THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2007
NEWS
3A
>> DIVERSITY
Jon Goering/XANSAN
Shok Narayanprasad, Mumbai, India, sophomore, and Jheri Bermudez, Topea senior, practice salsa dancing Monday night in the Kansas Room in the Kansas University. The lessons were part of the Sigma Lamma Gamma sorority's 10-year anniversary, which was officially on Sept. 13.
Dance, cuisine spice things up
University celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month
BY SARAH NEFF
sneff@kansan.com
{"jCelebrando nuestro pasado,
nuestro futuro, nuestro legado"}
This is Spanish for "celebrating our past, our future, our legacy," and it is the theme for this year's Hispanic Heritage Month at the University of Kansas. In
the next four weeks several student groups will sponsor a variety of campus events to promote awareness of Hispanic culture.
Chris Muñoz, Topeka junior,
is president of Sigma Lambda
Beta, an international multi-
cultural fraternity. Muñoz said
although his fraternity was
Latino-based, it had a diverse
membership.
Muñoz said it was important for him as a Latino student to represent his culture at the University and in Lawrence.
Hispanic Heritage Month Calendar
Sept.18
Latin American Cuisine Night
7:30 p.m. Multicultural Resource Center
Sept.19
Informational meeting for Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority Inc.
Sept. 20
7 p.m. Alcove C, Kansas Union
"Discrimination is a tool people use to break down people of color. We are not criminals coming to the United States illegally and living on welfare." Muñoz
"The Latino Pathway to Higher Education"
1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Multicultural Resource Center classroom
Sept. 20
Cultural Recess
Cultural Recess
7 p.m. The Hawk's Nest, Kansas
Union
Sept.21
Sept. 21
Service Event at Jubilee Café
6 a.m. First United Methodist
Church, 496 Vermont St.
Sept. 21
Beach Party
11:00 am - 2 p.m. Wescoe Beach
Sept. 23 Feria Hispana: A Celebration of Latin American Cultures 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. South Park Gazebo
Sept.25
Latin Night of Comedy
7 p.m. Multicultural Resource
Center classroom
Sept. 26
Loteria (Mexican Bingo)
7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Centennial Room
In the Kansas Union
Sept.28
Annual Hispanic Heritage Month Banquet 7 p.m. Kansas Room, Kansas Union
Sept. 30 Meet the Retailer
Meet the Beta:
2 p.m., contact Sigma Lambda
Beta for location and directions
Oct. 3
Indigenous Drumming Work
7 p.m. Multicultural Resource Center classroom
Oct.5
Adopt a Park Service Project 4 p.m. Burcham Park, 200 Indiana St.
Oct.6
Dinner with HALO 6 p.m. Multicultural Resource Center
said. "I'm trying to tear down stereotypes that we can't go to college and that we can't succeed. We are here, and we are doing it."
"Kansas Hispanic Veterans Remembered" video
7:30 p.m. Multicultural Resource Center classroom
Oct. 9
For more information contact the Multicultural Resource Center at 785-864-4350, or visit their Web site at www.oma.ku.eu
Betsy Copeland, Leonardville senior and president of Sigma Lambda Gamma, said last week her sorority celebrated its 10-year anniversary at the University. Sigma Lambda Gamma is the counterpart to Sigma Lambda Beta. Copeland said the sorority would sponsor events all week to celebrate its anniversary, as well as participate in Hispanic Heritage Month.
On Monday night, Sigma Lambda Gamma hosted Salsa 101, an annual event where instructors teach Latino dance moves.
At 7:30 tonight, the sorority will host Latin American Cuisine Night in the Multicultural Resource Center.
Copeland said they would describe exotic foods and show people how to prepare them. She said there would also be samples of food and recipes available.
"There's a lot more to Latino food than just burritos and tacos," Copeland said.
Hispanic Heritage month began Sept. 15, and will last through Oct. 15.
