THE UNIVERSITY OF HAILEY KANSAN
FRIDAY APRIL 27 2007
NEWS
FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 2007
3A
STUDENT ATHLETES
KU ranks in top three
Illustration by Grant Snider
Only baseball misses academic goal
BY KYLE CARTER
The NCAA recognized both the men's and women's cross country teams as well as the men's golf team for exceptional performance in the academic progress report released Thursday by the Athletics Department. The baseball team was the only varsity sport that failed to meet the yearly goal.
The NCAA recognized teams that scored in the top 10 percent of their sports within their division. The three teams at the University that received recognition, women's and men's cross country and men's golf, placed the University in the top three of the Big 12.
Each sport was given an individual score based on how many athletes maintained
The NCAA will release a related report on May 2 that will reprimand schools that failed to score at least 900 during the last three years. The baseball team's three-year average
tors caused the team to lose a partial scholarship. Associate Athletics Director Paul Buskirk said that the Athletics Department appealed the ruling and could have avoided the punishment if the team improved its score sufficiently this year. It did not, but Buskirk said the team had already taken away the partial scholarship for this season because it anticipated missing the mark.
Three teams at the University of Kansas that received recognition, women's and men's cross country and men's golf placed the University in the top three of the Big 12.
Sports that averaged less than 900 for the last three years will receive public reprimands from the NCAA and face losing more scholarships, along with practice time and the right to play in the postseason, if their scores do not improve in future years.
academic eligibility and stayed in school If every athlete on the team met both requirements, the team received a perfect score of 1000. Sports that scored less than 925 for the year could lose scholarships if any athletes left school in poor academic standing.
The baseball team failed to score 925 in last year's report and had an athlete who left the team in poor academic standing. Those two fac-
was only two points greater than the cutoff.
Athletes that leave school early to play professional sports, such as Julian Wright, do not hurt the team's score if they leave in good academic standing. Buskirk se
the NCAA made an exception for athletes that left for medical reasons or,o pursue professional careers.
Wright can help the team's progress rate if he finishes his degree in the future, as former jayhawk Kirk Hinrich did when he graduated in December 2005. Buskirk said former players Alonzo Jamison (1990-1992) and Luke Axtell are scheduled to graduate this year, which will benefit the basketball team in next year's report.
Kansan staff writer Kyle Carter can be contacted at kcarter@kansan. com.
— Edited by Kelly Lanigan
Plates to raise money for cure
>> CANCER FUNDRAISER
BY DANAE DESHAZER
A license plate designed by KU professor Greg Thomas will be available for purchase by this fall. The plates, adorned with a pink breast cancer ribbon and the words "Driven to Cure," will raise money for cancer research and education.
A Senate bill for the license plate design was created by Sen. Barbara Allen, a breast cancer survivor. The bill was passed and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius will sign the bill Friday morning in Topeka. The plates will be sold for $85, and $50 from each plate will be donated to the KU Cancer Center.
Thomas, professor and chair of design, said the plates were a "call to action". He said he first started thinking about helping others with cancer after he had an operation for kidney cancer in 2000.
"When you're sitting in a bed in an ICU ward and you're all stapled up, you keep thinking to yourself, 'What have I been doing with my talent all these years?' " Thomas said. "I am going to do something
Thomas was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2000 while living in Los Angeles. He said the hospitals and services there were conveniently located and high caliber. When he moved to Kansas three years
with what I know."
ago, he said he was surprised to find that there wasn't a central program for cancer research and treatment. He said most people had to travel to Houston or the Mayo Clinic to receive treatment.
Center to achieve recognition by the National Cancer Institute as a "comprehensive cancer center," Thomas said.
Director of the KU Cancer Center, Roy Jensen, said cancer research in Kansas did not have one central
"It doesn't end with the signing. We need to sell these things and get people interested in buying this."
Thomas started working with Sen. Allen, who had already worked on a bill that allowed taxpayers in Kansas to check a box on tax return forms, to donate a percentage of their funds to cancer research.
The money raised from the plates and the tax check-off will raise awareness and help the KU Cancer
GREG THOMAS Design professor
location, but was made up of many different working parts. The different areas involved are in Lawrence, Kansas City and Wichita.
