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Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin was slain Monday while swimming with a stingray. Irwin was filming a new TV show when the animal's spine punctured his heart.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOL.117 ISSUE 14
THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
8A
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 1A
Nothin' but net
Garth Burns, Leavenworth senior, catches a small butterfly near Clinton Lake yesterday. The entomology student spent his Labor Day afternoon collecting specimens that he could use for his personal collection. Burns tries to collect two to three times a week, but took advantage of the holiday to search multiple locations.
TEXTBOOKS
Professor battles publishers for better prices
Biology students benefit from instructor's efforts to keep a cost of education from affecting strained college budgets
BY KYLE CARTER
By his own estimate, Craig Martin spent nearly 20 hours gathering bids to make the textbook for his course more affordable.
"I used to be a poor student myself," said Martin, a professor of biology, "and a very, very poor one at that."
Martin sent two publishing companies into a bidding war to print the textbook for his "Principles of Biology" class. He said he was motivated to spend time working the price down because he felt the original price was too high: About $95 from most publishers.
"My impression is that these companies are gouging students." Martin
said. "The increase over time of textbook prices has been disproportionate, I think, to rises in the cost of living."
cost of training
jessica Thornburgh,
Auburn junior, saved
nearly $50 on her
Biology textbook this
fall because of Martin's
efforts. Thornburgh usually spends about $300 a semester on books for her classes.
"I've never had a teacher who's gone out of his way to help students like that," she said. "I probably would've still gotten the book, but I
Martin
According to The College Board, the organization responsible for the SAT and Advanced Placement tests, the average student spends about $800 to $900 a year on textbooks and supplies. To minimize these costs, many students are buying books online or directly from other students
was expecting to spend a lot more."
Some even try to get by without textbooks for certain classes.
Martin sent e-mails to two sales representatives, one from The Benjamin Cummings Publishing Company and the other from The Thomson Corporation, asking each if their companies could beat the other's offer. Martin said that both companies lowered the price the first few times he contacted them but both claimed they could go no lower than $55.
Then Martin sent the two representatives the same e-mail explaining that he had played them off each other. He asked for one final markdown. The representative for the Benjamin Cummings Publishing Company replied that he could not
lower the price any further. The representative also sent a presentation comparing the texts and questioning the academic qualifications of the other textbooks author.
Martin said he thought both texts were superb.
The Thomson Corporation's representative came back with a final offer of $47 and Martin signed a contract agreeing to use the book for the three subsequent fall semesters that he taught the course. He said that although he felt his efforts were worthwhile because he saved students
SEE TEXTBOOKS ON PAGE 3A
ACTIVISM
Skaters fight ban of boards on campus Longboard riders want to modify city ordinance
BY BEN SMITH
Casey Millstein is tired of being pulled over by campus police and she's out to change an ordinance that makes it illegal to skateboard on campus.
Millstein, Baldwin City senior, is a longboarder and has been riding her longboard on campus since her freshman year.
"Gas is expensive and I'm just using it as a mode of transportation," said Millstein. "And yet the cops keep pulling me over."
Since August 1987, with the most recent amendment in July 1996, the city of Lawrence has prohibited skateboards from certain public areas including the University of Kansas campus along Jayhawk Boulevard. The restricted area stretches from West Campus Road to 13th Street and includes 1,000 feet on either side of the street.
In the past two years, Millstein said she was stopped seven times by police for ignoring the signs saying "NO SKATEBOARDING."
"They've threatened to take our boards away," said Millstein, as she and her two friends and fellow boarders Eric Dobbins, Lawrence senior, and Ashley Rinella, Glenview, Ill., senior, skated Monday morning along Jayhawk Boulevard. "They treat us like we're 13-year-old punks."
But Millstein is frustrated because the longboard she chooses to ride is not a skateboard in her opinion.
According to urbandictionary. com, a longboard is different from a regular skateboard because it can be designed for speedboarding, transportation, slalom, carving, sliding, boardwalking and racing of any other kind.
Eric Dobbins, Lawrence senior said that longboards were not intended for the type of tricks that caused property damage or injury.
"You can't jump or do many tricks on a longboard. They're too heavy," Dobbins said. This is due to the boards' larger wheels and elevated trucks, which are the axle-like structures that attach the wheels to the board, he said.
Capt. Schuyler Bailey of the KU
SEE SKATERS ON PAGE 3A
Classifieds... 6B
Crossword... 7B
Horoscopes... 7B
Opinion... 7A
Sports... 1B
Sudoku... 7B
All contents, unless stated otherwise,
© 2008 The University Daily Kansas
KU students wave the wheat after a touchdown during Saturday's game at Memorial Stadium. KU beat the Northwestern State Demons 49-18
Kansas earns first victory of season
After falling behind early, Kansas bounced back to defeat Northwestern State 49-18 Saturday.
Redshirt-freshman
Senior running back Jon Cornish led the Jayhawks with 140 yards, highlighted by a 69-yard touchdown run in the second half.
quarterback Kerry Meier opened his career by completing 8-of-18 passes for 110 yards.
Despite blunders in the first quarter, the special teams set up the Jayhawks'first touch(own) and scored the second.
V
For complete coverage, see pages 1B, 4B and 5B.
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