Section A · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, October 15. 1997
University seeks funds for improved technology
Board of Regents tours Budig Hall two other centers
By Matthew Friedrichs
matf@ukans.edu
Kansan stuff writer
Chancellor Robert Hemenway used the newest, most high-tech classrooms on campus to ask visiting Kansas legislators for additional technology financing yesterday.
About 30 members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee and the House Appropriations Committee are on a week-long tour of state and private buildings in Eastern Kansas.
The legislators ate breakfast in the unfinished lower level of Budig Hall and then toured the building.
Hemenway said the legislators were eating breakfast in the low-tech, unfinished basement for a reason.
"We are not asking you for money to finish this space," Hemenway said.
But, Hemenway said, the University needs additional funds for technology.
"We as a university are behind were we should be." he said.
The legislature provided an additional $3.8 million to build the basement rooms
of Budig, and the University promised to finance the completion of the rooms without asking for more funding, Hemenway said.
While the University will honor its agreement with the legislature and complete Budig with funds it already has, legislators should consider additional funding for technology at the University, Hemenway said.
After breakfast, the legislators toured Budig Hall.
"The technology you're going to see today is state-of-the-art." Hemenway said. "It is not representative of the University of Kansas."
In the computer lab, Provost David Shulenburger said the ideal ratio of computers to students would be one computer for every 25 students. The University, with 600 publicly available computers, has about one computer for every 42 students, Shulenburger said.
Shulenburger said the University would need to spend $1.4 million on equipment to close the technology gap. Shulenburger did not estimate how much money would be needed to fund additional staff and technolo- vents.
Rep. Jeff Peterson, R-Manhattan, said he was impressed by the technology displayed in one of the 500-seat lecture halls in Budig Hall.
Peterson was a two-time student body president at Kansas State University.
"What we see is that we don't have this
"The technology you're going to see today is state-of-the-art. It is not representative of the University of Kansas."
Robert Hemenway University of Kansas Chancellor
type of technology in the majority of classrooms," he said.
Technology funding will be one of the most important issues facing higher education in the state this year. Peterson said.
Robert Talkington, Chairman of the Board of Regents, said that during his visit Monday, the Regents would ask the legislature to provide additional technology funding.
Talkington said the Regents would ask the legislature to provide $2 of funding for every $1 provided by additional student fees at the six Regents Universities.
Grey Montgomery, Junction City senior and former student body president, said that no fee had been approved by Student Senate but that the student portion of the "2 for 1" funds also could be raised by a minimal increase in tuition.
The legislators also visited the KU Medical Center for lunch and the Regent's Center yesterday afternoon.
A dancer jumps into the director's arms in "A Chorus Line," a musical theater production about an audition for a Broadway musical. The performance, part of the Broadway and Beyond Series, opened Monday night at the Lied Center. Photo by Steve Puppe/ KANSAN
Trivia players compete in pursuit of victory
By Ann Premer
apremer @kansan
Kansas staff writer
People who have amassed a wealth of trivial facts, such as the names of U.S. presidents' pets, can put their seemingly useless knowledge to the test at Hastings' trivia tournaments.
Robert Bishop, Lawrence senior and Hastings employee, said that the idea for the tournament came from the store's employees, who often tried to stump each other with trivia questions.
For the third week, Hastings will hold a Trivial Pursuit tournament. The first game will begin at 7 tonight and the second game will begin at 8:30 p.m.
"We just thought that it would be fun to do," Bishop said. "It's
something to bring people into the store."
Four of the eight people who played last week were KU students.
"In high school, me and some friends did some trivia stuff and thought that it might be fun in college too," Curtis Sample, Lenexa freshman, said.
Curtis played in both tourna-ments and won the first one.
The tournament-style game at Hastings is played the same as the Trivial Pursuit board game. The tournament uses the Genus Four version, which is the latest edition of Trivial Pursuit.
"It's a good way to get out and meet some new people," Bishop said. "It's enjoyable and you can win free stuff."
The player with the highest
score at the end of the night wins a prize. Last week, the winner won food coupons from Jesters, 1105 Massachusetts St.
At the end of the month, the player with the highest total score will win the grand prize, which Bishop said was undetermined but would consist of several items. He said players who just started would be able to win the grand prize too.
"It's not too late for anyone to come back from behind," Bishop said.
Bishop said he was uncertain about whether the trivial tournament would continue after this month.
"If we don't do Trivial Pursuit in November, we'll still do some other game in tournament style," Bishop said.
Re: Be careful of evil e-mail
Police should be told of threat messages
Mary Corcoran
mcorcaron@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Earlier this semester, one University official sat down at his computer to read his e-mail. When he opened what he thought was a nonthreatening message, he set off a cyberbomb.
