Thursday, April 12. 2001
The University Daily Kansan
Coalitions hope to dispel stereotypes
Section A·Page 3
Housing differences separate coalitions
By Brooke Hesler
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Leaders of both Student Senate coalitions agree that diversity within their coalitions is a priority. Although the two coalitions stacked up equally in a variety of categories, there was one area of disparity—the numbers of sorority and fraternity members, and scholarship hall residents in each coalition.
Hunter Harris, VOICE vice president candidual candidate said he and running mate Jessica Bankston looked beyond labels.
"We looked at who would do the job best and recruited those people," Harris said.
Justin Mills, Delta Force presidential candidate, said people in Delta Force weren't afraid to say who they were and what they stood for.
Both coalitions have relatively the same number of minorities running. According to survey results, Delta Force has nine minority candidates, and VOICE has 10 minority candidates, including one international student.
Editor's note: The Kansan distributed surveys to all Student Senate candidates to gather basic demographic information about the two coalitions. The surveys asked for each candidate's coalition, age, race, gender, living arrangement, affiliation with Greek organizations, including what type of organization, and any coalitions he or she had run with in previous Senate elections. VOICE candidates returned 46 out of 58 surveys, and Delta Force returned all 57 of its candidates' surveys, but some questions were left blank.
Browning said Delta Force didn't specifically do anything to recruit
minority candidates, but if the numbers had been low, they would have made a special effort.
But one problem both coalitions said they faced was breaking through stereotypes associated with the membership of past coalitions in recruiting candidates.
Three Delta Force candidates and 15VOICE candidates are affiliated with greek organizations. Ten additional VOICE candidates, who did not return surveys, were listed in the greek directory.
Mills and Browning said it was difficult to get greeks to run with Delta Force.
"There's so much pressure in the houses to run with a certain coalition." Browning said.
One VOICE candidate and eight Delta Force candidates responded that they lived in scholarship halls,
One of the candidates from Delta Force said it was hard to get residents of scholarship halls to run withVOICE.
while two additional Delta Force candidates who did not identify their living arrangements were listed in the student directory with scholarship hall addresses.
Bankston and Harris said several scholarship hall residents had committed to running with VOICE but decided not to.
Mills said he agreed that many scholarship hall residents were Delta Force supporters but said it was easier to mobilize the Greek population to vote.
"They'll go house to house with the bus and bus people to the polls," Mills said. "They say they don't know if they're going to do it. Mark my words, they're going to do it. If you have low voter turnout, they'll win every time."
Harris said yesterday that there would be no bus that he knew of; he said most VOICE candidates were not affiliated with Greek organizations.
Bankston said the fact that some
Kyle Ramsev/KANSAN
people perceived VOICE as a greek coalition was a disadvantage because candidates received negative publicity.
She said some members of her coalition had refused to take part in
the Kansan survey, concerned that it was not indicative of real diversity among coalitions. Bankston said the survey focused too much on where candidates lived.
Edited Megan Phelps
By Brooke Hesler
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
There's one thing missing from this year's student body presidential race a Caucasian male.
When the election results are announced around 10 tonight, if Jessica Bankston,VOICE presidential candidate,is elected, she will be the first female student body president elected since 1995.IfJustin Mills, Delta Force presidential candidate, is elected, he will be the first African-American student body president since 1991.
There has only been one African-American student body president in the history of the University. Darren Fulcher was elected in 1991, but Senate voted to remove him from office after it learned that he had been arrested on misdemeanor charges of battery for striking his former girlfriend in the face during an argument
Mills said that he thought racial tensions were high when Fulcher was elected and impeached, but that the campus climate had improved.
"I wanted to test the waters," he said. "It's been a long time since Darren ran."
There have been more female student body presidents than African-American student body presidents. However, those numbers combined don't add up to the number of White male student body presidents.
Five females have been elected student body president, with Kimberly Cocks being the most recent, elected in 1995.
Bankston said winning would be an important accomplishment for her.
"I'd consider being student body president a big accomplishment, but not because I'm female," she said.
Mills said he was glad race hadn't
become an issue in the campaign. But he said it would mean a lot to him if he were elected.
"It would just show that there's a change in attitudes," Mills said. "It."
would probably be a big deal for minority students. I'm sure it was a big deal when Darren ran."
Like Mills, Bankston said her sex hadn't been an issue in the campaign.
"I think for most people these days, gender is a non-factor," she said.
Bankston
Mills also called for more minority leadership. He said he'd worked hard to get to where he was.
"There are a lot of us out there who are
doing positive things." Mills said. "In comparison to what my father has done and what the people who came before him have done, it's really not that spectacular."
Bankston said she didn't know if she had to work harder because of her sex.
She also said that she wasn't surprised that there wasn't a Caucasian male running for the top office.
