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MONDAY,FEBRUARY 1,2010
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VOLUME 121 ISSUE 88
Senior guard Sherron Collins talks to fellow Chicago native and Kansas State guard Jacob Pullen following Kansas' Saturday night at Bramlaage Coliseum. Kansas moved to 20-1 on the season following the victory. See PAGE 1B for more coverage.
Weston White/KANSAN
Concert, auction raise funds for Haiti
CHARITY
Chance Dibben/KANSAN
Josh Anderson, Lawrence senior thanks local businesses for their support and donations to the HelpforLaWrence fundraiser held at liberty Hall Sunday night. Anderson originally sent out a tweet hoping to garner support and generate funds for victims of the Haiti earthquake.
Student spurs local support for Haiti relief
BY ANNIE VANGSNES anniev@kansan.com
The line stretched out the door of Liberty Hall last night as approximately 400 community members filed in to raise money for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. And it all stemmed from a tweet.
"I just tweeted 'Hey I'm thinking about doing something, maybe a benefit down at Liberty Hall, is anyone interested?'" said Josh Anderson, a senior from Perry. "I got a couple of really positive responses and then after that there was no stopping it."
Within 24 hours Anderson's friend, Nini Negash, a 1996 KU graduate, offered to help organize the event and a local business offered to donate food. Within two weeks, roughly 30 local businesses and community members helped sponsor the event and another 30 businesses donated items and gift certificates for a silent auction. Negash said the item she was most excited about was a basketball signed by Bill Self. Restaurants including Genovese, La Parilla, Zen Zero and Global Café donated food, while 23rd Street Brewery and Free State Brewery provided funding. Liberty Hall also hosted the event for free.
Lauren Pollmiller, a junior from
"I think it's really impressive they got so many local companies to donate," Pollmiller said. "It's cool to come out here and show our support and encourage things like this to keep happening around the community."
Anderson said the community was extremely supportive from the beginning. He said he barely had to finish his sentence when asking the performers to help.
Lenexa, attended the benefit after hearing about it from Liberty Hall's Twitter.
"All I did was ask a question," Anderson said. "Hey, do people want to help? And the answer has been a resounding 'yes.'"
The Public Relations Student Society of America, Ad Club and Society of Professional Journalists will be collecting donations in Stauffer-Flint Hall on Feb. 3 and 4 and in the Kansas Union on Feb. 5. The money will be used to make health kits to send to Haiti.
local band the Dactyls perform as part of the HelpforHaiti@Lawrence fundraiser. Several local bands performed for the relief benefit, which also held a silent auction.
Yuca Roots, The Dactyls, Rachel Anderson and DJ Dandlepants all
Anderson said he was proud of the community for its support and responsiveness.
Annie Vangsnes
performed.
Chance Dibben/KANSAN
"I don't know how many communities could respond in less than two week's time in the manner that the community here did," Anderson said.
Ticket sales generated about $4,000 and Negash estimated the silent auction brought in another
SEE CHARITY ON PAGE 6A
TRANSIT
Change coming for bus routes
BY ALEESE KOPF
akopf@kansan.com
Come next August KU students and Lawrence residents may be facing some significant route changes to KU on Wheels and the Lawrence Transit Systems. The proposed changes, based on ridership studies and public input, are meant to make the systems as effective as possible for students and the community. With the merger of both departments in August 2009, the two systems began to coordinate routes, erase boundaries and make joint decisions.
The city and the University held a series of public meetings this week for riders to voice opinions and leave suggestions for improving the quality of service.
Mitch Knopp, Student Senate treasurer and member of the KU Transit Commission, said the coordinated system is much easier for students, though it still needs some work.
"One of the biggest challenges that the system faces is leaving behind too many students because the bus is so full," said Knopp, a senior from Manhattan. "I think it's a good problem to have, but it certainly needs to be minimized as best as possible."
Abhijit Mehta, a second year graduate student from Pune, India, rides route 26 to campus daily. He said he was much happier with the route before the two systems merged.
"It used to take me 15 minutes to get to campus and now it takes 25 minutes with the new system," Mehta said.
He said the route changed with the merger and the bus is now usually full at 10 a.m. when he rides to class. He said future changes that would make the system faster and less crowded would be a major improvement.
Nugent said ridership on the merged system has increased, but not dramatically. However, data collected monthly from the city indicates that riders using student IDs have been riding city buses more since the coordinated system began last August. In August of last year, 22,855 students used city buses while a month later ridership had increased to 38,241. By November that number had decreased to 32,225, but that's still significantly higher than when the system began.
KU on Wheels has been working with the Kansas City consulting firm Olsson Associates to help identify inefficiencies and possible improvements in the system.
The company recommended
index
Scholarship halls hold game tournaments to help Haiti. Page 6A | Watch a video of the fundraiser at kansan.com
SEE TRANSIT ON PAGE 3A
Classifieds.
Classifieds...3B
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Opinion. 5A
Sports. 1B
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All contents, unless stated otherwise. © 2010 The University Daily Kansan
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