Flurry worries
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Details, page 2
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Monday
February 16, 1987
Vol. 97, No. 96
(USPS 650-640)
Staff writer
HAYS — On the same basketball court he had played on as a schoolboy more than 13 years ago, Wall Street Journal reporter Gerald Seib heard his hometown mayor proclaim Saturday as “Gerald Seib Day.”
Hays applauds Seib when he returns home
Seib, a 1978 former Kansa gathering he w all the attentive "All I did we said. "I said basketball can bonded so muc t"I feel a little it, but it so good to Seib was or invited by Iran battlefront. He 31 by the Iran accused of be iran released Dei Brinkh chanceller for and a former ism school to
By JOSEPH REBELLO
By JOHN BUZB
Staff writer
Basketball fan a ring of ticket Allen Field House And some fans But a bill in would try to keep by banning it more than their universities.
Red and white balloons, Valentine's Day hearts, a large U.S. flag, and posters saying, "Jerry, We're Glad You're Home" and "God Bless You" adorned the gym at Hays' Thomas More Prep甲南 school, where about 400 city leaders, former classmates, teachers gathered to welcome Seib home an Iranian jail.
In the field F
Oklahoma to devise
would take the I
Conference race
championship diets at a profit
Reserved seat $7 went for as general admins were sold for $11 The Jayhawk lper who would "White Mike" wanted to be cal The scalpers cnames used in p Mike made s work outside th that he said he around $300. Mike bought scalpers and so "Everybody he said." No!
KU20
the courage with which Seib endured his ordeal in Iran made him a world hero.
"But you were a hero to us before all this happened," he said
on this happened," he said. Before the public reception, Seib said that for one fleeting moment during his detention in Iran, his mind went back to his days as Kansan editor in fall 1977.
At that time, Iranian students demonstrated several times on campus against U.S. policies and the Shah of Iran.
Seib said that those events were not covered enough by the Kansan then, and said that the newspaper should have paid closer attention
Road Trips
Spring break hits campus early; ads guide students to best buys
Only the darkest corners of campus avoid the assault.
Most classroom walls and bulletin boards are papered with the messages of the spring break marketing rush. And prospective travelers try to choose between the warmth of southern beacies and the thrill of western ski slopes.
During the third week of March, thousands of KU students will slice into their semester budgets to join the flocks in such places as Daytona Beach, Fla., South Padre Island, Texas and Vail. Colo.
While travel prices haven't changed much in the past year, prospective vacationers can still expect outlays of at least $300.
Vacation costs may include bus fare, plane fare, driving costs, hotel, food, alcohol and souvenirs.
Package tours quickly are absorbing the spring break travel market. Their pitch is affordability, convenience and freedom of choice. Many of the tours offer optional transportation and guaranteed space in a hotel.
A week's stay in a hotel in Daytona Beach, transportation not included, may cost as little as $120. Airfare and a week's stay in a hotel in Cancun, Mexico, on the other hand, may cost more than $550.
Bus trips generally are the cheapest method of travel, according to local travel company representatives.
Steve Marshall, Salina senior, is a representative for Campus Marketing. He and Donna Reid, Manhattan senior, expect to sign about 400 people for a bus trip to Daytona Beach.
Marshall said Campus Marketing's prices were about the same as last year's. The bus, he said, is the cheapest way to get to Daytona, at about $40 each way.
Marshall said a traveler could get by on $300 for the whole trip, assuming he or she took the bus.
"The best way to go is on the bus," he said. "Plus, we provide some alcohol."
Bill Colgan, Lawrence junior, is the campus representative for Echo Travel. Colgan said that last year he took 100 people on the bus, and 35 drove themselves. He expects the same percentage this year.
This will be Colgan's third trip to Daytona as a representative. He said his spending money amounted to $120 his first year, and a little more last year.
"You can really get by on $100 if you budget yourself," he said. "I suggest to people that they get a kitchenette to save money on food."
Alcohol and food likely are to be the largest expenditures, Colgan said. Souvenirs are the next largest expense.
"It's a lot more expensive to fly," he said. "Most people who can afford that kind of money don't go on package tours."
Few people buy the room package only and then fly, he said. On the trip last year, two travelers flew down, one only because she was prone to carickness, he said.
