Wednesday inside
SenEx upset with calendar The University Senate Executive Committee is concerned that the Women of KU calendar might misrepresent itself as being a product of the University of Kansas. PAGE 3A
How bazaar
The Arts and Crafts Bazaar has a diverse lot of goods
to sell today and tomorrow, from acrylic paintings to candy on wire hangers. PAGE 3A
New coach hits courts
As the Kansas Volleyball team heads to California for its first NCAA tournament, a
Kansan sportswriter answers questions about NCAA volleyball play. PAGE12A
NC State has sticky fingers
North Carolina State is quickly becoming known as one of the premier wide receiver schools in the nation. PAGE 12A
Club soccer season ends
The Kansas women's club soccer team finished its season with a second place finish in the Sport Club National Championship. PAGE 7A
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Talk to us
Tell us your news. Contact Michelle Burhenn-Rombeck, Lindsay Hanson or Leah Shaffer at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
index
Briefs 2A
Opinion 4A
Sports 12A
Sports briefs 9A
Horoscopes 10A
Comic 10A
KANSAN
Vol. 114 Issue No.70
wednesday, December 3, 2003
SenEx approves policy
Council responds to Wagle's demands for sex class policy
By Robert Perkins
rperkins@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The Senate Executive committee of University Council approved a policy statement about the use of controversial materials in classrooms.
Sen. Susan Wagle (R-Wichita) is about to get an answer about sexually explicit materials in classes, though it probably won't be the one she wanted.
The Council of Chief Academic Officers, or COCAO, drafted the statement in response to Wagle's amendment to House Bill 2444 that called for a policy
controlling the use of sexually explicit material in human sexuality classes.
COCAO's statement is little more than a rewriting of the 1970 Statement on Freedom and Responsibility by the American Association of University Professionals.
SenEx member Steve Shawl said.
The statement affirms a teacher's right to control the presentation of his or her subject matter, provided that this freedom is balanced with responsibility.
Persistent deviation from relevant subject matter is condemned, along with trying to force students to conform to a teacher's personal beliefs.
The statement does not directly address issues such as
Wagle
pedophilia or sexual harassment, though Wailg's amendment did.
"If they want something substantially different, then we're in for a long fight,"
Ray Davis, president of SenEx, said.
Andy Knopp, student body president, summed up the general mood of the meeting when responding to a concern that the statement didn't address what Wagle wanted it to.
"Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer," he said. "It just seems funny to me because it seems like the exact opposite of what she wanted."
SenEx unanimously approved the policy statement.
Service with a smile
From here it will go to University Council on Thursday for approval.
Kit Leffler/Kansan
Sophomores Mallorie Hinemeyer, Gardner, Jill Pflumm (left), Shawnee, make posters for the Center for Community Outreach holiday party yesterday. They took part in the event to earn Kappa Kappa Gamma Rock Chalk community service hours.
KU FIT lacks students
By Danielle Hillix
dhillix@kansan.com
dhillix staff writer
KU FIT needs to get pumped up.
The traditionally popular exercise classes offered by Recreation Services got a late start this year and attendance has been lagging, said Jill Urkoski, fitness director for with Rec Service.
KU FIT got a new home this semester with the opening of the Student Recreation Fitness Center. But the program's move-in was delayed for several weeks while construction of the aerobics room was completed.
The classes did start, with little fanfare, on Nov. 9. Rec Services decided to go ahead with KU FIT classes, but did not promote them.
Laurel Woodhouse, a KU FIT instructor and Overland Park senior, taught a new routine in Cardio Funk class yesterday. Cardio Funk is a hip-hop aerobics class with choreographed dancing to hip-hop music.
Kit Leffler/Kansai
"We didn't want to spend a ton of money on ads this late in the game," Urkoski said.
Instead of advertising around campus as the office had done in the past, Rec Services posted signs in the Recreation Center.
Mary Tabakin, KU FIT instructor, said that attendance at her classes had noticeably decreased. Twice, no one showed up for class.
Last spring,5,751 people attended KU FIT classes. Numbers from this semester have not been totaled, but the tally is down considerably, Urkoski said.
The strategy saved money, but cost the program participants.
"By mid-senester, people have a routine," said Tabakin, Germantown, Md., senior. "They're not as willing to try
something new, especially if they don't know about it."
The classes haven't been full, but Urkoski said she was not worried about the program's future.
Classes will start on time next year, Urkoski said, at the beginning of the spring semester.
"This semester, there are a lot of students who just didn't know we started," she said.
New this year are "Low Down" and "Band and Ball." Low Down focuses on lower-body resistance training. Band and Ball uses stability balls and bands for complete body toning.
year, all at various times throughout the week.
All of the classes are free for students but are limited to 50 participants per session.
KU FIT offers 18 different classes this -Edited by JJ Hensley
Costa Rica murder still affects programs
By Lindsay Hanson and Henry C. Jackson
lhanson@kansan.com,
hjackson@kansan.com
Kansan senior staff writers
This was the first murder of a University student abroad. The summer program was days away from leaving for the
Editor's note: This is the third in a three-part series about the murder of Shannon Martin, a Topeka senior who was killed May 13, 2001, while completing research in Costa Rica.
As Carlin, dean of international programs and graduate dean, wrestled with her decision after Martin's murder in Costa Rica on May 13, 2001, she faced mitigating factors.
Within five days of Shannon Martin's death, Diana Carlin needed to decide Should the University of Kansas suspend its summer study abroad program in Golfito, Costa Rica?
Costa Rican port city. Would students be safe? There would also be administrative costs to canceling the program. Would the Institute of Tropical Studies, as it was known, survive if she suspended it? Even without these factors, there was the emotional toll of the University grieving for one of its own.
Carlin
In Golfito, students already on KU's study abroad program were worried, too. The local director of the program, Oscar Quiros, hastily called a meeting with the students. Some of the students
Martin
didn't know the 23-year-old Topeka senior personally, because she had studied there a year earlier. She had returned to Costa Rica and was staying with her former host parents while gathering research for a biology thesis.
Mired with final exams, the students were given the opportunity to go home. None wanted to leave.
In Lawrence, Carlin and Susan Grombeck-Tedesco, director of KU study abroad, met with the provost.
Do you think the students will be safe? David Shulenburger asked.
Carlin told him that given what had happened, students' awareness would be heightened.
It's your call, the provost said.
If you can, the present decision to send a program to Golfinio shortly after Martin's murder, Carlin would later say, was the most difficult decision she'd ever had to make.
We'll continue the program, Carlin said, but we'll keep a close eye on it.
Two months later, the University announced that the Institute of Tropical Studies, the formal title of the Golfito
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SEE COSTA RICA ON PAGE 5A
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