Volume 124 Issue 23
kansan.com
Thursday, September 22, 2011
The KU Spanish language table meets at Henry's upstairs for snacks and good conversation. The language tables allow students interested in conversing in different languages to meet in a relaxed setting.
ABBY DAVIS/KANSAN
visages amicaux, parole étrangers
caras amables. palabras extranieras
FRIENDLY FACES, FOREIGN WORDS
prijateliska lica, strane rijeci caras amigáveis, palavras estrangeiras
Students meet to socialize in different languages
BRITTANY CLAMPITT bclampitt@kansan.com
In the dark, relaxed atmosphere of a downtown Lawrence coffee shop and bar, two groups of friends meet to chat, laugh and generally enjoy each other's company. The gatherings are like the average meetings of a group of college students, but these friends are there for more than just chitchat. They're there to speak another language.
Every Thursday evening at Henry's Coffee Shop in downtown Lawrence, Spanish and French language students meet to socialize.
"It's a great way for people to make friendships and explore foreign language and culture together," said Andrew Pettavel, president of Cercle Français, the club that hosts the table.
With no set conversation topics and no grades, the tables provide students with nopressure situations to help develop language skills.
"There's always this feeling that when
youre in school, you have to be in school," said Nathan Presnell, president of the Graduate Association of Spanish and Portuguese, or GRASP. GRASP organizes the Spanish language tables.
Many of the French and Spanish speakers at the two tables hold the same views of the tables as Pettavel and Presnell. Erin Kinney, a junior from Manhattan, said the Spanish table is a better learning environment because there is no way to be wrong. The attendees simply come together to talk about anything from their week to the latest soccer match.
Though it is held on campus for convenience, the BCS table offers the same casual and comfortable environment as the French and Spanish tables.
There are other language programs that also have tables for their speakers. The Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, or BCS, table meets at noon on Thursday in Anschutz Library.
"it's a little bit easier to have a space that's more or less quiet, but on the other hand it's
not formal like classrooms where we're afraid to speak," said Marta Pirnat-Greenberg, a lecturer in the Slavic Languages and Literature department.
Established by Pirnat-Greenberg in 2002, the table serves the small community of BCS speakers at the University.
Charles Novak is from the Croatian community in the Strawberry Hill neighborhood of Kansas City, Kan., and a graduate student at the University.
"Outside of class, there's very few people to talk to in a foreign language," Novak said. "You need some informal atmosphere to get over the technical aspect."
"The ones who come are the ones who really want to make their Spanish better," said Tiffany Creegan Miller, a graduate teaching assistant of Spanish.
The fluency of some of the speakers testifies to the benefits of the language tables,
- Edited by Jonathan Shorman
New bill doesn't reference A&M
STUDENT SENATE
Student Senate has revised a resolution that called on University officials to criticize Texas A&M University for its attempted departure from the Big 12 to the Southeastern Conference.
BOBBY BURCH
bburch@kansan.com
The original bill asked the University's administration to "publicly admonish Texas A&M University for their selfish action."
"The original version was more of a 'let's entertain ourselves in Student Senate' and talk about why we're angry about conference realignment," he said. "But some of the exec staff members got upset about it."
Sean Elliott, a senior from Stillwell and author of the resolution, said the proposal was changed after members of Student Senate voiced concerns over the bill's language.
The original bill also concerned the student body president of Texas A&M University, Jeff Pickering. Members of Texas A&M's Student Senate contacted the University of Kansas' Student Senate yesterday to express their displeasure with the initial resolution.
Executive staff members of Student Senate issued a press release last night stating that the original resolution was the opinion of only one senator and not that of the
Student Senate as a whole. The amended resolution includes no references to Texas A&M University.
The Student Executive Committee will debate the redrafted bill before Student Senate and vote on the resolution.
The proposal states that the potential departure of several Big 12
SEE RESOLUTION 13
STATE
Members of the Kansas Board Of Regents meet in the Curtis State office building in Topeka Wednesday. They discussed Big 12 contracts during their meeting. Gov. Sam Brownback said he's optimistic the Big 12 will stay together and maybe even add members. Brownback said it makes sense for the conference to continue because the level of competition in basketball and football is as good as anywhere in the country. He said it makes geographic sense, too.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Regents support Kansas colleges
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA — The Kansas Board of Regents on Wednesday reaffirmed support for Kansas and Kansas State to remain members of the Big 12 Conference.
Regent Chairman Ed McKechnie said after the nine-member board met in executive session that he was pleased with the work by the two universities' leaders to stay engaged in saving the conference. He was pleased with the progress that was being made to stabilize the conference, including offers to restructure revenues.
"We want the Big 12 to survive," McKechnie said. "Our priority is to have Kansas and Kansas State be together in the Big 12. It appears that we are making great progress toward that."
Officials at Kansas and Kansas State declined to comment after the meeting and deferred all questions after the meeting to the regents.
McKechnie said he thought the situation would be resolved in "seven to 10 days, but that's conjecture."
McKechnie said the regents haven't given the universities permission to seek alliance with other conferences should the Big 12 cease to exist, but said that he hoped those decisions could be avoided.
Regents have been watching closely as rumors about the conference dissolving have swirled, hanging on the possible departure of Oklahoma and Texas. The Pac-12 presidents and chancellors decided Tuesday night not to expand, squashing speculation that Oklahoma and Texas would be joining former Big 12 member Colorado, which joined the Pac-12 this season.
Texas officials said Wednesday that they were open to restructuring revenue contracts shared with the remaining Big 12 members. Texas President William Powers said the top priority was to bring
"I think the Big 12 is the best place for KU and K-State to be, and I hope that we are on the cusp of that happening," he said.
With only eight days left in the Take Charge Challenge, Manhattan has overtaken Lawrence for the lead, but only by the skin of their Wildcat teeth.
SEE REGENTS | 3
KATIE MILLER kmiller@kansan.com
The Take Charge Challenge is an energy efficiency competition between Lawrence and Manhattan that, after nine long months, is finally nearing its end. The last day of the competition is Sept. 30, and it looks like the deciding factor will be light bulbs in this sprint to the finish.
Lawrence fights for energy efficiency
To kick-start Lawrence's comeback, Thursday marks the start of the city's Change 5 campaign that asks Lawrence residents and students and to change out five compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and
CLASSIFIEDS 9 CRYPTOQUAPS 4 SPORTS 10
CROSSWORD 4 OPINION 5 SUDDKU 4
LOCAL
SEE TAKE CHARGE 13
CONTRIBUTED GRAPHIC
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All contents, unless stated otherwise. © 2011 The University Daily Kansan
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