THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
3A
》 DOLE INSTITUTE
Former vice president to speak
BY TYLER HARBERT
Getting a former vice president to speak on campus is much easier when a student at the University is related to him.
Lauren Leonard, Plymouth,
Minn., sophomore, is the great-
niece of Walter Mondale, who was
President Jimmy Carter's vice presi-
dent.
Mondale will speak April 12 at the Dole Institute of Politics. The Institute announced this week three upcoming programs, including the Mondale lecture.
Although she visited Mondale from time to time during family get-togethers, Leonard said she had never seen her "Uncle Fritz" speak in person.
"He spoke on CNN a month or two ago about Dick Cheney not doing a good job, so I've seen him on
TV," she said.
Former Senator Howard Baker will speak on April 22 at the Lied Center and will be awarded the Dole Leadership Prize. Baker will be followed on May 2 by General Richard Myers, who will give the Dole Lecture at the Institute.
Bill Lacy, Dole Institute Director, said the Mondale and Myers lectures will be ticketed events at the Institute, but a number of student tickets have been set aside. Tickets are free and available today for the Mondale lecture and April 13 for the Myers lecture.
Lacy said three such high-profile American speakers have never lectured at the Institute within such a short period of time of each other.
Leonard said Mondale was asked to speak at other campuses near his home state of Minnesota, but she said he denied a lot of those opportunities.
"He's really all about family, so that's what motivated him to come here," she said.
Coincidentally, Albright met with Monday after her visit. She told Mondale that she had a great experience at the Institute, lacquers said.
Leonard contacted the Institute after former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spoke there last year. Leonard told the Institute she might be able to get Mondale to speak on campus.
Steven Jacques, director of programming and communications at the Institute, worked on Mondale's White House staff. He said he had been trying to bring in Mondale since he started at the Institute in June.
"She recommended that he accept the invitation," he said.
As the great-niece of the former
vice president, Leonard said she could e-mail Monday directly and she would also be his taxi when he arrived. That doesn't mean she's ever received any special recognition because of her relation.
"I don't have his last name so people don't know unless I say something." Leonard said.
She said bringing in Monday was a tough, two-month process of e-mailing and scheduling, but that it should be worth the work.
"Not a lot of people from our generation know who he is, but I hope his credentials will be enough to bring people out," Leonard said.
Kansan staff writer Tyler Harbert can be contacted at tharbert@ kansan.com.
Edited by Will McCullough
EDUCATION
Changes on horizon for No Child Left Behind
BY NANCY ZUCKERBROD ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — President Bush's signature No Child Left Behind education law is headed for fundamental changes as Congress rewrites it this year, including a likely softening of do-or-die deadlines.
School administrators long have complained about the annual deadlines, which punish schools that do not make adequate progress toward having all children perform at their grade levels.
Now, those complaints are being taken up by lawmakers spanning the political spectrum.
School officials also have rebelled at requirements that students with limited English ability or with learning disabilities perform as well as their grade-level peers.
Key Democrats who control the federal purse strings are demanding
changes. Moderate Republicans say the law must be more flexible. On Thursday, they were joined by dozens of GOP conservatives who want an even more rad-
an even more radical overhaul.
Lawmakers say a major flaw is that schools that miss achievement targets by a little are treated the same way as schools that miss those goals by a lot. Schools then are labeled as needing improvement and face the same penalties.
requirements without losing federal education money.
Currently, any state that does not adhere to the requirements of
"The overriding intrusion in No Child Left Behind is too large to deal with unless you fundamentally change the legislation."
"We can't have one-size-fits all." Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., said Thursday. He led a group of House and Senate lawmakers in introducing legislation that would let states opt out of No Child Left Behind
ROY BLUNT
House Republican Whip
the $23 billion program cannot get the federal dollars that come with it. The requirements include annual testing in math and reading in grades three through eight, and once in high school.
The tests must show steady yearly progress toward a goal of getting students working on grade level by the year 2014.
House Republican Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri is supporting the conservatives' bill, even though he
voted for the law in 2001.
"The overriding intrusion in No Child Left Behind is too large to deal with unless you fundamentally change the legislation," Blunt said.
A former education secretary, GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, said, "That's a visceral reaction to too much federal involvement in local schools."
Alexander is not backing Hookerst and Blunt in their effort but said their concerns must be taken into account when the law is rewritten.
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has testified on Capitol Hill this week, hearing from Republicans and Democrats who want changes.
Rep. James Walsh, a senior member of the House appropriations subcommittee that oversees education spending, wants the law loosened for schools that are failing due to the performance of immigrant students who do not speak English fluently.
>> CORNSTARCH EXPLOSIONS
Museum to hold playful food event
Glowing pickles to draw masses
BY DANAE DESHAZER
If students aren't checking out something exotic for spring break, they might still be able to experience explosions, fiber optics, and even glowing pickles at the Natural History Museum's science event. Playing With Your Food.
Playing With Your Food, March 19-24, will offer a dozen hands-on experiments for people of all ages, all involving everyday food items like pickles, cornstarch, eggs and jell O. The experiments include egg tosses, an oil and water lava lamp, light experiments with Jell-O. exploding plastic bags filled with baking soda and marshmallow missiles.
The museum has offered spring break events for four consecutive years and has drawn up to 3,000 visitors each year, said Teresa MacDonald, director of education at the museum. MacDonald chose "food" for this year's topic because patrons will be familiar with it.
"We try to pick a topic that resonates with the broadest general public, something that people are familiar with so they feel comfortable," MacDonald said. "But, we will take them beyond and show them the interesting science behind it."
The free structure of the event
will allow patrons to peruse all experiments on their own schedule from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Two of the experiments are too dangerous for the visitors to conduct themselves, and will be facilitated by MacDonald and Dawn Kirchner, museum educator. Kirchner said the electrocution of a pickle produces a yellow-orange glow. The cornstarch explosion, Kirchner's personal favorite, makes a large fireball and a loud popping noise.
"Anything that involves fire, people will automatically be interested in". Kirchner said.
Emily Tremain, Apple Valley,
Minn., graduate student, is a student volunteer who will help supervise the hands-on experiments. She said most people don't think about the science behind food that they eat or cook.
"It's all stuff you can do in your kitchen," Tremain said. "We're not using anything expensive or bizarre. It's something that undergraduates can come and check out."
Kansan staff writer Danae DeShazer can be contacted at ddeshazer@kansan.com.
- Edited by Will McCullough
BUSINESS Company cuts annual executive bonuses
OVERLAND PARK — Trucking company YRC Worldwide Inc, said Thursday it awarded reduced bonuses for its top executives after the company failed to meet its annual financial goals.
In a securities filing, the less-than-truckload carrier said
its compensation committee reduced the maximum possible amount of long-term and short-term incentive payments at the request of the company's management.
instead of receiving 137 percent of their target long-term bonus, calculated between 2004 and 2006, each executive received 75 percent.
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