Hill topics
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 10A FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1997
EVENTS • ENTERTAINMENT • ISSUES • MUSIC • ART
Bright Lig Big Campu
Story by Lisa Stevens John Photo by Geoff Krleger
Harold, Cannon, Eudora resident,
stands on an sight foot ladder, balancing a 24-inch glass globe in one hand and a 100-watt bulb in the other. Dust bunnies drop like snowflakes, settling on Cannot's shirldeaves. How many light bulbs do it take to keep the Kansas Union lit?
"Merry, it takes a bunch," he said. "I've changed 25 to 30 bulbs just in this building today."
It takes thousands of light bulbs to illuminate a college campus. From way up high to way down low, every tower and tunnel has light. Every classroom, sports arena, residence hall room, lah, street and footpath. Keeping the campus lit has
serious goals—safety, utility and aesthetics—and three light-keepers: Facilities Operations, residence hall maintenance and Kansas and Burge Unions. Bob Porter, associate director of physical plant maintenance, said Facilities Operations oversees
lighting for 183 main buildings on campus. Whether in a classroom reading, riding a bicycle under a streetlight, crossing campus on foot at night, or crowding into Allen Field House, students can be sure Facilities Operations has already been there.
Changing light bulbs in sports arenas takes planning.
Porter said Facilities Operations uses a truck with a 65-foot hydraulic lift to reach the tallest light fixtures in Anschutz Sports Pavilion. Recently, crews went on their annual light bulb replacement mission at Allen Field House, preparing for basketball season.
"We go in ahead of time and get every freshened up." Porter said.
Depending on the enthusiasm of the fans who attend the games, the builbs may or may not hold out for the entire season.
"The reverberations of people stomping their feet can shorten the life of the bulb." Porter said.
The smallest bulb used carries the panch of 7.5 watts and is smaller than a pingpong ball. The largest is a 2,000 watt bulb about the size of two one-quart jars stacked end-to-end, Porter said. These serve as airway beacons on the smokestack and on some of the taller campus buildings.
Porter began his career at the University in 1883 during the summer between his junior and senior year of high school. His duty, changing light bulbs.
One week before his high school graduation, Porter returned to work at the maintenance department, and has been at the University for 38 years. He has seen the campus grow, and with it, the demand for light. Porter estimates that Facilities Operations now spends close to $100,000 each year in light bulb purchases alone.
One area of growth is outside for nighttime safety. Since 1993, more than 200 new lights have been installed over campus footpaths.
Porter said more lights would be installed near building entrances. Each light costs about $2,000 for the 30-foot pole, installation, light fixture and wiring. Porter praised Student Senate and the University administration for joint efforts in mak-
ing this possible.
David Ambler, vice chancellor of student affairs, explained how this came about.
"In the mid-'80s, Student Senate offered $25,000 to redo lighting on Jayhawk Boulevard," Amblar said. "The University picked up the difference, which was about $50,000 more. That was the prototype for the bigger projects to come."
Senate then voted to assess students $2 per semester and $1 per summer session to fund outdoor lights. The student money, which totals close to $100,000 each year, is matched by the University, and is part of a five-year plan which began in 1993. Last year, Senate voted to extend the plan for four more years.
John Mullens, assistant director of public safety, said he is glad to have the new lighting on campus. About $20,000 a year of the student assessments goes toward the purchase and installation of emergency telephones.
Mullens said the campus is heavily used during the night, which explains why lights remain on in many buildings. He estimates that at 1 a.m. there are probably about 3,000 people in the buildings on the main campus, many doing research
Also, Porter said, housekeeping crews
come in at 5:30 p.m., and again at 2:30 a.m.
"Probably we're using the buildings about 23.5 hours a day," Porter said.
Another section of the campus that keeps the lights burning is student housing. Philip Garito, associate director of student housing, said his department covered 56 campus residence buildings 24 hours a day. Garito estimated his department maintains close to 8,000 indoor light fixtures and said housing spent more than $19,000 in light bulb purchases last year.
Wayne Pearse, building engineer for the Kansas and Burge Unions, said his department spent about $3,500 a year on light bulbs. He estimated he keeps about 25 different types of light bulbs in the storeroom, and he said Harold Cannon is the man who knows them all. When the stock gets low, Cannon places the order.
"Harold's been here forever, he knows the lamps and he knows what we need." Pearse said.
Pearse has to take automobile traffic into account when planning his lighting.
He said the tunnel between the Kansas Union and the stadium parking lots used to be lighted by high-pressure sodium lights. Vibrations from traffic on Mississippi Street above the tunnel caused the lights to burn out, so they switched back to incandescent lights which have a higher vibration tolerance.
Effective lighting makes the campus safer. But lights also enhance the beauty of the campus. Porter said different light bulbs are chosen for different effects.
