Prices for student sports packages increase by $25.
Students take time away from school to help out with the election campaigns for national candidates.
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FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
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THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
How Equality? How Dyble
VOL.117,ISSUE3
PAGE1A
National council picks new provost
Provost Richard Lariviere has been elected to one of the nation's top independent groups on foreign affairs. He will serve alongside former President Bill Clinton, former Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright on the Council on Foreign Relations.
See the full story on page 3A
》 CONSTRUCTION
Wescoe air not cause of brain tumors
BY MARK VIERTHALER
If an environmental factor in Wesco Hall caused brain tumors in five faculty members with offices in the building, it wasn't the air, a University of Kansas-comissioned study said.
According to the health study released by Stewart Industrial Hygiene and Safety, Inc., there was nothing in the air that could be connected with the tumors.
However, the study did find various pockets throughout the building where there was no air movement.
Don Steeples, vice provost for scholarly support, said there are still no environmental factors tied to the tumors.
"At this point, we don't have any indication that the building is unsafe or unhealthy." Steeples said. "We very clearly had indications that
there were air movement problems."
To address this problem, Steeples said the University had already made basic changes, including increasing the ventilation of the building.
He said the University was a long way from being able to completely revamp the system within the building.
"We're in the process of designing remediation measures," Steeples said. "We're trying to figure out
what's going to cost, where and how we're going to get the money to do it. It's probably going to take at least two fiscal years to get the funds."
He said the increased ventilation would cause some temperature issues mostly in faculty offices. During the winter, the rooms will tend to run cold. During the summer, hot.
Robert Elliott, assistant to the chair of the English department,
said that even though his office won't be moving during the renovations the studies really haven't had much of an affect on his concerns.
"Since there's no clear cause for brain tumors, we've generally expected that testing would be inconclusive," he said. "I think the people who were worried before are still worried. Others, not so much."
SEE WESCOE ON PAGE 4A
RESIDENCE HALLS
Wireless networks popular, illegal
BY NATE MCGINNIS
Several students living in campus housing have used computer routers to set up personal wireless Internet networks, in direct violation of ResNet service contracts.
In an informal investigation, the Kansan found wireless networks in Templin and McCollum halls, and Watkins, Sellards, Douthart, Stephenson, K.K. Amiini and Margaret Amiini scholarship halls. The most wireless networks were in Stephenson and Douthart scholarship halls, with three and two respectively. Throughout the year, ResNet may perform its own investigations.
"The main issue with wireless individual networks is security," said Chuck LaPointe, coordinator of ResNet.
Jason Cook, Dodge City junior and ResNet employee, said security was only part of the problem with personal wireless networks.
LaPointe explained that when students create a personal wireless network, they usually don't take the proper steps to secure it. This makes the network available to anyone.
"It's a matter of security and a matter of being able to pay," Cook said.
The cost of Internet service from ResNet is $83.25 per semester. By creating a personal wireless network, it is possible for one student to purchase the service and then provide it free of charge to other students.
According to Cook, a computer hub is the only device approved by ResNet to split Internet service between students.
SEE RESNET ON PAGE 4A
First-day nerves rattle old, new students
BACK TO SCHOOL
Upperclassmen face increased pressure; freshmen transition to huge lecture halls
BY MATT ELDER
While the campus flurry of the first day of class consisted of both new and returning faces, many freshmen and upperclassmen were sharing the same experiences during their trip to the top of the hill Thursday.
First-day jitters inhabited the bellies of both. For Jenifer Krass, Berrryton freshman, she had to transition from smaller high school classes to a lecture hall of several hundred students.
"I don't think I was really that nervous, but going into a new situation is always awkward," she said.
While returning students might have become accustomed to the nerves Krass felt Thursday morning, the pressure of attending the first day of classes often doesn't diminish.
"The first impression is always important." Barrath said. "These are people that in a year or two from now could be helping you get a job."
"It's different now since my freshman or sophomore year," said Stephanie Quante, Waterloo junior. "These classes I'm taking now as a junior are more serious, and they actually matter the first day."
Needing his classes to graduate on time, Barrath is quick to point to the power professors have to drop
On a day when upperclassmen skip classes for a last summer weekend, Quante said the fear of a professor assigning something important was always looming over her head.
"The first impression is always important. These are people that in a year or two from now could be helping you get a job."
Mark Barrath,
MARK BARRATH St. Louis senior
students. Often students wait to enroll in full upper-level classes, where professors will drop students that choose not to attend their first day of classes. The first class also gives Barrath a chance to plan out
Mark Barrath,
St. Louis senior, agreed the pressures of upper-level classes intensified, differing from his time as a freshman or sophomore.
"The first day of class can give you everything you need — what the semester will be looking like,
his semester.
expectations of the professor and most importantly, if you'll need to go anytime soon again," Barrath said.
But Quante understands why some students choose not to attend.
"I woke up and went to a lab at 8 this morning, only to find a sign that says we wouldn't be meeting until next week. And this wasn't the first time," she said.
Differences between departments, such as whether discussions and labs will take place for classes before a scheduled lecture, can cause confusion for students. Quante said a simple e-mail could have saved her time by keeping her from making an unnecessary trip to campus.
Kansan staff writer Matt Elder can be contacted at melder@kansan. com.
Edited by Shanxi Upsdell
Jared Gab/KANSAN PHOTOS
At top, a KU bus passes students in front of Wescoe Hall Thursday afternoon as the first day of classes comes to a close.
Above, Nic Pearce, Lawrence sophomore, and Rui Hu, Free State High School senior, walk back from class Thursday afternoon. Pearce recently transferred from Fort Hays State University.
CRIME
Anoa Faltermieer/KANSAN
Jessica Peterson, Kansas City, Kan., freshman, locks her bike near Wescoe Hall Thursday. Peterson said she's never had her bike stolen.
Multiple bike thefts roll on to campus
BY DAVID LINHARDT
Lennea Carty, Andover senior, wanted to think everyone around her was a decent person. But last weekend, someone stole her bicycle from a Templin Hall bike rack.
The incident is part of a trend of bike thefts that cropped up during the break between the University's summer and fall semesters.
"Right now I'm feeling slightly paranoid," Carty said. "A little bit of my security bubble has been picked through."
Six bikes have been stolen from
campus racks during the last two weeks, including Carty's mountain bike by Giant, according to Public Safety Office reports. Students reported losses of more than $10,000 in bike-related thefts in 2005.
Capt. Schuyler Bailey, public safety officer spokesman, said the thefts were still being investigated.
"Most of the time it's not students who are stealing them," Bailey said.
"I understand that in the grand
Carty has ridden her bike on campus for a year — and until earlier this week, she's never worried about losing her ride.
Carty has her bike's serial number and has researched bike theft at a Web site called NationalBikeRegistry. com.
The site, which is affiliated with
Last year the University installed security cameras that oversee parking lots on campus, but Carty doesn't think they help police track down someone who steals bikes from residence hall bike racks.
scheme of things, it's only a bicycle," Carty said. "But I would expect the University to protect their students and keep their bikes from being jacked."
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More than 1 million bikes are stolen each year, according to the site, and less than half are ever found by police. Most of the bikes police find have no registry numbers or other identification.
National Crime Prevention Council, has dismal news for bike theft victims: only 5 percent of stolen bikes are returned to their owners.
Adam Hess, service manager at Sunflower Outdoor and Bike Shop, 802 Massachusetts St., recommends u-locks to keep bikes safe.
SEE BIKE ON PAGE 4A
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