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8A NEWS INTERNATIONAL (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2008
that so far, she had received 46 applications this semester. Walden said she expected more KU applicants this academic year.
"From the steady increase in applicants, it is easy to see that this is becoming a post-graduate option for a number of KU seniors," she said.
Brady Swenson, a 2002 graduate who recently returned from a stint in the Peace Corps, taught English in secondary school in Guyana, South America, from 2003 to 2005.
"Instead of doing backpacking or visiting somewhere for a few weeks or months." Swenson said, "I really wanted to get into a culture and see what it is like to be in another part of the world."
blackboards before his brother sent him thousands of English books. His village didn't have a paved basketball court, so he initiated building the first court, which was one of his
Swenson said he didn't have the necessary resources for teaching English. He said he lacked books and had to write short stories on
"I really wanted to get into a culture and see what it is like to be in another part of the world."
Both Peace Corps and Teach for America offer some benefits dur-
biggest contributions to the community.
BRADY SWENSON 2002 graduate
America to teach chemistry in Boston or Chicago. Rock said he wanted to give back to communities in challenging areas.
ing and after the program, which could include health care, deferment or partial cancellation of student loans and job search. Partnerships with graduate schools and possible scholarships will benefit candidates, such as Rock and Steward, who plan to go to graduate school.
Swenson said he gained as much from his volunteer experience as he gave to the community. He also said many interviewers were interested in hearing about his experience as a Peace Corps worker when he applied for jobs in the U.S. His experience also inspired him to start a fair-trade business that sold handcrafted art to support artists in developing countries.
Alex Rock, Lawrence senior,
recently applied for Teach for
Despite all the benefits, some students hesitate to apply. Luke Thompson, 2008 graduate, said he considered working for the Peace Corps after graduation but decided to work in Lawrence instead. He said his biggest concern was paying off his student loans, which were not qualified for the Peace Corps' student loan assistance program.
Brady Swenson's students celebrate the grand opening of the basketball court he helped build, which he considered one of his biggest contributions to the community where he taught in Guyana, South America. Students wore Jayhawk jerseys Swenson's father sent from the U.S.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Edited by Brieun Scott
HOUSING (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
disinterest and willful ignorance.
"The code breaks down along single-family and multiple-family dwellings," said Jiminez, who estimated the number of Oread dwellings in the thousands. "The thing about the Oread neighborhood is that you have a lot of houses that are broken up into two or three apartments, and maybe it's a single dwelling unit. That's happened over the last 30, 40, 50 years, because it's basically been student housing for decades."
Jiminez said that city code ordinances dictated standardized inspections of single-family dwellings, but that inspection of multifamily dwellings, like most of the rental properties throughout the student ghetto, were entirely complaint-driven. This is one reason why over-occupancy is so widespread throughout private student housing.
One Lawrence landlord, who asked to not be identified, said the four-person limit was impractical and typically ignored.
"I only became aware that there was a limit of four occupants within the last three years," said the landlord, who said she rented to about 200 students throughout the city. "I was flabbergasted and horrified. I would say that if you were to walk door-to-door, you're going to find that more than half those houses have more than four people in them. I haven't counted which of mine are over four, but if it's a five-bedroom house, it probably
has five people in it."
When the inspection forced Brown and her roommates to decide whether some or all of them would
leave then rental, Knutzen offered to draft a new lease for four of them at a reduced rate. This presented another problem that contributes to over-occupancy: Rent rates are not arbitrarily set but are usually a balance between the property owner's financial needs and the renters' willingness to pay.
At $2,000 a month, rent cost Brown and her roommates an average of less than $335 per month and provided Knutzen enough rev-
"The thing about a house like that,it's built for more than four people. And it costs more than four peoples'ret."
THOMAS KNUTZEN
Landlord
enue to cover the mortgage and other fees related to home ownership.
"The thing about a house like that: It's built for more than four people," Knutzen said. "And it
costs more than four peoples' rent to pay the mortgage"
On Nov. 15, Brown and her roommates moved out of their
rental house. Brown and her best friend moved into a two-story house three blocks down the street, and the other four roommates relocated within Lawrence. Knutzen is currently seeking new renters for the property.
Brown said though the sudden upheaval of her housing situation had been trying, she planned to use the experience to better prepare herself for future situations.
"For some reason, we thought we were going to transform the beast into Cinderella." Brown said. But sometimes, she recognized, it's better just to accept the beast for what it is.
Edited by Mary Sorrick
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wild horses roam around the Bureau of Land Management National Wild Horse & Burro Adoption Center Monday in Palomino Valley, Nev. A government advisory board on Monday weighed the prospect of using euthanasia and unlimited sale of wild horses to control herd populations throughout the West and corral escalating costs of caring for the animals taken off the range.
NATIONAL
Oil tycoon's wife will create refuge for wild horses in danger
BY JAMIE STENGLE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — The wife of Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens said Tuesday she'll create a refuge for wild horses, after the federal agency that manages the animals said it may have to kill some to control the herds and protect the Western range.
About 33,000 wild horses and burros roam the open range in 10 Western states. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management wants that population to be about 27,000, in order to protect the herd, the range and other foraging animals.
Those horses that are too old or are unadoptable by the public are sent to long-term holding facilities. The BLM now has about the same number of the animals in holding facilities as on the range.
The agency has said the costs of keeping animals in the holding facilities has caused officials to consider euthanasia as a last-resort.
Madeleine Pickens told The
Associated Press that she has proposed purchasing around 1 million acres to be a refuge for the horses now in holding facilities and that the BLM has agreed to give her the horses once she has the land.
BLM spokesman Tom Gorey said the agency welcomed the offer.
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"Right now we couldn't be more pleased with her interest, and we hope that materializes so that we can get many of these horses out of holding," he said.
Pickens said animals brought to the refuge would be sterilized, and she would be able to take the extra horses the BLM takes out of the wild each year as well.
"We will never turn an animal down," Pickens said.
Pickens said she was negotiating the purchase of the land but would not say where it was. She is also creating a foundation to help with the project.
"I feel this tremendous relief," Pickens said. "I feel like the wagon is surrounded and instead of being surrounded by evil, it's surrounded by people who are willing to help."
Gorey said that while the BLM had authority to euthanize the surplus horses, it was an option the agency did not want to have to exercise.
A BLM advisory board on wild horses was considering more than a dozen recommendations to help spur public adoptions that have slowed in recent years and to curb population growth as a way to reduce long-term holding costs.