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Kansan
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Tuesday. March 6, 2001
Sports: Drew Gooden is among four Hawks on Associated Press All-Big 12 teams. See page 1B
Inside: Students promote their home country during Brazilian Week activities.
See page 5A
(USPS 650-640) * VOL. 111 NO. 102
For comments, contact Lori O'Toole or Mindie Miller at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Professors to get more money for travel abroad
By Cassio Furtado
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
More University of Kansas professors will be able to travel abroad because of a recent request by Chancellor Robert Hemenway.
Hemenway said yesterday the University would dedicate $40 thousand more per year to international travel and research starting in July.
He said that sending more teachers abroad and facilitating research would help the University to become
more internationalized
The funds will come from the Kansas University Endowment Association and will allow the Office of International Programs to annually award 80 faculty members up to $1,100 to attend international conferences or conduct research abroad
Hemerow; will
dedicate $40,000
more per year for
travel, study abroad
Currently, the University distributes 55 awards of up to $800, covering up to 60 percent of the expenses.
Hodgie Bricke, assistant dean of international programs, said the announcement showed the University's commitment to international research.
Bricke said the initiative was aimed at creating a more internationalized campus by benefiting more professors and allowing more of them to go abroad.
John Scarff, director of communications for the endowment association, said the money for the awards had come from unrestricted funds.
These funds come from donations that don't have an specific purpose designated by the donor, he said.
The chancellor, Scarfe said, requests that funds be allocated to certain purposes. The request then needs to be approved by the executive committee of the endowment association before the action goes into effect.
Hemenway said he used the money from the unrestricted account because next year's budget shortfall left no funds for an increase to international travel and research.
He also said the decision to allocate the funds had been made three months ago, before Gov. Bill Graves announced his recommendations for the University's budget, which caused Hemenway to cut school, department and administrative budgets by $1.15 million last month.
— Edited by Brandy Straw
Tennis team reacts to cut
Loss of players could effect KU's diversity
By Michelle Ward
Recife. Brazil. freshman.
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Gustavo Telles hit tennis balls yesterday afternoon at practice. The simple routine of playing tennis offers a sense of familiarity in the trying time for the
Telles felt defeated by the University of Kansas this past weekend when Athletic Director Bob Frederick announced the termination of the men's tennis team, which consists of four international students — nearly half of the team.
The dream Telles thought he had accomplished — playing tennis at an American university — received the fatal blow due to budget cuts.
While the dissolution of the team will prompt Telles to look at other schools, he thinks the ramifications are much deeper than losing prospective international tennis players at the University.
"It hurts the University's reputation," he said. "People look at the University as
"It's the first time I'm ashamed to be a Jayhawk."
Rodrigo Echagaray
junior tennis player
a whole not just a specific department. Everybody is just really disappointed."
Rodrigo Echagaray, Juarez, Mexico, junior, spent his collegiate career playing for the Crimson and Blue only to be left searching for a new school in his final year. He said he felt the team had been tossed aside by the administration, and that lives could be altered forever because of the decision.
Janelle Martin, associate athletics director, said the students would be immediately eligible for competition if they transferred to a different school. The NCAA has ruled that any time a sport is discontinued at an athlete's original college, he doesn't need to follow the standard transfer regulations.
"It's the first time I'm ashamed to be a Jayhawk," he said. "Some guys will have trouble transferring and will have to end their career. It will change their lives."
The men's tennis and swimming teams became the victims of budget cuts and will be discontinued after this season.
See DIVERSITY on page 3A
Gradate school entrance exam preparation
Classes help students hang on
By Sarah Warren
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
a zadeh Ziglari is lucky to have an hour to herself.
The Wichita junior in pre-med is taking 15 credit hours, works 12 to 20 hours a week at First Med, 2323 Ridge Court, and spends her remaining time volunteering at the Red Cross, which takes up an additional 20 to 30 hours each week.
So when it came time for Ziglari to plan time to study for her Saturday, April 21 Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), she needed professional help.
She enrolled in a test preparation course to help her prepare and make sure she didn't neglect one of the most important tests she'd ever take.
"I wouldn't have time to study otherwise," Ziglari said. "It's time for me to devote to the test."
Twice a week, she heads to a class conducted by the Princeton Review, 901 Kentucky St., where she spends three-and-a-half hours preparing for the MCAT with a dozen other med-school hopefuls.
Liz Meitl, director of the Princeton Review centers in Kansas City and Lawrence, said there were many reasons why even the busiest students, like Ziglari, enrolled in classes for the MCAT, the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), the Graduate Records Examination (GRE) or the Law School Admission Test (LSAT).
But she said the main reason they enrolled was that the tests were too difficult and too important to prepare for without help.
