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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Monday, April 16, 2001
Sports: The Kansas softball team completed a sweep of Baylor during the weekend. SEE PAGE 1B
SEE PAGE 1B
(USPS 650-640) • VOL. 111 NO. 122
Inside: Hatian culture and rhythm highlighted a celebration on Saturday.
For comments, contact Lori O'Toole or Mindie Miller at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
SEE PAGE 3A
WWW.KANSAN.COM
President defies tradition
Walker refuses to pass down token baseball to president-elect Mills
By Brooke Hesler
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
In the wake of the student body presidential election, Ben Walker, current student body president, has decided some traditions won't continue.
For the past several years, the outgoing president has given the incoming president a baseball that past presidents had signed. Likewise, the outgoing student body vice president has given the incoming vice president a bat that former vice presidents had signed.
Walker said he decided not to pass the baseball along to Justin Mills, student body president-elect.
"It's a personal decision," Walker said. Walker said if Jessica Bankston, VOICE presidential candidate, had won the election, he probably would have given the ball to her.
He said the ball was his property — not Student Senate's — and he didn't care what others thought about his decision not to give the ball to Mills.
"People can believe what they want," Walker said. "I don't care what they think. I don't care what anyone else thinks. It's my property."
Mills said getting the ball wasn't a big deal to him.
"If it had a secret in it about how to be a good president, I might want it, but it's
just a baseball," Mills said. "It means nothing to me. He can have it."
Walker: called momento "my property"
He said the whole situation was ridiculous.
"I don't have any anger in my heart toward him," Mills said. "I just think he is being petty."
Marlon Marshall, current student body vice president, said he hadn't decided if he'd hand the bat to Kyle Browning, vice president-elect.
"It depends on if they want it," Marshall said. "If Kyle tells me that he wants the bat, then we'll see. I have nothing against either of them, and I hope they have nothing against us."
"I think it's all kind of silly," he said. "I think in a lot of ways we're starting our own tradition here."
Browning said the situation was childish.
The bat and ball weren't the only things missing from the Senate office Friday morning after Thursday night's election. Buttons from about the past 15 years of Senate coalitions used to hang on the wall of the Student Senate office.
On Friday morning, they were gone.
Walker said he had no idea what happened to the buttons, but he would ask around to see if anybody knew anything. He said there would be no police report filed at this time.
David Ambler, vice chancellor of student affairs, said it was good to keep Senate traditions alive. He said he thought the bat and ball were not Senate property, but was not sure.
"I'm quite confident Ben Walker is not taking Senate property." Ambler said.
Initially, Marshall said he did not know the whereabouts of the ball, bat or coalition buttons. At about 12:20 p.m. on Friday, he said he would look into the matter and would consider filling a police report on the missing items.
Marshall said he learned later that afternoon that Walker was in possession of the bat and ball.
Edited by Doug Pacey
Justin Mills: breaking the mold
Unlikely victor brings new style to Student Senate
By Brooke Hesler
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
It was elections week and 3:30 a.m., but Justin Mills wasn't contemplating campaign strategies. He wasn't preparing for debates. And he wasn't thinking about banners or handbills.
He is helping turn off the sprinkler system in Lewis Hall after a fire alarm, Mills, Lansing senior, spends between 13 and 15 hours per week working at Lewis, Gertrude Sellards Pearson-Corbin Hall or Tempiin Hall.
Mills was elected student body president last week, but the victory was surprising. Mills is the first presidential candidate from Delta Force to be elected in the coalition's five-year history. He's the second African-American president elected in the University's history. And he and running mate Kyle Browning will be the first nongreek president and vice president since 1984.
A long-awaited victory
When his victory was announced, Mills said supporters erupted in the loudest roar he'd ever heard.
"I'm not going to lie," Mills said. "I was really surprised. I think we just had a good message and people were more motivated this year."
Supporters hoisted a smiling Mills on their shoulders. Five years had paid off. Delta Force had its first president.
One of Mills' first thoughts after the announcement was he had to get to work quickly.
"I need to get an executive staff," he said.
"I've got to start planning."
Mills will be the first African-American president since Darren Fulcher took office in 1991. Senate removed Fulcher that fall because he was charged with hitting his ex-girlfriend during a fight.
Five years after Delta Force's conception, Justin Mills grabs hold of victory. Mills became the first candidate from the coalition to win the student body presidency when election results were announced Thursday night. Photo by Selena Jabara/KANSAN
While Mills said he didn't condone Fulcher's actions, he said he thought Senate's decision to remove him was, in
part, racially motivated. Mills said he had worked hard all his life to get where he was.
