THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2007
NEWS
3A
》 SCHOLARSHIP HALLS
Community center opens for students
Former physical education professor donated house, $300,000 to renovate
BY KATY BLAIR
Scholarship hall students and housing department faculty gathered in anticipation Saturday for the dedication of the Wilna Crawford Community Center, 1346 Louisiana St. Once a run-down house, the center now provides a refuge for scholarship hall students to relax and study.
"It's wonderful, we've already used it," said Niki Thiessen, Topeka sophomore. "I'm really excited about the lawn with the weather getting nice."
The house was refurbished to include a kitchen, conference room, event room and living and office area for the scholarship hall complex director. It is the first permanent office space available to the All
Scholarship Hall Council.
The lawn was landscaped with white and purple pansies and shrubs and had a stone patio and fountain on the front lawn. Diana Robertson, interim director of housing, said the transformation took a lot of work, but was successful.
"We ran into a few unexpected challenges along the way." Robertson said. "One important thing we tried to do was honor the history of the house and yet update it."
The lawn was dedicated to Juanta and Reginald Strait, who donated the house to the Kansas University Endowment Association. Reginald was a professor of physical education at the University of Kansas, and Juanta served as a surrogate mother for some KU students. At the dedication, Chancellor Robert Hemenway said Juanita Strait hoped the house could be used to continue helping students in their absence.
Janette and Tom Rudkin, KU alumni, donated $300,000 to have the house restored for the University's use. The house was dedicated in memory of Janette Rudkin's mother, Wilna Crawford.
Rudkin reminisced with her sister, Nancy Calderwood, about their mother's kindness and creativity to explain why they wanted the house be dedicated to her.
"In my mom's memory and to carry on her traditions of hospitality, we hope the students of the scholarship hall community will make this house their home," Calderwood said.
Tom Rudkin, a former resident of Battenfeld Scholarship Hall, said scholarship hall living was important for the University's students and environment. Rudkin said that while helping his daughter search for a college to attend, they didn't come across another university with residence life like the University of Kansas.
"I would have to say that it is a very great pleasure to continue to support what I think is the greatest living arrangement on this or any campus in the country," Rudkin said.
Kansan staff writer Katy Blair can be contacted at kblair@kansan. com.
- Edited by Carissa Pedigo
CONCERT
'Rock-A-Thon,' nice weather draw crowd
BY BETHANY BUNCH
Pearson Lawn Rock-A-Thon, an outdoor concert held in the front lawn of Pearson Scholarship Hall, 1426 Alumni Place, attracted a lively crowd Saturday night.
Students sat on blankets on a hill near the stage and enjoyed free hamburgers and hot dogs, 80 degree weather and live music by the local bands Marry Me Moses, Hella Ivy, Adam's Eve and Lloved Likes Mike.
Two audience members, David Burchfield, Shawnee sophomore, and Hadley Galbraith, Topeka junior, were so moved by the music of Marry Me Moses that they got up and danced during a song that Ted Kritikos, the lead singer, characterized as "a little bit country."
Burchfield and Galbraith said they weren't embarrassed to have danced in front of the crowd.
Galbraith said last year the event was moved inside to the kitchen of Pearson Hall because of rain. Although she enjoyed the concert last year, she said she preferred the nicer weather.
Brendan Shaw, Milwaukee, Wis., junior and president of Pearson Hall, said the weather Saturday was amazing, without a cloud in the sky.
"It was a perfect day to sit on the grass and listen to music" he said.
Shaw said the concert was an incredible success and that the only thing that could have been better was to have had the road blocked off.
"We didn't get the street blocked off, but I think it was more fun to have cars driving through a live concert or to watch the cars decide to reverse and drive down another street," Shaw said.
Members of Marry Me Moses
Shaw said in previous years the crowd began to thin as the food disappeared. This year, however, he said the audience stayed through all four sets and was responsive and enthusiastic to the bands.
and Adam's Eve are current and former residents of Pearson Scholarship Hall. Both bands performed at the event last year.
which is the scholarship halls biggest social event. The event is free for students and paid for by Pearson Hall's social and food budgets.
Saturday was the seventh year for the Pearson Lawn Rock-A-Thon.
Kansan staff writer Bethany Bunch can be contacted at bbunch@kansan.com.
Edited by Katie Sullivan
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CONGRESS
U.S. representative dies
BY ERICA WERNER ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Calif.) died early Sunday of cancer, an aide said.
Millender-McDonald, who was 68, died at her home in Carson, Calif., said her chief of staff, Bandele McQueen.
McQueen provided no details on what form of cancer Millender-McDonald had. He said she had been receiving hospice care.
The congresswoman had asked for a four- to six-week leave of absence from the House last week to deal with her illness.
She was in her seventh term representing a heavily Democratic Southern California district that includes Compton, Long Beach and parts of Los Angeles.
"California and the nation have lost a great friend and public servant," said California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres, who served with Millender-McDonald in the California state Legislature. "She was a champion for the consumer and fought injustice wherever she saw it. She always valued public service and served her state and nation with grace and honor."
This year Millender-McDonald became chairwoman of the Committee on House
Administration, which oversees operations of the House and federal election procedures.
The congresswoman, a native of Birmingham, Ala., worked on former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley's unsuccessful 1982 gubernatorial campaign and other local races as a volunteer before getting elected to the Carson City Council in 1990.
She went on to serve in the California state Assembly, and in 1996 sought a U.S. House seat during a special election to replace Rep. Walter Tucker III, who had been convicted of taking bribes while mayor of Compton, Calif., and of cheating on his taxes.
She won the special election, and in March beat out Tucker's wife, Robin, in a primary that featured nine Democrats. She won a full House term in November 1996 and has subsequently won re-election easily.
Millender-McDonald had recently worked on issues including election reform and opposing the genocide in Darfur.
She drew national attention in 1996 when she took then-CIA director John Deutch to Watts to address the community following a newspaper report alleging that profits from domestic sales of crack-cocaine were funneled to the CIA-backed Contras in Nicaragua.
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April 23rd,2007
Meeting on Tuesday, April 24
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