TODAY'S WEATHER: Lots of sun with a high of 90. SEE PAGE 4B.
SPORTS: Kinsey and Duncan suspended for Saturday's game. SEE PAGE 1B.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
TALK TO US: Contact Kursten Phelps or Leila Schultes at (785) 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
WWW.KANSAN.COM
TUESDAY
AUGUST 28, 2001
ISSUE 5 VOLUME 112
Fuel increase in Lawrence causes worry about wallets
High fuel prices force some KU students to budget for a full tank, or worse walk
or worse — walk
By J. R. Mendoza Kansan staff writer
The recent rise in gas prices are leaving some KU students frustrated.
Julie Balderas, Wichita senior, said she hoped the increase would end soon.
She said she drove a Honda Accord to campus that
She said she drew to campus that she shared with her sister.
"The prices are outrageous," Balderas said. "We share the price of gas, so that's kind of good."
Gas prices rose more than six cents a gallon nationwide in the past couple of weeks.
Gas prices go up again:
That was the first increase in three months,
1r
The average price of gas is $1.51 nationwide.
Lawrence,
the lowest
gas price is
$1.52 at
23rd and
Haskell
streets.
with the Midwest taking the hardest hit.
The average price of gas is $1.51 nationwide. In Lawrence, the lowest gas price is $1.52 at Site, 946 E. 23rd St.
The increase was because of a shutdown of refineries for repairs and maintenance, according to the Associated Press.
Despite the increase, Balderas said other transportation alternatives were out of the question.
"I live too far away to ride a bike, and I am not on the bus route," she said.
George Schulz, Tulsa, Okla., junior, said he drove a Ford Ranger but walked or rode a bike as much as could.
He said gas prices played a part in that decision because it cost him about $30 to fill his tank.
But it could be worse, Schulz said, and he blamed the media for consumer's worries.
"I don't blame consumers in general who complain about higher prices," he said. "But the consumer worries about what the media tells them to worry about. As long as prices go up, consumers will seek alternatives that are cheaper and more efficient."
He said people should examine who was impacted most by rising prices.
"Who pays the bigger price — consumers who pay 20 to 30 cents extra, or the permanent scars from massive exploration of the environment?" Schulz said.
scribbles Kimberly Hull, an Olathe sophomore who drives a Ford Escort, said the price fluctuations were frustrating.
"It's incredibly outrageous," Hull said. "It's hard to budget with rent costs and filling up my gas tank."
She said she didn't understand why gas prices had risen so much in the past few weeks.
"I remember when it was 75 cents a gallon a couple of years ago," Hull said. "To me, (the increase) is scary."
Contact Mendoza at 864-4810
Tailgating's fate remains in air
Hemenway might decide this week if beer will be allowed in parking lot
By J. R. Mendoza Kansan staff writer
The issue of allowing fans to drink alcohol while tailgating at KU football games could be decided this week.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway, who has yet to decide whether to allow alcohol outside Memorial Stadium for tailgating, said he hoped to make an announcement this week.
"What we're doing is looking at all the arguments, pros and cons," Hemenway said. "I am hoping we can fully explore the issue."
Hemenway said he wanted to talk to other campus administrative offices, such as the Athletics Department, before making a decision.
"We would have to have some tight restrictions," he said.
Hemenway said he had looked at other universities' policies on tailgating.
Allen Bohl, who was hired as athletics director this summer, proposed allowing fans to drink alcohol while tailgating outside Memorial Stadium to help raise interest in football games. Currently, alcohol is only allowed inside the stadium in the scholarship boxes.
The University of Missouri decided to allow alcohol for pregame tailgating two years ago. Maj. Jack Watring, associate director of Missouri's campus police department, said there were no more fights or incidents of rowdy fan behavior than when alcohol was not allowed.
Missouri also uses the state highway patrol and offices from Boone County Sheriff's Department to help with crowd control, and it posts game patrols around the stadium to catch drunk drivers
Watring said the combined security forces usually arrested one or two drivers for driving drunk in the two-hour period following the game. Missouri police officers also strictly enforce the rule of not allowing alcohol into the stadium
To prevent drunken fans from driving, the University of Nebraska, which allows alcohol at tailgates, has begun a
"I don't see anything wrong with tailgating if people don't abuse the fact that they can drink there."
Felicia Orozco
Kanopolis senior
campaign against drunk driving. Owen Yardley, chief of the university's police department, said the department and other state agencies mailed brochures to booster clubs and season ticket holders.