"Justin and I have both been involved in Senate for a number of years," she said. "I don't think it was a surprise that either one of us was running."
Edited by Jacob Roddy
Gravity gets the last laugh
The bumper sticker on Mary Linn's 1986 Subaru Wagon Deluxe remains unscatched in a prophetic turn of events. High winds toppled a tree at about 5 p.m. yesterday in the 1600 block of Louisiana Street. Linn's car was crushed, but one was injured. She had left campus and was walking toward her car when the accident occurred.
The sticker refers the Kansas Board of Education's controversial 1999 decision to eliminate the
teaching of evolution. The election of a pro-evolution school board in 2000 might have saved Linn, Wichita graduate student, from any future automobile ironies with a new car.
"I probably won't put on another sticker," she said.
Linn said she expected insurance to deem the car totaled.
The City of Lawrence Parks and Forestry department cleared the tree from the street and the sidewalk, but the owner of the property will have to clear the rest of the damaged trunk.
The KU weather service said wind gusts reached more than 60 miles an hour yesterday. Wind gusts broke tree branches and scattered debris across campus.
The weather service expects winds to die down tomorrow.
Photo and brief by Joshua Richards
Radio show plans move to television in KC area
By Sarah Smarsh
writer@kansan.com
Kanson staff writer
An award-winning radio series produced at the University of Kansas by KANU, 91.5 FM, will soon jump to another broadcast medium — television.
The Imagination Workshop, a live, fast-paced sketch comedy series that has been heard on more than 100 National Public Radio stations throughout the country, plans to create its first-ever television series for KCPT, Channel 19, the public television station in the Kansas City area.
Producers, writers and performers from the 16-year-old radio show will collaborate this summer with the E d u c a t i o n a l Communications Center at Kansas State University to produce four half-hour television episodes that will include characters, spoofs and highlights from Workshop.
The television episodes will be staged as radio productions, with live sound effects, actors holding scripts and a live studio audience at Nichols Hall Theatre on the KSU campus.
Darrell Brogdon, the producer and principal writer of the award-winning radio show, described Workshop as "Saturday Night Live on the radio." Its television transition will be a unique entertainment opportunity, he said.
"It's kind of an oddball thing to do," said Brogdon, who also serves as program director of KANU. "It'll be fun to see how it translates to video."
Rick Tamblyn, a Leawood resident and 1979 KU graduate, is one of the show's seven performers, four of whom write for the show. Tamblyn said the TV gig might further propel the radio show's success.
"It'll give us greater visibility and better exposure," Tamblyn said. He added that the September airing could help secure sponsors for the radio show, which might produce weekly installments — rather than its current five shows per season.
The next radio performances are scheduled for 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, April 21, at Liberty Hall. 642 Massachusetts. It will include spoofs on mad cow disease and the Mir space station, as well as a skit featuring Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan on "The Antonio Banderas Show."
Tickets, $12 for cabaret seats and $8 for balcony seats, are available through Liberty Hall and Ticketmaster.
— Edited by Brandy Straw
nan lakou a: a 2 day celebration of Haitian music and culture come join us for presentations on Haitian life, culture, music, politics, drumming & drum making,and food april 13&14,noon-4pm ecm (12th & oread)
featuring special guests: Tito, Makoumbe, Matisou Legba and Ya Tande, Kebyesoudanle, Azouke, and traditional drum maker Cedanor Henrius
sponsored by the african studies resource center, the center of latin american studies, the institute of haiti studies, student senate, the latin american studies graduate student organization, and the fellowship and learning organization for the study of the subaltern
Crucified By My Hand - for My Sake!
Raised By God's Hand - for My Salvation!
You are invited to worship with us:
-April 12, Maundy Thursday - 7:30pm.
(with Holy Communion)
-April 12, Noon -
"Evangilation on the Way"
- and 7:30pm "Colors of Grace"
musical presentation - passion of Jesus
-April 15, Easter Sunday - Celebration of
the Resurrection
8:30am - Traditional Worship with Holy Communion
11:00am - Praise and Worship Service with Holy Communion 7:30-11:00am. - Easter Breakfast served by Immanuel's Youth
Immanuel Lutheran Church and University Student Center 2104 West 15th St 15th & Iowa - 843-0620 www.ku.edu/~lstku
WWW.THEBIKESHOPLARRYVILLE.COM Why surf the web,when you can cycle it? Local Cycling News/Online Auctions/Local Racing Info/Close-outs
fresh mint
Pre-Dental club oral fixation at its best
KU Pre-dental Meeting Tonight 7:00 p.m. 1005 Haworth
We will have UMKC dental students and Johnson County Community College dental hygiene students as our guest speakers Free Pizza and Soda! If you have any questions,please call: Chris Leiszler 312-7009 Hope to see you there!