2A
Wednesday, June 21, 1995
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
BOSNIA: Lawrence serves as refugees' promised land
Continued from Page 1A.
ever, with the help of some Croatian friends, her son Haris went to Croatia. The entire family soon followed
Vanja Mehmedovic said that once in Croatia, the family decided it was safer to move to the United States.
The United States is a promised land, and we came here to work and be part of the Lawrence community," he said.
The family was sponsored by the New York-based Catholic Relief Services and arrived in Lawrence about one year ago.
Noah Musser/KANSAN
Sister Frances Russell of Catholic Social Services of Lawrence, 320 Maine St., created a group to resettle Bosnian families in the area and was assigned with helping the Mehmedovic family settle here. Sister Russell said the group helped the family with housing, food and other necessities. One week after their arrival, they all started jobs: Nafa and Alisa at the Holiday Inn Holidome, 200 W. Turnpike Access Road; Vanja and Hamdija at Packer Plastics Inc., 2330 Packer Road; and Haris as a construction worker in St. Louis.
"I think they adjusted well. They are peaceful, non-violent, and hard working people," Sister Russell said. "Our town is about the size of Mostar, and when they saw Clinton Lake they got really excited because in their hometown they have a beautiful river."
Geoff Husic, a KU librarian in Watson Library's Slavic department, directs the group Sister Russell founded. He said that the Mehmedovics were homesick for a while but that they now felt like part of the community.
"I helped them because I was sick of watching what was going on in their country and not being able to do anything," Husic said. "Anyone who has been in Bosnia knows that before 1991, the Muslims and Serbs and other groups in the country lived together without a problem."
Even though the Mehmedovics cannot go home now, they have not forgotten their homeland. Someday, they say, they will go home.
For now, Hamdja whispers, "Just remember — my friends, my family and my country are always in my mind and heart."
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Crimson Girls lead cheers, lack recognition
By Robert Sinclair Kansan staff writer
Kansan staff writer
Crimson Girls celebrate success at a recent national cheerleading camp. In addition to awards for Best Fight Song, Best Home Routine, and a gold medal for All Around, the team also qualified for nationals next April in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
In the nearly empty Dayton Arena, Julie Hammond catches her breath and gathers her pompons.
One spent the last two hours yelling and jumping around in front of 13,045 people and a national TV audience. Her face shines from the effort, and small sweat beads hang from her short, brown hair.
She's hot, sweaty and tired. All that she wants now is to relax, shower and savor Kansas' tournament victory against Western Kentucky. She never even gets the chance.
Things aren't always pretty in the life of a Crimson Girl.
Contrary to popular belief, there's more to being a Crimson Girl than just pompons and short skirts. Each member is a full-time student and is expected to keep up her classwork.
Although each Crimson Girl receives $100 and free text books each semester, none are allowed access to athletic advisors or tutors. They also must schedule their classes around practice times. That can be difficult, since they are denied the early enrollment times of student athletes.
Despite the hard work that goes into every one of their performances, the Athletic Department still doesn't classify them as a team. They are a "support group" or an "auxiliary group." This lack of official recognition may help to explain their post-game problems at the NCAA basketball tournament in Dayton, Ohio.
"The they told us they'd have showers for us at the basketball arena, but they didn't," said Hammond, the team's captain. "The Athletic Department paid for the players to have their rooms until 4 p.m., but we had to check out at 1 p.m. After the game there was no place for us to shower."
The Spirit Squad, which includes the Crimson Girls, cheerleaders, mascots and band members, has been fighting for respect from administrations and fans for years. Some progress has been made: a budget increase and more scholarship money. However, this latest mix-up illustrates how much further they have to go.
Betsy Stephenson, associate athletics director, said that she had not heard
anything about the Dayton mix-up and didn't think there was any controversy. She also pointed out that the arenas weren't responsible for providing showers for the Spirit Squad.
If being hot and sweaty wasn't bad enough, the Crimson Girls had to file onto a bus with the other Spirit Squad members and begin an overnight, cross-country journey back to school. Meanwhile, the basketball team was flown back to Kansas.
According to Stephenson, the decision to drive the Spirit Squad instead of flying was due to an Athletic Department policy that ground transportation should be used for any trip less than 600 miles.
Richard Konzem, assistant athletics director, said the basketball team usually flew to NCAA tournament games. The NCAA requires that teams be there at least one day in advance to practice and meet with the media. Konzem said that if the Spirit Squad flew to Dayton with the team, 43 students would have missed class unnecessarily.
The Crinson Girls' trip to Dayton was not the first time they had to fend for themselves.
members. Eventually, Spirit Squad emergency funds were used to send six members, in addition to the seven the department would pay for. Five people paid their own way.
When the Athletic Department was trying to decide who to send to the 1992 Aloa Bowl, it was one day you are going, the next day you're not for Spirit Squad
The price for these annoyances is practice two hours a day, five days a week. On football game days, the squad arrives at Memorial Stadium for practice at 8:30 a.m. and then spends the rest of the day cheering for the Jayhawks. Sundays, the Crimson Girls teach high school clinics to raise money for the annual national cheerleading competition in Dallas.
"The hardest time of the year is when basketball overlaps with football. We have to do both of those games, plus we still have to practice five days a week for our national competition in January," said Staci Sill, Jefferson City, Mo., junior, and a third year squad member.
The hard work has paid dividends. At this year's competition, which is sponsored by the National Cheerleading Association, the Crimson Girls finished third, after winning the competition last year and placing second in 1993.
Although it may sound as if the Crimson Girls face the rigors of any athletic team, they certainly aren't treated the same way, said Elaine Brady, Spirit Squad coordinator since 1983 and
founder of the Crimson Girls.
That won't happen any time soon.
"We're not in competition while we're out there on, in the eyes of the Athletic Department, we are only a support group," she said. "I'd love to see us compete under the NCAA rather than have to do it through cheerleading organizations."
"The NCAA is a national collegiate governing body for sports," said Stephenson, a former Kansas volleyball player who graduated in 1983. "Although the students who participate in Spirit Squad activities are great athletes and put in a lot of time, that governing body is not involved in supporting support groups."
Nevertheless, Brady said things were improving.
The department increased the squad's budget from $25,000 to $45,000 in just two years. But it is still pretty much on its own as far as competing in nationals is concerned.
"It's not by any means where we want it to be, and we're always striving to make it better." Brady said.
Hammond offered one explanation for the squad's plight.
"There are going to be some people in charge who don't have a clue about why we're out there doing what we do," Hammond said. "I guess if you don't have a daughter, and you've never known how much work goes into being on a cheerleading squad, you might not understand."
Some people are very appreciative of the Crimson Girls' efforts, she said.
"Roy Williams is so supportive of us. He thanks us all the time," she said. "When we went to the Indiana game he said, 'I'm so sorry you had to cheer at this game.'"
Student-athletes echo Williams.
"They're not just there to be there," Kansas senior guard Calvin Rayford said. "I think it helps a lot to have them there. They've got a job to do just like we do."
However, the squad hopes one day to be able to hit the showers like any other athletic team.
"I think other athletes in the Athletic Department think of us pretty highly, and we all have a lot of respect for each other," Sill said. "It's too bad we're not seen as a team by the Athletic Department."
Wednesdays are STUDENT NIGHTS $2 admission with student ID Juicers Showgirls Open Sun-Thurs 7:30pm-1:00am Fri & Sat until 2:00am 913 N. Second
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