MONDAY, AUGUST 15.2005
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SA
CAMPUS
Students who come from far away say tough to get around
BY MALINDA OSBORNE
mosborne@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Carla Hermida was not overly concerned about getting around when she arrived in Lawrence.
She thought she could just take a taxi, but when Hermida, Cuenca, Ecuador, graduate student, realized she had no effective mode of transportation, she got worried. Fortunately, a friend of Hermida's from Bolivia offered Hermida transportation and a temporary place to stay. Hermida's friend also cared for Hermida's two children while she hunted for a more permanent home.
"Lawrence is manageable, but when trying to find a place without a car of your own, it's tough getting around," Hermida said.
While most incoming students have their housing and transportation issues settled long before they step on campus, it's a different story for international students.
They are bombarded with paperwork and medical exams, and because Lawrence is so far from home, they often arrive still in need of transportation and a place to live.
This semester's New International Student Orientation took place August 7 through 12. During the orientation, international students were housed in Naismith Hall because of its proximity to campus.
"If we couldn't find housing by Friday, we're out on the street." Geiger said.
Living in Naismith was convenient for students during orientation, but students like Markus Geiger, Stuttgart, Germany, graduate student, expressed concern about finding permanent housing before orientation ended.
That is why staff and volunteers worked hard during the week to accommodate the international students' needs. The students were provided with free shuttle rides from nearly 40 volunteers, including Lawrence residents and former international students. The volunteers took the students everywhere they needed to go: to the bank, grocery shopping and even apartment hunting.
Viva Bolova, Varna, Bulgaria, graduate student, is one of the orientation assistants who volunteered to provide transportation for the students.
Bolova said she knew how
Lawrence is manageable but when trying to find a place without a car of your own, it's tough getting around."
Carla Hermida Graduate student
hard it was for international students because she was once in their position. On top of that, Bolova said her presence saved a lot of time and made it safer for the students.
"I know where they need to go and what paper work is necessary. Some don't have social security numbers or do not speak English as well. I'm here to give them the help that they need during this time," Bolova said.
Brooke Payne, Greeley, Colo., graduate student and orientation coordinator, said that there had been an influx of international students this year who wanted off-campus housing.
Payne attributed this to a combination of limited spaces in student housing, as well as the students' desire for greater independence.
After six hours of searching for off-campus housing with an orientation staff member, Geiger, the graduate student from Germany, eventually found an apartment on Emery Road. He said he would prefer living off campus because the rules were not as strict as they were in student housing and he would have more space and privacy.
Because transportation options are relatively limited to the bus systems or walking, most international students try to find housing on Massachusetts Street or close to campus.
Payne estimated that only three or four international students have their own cars when they initially arrive in Lawrence.
Even though students got frustrated at times, Payne said transportation and housing did fall into place for international students. She compared the process to putting together a puzzle.
"Eventually everything does work out and everyone finds a home." Payne said.
Edited by Anne Burgard
NIGHTLIFE
Bars attract diverse crowds
Venues use music and theme nights to bring patrons
BY MALINDA OSBORNE
mosborne@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
In an effort to draw as many varying cultural groups as possible to bars every night, Lawrence bar owners have created social events geared toward different ethnicities.
Increasingly, they are starting to extend past drink specials and offer weekly theme nights for various groups. This benefits not only the bars, but diverse communities take advantage of these opportunities to get together on a frequent basis.
Sue Mee, owner of Henry's Upstairs, 11 E. Eighth St., said she left it to her bartenders to come up with themes to create more excitement on weekday nights.
Family Night is what resulted, she said.
"There are few opportunities for the LGTB community to get together in a social but laid back environment and Family Night provides that," Daugherty said.
Every Tuesday, now for more than a year, has been a time for those in the lesbian, gay, trans gender and bisexual community to socialize and gather.
Mark Mendes, Henry's Upstairs bartender, chose Wednesday night to be International Night. Mendes plays music from different cultures
Kathleen Daughty, Topka senior, said she liked Henry's on any night because it had a communal and also cosmopolitan feel unique to Lawrence. Family Night was just an added bonus, she said.
"We take pride in the diversity of people the bar attracts."
Layhawk Bookstore
...at the top of the hill
OPEN LATE
Jason Stoffer Last Call manager
and makes drinks like mojitos or sangria. Mendes said he particularly enjoyed watching how people sing along to songs.
John Morgan, May 2005 graduate, pours a chocolate martini upstairs at Henry's, 11 E. Eighth St., Thursday night. The chocolate martini is one the most popular drinks there. Morgan said.
"That way I know what part of the world they are from," Mendes said, who is also Indian.
Last Call, a bar located at 729 New Hampshire St., brings in different events, DJs and music each week in order to attract and retain a diverse crowd.
On Fridays the bar has live shows featuring an eclectic mix of genres, from raves to erotic fetish parties to hip hop acts.
"We take pride in the diversity of people the bar attracts," Jason Stoffer, bar manager of Last Call, said.
A newer addition to Last Call's Friday night rotation is Prashant, a desi performer who features trance, electronic and other music made popular in South Asia.
Other bars, such as Abe & Jake's Landing, 8 E. Sixth St., play host to live acts on a frequent, but not as consistent, basis to draw different crowds.
teur dancers alike. EightOne-Five, 815 New Hampshire St., used to host Latin Lab on Thursday nights. DJ Joe McGuire played Afro-Cuban, Afro beat, Brazilian groove and Bugaloo music for patrons to dance to.
Son Venezuela, the Kansas City-based Latin jazz band, plays salsa, merengue and calypso for seasoned and ama-
Justin Perry, EightOneFive bartender, said that night was so popular that the bar was considering bringing it back on Fridays and Saturdays this year.
— Edited by Kellis Robinett
BUSINESS
Pasta company under fire
BY MATT SEDENSKY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A class-action lawsuit was filed Friday against American Italian Pasta Co., claiming the country's leading dry pasta maker repeatedly misrepresented its corporate health to unwitting shareholders.
Aren't you glad we're not the Union
The lawsuit filed by Radnor, Pa.-based Schiffrin & Barroway LLP came three days after the pasta maker announced it would delay the release of third-quarter earnings as an internal investigation looked into possible accounting lapses.
The suit names a single shareholder, Michael Stengle, as a
plaintiff, though it is filed on behalf of anyone who owned shares of American Italian Pasta between Oct. 25, 2000, and Tuesday. That's when the plaintiff claims the truth finally began to emerge from American Italian Pasta.
(The suit) claims the company failed to account for millions of dollars.
The suit says Oct. 25, 2000, was the start of a series of misleading press releases from the company that painted an inaccurate picture of American Italian by omitting numerous facts. It claims the company failed to properly account for millions of dollars in expenses and did not effectively deal with slow-moving, damaged and discontinued inventories, among other corporate lapses, all unknown to
investors.
It amounted to a lack of internal controls and violation of accounting principles that materially inflated American Italian's financial reports, the suit said.
After the close of markets Tuesday, American Italian Pasta announced its audit
Messages left Friday afternoon with officials at the company and lawyers involved in the suit were not returned.
committee has tapped outside counsel to investigate adjustments to financial statements and possible past accounting errors as far back as the 2000 fiscal year.
It also said the Philadelphia and New York stock exchanges raised questions in late 2004 and early this year about trading activity in the company's stock by outside investors around the time of company announcements. The company said it had notified the Securities and Exchange Commission of the questions and was cooperating with the inquiries.
Shares of American Italian Pasta closed down 6 cents Friday at $13.24.
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