THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2011
RELAYS|6A
VOLUME 123 ISSUE 138
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Runs, throws, and jumps
The Kansas Relays host athletes from all around.
DEBT | 2A
The government could hit the debt ceiling by May 16.
Spending habits
CUPCAKE | 3A
A new shop brings changes to cupcakes.
An assembly line-style bakery lets the customer pick the cake, filling and topping.
INDEX
Classifieds...3A
Crossword...4A
Cryptoquips...4A
Opinion...5A
Sports...8A
Sudoku...4A
TODAY'S WEATHER
HIGH
67 LOW 44
Scattered T-Storms
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
66 45 Partly Cloudy
MONEY MATTERS
6051
weather.com
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© 2011 The University Daily Kansan
Students continue to benefit
BY ADAM STRUNK astrunk@kansan.com
Your dime is helping Robin Bennetts Smith, a senior from Lawrence, go to college. He uses the $5,000 he received from the government during the last academic year for food, housing, books and tuition. But don't worry: Smith assures you that you're getting your money's worth.
Smith, like the 4,283 other KU students last year, received Pell grants, which are need-based government grants for low-income college students. These KU students received more than $16 million in Pell grants last year. Nationally, almost 8.9 million students received more than $32 billion in Pell grants for the 2010-2011 school year.
The University and many of its students are breathing sighs of relief after the April 15 passing of the U.S. budget for the 2011 fiscal year. The budget maintains the maximum Pell grant at $5,500 for an academic school year, same as the previous year. The funding of the Pell grant program was a subject of heated debate between Democrats and Republicans in the battle over the 2011 budget. However, the program escaped almost unscathed from the $38 billion in cuts to this year's budget.
"Obviously we are relieved that the maximum Pell grant stayed at what it was," said Jill Jess, associate director for news and media relations for the University. "Any time it changes, it affects the lives
SEE GRANT ON PAGE 2A
Pell Grant Funding for the 2009-2010 school year
3,634 students received Pell Grant funding
650, or 15 percent of those students also received supplemental Pell Grants
Last week, supplemental Pell Grant funding was cut from the budget, meaning that students will no longer receive funding for summer programming.
CAMPUS
A bloom's end
Facilities Operations uproot tulips every year to replant
BY SHAUNA BLACKMON
sblackmon@kansan.com
In honor of today's Earth Day, a working group of the KU Center for Sustainability is presenting ideas on how the University can reduce
They tear out hundreds of red and yellow tulips, which are already void of most of their petals, and put them into large trash bags. When the group of five men is done with its annual razing, there is no evidence of the tulips that once marked the campus. The tulips are planted in November, start blooming in mid- to late- spring for about a month, and are replanted every year to start blooming again in spring.
"It's just part of the tradition at KU" said Shawn Harding, assistant director of the landscape department. Facilities Operations is in charge of eight flowerbeds that contain about 11,000 bulbs and hundreds of shrub beds. In addition to planting flowers, the crew picks up trash in the morning, mows the grass at least once a week and otherwise maintains the about 1,000 acres of land on campus.
"I just want to have a nice place for people to come and learn," Harding said. "I want it to be a destination."
Although some would like to keep the uprooted tulips instead of throwing them away, the University is not allowed to give them away because the flowers are bought with state money.
things, incorporate more food-bearing plants for birds and other animals, storm water management and plant more perennials, which last all year, rather than seasonal flowers. The problem with perennials, Harding said, is that they don't produce flowers this time of year.
"There is a certain aesthetic that's a part of our campus culture," said Jeff Severin, director for the KU Center for Sustainability. "We have a lot of great examples of native planting at student rain gardens that demonstrate how we can do a better job with storm water management."
The KU Student Rain Garden is a 5,200 square feet area of various plants in front of the Ambler Student Recreation Fitness Center that is entirely maintained by students.
Harding said the University had done a lot to reduce cost and waste in the past few years. This year, he hopes to do even more. Harding joined the University's landscape department only a few months ago.
"I'm trying to do stuff that doesn't require a lot of water and I'm trying not to fertilize at all", Harding said. The only fertilizer the University is going to use this year is a selfmade compost mix.
"We keep all of the leaves and any green stuff in a big pile and we just keep turning it," Harding said. "It definitely helps us reduce our cost. We can just fill that in and let it decompose."
Facilities Operations also tries to use native grasses in areas that aren't high in traffic, such as the West Campus, and limit the number of flowerbeds. This reduces costs and the number of ripped out flowers.
SEE FLOWERS ON PAGE 2A
TRAVEL
Student to take "freedom ride" across country
Freshman travels the original route
BY WESTON PLETCHER wpletcher@kansan.com
The first "freedom ride" took place almost 40 years ago when more than 400 black and white civil rights activists rode from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans on public buses to protest against segregation laws in the South.
William Dale will get the chance to retrace the route of the original "freedom riders" in early May, joining a few of the original freedom riders and learning about civic engagement.
Dale, a freshman from Topeka, is one of 40 students from around the country to participate in Freedom Riders 2011, which is being organized by the Public Broadcasting Service series "American Experience."
"The students selected are the civic engagers of tomorrow. They are passionate about a plethora of issues," Dale said. "I hope to bring that passion back to KU. I want to learn from them and teach others
From May 6 to May 16, Dale will travel by bus from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans just like the first freedom riders. The students will make stops at many of the locations that the original riders visited, which include Atlanta's Morehouse College; the Aniston, Ala., Bus Station; Vanderbilt University's First Amendment Center; the historic First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala.; and finally will end the trip in New Orleans with a rally to welcome the original "freedom riders."
about my experience."
Dale said he was looking forward to the trip. He said he wanted to be able to discuss current social issues with other like-minded students.
"There is so much to learn, and I look forward to absorbing as much knowledge as I can," Dale said.
Edited by Samantha Collins
William Dale, a freshman from Topeka, was one of 40 students from across the country to be accepted to participate in Freedom Riders 2011.
Contributed photo