For instance, to highlight the Campanile, yellow-tinted high-pressure sodium lights illuminate the base of the tower and white lights shine on top making the Campanile look like a candle-stick.
Porter said good lighting helps attract students to the University.
"I if we can get the students to the campus and let them see the beauty of the campus, both day and night, then that will help us sell them on it."
Or, to put it another way, a light bulb might go on inside the head of a prospective student.
KU law professor follows profession for brief involvement in high-profile case
By Brandon Copple Special to the Kansas
A University of Kansas law professor is in Washington, D.C., to work on the independent counsel team
prosecuting for mer U. S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Easy
Roscoe Howard is one of three attorneys who will argue the case against Espy, who was Secretary of Agriculture under President Clinton in 1993 and 1994. In August, a federal grand jury indicted Espy on
Howard: will prosecute former agricultural secretary.
charges of soliciting $35,000 in gifts from companies regulated by the Department of Agriculture. The gifts included airfare, tickets to sporting events, artwork and luggage. Espy also is accused of witness tampering and lying about his acceptance of the gifts.
It's a front-page, politicallycharged case, but Howard doesn't talk about it in those terms. He's too busy enjoying himself and being a trial lawyer again.
"I love the work," he said. "It's very challenging because you're going up against some formidable opposing counsels who are going to throw a very sophisticated defense at you. But I've got experience doing this and it's something I feel comfortable with. It's fun."
As an independent counsel, Howard helped prosecute an official in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Before that, he spent seven years as a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., and Virginia.
In 1994, he gave up the courtroom and took a job at KU's School of Law, where he teaches criminal law, evidence and a course about courtroom technique and procedure. Howard also supervises a clinic in which law students appear in court for local prosecutors.
When independent counsel Donald Smaltz called about the Espy case in June, Howard thought he could be back at the University for the spring semester, but that will not be the case. The trial has been delayed and will not begin until March.
Law Dean Mike Hoefflich said the Espy trial would benefit the school. "It will make him an extremely valuable resource to our students," Hoefflich said. "It's a public service, and he's got the experience. We're proud of him."
Howard, who returns to Lawrence on weekends to visit his family, said he loves teaching and is anxious to return, but his passion is for the courtroom.
"You marshal your facts and look at the statutes and you go in there and give it to twelve citizens and they decide if the law was broken," he said. "That's the way our society is supposed to function. It's a public service and I'm proud to do it."
Admirers gather at capitol to celebrate birthday of artist
By Brandon Copple Special to the Kansan
In 1940, John Steuart Curry completed his painting of a towering, wild-eyed John Brown on the wall outside the governor's office in the Kansas Capitol building in Topeka. Curry, an artist of national renown, called the mural his greatest work. It would become the most recognizable symbol of the Kansas statehouse and the best-known painting in the state.
In 1941, the Kansas Legislature fired Curry before he could begin work on the third and last statehouse mural. Curry was heartbroken, and died five years later.
On Nov. 14, state dignitaries, Curry's relatives and art aficionados gathered near the mural in the rotunda to honor Curry on his 100th birthday.
State Rep. Kent Glasscock, R-Manhattan, expressed regret for Curry's dismissal.
"In 1941, the Kansas Legislature made a mistake," he said. "In 1997, we are here to celebrate the life and the works of John Steuart Curry."
John Wefald, Kansas State University president, read a letter from Kathleen Curry, the artist's 98-year-old
widow. who lives in Connecticut.
"I know how touched he would be," the letter said. "Many times I heard him say proudly, 'I come from Kansas.'"
Curry grew up in Jefferson County, north of Lawrence, but left Kansas at age 16 to study art in Kansas City, Chicago and Paris. By 1936, Curry's paint
ings were known throughout the country and featured in the first color edition of "Time" magazine. The first issue of "Life" magazine contained an article titled "Curry of Kansas."
Most of Curry's work depicted Kansas with a realism that glorified rural existence without romantic embellishment. Curry was part of the triumvirate of great regional realist painters of the 1930s that included Grant Wood of Iowa and Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri.
Curry's paintings now hang in galleries across America, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Most of his work, however, is scattered among Kansas museums. The Spencer Museum of Art holds the largest collection, including several sketches of statehouse murals that Curry never completed.
Curry's dismissal by the legislature resulted largely from reaction to "Tragic Prelude," the mural featuring John Brown. An outcry arose about Curry's murals and especially his depiction of Brown, the abolitionist who joined the war over slavery in Kansas.
Don Lambert, a Curry expert, said Brown was controversial.
"They thought he should be painting decent, God-fearing Kansans, not a radical, a freak like John Brown," Lambert said. "Kansas also had a significant Ku Klux
4