Tuesday, February 20, 2001
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 3
Looking art in the face
Melissa Brown,
Overland Park sophomore, and Keith Van de Riet, St. Louis sophomore, view Adam Tompkins "Boy not Astra Boy." This painting, along with 25 other art pieces, is part of the MFA Graduate Student Exhibition on display until Friday at the Art and Design Gallery.
Photo by Thad Allender/KANSAN
Housing plan would make residence halls smoke-free
By Cynthia Malakasis writer@kansan.com
Kansan Staff writer
If the Department of Student Housing's plan is carried out, all KU residence halls will eventually become completely smoke-free, said Diana Robertson, associate director of student housing.
Robertson said student housing reached the decision because of the increased number of requests they had received for a smoke-free environment. She said 70 to 80 percent of residents are nonsmokers.
According to the current plan, KU residence halls will become smoke-free as they are renovated. Robertson said.
Ellsworth, Lewis and Templin halls are already completely smoke-free. The three halls became smoke-free in Fall 2000, after a recommendation from the Association for University Residence Halls, said Ken Stoner, director of student housing.
Right now, smoking is prohibited in all scholarship halls, public halls and eating areas in residence halls.
Robertson said she thought some students who smoke would call themselves non-smokers in their housing application, so they could have smoke-free living quarters.
Residents are allowed to smoke in rooms on specific floors, but must keep their doors closed and have consent from their roommates.
This way, she said, they could still smoke on the floors where it was allowed.
Jennifer Pierce, Lexington, Ky., sophomore, said even though it could be hard for her to deal with her roommate's smoke, she still
thought smokers' needs should be respected.
"People who want to smoke should be able to," she said.
Pierce, a Hashinger Hall resident who doesn't smoke, chose to live on a smoking floor because she wanted to live in Hashiger, which had limited space.
"People should have a choice whether they want to be around it or not," she said.
Kevin Roche, a Hashinger resident who is in the process of quitting, said he thought housing definitely needed both a smoking and a nonsmoking option.
"You should have the right to smoke in your living quarters," said Roche, Chicago freshman.
Blake Doss, Neenah, Wis. freshman and Lewis Hall resident, has a slightly different perspective.
Doss said he didn't smoke and he cherished his smokefree free arrangement.
But he also said smokers' needs should be taken into consideration.
"There has to be a medium somewhere." Doss said. "It's a really tough issue."
Although smoking may seem to be a potential fire hazard, Robertson said it was not really a factor in the decision.
"The predominant concern was more health-related," she said. "Candles present the biggest hazard."
According to a 1995 Kansas law, smoking is prohibited in all state-owned buildings.
Stoner said smoking in University housing units had been allowed before the law had been passed.
An exception to the law allows Regents schools to set their own smoking policies.
"The exception just left it the way it was," he said.
The trend is not restricted
SMOKING POLICIES
Big 12 Conference residence hall smoking policies:
Baylor residence halls are completely smoke-free.
iowa State allows smoking with roommate's consent and the door closed. Smoke-free facilities are available.
Kansas State plans to make all university housing smoke-free by Aua. 17.
At Oklahoma State, residents vote each year whether they want the entire residence hall, including public areas, to be smoke-free. In certain residence halls, smoking is allowed in students' rooms.
- Texas A&M is completely smoke-free.
- Texas Tech students can smoke in their rooms with the consent of roommates.
- Colorado generally allows smoking, but some residence halls are designated smoke<sup>-f</sup>
Missouri allows smoking with consent of roommates.
Nebraska offers smoking rooms by request in its housing contracts.
Texas student housing facilities are completely smoke-free.
Oklahoma has four dorms, two of which are completely smoke-free. The others each have one smoking floor.
to the University, however. Kansas State University has decided to make all residence halls smoke-free on Aug. 17, 2001, after surveys revealed that 80 percent of K-State residents don't smoke.
Source: University Web sites and representatives from the student housing department
Stoner said he thought the smoke-free trend was present across the United States.
"We're moving in that direction," he said.
Host families immerse Japanese KU students in language, traditions
By Michelle Ward
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Edited by Jacob Roddy
He has been playing different games with visiting students since he was 3 years old, and he remembers each one.
Michael Goble doesn't let his new brothers leave without a game of one-on-one on the family's driveway basketball court.
