Kansan
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Today: Partly cloudy with a high of 45 and a low of 27
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Wednesday, March 7, 2001
Sports: The Kansas women's basketball team beat Oklahoma State 66-56 in the Big 12 Tournament.
SEE PAGE 1B
Inside: Students reach out to the community through volunteer work. Str nee 7A
(USPS 650-640) • VOL.111 NO.103
For comments, contact Lori O'Toole or Mindie Miller at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
SEE PAGE 7A
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Total Fitness works out details after fire damage
By Lauren Brandenburg
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Total Fitness Athletic Center and Sixth Street Fitness management now have a more concrete plan for how Total Fitness members can keep working out, despite Monday morning's fire that heavily damaged the facility.
Scott Dougan, Total Fitness membership director, said management from the two facilities met yesterday.
"Sixth Street is going to offer our members a temporary membership with them," Dougan said.
He said Sixth Street Fitness, 2500 W. Sixth St., would offer a three-month membership to Total Fitness members, and management would evaluate in three months both how close to completion the renovations were and when Total Fitness would reopen its facility at 925 Iowa St.
"Obviously we hope most members come back to us, but we're just happy they have a place to work out, and that's a risk we're willing to take," Dougan said.
Dougan said Sixth Street Fitness would set a limit on the number of Total Fitness members who could purchase temporary memberships.
Dougan was not sure yesterday how long it would be before Total Fitness had a temporary facility open for its members. He said that would depend on the condition of the equipment inside the facility, and Total Fitness employees had not been allowed back inside yet to make damage assessments.
He said management was hoping to be able to assess the situation inside the building by the end of the week.
Firefighters estimated the fire caused $350,000 damage to the facility, said Bill Stark, battalion chief for Lawrence-Douglas County Fire and Medical. The cause remained under investigation yesterday. Stark said.
Joelle Pasquale, LaGrange, in, sophomore, said she normally worked out five to six days a week and was not sure what she was going to do to continue her workouts. She said she was disappointed at the rates Sixth Street had offered. She said she hated Robinson Center but might have to resort to working out there because of the cost of joining another club.
"I liked how Total Fitness wasn't crowded," Pasquale said. "There was always a machine available. I like to go and get my workout done."
Pasquale said she was concerned Sixth Street Fitness might be crowded while trying to accommodate its own members and Total Fitness members.
Brent Anderson, Sixth Street Fitness general manager, said that was one reason to set a cap on the number of Total Fitness members who could join.
"We wee it to our members who selected our club because of our environment." Anderson said. "When you pack it, it changes it. We won't pack it for money."
The temporary office for Total Fitness was opened in the Hillcrest shopping area yesterday, Dougan said. — Edified by Megan Phelps
Fraternity residents decreasing
More men choose to live off-campus
By Cynthia Malakasis
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Lower housing costs and more modern living facilities are some of the reasons why an increasing number of fraternity members have been choosing to live off campus rather than in their chapter houses in the last 10 years, said Chris Dakhil, Wichita senior and Interfraternity Council vice president for public relations.
Dakhl said that a decline in the number
of live-in members was the main reason why fraternity chapter houses had been closing down in the past few years. Figures from the Office of Institutional Research and Planning at the University of Kansas indicate a 37.1 percent decline in the number of men living in fraternity chapter houses from 1990 to 2000.
"If they don't have membership, if they don't have enough guys paying house bills, then they can't function," Dakhil said. "For some chapters, that's a big problem."
He said chapters were trying to increase the number of live-in members by upgrading their facilities and by explaining to potential members the benefits of living in the chapter house during the recruitment process.
Dakhlil said he thought that living in the chapter house made it easier for members
to participate in social events, such as community service. He also said they would be better off financially, since utilities and meals were already paid for as part of the overall cost of living there.
Right now, there are five fraternity chapters at the University that don't have living facilities. Dakhil said.
Alpha Kappa Lambda is one of the fraternities without a home. Kerry Tubbs, who was president last year, when the living facilities of the chapter closed down, said that a decline in the number of livein members was an important factor in lowering finances and bringing about the closing of the house.
"Over the last couple of years, there were more seniors moving out," the
See FRATERNITY on page 3A
Greek numbers declining
The number of students living within the greek housing system has declined during the last
10 years
1990 1995 2000
Sororities 1,092 1,080 859
Fraternites 1,653 1,417 1,039
Percentage decline in fraternity living from fall 1999 to fall 2000: 37.1 percent
Percentage decline in sorority living from fall 1999 to fall 2000: 21.3 percent
His beat goes on
Source: University of Kansas Office of Institutional Research and Planning
Kyle Ramsey/KANSAN
Born to drum: Weinberg endures
Max Weinberg, former drummer for the E Street Band and band leader for the Max Weinberg Seven on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, recalls one night when Bruce Springsteen went up into the rafters during a show. Weinberg said last night that he faced a crucial decision in his life when Springsteen asked him to join the band. "I was very glad I said yes," he said. Photo by Selena Jabara/KANSAN
Drummer survives through career's ups and downs
By Sarah Smash
writer@kanson.com
Kansas staff writer
Max Weinberg went from playing the drums with Bruce Springsteen for a sea of fans to playing the drums for small crowds of adolescent boys at bar mitzvahs.
Weinberg, who found fame as the drummer for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, is now drummer and band leader for the Max Weinberg Seven on NBC's Late Night With Conan O'Brien. Weinberg spoke on campus last night about the world of music and the perils of success.
Weinberg said he enjoyed his gig on Late Night, which is in its eight season, but that a long road of ups and downs preceded his success on television.