See STUDENTS on page 3A
Even the busiest of students make extra efforts to set aside time to prepare for major entrance exams such as the MCAT, GMAT, GRE and LSAT. Liz Meitl, director of the Princeton Review centers in Kansas City and Lawrence, said the main reason students enrolled in prep courses was because the tests were too difficult and too important to prepare for without help. Photo illustration by Thad Allender/KANSAN
Fire knocks out services at athletic club
Total Fitness members allowed to work out at Sixth Street Fitness
Four fire trucks surround Total Fitness Athletic Center, 925 Iowa St., in an attempt to contain flames. The fire started early Monday morning. The membership director of the athletic center said he expected the building to be out of service for several months. Photo by Selena Jehann/KANSAN
By Lauren Brandenburg
writer@kansan.com
Kansan stuff writer
Total Fitness Athletic Center's members can continue to work out at another local gym after yesterday morning's fire, said Scott Dougan, membership director.
Dougan said Sixth Street Fitness, 2500 W. Sixth St., would allow all Total Fitness members to use its gym.
A manager would then talk with each member about what package the member had with Total Fitness, 925 Iowa St. If Sixth Street was competitive in rates and the member was agreeable, Anderson said, the manager and the member would come to an agreement about joining Sixth Street.
Brent Anderson, general manager at Sixth Street, said Sixth Street was giving Total Fitness members a one-day pass yesterday so they could experience the center.
sibility to ensure that its environment is what it was when its own members signed up. Anderson said.
"Every member will have the opportunity to become a worker," he said.
"We will absorb a certain number of their members, but we'll probably put a cap on
However, Sixth Street also has a respon
that," he said. He did not know yesterday what that can would be.
An estimate of the damage to Total Fitness was not available yesterday, Dougan said, because employees had not
been allowed back inside the building. The cause of the fire was not not yet known. The building was closed when the fire started at about 12:45 a.m., and no one was inside.
"Hopefully in the next four to six weeks we will have a temporary site up," he said. Dougan said he hoped the facility would be reopened in "four to five months, tops. When everything is said and done, people can come back if they want."
Total Fitness will not charge membership fees while the workout equipment and services are unavailable, Dougan said, and memberships that are already paid in full will be frozen. Freezing a membership means that members will still have the same number of days left to use the gym when it opens as they had before the fire.
Meanwhile, a letter will be sent to every member to explain the situation, Dougan said.
Carly Chandler, Shawnee junior, said she had just gotten back into a workout routine this semester and was concerned when she drove by the building yesterday and noticed it had burned.
"I wouldn't expect another place to open up facilities for us," she said. "That's pretty cool."
Edited by Jason McKee
VOICE denies affiliation with past coalitions in Senate race
By Brooke Hesler
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff write
"I have no campaign violations to hide," she said. "Hunter (Harris) and I ran against each other last year. We came together to form this coalition. This is a new coalition."
Last week allegations surfaced about whether the newly formed VOICE coalition was all that new.
Jessica Bankston, who is running for student body president, said at the VOICE coalition kick-off party that allegations about VOICE trying to hide past elections violations by previous coalitions were ridiculous.
Neither Bankston, who ran with United Students last year nor VOICE vice presidential candidate Harris, who ran with Students First, have themselves been convicted of campaign violations.
The candidates running with each coalition change from year to year with senators graduating or not seeking re-election. Kyle Browning, Delta Force vice presidential candidate, said most of the candidates running with Delta Force were new and had not previously run with the coalition.
Bankston: said allegations were ridiculous
Harris: said VOICE consisted of a variety of candidates
Likewise, Harris said the VOICE coalition was composed of a variety of candidates.
"We have about a handful of students who ran with Students First and maybe twice that number from United Students," he said. "I'd say the largest number of people though, are people who are new to Senate."
Browning said that because Delta Force has been around for five years, the coalition was held more accountable with voters.
"People can call us on things and say, 'Hey, you guys said you were going to do this and you didn't,' " he said.
Branden Bell, who is running for a liberal arts and sciences seat with VOICE, said voters should hold their senators accountable, not a coalition.
"Even if you did keep the same name, you still have different people running," he said.
Bankston said last week that she thought there were advantages to a coalition breaking up at the end of election season. She said it made for a more unified Student Senate.
"Once you're a senator, you don't need a coalition to rally around," she said. "I think in the past, we assimilate coalitions with political parties, and they're not political parties. They're not the same."
Justin Mills, Delta Force presidential candidate, said senators didn't usually vote along coalition lines.
"If you look at how people vote on Senate, it's really not divisive," he said. "There are ideological differences between some people, but there really isn't a lot of factionalism between senators. You know who ran with who anwvay."
Mills ran with the YOU coalition two years ago. He said he would have run with Delta Force had he been asked earlier.
— Edited by Jason McKee
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