THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 2010
CAMPUS
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 110
Students complain of frequent thefts from Art and Design building
BY ALEESE KOPF akopf@kansan.com
Vance Carlson was working late in the textile department in the Art and Design Building. He left for about an hour while his fabric was washing, thinking another student would look after it.
When he returned, most of his fabric was gone.
"It was pretty inconvenient," Carlson said. "I had to buy another
$50 worth of fabric."
Carlson is just one of the victims of art supply theft that has been occurring in the Art and Design building in the past few months. The frequent thefts are part of an ongoing investigation by the police. Only five reports of robbery and one report of misdemeanor theft have been accredited to the building since June 2009, though police said many of these types of thefts often go unreported.
Education from Overland Park, had a $100 dye kit stolen this semester and did not report the theft. Basore said supplies were stolen on a weekly basis and went unreported for a number of reasons.
Tori Basore, a sophomore in Art
"I had to let it go" Basore said. "There wasn't much I could do about it."
Some students do not report the thets because they are in the middle of projects and need to find quick solutions, while others do not think anything will be resolved
by reporting the theft.
Graham Martin, a senior in textiles from Atlanta, said that one of his friends had all of her work stolen and that nothing was done after she told her instructor.
Martin himself has had at least $250 worth of supplies stolen. Among the items was a $200 dye kit he purchased. He said he had heard of another 13 students with the same theft.
Now, he said, he feels afraid to even go to the bathroom without
locking everything up.
Other students have reported thefts of everything from supplies to food and actual finished art pieces.
The cost of replacing supplies as well as the nuisance of having to go out of the way to repurchase them frustrates students.
Sam Boje, a senior from Overland Park, also had a dye kit bose. Bose could not afford and did not have the time to buy new supplies, so he paid a friend to borrow a kit. The
theft problem, which he said has almost completely ruined people's trust in one another, has put him on edge about his own actions for fear that people might think he is stealing.
"I think we need to find a way to bring some trust back into here," Boje said. "It makes our department function a lot less smoothly if we can't have some trust that we can leave our stuff out."
SEE THEFT ON PAGE 4A
Better fill out the census
ROLL CALL
Failure to finish the census means enrollment holds
The neighborhoods directly surrounding campus had the lowest national census return rate in the city. Organizations such as Complete Count Committee are trying to get more students to return their forms to be counted.
BY ANNIE VANGSNES anniev@kansan.com
Graphic by Nick Gerik/KANSAN
If students want to enroll next semester, they'll need to fill out the state census.
The University is requiring students to complete the state census before enrollment begins March 25 or a hold will be placed on their account. Seniors will not have a held place on graduation, but are still expected to complete it.
University Registrar Cindy Derritt said students should receive an e-mail from the University this week that includes a link to the state census. Students' completion of the census will be tracked by their seven-digit KUID.
Derritt said the state required the University to have 100 percent completion so it could correctly redistrict state legislative districts. Kansas is the only state to administer a state census.
The national census records where people live as of April 1, but the state census establishes a person's permanent address. A student's permanent address is left to the discretion of the student.
Brad Bryant, state election director, said that state law required college students and military personnel to complete the state census because they represented two sizable groups that might not be counted at their permanent address.
"KU'S trying to comply with the law here." Bryant said. "And the question is, 'What if you don't comply with the law?' The answer is you can be taken to court."
Bryant said no one had ever challenged a university mandate to complete the state census in court.
Alex Earles, a senior from Salina,
is a member of the Lawrence Complete Count Committee. The committee's goal is to raise the return rate of census forms for underrepresented groups, such as college students and minorities.
Earles said one potential shortfall of the state census was that a person's permanent address was up to the discretion of the individual.
The University did not have a hold system in place for the last census in 2000. Derritt said that the return rate was very low, but that she did not know exactly how low.
Earles said Kansas State University had a hold system for the census in 2000 and its return
"It shouldn't be that big of a deal with the proper education and with people knowing it's coming." Earles said.
rate was between 95 and 98 percent. Earles expects students will comply with the mandate to avoid holds.
Students should receive their national census via mail by mid- March.
Leo Prieto, census partnership specialist, said each national form was coded to track its return. The deadline for census forms is April 1.
Earles said if students don't return their census forms by the
IMPORTANT
DATES:
SEE CENSUS ON PAGE 4A
Early March: Students receive the state census website in an e-mail.
Mid-March: Students receive the national census in the mail.
March 25: State census must be completed before this date.
April 1: National census must be completed and mailed back.
LAWRENCE
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
A poster for the fake ID initiative is displayed in Rick's Place, 846 Illinois St. City and state groups are leading the campaign against fake IDs.
Local effort fights students' fake IDs
BY ROBERT ALTMAN
raltman@kansan.com
The ice machine at Rick's Place, 846 Illinois St., is full of good advice. Next to pictures of people letting loose in the bar is a sign advertising the "Fake or Borrowed ID 101" initiative recently launched in Lawrence.
And if you look close enough at the sign, you might be able see the three remaining sting dates scribbled down on the back of a receipt for everyone to see.
In case your eyes are bad, or you're under 21 and shouldn't be there, the scheduled dates are tonight, March 25 and March 27.
"We tell everyone we can possibly tell," Rick Younger, owner of Rick's Place, said.
The campaign was created in response to the 118 fake ID charges reported last year and the 27 charges reported this January, said Jen Brinkerhoff, director of prevention for the Douglas County Citizens Committee on Alcoholism, or DCCCA.
"The majority of people that go to KU are under 21, so they need to have another message besides 'Just do it safe.'" Brinkerhoff said. "A responsible message is, if you're under 21, the best thing is to not
drink at all."
Younger was part of the committee that organized the initiative. The committee included the owners of Wayne & Larry's and Johnny's Tavern, The New Tradition Coalition of Lawrence, the Kansas Traffic Safety Resource Office, the Department of Revenue
Alcoholic Beverage Control, the KU Office of Public Safety, the Lawrence Police Department and the Douglas
KANSAN
EDITORIAL
Read The Kansan's editorial about fake IDs.
PAGE 7A
County Sheriff's Office.
Brinkerhoff said the initiative received a $20,000 grant from the Department of Transportation to pay for posters such as those on Rick's ice machine and the officers' over-time hours during target days.
On Feb. 22, eight officers scanned 35 liquor-serving establishments and caught five minors in the first sting operation.
Look for more information about the census at kansan.com/
Brinkerhoff said the remaining dates of the stings might be subject
index
SEE FAKE ON PAGE 4A
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