THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2011
VOLUME 123 ISSUE 81
WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE GREAT DIVIDE
Two men wanted to play sports at Kansas in the 1950s...
THE OTHER NEVER GOT THE CHANCE
ONE BECAME AN INSTANT LEGEND
[Editor's Note: This is part two of a two-part series about black athletes at the University]
BY JAYSON JENKS editor@kansan.com
With the band playing and the hum of people surrounding him inside Allen Fieldhouse, Leonard Monroe started looking for someone. Kansas and Kansas State were playing that January day in 1998, and there was a buzz inside the old building. But for once, it didn't have much to do with the game.
For the first time in 23 years, Wilt Chamberlain returned to Lawrence to watch his jersey hang high in the
rafters next to the other greats. Everyone in the crowd wanted to see the legendary KU basketball player in person, perhaps for the last time. Monroe wasn't any different. He asked an usher standing in one of the aisles to point out the aging Chamberlain. Moments later, they started talking.
They were once distant acquaintances, occasionally hanging out in the same places while they lived in Lawrence in the 1950s. Now, they were young again.
"Remember when you were back here in school, and we were running around, going to the Golden Arrow?" Monroe said to Chamberlain that day.
The Golden Arrow, a black nightclub in north Lawrence, separated and connected the two men. For Monroe and other African-Americans, it was one of the few places they could
go for late-night entertainment. For Chamberlain, it was just another stop in a well-traveled life.
Yet when Monroe mentioned the Golden Arrow that day in 1998, Chamberlain laughed. He remembered.
The two men then parted ways.
Later that day, Chamberlain stood on the court in front of 16,300 adoring fans. Everyone cheered. Monroe looked down from the stands.
Leonard Monroe settles into a chair in the corner of Milton's Cafe on Massachusetts Street and orders a grilled cheese and potato chips for
SEE GREAT DIVIDE ON PAGE 6A
FGHFG|6A Avoid drama with roommates
Learn how to avoid disputes and communicate for peaceful living.
INDEX
Classifieds...11A
Crossword...4A
Cryptoquips...4A
Opinion...5A
Sports...12A
Sudoku...4A
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CAMPUS
Employee pay may be cut
BY ALEESE KOPF akopf@kansan.com
The House Appropriations Committee approved a bill Tuesday to reduce state university employee pay by 7.5 percent. If signed into law, the bill would reduce a state university employee's final six paychecks of the 2011 fiscal year. The bill would require those dollars to be spent on campus deferred building and maintenance projects. The bill would also prevent some state employees from receiving wage increases.
In a statement from the Board of Regents, Chairman Gary Sherrer deemed the committee's action unfair and unnecessary.
"Removing dollars from the paychecks hard-working university employees depend upon, and then spending those dollars on building maintenance, doesn't result in any savings to the state." Sherrer said. "We call upon the legislature and the governor to reject this unnecessary and unfair proposal."
Jack Martin, deputy director of university communications,
said professors haven't received normal annual pay increases for the past two years, making it difficult to retain faculty. Martin said that Yang Zhang, former associate professor of computational medicine and bioinformatics, left the university in 2009 after receiving an offer from the University of Michigan.
"It was a situation where we weren't able to match the offer and keep the professor here," Martin said. "Because of reduced resources, there is more competition for talented faculty and staff."
The goal of the bill, written primarily by conservative Republicans, is to provide a financial cushion and to help balance the state budget. In the next fiscal year, Kansas faces a budget shortfall of $550 million. The proposed cut would save the state more than $16 million, but half of the money would be retained by the Board of Regents to be used for maintenance projects on college campuses.
The bill must be approved by
both the House and Senate before going to Gov. Sam Brownback. It is unclear when the bill will be debated, but the governor has asked that the cuts be on his desk by the end of the month if possible.
Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little is expected to address the issue of salary cuts during her State of the University address today.
Edited by Jacque Weber
STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY ADDRESS
Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little
WHEN: Thursday at 4 p.m.
WHERE: Woodruff Auditorium, Kansas Union
CONTACT: 864-3131
The event is free and open to the public.
DEALING WITH LOSS
NCAA grants Robinson assistance
BY MIKE LAVIERI
mlavieri@kansan.com
In the wake of the tragedy surrounding sophomore forward Thomas Robinson and his family, the NCAA has granted Kansas Athletics permission to pay for the Kansas basketball team's travel to Washington, D.C., for the funeral of Lisa Robinson Thursday at 11 a.m. EST. A statement from the NCAA said it offered its "deepest sympathies to Thomas Robinson following the tragic events of late in his family. To help support him and his younger sister during this difficult time, the NCAA and the University of Kansas have been working closely together to determine how best to assist during these next several days and beyond."
SEE ROBINSON ON PAGE 9A