Section A·Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, October 22, 1997
Are they green or
KU student studies abduction stories
Story by Ann Premer Graphic illustrations by Andrew Rohrback
They are 3 to 4 feet high, gray and have slanted dark eyes, no hair, small mouths and two nose holes fixed on their oblong heads. Many people claim to have been abducted by them.
said Stephanie Kelley, Winchester, Mass., graduate student.
"Most people believe that they are green, but alien abductees say that they are gray,"
For her doctoral dissertation in communication studies, Kelley is researching people's beliefs in aliens and alien abductions and what those beliefs reveal about society.
Kelley's graduate adviser, Robert Rowland, professor of communication studies, said that many people studied pop culture issues for their dissertations.
"This project is a little bit different," he said. "Apparently, an awful lot of people believe that they have been abducted."
Kelley said that 50 years ago people who believed in aliens were ridiculed. Now, people laugh at abduction stories but wonder if the stories are true, she said.
Kelley does not believe the stories of alien abductees, nor does she believe in aliens. But she said she thought people's beliefs in aliens fulfilled basic human needs.
"It just basically affirms that our society is beginning to fragment and becoming too dependent on science for answers."
Kelley said, "As people realize that science doesn't have all of the answers, things like alien abduction become viable."
Kelley has never interviewed a person who claims to have been abducted by aliens and said she did not plan to because it would damage he objectivity.
However, she said she did want to study contextual accounts of alien abductions.
Kelley is searching for com mon themes in abduction stories and trends that mirror society.
She said that when accounts of aliens began to surface in the '40s, people only saw the aliens from a distance.
Although Kelley never has talked to a self-proclaimed abductee for her thesis, people often relay abduction stories to her when they find out her field of interest, she said.
As time passed the aliens got closer to people. Now, people claim to have physical encounters with aliens.
One woman told her that she awoke a morning with bruises and believed that she had been strapped down during testing.
Many abductees have parents who also claim to have been abducted, she said.
She said that these people were fulfilling a need of community and individual identity. People feel empowered because they were the chosen ones, she
"Most people believe that they are green, but alien abductees say that they are gray."
Stephanie Kelley Winchester.Mass.,graduate student
said.
"During many abduction experiences they do some sort of medical testing," Kelley said.
According to stories, the aliens become confused when humans display fear. Kelley said.
"The aliens are devoid of emotions. They are fascinated by us because of our emotions," Kelley said. "We have to reevaluate our emotions."
The style of UFOs also has changed with time, Kelley said. The appearance of UFOs followed advancements in science and technology, she said.
Kelley said these technological advancements have left some people with a need to explain their surroundings and the purpose for human existence.
Today, UFOs are more advanced and strangely resemble high-tech jets, she said.
"What it does is it makes sense of the world and explains things, which is what any good myth does," Kelley said. "For the people involved, it works as well as religion."
Dry party sobering for some
Housing event celebrates Alcohol Awareness Week
By Sarah McWilliams
smcwilliams@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Student-housing residents will be dancing and partying at McCollum Hall tonight, but they will not be drinking alcohol.
"We put on the party to give students an alternative to going out and drinking," said Chuck Wedge, Salina senior and hall president. "We put
The McColum Hall government is sponsoring Club Mac, a free party held annually during Alcohol Awareness Week. The party will be held from 8 to 11 p.m. on the second floor lobby of the hall.
Wedge said the event would help educate people about the risks involved in drinking too much alcohol.
For one McCollum resident, the party will be especially meaningful.
Jeff Halloran, Topeka junior and president of the 10th floor of the hall, said he used to abuse alcohol and he quit school several years ago because of it. He has been sober for almost five years, he said.
"We put on the party to give students an alternative to going out and drinking."
"This is one of the best forms you can use to raise
Chuck Wedge Salina senior and McCollum Hall president
awareness of alcohol," Halloran said. "I'm going to invite everyone on my floor."
Wedge said that past parties had an attendance of between 100 and 300 people. This year, the sponsors expect about 400 people to come to the party, which is open only to residents of student housing, he said.
The party will include a DJ and three bars where students can get free nonalcoholic margaritas, pina coladas and fuzzy navels, he said. McColum Hall government will also hold drawings for prizes.
Sponsors of the party will pass out fliers that explain how to be a responsible drinker, how alcohol affects people of different weights and how to take care of someone who has passed out because of excess alcohol consumption.