"Potentially, some cancer biologists would locate specifically on West
Campus"Jensen said."There is a goal that would create a comprehensive cancer facility with basic translational and clinical research and care all in one."
Jensen said he wanted to reach the entire state in one direct way. This would take funding from the license plates for research nurses
and staff to support breast cancer clinical trials. Jensen said he hoped for success like that of the University specialty plates. He said KU and Kansas State plates have raised several hundred thousand dollars during the past five to 10 years.
Although everything will be ready to go after the signing of the bill today, Thomas said there was still a lot of work to be done. For production to start, the KU Cancer Center must raise $10,000 for the Kansas Department of Motor Vehicles and guarantee the sale of at least 500 plates. Thomas said he would be working on private donations, a fundraiser, brochures and marketing material to generate interest and funding.
"It doesn't end with the signing," Thomas said. "We need to sell these things and get people interested in buying this."
Kansan staff writer Danae DeShazer can be contacted at ddeshazer@kansan.com.
THEATER
Edited by Kelly Lanigan
'Guys and Dolls' opens tonight with a bang
BY BETHANY BUNCH
Sixty-six people and three months of collaboration will finally come together tonight for the University Theatre's opening of the musical "Guys and Dolls."
A loud sound of a gun blank opens the play.
"We like to start out with a bang," director John Gronbeck-Tedesco said.
The play is set during the Depression in New York City and tells the story of a desperate gambler.
Tyler Stock, Marrysville senior,
is the assistant set designer for the
The stage of the Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall is set with flashing lights and a screen of old black-and-white photos.
play. He said he attended every night of rehearsals to critique and make corrections to the set.
"I was actually working on small
corrections until this afternoon," Stock said. Thursday.
Gronbeck Tedesco said he had directed more than 30 plays at the University and more than 45 in his career.
ing of the music, the beat the actors walked to and the way actors looked at each other. Gronbeck-Tedesco did anything but just sit and watch.
details
He said his job was the easy part of a production.
"See, I just get to sit here and watch," Gronbeck Tedesco said.
"Guys and Dolls"
7:30 p.m. April 27 and 28
and May 3, 4 and 5
2:30 p.m. April 29
Crafton-Preyer Theatre in
Murphy Hall
Commenting on things like tim-
the play.
Details like these are what he said made a play successful.
He said a smooth week of dress rehearsals made for an optimistic view on the opening of
"Everyone has worked hard and everyone believes their hard work will pay off," Gronbeck-Tedesco said.
The May 5 performance will be a benefit in memory of Thomas Bondank, father of Candice Bondank, an actress in the production.
Thomas Bondank died of AIDS in December in Lee's Summit, Mo. All proceeds from the benefit will go to the Douglas County AIDS Project.
Reserved-seat tickets for "Guys and Dolls" are on sale in the KU ticket offices. Tickets are $18 for the public, $10 for students and $17 for senior citizens and KU faculty and staff.
Kansan staff writer Bethany Bunch can be contacted at bbunch@kansan.com.
— Edited by Kelly Lanigan
Mugger's girlfriend sentenced for robbery
NATION
Before Ashley Evans, 18, was sentenced, the mother of actress
NEW YORK — The girlfriend of the mugger who fatally shot an aspiring actress and playwright was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison for robbery.
Nicole duFresne described the "unimaginable" agony of losing a child. Evans then apologized to duFresne's family and fiance, Jeffrey Sparks, who were in the courtroom.
of post-release supervision.
State Supreme Court Justice Daniel FitzGerald sentenced Evans as part of a deal in which she pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery. The deal requires five years
Rudy Fleming, 21, was sentenced last year to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder.
DuFresne, 28, had acted in several productions and had co-written a play that toured in drama festivals.
Evans reportedly told police that she decided to start a
fight with one of the women in duFresne's group because they annoyed her by being cheerful and laughing. Fleming then robbed them at qupoint.
Witnesses said that during the confrontation, duFresne said to Fleming, "You got what you want. What are you going to do, shoot us?"