14A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2005
STUDENT HOUSING
Out with old, in with new
Stephenson Hall gains new residents in wake of last year's problems.
BY LOUIS MORA
lmora@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
For most scholarship hall residents, returning to school means visiting familiar faces. That's not the case for the men of Stephenson Scholarship Hall, 1404 Alumni Place, as 35 new members join the hall this year.
The repopulation of the hall comes after several incidents last year in which residents damaged items in their building and received complaints about rowdy behavior. With fewer members returning to the hall, everyone understands that the hall will experience a transition.
"There's going to be a lot of changes because most of the kids are going to be new. At the beginning of the year there will be lots of learning," said Kyle Davis, Topea sophomore, who lived in the hall last year.
The department asked Stee-
phenson Hall residents last year to reaffirm their commitments to the hall. Some students did not want to follow the guidelines and decided to leave, while others made the commitment to better the hall, said Ken Stoner, director of student housing.
1
Stoner said expectations and leadership qualities needed improvement, and with returning residents looking to better the hall, he said he thought the men would grow in those areas.
With so many new residents, Gorman said he has mixed feelings about the past along with changes that will take place this year.
"They are trying to get the people who are coming back a sense of what it means to be in a scholarship hall," he said.
Thomas Gorman, Topeka sophomore, returned to the hall this year and said he thought plans for the hall included a structure that reflects the scholarship community.
Gorman also said that while
"I don't really think it was a good change as to how they did it, but it might make the hall a better place to live, such as scholarly attitude," Gorman said.
it will be difficult losing a number of members, the hall can provide a better living environment for residents.
"Some of that stuff has actually been lost because we've lost so many kids this last year and I don't think that got passed on to the kids vet," he said.
When the old students were kicked out, traditions left as well, Davis said.
With so many new members coming in, some residents said they feel traditions such as songs about the hall and the annual football game between the old and new residents were lost.
One of the propose changes concerns the living environment of the hall. Dishes remained unwashed, creating a large mess, Davis said.
He said living in a dirty environment was not fun last year and needed to change.
Things will differ this year, but returning residents said they didn't want everything to change.
"There needs to be a balance of having fun and following the rules," Davis said.
New Stephenson residents said they are ready to experience the living environment provided by a scholarship community.
David Harvey, Overland Park freshman, recently received his notice about joining the hall and said he's ready to become a member.
While change may continue throughout the year, Gorman feels the atmosphere Stephenson Hall provides will remain the same.
"I'm honored to be accepted and glad to be a part of it," Harvey said.
"It will still be a pretty cool hall this semester," Gorman said.
- Edited by Erick R. Schmidt
RELIGION
Gay, lesbian community kept out of pulpit
Evangelical Lutheran Church says no to queers' clergy proposal
BY RACHEL ZOLL
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ORLANDO, Fla. — Gays and lesbians lashed out after the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America rejected a proposal that would have allowed them to serve as clergy in certain cases, saying they felt rejected by their own denomination.
The proposal was voted down Friday by delegates attending an ELCA national meeting. It would have affirmed the church ban on ordaining sexually active gays and lesbians but allowed exceptions for candidates in long-term relationships.
Goodsoil, a coalition of Lutheran groups advocating for full inclusion of gays, accused the church of "sacrificing (gays) on
the altar of a false and ephemeral sense of unity."
The Rev. G. Scott Cady of the New England Synod said rejecting gays who feel a call to ministry was tantamount to questioning the will of God.
"We have vacant pulpits and altars in congregations all over this country. We have people crying out for pastoral care," he said. "The Holy Spirit has said, 'All right, here they are. Here they are.' Are we going to now say, 'Thanks Holy Spirit, but we prefer something else.'"
Delegates voted against the measure 503-490. The proposal needed a two-thirds majority to pass.
New Jersey Synod Bishop Roy Riley, president of the ELCA's Council of Bishops, said
the delegates accurately reflected the mood of the 4.9 millionmember denomination.
