tuesday, november 4, 2003
the university daily kansan 5A
news
Michael Bretches, Hutchinson, freshman, left, and Jon Wright, Topeka, freshman, right, run through their notes on United States and European relations during a University of Kansas debate squad practice. The debate team is gearing up for two up coming tournaments, one hosted at University of Central Oklahoma and the other at Wake Forest University. Last night's practice at the sub-base-ment of Bailey Hall included practice debates and other activities.
Debaters enjoy challenges, travel
By Joe Hartigan
jhartigan@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Debaters have their own form of trash talk.
For University of Kansas debater Jordan Tinsley, there are no curse words or innuendos about opposing players' mothers. He uses a more cerebral approach.
"When a team is going affirmative, they want to control that debate," Tinsley said. "If you come in on the negative team and say something completely out there, that's a good way to throw them off."
Tinsley, Little Rock, Ark., seni or, has been a member of the University's debate team since his freshman year. He said he debated because it challenged his mind.
"It's an opportunity to intellectually spar with others and generate creativity in yourself," he said. "It's a way to expand your knowledge base."
The University debate team has enjoyed success since 1895, when it participated in its first debate tournament.
Scott Harris, coach of the team for the last 12 years, said one of the reasons the team has been so successful was the University's support.
"We have one of the longest traditions of success in the country," Harris said. "Partly because the University made an early commitment to debate."
Debating isn't all research and arguing. Between September and March, the team travels around the country once or twice a month. Tinalev said.
His favorite tournament loca
"It was cold in Lawrence, and it was about 80 degrees there," he said.
tion was San Diego, where the team went last February.
Tinsley said team members usually become good friends and enjoyed each other's company. And they're not opposed to getting rowdy, either.
Hesaid when the team traveled to tournaments, there wasn't much free time. When there is, though, team members take advantage.
"Sometimes we go to bars," Tinsley said. "If we're in the tournament and still debating, though, we don't do that."
"I probably can't tell you the most hilarious thing that's happened." he said.
Although the team didn't make it past the preliminary debates at a tournament at Harvard University two weeks ago, team member Matt Cormack was proud of the team's effort.
"This tournament is probably one of the hardest," he said. "We were pretty pleased."
Cormack, a Lincoln, Neb., sophomore, said he debated for knowledge. He said he liked the constant grind of researching and learning new things.
"You get to learn a lot of stuff you wouldn't learn in classes," he said. "It provides you with a lot of different skills."
Harris said most people join the debate team because they like to research and argue, and that debaters usually appreciated the experience.
"Most people look back on it as the most valuable learning experience in college," he said.
Phone portability date undecided
By Steve Schmidt
sschmidt@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Edited by Joey Berlin
It's anyone's guess when it comes to an exact date for Lawrence to be affected by a federal rule concerning cellular phone numbers.
This new portability rule, mandated by the Federal Communications Commission, will require American cellular phone companies to allow their customers the option of switching providers while keeping their old numbers.
FCC Spokesperson Chelsea Fallon said that by Nov. 24, the rule would take effect in the nation's top-100 metropolitan areas, but the blanket of number portability wouldn't cover everyone in the country until May 24, 2004. She said companies must
comply with the rule six months after the companies receive a request to port a number, or on May 24, whichever date comes later.
April 10 has been a date mentioned for when Lawrence phone numbers would be under the portability rule, according to J Sanders, manager of Midwest Digital, 2121 Kasold Drive, Suite B. He said he read in a recent issue of Wireless Week magazine about the date.
If true, Sanders said he didn't like that smaller communities such as Lawrence were being overlooked by the FCC.
"I'm a little bit heated that they only give it to the top-100 markets," Sanders said. "It should be for everyone."
However, Fallon said she has never heard of any dates for any
areas or towns except those on the top 100 list. The list was taken from data from the 2000 census
Monica Alleven, editor of Wireless Week, said she heard mention of the April 10 date but she couldn't place where she heard it.
Mark Rockwell, the magazine's Washington, D.C., bureau chief, said he didn't remember hearing or writing about different deadlines for the areas not in the top 100, but said that starting with largest areas was a good to place to begin.
"You got to start somewhere." Rockwell said. "The companies can't be expected to do it at once because it's a huge undertaking."
Rockwell covers wireless legal issues for the magazine.
circulating about cellular phone companies trying to get legislation passed to delay portability, but she said the FCC wasn't concerned with that right now.
"There were rumors, but we haven't seen anything in concrete," Fallon said. "We're not really focusing on the legislation. We're focusing on the rules as they stand."
Fallon said rumors have been
The FCC released an official order regarding wireless-to-wireless portability, at the request of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. Fallon said an official set of guidelines on land line-to-wireless portability will be released in the next few weeks. The releases may be viewed at an FCC Web site, wireless.fcc.gov/wlnp.
- Edited by Joey Berlin
Congress approves $87.5 billion in aid
The Associated Press
The Senate handed a legislative victory to President Bush by approving the bill on a voice vote, sidestepping the roll call that usually accompanies major legislation.
WASHINGTON - Congress voted its final approval yesterday for $87.5 billion for U.S. military operations and aid in Iraq and Afghanistan, a day after Americans in Iraq endured their worst casualties since March.