"Throughout my career, I had doubtful moments," Weinberg told the crowd.
Weinberg, 49, said he began as a "little kid drummer" who eventually played at bar mitzvahs and weddings with a number of bands. Then he answered a classified ad — and ended up as Bruce Springsteen's drummer, playing before tens of thousands of people in sold-out arenas in the 1980s.
Weinberg said the onslaught of attention "dazed" him as he hit the party circuit and carried the nickname "Mighty Max."
"It wasn't hype to me," Weinberg said, shaking his head. "It was well-deserved adulation."
But after 15 years and sales of more than 50 million records with the band, Weinberg received a call from Springsteen, who thanked him for his dedication — and then broke up the band.
"I didn't want to continually be competing with "Mighty Max," he said. But Weinberg said fate brought him back to his true form, the drums.
In 1992, the manager of the band 10.000 Maniacs called Weinberg to fill in during a promotional tour. Soon after, Weinberg performed with President Clinton at his inauguration gala. For Weinberg, the beat was returning.
"I finally thought, maybe I was put here to play the drums," he said.
Weinberg said he struggled to break back into the business, once again playing at bar mitzvahs and finally setting for a position as the second alternate substitute drummer for a Broadway show.
Despite the pay cut from his days with Springsteen — "85 dollars a night, and you had to pay for your own parking" — Weinberg felt renewed.
"I'd buried drumming so far into my psyche," he said. "I felt I'd resurrected it."
Then in 1993, Weinberg ran into O'Brien on a corner in New York City and inquired about his plans for the new show's band, which led to the band leader position. Weinberg had found success again.
"I grabbed the brass ring twice," Weinberg said.
He recommended that students with big dreams not lose sight of their ambitions.
"If you remain true to what you believe is right for yourself, you can catch up to a dream," Weinberg said. "Whatever I do, my heart is that of a drummer."
Weinberg answered questions from the audience after his speech.
Weinberg can be seen Saturday, April 7 on HBO, when the network will air a two-hour presentation of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's final concert.
- Edited by Joshua Richards
Student says vote crucial in city elections, registration a must
By Erin Adamson
Kansan staff writer
Students have a high stake in city elections this year and should register to vote for three new City Commissioners, said Jessica Bankston, Albuquerque, N.M., tumor.
Bankston, legislative director of Student Legislative Awareness Board, said that the current city commissioners had directly affected students' lives by passing the new housing ordinance with the three-person limit on unrelated people who can live together in single-family neighborhoods and that students needed to register and vote to voice their dissatisfaction with the ordinances.
As the Monday, March 19, registration deadline to vote in the Tuesday, April 3, general city elections approaches, students need to learn how to register in Douglas County, she said.
But confusion about the requirements to register to vote here and the move of a polling site from Allen Fieldhouse to the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center, 1631 Crescent Road, could keep some students from casting their ballots.
Students can register electronically by going to the Student Senate's Web site, www.ukans.edu/~senate, then going to the Student Legislative Awareness Board's link and filling out an electronic registration form.
Once a resident is registered to vote in Douglas County, the resident is registered forever and doesn't need to re-register for each election, unless the person moves or changes names.
Bankston said SLAB was aiming to make sure more students were registered to vote in the general election.
Douglas County's Web site, www.douglas-county.com, also provides a voting registration form that students can download, print and mail.
In addition to registering electronically or
through the mail, students can register at two sites on campus: the Student Senate office in the Kansas Union and the Baehr Audio-Reader Center, 1120 W. 11th St., northwest of Memorial Stadium.
Bankston said that SLAB tried to reach out to more students during last fall's presidential election by providing drop boxes in locations on campus for students to register. She said she planned to put up drop boxes as part of the current registration drive again this month before the registration deadline.
One factor that could have kept students from voting in the primary election last Tuesday was that the county moved the on-campus polling site for students living on Daisy Hill and in Jayhawk Towers from Allen Fieldhouse to the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center.
Bankston said that the polling site change wasn't well publicized. She said SLAB worked with Douglas County to register students to vote at Allen Fieldhouse before the presidential elections and hadn't been informed of the change in campus polluting sites.
Do Jaqlalet, county clerk, said a legal notice was published in the Laurence Journal World to announce the change and letters were mailed to all registered voters on Daisy Hill and Jayhawker Towers who were affected by the change.
Dalquest said the change wasn't new.
"We usually do this on city and school board elections," Dalquest said. "Historically, not enough people have turned out to pay three employees all day."
The general city election will narrow the six City Commission candidates to three winners.
Dalquest said that even when there had been students running for city office in the past, students didn't turned out to vote.
The six candidates are Sue Hack, Marty Kennedy, Erv Hodges, David Dunfield, Scott Bailey and Adam Mansfield.
Girls campus sites
Student Senate office, Kansas Union
— Edited by Brandy Straw
On-campus sites:
REGISTRATION SITES
Baehr Audio-Reader Center, 1120 W. 11th St.
Off-campus sites:
City clerk's office, Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St.
Community, 101 Massachusetts St.
Independence Inc., 2001 Haskell Ave.
ECKAN Douglas County Community Center, 1600 Haskell Ave.
Center, 1800 Haskett Ave.
County Health Department, 200 Maine St.
Veterans Affairs Office, 745 Vermont St.
Veterans Affairs Office, 745 Vermont St
Social and Rehabilitative Services building
Social and Rehabilitative Services building, 1901 Delaware St.
Residents can also register to vote by filling out registration cards at Dillons grocery store, 3000 W. Sixth St.
The deadline to register for the Tuesday, April 3, City Commission election is Monday, March 19.