THE PIANO MAN
In this week's Jayplay, read about Tom Eversole,the pianist responsible for keeping the University's pianos in tune. INSIDE
THURSDAY,FEBRUARY 22,2007
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOL. 117 ISSUE 102
THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
Jayplay
SUPER
WEATHERS
KARAD DAVE
THE PIANO MAN
PAGE 1A
women's basketball
The Jayhawks give the nationally-ranked Sooners a run for their money on senior night.
HBO Def Poet Kevin Coval talked about the hip-hop generation for a small crowd Wednesday night.
3A
men's basketball
Brady Morningstar and Brennan Bechard have gone from teammates, to rivals and back to teammates in nearly six years.
A new bill defines fetal crimes as a punishable offense, but intentionally excludes abortion.
4A
weather
All contents, unless stated otherwise
© 2007The University Daily Kansan
Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . 5B
Crossword. . . . . . . . . 6A
Horoscopes. . . . . . . . 6A
Opinion. . . . . . . . . 7A
Sports. . . . . . . . . 1B
Sudoku. . . . . . . . . 6A
index
》LEGISLATURE
House passes language bill
BY TYLER HARBERT
The Kansas House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would make English the official state language.
Similar legislation has been passed in Missouri, Colorado and California.
The bill, passed 118-2, is widely viewed as a symbolic measure because it calls for no significant legal changes. Some Kansans speculate the underlying meaning of the bill has less to do with language and
more with culture.
"There's always that suspicion, because we know there's some antimigration and jingoist thinking out there that could have some influence on the writing of the bill," said Chuck Seibel, director of the Applied English Center.
Seibel said he didn't want to disparage the people who supported the bill, but he said the bill could create harmful effects in a country dominated by the English language.
"I think it sends the wrong
message to English speakers: that English is so much more important
other languages," Seibel said. "It sends the message to non-native speakers that their language is devalued in our state."
speakers learn English US English Inc.
He said the ___
bill would be
more significant if it gave money
to programs that help non-native
"Those who only speak Spanish are automatically frowned upon."
CHRISTOPHER MUNOZ
Topeka junior
Is a Washington, D.C. based organization that advocates English-as-official language legislation.
speakers knew that learning English was beneficial to living in the United States.
According to a March 2006 Zogby poll, 77 percent of Hispanic Americans supported legislation making English the official national language. $ ^{1} $
Spokesman Rob Toonkel said states routinely enacted policies
designed to benefit their populations and that non-native English
Toonkel said this type of legislation wouldn't affect languages spoken in business or private life.
One non-native speaker, Julio Castillo, vice-president of the
SEE LANGUAGE ON PAGE 5A
student senate election 2007
Candidates from Students' Rights, United Students and Delta Force released portions of their platforms as election season quickly approaches. Each coalition created platforms at the beginning of the semester.
FOR MORE COVERAGE GO TO PAGE 4A
ENROLLMENT
University numbers decline
Accessibility affordability draw students to Fort Hays State
Spring enrollment at Fort Hays State University rose dramatically this year compared to other Board of Regents universities, including the University of Kansas.
BY NATHAN GILL
While the University's 2007 Spring enrollment dropped 273 students, a decline of 1.1 percent compared with last year. Hays gained 582 students, an increase of 8.3 percent, during the same period.
K e n t
Steward, director of university relations at Hays, said the biggest reason for Hays' enrollment boom was an increase in students taking online classes and the univer-
undergraduate tuition and fees at Kansas rose 98.7 percent from 2001 to 2006, tuition at Hays rose only
"Last year was a record-high enrollment. You can't break a record every year."
sity's general affordability.
JACKIE HOSEY University Relations
According to Hays university relations, Hays has 540 more online students in Spring 2007 than it did in Spring 2006. While per-semester
40. 1 percent.
Steward said Hays' lower tuition helped attract students to the university.
"I'm confident that that is an important factor for a fair number of our
students," Steward said.
Todd Cohen, interim director of University Relations, said he didn't see a correlation between tuition increases and enrollment. He also
"Tutition increases are not driving people away," Cohen said. "You get what you pay for."
said that the enrollment dip was statistically insignificant.
Jackie Hosey, interim associate news director at University Relations, said the University's 2006 spring enrollment matched a record of 25,379 set in 2005. The 2007 number is 25,106.
"Last year was a record high enrollment." Hosey said. "You can't break a record every year."
Kansan staff writer Nathan Gill can be contacted at ngill@kansan.com.
Edited by Lisa Tilson
Union may add Panda Express
BY MATT ERICKSON
Panda Express, a national Chinese fast food chain, wants to open a location on campus, but fans of the chain shouldn't get their hopes on quite yet.
"There was never a debate about whether they would be a great addition," Mucci said.
Panda Express and the University have been unable to reach an agreement for an on-campus location partly because the University worried that a Panda Express might be too successful, David Mucci, KU Memorial Unions director, said.
He said Panda Express then proposed a location at the newly remodeled Market in the Kansas Union in Fall 2006. Mucci said their proposal was denied because of concerns that the chain could take all the revenue from the other food shops there.
However, Mucci said the University didn't want to add Panda Express to The Underground because jump Asian Express was doing good business and Panda Express would pack even more customers into an already overcrowded area.
This could cause the other shops to close, he said. He compared the situation to Wal-Mart running other shops out of business.
He said Panda Express first contacted the University during the summer of 2005. They asked to open a location in The Underground at Wescoe Hall that would replace Jump Asian Express.
"It's not an unlimited market," Mucci said.
"We had a genuine fear that it would make that place completely mad," Mucci said.
Truman Yeh, Panda Express area manager, declined to comment on the reasons Panda Express had not yet reached an agreement with the University.
He said the chain had 18 locations on college campuses, including one at Kansas State that he said produced 30 to 40 percent of the revenue at the union's food court.
"It's a really huge success." Yeh said.
is a really huge success, ten said. Mucci said discussions with Panda Express were not finished. The University will look at the possibility of a Panda Express location after the Market arrangement has been open for a year.
Kansan staff writer Matt Erickson can be contacted at merickson@ kansan.com.
Edited by Lisa Tilson
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