THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wave walks down memory lane
Take a look at the year's most memorable moments in sports. THE WAVE | INSIDE
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Cigarettes turn electronic E-cigs are smokeless alternatives and provide flavored vapors. TECHNOLOGY | 7A
WEDNESDAY,MAY 5,2010
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 150
Howard Ting/KANSAN
Howard Ting/KANSAN Liz Sell, a senior from Pretty Prairie, models her wedding gown. She plans to get married two weeks after she graduates from the University of Kansas.
Campanile bells to wedding bells
Some students walk down the aisle before or soon after walking down the hill
BY MICHELLE SPREHE | msprehe@kansan.com
As Liz Sell stepped onto the pedestal in front of a mirror, tears filled her eyes and a wide grin covered her face. Her mother, maid of honor and a bridesmaid each sported matching smiles.
After hours of trying on dress after dress she finally found it: strapless, stark white, with pearl and rhinestone beaded detail around the waist. It had a train - not too long, but long enough to need a bustle to take up some fabric for the reception.
Sell, a senior from Pretty Prairie,
never thought she would marry at 22.
Twenty-four, maybe. Twenty-five was more like it. But her mother wed at 19 and her grandmother at 17
"You know you look great in this dress. If this is what you want, then this is what you want." Liz's mom, Janice Sell, said, trying to remain unbiased.
They purchased the dress for $900, much more than they had planned on spending, and it was whisked away for alterations.
That experience was the moment it all began to sink in.
In 10 months from that moment, Sell would be getting married to her boyfriend of four and a half years on
May 30, after she graduates from the University of Kansas.
Fewer Americans are married now than 50 years ago, and the number has been consistently falling. Though the national median age for marriage is steadily increasing, some students are still choosing to go to the altar at an age younger than the current median of 28 for men and 26 for women.
Shirley Hill, professor of sociology, said that the current trend of waiting to get married at an older age stems from a gender revolution.
"In the past 30 or 40 years as women entered the labor market, they began to demand a different type of marriage relationship, one not only based on fulfillment but based on equality," Hill said.
Women aren't looking for traditional
marriages of a working husband and a housewife anymore and neither are men, Hill said. Hil also said the gender revolution was responsible for the shift because it made women less dependent on marriage for economic stability and less willing to tolerate marriages that weren't based on equality.
"It's taking couples a longer period of time to get what they consider the economic foothold they need to be married," Hill said. "Increasingly, people are having to go to college, get additional training before they feel like they have some economic resources to get married."
Women now make up about 53 percent of college graduates, according to Pew ResearchCenter, and as a result, men experience more economic gain from marriage now than they have in past decades. In Kansas, the median age for women to marry is 25. The lowest is 24 in Oklahoma, Arkansas,
Idaho and Utah. Studies also show that states where women get married younger tend to have a higher divorce rate.
So why are couples such as Sell and her fiance, Justin Epp, planning to walk down the aisle shortly after walking down the bill?
For Tiffany Brant and Matt Basgall, moving in together before marrying made them realize they didn't want to be with each other anymore.
Laura Schmidt and David Friedberg choose not to live together before getting married and say their religion will help guide their marriage.
Whitney and Nick Janzen Pankratz find financial benefits from getting hitched before they're out of college.
Together they back the current trend of waiting until their late 20s to wed.
SEE MARRIAGE ON PAGE 4A
TRADITIONS
Students take on superstitions
BY NANCY WOLENS nwolens@kansan.com
Kristen DeHaan walked right through it. She didn't realize the faux pas she had just made until the next day at freshman orientation when she was told about the Campanile myth.
Deflaan, a 2009 alumna from Chicago, was then very worried.
"We didn't know anything about it," DeHaan said. "My dad thought it was cool and took a picture of me. Once we found out I made my dad delete the picture. I was so nervous."
Legend has it that if students
walk through the Campanile before they graduate then they will not graduate on time, if at all. It is not known when the myth of the bell tower began but students are made aware of it as early as their first visits to the University. Another myth about the Campanile is that if you kiss your significant other under the bell tower then you will marry him or her.
DeHaan graduated from the University in four and a half years. She doesn't believe that extra semester had anything to do with the myth. She said it was because she studied abroad and wasn't able to
SEE TOWER ON PAGE 3A
University myth says that if students walk through the campa-
nile before graduation, they won't graduate. Students are made aware of the myths as early as their first visits to campus.
Photo Illustration by Valerie Skubal/KANSAN
CAMPUS
University to offer first online summer classes
BY ERIN BROWN
ebrown@kansan.com
For the first time, students looking to get ahead with classes over the summer can do so from their own homes.
The University will offer summer classes online this year instead of holding only traditional on-campus classes.
The old system doesn't leave many options for students who can't stay in Lawrence over the summer, said Jim Peters, director of program coordination for Continuing Education at the University.
"For those students who are not planning to stay in Lawrence, this will allow them to still build credit hours from home." Peters said.
Online classes enable students to concentrate on one or two classes during a shorter time period. Students are often able to complete courses more quickly than during a traditional semester, Peters said. Additionally, incoming freshmen can jump-start their college careers by taking online classes before they arrive at the University.
SEE ONLINE ON PAGE 3A
index
Classifieds. 6B Opinion. 9A
Crossword. 8A Sports. 1B
Horoscopes. 8A Sudoku. 8A
All contents, unless stated otherwise. © 2010 The University Daily Kansan
Car drives through wall of vacant apartment
See pictures of accident at Seventh Street and Cornet Lane: CLOSE CALL | 6A
weather
75 48
TODAY
---
Partly cloudy
THURSDAY
82 54
FRIDAY
Partly cloudy
Partly cloudy/wind
weather.com