6A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
》 OBITUARY
TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 2007
Former Russian president dead
BY DOUGLAS BIRCH ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOSCOW — Boris Yeltsin, who kicked the props out from under the totering Soviet empire and then struggled to build a nation from its wreckage, died Monday after seeing many of his democratic reforms rolled back. The former Russian president was 76.
Larger than life during his tenure, Yeltsin shrank from public view following his retirement on New Year's Eve 1999, and in recent years has rarely given interviews. But the big, bumptious politician with the soft pink features and wave of white hair could be seen again Monday in file footage on Russian television.
President Vladimir Putin spoke to the nation four hours after the announcement of Yeltsin's death to praise briefly Russia's first freely
elected president as a man "thanks to whom a whole new epoch has started"
"New democratic Russia was born, a free state open to the world; a state in which power truly belongs to the people," Putin said.
Yeltsin will be buried Wednesday in Moscow's historic Novodevichy cemetery, the resting place of such diverse figures as writer Anton Chekhov and former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Putin postponed his annual state of the state address from Wednesday to Thursday in deference.
Yeltsin was, according to Andrew Kuchins of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, "a revolutionary leader at a revolutionary moment," a reformer who battled the Communist Party from the inside, an exultant wrecker of the U.S.S.R.'s totalitarian regime.
Tass/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Boris Yeltsin, the first popularly-elected president of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, takes the oath of office at the Kremlin, in Moscow Wednesday July 10, 1991. The Russian Constitution and Declaration of Sovereignty appear on the front面 of him in front.
Simran Sethi, award-winning journalist, gives a presentation on global warming after a film about global warming made by five University students was screened Monday evening at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
Michiko Takei/KANSAN
WARMING (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
said shutting off lights and computers when not in use are some of the most direct ways people can help, and he said riding his bike whenever possible doesn't hurt.
"You get to know the city a lot better," he said. "It's great to breathe the fresh air."
The guest lecturer after the movie, Simran Sethil, who works for the environmentally oriented Web site treehugger.com, said she failed her first environmental class in college, so there is still hope.
"We're all just trying to figure it out" she said.
Sethi presented a Power Point lecture called "Relationships and Choices; Personalizing Sustainability", which dealt with waste and ways of preventing it. Some of the biggest contributors to waste are coal
burning, water waste and those little plastic bottles full of water, soda and juice.
"Plastic is basically here forever," Sethi said. "It doesn't go away."
She also discussed a number of startling statistics., such as how a standard T-shirt is made with a third of a pound of a variety of chemicals and consumption of office paper has risen 43 percent since 1999 during the digital age.
Kansan staff writer Tyler Harbert can be contacted at tharbert@kansan.com.
She stressed that it's the little things students can do like driving less and using energy efficient light bulbs that can decrease waste.
Edited by Joe Caponio
HEINZL (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
to bring new ones across the Thai border.
"Our world is so borderless," Heinzl said. "Even the little Frisbees can diffuse almost effortlessly worldwide."
Technology is "double-exponentially" growing around the world. Heinzl said because the curve of new technology was so extreme. So many people are smart and capable to learn new things, especially children, he said, and half the population is under 20 years old, which
shows that young people are very capable of turning into something extraordinary.
"The world's youth is essential," Heinz said. "In a blink of an eye, those kids are our world's future."
Heinzl encouraged the young people in the audience to take a year off and travel and do something artistic and altruistic. He said it used to be viewed as frivolous to get education in one area, but work in another.
"Now, being non-conventional is
sometimes a successful way to go," Heinzl said. "When you're handed a piece of lined paper, write the other way."
Marisa DeGennaro, Overland Park junior, and friend Erin Perkins, Olathe junior, were both drawn to the lecture because of their interests in this profession. Both pre-medicine students, DeGennaro and Perkins were impressed by the inspiration and the humanitarianism Heinz provided in his lecture.
DeGennaro said she was inter
ested in international medicine because she wanted to connect to people who were different, but still the same. "When you get down to it, everyone in the world is the same." DeGennaro said. "We're all human, with the same hopes, dreams, and aspirations."
Kansan staff writer Danae DeShazer can be contacted at ddeshazer@kansan.com.
Edited by Sharla Shivers
ISLAM (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
misconception that Muslim women were oppressed.
"God puts men and women in the same space, there is no question whatsoever," said Raiz Alam, Chittagong, Bangladesh, senior. "God said they are the same."
Alam and Halim explained that in the Islam religion, men and women had societal roles that were different but equally valuable. Men were expected to provide for their family and women were supposed to take care of the family. Muslim men and women were supposed to adhere strictly to rules regarding their interactions with one another to preserve their integrity. For example, some women wear a scarf over their face, called a hijab.
Ali Agha, Paola senior, said it was not the Muslim religion that oppressed women. "Some bad husbands, yeah. Bad in-laws, of course, but you have that everywhere," Agha said.
Alam said interpretation was a
culprit in cultural misunderstanding
He said a professor translated the word "friend" to a Western Civilization class to mean Muslims couldn't be friends with Christians or Jews. The phrase actually meant that Muslims shouldn't follow other religions, although Alam said Muslims didn't look down on other religions.
"If you want to learn religion from the core, you have to know the language it was built in," Alam said. Students at the center also addressed how racism against Muslims had evolved since Sept. 11.
Michiko Takei/KANSAN
Alam recalled hearing from a British news outlet that a Muslim student was killed trying to save his professor during the Virginia Tech incident.
"But it never came out in the American media," Alam said.
Halim blamed a lack of cultural understanding partially on the United States' geographic location.
Halim said Americans were isolated from other countries.
Fatemeh Morshadh, Iran and Japan, junior, middle, samples Middle Eastern sweets at Law Open House regarding Islamic Awareness Week morning afternoon at the Islamic Center of Lawrence.
"Sometimes they don't have the full understanding, or the full picture, of how people live."
Kansan staff writer Katy Blair can be contacted at kblair@kansan.com.
Edited by Darla Slipke
--should look like."
TRADITION (CONTINUED FROM TA)
"We really wanted to put on an empowering program for women," Pringle said. "To challenge stereotypes of what the media thinks we
--should look like."
Pringle has worked with the women's center in Lawrence to help destroy body image problems women
struggle with. Pringle said she hoped the women of GSP-Corbin would enjoy the fashion show and learn that beautiful women come in all shapes and sizes.
Alumni from GSP-Corbin will be invited to participate in Woman to Woman, a session for past and present residents to meet and chat about their experiences in the halls. The women will enjoy smoothies, massages, manicures and henna tattoos from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday.
"The girls loved the massages and henna tattoos last year," said Ashleah Smith, Phillipsburg senior and resident advisor for GSP. "Woman to
Timson said planning for the week included some creative ideas and a supportive hall council to fund the events.
"It's a time to celebrate our history and honor those who came before us. And maybe we'll leave a legacy that others can follow."
Woman was the biggest program of traditions week, I know the staff really looks forward to it."
Kansan staff writer Katy Blair can be contacted at kblair@kansan. com.
Edited by Joe Caponio
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