6A
NEWS / WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2010 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
ENDOWMENT
Alumnus donation spreads music
$400,000 will benefit KU School of Music
BY NICOLAS ROESLER
nroesler@kansan.com
In the small town of Osawatonie, people anticipate each weekend as if a famous rock band was coming to play in their city. Osawatonie, a town of 4,600 people, is one of the poorest cities in Miami County, but each weekend KU students and alumni bring free musical performances to a local church.
"There is always a buzz of 'Who is coming this week?'" said Leslie King, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Osawatomie.
King said the arts are not strongly represented in Osawatomie, and people would never have been as interested in them it wasn't for these concerts.
these concerts.
For the past two years, alumnus James Kajoura has donated more than $400,000 dollars to the School of Music to make performances such as those possible in
Osawatomie, Zakoura, an attorney in Kansas City, said outreach from the School of Music becomes the face of the University as a whole
Zakoura
because of the university of music to every demographic
"For that period of time, they are there for a common purpose," Zakoura said. "It doesn't mat."
ter if they are rich or poor, young or old, rural or urban. They are all there to enjoy other's company and to enjoy the performance."
Zakoura's donation through the School of Music will be split between the Midwestern Music Academy, a summer program for youths; a music professorship; scholarships for music students; and an outreach program that
takes free-of-charge musical performances throughout Kansas.
fortnances through Because of the Zakoura Outreach Fund, students like Charles Martinez, a doctoral student from Wichita, has been able to perform at the church in Osawatton once a month through the past year, as well as in other towns, such as Paola.
Although the opportunity to perform is a major benefit for students like Martinez, he sees the connection he makes with the people of Paola and Osawatomie as beneficial to the School of Music. He said people who have seen him sing in Osawatomie have then come to performances at the University, Robert Walzel, dean of the School of Music, said these new connections were essential for the University's and the school's growth.
"It makes it so much more possible for things like that to happen," Martinez said.
"This is a person who has a
vision for connecting KU to the state of Kansas through music in ways that the University has never connected before" Walzel said of Zakoura.
Zakoura started the Zakoura Outreach Fund, along with other contributions to the school, because he has seen how music can be the connection point between every corner of the state and the University.
Every one of the performances made possible by Zakouras help is free to the public so that no one will be turned away simply because of their financial situation. Zakoura said.
Zakoura said.
Walzel, Zakoura and King all look forward to continuing the outreach efforts through the school of music into the future.
"I think our country is very dependent on initiatives like Jim Zakouras" King said.
Edited by Joel Petterson
FIRST AMENDMENT
Supreme Court case about more than speech
Representative for the Westboro Baptist Church is questioned for state employment
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA, Kan. — In one photo, Margie Phelps has a furrowed brow and is stomping on the American flag at one of the numerous protests her fundamentalist church has held nationwide against the military, gays and the Catholic church.
Another picture reveals a different Phels. One with a warm smile as she's presented an award for her work at the Kansas Department of Corrections, where she puts
in long hours and is known for her calm demeanor in helping former prison inmates return to society.
First Amendment.
First Attention.
"She doesn't stand out from any other professional I've dealt with," said Mary K. Vaughn, who worked with Phelps on a housing program in Wichita for ex-inmates. "She knows her business. She does her business."
To some, Phelps is a study in contradictions.
In the Supreme Court case. she
Phelps took a leave from her $66,518-a year job as an administrator on Friday, and state officials would not release any details about her leave.
In the Supreme Court case, (Phelps) will defend the protests that her church holds at U.S. soliders' funerals.
sourt case, she will defend the protests that her church holds at U.S. soldiers' funerals. The court is to decide whether the church can be sued over the protests and whether the father of a
She's a member of her family's divisive Westboro Baptist Church and she's set to go before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to represent her church in a case that tests the scope of free speech protections under the Constitution's
Marine killed in combat can collect $5 million in damages awarded in a federal lawsuit.
The father of Marine Lance Corp. Matthew Snyder of York, Pa., contends the protests are
harassment. Media organizations, including The Associated Press, have urged the Supreme Court to side with the Phelpses, despite what they describe as the church's "deeply offensive" message.
Phelps did not respond to repeated interview requests. Her supervisor, Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz, declined comment and a department spokesman said her co-workers wouldn't discuss Phelps with The Associated Press.
Top Kansas officials also had little to say. A spokeswoman for Gov. Mark Parkinson declined to comment, Kansas Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt called her employment with the state "an embarrassment" but wouldn't elaborate.
elaborate.
Phelps, 54, was born less than a year after her father, Fred Phelps Sr., started his church in central Topeka. She went to law school, has a master's degree in public administration and in the 1980s worked for her family's law firm.
Then in 1989, she couldn't practice in federal courts for a year because family number.
