Thursday November 7,2002 Vol.113. Issue No.54
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
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ANSAN
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Call Jay Krall, Brooke Hesler or Kyle Ramsey at 864-4810
Nebraska Cornhusker's coach feels the Kansas Jayhawk's pain. p. 9A
Ramadan a time for reflection
Asma Rehman, Kansas City, Mo., senior, and Fouzia Haq, New York City senior, break their Ramadan fast with a meal of samosas (potato-filled dough) and raita (yogurt sauce). The fast of Ramadan occurs during the Islamic calendar's ninth month, which Muslims believe to be when the Holy Quran was given to the Muslim people.
Aaron Showalter/Kansar
Muslim students say fasting and meditation add meaning to life
By Aaron Passman
apassman@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Some students might skip a meal if they're in a hurry, but many Islamic students at the University of Kansas will be fasting from sunrise to sunset for the next month in observance of Ramadan.
The fast of Ramadan occurs during the ninth month of the Muslim calendar year, which is believed to be when the Holy Quran was given to the Muslim people.
Students observing Ramadan are forbidden to eat or drink anything between dawn and dusk and are not allowed to smoke or engage in sexual relations.
Ramadan started at sunrise, yesterday and will end in approximately a month when the next lunar cycle begins.
Fouzia Haq said it was very hard to observe Ramadan in a college environment, but she tried to focus on self-evaluation and reflection instead of worrying about little things like food.
"More than not eating, the hardest part is self-evaluation and realizing that you're not where you want to be in life," said Haq, New York City senior, "but that's why we have a whole month to work on it and then implement it through the year."
Haq said Ramadan was a time for Muslims to revive their religious spirit and realize in retrospect what they had
done in the past year.
"It's an important time to focus on religion and help the less fortunate and really be aware of your actions," she said. "It's easier to implement Islam into your life during Ramadan because it helps revive and recycle that foundation."
Haq said that, in addition to self-evaluation, during Ramadan she tried to re-establish connections with other
Muslim students on campus. She said she and her roommate Asma Rehman planned to invite many of their Muslim friends over to their apartment to break the fast at some point during the month of Ramadan.
Falestine Afani Ruzik, Minneapolis, Kan. junior, said Ramadan was a very important time for her because she tried
SEE RAMADAN ON PAGE 7A
"It's easier to implement Islam into your life during Ramadan because it helps revive and recycle that foundation."
Fouzia Haq
New York City senior
Student senate awards funds to Headquarters
By Katie Nelson
knelson@ku.edu
Kansan staff writer
Headquarters Counseling Center is moving uptown — but for a price.
The non-profit counseling, education and information center moved last January from their old location, a house in a residential neighborhood on Massachusetts Street, to an office building downtown.
The new property has significant benefits. Unlike the old location, it's accessible for people who use wheelchairs and
its closer quarters allow volunteers and staff to better communicate with one another, said Wendy Leedy, Headquarters development director.
But higher rent and moving costs left Headquarters staff scrambling to find funds, Leedy said, which put her and Headquarters Director Marcia Epstein in front of Student Senate last night.
"We're frugal," said Epstein, to the Senate financial committee. "But with installations, security deposits, construction to make the new space work for
SEE SENATE ON PAGE 7A
Headquarters Counseling Center move last January from its former location, a house on Massachusetts Street, to an office building downtown. Student Senate awarded $2,660 to Headquarters last night to help pay for expenses associated with the move.
Aaron Showalter/Kansan
SLAB: voter registration increases in students
By Louise Stauffer
lstauffor@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The Student Legislative Awareness Board reported 3,428 new registered voters this year, resulting in a 70 percent increase of registered KU student voters since the last election in 2000.
"We think what we did had a tremendous effect," said Jeff Allmon, co-chair of the organization.
Complications came with the increase. The rise in registered voters resulted in an overload, which caused some registration forms to be absent from voting lines.
from voting locations, Allmon,
Wichita senior,
said. If voters went
to the polls and
found out they
were not registered
or not listed there,
he said, they had to
fill out provisional
ballots.
Those provisional ballots did not go into yesterday's count. The ballots, which were being held at the county clerk's office, might be counted to decide close elections such as in the attorney general race between Phill Kline and Chris Biggs, Allmon said.
"We think what we did had a tremendous effect."
Jeff Allmon Wichita senior and co-chair of SLAB.
He said that, despite the confusion every registration card was accounted for.
"I can assure you that every registration card made it to the county clerk's office." he said.
SLAB joined with other campus groups, such as the Asian Brotherhood Association and Queers and Allies, to register students to vote. Allmon said SLAB had sent reminders about the elections to their registered voters via email Monday and Tuesday. The groups
SEE VOTERS ON PAGE 7A
Registration increase
Registered student voters in 2000: approximately 2.000
Registered student voters in 2002:3,428
Source:SLAB
Activists challenge sex-crime law
By Katie Nelson
knelson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The Womyn's Empowerment Action Coalition, a University of Kansas feminist organization, is planning a trip to the capitol in Topeka to show support for a jailed Kansas man, and to protest the sex crime law the group says is unfairly keeping him imprisoned.
Two years ago, Matthew Limon was jailed for giving consensual oral sex to a then-14 year-old boy while both were students at a Paola residential school for developmentally disabled youth.
Members of Queers and Allies and Delta Force have agreed to help the WEAC in the protest, which is being put off until January, when the new legislative session begins.
As a result, Limon, 20, received a 17-year-two-month sentence for sodomy from a Miami County judge. Had either Limon or the boy been female, the maxi-
"This distinction, the samesex, opposite sex distinction has been on the books since our criminal code was
enacted,"
chairman of the Kansas House Judiciary Committee R-Hutchinson
mum sentence would have been one year and three months.
Mike O'Neal
The protesting KU groups argue that Limon would have been released by now if it weren't for his sexuality, which doesn't allow him to be protected by the state's Romeo and Juliet law.
Nicknamed for William Shakespeare's play, the law was created in 1999 by Kansas legislators who wanted to differentiate consensual teen-age sexual relationships from situations where older adults exploited minors. The law
covers consensual sexual relations between a person 19 and under and a person in an age range of 14 to 16, if the two parties are less than four years apart. It does not apply to homosexual teenagers, who instead receive the same legal treatment as adult offenders.
By jailing Limon, the legislature is "demonizing" homosexuality, Lea Burgess-Carland, the WEAC member coordinating the protest, said.
Rep. Mike O'Neal, chairman of the Kansas House Judiciary Committee, said he agreed to a certain extent.
The law intentionally differentiates between gay and straight sexual acts because many Kansans aren't ready to go against their religious teachings, he said to the Associated Press.
"This distinction, the same-sex, opposite sex distinction, has been on the books since our criminal code was enacted," O'Neal, R-Hutchinson, said.
SEE ACTIVISTS ON PAGE 7A
Campus nap
Lindsey Gold/Kansan
Jim Kennedy, Clay Center, Neb., freshman, catches a nap outside Wescoe Hall between his English and Russian classes.
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