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KU experts appear on disaster show
BY DYLAN SANDS dsands@kansan.com
SCIENCE
Sixbillion people would die if a massive star exploded, sending ultraviolet light through the earth's atmosphere and blackening the sky. Scientists from the University of Kansas will
explore that possibility tonight in a program on the History Channel.
The show is part of a series called "Mega Disasters" in which scientists consider the effects of large.
Thomas
hypothetical disasters. Tonight's episode will focus on what might happen if one of these exploding stars, called a gamma-ray burst, hit Earth today. The scientists believe that gamma-ray bursts may have been responsible for past mass extinctions on Earth.
"There was a sudden, unexplained ice age," said Adrian Melott, professor of physics and astronomy. "This idea of gamma-ray bursts may explain that."
Life is calling How far will you go?
Bruce Lieberman, professor of
Peace Corps Information Session Tuesday, Sept 18 7-8:30 p.m. Kansas Memorial Union Kansas Room (6th floor)
The program also features Brian Thomas, who earned his doctorate in physics at the University in 2005.
geology senior curator of invertebrate paleontology at the University's Natural History Museum, will be featured in tonight's episode. He said a gamma-ray burst could have caused the extinction in the Ordovician Period 450 million years ago that eliminated more than 100 families of marine life.
Melott said the smog would darken the sky for five to ten years. During this time, it would be impossible to grow any crops.
The researchers estimate that only five to ten percent of the world's population would be able to survive the initial effects.
"Basically, the biggest effect would be starvation," Melott said. "A large fraction of the population would starve."
"Technology may provide a way out from that for some of the population, but large numbers of deaths would be inevitable." Thomas said.
"The chances of another extinction caused by a gamma-ray burst
that might be enough to blind some people," Melot said. "Many people would experience rapid sunburn."
are not high anytime soon." Thomas said. "We estimate a dangerously close one may occur every billion years or so. If it is the case that a GRB caused the late Ordovician extinction, then we wouldn't expect one for another 500 million years or so."
If a gamma-ray burst were to hit Earth today, a narrow jet of radiation would strip the planet of its ozone layer. Chemical smog would block the sun, turning the sky black.
Lieberman
"There would be a flash of light
or contact Heather Sutter 110 Burge Union 785.864.7679 peacecorps@ku.edu
Mikhail Medvedev, associate professor of physics and astronomy, remains optimistic.
"We are protected by the atmosphere, which shields us from gamma-rays," he said. "Gamma-rays themselves do not penetrate through the atmosphere and, hence, do not affect us. I think we can survive."
The "Mega Disasters" episode airs at 9 tonight on the History Channel. It will re-air several times this month.
Edited by Tara Smith
Chinese, Russian spying reaches Cold War levels
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NATION
WASHINGTON — China and Russia are spying on the United States nearly as much as they did during the Cold War, according to the top U.S. intelligence official.
Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence, said in testimony prepared for a Tuesday congressional hearing that a law passed last month expanding the U.S. government's eavesdropping power was needed to protect not just against terrorists but also against more traditional potential adversaries, such as
peacecorps.gov
those two Cold War foes.
"China and Russia's foreign intelligence services are among the most aggressive in collecting against sensitive and protected U.S. systems, facilities and development projects, and their efforts are approaching Cold War levels," McConnell says in his testimony. "Foreign intelligence information concerning the plans, activities and intentions of foreign powers and their agents is critical to protect the nation and preserve our security."
The new law will also enable the intelligence agencies to identify "sleeper cells" of terrorists in the United States, according to
McConnell's statement to the House Judiciary Committee.
Some lawmakers are now having second thoughts as the complicated law — intended to make it easier for the government to intercept foreign calls and e-mails — has come under attack by civil liberties and privacy advocates who contend it gives the government broader powers than intended.
Congress last month hastily adopted the Protect America Act just before it went on summer vacation, propelled by McConnell's warnings of a need to close a dangerous gap in U.S. intelligence law.