Tomorrow's weather
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Mostly sunny and continued cooler temperatures.
Kansan
Thursday
August 21, 1997
Section:
A
Vol. 194 - No. 2
Online today
Check out the redesigned website of the "University Daily Kansan."
Vol. 104 - No.2
http://www.kansan.com
Sports today
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Lights have been stolen from Memorial Stadium and a $1000 reward is being offered for their return.
SEE PAGE 1B
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Fight ensues as fraternities turn party into rumble
Pregnant student hit police make no arrests
By Mary Corcoran Kansan staff writer
Three KU students were injured yesterday when a fraternity party at Potter Lake turned into a rumble. KU police said.
The fight took place around midnight yesterday morning after members of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity showed up at a party held by the Kappa Alpha Psifraternity at Potter Lake Pavilion, said Set. Chris Keary of KU police.
During the fight, one student pulled out a .9-mm semi-automatic weapon and pointed it at another student, Keary said. No shots were fired.
Pravost David Shulenburger and Chancellor Robert Hemenway share a laugh before convocation in the Lied Center yesterday. Photo by Geoff Krieger / KANSAN
The student who had the gun was later interviewed by KU police and the weapon was taken into custody. Keary said.
A pregnant student who was hit in the stomach was treated at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. She later told police that she was accidentally struck when students ran from the scene of the fight.
Another student was thrown to the ground by a group of students who had followed him as he tried to leave, Keary said. The student stood up, made it to his car and was hit as he tried to drive away, Keary said.
Lester East is expected to find out this week if he will be granted his release from Louisiana State. Page 1B
"This is an ongoing investigation. It's been going on all day." Keary said. "We have lots of people to talk to and more investigations to complete. But we're not anticipating any arrests."
Kappa Alpha Psi had reserved the pavilion for a party to follow Beach-N-Boulevard, a Hawk Week event held in front of Wescoe Hall that ended around 9 p.m. Tuesday.
KU police have contacted the Douglas County district attorney's office about the fight. Keary said the district attorney would determine whether warrants would be issued.
Keary said problems arose when members of Phi Beta Sigma arrived uninvited and started performing step routines. Kappa Alpha Psi members asked the Phi Beta Sigma members to stop dancing, Keary said, but they refused and a fight ensued.
Members of Kappa Alpha Psi would not comment on the fight, but said the party had been open to everyone.
Chris Jones, recent KU graduate and Phi Beta Sigma member, said his fraternity was not trying to start a fight. He said they were not performing a step routine, rather they were strolling, or party-walking, which is not the same as a step routine.
"We started to do what people traditionally do at parties," Jones said. "We were asked to stop, and there was a confrontation between two members, one Kappa Alpha and one Phi Beta. The two organizations get along just fine."
Inside Today's Kansan
More Lawrence police officers will be undercover, disguised as liquor store cashiers in an attempt to catch minors attempting to purchase alcohol and adults who buy it for minors. Page 3A
Convocation kicks off classes
Students, staff enjoy ritual at Lied Center
By Matthew Friedrichs Kansan staff writer
The walk up the hill began last night at the Lied Center with academic pomp and circumstance and an enthusiastic crowd.
A crowd of 1,300 students, faculty and guests reacted warmly to a convocation video featuring a jazzy version of the alma mater and athletic highlights.
The crowd then watched expectantly as University administrators walked to the stage. Elaine Sharp, professor of political science and University Marshal, carried the ceremonial mace while leading the procession. Chancellor Robert Hemenway, wearing the ceremonial collar, was the last to reach the stage.
"The 132nd Opening Convocation of the University of Kansas is now convened." Sharp said.
from Scott Sullivan, student body president; Patricia Miller, president of the unclassified professional staff association; and Laurence Draper, president of the University Senate.
The formal nature of the ceremony was again broken by cheers following the "Star Spangled Banner."
Students sat quietly through introductions and welcomes
"Welcome all you party animals," Hemenway said, in reference to the University's recent high ranking as a party school.
The students responded with cheers.
"Most chancellors, me included, have treated convocation as a slightly pompous occasion." he said.
It is a chance, Hemenway said, to inflict free advice on a captive audience.
"You are entering a world of information that is just as complex and instantaneous and just as filled with information as the Internet," Hemenway said.
Hemenway had no advice to impart about sharing communal bathrooms or the "freshman 15," but he did tell students to identify those faculty, staff and students who would care and help them make decisions about what information to believe.
"You will be bombarded with ideas from all sides over the next four or five or six years — however long it takes you before you log out." he said.
Jill McNickle, Ashland freshman, said convocation was not what she expected.
"It was very interesting and informative, and it was funny," said McNickle.
Faculty members were surprised by the vocal audience.
"We've never seen students this responsive to a convocation," said Kathleen McCluskey Fawcett, associate provost.
As Simon Carrington, associ
ate professor of music and dance, led the singing of the alma mater, the crowd swayed back and forth, and then dispersed to begin a new semester.