The 13-year-old has made it a tradition to play basketball with students visiting his home from Kanagawa University in Hiratsuka, Japan.
This year, 11 students, at the University of Kansas for a month-long study abroad program, took a break from residence-hall life to stay with host families for a weekend.
Local residents open their homes to the students, allowing them to experience life within an American family.
"I still remember our first family," Goble said. "It means a lot to me that our family is a host family to other students."
Goble helps the Japanese students with the language and the culture. The self-proclaimed sports fanatic enjoys playing games with the newest family members, especially basketball.
His mother, Dana Goble, said Michael never missed a chance to shoot baskets with others.
"It doesn't matter how cold it is. He will have them out there shooting baskets," she said.
The Gobles began serving as a host family 10 years ago when the Kanagawa students first started attending the University.
Daichi Kimura and Ryohei Yamauchi stayed with the Gobles this year. The two from Hiratsuka, a sister city of Lawrence, spent a normal weekend with the family.
"They are so amazed to see the horizon," Goble said. "They don't have that opportunity at home."
potatoes. They also visited Clinton Lake and other Lawrence sites.
They played board games while getting to know one another. The family took them to church and fixed them the traditional American cuisine: steak and
For Atsushi Kurihara, the month-long program was a return to America. He lived in the States for seven years after his father's job brought the family here.
He was excited to stay in an American house and to continue to work on his communication skills.
Kurihara's father was transferred back, but Kurihara yearned to come back to the United States.
The retired physician and his wife, who have played host to students in the past, think it is important not only personally but for the two countries as well.
"I like America a lot better than Japan," he said. "The people are different; they are very kind. I want to live in America."
Dick and Mary Alice Beach will spend their first weekend with Kanagawa students.
ney would like to help strengthen the bonds between the countries while giving Yumi Tanikawa and Namiki Kingawa a fun weekend.
"Usually, it's a matter of telling them what they want to do." Dick Beach said. "We want them to get a balanced view."
While families provide their homes, they give students much more than a break from campus. They can help propel the students' speaking skills. A weekend immersed in English can strengthen those skills.
Sheri Valentine-Meunier, a teacher at the Applied English Center, has witnessed the benefits of staving with a host family.
"The kids that have host families speak more fluent English, especially if the family has children," she said. "They aren't afraid to practice in front of children. They improve a lot faster."
Students share health-related information with peers
By Li Vi Regenbaum
writer @kanson.com
Konsan staff writer
Jennifer Platt is one of a handful of students working to educate other students about health-related issues for a Watkins Memorial Health Center peer education program.
Edited by Brandy Straw
Tyr a Babington coordinator of the center for peer health promotion at Watkins, said any student could volunteer to work with Peers Reaching Others.
Platt, a Dyer, Ind., senior has been a facilitator for Peers Reaching Others for the Watkins health promotions department for the past two years. As part of her job, she speaks with other students about sexual health issues.
"If there is one more person I connect with, one more person who would be a little more informed about making educated sexual health choices, then I feel I have accomplished something." Platt said.
"We send peer educators out to living organizations and Greek communities to talk about sexual health issues which vary from STDs to how alcohol can affect your relationship with your sig-
"We want to promote that the PRO's are available to instructors, residence
halls,
fraternities, to
presentations
on sexual health and relationship."
Bill Smith Health educator at Watkins
nificant other," she said.
Babington said the group had 10 volunteers, but she hoped to increase the number to 25 this semester.
Randall Rock, physician at Watkins and associate director of health education, said if enough volunteers were recruited, he wanted to implement a noncredit training course this semester to train the volunteers to speak with their peers about health issues.
Rock also said he hoped to see Bacchus and Gamma, two health-related student groups, reinvigorated on campus.
Babington said the training process for students was currently administered through Watkins health educators.
"Those organizations are for training and certifying peer educators," Rock said. "It's an opportunity for students to develop those skills."
Bill Smith, health educator at Watkins, said the training process involved basic presentation skills and focused on educating students about sexual health issues and alcohol's relation to sexual health.
Smith said that Peers Reaching Others was a good way to reach students on sexual health issues.
"We want to promote that the PROs are available to instructors, residence halls, fraternities, to do presentations on sexual health and relationships," he said. "They are not being utilized as they have been in the past. It is a good way to reach people because they are peers, and students can relate more to another student."
For more information contact the health promotion office at 864-9570.
Edited by Jay Pilgreen
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