Ultralight guides whooping cranes
The Associated Press
SOCORRO, N.M. — An ultralight plane painted to look like a whooping crane guided three of the endangered white birds and six sandhill cranes into a wildlife refuge along the Rio Grande yesterday.
The white ultralight with black wingtips — accompanied by the majestic birds — arrived at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge after a nine-day, 800-mile trip from Grace, Idaho.
"We're simulating their parents bringing them south for their first migration," said Kent Clegg, who flew the plane. "We use that airplane, but we get it out of here as quickly as we can to get them back natural and acting like normal cranes."
A total of 12 cranes began the experimental flight from Clegg's ranch on Oct.13.
Clegg hoped to show that
ultralights could be used to guide whooping cranes to their wintering grounds. Scientists hope someday to use ultralights to establish a migratory flock in the Southeast.
The project was paid for in part by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Clegg was inspired by the work of a man who used an ultralight to teach orphaned Canada geese the route south for the winter. That venture formed the basis of the 1996 movie "Fly Away Home."
Only 371 whooping cranes are known to exist. The only migratory flock, consisting of 180 birds, flies between Canada and a wildlife refuge in Texas. The rest are in nonmigratory flocks kept in several refuges.
One sandhill had to be destroyed after it got trapped in the hood around the plane's propeller and severely injured its leg.
Towers' tenants hot about being cold
By Cerrie Moore
cmoore@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
A lack of heat at Jayhawker Towers left some residents walking around their apartments in winter coats earlier this week.
Phil Garito, associate director for housing maintenance, said that the heat was turned on yesterday morning.
An annual boiler inspection in one of the towers during the last few days delayed the heat being turned on. Garito said.
Michael Stifter, complex director of student housing, said that every year some students complained about the lack of heat.
"I can't think of a fall or spring that I haven't dealt with the same issue," he said.
Stifter said that housing received a few calls per day from students who wanted to know when the heat would be turned on.
Chris Rohan, St. Louis sophomore and towers resident, said it was especially cold this weekend when temperatures dropped to the mid-40s.
"Even if you put warm clothes
on, it still was cold," he said.
Garito said that residence halls and the towers had a two-pipe system, which meant that the whole building was heated and cooled by the same pipe.
To heat the buildings, hot water runs through the pipes, which takes a few days to heat all the rooms. The cool water used for air conditioning runs through the same pipes, Garito said.
Garito said that it took two to three days for the hot water to cool down after the boiler was turned off and the same pipes could not
have both hot and cold water.
"It's difficult to control individual room temperature," he said. Tiffany Seeman, Kansas City, Kan., sophomore, said that it had been cold since Thursday.
"When the forecast was anticipated to be this cold, they should have done something," she said. Garito said that by looking at long-term weather, the housing maintenance department decided when to turn the heat on.
"There's nothing magical about it," he said. "We're just trying to second-guess the weather man."
Daughter slaps mother with suit for abuse
The Associated Press
BRIGHTON, Mich. — A mother who admits to slapping her runaway daughter in the face said she shouldn't have been charged with a crime for simply administering parental discipline.
Debbie Skousen could get up to a year in jail if convicted of assault and domestic violence against her 18-year-old daughter.
"It has been a painful thing."
Skousen said in yesterday's "Ann Arbor News." "It has so severed relationships between siblings that I don't know if they're ever going to talk again. It really drove a wedge in my family."
In April, Skousen's daughter Rebecca, then a high school senior, took off for two days and refused to say where she had been. The mother said her daughter cursed at her, so she slapped her daughter twice in the face.
"We're talking about parental discipline — an openhanded slapping — twice." Skousen said.
Rebecca complained to her school counselor, who contacted police as required by state law when abuse is suspected.
Skouken was eventually charged and is scheduled to go on trial Nov. 6. An older daughter, one of five Skouken children, is expected to testify against her mother.
The mother's attorney said the
case did not belong in court.
"Here we are prosecuting a case where the parent is trying to discipline her child," John Yannattji said. "The logic of this escapes me."
Brecca now attends Michigan State University. Skousen's husband, Samuel Skousen, hopes mother and daughter will work things out.
"I honestly believe we can patch this thing up," he said. "We'll work at this — we'll persevere."
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