/ NEWS / MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
ADMINISTRATION
Chancellor in South Korea for the week
Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little went to South Korea on Sunday for a weeklong visit to expand exchange program opportunities for students and faculty.
While there, Gray-Little will meet with the presidents of Ewha University and Kookmin University, which are both signed to an exchange partnership with the University of Kansas. Ewha's partnership focuses on pharmacy and Kookmin's focuses on fine arts.
Gray-Little will also meet with the president of the Korea
University of Technology and Education and the leadership of the Korea Foundation. The University has a joint degree program in engineering with the Korea University of Technology and Education.
The chancellor's trip, which is paid for with private funds, will conclude with a reception hosted by the KU Korean Alumni Association. A major gift from one of the association's members to the University will be recognized. The gift will support scholarships and international programs.
"One of our goals is to give KU students a broader global perspective, both through study abroad opportunities and by
recruiting international students to attend KU," Gray-Little said in a prepared statement.
The Dole Institute of Politics will have a program on Nov. 29 with Kathleen Stephens, U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Korea, and Han Duk-soo, Korea's ambassador to the United States, for a conversation about the Korean War and trade between the two countries.
The next day, two ambassadors will appear at a breakfast hosted by the University and the International Relations Council in Kansas City with trade as the topic again.
Stephen Montemayor
CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS
Other holidays celebrate more than just costumes
BY NICOLAS ROESLER
nroesler@kansan.com
While Halloween gets most of the attention this time of year, three lesser-known religious holidays bring more meaning than just costumes and trick-or-treat.
The Catholic holidays of All Saints Day and All Souls Day and All Hours hall
day of Samhain (pronounced "sowwan") fall on or directly after Halloween. The Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, encompasses both Catholic holidays. These are observed on campus and in Lawrence.
when the "veil" between the spirit world and the real world is thinest. During this time, it is Wiccan tradition to hold what they call a "dumb supper."
At this supper, a family or group makes a meal for a loved one that has passed away during that year. The meal is held in complete silence. It is a way for people to commune
KU CAULDRON MEETINGS
KUCauldron.
WHEN: Mondays at 8 p.m
WHERE: Hashing Hall,
first floor meeting room
For more information, visit the KU Cauldron student organization page on the KU website.
Members of the club said the time around Halloween is the time
pagan religious group on campus, celebrates Samhain, one of the most important holidays on its calendar, on Oct. 31. Samhain is the Wiccan and pagan equivalent of New Year's Eve. But more importantly, it is a time to celebrate and remember the dead.
"Most cultures have some kind of a holiday that acknowledges the connection of the living and the dead," said Joe Harrington, the faculty advisor for KU Cauldron.
and bring the memories of their loved ones to the forefront of their minds, said Buffy McKinley, a KU alumnus and a founding member of KU Cauldron.
"It's always difficult to keep from giggling during the silent
dinner." McKinley said.
Although this silent supper may sound like a unique custom of Wiccan and pagan religions, there are similar traditions in religions like Christianity.
During All Saints Day on Nov. 1, Catholics celebrate and remember the saints in heaven. Then, for All Souls Day the following day, they remember those people that have passed and are on their way to heaven. The celebration for these souls is not much different than Wiccan customs. It involves quiet
prayer and collective recollection of the dead.
Harrington attends the group's meetings and listens to the discussion of topics such as divination and astrological projections, but he admits he sometimes slips into professor mode. He added that one of those cultures that connects the living with the dead in some way as Mexico with its or Dia de los Muertos celebration.
To commemorate the traditional Mexican holiday the Watkins Community Museum of History is holding an exhibit displaying classic figures from the Dia de los Muertos.
A tradition for Dia de los Muertos is for families to build a small altar for the dead and place their favorite foods, drinks, and pictures on display.
"The idea being that their spirits can travel back to consume some of the things on the altar." Keegan said.
Along with the altar, families display depictions of daily activities and social events with skeleton figures to both acknowledge a continuation after death and to commemorate moments from their lives.
KU Cauldron held both private and public celebrations of Samhain over the weekend and the Dia de los Muertos exhibit at the museum will be open until December.
Edited by Joel Petterson
Coffee talk
Jessica Janasz/KANSAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — A former teenage al-Qaida刀奖 was sentenced Sunday to eight more years in custody under the terms of a plea agreement unsealed after a military sentencing jury said he should serve 40 years for war crimes.
From left, Lawrence senior Sarah Christians, Olathe senior Riley Wertenberger, and Pocono Lake, Penn., senior Ashley DeSandre, sit in front of East-Lake Church before the 11 a.m. service, held at South Junior High on Louisiana Street. EastLake is currently having a "Thank God for Sex" series every Sunday to offer guidance on topics about sex and relationships, along with free coffee. The services are really back, and his lecture is engaging as well as amusing. DeSandre said, "Plus what's better than God, sex and free coffee?" Christians added.
Omar Khadr's case comes to an end after public scrutiny, outcry
Omar Khadr looked straight ahead as a military judge imposed the eight-year sentence, ending a legal odyssey that began when the Canadian son of a major al-Qaida figure was captured — at age 15 — with severe wounds in Afghanistan in 2002 after a four-hour firefight.
INTERNATIONAL
Sentence extended 8 years for former al-Qaida fighter
Khadr pleaded guilty Oct. 25 to five war crimes including murder for throwing a grenade that mortally wounded an American special forces medic, Sgt. 1st Class
Christopher Speer. Military prosecutors said it was no routine battlefield killing because the Canadian was not a legitimate soldier, but an al-Qaida fighter.
In terms of the plea deal, the U.S. agreed to send the now 24-year-old Khadr — the last Western prisoner at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba — back to his homeland after one more year in custody. He has been held at Guantanamo for eight years.
Speer's widow, Tabitha, pumped her fist and cheered "yes!" when the jury announced its 40-year sentence. Then she burst into tears.
The Toronto-born Khadr could have received up to life in prison if convicted at trial of even one of the charges against him.
Prosecuters said he deserved no special protection and argued that his actions were war crimes because al-Qaida fighters are not legitimate soldiers who follow the internationally accepted principles of war. Khadr admitted planting 10 roadside bombs in Afghanistan and spying on U.S. convoys to study the best ways to attack them.
The Khadr case has been one
of the most scrutinized at the' Guantanamo war crimes tribunals, with critics saying that a battlefield death should not be treated as a, homicide and that Khadr — whose father was a confidante of Osama bin Laden — was a "child soldier" pushed into militancy by his family.
Before announcing the verdict, the jurors had asked that a tape of McCarthy's testimony be played again for them.
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