THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY HANSAN
Award honors volunteers
First-time award named after former Chancellor Hemenway. AWARD 8A
Kansas swept by Texas The baseball team lost the three game series in Austin.BASEBALL | 1B
MONDAY, APRIL 12, 2010
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 133
INAUGURATION
Chancellor receives formal welcome
Academics research top goals
BY ERIN BROWN
ebrown@kansan.com
To a crowd of about 1,000 people, Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little delivered a message of commitment and optimism in her inaugural address Sunday.
"This University was founded by a people who looked west, at the vast opportunities that stretched before them across this great continent," Gray-Little said. "We must maintain that same optimistic, pioneering spirit."
In her address, Gray-Little also spoke of her experiences traveling in Kansas and the diverse people she met throughout the state and at the University. She also emphasized her goals for the University, including using scholarship money more strategically to attract quality high school seniors.
Gray-Little also discussed her dedication to research initiatives
Jerry Wang/KANSAN
Jerry Wang/KNARSA chair of the Kansas Board of Regents, presents Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little with the Chancellor's ceremonial collar Sunday afternoon at the Lied Center as part of the Chancellor's inauguration. The silver collar features the university's real surrounded by rubies and sapphires and was first used in 1964.
To ensure that more students graduate, Gray-Little also suggested that the University embrace some systems already in place by KU Athletics. These include a warning system that identifies students who are struggling academically and then provides intervention, enhanced financial aid, and an online tool that allows students to make sure they are on track for graduation.
SEE GRAY-LITTLE ON PAGE 3A
Service group seeks to create new volunteering opportunities
akopf@kansan.com
BY ALEESE KOPF
More than a semester in the making, the newest volunteer organization, KU Advocacy Corps, finally sealed its hard work and planning during a Saturday training and address from Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little.
The new corps coexists beside a multitude of service-related events
leading up to the chancellor's inauguration on Sunday. The group seeks to partner some 100 students, staff and faculty with 50 or more community-based organizations ranging from the American Red Cross to the Douglas County AIDS Project. The group will serve as on-campus advocates and essentially the go-to people when an organization wants to reach out to KU.
Erika Dvorske, director of United
Way of Douglas County, said the idea was to connect KU human resources with community-based organizations. She said they were striving to fill the gap between students and the community by creating something more sustainable than just a single day of service.
"We're more interested in sustained volunteerism — someone who is committed to an organization and really able to help them
grow and be stronger," she said.
Erin Atwood, a sophomore from Topeka, will be serving as one of those volunteers. She also serves as co-coordinator for the Center for Community Outreach program Into the Streets Week, which provided numerous volunteer opportunities to students throughout last week. She said nearly 75 people, including 10 or 12 students, attended the Saturday morning Advocacy Corps
training.
Atwood said the Chancellor made it clear in her address at the training that she thought service was an important aspect of the KU community and should be encouraged. Atwood said the Chancellor light-heartedly referenced her excitement of possibly volunteering with some of the organizations to demonstrate
SEE SERVICE ON PAGE 3A
To see footage from the inauguration visit kansan.com.
ELECTIONS QUICKLY APPROACHING
Read bios from each candidate before Student Senate elections on Wednesday and Thursday.
PAGE 4A
A member of the Westbrook Baptist Church holds up signs protesting homosexuality on Friday after noon. Students across the street held a counter protest and raised funds for Planned Parenthood. The church's controversial pastor, Fred Phelos, didn't make an appearance.
Collin Johnson/KANSAN
Students participate in counter-protest
CAMPUS
BY ZACH GETZ
zgetz@kansan.com
It was easy to think a party was going on outside the Kansas Union Friday morning. Britney Spears was being pumped into a dancing crowd where almost 300 people were blowing bubbles, tossing balls around and even doing the occasional wave.
Looking closer, it was actually a counter-protest to a local religious extremist group from Topeka, which was there to protest the Brown Bag Drag, part of Queers & Allies' Pride Week.
Daniel Held, a sophomore from Seattle, wanted to counter-protest the group, but also wanted to do something extra than just help discourage the protesters. Held started raising money for
Planned Parenthood, an organization the religious group strongly disapproves of.
"I chose Planned Parenthood because I thought it would be something a majority of people would support, and is against the things that they stand for." Held said. "It's a great charity and they do amazing work."
Held said he raised about $1,161, almost double his original goal of $600. To ensure that everyone, including the extremist group, knew of his efforts, he created a sign that read, "Thanks to you we have raised XS to Planned Parenthood," and updated it with each new donation.
Chris Farley, a freshman from
SEE PROTEST ON PAGE 3A
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All contents, unless stated otherwise. © 2010 The University Daily Kansan
Environmental group launches new website
The website combines campus sustainability organizations. CAMPUS|3A
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