THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, OCTOBER 13. 2008
NEWS
5A
GREEK LIFE
Fraternities do well without home
KU chapters able to meet, participate in activities without physical house
Matthew Bertino, Ossining, N.Y., junior, Branden Tinker, Wichita junior, Danny Cook, Wichita junior, Brian Palmer, Leavenworth senior, Matt Lanning, Shawnee junior, Jake Miller, Shawnee sophomore, Matt Petty, Chanhassen, Minn., junior and Tanner Knight, Gardner senior, have a Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity meeting at the Kansas Union on Sunday. Palmer, the president of the fraternity, said they have fraternity meetings in the alcoves at the union because they don't have a house on campus.
Tyler Waugh/KANSAN
BY BRANDY ENTSMINGER
bentsminger@kansan.com
Not having a chapter house doesn't stop fraternities from being unified or from planning for events such as Homecoming, which begins next week.
"Chapters can be very strong without being housed." Rock said.
Alex Rock, Lawrence senior and president of the Interfraternity Council, said having an official house was beneficial for recruitment but that it wasn't necessary for a chapter to be successful.
Pi Kappa Alpha has been living without an official house since 2000. Alumni sold the house to First Management after the fraternity lost its charter in the late 90s. There are 21 members in the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Nine live together in a house on Mississippi Street and the rest live in smaller groups around Lawrence.
Brian Palmer, Leavenworth senior and president of Pi Kappa Alpha, said maintaining unity within the house was no more difficult than maintaining unity with any group of friends.
Palmer said one of the challenges was making announcements about an event. He said events had to be planned further ahead of time because he couldn't put an announcement on a bulletin board or knock on doors to let members know about it.
The fraternity has weekly brotherhood events where members participate in activities such as bowling and watching sporting events. They also hold weekly chapter dinners, meetings and take part in intramural competitions. Palmer said chapter dinners were common among fraternities, but that their fraternity generally visited restaurants because they weren't living together. Chapter meetings are
held at the Kansas Union. Palmer said they chose to have the meetings there because the living room of the Mississippi house provided too many distractions.
"It takes on more of a professional demeanor," Palmer said.
Palmer said it was nice to have the privacy of not sharing a room with members in a house while still being able to spend time with the other members in the living room of the Mississippi Street house.
This year Pi Kappa Alpha has a pledge class of 11 men. Palmer said formal recruitment was a challenge because some people were turned off when they heard the fraternity didn't have a house.
Tau Kappa Epsilon had to move out of its house last May because it was renting from Delta Tau Delta who returned to campus.
Alex Porte, Great Falls, Va.,
senior and president of Tau Kappa Epsilon, said his fraternity was able to maintain unity because members never went more than a few days without seeing each other on campus or at an event.
Tau Kappa Epsilon has chapter meetings, weekly committee meetings and rush dinners. Porte said moving out of the house forced members to improve communication and that weekly events helped keep them all on the same page.
Ten of the 21 members live in a house on Indiana Street and the rest live around Lawrence. The fraternity lost six members at the end of last semester, which Porte said was to be expected during a housing transition.
"It's kind of showed us who our strong members are and who our weak members are." Porte said.
Porte said not having a house
also gave freshmen the opportunity to live in a dorm their first year.
Tau Kappa Epsilon has formal chapter meetings at the house on Indiana Street but does larger mandatory meetings at the Kansas Union. Porte said the location gave meetings more of a sense of formality.
Porte said one recruitment advantage for Tau Kappa Epsilon was that it could be more selective and focus on values such as brotherhood, academics, service and leadership when considering potential members.
Other unhoused chapters include Alpha Gamma Delta sorority and all of the National Panhellenic Council and the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations chapters.
Edited by Arthur Hur
POLITICS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
State Republican frustration mounts
TOPEKA — Some Republicans watched with frustration last week as Lynn Jenkins, their nominee in the 2nd Congressional District, faced questions about recent meetings she missed as a state pension system trustee.
Democratic Rep. Nancy Boyda raised the issue during their last
debate. Fellow Democrats noted that as Jenkins was missing meetings, turmoil on Wall Street was causing the pension fund's assets to decline more than $1 billion in value.
"An attack only really works when it taps into an issue people are already thinking about," said Washburn University political scientist Bob Beatty.
Boyda is seeking her second term in the eastern Kansas. Jenkins is a two-term state treasurer.
"An attack only really works when it taps into an issue people are already thinking about."
As treasurer, Jenkins automatically has a seat on the Public Employees Retirement
Republicans said the missed meetings weren't a big deal. But the Kansas GOP's frustration suggested at least a little fear that jenkins might have lost a little ground with voters — in a close race in which a few missteps might make the difference.