Department of Corrections as a parole officer in 1990. Since 2001, she has been the director of the department that coordinates prisoners' release and overseeing efforts to give ex-inmates job training and housing.
And several years ago, the Kansas Correctional Association gave Phelps an Employee of the Quarter Award, praising her for having helped create the state's re-entry program "almost single-handedly."
"I have always found her to be intelligent and professional," said Elizabeth Gillespie, who runs the county corrections department and jail in Topeka, and worked regularly with Phelps for several years.
members were
Vaughn agreed, saying Phelps was very knowledgeable about eximmates' issues and came to work with an attitude that said: "I'm here to do a job." She made sure that Vaughn and her staff knew they could reach her on her cell when she was out of town.
Vaughn acknowledged initially having misgivings about working
accused of unfairly questioning judges' fairness and integrity in legal documents.
with Phelps because of Westboro's activities but added. "It never came up"
The court is to decide whether the church can be sued over the protests.
date auction
In recent years, she's
Saturday, October 9th, 7pm - Spring Hill Suites Ballroom
K an s a s' state employees union says it hasn't heard any complaints
All proceeds will benefit the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation to support Diabetes Research
often represented the church or its members as state and local authorities have tried to limit their activities. Westboro Baptist's activities inspired laws limiting funeral protests by the federal government and at least 41 states.
In her work with inmates, Phelps started with the Kansas
about Phelps' conduct at her job.
Though, even some strong critics of Westboro Baptist question whether the state, as an employer, could — or should — respond to Phelps' activities outside of work.
Higher education goals set by Regents
STATE
Focus on better retention, graduation rates.
BY STEPHEN GRAY
sgray@kansan.com
Recognizing the need for long-term goals in higher education, the Board of Regents approved a 10-year strategic plan last month to set Kansas on the right course.
Gary Sherrer, chairman of the Board of Regents, said that setting long-term, measurable goals is the only way to move higher education forward and raise its effectiveness.
The plan, entitled "Foresight 2020", represents three years of input from the Regents and the state's public colleges and universities. It is designed to improve the quality of Kansas' higher education system with the aid specific deadlines and targets. These include a revising a set of university admission standards by June 2011 and increasing retention and graduation rates by 10 percent within 10 years.
"We need to ensure that we're going to have a better,stronger system in a decade than we have right now," Sherrer said.
Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said the University's goals fit very well under those set forth by the Regents, especially in the areas of student recruitment and retention, improving graduation rates and enhancing research engagement. She said she thought it would be important to maintain a long-term plan for higher education in Kansas.
For Sherrer, the broad nature of the goals have long been a desired ambition among those involved in the state's education systems. He said he thinks that Foresight 2020 would act as a guide for state administrators as they work to improve the higher education system and the economy over the next decade.
"The University will improve, as will the system, when it has well thought out goals to aspire to," Gray-Little said.
Public opinion leaders, elected officials and taxpayers want to know that their dollars are being
THE SIX MAIN STRA TEGIC GOALS OF FOREIGHT 2020
- Achieve alignment between the state's preK-12 and higher education institutions;
- engages adult learners Improve retention and
- Improve retention and graduation rates in institutions across the state;
- Create a higher education system that better reflects the state's demographics and more fully engages adult learners;
- Ensure that students have the fundamental skills essential for career and life success;
- Enhance the alignment between higher education and the needs of the state's economy
- Develop the regional and national reputations of Kansas universities.
spent in a strategic way to educate Kansas citizens while moving the state's economy forward, Gray Little said.
The new plan formalizes these goals and sets up objectives to achieve them. One of the economy-related objectives is exceeding the regional average for degrees awarded in science, technology, engineering and mathematic by 2020. Producing more graduates in these areas will support the growing engineering and technology sectors in Kansas.
Danny Anderson, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said Foresight 2020 would be part of a larger national goal to remain competitive by increasing the number of workers with post-secondary degrees.
"Kansas is changing and higher education needs to be ready." Anderson said.
Edited by Emily McCoy
ODD NEWS
LEBANON, Mo. — A 35-year-old man was charged in Missouri with possessing marijuana after his girlfriend called 911 and said she was tired of him smoking pot all day instead of working.
Dispatchers in the southwestern Missouri town of Lebanon got a 911 hang-up call Saturday night from a motel room.
Police said officers went to the motel and were told by the woman that her boyfriend did nothing during the day but smoke marijuana.
Associated Press
Faux-hero unable to save self from police
CENTRALIA, Wash. — Police who responded to a report of a prowler at a motorhome in Washington state found a "superhero" inside.
Commander Jim Rich told KITI-AM the man in a Green Power Ranger costume appeared lost and disoriented and apparently had been drinking.
Rich says the 28-year-old Centralia man apparently was dropped off by some friends at the wrong house after a weekend party. He was arrested for investigation of trespassing.
Associated Press
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