Thursday, September 16, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 2
Local students face choice: home or hall?
By Lari O'Toole
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Katie Donnelly always has had the choice of where to sleep, where to eat and where to recover from the flu since she has been at the University of Kansas.
Even though Donnelly's family lives in town, the Lawrence graduate student has had a place of her own throughout college.
But her home and her homeaway-from-home have been just minutes apart, making home-cooked meals, a quiet study atmosphere and her family easily accessible.
"Just to have them right there is great," Donnelly said. She now lives in an off-campus townhouse with two other students. She also lived in Ellsworth Hall as both a resident and a resident assis tant when she was an undergraduate.
Donnelly is not the only Lawrence student who has had to decide whether to live with their parents or live elsewhere while attending the University—a decision that often involves considering issues of independence, privacy and expenses.
In the past five years, the University has had between 800 and 900 Lawrence undergraduates from Lawrence who attended either Lawrence or Free State high schools.
Donnellly said she never considered living with her parents during college and that they encouraged her to experience living on her own.
Her older brother, Chris, a KU graduate, and her younger brother, Joe, a Lawrence senior, have also lived away from home during college.
Donnelly said living close to home had helped her in many ways.
She said she never had to deal with being homesick. Her family also was able to help her in certain situations, such as the time her car was towed at 2 a.m. and she needed a ride.
There was also the time when one of her friends had mononucleosis and Donnelly's family let her stay with them for two weeks to recover.
She said it also was nice to be able to see Brandy, the family dog, who has been to many KU activities, including Homecoming parades.
LOCAL STUDENTS
Number of undergraduates enrolled who attended either Lawrence or Free State High School.
1998: 848
1997: 889
1996: 809
1995: 823
1994: 837
- The figures for 1999 have not yet been tabulated
Source: Institutional Research and Planning
Stephanie Schumm,
Lawrence senior, also has
never lived with her family
while in college. She is now
living in the Pi Beta Phi
house.
She said she loved her family but was ready to get out on her own after high school. Schumm still goes home at least once each weekend to visit
"Luckily I had the choice about where to live," she said. "I know a lot of people who can't afford housing who are still living with their family."
Shawn Pence, Lawrence senior, is one of the students who could not afford to live on his own.
"Money kind of dictated where I was going to live," he said. "It really doesn't matter if I wanted to move out or not. I couldn't afford it. I really didn't get the social aspects of living in a dorm."
Pence said it was difficult when, after his senior year at Lawrence High School, his University-bound friends moved into the residence halls or apartments, and he continued to live with his parents.
He said people always were surprised when he told them he was a college senior living with his parents, but he was not embarrassed about it.
Pence said he and his parents had argued about curfews and communication about his whereabouts, but his family had helped him throughout college.
Although he said he did not regret staying at home, he often thought about what it would have been like to move out.
"Looking back," Pence said, "I would have taken out more student loans for a chance to live in the dorms or an apartment complex."
- Edited by Allan Davis
Gunman kills 7 in Fort Worth
Shooter targets youths attending church service
FORT WORTH, Texas — A man dressed in black walked into a teen-age church service last night, pulled a gun and opened fire. Eight were killed before the gunman fatally shot himself in a church pew.
The Associated Press
"He hits the door real hard to make his presence known, and he just immediately started firing," said Dax Hughes, the church's college minister.
Lt. David Ellis of the Fort Worth Police Department said the man killed three adults and three teen-agers before he killed himself. An eight person died in the hospital. Eight more were hospitalized, some in critical condition, he said.
Police said they did not have a motive for the shooting. They think the man was in his 30s, but they did not know his identity.
Just after the 7 p.m. shooting at Wedgwood Baptist Church, a pipe bomb exploded on a balcony inside the sanctuary, but police did not
About 150 young people were inside the sanctuary for the annual "See You at the Pole" gathering, where students affirm their faith and concern for the problems of society by holding prayer time around their school's flagpole.
know of any injuries. A bomb squad was inspecting several suspicious packages found at the church, Ellis said.
"He was very calm and looked normal and was smoking a cigarette," witness Christy Martin told KDFW-TV. She said the man had long hair and wore a mustache.
Chris Applegate, a seventh grader, said he was in choir practice when the gunman burst into the room.
"We were singing a song, and then in the middle of the song, this guy opened the door and fired one shot," he said. "He just kept telling us to stay still."
"We all just jumped under the benches and he fired about 10 more shots," Applegate said. "Somebody said, 'Run, run,' and we all started running."
When the gunfire ended, Hughes said the man sat in the back pew, put a gun to his head, shot himself and fell down.
