6A the university daily kansan
tuesday, january 27, 2004
news
University employees reach out to Hispanic population
By Marc Ingber
minger@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A group of 18 University of Kansas employees, including many from the Edwards Campus is learning Spanish in order to improve communication between the University and the Hispanic community.
The group, which includes the vice chancellor, the associate dean, the assistant dean and others from the Edwards Campus put together and attended a Spanish class last semester. The class met twice, a week from September through December.
The class was a precursor to the Pathways Project, which is a partnership between the Edwards Campus and Kansas City Community College. The goal was to raise Hispanic enrollment.
"While we currently are not serving a significant number of Hispanic students, through the
Pathways Project we one day hope to see an increase in that population on our campus," said Elaine Warren, director of public relations at the Edwards Campus.
Now that the class is over, the group is searching for ways to retain what they learned. Warren said one of the plans the group had for this semester was to hold 30-minute review sessions each week where each member would be paired up with another to practice
"We need to continue some level
of review so we don't lose what we've gained," Warren said. "I think all the participants learned what they could in the time period we had the class and they are still maintaining an interest to continue learning now that the class is over."
Dan Mueller, academic adviser for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said the class was a big help for him because he had little previous exposure to the area.
"I knew very little Spanish before the class," he said, "and
now I have a better vocabulary and know some basic Spanish phrases to use with prospective students."
Becci Blaesing, assistant director in the Corporate Foundation and Support department of KU Endowment, said the group's professor is planning to help as well.
"Our professor, Dawn Strickland, has been great," Blaesing said. "She's been proactive in establishing our follow-up to this program and has agreed to come back a few times this semester to
keep us in line and learning basic workplace Spanish."
In addition to learning Spanish, the class also provided the staff with an opportunity to hang out in a relaxed setting.
"While initially we were simply hoping to initiate a new form of communicating with a percentage of our students, the program turned out to be a great team building experience too," Blasing said.
Edited by Joe Hartigan
Patriot Act parts ruled unconstitutional
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — For the first time, a federal judge has declared unconstitutional a section of the USA PATRIOT Act that bars giving expert advice or assistance to groups designated foreign terrorist organizations.
In a Friday ruling, U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins said the ban was impermissibly vague in its wording.
The U.S. Justice Department is reviewing the ruling, spokesman Mark Corallo said.
Corallo called the Patriot Act — the federal anti-terrorism statute passed in the aftermath of Sept. 11 — "an essential tool in
the war on terror" and said that the portion at issue in the ruling was a small amendment to a pre-existing anti-terrorism law.
David Cole, a Georgetown University law professor who argued the case for the HDmanitarian Law Project, declared the ruling "a victory for everyone who believes the war on terrorism ought to be be fought consistent with constitutional principles."
"It is the first federal court decision declaring any part of the Patriot Act unconstitutional," he said.
The case involved five groups and two U.S. citizens seeking to provide support for lawful, nonviolent activities on behalf of Kurdish refugees in Turkey.
"It is the first federal court decision declaring any part of the Patriot Act unconstitutional."
David Cole Georgetown University law professor
The Humanitarian Law Project said the plaintiffs may be given 15 years in prison if they advised groups on seeking a peaceful resolution of the Kurds' campaign for self-determination in Turkey.
The judge's ruling said the law, as written, does not differentiate between impermissible advice on
violence and encouraging the use of peaceful, nonviolent means to achieve goals.
"The USA Patriot Act places no limitation on the type of expert advice and assistance which is prohibited and instead bans the provision of all expert advice and assistance regardless of its nature," the judge said.
The ruling said that the plaintiffs want "the lawful, nonviolent activities" of the Kurdistan Workers' Party and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a Tamil advocate group. Both groups are on a list issued by former Secretary of State Madeline Albright in 1997 of "foreign terrorist organizations."
Governor declares state of emergency
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Gov. Kathleen Sebelius yesterday declared a state of disaster emergency for seven counties hit hardest by an ice storm a day earlier.
Counties covered by the declaration are Geary, Jackson, Osage, Pottawatomie, Riley, Shawnee and Balaunseem. A winter storm system dropped ice and snow over large areas of northeast Kansas, accompanied by high winds.
The ice built up on power lines and temporarily cut electricity to more than 30,000 residents.
"I'm a Kansan and I know
"I'm a Kansan and I know how damaging a winter ice storm can be."
Kathleen Sebelius Kansas governor
how damaging a winter ice storm can be," Sebelius said. "This declaration will empower state resources to be used, as needed, to make sure we get things back to normal as quickly as possible for those citizens in the affected counties."
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