"This church is not ready to make major changes in its ordination practices," he said. "That was the crux, really."
A final proposal on blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples was changed before it was approved and its impact remained unclear.
The gay ordination proposal and two others taken up at the meeting were based on years of work by a denominational task force on sexuality. Delegates overwhelmingly approved another of the panel's proposals, affirming church unity despite deep differences over homosexuality.
The measure upheld a 1993 Council of Bishops statement which bans such blessings and expresses "trust" in pastors ministering to gays and lesbians. Despite the prohibitions in the
statement, some Lutheran pastors have been presiding at these ceremonies without repercussions for years.
As debate on gay ordination began Friday, about 100 gay advocates wearing rainbow sashes walked silently to the front of the hall and stood in front of the stage where Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson was overseeing the meeting. They stood quietly and did not move for nearly two hours, dispersing only when the session ended.
During the debate, several delegates who believe the Bible condemns gay sex compared homosexuality to alcoholism or drug addiction, something that they should help fellow Christians overcome.
Louis Hesse of the Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod said those arguing for gay ordination had not made a convincing theological or scientific argument about why they were right.
GOVERNMENT
Lawmakers to clash over Social Security
BY MARY DALRYMPLE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers and interest groups are gearing up for a fight this fall over Social Security, each side hoping to use the retirement and disability program's 70th birthday to build momentum.
President Bush and House Republicans have yet to build a groundswell for shifting a portion of Social Security payroll taxes to individual accounts for younger workers. Whatever returns these investment accounts earn would supplement future benefits.
Bush's proposal for addressing a looming insolvency in the government retirement program by trimming future benefits for high and middle-income earners also has vet to get traction.
Interest groups and lawmakers on all sides are using the program's 70th anniversary Sunday as an occasion to kickstart a debate begun last winter when Bush made Social Security the centerpiece of his State of the Union address. That debate had faded by summer, but House Republicans still hope to vote on some version of the revisions this fall.
One group opposed to the idea of individual investment accounts held birthday baking contests and urged undecided lawmakers to "cut the cake, not the benefits." The organization, Americans United to Protect Social Security, also produced a birthday card "wishing for 70 more years of guaranteed benefits."
An electronic card from the opposite side of the debate, circulated by the Coalition for the Modernization and Protection of America's Social Security shows a Social Security birthday cake sliced and served. Without major reform, it warns, children will be left with the crumbs.
Democrats used two radio addresses this weekend to argue that the president's ideas put the dependable program on risky footing. "It has never been a day late or a dollar short," said Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo. "But now, that guaranteed benefit is being
threatened by a fabricated crisis and a false solution."
Bush traveled to more than two dozen states this winter and spring promoting his idea for letting younger workers divert a portion of their payroll taxes into individual investment accounts. All the while, wary Republicans in Congress advised their leaders against bringing the issue to a vote.
The White House says Bush will renew his focus after returning from a month of vacation. While he has succeeded in alerting the public about Social Security's problems, polls show that most Americans don't like his solution.
Treasury Secretary John Snow predicted last week that Congress will revamp Social Security this year.
Republicans still vow to produce legislation, but Democrats confidently predict it's too unpopular to pass.
House Republican leaders expect to schedule a vote in September or October. Lawmakers have introduced a bill that establishes individual investment accounts and deposits current surplus Social Security funds into them. Supporters say it prevents the government from using Social Security money to fund other government programs, but Democrats call it an accounting gimmick.
"The best way to celebrate Social Security's birthday would be to enact legislation that ensures Americans' hard-earned contributions to Social Security will be dedicated solely to paying Social Security benefits and not used to fund other programs," said Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Jim McChery, R-La.
House Republicans say a string of GOP legislative successes on trade, highways and bankruptcy bode well for a victory on Social Security.
Any package of retirement changes must first be assembled by the House Ways and Means Committee, but House Democrats have stood fast against any bill that diverts Social Security funds into private investment accounts.
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