Tomorrow's weather
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Kansan
Cool and mostly cloudy tomorrow with a chance for rain.
Monday
November 2, 1998
Section:
A
Vol. 109 • No. 51
Online today
It's almost time to vote, so make sure you know the skinny on all of the candidates. You can get information on the UDKi at:
Sports today
http://www.kansa.com/extra
Junior transfer Brian Jensen finished fifth at the Big 12 Cross Country Championships Saturday in Lincoln, Neb.
SEE PAGE 1B
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
(USPS 650-640)
Water covers a field south of Louisiana and 31st streets. Lousiana Street, which becomes County Road 1400 south of the intersection, was closed because the area is prone to flooding. A weekend of rain turned the road into a pond. Photo by Jay Sheperd/KANSAN
Weekend rain dampens fun, games for students
Weather Service says precipitation should end today
By Chad Bettes Kansan staff writer
Dampening the festivities of the football game and Halloween, rain started falling Saturday morning and continued throughout much of the weekend.
Bill Barlow, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Topeka, predicted the rain would finally taper off today around midday after pouring as much as six inches of rain in the area.
Two and a half to four inches fell from Saturday at midnight to 5 p.m. yesterday.
The National Weather Service issued a flood warning for the area yesterday that started at 9:30 a.m. and extended until 10 p.m.
Barlow said a flood warning was different from a flash flood warning in that a
flood warning usually occurs during extended rainfalls rather than thunderstorms.
"Flood warnings mean you should be alert around ...
dirt in the creeks and streams," he said. "And some roadways may be under water."
An operator at the Lawrence Police Department said there were no road closings in Lawrence as of
PRECIPITATION
Rainfall this weekend:
Saturday: 2.5-4"
Sunday: as much as 6"
Rainfall to date in
Topeka:
This year: 38
Past years' average: 32
yesterday afternoon, but several roads were closed in areas outside of Lawrence in Douglas County.
Tim Wood, Overland Park sophomore, said he attended about half of the Kansas football game against K-State before leaving. He said that during the first quarter the rain was just drizzle, but by the second quarter, it was coming down harder.
"It wasn't too bad until you got completely saturated." Wood said.
Wood attended the game with a group of about 10 students. Several left the game, but some stuck it out until the end, he said. "A lot of people went to an apartment where the game was on," Wood said. "It was a lot drier and warmer there."
Barlow provided year-to-date rainfall totals for the Topeka area because Lawrence totals were not immediately available. He said 38 inches of rain had fallen so far this year, compared to the average of 32 inches for this time.
The year started out fairly dry through May but has reversed since then, he said. The change has been due to storms that were slow-moving but brought heavy rainfall.
Barlow said the hurricanes in other areas of the country had little or no effect on the rainfall here.
At least one area river is expected to go over its banks. Barlow predicted a crest of 25 feet in the Wakarau River, which is two feet above its flood stage.
"There will be a lot of runoff for the next 12 to 18 hours that will cause rivers and streams to rise." Barlow said.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
In the fall of 1995, Chancellor Robert Hemenway addressed University of Kansas faculty and staff during his first faculty convocation. In that speech, Hemenway outlined his vision of the University of Kansas—the vision of a great university. Hemenway said that for KU to be a great university, it must do 10 things in the coming years. To gauge the progress, the Kansan offers this "Chancellor Hemenway Grade Card," which includes a look at these 10 goals and a grade from those working to implement each one. The series will end with an evaluation from some University notables, such as Provost David Shulenburger and Kevin Yoder, student body president, and other members of the University community—students, faculty and staff.
Fewer National Merit Scholars decide to become Jayhawks
"My vision of KU is that of a great university. To be
a great university we must .. increase the number of National Merit Scholars enrolling in the freshman class to 100 within the next five years. We will have to raise private scholarship funds to do so, but we will also need your commitment to the undergraduate experience."
Chancellor Robert Hemenway 1995 Faculty Convocation address
By Melody Ard
By Melody Ard
Kansan staff writer
in 1995, Chancellor Robert Hemenway outlined his goals for the University in his convocation speech. Increasing the number of National Merit Scholars enrolled at the University to 100 was one of 10 things he wanted to accomplish by 2000.
