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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2014
PAGE 3A
Donors will not cover section U financial losses
AARON GROENE
@watchthegroan
The student section will be more crowded than usual in future basketball seasons due to Kansas Athletics moving 123 student seats into fewer sections in Allen Fieldhouse.
Kansas Athletics removed section U from the student section and sold it to donors to make up for lost revenue when Student Senate reduced the student athletic fee from $25 to $7.
The seats Athletic Director Jim Marchiony deems "very desirable for donors" won't completely recoup revenue lost after the student athletic fee reduction. He says Athletics will lose $340,000 annually due to the cut in the fee and will only make about $179,200 back by selling the seats.
Students will still get into any game as long as they have a ticket, according to Associate Marchiony. They will just have to take a back seat to donors, literally.
"It messes with the atmosphere not being right on top of the bench like that."
AARON ABEITA Junior from Hiawatha
To ensure there are enough seats for students, there will be less single-game general admission tickets sold for sections 19-21, which is where the student section and the general admission mix.
Some students were upset with Athletics' decision to take the section, including junior Aaron Abeita from Hiawatha. Abeita said he believes all of Allen Fieldhouse will suffer.
"I think it's messed up," Abeita said. "It messes with the atmosphere not being right on top of the bench like that."
Abeita's brother, senior Nathaniel Abeita, disagrees. He doesn't see a problem with Athletics' decision.
"It's definitely a payback thing, but I think it's justified," he said. "That's Athletics flexing their muscle. If you are going to play with the big boys, that's what is going to happen. Yeah, it sucks, but if you play with fire, you're going to get burned."
The seats didn't last long and are spoken for — donors selected the seats in August
during the "Select-A-Seat" process in which donors pick seats based on a points system.
Marchiony assures that students are first priority when it comes to game time.
COURTESY PHOTO OF KU ATHLETICS
"We will guarantee every student that wants to get into the building will get into the building." Marchiony said.
The men's basketball team will open the season with an
exhibition game against Washburn University on Nov. 3.
Edited by Drew Parks
GOP's Roberts heads to swing-voting east Kansas
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAWRENCE - Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas took his conservative e-election message into the state's swing-voting east Saturday in his latest effort chip away any advantage from independent candidate Greg Orman in a U.S. Senate race that has unexpectedly become one of the most hotly contested in the nation.
Roberts strolled the grassy hill to the south of Memorial Stadium before the University of Kansas football game, popping in and out of pregame party tents and chatting with voters in the Democratic-leaning city.
His message was distinctly partisan. With less than six weeks to go and facing a political newcomer who has tried to
cast himself as non-partisan, Roberts stuck to his argument that the election is a referendum on President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Senate.
"That really is the issue: whether (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid continues to be a one-man rules committee in the Senate," Roberts told The Associated Press. "They also know Orman is a liberal Democrat and a vote for Harry Reid. That really is the issue."
Republicans need a net gain of six seats to take the Senate majority from Democrats, and Kansas is one of about a dozen races nationally that could determine the outcome.
Until just this month, Roberts, a 78-year-old conservative from GOP-heavy western Kansas, was not viewed
as vulnerable. Republicans have held every Senate seat in Kansas since 1938. But Democratic nominee Chad Taylor, under pressure from national Democrats, announced Sept. 3 that he would drop out of the race. The move was viewed as an effort to improve the odds of Orman, a 45-year-old wealthy businessman from the populous Kansas City suburbs, beating Roberts.
Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican and strong Roberts supporter, had refused to remove Taylor's name from the ballot, saying the Democrat's didn't comply with a law limiting withdrawals. But the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that he did.
Kobach said Friday that he would begin sending out overseas ballots without a Democrat listed, effectively making the contest a two-person race, though Kobach said he's not abandoning efforts to get Democrats to name a replacement. Another candidate, libertarian Randall Batson, is also running.
"Senator Roberts' increasingly desperate campaign is turning to the only playbook his new handlers from Washington, DC know."
SAM EDELEN Greg Orman's press secretary
Recent opinion polls have suggested Roberts may be vulnerable in a head-to-head race
Roberts, wearing a U.S. Marines cap and striped oxford shirt, found some supporters among the Jayhawks fans Saturday.
with Orman.
Paul Bahnmaier, a longtime supporter, recalled how Roberts keep open the Post Office in Lecompton, just west of Lawrence.
Nearby, Jim Setter of Overland Park, described himself as a Republican more than a Roberts supporter. "I don't care who it is. Whether it's him or someone else, it's about the majority," Setter said.
Orman ran for Senate in 2008 as a Democrat but dropped out of the primary. He has also made financial contributions to President Obama and others. He had also been a registered Republican and made
contributions to GOP candidates.
"Senator Roberts' increasingly desperate campaign is turning to the only playbook his new handlers from Washington, DC know: throw out a lot of baseless negative attacks, and continue to try to divide people along partisan lines. Kansans of all parties are fed up with the broken system in Washington. They want an independent voice in the Senate, and that's why every day more and more Republicans, Democrats and Independents are supporting Greg Orman for Senate."
Orman's press secretary, Sam Edelen, said in a statement Saturday night that Roberts was reverting to "baseless negative attacks" while trying to "divide people along partisan lines."
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