2A
The Inside Front
Thursday February 1,2001
News
from campus, the state, the nation and the world
CAMPUS
Study says Wescoe air doesn't pose a threat
Sally Frost Mason, dean of liberal arts and sciences, met yesterday with faculty and staff who work in Wescoe Hall to release the results of a study regarding the building's indoor air quality.
The study was conducted by the University's Environment, Health and Safety Department in response to concern from some staff and faculty members the building's air quality was poor.
The study indicated the air quality in Wescoe didn't pose any health concerns to those who work in the building.
Mike Russell, environment, health and safety department director, said the air quality was better inside Wescos than outside.
"What we have here is what you would see in buildings across the United States," he said.
Frost Mason said although the results did not indicate anything unusual, the University would take measures like installing new carpeting to improve Wescoe's air quality.
James Modig, design and construction management director, said the University would also improve Wescoe's ventilation system by installing relief fans to pump more fresh air into the building.
— Cássio Furtado
Endowment striving to reach donation level
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has issued a challenge grant that would help build an endowment fund of $850,000 for the Spencer Museum of Art.
The Melton Foundation, based in New York City, will grant $475,000 to the Kansas University Endowment Association if KU Endowment raises $375,000 in private gifts during the next three years, museum director Andrea K. Norris said.
Norris said the endowment income would allow the graduate internship program to continue strengthening the academic role of the Spencer Museum within the University.
The grant is in addition to two previous foundation grants allowing University faculty members to incorporate the Spencer collections into their course work.
Interns sponsored by these grants have helped faculty members consider art in engineering, anthropology, pharmacy and French studies.
Interns also have provided research about Spencer collections and conducted tours for KU students, faculty and the public.
The Mellon Foundation, a nonprofit
corporation that provides grants for education, performing arts and the environment, has also contributed to the Hall Center for the Humanities at KU.
Amanda Beglin
Queers and Allies focus on hate crime prevention
Hate crimes and how they can be prevented will be the focus of a Queens and Allies meeting tonight at 7:30 in Parors A, B and C of the Kansas Union.
Jeremy Wolff, speakers bureau coordinator for Queers and Allies and Derby senior, said he hoped the meeting would be an educational experience.
"This meeting will focus on what we can do as a group to help people become aware of hate crimes," he said.
Wolff said Queens and Allies would show Anatomy of a Hate Crime, an MTV program, as part of the meeting.
Queers and Allies will also have a movie night tomorrow. More information will be provided at tonight's meeting.
— Livi Regenbaum
NATION
California gas company ignored repeat warnings
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Pacific Gas & Electric Co. ignored months of warnings California was headed toward an energy crisis, according to a report castigating the utility for not taking steps auditors say could have kept it from the brink of bankruptcy.
California could be out at least $1.3 billion for emergency electricity before lawmakers find a fix to the state's botched deregulation program. The state remained under a Stage 3 power alert yesterday for a record 16th consecutive day.
WORLD
Court convicts Libyan in Flight 103 bombing
CAMP ZEIST, Netherlands — The wait to end a 12-year murder trial has finally come to an end.
A Scottish court convicted Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi of murder yesterday in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 above Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people.
The verdict of the Scottish tribunal was the climax in the 12-year murder investigation and an $80 million trial.
A second Libyan was acquitted. Both decisions were unanimous.
Limp Bizkit fan dies after concert crush
SYDNEY. Australia — A teen-age girl who suffered a heart attack while caught in a crush during a performance by U.S. rap-rock group Limp Bizkit died yesterday, five days after the concert, a hospital spokesman said.
Six other people were hospitalized in the crush at a touring multi-band event called the Big Day Out, which drew a crowd of 55,000.
Limp Bizkit pulled out of its Australian tour after the crush last Friday and criticized concert organizers for providing inadequate security and safety measures, a claim organizers denied.
Bitter night of cold kills 110 Afghan refugees
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — At least 110 people died in just one night because of freezing conditions in refugee camps in western Afghanistan, the United Nations said yesterday.
The victims of Monday night's cold snap were mostly children and the elderly, said Erick de Mui, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator. They only had plastic sheets to keep them warm as temperatures plunged to minus 13 Fahrenheit.
The refugees in the Herat region began arriving last July, driven from their homes by the worst drought in 30 years.
India tends to survivors; body count could soar
AHMEDABAD, India — Efforts turned from rescue to relief yesterday as India faced a fast-growing need for food, clothing and shelter for survivors of an earthquake that left an estimated 200.000 people homeless.
State officials have counted 7,162 bodies so far in the aftermath of Friday's 7.9 magnitude quake and 28,830 injured. Officials have said the death toll could be 20,000 and the nation's defense minister estimated it could rise to 100,000.
Sega drops Dreamcast, bows to Sony, Nintendo
TOKYO — Sega Corp. said yesterday it would stop making its Dreamcast home video game machine in March in a clear acceptance of defeat to its Japanese rivals Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co.
Sega said it would start making games for Sony's PlayStation2 and Nintendo's Game Boy Advance and was in talks to make games for two upcoming systems: Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox and Nintendo's Game Cube.
The Associated Press
Student Senate approves fee
Campus will be a little brighter in the next few years with Student Senate's approval of a new campus safety fee.
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
By Brooke Hesler
Nooshin Soltani, campus safety advisory board chairwoman and co-sponsor of the bill to continue the fee, said the campus safety fee was necessary.
