Weather
Kansan
Today: Rain with a high or 41 and a low of 34
Tomorrow: Sunny with a high of 52 and a low of 32
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Monday, March 12. 2001
Sports: The Jayhawks look forward to NCAA tournament play after losing Saturday to Oklahoma.
SEE PAGE 1B
(USPS 650-640) • VOL.111 NO.105
Inside: The city is looking into buying more cars that run on alternative fuels.
For comments, contact Lori O'Toole or Mindie Miller at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
SEE PAGE 3A
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Understanding Islam
Muslims face misconceptions
Saira Sufi, Topa senior, makes a personal prayer before the call to pray last Friday afternoon at the Islamic Center, 1911 Naismith Drive. Within the Muslim religion, Fridays are considered the major day of worship. Photo by Mellisa Carras/KANSAN
Growing religion touches students' everyday lives
By Dawn North
Special to the Kansan
Saira Sufi remembers the event vividly. She was 15 years old and her friends, Lanell and Jaime,
At sunrise, an alarm went off. Lanell scrumbled underneath the table to hide. Jaime thought it was "the end" and freaked out.
The chaos was not caused by an alarm warning of bad weather, but by a kind of alarm clock — an azan, a clock that sings and chants. The clock was telling Sufi's Muslim family that is wait for prayer. The shape of the clock is similar to The Dome of the Rock, the third-holiest place for Muslims.
"It's a beautiful sound, but if you've never heard it, it's surprising," Sufi said with a smile on her face.
Sufi, Topeka senior, is one of 300 Muslims registered with the Muslim Student Association at the University of Kansas. According to the association, the number of Muslim students on campus has tripled since the mid-1990s.
and the northern half of Africa
Gasim Bukhari, vice president of the association and Saudi Arabia doctoral student, said 250 members of the group were international students and 50 were U.S. citizens. Overall, the members represent 30 different nationalities.
Muslims follow the religion of Islam, and their numbers are growing. There are an estimated 5.5 million Muslims in the United States and more than one billion in the world. It is the principle religion of the Middle East, Asia
As the number of Muslims on college campuses increase, so must the understanding of other students in order to break down stereotypes of the religion, Sufi said.
"There are a lot of assumptions about Islam," she said.
She said she used to hide her religion when she lived in Topeka and during her first three years at the University because she wanted to fit in.
She calls herself an American-born Pakistani and is a member of the Pakistani Cultural Club on campus. In the last year, she has researched
her religion and searched her beliefs. Going through this time of questioning and searching has solidified her faith in Islam, she said.
She now wakes before sunrise each morning to pray.
See STUDENT on page 7A
Public Works set to clean streets
City will tow vehicles not moved by owners
By Erin Adamson
writer@kanson.com
Kansas staff writer
The city will tow cars that aren't cleared from the street by owners.
City officials are asking residents in a section of the Oread neighborhood next to the University of Kansas campus to move their cars from the roads beginning today so the city can clean and repair the roads.
The City of Lawrence Public Works Department will clean the area from Mississippi Street to Kentucky Street and from 11th Street to 14th Street.
Debbie Van Saun, assistant city
manager, said that a hard winter had left more debris than usual in the streets.
"We've had more snow than in five years," Van Saun said. "Because of that, there's been more salt and sand on the street."
Van Saun said that, if the weather cooperated, crews would be cleaning the streets from today until Friday and that vehicles would need to be cleared from the streets. The department will put up no-parking signs the day before each street is cleaned to warn the residents living along the street.
The city has planned two other cleanup projects that will coordinate with the University's spring break. The city will try to repair the streets while the students are out of town.
CLEANING SCHEDULE
Today — 11th and 12th streets
Today
Tomorrow — 13th and 14th streets
Wednesday — Mississippi and
Indiana streets
Washington mississippi and
Indiana streets
- Thursday — Louisiana and Ohio streets
- Friday — Tennesseesee and Kentucky streets
Crews will be working in the same area patching and repairing potholes during the week beginning Monday, March 19. Crews also will clean up alleys in this area on Friday, March 23, in conjunction with the annual Oread litter cleanup.
Van Saun said the city took the student population in the Oread area into account when planning the cleanup.
"We're going to concentrate on areas
where students typically live," Van Saun said.
Janet Gerstner, of the Oread Neighborhood Association, said that Lawrence City Manager Mike Wildgen had initiated the cleanup but that the city planned the cleanup with the association.
"We have an awful lot of sand in the street," Gerstner said. "The other real problem is tremendous trash buildup."
Gerstner said she was worried that students would not realize the cleanup was happening and would risk having their cars towed.
"We're more unique than a lot of other neighborhood, some people might not go to their cars for days," Gerstner said.
KU loses dean to Purdue
Frost-Mason lured to provost position
Bv Andrew Davies
Edited by Sydney Wallace
By Andrew Davies writer @kanson.com Kanson staff writer
Sally Frost Mason, dean of liberal arts and sciences, is planning to leave the University of Kansas this summer to become provost at Purdue University.
Mason, who has been dean of the college since 1996 and a member of t h e University faculty since 1980, said the opportunity was too good to pass up.
Frost-Mason: set to begin job at her alma mater in July
"Purdue is a very, very fine school and this is a wonderful opportunity," said Mason, who earned her master's degree from Purdue in 1974.