"Being a minority, I do feel like I've had
See MILLS on page 2A
Cameraman manhandled at VOICE election bash
By Chris Wristen writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
A cameraman for KUJH, the student television station at the University of Kansas, was shoved while shooting footage at the VOICE coalition Student Senate election party on Thursday night at Teepee Junction, located at the intersection of U.S. Highways 24 and 40.
Eric Boedeker, Lansing senior, was the cameraman assigned to cover the VOICE party.
The altercation took place minutes after the results were announced naming Delta Force the winner of the presidential election. Current student body vice president Marlon Marshall entered the Teepee and escortedVOICE presidential candidate Jessica Bankston to the door. Boedeker said he saw this and began filming.
"Marlon Marshall runs through the door, grabs Bankston and runs out," Boedeker said. "I started filming and followed them. I got to the door and this guy puts his hand on the camera and says I can't film it. I told him not to touch the camera and he threw me against the wall."
Boedeker, who is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 230 pounds, said his supposed assailant was larger than him. He said the assailant put his hand over the camera lens, hit him in the upper chest with a forearm and then slammed him against a wall.
Boedeker captured the altercation on video, including the suspect's face. He gave the tape to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office and filed an official complaint. He said the sheriff's office told him the district attorney would review the video and bring the suspect in for questioning during the next week, and the district attorney would determine if there was sufficient evidence to press charges.
The sheriff's office cannot comment on the case until the district attorney has reviewed it and determined if charges can be filed and the assailant identified.
"I don't think he was a student," Boedeker said. "We've heard different reports about if people knew who he was but we don't think he was a student."
Bankston said the action would not be condoned by the VOICE coalition, but she did not know anything about the altercation.
"To be honest, my mind was somewhere else that night, so I couldn't tell you who was or wasn't at the party," Bankston said. "Rumors were flying wild that night and I even heard one saying that my dad got mad and punched a reporter — and he wasn't even there.
"There are lots of rumors about things that happened that night, but I honestly have no idea about it."
Edited by Jennifer Valadex
Consumer crusader Ralph Nader to speak tonight at Lied
Talk will encompass corporate influence
By Cassio Furtado writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
When Ralph Nader walks to the podium to speak on "The Corporatization of America" at 8 tonight in the Lied Center, KU students will see what the consumer activist does best - criticize corporations' dominance in everyday life in the United States.
Nader, known for decades as a consumer crusader, culminated a career in defense of consumer rights by running for president last year as the Green Party candidate.
He will also give a press conference today at 3 p.m. at the Kansas Room in the Kansas Union and will talk with political science students and faculty at 4 p.m. at 108 Blake Hall.
Nader received 2.85 million votes nationally and more than 36,000 in Kansas during the 2000 election.
In 1965, he exposed General Motors and the American auto industry in his best-selling book, Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers
Nader; will speak at 8 tonight in the Lied Center
Nader's efforts led to the institution
More than 150,000 people work in the six branches of Public Citizen: Congress Watch, Health Research Group, Litigation Group, Critical Mass Energy Project, Global Trade Watch and Buyers Up.
of laws requiring the use of seat belts nationwide.
Allan Cigler, professor of political science, said Nader's role in consumerism had evolved to last year's platform, which defended restraining corporate power, protecting consumer rights and defending the environment. "I hope students go and listen to his
In 1971, Nader founded Public Citizen, an organization that works for consumer justice and government and corporate accountability.
"I hope students go and listen to his perspective." Cigler said.
During the election. Nader also
"I hope students go and listen to his perspective."
Allan Cigler
accused both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party of catering to corporate interests, and said he was the only independent voice in the race.
Mark Bradshaw, the holdover student senator who organized last year's lecture series, said students would attend the lecture because they were curious about Nader's ideas.
Professor of Political Science
"Nader wasn't allowed to be in the debates," Bradshaw, Walnut senior, said.
Nader, who graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School, will speak as part of the University of Kansas annual Student Lecture Series.
Last year's Student Lecture Series presented environmental lawyer Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr.
Nader's lecture is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by Student Union Activities, Student Senate, KU Greens, the Center for Community Outreach and the Clifford Ketzal Endowment for the Expression of Minority Opinion.
Doors open at 7 p.m. For more information, call SUA at 864-SHOW.
—Edited by Laurie Harrison
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