Monday inside
White Medallion given Two-time presidential press secretary Marlin Fitzwater was awarded the William Allen White Medallion and entertained an audience Friday in the Kansas Union with stories of White House experiences, including when he was the secretary for George H.W. Bush when he was feeling under the weather in Japan, and media values. PAGE 3A
Hall discusses security Following five burglaries in one night, K.K. Amini Scholarship Hall implements a trial 24 hour lock-down period not allowing guests in the hall before deciding on a permanent plan to increase security for its residents. PAGE 3A
'Huskers upset 'Hawks The men's basketball team suffered an upset yesterday in Lincoln, Neb. The Jayhawks lost 74-55, making this their third-straight road loss. Coaches and players attribute recent loses to lack of commitment. Senior forward Jeff Graves was left on the bench because of his lack of effort. PAGE 12A
Women lose again
The Kansas women's basketball team dropped its fourthstraight game Saturday against the Oklahoma Sooners. The loss was the team's eighth in its last nine games. PAGE 12A
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Vol. 114 Issue No.93
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Comic 10A
February 16,2004 IN ITS 100TH YEAR AS THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Vol.114 Issue No.
Meet the VP candidates
McKenzie's ambition runs in the family
By Andy Marso
amarso@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
In his two years in Student Senate as a University Affairs committee member, sophomore Kevin McKenzie has made a name for himself. His last name was already familiar to most senators, though.
McKenzie's brother, Scott, is a senior who has been a fixture in Senate and the Delta Force coalition for years.
"When I first started, people got a kick out of it because during roll call every meeting it was "McKenzie, Kevin; McKenzie, Scott," McKenzie said.
Scott has written numerous bills and has been the better-known McKenzie
brother up to now. That should change this year as Kevin runs for student body vice president with Delta Force.
"It's got to help, it sure couldn't hurt," Kevin said of his brother's high profile. "But at the same time, we operate a lot differently. It's not like people just view me as the younger McKenzie."
McKenzie's running mate, Blake Swenson, agreed.
"Scott's probably one
McKenzie
Scotts probably bill writers in Senate history," Swenson said. "He's got a broad range of interests, whereas Kevin's more into focusing on one thing and really making sure it gets done."
SEE MCKENZIE ON PAGE 5A
As an example, Swenson cited McKenzie's work on getting freshman Senate elections.
Dunlap: 'Not in it for the glamour'
By Andy Marso
amarso@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
"I picked finance on a whim and I liked it right away, which is bizarre because most people are repulsed by it when they first come in," Dunlap said.
Leawood junior Jeff Dunlap knew he was different than many of his counterparts after the first Finance Committee meeting he attended his freshman year.
Dunlap described himself as "technical and process-oriented," and said those traits drew him to finance and also convinced him to run for student body vice president with KUUnited this spring.
sident with Roméo the spring
Dunlap's Senate résumé is long. The
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences senator is chairman of the Transportation Board, vice chair of the Finance
Despite all his experience, Dunlap said he didn't mind running with KUnited presidential candidate Steve Munch, a sophomore.
Committee and is a member of the Senate Executive committee, the University Council and the Parking Commission.
"As soon as I started thinking about running, I realized vice president was better suited to my abilities and interests," Dunlap said. "Steve's the logical choice for president and, besides, I'm not in it for the glamour."
Dunlap
Munch said Dunlap's experience would prove valuable if they were elected.
Kansas crushed
Freshman center David Padgett hung his head after the Jayhawks lost their second Big 12 Conference road game. Padgett finished with just 11 points. The Jayhawks played yesterday in Lincoln, Neb. and were upset 74-55. Junior forward Wayne Simien attributes the loss to the team's lack of commitment. "It's a big distraction," he said. "Guys need to realize that when you put the jersey on, you're playing for more than just yourself. Whether you're not getting any minutes, whether you're not making any shots or whether you haven't been playing well the past couple of games, all that shouldn't matter. We're going to have to grow and look past that and realize that we're representing something bigger than ourselves." See full coverage on page 12A.
