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Online today
Newsweek's Web site features an in-depth look at astronaut John Glenn and his return to space.
Thursday
November 5, 1998
Section:
A
Vol. 109 • No. 54
http://www.newsweek.com
Sports today
WWW.KANSAN.COM
The Kansas football team tries to fill holes created by quarterback Zac Wegner's season-ending concussion.
SEE PAGE 1B
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Faces of Life
Young adults who have endured cancer share the stories of how the struggle changed their lives.
Amy Laughlin remembers the trials she has faced and the changes she has undergone while fighting cancer. Breast cancer was diagnosed in Laughlin at the young age of 28. Photo by Matt J. Daugherty/KANSAN
I
Richard Barbuto, former KU student, is a cancer survivor. He hopes to have put that part of his life behind him and now is attending school at St. Mary College and is working as the assistant bmaster at the High Noon Saloon in Leavenworth. Photo by Graham K. Johnson/KANSAN
Story by Julie M. Sachs
At 28, Amy Laughlin lost her breast, her hair and the naive notion that women her age do not get cancer.
Fighting cancer in her 20s made Laughlin, a graduate student in music and dance at the University of Kansas, feel as if she were much older.
"Friends would always tell stories of moms and grandmas with cancer," she said. "That was the weird thing."
Statistically, not many people in their 20s get cancer in 1997, the American Cancer Society estimated that about 180,000 women would be diagnosed with breast cancer during the year and that only 600 of these women were expected to be younger than 30. But those young adults, such as Laughlin, who have battled cancer said that the struggle changed them physically and emotionally. And health professionals said that the struggle could be a lonely one.
There are cancers that are prevalent among
young adults. Stephen Williamson, acting director of medical oncology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, said testicular cancer appeared in college-age men 20 to 40 percent of the time.
Richard Barbuto, 24, who attended the University in the Fall 1966, learned he had testicular cancr in January 1997. He had been having pain in his testicles, so he performed a self-exam. Something felt wrong.
A sonogram confirmed that there was a large mass in his left testicle. Doctors removed his cancerous testicle within the month, but the cancer already had spread to his lungs.
Chemotherapy destroyed most, but not all, of the tumors in his lungs.
On May 18, 1997, instead of attending a U2 concert, Barbuto was back in the hospital where doctors surgically deflated his right lung and removed the remaining tumors.
See CANCER on page 5A
Big 12 loses National Merit Scholars
Recruiting growing more competitive
By Melody Ard
Kansan staff writer
By Melody Ard
Four out of five of the top recruiting schools in the Big 12 Conference lost scholarships this fall. As a result, the University of Kansas maintained its fifth-place ranking in the Big 12 conference, despite it's 25-student drop in National Merit Scholars.
The top five schools were the University of Texas, 202 scholar; University of Oklahoma, 152 scholar; Texas A&M University, 149 scholar; Iowa State University, 111 scholar; and the University of Kansas, 63 scholars. Iowa State gained one National Merit Scholar.
The University of Kansas is not the only Big 12 school wondering where the National Merit Scholars went.
"It is getting more competitive to get scholars," he said. "We had big jumps in the early '90s, but more people are making special offers now it is getting harder to maintain the numbers."
Don Davis, associate director of financial aid at the University of Texas, said Texas enrollment of scholars dropped by 50 this year, making the total the lowest in five years.
Davis said Texas' award packages guaranteed a student would not have to pay tuition or fees for four years. The money used to cover the scholarship was a combination of corporate, university and departmental scholarships.
Kristi Elliott / KANSAN
The University of Oklahoma enrolled 152 National Merit Scholars this year, one less than last year, and topped the conference for award packages offered to the scholars.
Craig Hays, associate director of the National Scholars Program at the University of Oklahoma, said the scholarship package and special treatment Oklahoma offered drew students to the university.
The university offers in-state students $40,000 scholarships and out-of-state students
$50,000 during afive-year period.
