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CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, February 19, 1996
3A
Introduction is sketchy for brother and sister
Siblings meet for first time in art class
By David Teska
Kansan staff writer
how Mary Nall will never forget she first met her brother — she modeled for his art class.
Nall, Lawrence senior, works as a nude model for the School of Fine Arts, where her brother, James Abbott, Andover junior, is a student.
Nall and Abbott had never met because Nall was put up for adoption at birth.
Growing up, Nall knew she had been adopted and always had wanted to know the identity of her birth mother. When she turned 18, her father took her to the state office building in Wichita to find her birth mother's name.
Armed with the last name of Abbott, Nall said a quick look in a phone book gave her all the information she needed.
However, Nall said she didn't contact her biological mother for another five years.
"It was so easy to find her it was ridiculous." Nall said.
By then, she was a University of Kansas student and a part-time model for drawing classes. Nall said she took on the job primarily to see if she could do it.
"I was going through that wild, extrovert stage," she said.
In March 1993, Nall said she finally wrote her mother, Terry Abbott. Soon they began correspond and finally met for the first time that July.
"It was draining emotionally," Nall said. "We both laughed, and we both cried."
Nall's mother told her she had become pregnant with Nall when she was a student at the University. She kept the baby a secret from her family and put Nall up for adoption.
Abbott also told Nall that she had a brother who was a freshman art student at the University.
Nall said her first reaction was to wonder if she had ever modeled for her brother.
Her mother said there was nothing to worry about since his class days and her modeling schedule didn't match.
one Thursday. After she entered the studio, it hit her that her brother could be in the class.
But that would change.
Looking around, she noticed one student whose eyes were hidden by the shadow of a baseball cap while he drew.
"I looked over and just knew who he was," she said.
Nall had to substitute model
Abbott said his mother had told him about Nall, and that she was a model at the University. One day, a model that he had never before came into class.
Steve Puppe / KANSAN
"As I was drawing, I looked at her and thought that she looked a lot like my mom," he said.
Abbott said that it was a strange way to meet a relative for the first time.
He said that he was nervous about talking to her at first. Since then, he and Nall have gotten to know each other but have been at a disadvantage because of the absence of shared experiences, he said.
Abbott said he was happy to learn he had a sister but wished he had found out sooner.
"The only grief or anger I felt was that I hadn't heard this before," he said.
James Abbott, Andover junior, and sister Mary Nall, Lawrence senior, were brought together by their artistic personalities. Their mother put Nall up for adoption at birth.
Despite debate, bills sail through Student Senate
Group has approved 15 bills this semester
By Nicole Kennedy Kansan staff writer
debate the issues.
It is five weeks into the semester, and Student Senate hasn't rejected a bill yet.
Senate has approved all 15 bills and three resolutions this semester. Since the beginning of the school year, it has considered 68 bills and three resolutions, and Eileen Force, executive secretary of Senate, said that few bills were rejected last semester.
The Senate spent three hours debating the recreation center proposal on Tuesday night.
"Usually most of the things that come through are pretty legitimate, and people can amend things out of the legislation," Force said.
Just because Senate passes the majority of the proposed bills doesn't mean that the senators don't
Senators also spent a significant amount of time discussing the KU on Wheels loan earlier this semester.
Todd Moore, off-campus senator, said that almost all legislation was passed by Senate, because the system was set up without party lines.
"It's not such a political body," Moore said. "We're not as divided
tions of Senate was to distribute money to student organizations and to pay for student events.
on political lines as some governing bodies are."
"I think that everybody's got a really good sense that we have an obligation to provide people with the opportunities to express themselves," Theoff said. "They deserve that opportunity."
Moore said the Senate was set up with student concerns and issues in mind.
Andy Theroff, graduate senator,
said that one of the primary func-
Theroff said that since diversity and multiculturalism were big issues on campus, many bills that came before the Senate were approved in an effort to further those ideas.
"If you have an activity or an organization that's going to provide people with an opportunity to come together...then it's going to be received pretty positively," he said.
