Section A • Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, August 20,1998
The Etc. Shop
Brighton® Leather Goods
Accessories
for Men & Women
Belts, Hand Bags, Shoes &
Wallets
Downtown Lawrence
P29 More • #43-081
--chapters are playing host to a few rushes each evening in an attempt to show what it is like to live in a fraternity.
Comic Corner/Battlezone Your Source For All Your Gaming Needs! (AD&D, M:TG, WH40K, Etc. 1000 Massachusetts 841-4294
Formal rush changes format
Men sample greek life
By Sarah Hale
Kanson staff writer
Between visiting houses and sitting through meetings, the men who went through formal rush had a look at the real fraternity experience.
In past years, the rushees visited chapters by day and stayed at the Ramada Inn, 2222 W. Sixth St., by night. This year, partly because of the high cost of staying at a hotel, the men are staying at various fraternity houses.
Formal rush started Saturday and ended yesterday evening. The men find out today which chapter they will join.
Seventeen of the 23 fraternities are going through formal rush this year for the 47 men who began the process. Nine of these
"We don't really have that much time to plan things to do with them," said Ron Colbert, rush chairman for Phi Kappa Theta fraternity, which has three rushees. "But every night, we sat up and talked, played PlayStation or watched TV."
Though Colbert said he saw the advantages of having the rushees stay in the houses, he also said there were disadvantages. He mainly was worried about how a rushee felt when the house in which he was staying didn't want him in the fraternity. Colbert also said he thought that the rushees would be biased toward the chapter with which they were staying.
"They need to either have the guys go back to the Ramada or just change the system," Colbert said. "Not only is it biased, but how would you feel if a house cut
you and you still had to stay there?"
The rushees were randomly placed in each of the nine houses. Colbert said they should have the option of staying with numerous houses.
Every year, many Kansas high school seniors go through an informal rush process in which they visit a specific fraternity and spend time with the men. Usually, they find out about a house from a friend or a family member, said Matt Haverkamp, vice president for recruitment on the Interfraternity Council. In May, the chapters ask the seniors to join the fraternity.
Any University of Kansas man interested in joining a fraternity chapter may still do so at any point throughout the year. Contact the Interfraternity Council for more information about informal rush and about being put on the rush list. The phone number is 864-3559.
Medical students aid agencies
Bv Sue Franke
Kansan staff writer
Twenty-nine University of Kansas Medical Center students stepped out of the classroom and away from their comfort zones by reaching out to the needy and disadvantaged in the Kansas City area this summer through a community health project.
The students, who are between their first and second year of medical school, spent eight weeks at social-service agencies in Kansas and Missouri. They worked in places such as Kansas City Hospice and the Kansas Jaycees Cerebral Palsy Ranch in Augusta.
tor of the student-run program.
Although traditional first-year medical education focuses on how the healthy body works, this project gave students an opportunity to look at the mental, social and family health of patients.
Students provided agencies with educational and research support, said Danielle Stebbins, Olathe second-year medical student and direc-
Melissa Brickman, Lenexa second-year medical student, taught prenatal classes for The Light House, a Kansas City, Mo., residence for pregnant girls aged 15 to 19. She also helped the girls sign up for day-care services.
"As my project, I developed a resource booklet, which includes information on stages of child development, how to look for a day care, including questions you should ask, how to establish a day care in your home and information on Medicaid and housing," she said.
Brickman worked at The Light House four days a week, eating meals with the girls and taking them on errands. She also went through a Lamaze class with one resident for 1 1/2 months.
Jason Wichman, Manhattan second-year medical student, said that working with the Sunflower House,
Stebbins said the community health project gave future physicians the resources to make referrals for patients.
a child-abuse prevention center, was an eye-opening experience.
"We saw people from every income bracket. The experience helped me learn how to deal with people in crisis," he said. "I didn't want to think that this was happening around me in my little world."
For his project, Wichman developed a parents' handbook that defines sexual abuse and includes resources and advice about how a parents can help their child recover.
Wichman said that after working at Sunflower House, he became interested in practicing pediatrics as a physician.
These are once-in-a-lifetime experiences, said Chris Brown, Kansas City, Kan., second-year medical student and program director.
"When would someone normally come into contact with a terminally ill person and have a chance to talk with them and not be pressed for time?" he said. "When you get into the frustration of medicine, you can fall back on the good parts of these experiences."