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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2009
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 55
HEALTH
Student ingests chemical in Malott
BY JESSE RANGEL AND ALEX GARRISON jrangel@kansan.com agarrison@kansan.com
A graduate student was in critical but stable condition at Lawrence Memorial Hospital Thursday after he was admitted with life-threatening injuries. University officials and police said he accidentally ingested a chemical while working in a lab at Malott Hall Wednesday night.
University officials said the student, who was not named, ingested sodium azide about 10 p.m. He left campus and became ill at home about 11 p.m.
Chris Keary, assistant chief at the KU Public Safety office, said that the investigation was ongoing, but that they did not think foul play was involved.
Mike Russell, director of environment, health and safety, said the department did two sweeps of the building in the early-morning hours, including one with the Lawrence Fire Department, and determined there weren't any hazardous materials that would threaten building occupants.
"We did not find any evidence of any chemical release, spill of any type, as far as any exposure concerns go," Russell said, "so we were able to let areas of the building become open and available for use within."
Sodium azide is used as a chemical preservative in hospitals, laboratories, automobile air bags and agriculture pest control, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Russell said the chemical was a common chemical in different areas of research such as molecular bioscience, medicinal chemistry and pharmacy. He said the substance was a white crystalline powder, similar to table salt, and odorless. He said the chemical had acute toxicity, which means adverse effects could happen within a short time period of exposure.
"Contact is a big concern with this material. Getting it on your skin, ingestion, that kind of aspect," Russell said. "It doesn't take a lot of this material to cause adverse health reactions."
The University sent a text message alert at 7:01 a.m. Thursday to students and faculty who signed up for the service. Lynn Bretz, director of University Communications, said the University wanted to make sure students knew the
Changes forced on Native Americans at center of film
BY JUSTIN LEVERETT jieverett@kansan.com
Kevin Willmott's films never shy away from dark events in America's past. His latest, premiering tonight, deals with atrocities that occurred here in Lawrence.
"The Only Good Indian" is based on the story of Native American boarding schools, where children kidnapped from their tribes were taken to be assimilated into white culture. The film was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival in January and will open
SEE MALOTT ON PAGE 3A
The film and produced by Willmott, associate professor of film and media studies, with a crew of
with a benefit premiere at Liberty Hall tonight at 7:05 p.m.
film was directed
colleagues, students and recent graduates. He said he showed the film in Anchorage, Alaska, recently and was approached by a group of Native-American women after the movie.
"They had this look," he said. "And they just come to you and shake your hand, and they just give you this look — they don't say
Willmott
He said he thought the women had most likely experienced the same kind of forced assimilation depicted in the film. One of the historic boarding schools, where native children were regularly beaten and abused, was located in Anchorage, Alaska and was open into the 1970s.
anything — they just give you this look, where they come up to you and just cry."
Wilmott shot the movie at locations throughout Kansas, including the Flint Hills, Cowtown Museum in Wichita and at the Watkins Museum in Lawrence.
The film tells the story of a fictional Native-American boy, played by Winterfox Frank, who flees one of the boarding schools
WHO: Kevin Willmott and the KU Film and Media Studies Department
WHAT: Premiere of "The Only Good Indian"
WHEN: 7:05 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 6
WHERE: Liberty Hall
in the early 1900s. Wes Studi, who has appeared in "Last of the Mohicans" and "Dancing with Wolves," plays an Indian bounty hunter who has been through the boarding school assimilation system and is assigned to chase the escaped Native-American bpy.
SEE WILMOTT ON PAGE 3A
COMPETITION
Contributed photo
Graduate vies for title of green girl
BY ALY VAN DYKE
avandyke@kansan.com
While she was a student at the University, Juliana Tran planted, cultivated and harvested crops on a Lawrence area farm and interned at JW Prairie Wind Power, a local wind farm developer. For a month, she helped raise money for an ecofriendly classroom in Brazil, where children of an impoverished, vio-
Tran
Nearly five months later, she has yet to find a job.
lence-ridden community could learn English.
Tran, now living in Austin,
Texas, graduated with a bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies last May. With her degree and a plush resume in hand, Tran set out to find the job of her dreams.
But it was on this job hunt, combing through job postings and sniffing around environmental Web sites, that Tran discovered Project Green Search, a nationwide campaign to find a woman who has the ethics, drive and looks to be America's first green "it girl."
"I thought I had a lot of experience that would really separate me from some other people, but there's just not a lot of entry level positions out there right now," she said.
"It sounded like something I could do," she said. "I thought, 'Why not? I've got nothing to lose."
She will find out tonight at a "green carpet" party in Los Angeles whether she's won. The winner receives, among other things, representation from a modeling agency, exposure to brand representative work and features in print and online magazines.
Tran submitted an essay, photos and a video with no idea or expectation that a short time later shed find herself roaming Hollywood Boulevard with the nine other women whom the public and judges voted last month as the best candidates for the title.
Competing against models and environmental professionals, Tran said she felt somewhat out of her element.
"I have experience, but I'm not a professional," she said. "I'm hoping that it's more about the smarts that you have than how well you can walk or look on camera."
But her father and friends say Tran has the commitment and credibility to be the green "it girl"
Her father, Giac, said he still remembered when he knew his daughter was going to be an
SEE GREEN ON PAGE 3A
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Killer sentenced to six consecutive life sentences
All contents, unless stated otherwise; © 2009 The University Daily Kansan
The man, Roger Reece, was convicted of killing women throughout Central California during the 1960s and 1970s. LEGAL|3A
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