Mason, who interviewed at the school in early February and accepted in the middle of the month, said she would stay at KU at least through commencement.
She is set to take over at Purdue on Sunday, July 1.
Provost David Shulenburger said a search committee would be organized in early fall with the anticipation of filling the position permanently by July 2002.
He also said he would take some time to select an interim dean.
"I will not make that determination for a few weeks as I want input from the campus about the interim before I make that appointment," Shulenburger said.
Beverly Davenport Sypher, associate dean of social sciences, said that she was happy
Mason had the opportunity at Purdue but that she was sad to see her leave the University.
"It's really rather bitter-sweet," she said. "Because of Sally's leadership, we've all had an opportunity to grow along with the college. She will certainly be missed."
Carl Strikwerda, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said that during Mason's tenure, the University had been able to further its research and increase fund-raising.
"More generally, she has been a leader in hiring excellent faculty and helping KU expand its research activity in all areas," he said. "Finally, she has raised private giving to the college, which has helped all of our efforts."
Mason handled limited resources well. Sypher said
Mason has overseen the merger of six science-related departments into two; the creation of the Indigenous Nations Studies graduate program; expansion of the college's outreach program; and expansion of offerings at the University's Edwards Campus in Overland Park.
"She has managed three budget cuts and still made it possible to hire record numbers of faculty and generate increasingly more student credit hours with a lot of really great teachers," Sypher said.
Mason also has hired more than 25 percent of the current faculty, with an emphasis on hiring female faculty in the sciences.
Sypher said the University could learn a lesson from Purdue's search committee.
"I think we all could take some "lessons from their search committee and president," she said. "They were aggressive, thoughtful, decisive and quick." — Edited by Lain Schuler
— Edited by Leita Schultes
Student assaulted Thursday night
Woman receives black eye, scratches
By Amanda Beglin
writer @kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
She said she was walking toward an entrance to the building at 6:42 p.m. when a man, seated near the northeast entrance, stood up and grabbed her as she passed him.
A 21-year-old female KU student reported being assaulted as she attempted to enter Haworth Hall on Thursday night, the KU Public Safety Office said.
"He asked me for a ride home, and I had class, so I said 'No,'" said the student, who asked to remain anonymous. "Then he got mad, and that's when he grabbed me."
She pulled away from him, and he grabbed her again, according to the crime alert issued by the public safety office.
"I ducked after he hit me, and I got out of his grip," she said.
The report stated that the man, whom the student said she didn't recognize, then hit her across the face. The student said she was able to escape him.
She said she pulled away from the man, walked into her Haworth classroom without being followed, and notified the public safety office after her class
Police composite of battery suspect
The student said she had a black eye and scratches on her neck after the incident.
office is searching for a 20 to 25-year-old white male with clean-cut, spiked blonde hair. The suspect is thought to be about 6 feet tall and 215 pounds.
The student met with public safety officers after the incident to create a composite of the suspect. The public safety
The student said the suspect was wearing blue jeans and a black shirt with white lettering. She also reported that he was carrying a dark-colored backpack.
information had been included in the crime alert, which is posted at fraternities and sororities, residence halls and various academic buildings on campus. It's also posted on the public safety Office Web site www.edu/brsvc
"She did what she could do." Bailey said. "The best thing is to try to get away and leave. We can't 'what if because every situation is different. So do what you can. Find the closest emergency phone, or run screaming through the building."
LA. Schuyler Bailey said all suspect
Though understandably jostled by the situation, the student handled herself admirably. Bailey said.
The student said she had experienced a similar incident last year, when a drunk stranger, spouting profanities, confronted her and her friend at Boardwalk Apartments, 524 Frontier Road. She was not harmed in the incident.
If you have any information regarding this crime, contact the public safety office at 864-5900 or KU Crime Stoppers at 864-8888.
Callers to Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for cash rewards.
- Edited by Jennifer Valadex
Rock Chalk Revue donates $50,000 Sigma Phi Epsilon's and Chi Omega's show takes top honors
Heroes and villains, singers and camp scouts gave the 2001 Rock Chalk Reve Audience a tour from turn-of-the-century Cordova, Spain, to a flashy 1980s bowling alley on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. But the on-stage antics were upstaged by the record $50,000 that was raised and donated to the United Way of Douglas County.
By Cynthia Malakasis
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Five groups, each made up of one sorority and one fraternity house, were nominated to present a skirt around this year's theme. "On the record."
Sigma Phi Epsilon's and Chi Omega's "The Camping Show" won best show. The skit differed from the others because there was no love interest in the plot.
Katy Cray, Overland Park sophomore, swoons over "Eddie Bumper," played by Grant Jones, Prairie Village junior, as Alison Butter, Shawnee Mission sophomore, looks on during their Rock Chalk Revue dress rehearsal Wednesday night. Photo by Laurie Sisk/KANSAN.
"Our idea was not to have a plot," said Kiernan O'Callaghan, Topeka senior and one of the show directors. "It's a bunch of 20-year-old students acting like children, telling jokes and having a good time."
bull fighter Diego Montoy refused to participate in the upcoming fight and
See GREEK on page 7A
心
---
4.