"We want to take proactive measures, not reactive measures," Soltani said.
The fee requires full-time students to continue paying $2 per semester until 2004, when the fee will end. Money collected from the fee will go toward the completion of approximately $132,000 worth of proposed lighting projects during the next two years.
Although the University will match the fee, it will only pay for physical improvements on campus. Aravid Muthukrishnan, liberal arts and sciences senator and Manhattan senior, is up at the
SAFETY FEE CONTINUES
What happened: Student Senate approved a campus safety fee to replace a lighting fee set to expire at the end of the year.
- What it means: Students will continue paying $2 per semester for campus lighting projects, but the money can also be used for other general safety issues.
What's next: Student Body President Ben Walker must still approve the bill, which would initiate the new fee this fall.
University's decision. Muthukrishnan, who voted against the fee, said he was worried it would set a dangerous precedent.
"This fee is symbolic in saying the students will subsidize things the University should pay for," Muthukrishnan said. "Safety is something the University should pay for, not the students."
Edited by Jason McKee
ON THE RECORD
■ A vehicle hit a concrete barrier protecting a traffic control booth at Sunflower Road and Sunyside Drive at 2:25 a.m. Sunday, the KU Public Safety Office said. There was no damage to the barrier, but the vehicle's front bumper was dented. The driver was not injured.
Icy weather caused a three-vehicle accident in the 1600 block of West 15th Street at 10:15 p.m. Monday, the KU Public Safety Office said. No one was injured. The KU Public Safety Office said the damage to the three cars was estimated at $500.
A 42-year-old man was arrested outside of the Kansas Union on Tuesday. The man had three warrants issued for his arrest, including driving under the influence and consumption on a public street, and was taken to Douglas County Jail.
A vehicle attempting to turn left onto North
College Drive was hit by a moving vehicle on 11th Street at 4:28 p.m. Tuesday, the KU Public Safety Office said. No one was injured. The vehicle attempting a left turn had $200 worth of damage to the car bumper. The other vehicle had a damaged headlight.
A KU employee's trunk, oak end table, TV, chairs, phone, CD player, CDs and books were stolen between noon and 6:20 p.m. Monday, Jan. 24 from a residence in the 600 block of Michigan Street, Lawrence police said. The items were valued at $1,419.
ON CAMPUS
The KU Libraries diversity committee will present "Nicodemia: Past, Present and Future" at 2 p.m. today at the Jayhawk Room in the Kansas Union. Call Mary Rosenbloom at 864-8921.
A meeting with Lied Center director candidate Ellis Finger will be from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. at room 123 in Murphy Hall. Call the School of Fine Arts at 864-3421.
The KU Running and Jogging Club will meet for its daily run at 4:30 p.m. today at the ack tree at the east entrance of Robinson Center. Call Michael Rossler at 312-3193
The KiAikido Club will meet from 5:30 to 7:30
tennis studio 202 in Baghdad, Greater
The KU Meditation Club will meet at 6 p.m. today at the Daisy Hill room in the Kansas Union. Call Pannir at 8647735.
KU Traditional Karate Club will practice from 6:30 to 8:30 tonight at racquetball court No. 15 in Robinson Center. Call Rachel Fuller at 312-1990.
JayRock Campus Ministry will have its weekly Bible
Amnesty International will meet at 7 tonight at Alcove
Din the Knox College, Call Koren Kean at 7.497.491
talks at 11 a.m. today at the alcove of the Kansas Union cafeteria and at 7 tonight at room 304 in Tower D of Jayhawkower Towers. Call Josh Talley at 312-2285.
Campus Crusade for Christ will meet at 8 p.m. tonight at room 100 in Smith Hall. Call Mark Brown at 550-5503
Radical Christians will meet from 8 to 9 tonight at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave. Call Heather Hensarling at 841-8661.
KU HorrorZontals men's ultimate Frisbee team will practice from 8:30 to 11 tonight at Anschutz Sports Pavilion. Call B.P. at 312-1066.
■ Okinawan GojiRyu Karate will meet from 9 to 10:30 tonight at room 207 in Robinson Center. Call Ryan Ness at (785) 218-7415.
The women's ultimate Frisbee team will practice at 8:30 tonight at Anschutz Sports Pavilion. Call Olivia Stockman at 840-0404.
ET CETERA
University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents. Subscriptions can be purchased at 119 StaufferFlint Hall.
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the
The University Daily Kansan (ISSN 0746-4962) is published at the University of Kansas, 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall, Lawrence, Kan. 66045, daily during the regular school year, excluding Saturday, Sunday, holidays and finals periods, and Wednesday during the summer session. Periodical postage is
The Kansan prints campus events that are free and open to the public. When information is submitted, the event's sponsor, name and phone number must be on the form, which is available in the On Campus mailbox in the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stuower-Flint Hall. Items must be turned in two days
paid in Lawrence, Kan. 66044.
Annual subscriptions by mail are $120. Student subscriptions of $2.33 are paid through the student activity fee.
Postmaster: Send address changes to the University Daily Kansas, 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall, Lawrence, Kane, 66045.
in advance of the desired publication date. Forms can also be filled out online at www.kansan.com — these requests will appear on Kansan.com as well as the Kansan. On Campus is printed on a space-available basis. On Campus is a free service provided by the Kansan to the university community.