THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
KUTUBE
Students get chance to ask Senators questions
BY BRENNA HAWLEY
bhawley@kansan.com
Students will have the chance to submit questions to student body presidential and vice presidential candidates in The University Daily Kansan's Student Senate debate, which will be held the week after spring break.
The Kansan, which has never hosted a debate before, is inviting students to submit questions to candidates via the YouTube channel "Kansandotcom." The questions will then be played for the candidates during the debate.
Darla Slipke, Bristol, Conn., senior and Kansan editor-in-chief, will be one of the moderators of the debate. The Kansan will collaborate with KJHK-FM and KUJH-TV, the campus radio and TV stations, for the event.
Slipke said the debate was a way to get more readers involved in the Student Senate elections. She said many students didn't realize how important Student Senate was and how much influence they could have on student life, especially through dispersal of student fees.
"The debate is a great way to let students ask questions and make informed decisions," Slipke said.
Slike said that the generation of students in college now are very involved with technology, so the debate would likely appeal to them.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN'S STUDENT SENATE DEBATE
Brian Lewis-Jones, Lenexa senior and Kansan Web editor, said the debate would be a great way to raise awareness about local democracy and that he hoped the debate would take away the passive outlook some students have on the election.
"The Kansan logo says 'The Student Voice Since 1904,' Lewis-Jones said. "As of now, I see no better opportunity to perpetuate the student voice."
Lewis-Jones said the debate was modeled off the CNN-YouTube debate between U.S. presidential candidates. Viewers submitted questions to YouTube, which were then played for candidates when the debate aired on CNN.
Lewis-Jones is also integrating other types of multimedia into the debate. Coalitions will have their own blog on Kansan.com. They will be limited in their number of posts, and all posts will go through a moderator.
Brett Murray, Lenexa junior and news
director at KJHK-FM, said that although the station has never broadcast the debate live before, the station would try to do it this year. He said the station would then rebroadcast the debate and air other Senate stories to complete what he said is the most extensive Senate coverage he's ever heard by KJHK-FM.
Murray said that by using the different
multimedia, he hoped to reach as many students as possible. He said students needed to be aware that Senate controlled student-paid fees and that voting for them would encourage good voting practices later in life.
"The importance of the right to vote is very understated in this country," Murray said.
Dick Nelson, general manager and news coordinator at KUJH-TV, said the television station would also be involved in the debate. Nelson said the station wanted to broadcast the debate live, but hadn't done much live coverage and had to coordinate the technology to make it possible. He said if they didn't broadcast live, they would either tape the story and rebroadcast it on the station or stream it on the Internet.
The debate will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 26, in Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
Edited by Matt Hirschfeld
CAMPUS
Secretary to give second lecture in series about global climate change
Roderick Bremby, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, will speak at 7 tonight in the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics. Bremby is the second of five speakers in the ongoing University Lecture Series on climate change sponsored by the KU Honors Program and the Commons.
FULL STORY ON PAGE 4A
PARKING
Proposal aims to change permit prices
In an effort to increase the availability of parking on campus, the Parking and Transit departments are putting together a proposal that would lower the price of Park and Ride permits from $205 to $100. The proposal would also make all other permits more expensive.
FULL STORY ON PAGE 4A
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ENTERTAINMENT
From left, Overland Park sophomores, Gina, Cate, Crystle, Bethany and Sarah T. are part of the show "High School Confidential." They had all four years of their high school life filmed for the reality show, which will be aired on WE TV.
Students star in reality show
BY ANDREW WIEBE
awiebe@kansan.com
awiebe@kansan.com
For most college students, reality television is a guilty pleasure. For the seven University sophomores who participated in "High School Confidential," a WE tv documentary about high school life in Overland Park, it describes their high school lives perfectly.
Filmmaker Sharon Liese captured a variety of emotions, challenges and successes that each girl experienced during the course of four years through interviews and documentary work. Cate, whose brief struggle with depression and an eating disorder is featured in her episode, said she hoped people would see just how many pressures teens currently faced.
Their last names and the high school the girls attended are not revealed in the show.
When the show premieres on March 10, Cate, Crystle, Beth, Sarah T., Gina, Cappie and Courtney will see some of the most personal details about their high school lives on display for anyone with cable to see.
"I hope they see that even though we went to a primarily white, suburban high school that it's not all "Leave it to Beaver," Cate said.
Even though the experience hadn't been entirely positive, she said she would definitely do it again if she had the opportunity. Cates father, Rick, wasn't so sure. Although it was eye-opening to see what his daughter had gone through, he said it was difficult to have family airied across the country.
Others were more anxious about what they may have said rather than done.
Sarah T. said she hadn't seen her episode yet, but that she didn't really have anything to hide about herself from others. She said she was trying not to dwell on the fact that the premiere was rapidly approaching, but was worried about what she may have said on camera that she doesn't remember now.
"I'm more concerned about anything I may have said about other people" Sarah T, said.
She said she decided to participate in order to show a different side to high school life than the one depicted on television. When the
project began, Sarah T. said she couldn't have imagined it would have received the attention it has. She said her friends were more excited for her episode than she was, and that she was not yet sure if she would watch the premiere.
She may be the only one. "High School Confidential" has been the talk of Internet message boards because of the network's work promoting the show on Youtube and increasing media coverage. Liese, Cate and two other girls are in New York this week for appearances on the "Tya Banks Show" and "Good Morning America".
Liese said she came upon the idea while thinking about the kind of experiences and pressures her own daughter would face during high school. She sent letters to each incoming freshman girl in her daughter's class and, after interviewing those who responded, settled on 12 girls with a variety of family and ethnic backgrounds.
Unlike contemporary reality TV programs such as "Laguna Beach" and "The Hills," the girls who participated in "High School Confidential" didn't have cameramens following their every move. Rather, each would have a one-on-one interview with Liese a few times a year, and were filmed at school and at home at select times. The show also includes interviews with the girls' parents.
"High School Confidential" premieres on WE tv, Sunflower Broadband channel 124, March 10 at 9 p.m.
details
"I was there for my daughter's graduation," Liese said. "But I also saw these 12 girls walk across the stage and I had chills each time they walked across to get their diplomas. I knew their lives, I knew their struggles and I knew their triumphs."
Liese said that after four years following and documenting each girl's life she felt an emotional connection with each of them.
— Edited by Patrick De Oliveira
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