THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
IVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Lacking the Shack
KJHK's old digs in the Sudler Annex will be missed, but DJs got a new home. JAYPLAY | INSIDE
GSP could be coed After renovations, the dorm could house male students. CAMPUS | 4A
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2010
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 77
CAMPUS
Wren family files lawsuit against Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Family members of Jason Wren, the 19-year-old KU student who was found dead inside the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house in March 2009, have filed a lawsuit against the fraternity and ten of its members.
Jay and Mary Wren, Jason Wren's parents, filed the suit in Douglas County District Court asking for at least $75,000 in damages. A portion of the damages would go toward alcohol and hazing education for KU students, the lawsuit states.
Fraternity members found Jason Wren dead in his bed last March after a night
of heavy drinking. On the night of his death Wren drank margaritas purchased with a fake ID at a restaurant in Lawrence and continued to drink beer, wine and whiskey in the SAE house, 1301 West Campus Road. An autopsy confirmed Wren died from alcohol poisoning. The medical examiner's report indicated his blood alcohol content was .362 percent, more than four times the legal limit in Kansas.
Since his son's death, Jay Wren has been an outspoken critic of the fraternity for allowing excessive and underage drinking within the house.
Stephen Gorny, the attorney representing the Wrens, said the family was hoping to change within the organization. Jay Wren has asked the fraternity to go dry and not allow alcohol within the house.
"They believe the fraternity and some of its members were responsible (for his death)," he said. "Since Jason's death, the parents are trying to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else's kids."
Jay Wren declined to comment for this story.
The suit is filed against the KU chapter, the entity that owns the house, the national organization, as well as six "John Doe" SAE members and four officers. The six members were "assigned and instructed by SAE and/or Kansas Alpha officers or unitarily and voluntarily undertook a duty
SEE WREN ON PAGE 5A
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Police photos taken inside SAE during the initial investigation have been submitted as evidence in the lawsuit.
Read the lawsuit document at kansan.com
ACROSS THE KANSAS TUNDRA
Ryan Waggoner/KANSAN
Two people walk down Javhawk Boulevard amid heavy snow near Watson Library last week. Freezing temperatures and a wind chill index reaching 30 degrees below zero accompanied the heavy snow.
Surviving the winter storms
Heavy snow keeps students at home and workers busy
BY NANCY WOLENS
nwolens@kansan.com
The National Weather Service Winter issued storm and wind chill warnings across Douglas County throughout the end of December and into the new year. The most recent winter storm warning brought heavy snow with 40 mph winds and a wind chil index that reached 30 degrees below zero, according to the National Weather Service in Topeka.
Serious winter weather hit Lawrence this year, and students and University staff experienced some frustrations, from car troubles to budgetary woes.
The accumulated snow, wind and freezing temperatures caused difficult driving conditions, snowdrifts and headaches for
Halper said shoveling his driveway was horrible because temperatures were in the single digits, and the wind chill index was below zero. Because his car drove poorly in the snowy conditions, he found himself sitting around his house a lot during break. He said he rarely left his house because it wasn't worth taking the time to clean off his car.
His car has since been sent to the shop after a friend tried to open the frozen handle of the passenger-side door last weekend, causing the door to break completely off the car.
"Ive lived in Kansas for most of my life, and I don't remember it snowing so much consecutively like it did this winter," said Greg Halper, a junior from Overland Park.
most people in Lawrence.
The University had its own challenges to
Doug Riat, director of Facilities Operations, said one of the first setbacks was the amount of overtime the department had hoped to save over the Christmas and New Year weekends. He said it even had staff on campus plowing to provide emergency access on Christmas.
"Given the budget cuts this past year, we would have liked to avoid as much overtime as possible, since overtime is not in our normal operating budget." Riat said.
face because of the heavy snow and freezing temperatures.
Facilities Operations has spent about $150,000 on labor and resources in response to the weather since Dec. 24. Riat said.
The department is expected to exceed the
Businesses slowed by cold weather,break
BY ZACH GETZ AND ROSHNI OOMMEN
    zgetz@kansan.com
    roomen@kansan.com
After more than three weeks of freezing temperatures over winter break, Katy Clagitt felt a freeze on her cash flow.
"I feel like in the last three weeks, my tips have decreased 50 percent," said Claget, a junior from Colorado Springs, Colo., and barista at Henry's, 11 E. Eighth St. "It's also probably because there aren't as many students around. It's a double whammy."
SEE WEATHER ON PAGE 5A
SEE BUSINESS ON PAGE 5A
Quake devastates center of Haitian life
BY NANCY WOLENS
nwolens@kansan.com
The 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti Tuesday has caused extensive damage, and government officials fear tens of thousands of people are dead. Bryant C. Freeman, director of the University of Kansas Institute of Haitian Studies, said the fact the earthquake's epicenter was detected about 10 miles southwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince, compounds the damage because Port-au-Prince is a hub of Haitian life.
"Everything is there, and it is so centralized," Freeman said. "It would be like New York, Washington, Chicago and San Francisco all getting hit in one day."
Freeman said that there have already been about 24 aftershocks reported as of Wednesday afternoon. Port-Au-Prince is about 700 miles southeast of Miami.
Freeman said he has heard that people are beginning to go to the park near the former site of the now-destroyed presidential palace in Port-au-Prince, which was away from all the buildings. Freeman said he visits Haiti three or four times a year and had tried calling people in Haiti about six times since the earthquake but phone lines have been down.
Adam Buhler, a sophomore from Lawrence and staff photographer for the University Daily Kansan, and his wife, Karen Ruth Buhler, a graduate student from Topeka, are
Heather Jackson, a Lawrence resident who has been on a number of mission trips to Haiti flying into Port-au-Prince, said the capital's layout was very compact. She said the layout of Port-au-Prince similar to that of file cabinets. She said huts were built very close together, causing a domino effect if one collapsed in the earthquake.
SEE HAITI ON PAGE 5A
index
Classifieds...3B Opinion...7A
Crossword...6A Sports...1B
Horoscopes...6A Sudoku...6A
All contents, unless stated otherwise; © 2010 The University Daily Kansan
Roeder trial in Wichita starts behind closed doors
The judge has agreed to open just the latter parts of jury selection for the man accused of killing a late-term abortion doctor. STATE | 8A
weather
TODAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 38 24 36 22 40 25 Cloudy Cloudy Partly cloudy