THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2006
NEWS
STUDENT HOUSING
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Housing requires change
Students from small towns learn to make the transition to living on campus with populations larger than graduating classes
BY MATT ELDER
For some University of Kansas students, the transition can be difficult from small-town life to college, where residence halls that contain upwards of 900 students can have populations that exceed those of their hometowns.
Megan Fowler, Fredonia freshman, said that while she missed the simple pleasures and comforts of home, she was eager for the change the University had provided after two weeks of calling Lawrence home. While Megan's new home in Rieger Scholarship Hall houses more people than her graduating class of 43, she has welcomed the new faces.
"It's been great," she said. "The scholarship hall is such a small community in itself, it helps to ease the transition. It's just weird not seeing the same kids I've known since preschool."
For Em Franzenburg, Keystone, Iowa, junior, the move into Oliver Hall her freshman year meant she would be living with more people than her high school's entire student population. While she said she was excited about her transition to the University, she said the change of scenery was the complete opposite of small-town life.
"All the stereotypes are true," she said. "Basically you know everyone and everything about them."
While the Department of Student Housing is aware that the transition can be difficult for freshmen coming from small towns, it chooses not to make the transition a factor during the placement process for resident halls.
"We don't take hometown considerations specifically," said Eric Grospitch, associate director of the Department of Housing Administration. "It's based on applications and their arrival time for fairness."
Although Franzenberg's application left her in a residence hall that housed nearly as many people as her graduating class on a single floor, she said the abrupt change in living was one she wouldn't give up for anything.
"It's a nice change to lose yourself a bit," she said.
Franzenberg helped smooth her transition to college life by visiting her older brother at the University before she arrived, however, many students from small communities don't have the luxury of the same stress-free transition to college.
The campus group Kansas Connections was created in 2005 to help ease this progression. While the group most often attracts students from western Kansas, its members
are as diverse as the campus itself.
"We made a point to not define 'small town,'" said Wendy Rohleder-Sook, pre-law associate director at the Freshman-Sophomore Advising Center and Kansas Connections sponsor. "The mission is to get kids connected with the University in the broadest sense. We may be that first jumping-off point to move to other possibilities."
The group has many opportunities for students in the program, including mentoring with upperclassmen, internships and campus leadership positions.
Acting as both a social and academic resource to students, the group aims to provide the communal comfort of a small town in a large university atmosphere, said Nathan Ladd, Effingham senior and Kansas Connections president.
"it's nice to know that there are others that share in coming from a small community," he said.
Kansas Connections's first meeting of the year will be at 7 tonight in the Relays Room of the Burge Union.
Kansan staff writer Matt Elder can be contacted at melder@kansan. com.
> GREEK LIFE
Edited by Nicole Kelley
Sororities report higher rate of recruitment dropouts
BY MATT ELDER
While the year's formal sorority recruitment was considered "overall a success" by Laura Bauer, program director for fraternity and sorority life, more than 250 students dropped during the first two days.
"What we did see this year that hasn't happened before is a significant number of women who released themselves from the process before it really got started," Bauer said.
Each house offered four fewer bids than last year. While the decline seems minimal, Bauer said that the drop could potentially affect budgets, living space and conditions, and philanthropy options because there were fewer women in the sororities.
The number of women who
Of the 802 women who registered for the 2006 fall formal recruitment process, only 550 of the women stayed long enough to join houses. Many of the 252 women who left early decided after only one or two events that sorority life wasn't for them, Bauer said.
joined during formal recruitment this year is down from 572 in 2005, and a difference of 22 women has a larger impact on the Greek community than it would seem. While 48 women received invitations from each chapter during formal recruitment last year, only 44 invitations were allowed from each individual chapter this year because there were fewer recruits overall.
"We always want to try and keep our numbers pretty consistent from year to year," Bauer said. "This is something we will definitely be looking into."
Celie Wall, Greensboro, N.C., sophomore, was one of the women who left during the process's initial days. She attributes her early departure to recruitment's demand on her time.
"It just seemed like I had so many other things to do that week," she said. "I'd just moved in, hadn't gotten books and didn't even really know my schedule."
Besides the time commitment required during formal recruitment week. Bauer said she thought the complexity of the process may have
driven many of the women away during the first few days.
we try to counsel and help them, but sometimes it's difficult to understand why things happen the way things do," she said.
Sixty current sorority members were available during recruitment to help potential members. Recruitment counselors were asked to be unaffiliated with their houses for the entire week.
New online registration procedures may also be responsible for the decline of interest. Instead of paying registration fees online, recruits were required to send a check in the mail. Bauer said it was an extra step in the process that may have caused women to spend their time and money elsewhere.
Bauer and members of the Panhellenic Association are still searching for ways to bring higher numbers for next year's class.
Kansan staff writer Matt Elder can be contacted at melder@kansan. com.
Edited by Aly Barland
MIDDLE EAST
Iran to meet with European Union officials to discuss nuclear program
BY GEORGE JAHN ASSOCIATED PRESS
VIENNA, Austria — The EU's foreign policy chief and Iran's senior nuclear negotiator tentatively agreed late Monday to meet in two days in Vienna to try to bridge differences about Tehran's nuclear program, U.N. and European officials said.
The officials, who asked for anonymity for discussing confidential information with The Associated Press, stressed the date and venue still could change despite initial agreement to meet Wednesday in
While word leaked last week that the Iranians had agreed to meet with the EU's Javier Solana to explore potential chances of solving the impasse, the time and venue are officially being kept secret in an apparent attempt not to jeopardize any chance of their success.
Asked to confirm the reports, Solana's spokeswoman Cristina Gallach would say only that "the lines of communications are being kept open" between the two sides.
At issue is Tehran's refusal to consider freezing uranium enrichment,
the Austrian capital.
a potential pathway to nuclear weapons, despite a demand by the U.N. Security Council.
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On Thursday, the last day of a council deadline for Iran to suspend enrichment, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Tehran had failed to do so, despite the threat of U.N. sanctions.
The talks between Solana and Iran's Ali Larijani are seen as the last chance to explore the possibility of a negotiated solution to the standoff before the council actively begins work on such sanctions.
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