4A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15. 2006
MULTICULTURALISM
Program gives sophomores reason to stay
BY ANNE WELTMER
aweltmer@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFE WRITER
A new program has found a way to make sure sophomores don't end up just another face in the crowd or drop out of school altogether.
The Transitions program through the Office of Multicultural Affairs has helped boost the retention rate of students for the HAWK Link and Transitions programs to a record 88 percent.
Transitions, which started Fall 2005 provides academic
support for sophomores. It targets minority students, but is open to anyone. The program is similar to HAWK Link, the academic support and retention program for freshmen.
Transitions has 30 sophomore participants. HAWK Link, in its sixth year, has about 300 students.
Juan Izaguirre, assistant director of the OMA and HAWK Link director, said students were lost in the system. He said freshmen got support from HAWK Link, then return as sophomores and had nothing to help them
get back on track.
"I got so much help with scholarships," said Christopher Reine, Kansas City, Mo., sophomore, Transitions participant and former HAWK Link student. "It kinda got me to come back."
Aida Garcia, Transitions director, said the program has many activities at seminars that take place about once every month. Activities include meeting with prominent student leaders like student body president Nick Sterner, advanced academic advising and meetings with HAWK Link students.
Garcia stressed the importance of the relationship between HAWK Link students and Transitions students. She said the sophomores are valuable mentors. She said the groups meet occasionally to play games and hang out.
Izaguirre said that previously the OMA focused almost exclusively on freshmen and seniors. Seniors met with staff about graduation checks and career counseling, and freshman were taught how to navigate campus.
—Edited by Kathryn Anderson
Source: Office of Multicultural Affairs
BUSINESS
Enron executive takes stand calls operations 'goofy'
BY KRISTEN HAYS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON - A top trader who enjoyed a place in the inner circle of Jeffrey Skilling, former Enron Corp. chief, testified Tuesday that a partnership set up to help the company meet its earnings targets looked odd to him.
"It looked goofy to me," Kenneth Rice said of a partnership run by Andrew Fastow, former Enron chief financial officer, that existed almost exclusively to conduct transactions with the parent company.
Rice was the former head of the company's highly touted broadband unit that never lived up to its hype and crashed along with the parent into bankruptcy proceedings in December 2001.
He took the stand Tuesday as the government's second witness in the fraud and conspiracy trial of Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former Chief Executive Officer Skilling. His follows seven days of testimony from Enron's former investor-relations chief, Mark Koenig.
Rice appeared comfortable, though his eyes remained focused on jurors or prosecutor Sean Berkowitz rather than the defendants. Skilling watched him intently, while Lay took notes.
He described Skilling as a hands-on boss, who saw broadband as an important venture that could help increase Enron's stock price.
With that in mind, Rice said the broadband unit struggled throughout 2000 to contain losses and show progress in gaining market share after he, Skilling and others unveiled it with a flourish at an analyst conference in January that year. The unit often met earnings targets by selling inoperative fiber-optic cable or an interest in future revenue from a video-on-demand venture that later flopped.
Some of those deals were done with LJM, the Fastow-led partnership that helped Enron meet earnings targets.
Rice said he asked Skilling whether it was proper for a partnership run by Enron's CFO to do deals with Enron. He said Skilling explained that LJM could do transactions fast and that he thought "it was an important thing for Enron to do."
Though Rice called the setup "goofy," his unit turned to LJM to meet earnings targets.
Rice, Fastow and Koenig are among 16 ex-Enron executives who have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with prosecutors in hopes of receiving lenient punishments. Fastow is expected to be a key prosecution witness.
Koenig, who was Enron's chief liaison with Wall Street, described strictly work relationships with his former bosses. Rice and Skilling were friends as well, but have yet to face off in a courtroom.
What does love mean to you?
Nicoletta Niosi/KANSAN
Shaunika Cotton, Kansas City, Kan., sophomore, member of the Christian student group, Impact Movement, tells Brittany Ersery, Kansas City, Mo., sophomore, about the group's "What is Love?" day on Wescoe Beach Tuesday. The group encouraged students to write what their idea of love was and posted it on the box. Ersery wrote that love was "rubbing her feet." Impact Movement is sponsoring a soul food dinner and a screening of the film "Hotel Rwanda" this week.
Goggles make it easier to check out the opposite sex.
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