"We are one of the few universities who have an office just responsible for recruitment of National Merit Scholars," Hayes said. "They get personal attention, an opportunity to enroll early before grad students and athletes, and they can use part of their scholarships to study abroad."
Alan Cerveny, director of admissions at the University of Kansas, said larger award packages offered by other schools and the lower number of high school students in Kansas caused the University to have fewer scholars.
The University of Kansas offers $5,000 scholarships to National Merit Scholars.
However, Cerveny said he was pleased with the overall efforts in recruiting National Merit Scholars and other honors students.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway said that National Merit Scholars were just one way to measure talented students and their success at the University
"We don't have as many students in state to attract," he said.
"I think it is clear, even though we have fewer National Merit Scholars, that the incoming freshmen are even better prepared than the previous year." Hemenway said.
Most other Big 12 Conference schools enrolled between 20 and 30 new scholars.
Kansas State University enrolled 27 National Merit Scholars this fall, six more than last year. Kansas State is the only other Kansas school that has a consistent enrollment of National Merit Scholars.
Women win opener
The Kansas women's basketball team beat Myjava, Slovakia 76-64 last night at Allen Field House. Nokia Sanford (pictured above) scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Jayhawks in a game dominated by physical play.
See page 1B
Student body vice president, Scott Kaiser, speaks with other members of the student executive committee last night. Kaiser's job performance was criticized in a complaint letter written by several StuEm ex members. Photo by Jay Shearp/KANSAN
StudEx members question handling of Kaiser criticism
KU student body vice president says he has sufficient' office hours
By Seth Jones
Kansan staff writer
Members of the Student Executive Committee who did not sign a letter of complaint detailing alleged inadequacies of Student Body Vice President Scott Kaiser's job performance, expressed disapproval with the manner the complaint was presented.
Copies of the letter handed to Kaiser regarding problems with his performance were passed out by Julie Numrich, StudEx chairwoman. StudEx is a 13-person committee that approves the agenda for each Senate meeting.
Kaiser addressed each problem with his performance individually.
Jennifer Bonicelli, executive secretary, said she didn't like that a letter had to be written to talk about the problems.
"Just come out and say it if you're angry. If people are ever upset with me, please, come tell me, don't just write a letter," she said.
The first complaint in the letter said Kaiser had not served his required office hours.
"I can look in the mirror and tell myself that I've been in the office sufficient time." Kaiser said.
Kaiser provided the group with a sheet outlining where he spends his time serving as vice president. Each week showed him serving from six-and-a-half to 11 1/2 extra hours than necessary. Kaiser said that it may appear that he was shirking responsibilities but that he had spent much of his time attending meetings such as parking board, recreation task force and Lawrence Chamber of Commerce events, among others.
LEGISLATION
PASSED, a bill to allocate $307 to KU Choral Society.
PASSED, a bill to allocate $102 to KU's Mock Trial Team.
TABLED, a bill to create a restricted fee for Legal Services for Students.
PASSED, a bill to allocate $375 to the KU Association for Computing.
At one point, Kaiser said people needed to come talk to him if they had specific concerns.
FAILED, a bill to amend Rules and Regulations, article 3. The bill states that applicants for replacement senator seats only be allowed to apply for one seat.
PASSED BY ACCLAMATION, a resolution concerning the higher education governance structure in the state of Kansas. The resolution asks that the Board of Regents include a student member.
Kaiser went on to address the rest of the problems, from not respecting StudEx's right to set the agenda, to starting meetings late and being biased.
Matt Dunbar, senior holdover senator, said that people had talked to Kaiser but that the problems were not corrected.
"I don't see this letter as a personal attack — we just have some problems we want addressed," he said.
Last spring, Kaiser's compliance with required office hours for the transportation coordinator position he held were questioned by Delta Force coalition members. In turn, the Campus Cause coalition questioned Emily Heath's office-hour service as Center for Community Outreach co-director.
During last spring's campaign, the Student Organization and Leadership Development Center log book, which recorded Kaiser and Heath's hours, showed that each was physically in the office less than their required hours of 20 for Kaiser and 15 for Heath.