Larry Keever, an employee of Dunbar Trucking and Excavating Inc., cleans up the remaining mess after the crew finished working on the parking lot next to Jayhawk Towers. The construction has been going on all summer long, and is scheduled to open today, August 21. Photo by Pam Dishman/KANSAN
Parking spaces added to residence hall lots
By Tim Harrington
Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas spent nearly $1 million this summer to make more parking available to students and to keep some existing parking structures from crumbling on students heads—or under their tires.
The parking department spent $332,655 to add 193 new yellow-zone parking spaces to the lots in front of Ellsworth and Hashinger Halls. The money, generated through permit sales and violation fines, was also used to lay down new asphalt and paint new stripes in both lots.
Despite the changes, Donna Hultine, assistant director of parking, warned students not to get their parking expectations up too high this semester.
Every year, more and more students are driving, she said. Also, the parking department overseals yellow permits every year because not all students who hold yellow permits drive to campus every day, she said.
Further, Hultine said, the first week of school is always hectic for parking. She recommended that students try parking in the lot to the west of Memorial Stadium, which she said was underutilized.
"When we sell permits, we're not guaranteeing a space," she said.
The three-level garage was replaced by a ground level lot with 95 spaces—23 fewer than in the old garage. However, the new lot has four handicapped accessible spots. The old garage had no handicapped spaces.
There was also some crunching going on during the summer. Design and Construction Management used a machine called a sipper to chew up and spit out the condemned parking garage on the east side of Jayhawker Towers.
"There's always a crunch at the beginning if the semester," Hultine said. "Then people start to figure out where they need to be and when, and then it settles down."
Bob Rombach, an architect for Design and Construction Management who worked closely on the project, said that the renovations cost $593,000. Along with the cost of tearing down the garage and building the new lot, that price tag included a turn lane on Burdick Drive, a four-way stop sign at the corner of Burdick and Irving Hill Road, the demolition of the old garage and retaining walls for the new spaces.
"I needed retaining walls to keep 15th street where it belongs." Rombach said.
KU students party with the best of'em
University ranked 8th party school in nation
By Rachelle Detweiler and Tim Harrington
Kansan staff writers
The beer flows like water atop Mount Oread, according to a survey released yesterday by the Princeton Review.
It lists the University of Kansas as the number eight party school in the country. West Virginia was at the top of the list, and fellow Big 12 school Colorado was ranked fourth.
The yearly list, based on responses from about 56,000 randomly selected students at schools nationwide, has never before mentioned the University.
Some members of the KU community said they were thrilled at the University's newfound reputation as a party place, while others paid it no mind. But if the survey is an accurate reflection of life in Lawrence, one thing is certain: although the KU campus is dry, the students are anything but.
"It's a good thing, I think. It gives us a little notoriety," said Chris Jones, Prairie Village junior and social chairman for Phi Delta Theta. "An incoming freshman can look at KU and see that it's a great party school where you can have a good time, and their parents can look at KU and see that it's a great academic school. It's the perfect mixture of both."
Although being a party school is far from KU administrators' loftiest goals, Chancellor Robert Hemenway opened his convocation speech last night by saying "Welcome, all you party animals."
University Relations director Tom Hutton said that any results from a Princeton Review poll should be taken with a grain of salt.
"Princeton Review polls offer a whimsical look at college life at best." Hutton said.
The list is part of the New Jersey-based company's annual guide to colleges which is designed for high school seniors. This year's guide, "The Best 311 Colleges," ranks schools in 61 categories, from cafeteria food to cultural diversity. (The University of Missouri was ranked last in the student happiness category.)
For the party category, random students were asked questions about how much
Party on
The University of Kansas was named the #8 party school in the nation by The Princeton Review. The top ten:
1. West Virginia University, Morgantown
2. University of Wisconsin, Madison
3. State University of New York, Albany
4. University of Colorado, Boulder
5. Trinity College, Hartford, Conn.
6. Florida State University, Tallahassee
7. Emory University, Atlanta
8. University of Kansas, Lawrence
9. University of Vermont, Burlington
10. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
alcohol they drink, how much they study and how much marijuana they smoke.
Brett Becker, Overland Park junior, said he thought that a somewhat laid-back police force made Lawrence ripe for carousing. He said that KU students can party more with fewer consequences.
"It's a relaxed police force, it seems like," Becker said. "I've never had any trouble with them."
Mendel Martin, Olathe junior, said she thought of the University not as a party school, but as a place where students drink in moderation.
"A lot has changed since my freshman year," Martin said. "The parties totally suck now and everything's played out so much. There's nothing new. The first few punk parties here were out of control, with people climbing out of windows."
Steve Harvey, a recent KU graduate who now is a bartender at the Replay Lounge, 946 Massachusetts, also said he thought that the town seemed to be in a partying slump because of a lack of exciting bars.
Randall Rock. chief of staff at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said he hadn't see an increase last year in alcohol-related injuries and sickness.
Sgt. Chris Keary of KU police said he hadn't seen any noticeable increase in drug and alcohol-related arrests or incidents.
But for Tom Dangermond, a manager at Patterson's Liquor Store, 846 Illinois, business has been pretty good lately, especially in keg sales.
Dangermond said that multiple keg sales, such as four, five, or six kegs, are more common now than in previous years