Police officers at Nebraska will pass out miniature footballs after games this year that feature slogans against drunk driving, and they will give 10 cases of Pepsi products at each game to tailgaters who aren't consuming alcohol.
Felicia Orozco, Kanopolis senior, said she didn't have football tickets. But if tailgating were allowed, she said she might be more likely to attend the football games.
TO BEER OR NOT TO BEER
What happened; Allen Bohi athletics director, proposed allowing alcohol outside Memorial Stadium while fans were tailgating.
What's next: Chancellor Robert Hemenway, said he would probably make an announcement this week about whether alcohol would be allowed while tailgating.
"Once I'd get around that, I'd kind of get in the school spirit," Orozco said.
She said, however, that drinking and driving after the game would be a concern if people were allowed to tailgate.
"I don't see anything wrong with tailgating if people don't abuse the fact that they can drink there," she said.
Andy Davies contributed to this story
Contact Mendoza at 864-4810
KU's Hungarian course a rarity for nation's schools
Department hopes course will later lead to culture classes
By Eve Lamborn Kansan staff writer
Monica Pacziga wasted no time with English as she faced the students in her elementary Hungarian class.
Pacziga, Budapest, Hungary, graduate student, taught the first Hungarian language class ever offered at the University of Kansas yesterday.
Graduate teaching assistant Monica Pacziga instructs her class in Hungarian. This is the first year the University of Kansas has offered Hungarian as a language course.
About five students and a few observers attended the first day of the class.
Frank Baron, professor of Germanic language, said University courses in Hungarian were very rare. The only other universities in the Midwest to offer Hungarian courses, Baron said, are Colorado State University and Indiana University. He estimated less than 10 universities nationwide teach the language.
William Keel, chairperson of the Germanic language department, which offers the course, said the idea to offer Hungarian language classes began about two years ago.
"The general idea for it came with the realization that central Europe forms a cultural unit with a variety of languages and ethnic groups, but many things in common," he said.
Baron, a native of Budapest,
Hungary, said Hungary and
German-speaking Austria were
one empire during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, forming a natural connection between the two countries.
"German and Hungarian although they are very different languages, are linked politically and socially," Baron said.
Baron said he eventually hoped to expand the options of Hungarian
courses offered to history and culture classes, possibly in cooperation with other departments.
Although Hungarian is spoken only in Hungary, Baron said opportunities existed even in the United States for an expert in the Hungarian language.
"It is a very rare language, not known by many people," he said.
"That opens up possibilities in diplomacy or government service."
ryan Curnutt, Wichita senior, and his wife Aimee Curnutt, Garden City senior, hope to teach English in Hungary after they graduate.
"It was great because we already wanted to go there, and then they started offering the
class," Aimee Curnett said.
class. Pazciza spent two years teaching KU students in Budapest through the Germanic language department's summer language program, which spends several days in Hungary. She also taught English to high school students in Budapest.
Contact Lamborn at 864-4810
Lack of air conditioning angers Stephenson residents
The temperature may not break any records, but Stephenson Scholarship Hall residents are finding it difficult to sleep in
Hall president says delay in installation is result of hall's bad-boy' reputation
By Jeremy Clarkson
Kansan Staff Writer
Ken Stoner, director of student housing, said he had originally planned to install air conditioning in one scholarship hall every summer.
their rooms without air conditioning.
This summer, Watkins, Pearson and Miller scholarship halls had air conditioning installed as part of a five-year plan, leaving Stephenson as the only hall left to swelter.
But because temperatures topped 100 degrees in the summer of 2000, he chose
to install air conditioners in three halls this year.
Stoner said air conditioning was not installed in Stephenson because of time constraints, but he planned on doing it next summer.
David Roby, Stephenson president, said he was angry his hall didn't have air conditioning because he paid as much as residents in the air-conditioned halls.
The Topeka junior said his hall was last on the list to receive air conditioning
because of the hall's reputation.
In the last three years, Stephenson residents have entered an annual Float of Doom into the homecoming parade. For the past two years, the floats were removed because they were considered obscene.
Last year the hall's residents had an art show where they publicly wet their pants.
INSIDETODAY
SEE A.C. PAGE 3A
WORLD NEWS ...2A
SPORTS ...1B
WEATHER ...4B
CROSSWORD ...4B
COMING IN TOMORROW'S KANSAN
HILLTOPICS: Find out why some students opt for PalmPilots over pad and paper.
SPORTS: A look at the women's basketball schedule and what the players are saying about it.
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents. Subscriptions can be purchased at 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall.