UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, November 21, 1996
5A
Lewis slated for renovation
Residence hall to get $5 million facelift in 1998
Sara Brooks / KANSAN
Kelly Jones, St. Louis Jr., works at the front desk in Lewis Hall. Lewis will be the next hall to be renovated after Templin Hall. The process will begin in May 1998.
By Ashlee Roll
Kansan staff writer
Lewis Residence Hall, home to about 320 students, will be renovated in May 1998, said Ken Stoner, director of student housing.
"The buildings are around 35 years old," Stoner said. "As a building ages there are new codes and standards."
.Last Thursday, the Board of Regents voted to allow the University of Kansas to seek legislative support to renovate Lewis Hall.
'Stoner said that Lewis' traditional residence hall rooms would be converted into suites. The building also will be modernized to meet safety and mechanical building codes. But the housing department has no plans to renovate all of the residence halls. Templin Hall is being renovated now.
"All buildings need some attention as they age," Stoner said. "We need to do upgrades, but whether we need to do them all hasn't been decided."
Stoner said the renovations would benefit students.
"Students will get more space and privacy," he said. "There will be more space for bathrooms and kitchens."
According to a Regents report, the estimated cost of the renovations will be
$5,915,000. That money will come from student housing fees and the proceeds of revenue bonds to be issued by the Kansas Development Finance Authority.
"Revenue bonds are just an official name for the borrowing that state institutions are allowed to do," said Warren Cormin, Board of Regents director of facilities. "It's like going to a bank."
Cormin said that it took a certain amount of cash to finance projects such as the Templin and Lewis renovations. Usually the university doesn't have access to that amount of cash, so it has be borrowed.
The University then issues bonds to pri
"All of the dorms were built with these kind of revenue bonds," Cormin said.
vate individuals who pay cash for them. In return, the University pays them a small amount of interest and uses the cash to finance projects.
Students will not be able to live in Lewis during the renovation, but Stoner said the housing department had a plan to deal with the housing shortage.
"Students will be absorbed into other facilities, like we did with Templin," Stoner said. "And we might restrict the number of available single rooms slightly."
Air Force cadets try hands at refueling B-2 bombers
This gas station has a different kind of attendant.
By Stephanie Fite
Kansan staff writer
Yesterday, 28 Air Force cadets participated in a B-2 bomber in-flight refueling exercise. The mission was to refuel two B-2 bombers at 28,000 feet.
"It's a gas station in the sky," said Capt. Daniel Staggenborg, commandant of cadets. "This training exercise allows cadets to experience the operational flavor of the Air Force. The purpose is for cadets to gain some practical experience by talking to the pilots. This allows cadets to see a typical day on the ground and in the air."
The exercise began and ended at Forbes Field in Topeka. During the hour-long flight, cadets were free to wander the aircraft, asking pilots questions and watching the planes refuel.
The primary function of the 136-foot plane is to refuel aircraft ranging from bomber craft to cargo planes. Introduced by Boeing in 1957, the KC-135 quickly became the backbone of the Air Force tanker fleet because it freed combat aircraft to fuel supplies on the ground.
Stagtenborg said refueling difficulty depended upon the stability of the aircraft and that the altitude at which aircraft are refueled varied on the size of the plane. The exercise included a pre-flight briefing session which included a weather check and plane inspection and ended with a critique.
In-flight refueling is a voluntary exercise
"Participating in the exercise allows me to experience the real world Air Force."
Russell Stutz Kearney, Neb., junior
open to all cadets in every ROTC Air Force cadet across the nation.
"This gives cadets the incentive to make a decision about the Air Force by having the opportunity to do what pilots in the Air Force do on a daily basis," Staggenborg said.
Russell Stutz, Kearney, Neb., junior, said the Air Force ROTC provided him leadership opportunities.
"Participating in the exercise allows me to experience the real world Air Force," he said.
Jonathan Mckay, Lenexa sophomore,
agreed.
"I want to be a pilot in the Air Force and the more practice I get, the more I'll know," he said. "The refueling exercise will let me gain more experience and be able to know my surroundings a bit better."
Beauty's skin deep,but couples of two races see beyond the pale
By Megan Jordan Kansan staff writer
In an interracial relationship, not everything is black and white. These couples often face a web of complex issues that arise not only from cultural differences, but from the pressures and expectations of society.