However, airborne trips to more exotic places are on the
market in Lawrence for those who can afford them.
For example, spring break flight and hotel packages to Nassau, Bahamas, and Cancun are advertised at a cost of more than $500. Package trips to Fort Lauderdale and South Padre may cost between $400 and $450.
Mark Petry, a local Orion Tours representative, said flying packages appealed to people who didn't want to spend long hours on a bus.
"They're looking at two days that they don't have to be driving," he said.
People who fly to Padre or Fort Lauderdale, Petry said, pay $50 to $100 more than people who drive or take a bus.
Spring break prices increase a little each year because hotel owners continue to raise their rates. Petry said.
"They operate in the red for most of the year," he said. "Spring break is like the Christmas retail season for them."
So, hotel owners demand their highest rates during the busiest weeks of the season.
"KU's spring break this year happens to be the busiest spring break time of the year," he said.
Hotel choices are important considerations for spring break travelers, said Lisa Parthe, Overland Park senior and representative for Inter-Campus Programs. Parthe expects to take about 200 students to Daytona Beach
She said she expected about half of her group to take the bus and half to find another way to the hotel.
Although trips to either warm or cold climates are available, the majority of package trips are to Florida or Texas. Student Union Activities offers one of the few trips to Colorado.
Mike Lauer, SUA president,
said he expected about 35 to
40 people to sign up for the SAU
trips to Vail and Padre Island.
“五ire or six years ago we were the only trips on campus.” Lauer said. “Now there’s a lot of competition. People have come in and run mass programs. It’s gotten to the point where we can’t risk a lot of money producing it.”
Stories by Benjamin Hall
Travel representatives reap side benefits
"As soon as we pull out I-70, everybody turns into Dr. Jerkyll and Mr. Hyle." Colgan said. "It's great to watch everybody. People apologize for how they're going to act for the next week."
When a chartered bus pulls out of Lawrence on March 13, Bill Colgan, Lawrence junior, will again be witness to the uninhibited ritual that has become known as spring break.
Colgan is a campus representative for Echo Travel, a Chicago-based company that offers spring courses at universities at more than 100 universities.
Colgan said the opportunity to meet a lot people was one of the job's biggest benefits. Last year his group stayed in the same hotel as a group from Iowa State University. Teams from each school were invited to view the Big Eight Conference basketball tournament.
Echo hired Colgan to promote,
organize and coordinate a trip to
Daytona Beach, Fla. His payment
is a free trip.
"Once I get down there, I can relax, too." Colgan said.
The two groups shared a friendly rivalry, Colgan said.
This will be Colgan's third year as a travel contact. "I've got it
down to a science." he said.
Colgan said his responsibility on the trip was to get his group to the assigned hotel, help them check their rooms and get them back safely.
Colgan said he spent 10 to 15 hours each week promoting the trip and signing up customers. His team has increased as the break draws near.
"The phone will start ringing off the wall from 9 a.m. to midnight," he said.
"Once I get down there, I can relax, although I still have to be available," he said.
Steve Marshall, Salina senior works for Campus Marketing. He
Marshall said the campus representatives had contacts along the way and a regional representative in Daytona Beach.
said he expected to put in 100 to 120 hours of work before his group left for Daytona Beach.
"It's not really a vacation for us," he said. "We coordinate everything."
"We have plenty of extra help if we need it," he said.
Mark Petry, an employee of Orion Tours, said that he escorted trips while attending Emporia University. "I didn't plan to an escort this year."
"It really is a lot of work," he said. "There are a lot of problems."
Petry said he spent a day and a half last year trying to relocate his group after hotel reservations were fouled up.
"It's not always a whole lot of fun and games," he said. "Your time is not really your own."
Lisa Parthe, Overland Park senior and a representative for Inter-Campus Programs, said she would get her group to Daytona Beach and back, and leave them alone in the meantime.
"I'll give freedom to the students," she said. "That's what they want."
KANSAN MAGAZINE/February 13, 1987
1S
and the iqor at
itteon on st week
ink bill
indent that
to desig-
ating at
as a rved but
a rved but
indentment
'ding on
se both
expression
not both
the need
to before it
harlton,
was not
, said a
its pas-
6, col. 3
5