According to University police records, the message continually repeated itself, tying up the computer for hours.
Threatening or harmful e-mail can come over any online computer terminal at any time, police say.
Computer center officials said that although e-mail threats and other sorts of harmful e-mail came to the campus, they were not common.
"It hasn't been much of a problem this year," said Jerry Niebaum, executive director of information technology service at the computer center.
When threatening or harmful email does arrive, Niebaum said the computer center followed specific policies.
"If there is any threat of bodily harm or any suspicion of harm to a computer or the computer center, we contact the campus police." he said.
Police said that although they did not receive many reports about threatening e-mail, it probably happened more often than the reports showed.
"Students sometimes treat threats on their computer like they would a hang-up phone call," KU police officer Burdel Welsh said. "If it doesn't repeat itself, they just throw it away and forget about it."
On the whole, Welsh said he didn't think it was much of a concern.
"Given the number of computers and computer hours on campus, I don't think it is a big problem," he said.
If the police receive information about a threatening e-mail, they first must evaluate the message. Some messages are threatening, some are weird and some are offensive, police said. Depending on the message's
"Hate mail gets the most attention because students will become very upset when they read it, especially if it is racially threatening," KU police officer Burdel Welsh said.
content, police decide if a law has been broken.
After a student makes a report, police then contact the computer center to determine the origin of the message. Threatening e-mail could come from anywhere.
"If the message comes from a place beyond our jurisdiction, we contact other resources to help us out," Welsh said. "Sometimes the FBI or Secret Service will contact us to help them out."
The FBI came...the University campus last year to interview students who had sent suspicious or threatening e-mail.
The computer center is not equipped with any programs to filter potentially threatening e-mail out of the system. Police said the best way to deal with threats on the computer was to contact them immediately.
Mediterranean menace spreading like a tumor across world
"We will investigate any report until we can figure out what happened," Welsh said.
The Associated Press
PARIS — The bright green seaweed seemed perfect for big aquariums: a hardy, fast-growing tropical hybrid that thrived in just about any condition. Zoos around the world snapped it up.
Then, the beautiful, feather-shaped seaweed slipped out of its bottle.
In the 12 years since a type of Caulerpa taxifolia escaped from Monaco's aquarium, it has spread
like a tumor, crowding out other sea life and threatening to become a Frankenstein-like nightmare of the Mediterranean.
"It's an alien, a real alien," said Alexandre Meinesz, a professor at Nice-Antipolis University who has spent years tracking the plant. "It's like a wildfire."
Experts disagree about how to control the plant. One proposed solution, a leaf-sucking sea slug, has prompted worries that the plan would unleash
another biological monster.
Taxifolia, native to the tropics,
was introduced to an aquarium in
Stuttgart, Germany, in the 1980s
and then to aquariums in Europe,
Japan and South Africa.
There is speculation that somewhere along the way it genetically mutated, perhaps because of exposure to the ultraviolet light used in aquariums.
Dennis Thoney, general curator for the New York Aquarium, said
aquariums in the United States also used taxifolia, though it was not clear whether the museums used the type troubling the Mediterranean.
The first few taxifolia plants slipped into the sea during routine tank-cleaning at the Monaco aquarium in 1985. Since then, the lush seaweed has spread across 7,600 acres along the coasts of France, Italy, Croatia and Spain's Mallorca Island.
The blanket of taxifolia is
toxic to most sea life, forcing fish to go elsewhere. Fishermen's nets that snare the stuff drive off the intended catch. Choice scuba-diving sites are being smothered by the plant, as are Riviera pleasure ports.
Although coastal fishermen are few along the swanky Riviera, taxifolia could devastate small fishing towns in other parts of the Mediterranean.
And the monster seaweed could spread to other seas from aquariums, ships' anchors and fishermen's nets, Meinesz said.
In his new book "The Black Novel on 'Killer' Seaweed," Meinesz blames France's political system for a lack of action.
Officials organized one commission after the other that "never did anything," he writes. "While they talked, the seaweed grew."
Effective measures will be costly, he said, though he wouldn't give a price tag.
STUDENT PICK UP PERIOD
Must have KUID to pick up!
(At Allen Fieldhouse in East Lobby)
LAST NAME:
A - E Monday, October 13 9:00 - 4:00
F - K Tuesday, October 14 9:00 - 4:00
L - Q Wednesday, October 15 9:00 - 4:00
R - Z Thursday, October 16 9:00 - 4:00
ALL STUDENTS Friday, October 17 9:00 - 4:00
PRESEASON N'T TICKETS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN
YOUR COMBO PACKAGE
ALL STUDENTS (with or without combo package) can purchase these tickets beginning Monday, October 13 for $8 for both games of the Preseason NIT. (CASH OR CHECK ONLY!!!)
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