THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2010
WWW.KANSAN.COM
HARMONIOUS EXISTENCE
VOLUME 123 ISSUE 76
Singer centers life on music
Despite sacrifices, Ryan King keeps the songs flowing
BY ANGELIQUE MCNAUGHTON amcnaughton@kansan.com
Ryan King entered the auditorium to do the lighting and sound check while the other members of Genuine Imitation warmed up next door. Unsure about the right switch, King randomly went for one and succeeded in illuminating the stage.
Dressed in all black and standing at the microphone under the now bright lights, King smiled from behind his black-framed glasses and looked out to the growing audience in Woodruff Auditorium.
"Testing, testing." King said.
He repeated those words twice more at the other microphones.
King, a senior from Lawrence, is the business manager and co-director of the University of Kansas' contemporary a cappella group, Genuine Imitation. Students formed the group in 2003 and they perform songs by artists such as 311, Ke$ha and Weezer.
A bass singer and vocal performance major, King was making his third appearance of the day at last Wednesday's winter concert.
Earlier in the day, King performed the National
Anthem at the women's basketball game and a song with his fiancée, Laura Gibson, at the student's Composer's Guild.
The Composer's Guild allows composition music students to premier some of their works during the recital and a mutual friend wrote a song cycle for King and Gibson, a senior from Talmage and pianist.
Looking back on the busy day Saturday afternoon, King said Wednesday was crazy. But taking on too much in the name of music is not uncommon, he acknowledged.
From a very young age, King participated in anything and everything music related, and it's no surprise once you learn that his father was a music teacher.
"I was so exposed to it at such a young age that I always loved music," King said.
SEE MUSIC ON PAGE 3A
CAMPUS
Howard Ting/KANSAN
Yuchong Zhao, a freshman from Shanghai, China, enjoys the night off from studies playing his guitar in his room in McCollum. According to a new housing policy, if 15 students request to stay in their room over breaks, they won't have to stay in McCollum.
New housing policy offers students multiple options
BY MICHAEL HOLTZ mholtz@kansan.com
McCollum Hall will once again be the only residence hall open during winter break, according to Diana Robertson, director of student housing.
A new policy required that a minimum of 15 residents register for any of the four smaller halls on Daisy Hill to remain open. In previous semesters, student housing's policy was that all scholarship halls and residence halls except McCollum were to remain closed during Thanksgiving, winter and spring breaks.
Student Housing attempted the new policy to provide better services to residents who choose to stay put during breaks.
GSP, Corbin and Oliver halls and all scholarships hallis will close as scheduled.
"Our numbers at break periods are not high," Robertson said. "But maybe that's because students don't want the inconvenience of moving down to McCollium if they're living in another hall."
The new policy was first attempted during Thanksgiving break, but none of the four eligible residence halls met the 15-resident minimum. Eighty-nine
residents stayed in McCollum. 22 of whom were from other buildings.
The Studio, a food court in Hashinger Hall, and Mrs. E's, the main dining hall, will remain open on Daisy Hill during winter break. Though Mrs. E's regularly stays open, this is the first semester that KU Dining will keep The Studio in operation.
Yan Huo, a freshman from Luoyang, China, lives in GSP Hall. With no options other than moving into McCollum for Thanksgiving break, Huo decided to take a road trip to Chicago with her friends. She had registered for break housing but said she changed her mind the day before break.
The new policy requires students already living in McCollum to pay for break housing for the first time. Winter break housing costs $512.
Huo said she was flying to Virginia during winter break to stay with one of her mother's friends.
"I don't think McCollum is worth $80 to stay there," she said. "I think it's better to go on a trip than stay in McCollum."
Robertson said the decision to charge students in McCollum was made while looking into leaving
WINTER BREAK
SCHEDULE
- Residence halls close
other residence halls open.
"It became apparent that the break housing service has real costs associated with it and that all students who stay over break periods should be assessed for this service," she said in an e-mail. Those costs include staffing, custodial services and utilities.
Some international students said they disagreed with the new fee. Takuya Kikuchi, a junior from Yokohama, Japan, lives in McCollum. He plans to visit his host family in California during the break, though he considers himself lucky to have that option.
- Residence halls close at 11 p.m. on Dec. 17
- Residence halls re-open at 8 a.m. on Jan.18
"International students don't have a home here in the States," Kikuchi said. He said he thought it wasn't fair to charge them to stay in McCollum during breaks.
ADMINISTRATION
Four former athletics officials enter pleas
Edited by Michael Bednar
BY STEPHEN MONTEMAYOR
The fifth official, Kassie Liebsch, did not appear. Liebsch was granted a change of plea hearing by U.S. District Court Judge Wesley Brown for Jan. 21 at 10:30 a.m., a spokesman said.
smontemayor@kansan.com
Four of five former Kansas Athletics officials indicted last month entered not guilty pleas Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Wichita.
The other four — Tom and Charlotte Blubaugh, Rodney Jones and Ben Kirtland — were released pending trial. Cross said they cannot leave the state without first informing the court. He said they also surrendered their passports.
The five former officials were charged Nov. 18 with the misappropriation of tickets valued from $3 million to $5 million. Liebsch actually remained with Athletics as director of ticket operations until the indictment. The other four had been named in the ticket scandal unveiled last spring.
Jim Cross, a spokesman for Kansas' U.S. Attorney's office, said a change of plea hearing is scheduled by the judge for the purpose of pleading guilty.
Each defendant faces a maximum of 30 years in federal prison and a fine up to $1 million.
The Nov. 18 indictment charges Charlotte Blubaugh with stealing, converting and taking by fraud, individual and season tickets for Athletics events and providing them to Simmons, Jeffries, Kirtland, Jones and Liebsch to sell to third parties in violation of University policies.
The result was illegal proceeds of more than $3 million at the University's expense. The defendants are also charged with paying kickbacks to third parties and entering false information in a computer system devised to detect theft.
MEN'S BASKETBALL | 3B
Edited by Tim Dwyer
For a preview of Saturday's game at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., be sure to look at the rosters, key players and important
Check out how Colorado State matches up with the Hawks
JAYPLAY | Inside
Jayplay reporter Amanda Kistner reviews seven of Lawrence's pizza restaurants. Check out the story in Jayplay!
Lawrence's diverse pizza selection gives options
VOLUNTEERS|6A
Student volunteers from the University of Kansas donate their time to teach Lawrence kids to play musical instruments.
Students teach children music
INDEX
Classifieds...4B
Crossword...4A
Cryptoquips...4A
Opinion...5A
Sports...1B
Sudoku...4A
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