Tuesday October 8,2002 Vol.113. Issue No.34
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
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Campus museum cutbacks criticized
Diana Zlatanovski, Chicago graduate student,and Janet Ciciarelli, Los Angeles graduate student, protest budget cuts at the KU Anthropology Museum. Saturday they waved signs encouraging motorists to show their support for the museum.
By Mandelee Meisermmeisner@kansan.comSpecial to the Kansan
Lindsev Gold/Kansen
Mary Adair has a bone to pick over recent budget reductions leveled against the Museum of Anthropology.
Early in the summer, the University of Kansas announced the elimination of five staff positions and the closing of exhibit space and the gift shop at the museum, where Adair acts as interim director. She, along with others involved in the University, think the administration overlooked key issues when making these cuts.
"The chancellor has said that students come first," Adair said. "I believe this was a decision made that's counter to this principle."
In a press release issued June 10, the administration announced that the public portion of the museum would be closed. Archeological and ethnographic collections housed in Spooner Hall will remain for teaching and research purposes. The cuts made in the museum saved $150,000.
Kevin Boatright, executive vice chancellor for University Relations, said all of the cuts made in June were meant to
impact students the least and affect the fewest number of students.
At Open House Saturday, an organization of anthropology and museum studies graduate students echoed Adair's sentiments on the lawn outside the museum.
"In their determination, this was the best place to make a budget reduction," Boatright said. "The reductions do meet the chancellor's expectations that to the greatest extent possible we would preserve the teaching and research missions of the University."
They waved signs asking car drivers to honk for the museum, gave out white ribbons and asked passers-by to sign a petition against the closing of the museum's public portion.
"A lot of people aren't even aware that the museum is closing, not to mention the effect that it has on our program," said Alison Miller, Arlington Heights, Ill., museum studies graduate student.
hour internship to receive a degree.
Miller said she planned to graduate in the anthropology track of museum studies, but the recent budget cuts will make it difficult for her to do this. All nine students in the anthropology track must complete a 500-
In the past, many have chosen to intern on campus at the Museum of Anthropology, one of
two such museums in Kansas.
"For a lot of us, the museum is the reason why we came here," Miller said. "When I came here I was under the impression that the
museum would be open for me to use for internships and volunteer experiences."
Adair said the elimination of all but two staff positions at the
museum would make it impossible for the museum to provide internships.
SEE MUSEUM PAGE 8A
New fees threaten KJHK
By Kyle Ramsey
kramsey@kanan.com
Kansan staff writer
KJHK'S webcasting is in danger of being shut down.
"Listen online while you can," said Bill Colburn, KJHK station manager.
In 1994, KJHK, KU's student radio station, was the first in the world to webcast.
The government-proposed 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act requires webcasters to pay retroactive royalty fees—dating to 1998 by Oct.20. Appeals have kept the ruling in limbo for the last four years.
These fees could cost KJHK $500 to $600 each year, money that would come from the station's limited operating budget, said Gary Hawke, KJHK general manager. He said KJHK's webcasting server did not log the number of users listening to its webcast, making the actual cost difficult to estimate. Webcasting brings in no revenue.
The fees, set by the Librarian of Congress' Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel, will cost webcasters 70 cents per performance of a song per 1,000 listeners.
These copyright fees are the first of their kind, because they are charged at a flat rate on a contract basis, Hawke said. KJHK already pays $1,100 each year in copyright royalties for its radio broadcasts, but these fees .
The Digital Millenium Copyright Act charges royalty fees for the same material on a per-user, per-performance basis.
"They're making us pay twice," said Colburn, Lawrence senior.
The high price of webcasting looming in the industry's future has already caused Yahoo! to quit hosting third-party webcasters, such as KJHK, in September. The station had to start hosting its own Web stream using antiquated hardware and software, Colburn said. The station could
host thousands of users through Yahoo! Now the system supports only 25 simultaneous users.
A bill passed yesterday in the U.S. House of Representatives stated that companies that make less than $500,000 per year will be charged a percentage of their income instead of a per-performance rate as outlined by the Librarian of Congress. Hawke said this decision didn't affect KJHK because it dealt with webcasters only, not radio stations that offer supplemental webcasts.
