THE UNIVERSITY OF DARTMOUTH KANSAS
FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2006
NEWS
5A
POLITICS
Hitting the campaign trail
Ryan McGeeney/KANSAN
Ashley Lynd, KU Director of the Kansas Democratic Party, prepares materials for campus outreach. According to Lynd, the KDP's primary goals are to register voters and to recruit volunteers.
BY ERIN CASTANEDA
Political passion has taken some students out of the classroom and into campaign election offices as Republican and Democratic campaigns are gearing up for the general elections, which will take place Nov. 7 to determine the next governor, attorney general and secretary of state.
Beth Innes, Phillipsburg 2005 graduate, took this fall semester off to continue working for Congressman Dennis Moore's (D-Kan.) campaign. She started working on it in June and will return next year for her master's degree in international affairs.
"I don't think you can do school and work on a campaign." Innes said. "You could, but that's not what we do. I took off school to get experience in politics, and I am going back."
Innes said she always thought about being involved in politics. She said working on a campaign was a good starting ground for her future.
Her time on the campaign has taught her she can make an impression on important local issues.
"A lot of people stay out of politics, but if you get involved you can make a difference" she said.
Ashley Lynd, Overland Park 2006 graduate, works with Innes. She was hired specifically to work on campus representing the Democratic party.
She said campus was a great place to find potential voters, though she recognized the 18 to 25 age group had a notoriously low voter turnout. Her plan was to make it easier for students to register to vote and to be interested in the issues.
For her, one of the most important issues was student financial aid because funding for it is being cut.
"If I was still in school, I don't know if I could afford it anymore," she said.
Another student has decided to stay in school while still devoting his time to working for on an election campaign.
carpe diem.
Scott Paradise, Shawnee sophmore, works for the Republican party. He is taking 16 hours this fall
People constantly hear how bad things are. Kids don't care. We have to make them care.
SCOTT PARADISE
Shawnee sophomore
and working about 20 to 25 hours on the campaign for Congressman Chuck Ahner (R-Kan.).
Paradise is working on obtaining a business degree, but his love for politics is what got him involved. He
"It was not a career move but what I liked," Paradise said. "I honestly had fun doing it."
said he got an early start volunteering in the 2004 elections.
He said the primary elections in Aug. were a big victory for the Republican party, and it has increased interest and his workload. This fall, his focus will turn to Douglas County and the University of Kansas where he said he plans to reach college students.
"People constantly hear how bad things are," Paradise said. "Kids don't care. We have to make them care."
Money denied for research
SCIENCE
BY ANNA FALTERMEIER
Renowned English biologist Thomas Huxley once said, "The great tragedy of science — the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact."
There is now an ugly fact facing the University of Kansas.
The National Science Foundation recently denied the renewal of a $17 million grant dedicated to the University's Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis, 1501 Wakaraus Drive.
The University received a five-year, $17 million grant in 2003 to fund their research. It was not in the contract with the NSF that the University receive five additional years of funding after the first five years were up, but it was a possibility.
give little regard to energy efficiency or effects on the environment.
The NSF conducted an evaluation of the CEBC in April. The NSF's evaluation report cited some of the center's problems as "failure to develop new and innovative concepts", faculty members that are "pursuing their own agenda" rather than growing as a team, and development of chemical processes that
"It is always a disappointment whenever a grant proposal is not successful," said Bala Subramaniam, CEBC director, in an interview done by e-mail. "However, our center's mission is very much alive; we are in the third year of funding and still have two years of funding remaining."
Subramaniam said the CEBC would receive NSF funding through 2008. He said they would receive close to $15 million instead of the original $17 million laid out in the grant.
According to the CEBC Web site there are about 20 KU faculty and 18 graduate students on staff with the CEBC.
Subramanian said the graduate students at the CEBC would continue working for at least the next two years and the CEBC would continue to recruit new graduate students.
"The non-renewal means that we have to develop funding from alternate sources to continue projects beyond five years and for new research initiatives," Subramaniam said. It's unclear where funding will
Lynn Bretz, director of university communications, said the center felt they'd done good research so far.
come from.
Bretz said, since October 2003 the CEBC has developed a new process to recover platinum from aged fuel cells, novel bleaching agents and nanomaterials for gas storage applications. Among other accomplishments, they've also developed a drug to treat narcolepsy.
She said the $17 million, five year grant the University received in 2003 was one of only four grants awarded to more than one hundred research foundations that applied for the grant.
"This does not mean that KU won't receive funding from the NSP again." Bretz said.
Last year the University's Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets received a grant for $19 million from the NSF.
Kansan staff writer Anna Faltermeier can be contacted at afaltermeier@kansan.com.
- Edited by Erin Wiley
CRIME
Teen actor faces jail time
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GLENDALE, Calif. - Teen actor Haley Joel Osment, who suffered a broken rib last month when his car struck a mailbox, faces up to six months in jail on charges that he was driving drunk and possessing marijuana, authorities said.
Osment's blood-alcohol level after the July 20 crash was measured at .16, twice the legal limit, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
The 18-year-old actor was charged Thursday with misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence, marijuana possession and driving under the influence with the special allegation of having a blood-alcohol content of .15 percent or higher. He also faces a vehicle code infraction of being under the age of 21 and driving with a blood-alcohol level of .05 or greater.
Osment was scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 19 in Glendale Superior Court.
His attorney will work with authorities to arrange a time for the star of such films as "The Sixth Sense" and "Pay it Forward" to surrender, Robison said. The district attorney plans to request that bail be set at $15,000.
DreamWorks spokesman and family friend Marvin Levy was out of his office Thursday and did not immediately return a call or comment. He said Wednesday that Osment has recovered from his injuries and is preparing to attend college in the fall.
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