Wednesday
December 4, 2002
Vol. 113. Issue No. 70
Today's weather
30°
Tonight: 17°
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAS
'Hawks face Mules without starting guard p. 1B
Students prepare for finals
Uppers can let students down
By Nathan Dayani
ndayani@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Physical health plays an essential role in making students fit to take final examinations.
Myra Strother, chief of staff at Watkins Medical Center, said students should ensure that they are be in good health for finals.
"We see a lot of students who get sick during finals," she said. "They get sick because they're not sleeping, not eating well – that's not going to help you when you need to study for tests."
Strother said students should get seven to eight hours of sleep in order to
stay alert for finals. She said they should stop consuming stimulants, such as caffeine and energy drinks, at least five hours before they planned to go to sleep. Stimulants can compromise students' ability to achieve deep sleep, which plays a key role in making them alert and well-rested, she said.
Strother strongly discouraged the use of stronger medical stimulants, such as Ritalin or Adderal. She said non-prescribed use of those drugs could cause psychological and liver damage and hinder students' ability to concentrate.
SEE HEALTH PAGE 8A
"You may increase your present anxiety, hurting your ability to be calm and
More to studying than memorization
By Nathan Dayani ndayani@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Students who want to perform well on their upcoming finals may want to consider a new study approach.
"You want to think about the material rather than just sit down and memorize it," he said.
David Holmes, professor of psychology, said students should study cognitively and analyze their study materials.
Establishing several mental links to study materials could help students with recalling information, Holmes said. Such an approach can be effective if students find ways to internalize their studies, he said.
"Don't study individual concepts," Holmes said. "But link them to personal experiences that would help facilitate recall."
One way to help internalize studies is studying with others and quizzing them on possible test questions, he said. This can facilitate discussion and an understanding of the course's themes.
However, Tracy Wilcutt, Olathe junior, said she generally didn't benefit from studying with others.
"I need to have something written in front of me."Wilcutt said. "I can't just discuss the things - I'm more of a visual learner."
Wilcutt said she also abstained from group studying because it often devolved into chit-chat. Instead, she preferred to study with note cards for tests that emphasized memorization and wrote outlines to answer potential essay questions.
Holmes said he encouraged long-term studying rather than last-minute cramming for exams. Brian Drake, a Jackson,
SEE STUDYING PAGE 8A
Elusive Answers
GHB leaves victims questioning fuzzy memories
Story by Michelle Burhenn Photographs by Courtney Kuhlen zv memories
Amy Brady always knew she should watch her drink.
She was spending one last night out with friends before she left for France in July 2002. The Kansas City bar wasn't crowded, she said, and she and friends were careful to make sure no one slipped anything into their drinks.
concerned waitress came to check on her.
After her third margarita, Brady went to the bathroom.
Paralyzed, Brady waited alone in the bathroom for 20 minutes before a
"All of a sudden the room started spinning. My muscles got really cramped, and my knees buckled," said Brady, a Topeka senior. "I was on the floor."
GHB is an elusive drug that disappears from the body within 12 hours. leaving no physical proof.Most victims are only left with blurry memories.
The waitress, the bar owner and Brady's friends crowded in the bathroom to help, but every time she tried to get up, she would throw up. They asked if she was drunk. She said no. Paramedics arrived. One asked if she'd been drugged.
Brady found out less than six hours later that she'd been drugged. She was slipped GHB, or gamma hydroxybutyric acid, a date-rape drug that has become more common in Kansas since the 1990s.
"I really wasn't a reliable source at that point," Brady remembered. "All I could tell was that I was sick and hurting and blacking out."
Bradytested positive for GHB.
But Brady's mom decided her daughter wasn't just drunk and drove her to Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
She told them she hadn't been drugged, and the paramedics left. Brady's two friends drove her back to Lawrence and called her mother.
"I really don't remember much of anything about the hospital," she said. "It's one big gaping hole in my memory. I know I went because I have the positive test results to prove it."
Amy Brady Topeka senior
Hard to crack down
GHB can be found at clubs and bars throughout the state and the country, said Bill Roland, senior special agent with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation in Wichita.
The KBI made four GHB busts in the Wichita area since last year, Roland said.
Here in Douglas County, the district attorney's office is prosecuting its first case that involves a drug-facilitated sex offense. In August, Michael D. Carpenter. Olathe sophomore, was charged with drugging three KU students and attempting to rape one of them. He was also charged with drug possession.
SEE GHB PAGE 6A
A holiday display like no other...
The lights shine brightly at 1238 Tennessee Street after residents spent the last two days perfecting their front yard Christmas display. The residents competed in formally against the house at 939 Indiana to see who could come up with the brightest and tackiest Christmas display. For more Christmas competition, see page 8A.
Courtney Kulslen/Kansan
MRC's fading spaces
Meeting generates improvement ideas
ByKatie Nelson
knelson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
An ideal Multicultural Resource Center would be in the center of campus.
It would be a place for all students to hang out, study and interact. It would also have a lab with more than six computers,a library larger than a closet and a lecture hall big enough to be used for music performances, movie showings and largegroup meetings.
These ideas and more were laid out during a two-hour forum held by Student Senate last night beginning at 6. About 40 people who attended the meeting in the Multicultural Resource Center classroom came up with a list of features they would like to see in a new Multicultural Resource Center building, if it were built.
The ideas will Senate write a proposal for a new or renovated center.
"They came up with some really good ideas that will give us a place to establish where we should start," said James Owen, a Springfield, Mo., second-year law student and student senator. "We really established that they love the
MRC's programs and the people, but with this location and what they have to work with facility-wise, a lot of what people want to do isn't feasible."
Jonathan Ng, student body president, is overseeing the effort. He said he hoped the proposal would be written by the end of the semester. Building a new center to help encourage campus diversity has been one of Senate's main goals this year, he said.
"Diversity is a term that's batted around a lot, but when it comes down to it, it's more than numbers." Ng said. "It's bringing new ideas into classrooms. It breeds innovation. It's having a college environment that reflects that of the nation. But to create that, they need the space to do programs, better resources and the University to show that this is a priority."
Owen writes the Film Snob column for the Kansan.
The students who attended last night's meeting discussed the possibility of relocating the center to the Kansas Union, Wescoe or somewhere else along Jayhawk Boulevard. They expressed displeasure with the idea of only revamping the existing building, because the current location is off the main routes through campus. As a result, although the staff and programs are helpful resources, the
SEE MRC PAGE 8A
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