BOB BEATTY Political scientist
of Trustees.
Since January
2003, she's
missed 12 of
46 meetings,
or 26 percent,
inclu ding ones in July,
August and September.
Republicans have another reason to be frustrated. If the issue sticks with voters, it will because the GOP has made diligence an issue against several Democrats, including Boyda. Something the GOP has raised will have unintentionally boomeranged.
Since July 31, KPERS estimates that
its assets have dropped almost $1.1 billion in value, or about 9 percent. But KPERS is a long-term investor, and retirees' benefits aren't in danger.
Boyda's attack particularlygrated on Christian Morgan, the Kansas GOP's executive director. That's not surprising, because Morgan has been criticizing Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for months for campaigning outside Kansas for her party's presidential nominee, Barack Obama.
14 days campaigning for Obama in 12 states.
In August and September, the governor's staff disclosed, she spent
The political result? A big yawn,
it seems.
"People have told me that it is a non-issue," Morgan said.
Of course, Sebelius isn't on the ballot this year. And, as she noted, she's got a Blackberry to keep her in touch by phone or e-mail, meaning she was probably more isolated from her office during the hours she spent answering a jury duty summons last week.
Jenkins also has said e-mail allows her to keep up with KPERS business.
But it's not just Sebelius who's faced questions from Republicans about her diligence.
In July, Republican Sen. Pat Roberts' re-election campaign began airing an ad that attacked Democratic challenger Jim Slattery, a former 2nd District congressman, for missing 44 percent of his scheduled votes in 1994, his last year in the House.
ELECTION 2008
McCain has to be better than Obama on nation's economy, experts say
BY LIZ SIDOTI ASSOCIATED PRESS
INDIANAPOLIS — Three weeks before the election, Republicans are growing increasingly concerned about John McCain's ability to mount a comeback, questioning his tactics and even his campaign's
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"He [McCain] doesn't need an attack strategy, he needs a comeback strategy."
main thrust in a White House race increasingly focused on economic turmoil.
Rather, these Republicans said, McCain needs to strike a balance in his tone — appearing presidential while also questioning Obama's readiness to serve and judgment to lead. And, several said McCain should close the campaign on an honorable note.
"He doesn't need an attack strategy, he needs a comeback strategy," said Alex Castellanos, a longtime national GOP media consultant who worked for McCain primary rival Mitt Romney.
The unsolicited advice comes as McCain campaign officials are becoming increasingly discouraged. From junior aides
ALEX CASTELLANOS National GOP media consultant
to top advisers, the frustration is palpable. Some argue the media isn't giving McCain a fair shake and are weary of the increasingly problematic environment working against the GOP. Tensions have grown over how hard to go after Obama amid concerns about irreparably damaging McCain's straight-shooter reputation.
Several Republicans, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid angering McCain, said the campaign should have sought to plant doubts about Obama's associations with 1960s-era radical William Ayers and others months ago, rather than waiting until the campaign's final weeks. Doing so now, they said, makes the 72-year-old McCain come off as angry, grouchy and desperate, playing into Democrats' hands.
the economy," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, one of more than a dozen prominent Republicans who in interviews during the past week expressed concern over the course of McCain's bid. "If he doesn't win that case, it's all over, and it's going to be a very bad year for Republics."
"He has to make the case that he's different than Bush and better than Obama on
"He has an opportunity to step up and be a forceful leader during these challenging times," said Ron Kaufman, a veteran party operative who also worked for Romney. "McCain got the nomination because that's what his brand is, but somehow it's gotten muddled."
The candidates meet Wednesday in their third and final debate; it's McCain's best chance to make a lasting impression.
"He's got a great story and a great case to make" Murray Clark, the state party chairman, said of McCain. "Has he made that yet? Not really?"
Despite the polls showing Obama with a lead nationally and challenging for states long in the Republican column, none of the Republicans interviewed said the race was lost. They said McCain can prevail if he presents himself as the optimistic visionary the public wants at deeply worrisome economic times.
And the candidate himself, the target of a negative whisper campaign in the 2000 GOPprimary, appears conflicted on the campaign trail. He's cheery and
"He needs to come forward with a serious new plan and announce it in a serious manner," said Scott Reed, who managed Bob Dole's 1996 campaign. "McCain cannot outdo Obama in just expressing outrage over Wall Street greed."
smiling during question-answer sessions with crowds but becomes visibly annoyed — even surly — when he reads aloud scripted attacks on Obama and Democrats.
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