/ NEWS / FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
CAMPUS
The last chance to enroll
Students utilize 20th day policy to get classes later in semester
BY KIRSTEN KWON
kkwon@kansan.com
When Jeff Haginara, a junior from Topeka, entered his business class for the first time last week, he was already four weeks behind his peers. Haginara had swapped his Statistics 301 course for Decision Making in Business 305, despite losing points in the class.
"It was a risk because I'd already missed 60 or 70 points out of 1,000, and that adds up." Haginara said.
Haginara was one of many students who took advantage of the University's 20th day policy, which was implemented in Fall 2007.
This year, the 20th day fell on Feb.11, and on that day, 972 students entered the Registrar's office. The Registrar data could not confirm whether all 972 students came for the purpose of changing classes.
While many students take advantage of late enrollment, some find it is difficult to catch up with weeks of missed work.
"I probably have to put in more effort than other people and since I missed out on those points I can't miss out on many other things," Haginara said.
Despite this, he said he did not
regret the change because his current class fit in better with his schedule and the course material was more valuable.
"It's definitely worth it in the long run because this course is a lot more beneficial to me," Haginara said.
Switching classes can cost money in addition to extra work.
Students needed to withdraw from a course by Feb. 4 in order
to receive 50 percent of their money back for the class. Dropping a course on the 20th day means no refund at all. Swapping classes with the same number of credits doesn't
"I believe it allows students to determine if the course is meeting their needs, and they might be able to get into classes that were possibly closed before," Hahn said.
In some cases, the 20th day policy saves students from needing additional semesters to graduate.
Two and a half weeks into the fall semester of 2009, Adam Stant was finally able to enroll in the courses he needed.
But Joan Hahn, assistant University Registrar for student services, said giving students until the 20th day of the semester to change courses could still be a good idea.
cost anything extra, but if a student swaps a four-credit course with a three credit course, the student would have to pay for the additional credit.
"I believe it allows students to determine if the course is meeting their needs."
JOAN HAHN
Assistant University Registrar
"I was weeks behind on the material, so it was hard to catch up," Stant, a senior from Overland Park, said.
Stant was granted permission to join both Sociology
360 and Psychology 104. He needed to take both courses that semester in order to stay on track with his graduation plans.
"I didn't want to put them off for another semester," Stant said. "If I didn't get into them, I would have to stay for another semester."
Edited by Meagan Heacock
INTERNATIONAL
Americans return home from Haiti
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY. Mo. — American missionaries accused of child trafficking in the aftermath of Haiti's earthquake returned home Thursday and urged the safe release of the two women left behind in a Port-au-Prince jail.
From left, Sila Thompson, 19, of Twin Falls, Idaho, Paul Thompson, 43, of Twin Falls, Idaho, Drew Culberth, 34, of Topeka, Kansas, and Steve McMullin, 56, of Twin Falls, Idaho, leave the hotel at the Miami International Airport Hotel in Miami on Thursday.
Four ofthe eight freed Americans landed Thursday at Kansas City International airport to cheers and hugs.
The group's leader, Laura Silsby, and her former nanny, Charisa Coulter, remained in jail in Haiti. Both arrived at a Port-au-Prince courthouse on Thursday to be questioned by a judge about their plans to set up an orphanage in the Dominican Republic.
"Everything is going well" Silsby told reporters. "I don't know the exact day we are going to be free."
Saint-Vil said he did not release Silsby, 47, or Coulter, 24, both of Boise, Idaho, because the two had previously visited Haiti in December and planned even before the quake to open an orphanage.
The group was caught Jan. 29
trying to take 33 children out of Haiti without adoption certificates. The arrests came as ad officials urged a halt to short-cut adoptions in the wake of the earthquake.
Silsby originally said the children were orphans or had been abandoned. But The Associated Press determined that at least 20 were handed over willingly by their parents, who said the Baptists
promised to educate their kids in the U.S. and let them visit.
The four who returned home on the flight to Kansas City planned to travel to Topeka, Kan. They included Drew Culberth, a 35-year-old Topeka firefighter and father of four; Culberth's brother-in-law, Paul Thompson; Thompson's son Silas Thompson, 19; and Steve McMullin.
ODD NEWS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Workers try to contain a zebra that broke loose from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus on Thursday in downtown Atlanta. The animal made its way through downtown to the interstate highway that cuts through the center of the city. Police cruisers blocked off all southbound lanes and were able to herd the zebra over to the right shoulder and off an entrance ramp, said Georgia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Monica Luck.
Zebra escapes from circus runs down Atlanta highway
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA — An Atlanta highway turned into a circus Thursday afternoon when an escaped zebra galloped along a busy section of interstate with police in hot pursuit.
The 12-year-old animal, named Lima, was exercising outside a downtown arena in preparation for an evening show when something spooked him, said Ringling
Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus spokeswoman Crystal Drake. Thezebrabroke away from his trainers and bumped up against a fence, then wriggled through an opening
zebra comes running down the street like a car," Nance told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"Five or six police cars were in hot pursuit. And a bunch of officers on foot. But then I got scared, thinking ... what else is loose?"
Lima led his trainers and police on a 40-minute chase through downtown to the interstate highway that cuts through the center of the city, covering well over a mile along the way. Police cruisers blocked off all southbound lanes of Interstate 75 and were able to herd the zebra over to the right shoulder and off an entrance ramp, where
"All of a sudden a freaking zebra comes running down the street like a car."
Daniel Nance said he saw the zebra near the downtown MARTA transit station.
"We're not sure what it was that startled him, but we're looking into that," she said.
"All of a sudden a freaking
He was spotted by people in downtown Atlanta around 4:30 p.m., said Georgia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Monica Luck.
DANIEL NANCE Atlanta resident
his trainer was on hand to capture and soothe him, Drake said.
"He obviously was excited, but he was in good shape," Drake said. "His handler calmed him down."
The animal suffered cuts on his hooves from his long run, Drake said. The show's vet was examining him, but Drake said he would likely perform as scheduled.
"It was just an unavoidable accident today and we're just
glad to have him home," she said, adding that animal escapes are extremely rare.
Lima's flight snarled Atlanta's already notorious rush hour traffic.
"It wasn't on the highway very long," she said. "But it was an inconvenient time for this to happen because the downtown connector southbound usually gets backed up on its own, that time of day."
The circus is in town this week and also had a group of elephants corralled Thursday in a downtown Atlanta parking lot.
It's not the first time a zebra has been spotted along a metro Atlanta highway. In April 2008, a 2- to 3-month old zebra was found injured along Interstate 75. Authorities said at the time they thought the young zebra had likely fallen from a truck passing through Georgia and was then hit by a car.
Police who worked that incident kept referring to the animal as "Evidence," and that became his name.
Evidence was rushed to the veterinary school at Auburn University in Alabama, where he underwent several operations. He was then taken to the Noah's Ark animal rescue center in Locust Grove, Ga., where he still lives.
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