Double vision
Travis Cornwell, Leawood senior, and Pete Mohin, Leawood senior, play a game of frisbee golf near the Campanile. They took advantage of the 70-degree weather Monday afternoon. Tomorrow is expected to be mostly cloudy with temperatures in the 70s. Photo by Eric Sahrmann/ KANSAN
Creationists welcome Board's decision
Bv Todd Halstead
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Many students with creationist beliefs gave an thumbs up to the State Board of Education's vote to make evolution theory an optional subject for the public school curriculum.
Phillip Shaw, Philadelphia junior, said that he supported the Board's Aug. 11 decision that has caused a furor throughout the nation.
"It's probably a wise decision because people can still teach evolution if they want," Shaw said.
Shaw said that it was a school's responsibility to teach evolution only as a theory.
He said that the decision gave small towns with large Christian populations an option to disregard theories of evolution. But he said he did not think that students from such towns be at a disadvantage when they enter college.
"For one thing evolution is everywhere. If you turn on the Discovery Channel you get the highs and lows of evolution." Shaw said. "I don't think you need to spend a year in school, as in my case, to learn what evolution is. That's pretty hard core."
R. J. McDaniel, Fort Leavenworth junior, said that he also supported the Board's decision because it was neither the responsibility of public schools to teach evolution nor that of the student to learn evolution theory prior to college.
"It should be the university's job to adjust and not the students," McDaniel said.
John Bacon, Lawrence representative for the Board, said that students from Kansas would be more prepared for college than students from other states as a result of the Board's vote.
"Schools in Kansas will teach evolution as a theory and not a fact," Bacon said. "And so I think what you will have is students coming
in who are a little more open-minded."
Bacon said that he was pleased with the outcome of the Board's vote because there was no evidence for macro-evolution, or evolution involving large steps, of any form, including geological evolution.
The evolution debate
Walking a divergent path
Bacon said that he was more prone to think that the Grand Canyon was created by a large flood such as the one as depicted in the Bible.
"If you look at that canyon there is just no way that a stream like that could have carved that wide of a canyon." Bacon said.
McDaniel, who does not think that humans evolved, said that creationism should be taught in the classroom.
"I would say that Christian creationism should be taught in school because I think it's the truth," he said. "But that is just as opinionated as some who think evolution is the truth."
Trying to avoid selection
David Frayer, professor of physical anthropology, said that people already perceived Kansans as bumpkins and that if Kansas schools chose not to teach evolution, that maybe they were correct in that assumption.
"If you start using the Bible to run the physical world, opposed to moral restrictions, we're going to have a pretty chaotic world," Frayer said.
Paliv Bhana, a Lawrence junior who practices Hinduism, said that it was impossible to teach creationism in public schools because there were so many religions with accounts concerning the creation of the world and humans.
"There are a lot of religions to cover, and you can't teach creationism without leaving some theories out." Bhana said.
She said that evolution should be taught in schools and that it was the student's choice whether or not to accept it as fact.
Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education, Berkeley, Calif., said that she feared that textbook manufacturers would be influenced if they thought that other states and school districts would follow Kansas's lead.
Bacon said that if textbook publishers began downplaying evolution in textbooks that it was up to the local school districts to make decisions on how to teach evolution.
"That's something that hopefully the local school districts will take up and if they feel it is not covered well enough to meet the needs of their community then they are more than welcome to supplement it in some other way," Bacon said.
If you are thinking about what your life is going to be like after graduation we would like to help you figure it out.
- Edited by Matt Gardner
Northwestern Mutual Life/BAIRD The Quiet Company www.northwesternmutual.com
Don't miss this chance to learn about the type of opportunities
that will get you headed in the right direction.
Come check us out at the Business Career Fair Wednesday, September 22 at the Kansas Union.
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Adult Classes In Latin Swing, And Ballroom
DANCE
Children's Classes In Ballet, Tap, Acrobatics Modern, And Jazz
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Get Involved! Get Informed!
Thursday, September 16
Poster Display,
"This is Not an Invitation to Rape Me"
10 a.m. - 3 p.m.; Kansas Union, Traditions Area
Men Speaking Out on Relationships 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m.; KU Visitors' Center Auditorium
For more information about any of these programs, call the Emily Taylor Women Resource Center, Counseling and Psychological Services, Rape Victim Survivor Services, KU Public Safety Office, Dept. of Student Housing, Panhellenic Assn., Interfaternity Council, Assn. Of University Residence Halls, All Scholarship Hall Council, Working Against Violence Everywhere, Concerned Active, and Awake Students and Student Union Activities.
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