FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Two Fulbright scholars banned from West Bank
By Katie Nelson
knelson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
During a time of strained foreign relations, two KU professors aren't being allowed to teach foreign relations either.
Deborah Gerner and Philip Schrodt, both political science professors, received Fulbright grants to teach graduate-level international politics and foreign policy courses next year at Birzeit University in the Palestinian territory.
But the school, 15 miles north of Jerusalem, is in the West Bank which is one of the two areas that the U.S. State Department will not allow Fulbright exchanges to take place.
Gerner said the postponement was ill-timed.
"The current situation is exactly when it is important to have people from the U.S. interacting with the Palestinians," said Gerner, who specializes in international relations.
"The things we were going to teach—international mediation and conflict resolution
— are of critical importance right now."
Fulbright grants are awarded to professionals and scholars to do research abroad. The State Department, which funds the international exchange program, will not let Fulbright scholars enter the West Bank or Pakistan because of potential threats to safety.
"The State Department's decision isn't unusual," said Gary Garrison, assistant Fulbright program director for the Middle East and Asia, and a 1966 KU graduate.
Fulbright scholars weren't allowed into Pakistan, Yemen or the West Bank last year. And when violence escalated in India last summer, Fulbright scholars were asked to leave posts there as well.
Gerner and Schrodt, a married couple who previously taught on a Fulbright grant in the Gaza Strip in 1996, are among 11 KU faculty members who received Fulbright grants so far this year—more than any other university in the nation.
So while the other scholars go abroad, Gerner and Schrodt wait for a potential change in the West Bank situation.
Edited by Andrew Vaupel
Vandalism hits local skate park
By Lindsey Hodel
lhodel@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Skateboarders in Lawrence may have to find a new place to skate after dark.
Multiple incidents of vandalism forced the Parks and Recreation Department to begin closing the skate park in Centennial Park at dusk.
The skate park, located at 600 Rockledge Road, opened in 1998 and quickly attracted skateboarders because it offered a legal place to skate.
In addition to the park's main skating surface and several ramps, the park is equipped with lights where skateboarders could skate until 10 p.m., when the park closes.
But after three acts of vandalism in the last year, Parks and Recreation decided Sept. 9 it would not turn on the lights until it found out who was responsible.
The most recent act of vandalism happened between 10:45 p.m. on Sept. 1 and 8:00 a.m. on Sept. 2, when someone damaged the electrical system in the park, disconnecting wires from the main electrical box.
Tom Wilkerson, assistant director of Parks and Recreation. He said park officials had found graffiti on the skate ramps.
The box also looked like somebody had hit it with a bat, said
In the past year, Wilkerson said Parks and Recreation had spent several thousand dollars to clean up vandalism in the park.
"We can't continue to spend money on repairing our facilities from vandalism," he said.
The park's early closing has some skateboarders upset.
Aaron Chilen, Leawood sophomore, said Parks and Recreation was punishing the wrong people.
wrong people "Skateboarders wouldn't van-dalize their own park," he said. "We go to the park to skate, and that's it."
Chilen said the early closing wouldn't help in the search for the criminals because, "the vandalism happened after the lights were turned off."
He said he also thought punishing skateboarders was not an appropriate action from Parks and Recreation.
"Lots of skaters don't have time to skate during the day because they have class or work." Chilen said. "So now those people can't skate at the park at all."
Steve Palmerin, Kansas City Kan., sophomore, is also disan-
pointed with the recent decision.
"Punishing the skateboarders for this is like punishing an old lady for getting her purse snatched," he said. "They are punishing the victims."
Palmerin said skateboarders had been unfairly targeted before.
"Every time something gets vandalized at the park, we get our lights turned off, even though we aren't the ones doing it," he said.
But Mark Hecker, superintendent of parks and maintenance, said the department had never closed the park before in response to vandalism incidents.
Fred DeVictor, director of Parks and Recreation, said the cost to taxpayers to repair the facility was considered over the skateboarders' rights to skate after dark.
"We just don't have the money to keep repairing them," DeVictor said of the park's electrical system which was vandalized three times in the last year.
Heckler said the cost of repairing the electrical system would be more than $1,000 and such vandalism was also putting the public at risk "because high voltage wiring was exposed."
Parks and Recreation has since
"Lots of skaters don't have time to skate during the day because they have class or work, so now those people can't skate at the park at all."
Aaron Chilen
Leawood sophomore
replaced the damaged electrical box, but Wilkerson said they would not repair the lights' meters or switches until it received information as to who was responsible.
"We are anxious to do this, but until we can't turn the lights on until we can get whoever is doing this off the streets," he said.
Wilkerson encourages anyone who has information about the vandalism to call the Parks and Recreation department or crimestoppers at 843-TIPS (8477).
"We have received phone calls from people who say they know who did it, but we still don't have any names," Wilkerson said.
Edited by Jessica Hood and Andy Samuelson
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