— Edited by Katie Teske. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Walking activist collects letters
By Katie Nelson
knelson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Wallis walks 12 to 15 miles a day, collecting protest letters to President Bush. She said she hopes to hand deliver them when she reaches Washington, D.C. this spring.
"What I really want to get is a portrait of America," she said. "All the decisions get made in the cities — meanwhile, nobody is really going into the country to find out what they think."
It's been 2,100 miles, eleven months and two pairs of sandals since Jeanette Wallis left Seattle and started walking across the country.
The letters she has collected every topic imaginable, including medical care, environmental issues and opposition to war on Iraq or terrorism.
This week, Wallis is in Lawrence talking to students and residents. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today, she'll be on Wescoe Beach talking to students about the benefits of activism and the need for them to voice their opinions.
Wallis said most of the time getting people to write was a tough sell.
Jack Weller, associate professor of soci
ology at the University of Kansas, said he wasn't surprised by this reaction.
But occasionally people did take action, he said, when they felt really strongly about an issue, such as in Wallis' case.
Wallis has been here since Friday, lengthening her stay because Lawrence has proven itself to be one of the most receptive places to her message so far, she said.
Wallis wasn't always an activist. After being corralled by city police for five hours during protests against the World Trade Organization in 1999, Wallis joined a class-action lawsuit against the city of Seattle for the misuse of tear gas. Each person who sued represented a larger group of people who were sprayed. Wallis said she stood for the uninvolved bystanders who were trapped by the police.
"There has been quite a bit of research showing that people think they are powerless to really affect the decisions of the government," he said.
"We were sprayed for hours, and all I was doing was walking home from the store," she said. "It was inspirational because it made me angry. People need a
Brandon Baker/Kansan
SEE WALK PAGE 8A
Jeanette Wallis, Seattle, and Sherpa are crossing 5,000 miles to collect and deliver grievances for President George W. Bush. They stopped in Lawrence Saturday to spread their message of grassroots democracy. "If I can do this, you can do anything," Wallis said.
Students ponder president's war plan
BvJenna Goepfert
Kansan staff writer
By Jenna Goepfert
jgoepfert@kansan.com
Kansas stff employee
President Bush's national address elicited mixed reactions from University of Kansas students yesterday, as he sought support for a war against Iraq.
"I think he's right in his interpretation of danger," Storey said about Bush's speech. "But do we want to be known as a nation that strikes first?"
Ben Storey, Little Rock, Ark., junior, said he was nervous that an unsupported military strike against Iraq would set a dangerous precedent for attack without provocation.
Bush listed offenses by Saddam Hussein, whom he called a "murderous tyrant," and hinted at Hussein's plot to attack the United States with biological and chemical weapons.
The president said the situation in Iraq was unique "by its past and present actions, by its technological capabilities, and by the merciless nature of its regime."
Sean Hatfield, Bennington sophomore and public relations coordinator for KU College Republicans, said he supported the plan Bush described in the speech. He thought most students and Kansans also supported a possible invasion of Iraq.
Bush
I don't think they've been as vocal as Bush the anti war protesters, but I think for the
the anti-war protesters, but I think it is the most part most people in Kansas agree with the president," Hatfield said.
Derek Breid, Oronoco, Minn., sophomore, questioned whether a war would be effective in containing Iraq's use of chemical and biological weapons.
"If we declare war on them, we're just giving them an excuse to use them." Breid said.
Bush said he hoped the United Nations would support a resolution ordering Iraq to undergo tougher weapons inspections and force Hussein to destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
Burdett Loomis, professor of political science at the University of Kansas, said the speech failed to motivate those who were against the war.
"It was very earnest, it was well put together, but I don't think that it moved anyone who was on the fence to jump off toward Bush's side." Loomis said.
The speech from Cincinnati opened a week of congressional debate about giving the president authority to declare war on Iraq.
- Edited by Sarah Hill. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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