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NEWS / WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
NATIONAL
Missing boy's dad files for divorce
BY NIGEL DUARA
Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. — The father of a 7-year-old Oregon boy missing for nearly a month has filed for divorce from the boy's stepmother, informed her he is seeking a restraining order and moved out of the couple's Portland home.
Divorce papers filed Monday show that Kaine Horman had a new, undisclosed address as of Saturday. They also show he is seeking sole custody of the 19-month-old daughter he had with Terri Moulton Horman.
During the investigation into the fate of Kyron Horman, his father and stepmother had been living in their home in the countryside west of downtown Portland, along with their daughter.
The couple had shown a united front during the criminal investigation — appearing at two press conferences together — but signs of a split emerged earlier Monday when Terri Horman was not part of a family statement. The divorce petitions were filed in the
late afternoon.
No explanation has been given for why Kaine Horman filed the divorce papers and the request for a restraining order, which a judge has sealed.
The divorce papers, which were made public, cite "irreconcilable differences."
Asked about the divorce filing, sheriff's office spokeswoman Lt. Mary Lindsthrand said: "It's a personal matter between the parties, so we're not commenting on it."
The Oregonian newspaper reported that Terri Horman was home Tuesday but did not speak to reporters who were gathered outside.
Investigators have not identified her as a suspect in Kyron's disappearance. They have said she is the last person known to have seen the boy.
She told them that she last saw the boy on the morning of June 4, walking down a hallway toward his second-grade classroom, wearing a "CSI" T-shirt and dark cargo pants.
*55% of students asked
CAMPUS
Admissions changes for international students
BY LUYAN WANG
lwang@kansan.com
International students will have an extra step in the admissions process starting Fall 2011.
A new policy will require every international undergraduate applicant to submit scores from standardized tests: either the Test of English as a Foreign Language or the International English Language Testing System.
Currently, the University does not require international students to submit TOEFL or IELTS scores for admission, but they are required to complete a proficiency exam through the Applied English Center.
Chinese Students and Scholars Friendship Association vice president Yun Liu, a junior from Suzhou China, said many students she met in the association did not submit test scores when they came to the University.
Liu said some students' English was poor and they had to take AEC classes before they were able to enroll in KU courses.
Yu Wang, a freshman from Chongqing, China, is among the students enrolled in the AEC. Wang came to the University this summer and didn't submit a test score with
her admissions application.
The Kansas Board of Regents established the minimum admission standard for undergraduates. The KBR gives each university the
opportunity to determine a higher standard for specific academic departments, Daphne Johnston International Admissions director, said.
"Any of the professional schools can accept higher standards," Johnston said.
"We will still admit students with any level of English proficiency, no matter how high or how low."
"And they can change theirs at any time."
with any level of English proficiency,
no matter how high or how low"
DAPHNE JOHNSTON International Admissions director
The standards and requirements for Applied English Center will not change, but if a student's TOEFL or IELTS score is lower than AEC requirements, he or she must take the AEC English exam before enrolling in standard KU courses. If the TOEFL or IELTS score meets AEC standards, students would be able to enroll directly in courses without taking the AEC exam.
"There is not a minimum score required for admission," Johnston said. "We will still admit students
International Student and Scholar Services director Joe Potts said the new policy is designed to help international students prepare for college life before they arrive on campus.
Potts said International Student and Scholar Services wanted to see the test scores to advise students after they were admitted on how
many English classes they might take when they got to the University.
The University's English proficiency policy was proposed by a committee formed by International Program Admissions and approved by the Faculty Senate at the University.
According to the admissions office, official English test scores must be less than two years old and submitted directly from the testing agency. Students who are unable to present official scores may apply directly to the Applied English Center as nondegree-seeking students.
NATIONAL
Seattle writer wins 2010 bad writing contest
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN JOSE, Calif. — An unseemly sentence that compares a kiss to the union of a thirsty gerbil and a giant water bottle has won the top prize in an annual bad writing contest.
San Jose State University said Tuesday that Molly Ringle of Seattle was the grand prize winner of the 2010 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, which the university has sponsored since 1982.
In her winning entry, Ringle wrote: "For the first month of Ricardo and Felicity's affair, they greeted one another at every stolen rendezvous with a kiss — a lengthy, ravenous kiss, Ricardo lapping and sucking at Felicity's mouth as if she were a giant cage-mounted water bottle and he were the world's thirstiest gerbil."
The literary competition honors the memory of 19th century English writer Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton, who famously opened his 1830 novel "Paul Clifford" with the much-quoted, "It was a dark and stormy night."
Steve Lynch of San Marcos, Calif., won the detective category: "She walked into my office wearing a body that would make a man write
Entrants are asked to submit bad opening sentences to imaginary novels, with winners chosen in several categories.
bad checks, but in this paperless age you would first have to obtain her ABA Routing Transit Number and Account Number and then disable your own Overdraft Protection in order to do so"
Linda Boatright of Omaha won the Western category: "He walked into the bar and bristled when all eyes fell upon him — perhaps because his build was so short and so wide, or maybe it was the odor that lingered about him from so many days and nights spent in the wilds, but it may just have been because no one had ever seen a porcupine in a bar before."