"As the president said time and time again, we will not walk away from Iraq," said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.
In the latest blow to Iraq's U.S. occupiers, 19 American troops were killed there on Sunday. That included 16 who died when a missile brought down a U.S. Army transport helicopter west of Baghdad, a crash in which 21 other Americans were wounded.
That crash allowed critics of Bush's leadership of the Iraq war to argue anew that he should have done more to win commitments
of troops and resources from other countries.
"Every day, when we see these bloody headlines of American soldiers being killed, we are reminded that had this been a global coalition, ... what we're facing today could have been so much different," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
Even so, Durbin and several others who criticized Bush during Monday's debate said they would support the bill as the best way to protect U.S. troops and expedite the day when Americans could leave Iraq.
Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, top Democrat on the Appropriations panel called the bill a "monument to failure," citing the lack of help from allies and persistent U.S. casualties.
The measure was the second massive package for Iraq and combating terror that Bush has requested and Congress has produced in less than seven months.
In April, it enacted a $79 billion package that included $62.4 billion for the war in Iraq, which had just begun, plus other money
for Afghanistan, tightened security at home and help for financially ailing U.S. airlines.
Largely following the outlines of an $87 billion package that Bush requested on Sept. 7, the bill includes $64.7 billion for U.S. military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Most of that_ $51 billion _was for American troops in Iraq, while another $10 billion was for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The money included everything from salaries owed reservists called to active duty to buying aircraft parts, missiles and thousands of extra sets of body armor for ground troops.
In the starkest departure from Bush's proposal, there is $18.6 billion -- $1.7 billion below the president's plan -- for retooled Iraq's economy and government. This included funds for clinics, power and water supplies and training police officers and entrepreneurs.
ZIP and telephone area codes; a children's hospital in Basra, which is patrolled by British troops; sanitation trucks; and restoration of drained marshlands.
Though Bush got less than he wanted for Iraqi aid, the White House fended off lawmakers of both parties who had forced a provision through the Senate making half the aid to Iraq a loan.
Dropped, however, was money that critics said was wasteful or at least not needed urgently. This included money Bush wanted for
House-Senate bargainers killed that language last week, leaving the aid a grant that Baghdad will not have to repay.
The bill also has $1.2 billion for buttressing Afghanistan: $500 million for helping victims of U.S. natural disasters, such as Hurricane Isabel and California's wildfires; and $245 million for international peacekeeping efforts in Liberia.
Money also was included to expand Arabic-language broadcasts into Iraq, secure U.S. diplomats in Iraq and Afghanistan, provide rewards for the capture of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and aid Pakistan and other U.S. allies.
Web site conducts party school vote
By Zack Hemenway
zhemenway@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Basketball polls, U.S. News and World Report and the various college guidebooks all rank universities each year. But another category of rankings doesn't deal with afternoon class rooms, dorm room nights or nationally televised games.
"Party school" rankings are released by sources as diverse as Princeton Review and Playboy magazine. An online gambling site, beverlyhillsbookie.com, opened a new ranking system this week. Online voting, accessed via a main-page banner ad on the Web site, will determine the winner to the "Who is the #1 Party School?" competition.
Kevin Mortesen, public relations spokesperson for the site, said the contest and its appeal to college students was part of a broadening of the site to include more options than gambling.
"It's a drive to integrate the site into many areas," he said. "We want it to describe a lifestyle."
Mortesen said the contest differed from other party school rankings in its interactivity. Students and other Internet users vote directly to determine the winner.
"It's the first time individual students have had this kind of opportunity to influence their school's ranking," he said.
Mortesen also cited the contest prize as distinguishing it from similar rankings. The school that receives the most votes will win a $1,000 scholarship for the school.
Students at the winning school will also be able to attend a celebratory party, thrown "Beverly Hills-style." Mortesen said the party would likely be held at a bar or club near the school.
Party rankings have been criticized as subjective, usually by students of unranked schools and university representatives of the winning school. Kansas placed ninth in Playboy's 2002
"Things like this,not just academics,can get more people to come to the school."
Jarris Krapcha
Los Alamos, N.M., junior
rankings, which were the first the magazine published since 1987.
The Princeton Review publishes annual rankings based on its surveys of more than 65,000 students. The organization releases its top 20 "party schools" and "stone cold sober schools" each year; Kansas has not made either list in the last few years.
Richard Johnson, dean of students, said he didn't place much value in these types of rankings.
"It all depends on how you categorize parties," Johnson said. "Some people assume a party means a kegger somewhere, but we have events in the Union — it just depends on what they're using to rank schools."
Jarris Krapcha, Los Alamos, N.M., junior, said he was always proud to see the University represented in party school rankings.
"It's cool to see whenever we're up there," he said. "Things like this, not just academics, can get more people to come to the school."
Johnson, who said partying could be a social outlet for students, disagreed with this prediction.
"I hope people would be more astute than to pick a school based on parties and not academics," he said.
Krapcha said he would probably vote for the University in the online contest.
The banner ad for the contest juxtaposes a beer-chugging, tanktop-wearing coed with the message, "Be a campus hero! Win a party thrown at your school."
The site will reveal Feb. 13 whether enough students like Krapcha got the message.
— Edited by Joey Berlin