CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, October 16, 1995
3A
Screenplay writer will lecture at KU
Poet says creativity is hurt by technology
By Novelda Sommers Kansan staff writer
Al Young says creativity is something people either use or lose.
And Young, an author and poet who lives in Palo Alto, Calif., says U.S. citizens are losing their capacity to be imaginative.
Young will lead an informal discussion about writing at 4 p.m. Wednesday in 4034 Wescoe Hall. He will read from his works at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
"Because we spend so much time in front of screens — movie, television and computer — we have become addicted to pre-structured thinking." Young said.
He said Hollywood often promoted negative stereotypes, particularly those of African-American males.
"If you are an African-American male looking at yourself through movies and TV, you see yourself as a drug dealer, an absentee father, a thug, a pimp or sometimes an athlete or a politician," he said.
Young wants people to start talking and reading more and spending less time in front of the television.
Al Young
"Everyone is plugged in and logged on, but people are not communicating," he said.
"We revere the neatness of the laser-printed word.
And while he is not a technophobe — he uses a computer for most of his work — Young likes to use a typewriter to write letters and writes most of his poetry by hand.
but handwriting is more magical," he said.
"I suppose that could serve as a metaphor for what I am saying. There is this uniformity of thinking that disturbs me a lot."
Carolyn Doty, associate professor of English, is in charge of Young's visit, which was organized by the Readers and Lecturers Committee in the department of English. An endowment fund established to help the department bring lecturers to the University is financing the visit.
"I think he would be interesting to almost anybody," Doty said. "He just has a lot of presence."
Young has written or edited 20 books of fiction and poetry. He also has written or collaborated on eight screenplays, including "A Piece of the Action," starring Bill Cosby and Sidney Poilier and "Bustin' Loose," starring Richard Pryor and Cicely Tyson.
Computer thefts continue
Hardware stolen from employee-only areas
By Scott Worthington Kansan staff writer
More than $2,000 of computer equipment was stolen recently from the Computer Center.
The theft occurred between Sept. 27 and Oct. 4, according to a KU police report. Unknown persons entered an employeesonly room and took $2,263 of computer equipment that was still in a shipping box. No force was used to enter the room, which requires an access code.
The stolen items were: 16 megabytes of RAM, a hard drive, a Pentium CPU chip, a power cord, a mouse, software, instructional manuals and a video RAM board.
Since March, about $9,000 of computer equipment has been stolen.
The thefts have been similar. RAM memory is usually among the items taken, and
the thefts have been from areas only employees could access. Because no force was used to enter the rooms, employees could be among those responsible, said Jerry Niebaum, executive director of information and technology services.
David Gardner, director of the Computer Center, said he could not speculate if the thefts were related.
"It's very frustrating for us," Gardner said. "We're considering options, things we can do to prevent this."
Cindy Alliss of the KU police said that despite the similarities, the department must treat the thefts as unrelated.
The KU police investigation has prompted the American Civil Liberties Union to become involved in the case. ACLU representatives said last month that Computer Center employees contacted them about possible police mistreatment.
Tom Leininger/KANSAN
Dick Kurtenbach, director of the ACLU for Kansas and western Missouri, said last week the ACLU would proceed with an investigation of the department.
Charles Spahr chats with members of Theta Tau engineering fraternity after speaking Friday at Green Hall. Spahr spoke about his experience as an engineer and businessman and about his longstanding association with the University of Kansas.
Alumnus speaks about his life
Standard Oil C.E.O. has been associated with KU for six decades
By David Teska Kansan staff writer
Charles Spahr has an association with the University of Kansas that stretches back more than 60 years.
Spahr, former Chief Executive Officer of Standard Oil Co. of Ohio, spoke Friday to a group of more than 40 engineering students and faculty during his visit at KU. He reminisced about the many changes he has witnessed during his life, which began Oct. 8, 1913, the same day the first commercial ship passed through the Panama Canal, he said.
Much has changed since his time at KU, Spahr said. When he graduated in 1934 with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering, the University only had 3,700 students and 87 in his engineering class, he said. Because the University did not have male residence halls, Spahr said he had to rent a room at a boarding house.
maintained close ties with the University and the School of Engineering. In 1990, he and his wife, Mary Jane, pledged $1 million for an addition to the Spahr Engineering Library, named for him in 1988. Spahr is an honorary life member of the school's advisory
Since graduating from KU, Spahr has
Spahr went to work for the Standard Oil Co. of Ohio in 1939. He stayed with the company for his entire career, with the exception of wartime service in the Army Corps of Engineers. Spahr retired from the company in 1977. At Standard, he helped negotiate
million. He recalled his family's first car, an Oldsmobile sedan that had no air conditioning.
He said the students should expect to see continued change in their lives and that the changes would likely be more accelerated.
"Believe in your ability to solve problems."
the construction the Alaska Pipeline which supplies the United States with 17 percent of its oil.
During his speech, Spahr recalled the many changes he had seen in his life, saying that when he was born, people still used horses for farming and transportation, airplanes took off from grass runways and the United States had a population of approximately 95
Charles Spehr formerStandardOil C.E.O.
opnair also passed some advice on to students entering the engineering field, saying that they could contribute to solutions and that they shouldn't be discouraged when things went wrong.
"Believe in your ability to solve problems," Spahr said.
Angela Jones, Wheatland, Wyo., senior and chapter president of Theta Tau, an engineering fraternity, said Spahr's speech was very motivating. He stressed that honesty was the best answer, Jones said.
Yet Spahr said that engineering students still could contribute to helping to make a better world, saying there was much science and engineering had to do if the world was to be a better place.
GSP floor residents start escort program
Walks from parking lot made in twos for safety
By Phillip Brownlee Kansan staff writer
Walking alone through a dark parking lot can be scary and dangerous. That's why a wing at Gertrude Sellards Pearson Hall has organized a buddy system to protect its residents. Second floor west at GSP has started a system in which its residents ride with each other when they have to park at night. With the arrangement, students temporarily
park in front of GSP, then call someone from their wing to come down and ride with them to their parking spot.
There usually aren't available spots in the GSP parking lot late at night, said Rosie Mauch, Bettendorf, Iowa. freshman. As a result, residents have to park down the street in areas that aren't well lighted.
"It's kind of freaky," Mauch said. "I've only parked when I've had people with me, or I wouldn't know what I'd do."
The escort service was the idea of Shafina Charania, Nairobi, Kenya, junior and the wing's resident assistant. Of the 37 women on her wing, 17 have signed up to be buddies.
"It made them feel more comfortable," Charania said.
Amie Kruse, Sterling freshman, said that she carried a small canister of mace when she walked through the parking lot, but she preferred walking with someone else.
"When there is more than one person, I feel safer," she said.
"It's definitely something that all residence halls could benefit from," Kruse said. "It is not just GSP that is in a dangerous position."
Both Kruse and Charania said they thought the buddy system could be expanded to include other wings and other residence halls.
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