4A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5.2008
CAMPUS
Speaker to discuss climate change
BY RUSTIN DODD dodd@kansan.com
The Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Roderick Bremby, will lecture about climate change at 7 tonight in the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics. But Bremby may not be able to comment on the issue that has brought him the most attention.
Bremby, who was appointed to his current position by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, gained national recognition this past October because of his decision to reject a plan to build two coal plants in Holcomb.
With Bremby's decision, the department became the first government agency to cite carbon dioxide emissions as the reason for rejecting the construction of a coal plant.
The department's decision ignited a statewide debate about the future of coal, and in mid-February, the Kansas Senate and House of Representatives passed two new bills that would give the Holcomb coal plants a state emissions permit. The bills are currently in a House-Senate conference committee, but many suspect that Sebelius, who called the bills "unacceptable," will veto any bill that isn't significantly altered.
many Kansas environmentalists, said he could not comment on some aspects of the Holcomb legislation.
Bremby, considered an ally by
"I really can't talk much about the case itself, but I can revisit comments that have already been a part of public record," Bremmy said. "It'll be a tighrone walk."
Brian Sifton, a Kansas City, Mo. senior and coordinator for KU Environments, said Bremby's decision was important for KU environmentalists.
"It was a break from the status quo" Sifton said.
Sifton said KU Environs, a student organization designed to promote awareness of environmental issues, had been paying close attention to the Holcomb legislation.
"Everyone wants to know what he's going to say about it," Sifton said.
Bremby said his lecture would address climate change at the local level and how the department made its decisions.
"Climate change is an issue that we need to deal with," Bremby said. "Whether we deal with it nationally or we deal with it locally, I think fundamentally it will require each of us to take some steps to do what we can to limit our greenhouse gases."
Bremby's lecture is the second in the University Lecture Series. The
series is being co-sponsored by the KU Honors Program and The Commons — a partnership among the Biodiversity Institute, the Hall Center for the Humanities, and the Spencer Museum of Art.
Sarah Crawford-Parker, assistant director of the KU Honors Program, said the lecture series was created to tackle the climate change issue creatively.
"When you're dealing with something like climate change, it's a complicated issue," Crawford-Parker said. "There's no one answer."
On Feb. 12, Nate Brunsell, assistant professor of geography, spoke on climate change. The series will feature three more lecturers after Bremby, William Pizer, a senior fellow for Resources for the Future, will lecture on March 26; Andrew Torrance, associate professor of law, will speak on April 9; and photographer Terry Evans will lecture on April 16.
Crawford-Parker said they expect a large turnout for Bremby.
"It is essential that these type of opportunities exist on college campuses. It provides an opportunity for discussion and exploration," Breesby said.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
— Edited by Patrick De Oliveira
Roderick Bremby gained national recognition this past October after he rejected a plan to build coal plants in Holcomb.
details
What: Roderick Bremby, secretary of the Kansas Department of Heath and Environment, will lecture on climate change as part of the University Lecture Series.
When: Tonight at 7
Where: Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics
NATION
Gym offers women-only hours
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON — In a test of Harvard's famed open-mindedness, the university has banned men from one of its gyms for a few hours a week to accommodate Muslim women who say it offends their sense of modesty to exercise in front of the opposite sex.
The policy is already unpopular with many on campus, including some women who consider it sexist.
"I think that it's incorrect in a
college setting to institute a policy in which half of the campus gets wronged or denied a resource that's supposed to be for everyone," said student Lucy Caldwell, who also wrote a column in The Harvard Crimson newspaper critical of the new hours.
Student Ola Aljawhary, who is Muslim and works out elsewhere on campus but is not one of the women who requested the change, rejected that argument.
"The majority should be willing to
compromise" she said. "I think that's just basic courtesy. We must show tolerance and respect for all others."
The trial policy went into effect Feb. 4, about a month after a group of six Muslim women, with the support of the Harvard College Women's Center, asked the university for the special hours, spokesman Robert Mitchell said.
"We get special requests from religious groups all the time and we try to honor them whenever possible," he said, noting that the school has
designated spaces for Muslim and Hindu students to pray.
No men are allowed in the gym between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Mondays, and between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Even the staff during those times is all women. The special hours allow the Muslim women, who adhere to traditional dress codes by covering their hair and most of their skin while in public, to dress more appropriately for exercising, said Susan Marine, director of the women's center.
》POLITICS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Town Clerk Annette Capyp stands in her office in Brattleboro, Vt., Friday, holding a sample ballot with an article which voters will consider that would instruct the town's attorney to draft indictments allowing President Bush and Vice President Cheney to be arrested by local authorities for crimes against their Constitution.
Vermont town could vote to arrest Bush, Cheney
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — Voters in this southern Vermont town were deciding Tuesday whether to approve a measure calling for the indictment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney on charges of violating the Constitution.
The symbolic article seeks to have police arrest Bush and Cheney if they ever visit Brattleboro or to extradite them for prosecution elsewhere — if they're not impeached first.
"Our town attorney has no legal authority to draw up any papers to allow our police officers to do so," said Town Clerk Annette Capy, "but the gentleman who initiated the petition got the signatures (and) wanted it on the ballot to make a statement."
A steady stream of voters paraded into the Brattleboro Union High School gym to cast their ballots on a day when school board elections and Vermont's presidential primary were also on the slate.
Organizers of the indictment
campaign were frustrated that the printed ballot ended up relegating the Bush-Cheney indictment article to the back side, which they said would cause some people to miss it.
The 8-by-14-inch yellow card-board ballot listed the offices and candidates in the local election on one side, and at the bottom in block letters "Turn Ballot Over and Continue Voting."
"Turn Over Ballot and Indict Bush," read a 3-by-4-foot handmade picket sign carried by Kurt Daims, 54, who organized the petition drive and stood outside the school Tuesday.
Voters interviewed after casting ballots said they saw the article as an opportunity to express their frustration over the war in Iraq and Bush's tenure in general.
"I realize it's an extreme thing to do, and really silly in a way," said Robert George, 74, a retired photographer. "But I'm really angry about us getting involved in the war in Iraq and him (Bush) disrespecting the will of the people."