When I first joined the Navy, I just couldn't believe that everybody just threw trash overboard into the ocean. When you go to the Philippines or someplace like that, there's just a band of trash surrounding the coastline
Like many first-year students, Roger is still deciding on a major. At this point, he is interested in pursuing geology or environmental studies. A great deal of this interest comes from his past experiences.
ranger or soil conservationist — do something outside. I don't want a desk job."
However, at the moment, Roger is focusing on the present. After 30 years out of school, readjusting to course loads and the difficulty of schooling is his top priority. Most difficult at the moment? Algebra.
"It was never required in high school," he said. "So I spend all day Saturday and Sunday doing algebra. Yesterday, I spent six hours on Skype with my son, because he's a math major, while he was teaching me algebra."
"I learn a lot from [younger students]. Yik Yak, for one," he said. "I have to go home and look stuff up sometimes, when I hear you guys talking. I've always been around younger crowds in the Navy, but it's different here. Better educated. A whole different social aspect."
Not all of Roger's learnings come from conventional classes. In addition to learning new technology systems, Roger said he has gained a different perspective from his younger classmates.
GEORGE MULLINIX/KANSAN
Roger Bush, a Navy veteran, reads for class. This is Bush's first semester on campus as a full-time student. Bush said he is undecided on a major, but is interested in geology or environmental studies as a result of his time with the Navy.
may affect minority students.
Cota said the task force that compiled the report and sent it out to many within KU's administration and did not get a response.
media. On these platforms, the dialogue has been base, racist and often hateful. This reflects poorly on the entire K-State family and even more poorly on the individuals who are making these posts. The K-State community is better than this and we expect more of ourselves," part of the message said.
Last week, student groups including the Black Student Union, organized several events on campus to protest the issues going on in Ferguson and discuss what was happening
— Miranda Davis
The accuser, whose name was never released, claimed Bavel placed his arm around her shoulder and his hand on her knee as he helped her study material from his symbolic logic course at Perkins — a place where he has met with students to provide help for
handled his case fairly. His hearing is scheduled for lan. 14.
there have been consequences in both his personal and professional life. When the Lawrence Journal-World recently published a story on the subject, Bavel's son, who lives in Lawrence, was asked about the accusations at work.
"My son was shown the article at work, and obviously he was hurt by it," Bavel said. "There have been reactions
about us.
Aside from the accusations affecting his personal life, Bavel has also become slightly more cautious when it comes to meeting with students to help them outside of class, though he's tried to continue to provide as much assistance as possible.
"Now, anytime a student asks to sit next to me in a booth, I'll refuse." Bavel said. "However,
CLASSIFIEDS 8
CROSSWORD 6
1 still meet at *erkins* with students between six and eight hours a week. I look at my students as my children or grandchildren, so my main goal is to help them."
While Bavel continues to be passionate about teaching at KU, he said decisions like these were typical of the University.
Index
"They [KU] will not admit
CRYPTOQUIPS 6
OPINION 4
SEE PROFESSOR PAGE 2
SPORTS 10
SUDOKU 6
Don't Forget
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2014 The University Daily Kansan
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