"Perhaps the greatest issue surrounding interracial relationships is the fact that people assume the relationship is going to be problematic," said Karen Gingerich, psychology intern with Counseling and Psychological Services.
Gingerich said many students complained that outsiders expected their relationships to be fraught with conflict simply because of their different skin tones.
And any time students date someone of a different racial background, Gingerich said, there was a potential for clashing attitudes concerning everything from religion to family.
Amy Welsh, Overland Park freshman, has been dating Tywanne for more than a year. She is Caucasian and he is Black. Welsh was a little unsure how her parents would react, she said, but she and Tywanne hadn't experienced any problems from her parents.
"Their attitude was, 'If you're happy, we're happy,' she said.
Because she does not see the difference in race as a problem or issue, Welsh typically does not bring it up when discussing her relationship with others.
"But when people ask me to describe him what am I going to say?" she said. "That he has brown hair and brown eyes? The first thing I would think of is a white guy with brown hair and eyes."
When strangers see the couple together, they usually take a second look, Welsh said. But their attitude seems to be one of surprise, not disapproval.
interracial couples often surprise people, said Joane Nagel, sociology professor and chairwoman. It is also somewhat of a surprise that Welsh has not met with any hostility.
"In America, the Black-white boundary is the most rigid boundary of all." she said.
Race relations in America partly explains this attitude, Gingerich said. The greater the difference in a couple's skin color, the greater the hostility from society usually encountered. For example, a Caucasian and Asian may experience less prejudice.
Far from facing discrimination, Welsh said her relationship with someone of a different race had allowed her to understand the stereotypes that Blacks and Caucasians baye of each other.
"You get to see things that you wouldn't see when raised in a predominately white home," she said.
Karen Gingerich psychology intern
Science fiction finds home in Spencer
going to be problematic. "
By Kimberly Crabtree Kansan staff writer
If you're looking for your fill of science fiction entertainment, look no further than the Spencer Research Library.
That's because the library boasts a substantial collection of science fiction books, magazines and original manuscripts.
"The collection has been of lots of interest to many people," said James Gunn, professor emeritus of English. He said researchers have traveled from as far away as Japan to study works in the collection.
The collection was started in 1970 by a student who was disappointed with the lack of science fiction materials at the library. The student then began donating $15 a year to help develop the collection, said Alexandra Mason, Spencer librarian. The next year, in 1971, Gunn donated several books and manuscripts he had written. From there the collection grew by receiving donations from authors, private collectors and publishers, and it continues to grow.
The library has purchased items only a couple of times, and the money was raised from private sources. Aside from that, it is an entirely donated collection, Mason said.
What makes the University of Kansas' science fiction collection unique are the original manuscripts. The KU collection holds manuscripts from such acclaimed authors as Cordwainer Smith, Lee Killough and Brian Aldiss.
The science fiction collection is KU libraries. But it often isn't used by those interested in reading science fiction for fun, Mason said. She attributed that to the way science fiction itself has changed and the lack of knowledge about the collection.
Gunn, who has published about 90 science fiction stories and 31 books, including a recent addition to the Star Trek series, The Joy Machine, said curiosity was
the motive to get people to the library.
"It's a fascinating sort of opportunity, if students have the time and the interest," Gunn said. "I would even suggest this as a different type of paper topic."
Besides lack of knowledge about the collection, restrictions on the use of the special collections may also inhibit some readers from visiting the library, Mason said.
To read a book or other piece of the collection, a patron first must fill out an address card and show identification. Since the special collections are not included in the libraries' online catalog yet, librarians can suggest a book or material for patrons who aren't sure what they're looking for.
Once a particular item is selected, the patron must fill out a call slip. Then a student library assistant retrieves the item from the closed stacks and delivers it to the patron in the reading room. Materials from the science fiction collection, as well as other special collections, must be used in the reading room. No materials may leave the library.
Mason said the restrictions were always a problem in accommodating library patrons, but if there were no restrictions materials would be lost.
She also said the use of the materials varied depending on the curriculum of the English department. "The welfare of the collection depends on the welfare of science fiction as a genre at the University," Mason said.
Collection hours
The science fiction collection at the Spencer Research Library is kept in the department of special collections. The telephone number is 864-4334. During the fall and spring semesters, hours for the special collections department are:
8 a.m. to 6 p.m, Monday through Friday
Closed Sunday
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