Is tonight the night? The Jayhawks will try to get their first Big 12 victory when the Colorado Buffaloes visit Allen Fieldhouse.
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KANSAS
THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2007
WWW.KANSAN.COM VOL.117 ISSUE 90
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 1A
Men's basketball team looks back to Texas A&M game to prepare for Kansas State.
play
"Lily Plants a Garden" shows theatre audiences the importance of tolerance in society. 3A
opinion
The Editorial Board praises Student Senate for kept campaign pledges. Wireless internet is campus-wide, and the bar is set high for spring elections. 5A
football
Players receive MVP honors at banquet.
Talib
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weather
30 12 Mostly cloudy
30 18 Partly clouds
index
Classifieds. . . . .
All contents, unless stated otherwise,
© 2007The University Daily Kansan
>> FOOTBALL TICKETS
Points promotion boosts sales
Football fans bought season tickets online at record pace in the first few days of a priority points promotion offer through the Athletics Department.
The promotion offered 10 priority points per purchase, double the normal amount awarded. Associate athletics director Jim Marchiony said fans purchased more than 1,000 season-ticket packages during the first six days of the online promotion, which began on Jan. 31 and ends Feb. 14.
"If this is any indication, they'll increase dramatically from two years ago," he said.
The priority points system gives those with the largest total number of points first choice on seats in
the stadium and the best chance at getting season tickets for men's basketball.
The Athletics Department sold a record 28,110 season ticket packages last year, surpassing the previous
high of 27,700 in 1969.
Marchiony said fans preferred seats in various spots throughout the stadium, but sections nine, ten and eleven usually filled up first. They run from one
had about 2,500 priority points.
Marchiony said increasing online sales minimized the handling costs for tickets by reducing the number of employees needed to take orders, reducing credit card
35-yard line to the other, on the west side of the stadium. He estimated fans sitting in those sections
KITCHA PARANJOTHI Lawrence resident
fees and cutting down mailing costs. He said the online process was also easier for fans because they could order tickets any time of the day rather than only during business hours. He said
"I just don't see myself donating thousands of dollars to get seats in Allen Fieldhouse."
fans could still purchase tickets in person or over the phone.
"I don't know if anytime soon it
will be exclusively online but who knows', Marchiony said. "Ten years ago no one would've thought it was even possible", he said.
With the priority points system in its third year, Marchiony said the most dramatic turnover was complete now that nearly all fans in the most coveted seats had high point totals and were less likely to be displaced.
"People tend to gravitate towards the seats they've had for a while," he said. "When they have a choice, they like to sit where they've been sitting."
Lawrence resident Kitcha Paranjoti recently purchased family-zone tickets in the north end of
SEE POINTS ON PAGE 6A
>> SMOKING BAN
Kansas to follow city's lead
BY JOE HUNT
Lawrence has gone smoke-free, and the rest of Kansas may soon follow.
The Kansas Senate is deliberating over a bill that would ban smoking in most indoor public places. The proposed ban is similar to the one implemented in Lawrence in 2004, but on a statewide level. Counties could opt out of the ban if they did not want to enforce it.
Mark Ellis, manager at Skimy's Sports Bar and Grill in Topeka, said the ban could be detrimental to businesses in Kansas that have large amounts of customers who smoke. Ellis estimated that 80 percent of his customers were smokers.
"We don't have an outside area to make somebody comfortable to go out and smoke," Ells said.
Sen. David Wysong (R-Mission Hills) introduced the ban in its original form on Jan. 9, and he disagreed that it would affect Skinny's business.
"I question and discount his numbers," Wysong said. "82 percent of citizens in Kansas don't smoke."
Wysong said that multiple studies showed that there was no economic impact from a smoking ban, and that 300 to 600 Kansans died from secondhand smoke every year.
Ellis said Skinny's would tight to have Shawnee County exempt from the ban.
Doug Holiday, owner of Bigg's
BBQ, 2429 Iowa St., thought that would be unfair. He said he supported the statewide ban.
Holiday said he was concerned customers would just drive to a sports bar where there was no
illustration by Grant Snyder
smoking ban.
Kansan staff writer Joe Hunt can be contacted at jhunt@kansan. com.
"If everyone is on the same playing field it's OK." Holiday said. "But people can just go to Legends from here. It needs to be on a state-wide level."
Edited by Sharla Shivers
University numbers drop while ranking up
BY NATHAN GILL
The Peace Corps program at the University of Kansas rose in national rankings from 18th in 2006 to 17th in 2007 despite a drop in program participation over the same period.
National Peace Corps spokesman, Nathan Arnold, said the University's ranking increased because Peace Corps participation at other universities dropped more than the University's had.
"it's kind of deceptive," Arnold said. "You moved up a spot even though you actually dropped a little."
》 PEACE CORPS
Participation in the University's Peace Corps program dropped slightly this year, from 52 to 49 volunteers, but has grown since 2003. The program's national ranking has risen since at least 2001, when it ranked 60th.
Betty Baron, Peace Corps coordinator at the University, declined to comment specifically on the drop in participation but said, "I continue to be astonished by the number of people who want to change the world."
The Peace Corps bases its national ranking on data collected on Sept. 30 each year. On that date, the program counts the number of volunteers who have bachelor's degrees from a given university.
Baron said that Peace Corps volunteers could be
"It was a wonderful experience, a peak experience in my life."
JOHN
POERTNER
Peace Corps
Volunteer
young or old. Some volunteer join the corps soon after graduation, while others join later in life.
John Poertner, a 66-year-old Lawrenciam and KU graduate, joined the corps in 1991. He spent two years in Paraguay, where he helped a government agency serve children, hand-tapped and elderly people. He also helped bring the Junior Achievement Program, which teaches basic business skills to children. to Paraguay
"When I had the opportunity in life I went ahead and did it." Poortner said.
SEE PEACE ON PAGE 6A
FEBRUARY SISTERS FORUM
Transgendered man shares stories
BY TYLER HARBERT
Dylan Scholinski came into the world as Daphne Scholinski.
However, he came to a packed Alderson Auditorium Monday to talk about his experiences growing up in a mental hospital after being diagnosed at 15 as an "inappropriate female."
The artist and author of "The Last Time I Wore a Dress: A Memoir" spoke about playing baseball instead of with dolls, read excerpts from his book and shared slides of the artwork he was inspired to create after being harassed about not being lady-like.
"My goal in life is to create a more passionate society," Scholinski said. "No two people are alike and we
spend an enormous amount of energy to fit into two categories; There's a much wider spectrum."
He said he was lucky to be speaking about his life because he said the same trials he faced occur to thousands of people in this country.
He talked about spending his entire high school life locked in a hospital and how he felt ashamed when people around him would talk about their high school experiences.
"I made up a story to hide what happened to me during that time," Scholinski said. "I need to find a way to express myself or I was going to die."
Scholmiši said he was released
SEETRANSGENDER ON PAGE 6A
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Ula Lippe/KSANSAN Dylanki Schollinski elaborates on sections from his novel "The Last Time I Wore a Dress. A Memor." The book relives the story of Scholkinski's teenage years in a mental institute. Scholkinski was admitted because he was diagnosed as an "inappropriate female". The February Sister Association and Queens And Allies hosted the event last at Aldershot Auditorium.
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