How student bills are passed
step 1
Senator writes a bill
step 2
Bill goes before appropriate senate committee
graduate affairs multicultural affairs student rights university affairs
step 3
If bill is passed by its committee, it is presented to full senate
step 4
If passed by senate, the bill goes to the Chancellor
step 5
It is presented to the Board of Regents
step 6
If approved by the Board of Regents, the student bill becomes law
KU police release description of residence hall's thief
Two residents report seeing man in the hall near the time of crime
By Teresa Veazey Kansan staff writer
KU police released a composite and description on Friday afternoon of a man who was seen in the area of a burglary/theft in Gertrude Sellards Pearson-Corbin Hall.
According to the report, the man was described as black, 6-foot-1, with a medium build. He last was seen wearing blue jeans, a black jacket with a hood, a green T-shirt and a blue baseball cap.
On Tuesday afternoon, someone stole about 25 compact discs from an unlocked room on the east third floor of GSP-Corbin, said Gayle Reece of the KU police.
Sarah Ritter, Washington, D.C., freshman, who owned the CDs, said she came back from the doctor's
Ritter said that nothing else in the room was taken or touched. As for her CDs, which are worth about $375, Ritter assumes they are gone for good.
"I think he grabbed a handful and left," she said. "It doesn't look like he picked through anything."
office about 4:30 p.m. and later discovered that they were missing.
"It's my fault for leaving the door unlocked," she said. "I don't think I'll get them back."
Reece said a GSP-Corbin resident
gave a description of a man seen in the area of the room about the time the theft occurred. According to the report, the resident said she had seen the man in the building once before.
The man, who was carrying a blue backpack that appeared to have something in it, ran east as he exited the hall.
Reece said another resident also saw a man in the lobby matching the description about the same time.
The resident said he went into the men's restroom.
According to the report, the resident said she believed she had seen him in the hall before.
Anyone with information about the incident should call KU Crime Stoppers at 864-8888.
Callers do not need to give their names and may be eligible for a cash reward if their information leads to the apprehension of the suspect.
Regents' proposal may get legal OK
Bond plan would pay for KU renovations
By John Collar Kansan staff writer
TOPEKA — A Board of Regents plan for major renovation projects at state universities should get a boost this week from the release of two legal opinions, a Regents staff member said on Friday.
Earlier this month, several senators questioned the constitutionality of a plan that would sell bonds to pay for $163 million in capital improvement projects for Regents institutions.
"We'll have two valid opinions that will put an end to those questions," said Ted Ayers, general counsel for the Regents.
State Sen. Marge Petty, D-Topeka, a member of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said the proposal could be unconstitutional because property taxes would be used to pay interest on the bonds, a practice that she said was forbidden in the state constitution.
The opinions from the state attorney general's office and KutakRock, a national bond counsel firm in Omaha, Neb., will show that the plan is constitutional. Avers said.
Senators also expressed concern that the legal opinion of Kutak-Rock might not be impartial because the firm had been contracted by the state agency that eventually would issue the bonds.
Richard Shermoen, chief financial analyst with the Kansas Development Finance Authority, the agency that would issue the bonds, said Kutak-Rock was one of the most respected firms in the business.
"It is simply not appropriate to say that those folks won't be providing a completely independent opinion," Shermaen said.
Meanwhile, the list of supporters of the plan is growing.
Last week, the House Appropriations Committee endorsed the bonding proposal on a voice vote. House Speaker Tim Shallenburger, R-Baxter Springs, also has said he supported the proposal, although earlier this year he had expressed concern that taxpayers would be paying interest on a debt incurred by the state.
In January, Gov. Bill Graves endorsed the proposal in his State of the State message.
At the University of Kansas, the project would provide $9 million for an addition to Murphy Hall and $12 million for the renovation of Joseph R. Pearson Hall for the School of Education.
Under the plan, a statewide property tax of $15 million, which normally is used to fund improvements at Regents universities, would be used to pay interest on the bonds.
The funds also would bring all Regents universities into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and with fire- and lifesafety regulations.