Part of the Chancellor's 10-point plan suffered a setback this fall when the number of National Merit Scholars enrolled at the University of Kansas dropped by 25 students from last year.
Sixty-three scholars enrolled this fall down from 88 last year. The decrease ended a trend of a yearly increase that began in 1994. It was also the largest drop recorded since 1981, the earliest date records were available.
Although Hemenway said this year's numbers presented an obstacle in fulfilling the plan, he said he still thought it was an attainable goal. He said the University would have to take a more aggressive approach to recruiting the scholars.
Hemenway said that members of the faculty and the administration had been thinking of new ways this fall to lure more National Merit Scholars to the University, and that scholarship packages might make the University more competitive.
"There has been some discussion about the size of the scholarships." Hemenway said. "We have been offering good-sized scholarships, but other institutions have been offering more. One of the things we could do is increase the size of our scholarship so it is closer to a free ride."
Currently, the University's scholarship for National Merit Scholarships is $5,000, with the possibility of more money made available on a financial-need basis.
agreed that the goal was attainable and said the University boosted National Merit Scholar enrollment by nearly 30 in 1987.
Alan Cerveny, director of admissions,
"I would say that fluctuation in this kind of recruiting is not unusual," he said. "We'll see what happens, but I think we should see the goal realized."
Cerveny said numbers varied from year to year, and increases and decreases could be larger as the number of scholars enrolled increased.
Cerelysa said age probably would help sway more of the National Merit Scholars who considered more than one comparable school, but he also said the University had done a good job of picking up people for reasons other than money.
"We are looking at ways to
Cerveny said a bigger scholarship pack-
create a more enticing package," he said. "I know that we have some students saying that the scholarship package at another school is bigger, but they (really) like KU."
Pamela Wyssenbach, Wichita freshman, was a National Merit Scholar who chose the University not for the scholarship package but for the convenience of an instate school and options offered on campus.
She said that she was offered more money elsewhere, but that she liked the academic opportunities and the environment she found at KU.
Watson Library remains open
Generator is power source after transformer blows
By Sarah Hale
Kansan staff writer
A large generator feeding power to Watson Library might cause students walking by to notice more noise than usual today.
The generator is replacing the lost power of a missing transformer, which burned out about 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
The library reopened Friday morning, but the transformer has not been fixed.
"We've been searching nationwide to try and get another transformer," said Bob Porter, associate director of facilities operations. "We're going to Lyons, Kan., Monday to look at one that they have there."
Porter said that if the transformer in Lyons could replace the one that is broken, then the replacement cost would be about $6,000 plus transportation and installation charges. Using the Lyons transformer would also allow the replacement to be done within the week.
If the Lyons transformer doesn't fit, then the University would have to have another one made, which would cost at least $18,000. Porter said that making another transformer could take a few weeks.
Watson has two transformers in the building. The one that burned out handled the air conditioning, the ventilation and most of the electricity.
Porter said that facilities operations'
employees thought that the transformer had problems because of the campus power failure Wednesday.
A blown transformer at 19th and Louisiana streets caused about half the buildings on campus to lose power Wednesday, Porter said. He said that the blown transformer also put stress on Watson's transformer.
He said that one of three windings directed into the transformer's core caught on fire and burned.
Dan Magill, Keller, Texas, freshman, said that Thursday evening he tried to go to Watson, but it was closed.
"It was really inconvenient because I had caught the campus night express at about 10 p.m." Magill said. "When I got there and saw that it was closed, I had to wait about 30 minutes for the next bus."
Magill said that he needed to do research about welfare for an English 101 paper. The assignment was supposed to be due today, but his teacher extended the deadline because of the problems at Watson.
"I still need to go to the library," Magill said. "Hopefully, everything will be up and running."
The weekend's rainstorm shouldn't cause any additional problems to the generator. Porter said that the generator was designed for outside wear and tear.
"If this rain would just stop, it would help," he said. "We tend to have extra problems after a hard rain."
wason Library is open from 8 a.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday; 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to midnight Sunday.
Trick or treat!
Jennifer Ogden, Salina junior, dressed as the Easter Bunny, takes a break from handing out candy and talks to Cameron Mercer, Phoenix, Ariz., sophomore. Halloween costumes could be seen all over campus last Friday. Photo by Graham K. Johnson/KANSAN