Wind knocked out of $ \mathrm{O_{2}} $ trend
By Dave Nobles
nobles at kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Eight-One-Five Cafe and Night Club is pulling the plug on its oxygen bar.
The last gasp for the designer trend came after Charlton Manley Inc., the club's insurance company, expressed concerns during a yearly inspection.
According to the American Lung Association, inhaling the oxygen is neither beneficial nor dangerous, but the oxygen bar concept was something new to the insurance company, leading to the hesitation to insure it.
SEE DUNLAP ON PAGE 5A
Jeff Singer, owner of Eight-One-Five, said he was also disappointed that the trend lacked popularity but he didn't think that discontinuing the oxygen bar would affect his business.
"I can count on one hand how many people would come in and ask for it," Singer said.
Eight-One-Five, 815 New Hampshire
Jeff Singer
Owner of Eight-One-Five
"Right now, there hasn't been anyone who's noticed it. I'm really not in a major rush to get it running again."
The oxygen system functioned by a generator that would pull and filter normal air from the bar. The air would then be pushed through a tube into a cylinder of flavored water. A separate tube would then carry the concentrated oxygen to the user's nose.
St., had been supplying go-goers with the option of recreational oxygen for nearly nine months.
The concentrated oxygen would contain up to 95 percent oxygen, whereas the air outside normally contains about 21 percent.
The concentrated oxygen would energize the user and provide a refreshing feeling.
The insurance company determined that the unknown risk level of the oxygen bar was too high to continue coverage.
Juana Simons, the owner of the portable oxygen bar AirO2mas, has her own insurance coverage. Her arrangement with Eight-One-Five allowed for her to keep all the revenue from the oxygen.
Simons could not be reached for comment.
"Right now, there hasn't been anyone who's noticed it," Singer said. "I'm really not in a major rush to get it running again."
Singer said once the insurance issues were resolved, the club would only operate the oxygen bar for special events.
— Edited by Cindy Yeo
Fossil discovery rewrites history
By Becca Evanhoe
bevanhoe@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
When entomologists study insect fossils, finding a whole bug is a lucky break. Most often, scientists have to analyze tiny bits of insects — legs, sections of body, wings and tiny jaw-like mouthparts called mandibles.
Furthermore, because Rhiyniognatha is winged, it is not the most primitive of insects. The diversification of insects must have happened prior to this fossil, which pushes the origins of insects even further back in time. Insects probably appeared with the first land animals in the early Silurian period, shortly after the arrival of plants on land.
"This discovery also adds 75 million years to the age of flight for insects. That's a tremendous jump," said Engel, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and curator of KU's Natural History Museum.
Rhyniognatha's discovery is significant for several reasons. The first is that insects appeared 20 million years earlier than previously thought — a good chunk of time, Engel said.
Rhyniognatha's buggy jaws had been in a drawer of the London Natural History Museum since their discovery near Rhynie, Scotland 80 years earlier. The fossil comes from a deposit of quartz-like rock, called chert. Because chert is relatively translucent, Engel said, you could actually see the insect inside.
The news, published in last week's edition of the journal Nature is re-writing the evolution of insects. Called Rhyniognatha hirsti, the insect is 400 million years old, earning the title of the oldest-known insect. The fact that it probably had wings shows insects evolved earlier and developed flight more rapidly than scientists previously thought, putting insects among the first land animals.
"The spectacular thing is that unlike most fossils, the specimen is actually three-dimensionally preserved inside it, almost like a mosquito stuck in amber," he said.
Luckily, these tiny parts can reveal much about the entire insect. University of Kansas researcher Michael Engel studied one such insect morsel, a tiny pair of mandibles and other head fragments, and determined that not only were the mandibles once part of a true insect, but also that the species probably had wings.
Although visible with the naked eye, the insect fragments in the chert are not much bigger than a speck. The mandibles are only 0.13 mm long, less than the thickness of a credit card. The entire bug was probably 6 or 7 mm long, which is typical of insects today, Engel said.
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SEE FOSSIL ON PAGE 5A
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