Multimedia Reporting (Noland-Volek)

Clay Schneider, Topeka freshman, passes a movie theater and a pool every day while walking to class because he lives in Naismith Hall. Schneider said he feels a definite change in his lifestyle.
“A lot of the stuff here is nicer than what I have at home,” Schneider said. “When I came here it was kind of like wow I am on vacation.”
The $30,000 movie theater, which opened this fall, is Naismith Hall’s newest amenity used to attract students. This month Naismith Hall’s Web site will have a link that allows residents to see which washer and dryers are available in the laundry room. A coffee shop is scheduled to open by the end of the semester. Naismith Hall is not the only student housing complex to boost its amenities.
Housing complexes across Lawrence are increasing their amenities to attract students. The Reserve, 2511 W. 31st St., now offers its residents road side assistance anywhere in Lawrence. The Legends Place, 4101 W. 24th St., spent $10,000 to buy and install its first tanning bed that residents will start using as early as next week.
Competition is one of the reasons for the trend in added amenities. All three housing complexes are under capacity. According to Sam Sankovich, general manager at Naismith Hall, capacity is at 94 percent with 480 residents. Kory Wilcoxson, resident services manager at the Reserve, reports capacity at 91 percent with 655 residents. Tony Yadrich, the assistant manager at the Legends Place, said the capacity is at 86 percent with 543 residents. Keane said the amount of apartment complexes in Lawrence keep amenities competitive.
“Amenities are what set you apart from the competition,” Keane said. “To offer residents something that the others don’t have and something that they will actually use is a great advantage.”
But Sankovich also attributes the trend to the rising standards of student living before college.
“They want these things because they are the generation that has grown up with this,” Sankovich said. “They all have computers, cell phones and these things make it different than it used to be.”
Some amenities like a pool, hot tub and tanning bed have become standard in order to compete in this market according to Tony Yadrich, the assistant manager at the Legends Place.
Amenities can equal higher rent. Kirsten Kuwon, Chicago sophomore, said she thinks her rent payment at the Legends Place will be balanced out by the money she hopes to save from using the tanning bed amenity.
“I’m excited that they are getting a tanning bed here because it is included in the price (of rent) and it is so expensive everywhere else,” Kuwon said.
Ashleigh Garcia, Topeka junior said convenience and comfort would be her motives for using the Reserve’s road side assistance amenity.
“I have AAA but I know a lot of people that work at the Reserve so I just think it would be nice to have someone you know help you,” said Garcia.
Sankovich said he sees the trend lasting as long as the students continue to have options on where to live.
“Because they (the students) are willing to pay for it and we can offer it, that (trend) is not going to stop,” Sankovich said.
Next year, Clay Schneider plans move away from Naismith Hall. Although he said he likes living there, he also said he would like a place with fewer amenities so he can feel more prepared for life after college.
“Sure it is nice to have the pool, the cafeteria and all of that,” Schneider said. “It kind of makes it feel more like a hotel. But I think I am going to try to find a place that is homier so I get used to living on my own.”

by Katherine Mulder
Clay Schneider, Topeka freshman, passes a movie theater and a pool every day while walking to class because he lives in Naismith Hall. Schneider said he feels a definite change in his lifestyle.
“A lot of the stuff here is nicer than what I have at home,” Schneider said. “When I came here it was kind of like, wow, I am on vacation.”
The $30,000 movie theater, which opened this fall, is Naismith Hall’s newest amenity used to attract students. This month Naismith Hall’s Web site will have a link that allows residents to see which washer and dryers are available in the laundry room. A coffee shop is scheduled to open by the end of the semester. Naismith Hall is not the only student housing complex to boost its amenities.
Housing complexes across Lawrence are increasing their amenities to attract students. The Reserve, 2511 W. 31st St., now offers its residents road side assistance anywhere in Lawrence. The Legends Place, 4101 W. 24th St., spent $10,000 to buy and install its first tanning bed that residents will start using as early as next week.

Competition is one of the reasons for the trend in added amenities. All three housing complexes are under capacity. According to Sam Sankovich, general manager at Naismith Hall, capacity is at 94 percent with 480 residents. Kory Wilcoxson, resident services manager at the Reserve, reports capacity at 91 percent with 655 residents. Tony Yadrich, the former assistant manager at the Legends Place who took another position within the company, said the capacity there is at 86 percent with 543 residents. Keane said the number of apartment complexes in Lawrence keep amenities competitive.
“Amenities are what set you apart from the competition,” Keane said. “To offer residents something that the others don’t have and something that they will actually use is a great advantage.”
But Sankovich also attributes the trend to higher standards of living students have before college.
“They want these things because they are the generation that has grown up with this,” Sankovich said. “They all have computers, cell phones and these things make it different than it used to be.”
Some amenities like a pool, hot tub and tanning bed have become standard in order to compete in this market, according to Tony Yadrich, the former assistant manager at the Legends Place.
Amenities can mean higher rent. Kirsten Kuwon, Chicago sophomore, said she thinks her rent payment at the Legends Place will be balanced out by the money she hopes to save from using the tanning bed amenity.
“I’m excited that they are getting a tanning bed here because it is included in the price (of rent) and it is so expensive everywhere else,” Kuwon said.
Ashleigh Garcia, Topeka junior said convenience and comfort would be her motives for using the Reserve’s road side assistance amenity.
“I have AAA but I know a lot of people that work at the Reserve so I just think it would be nice to have someone you know help you,” Garcia said.
Sankovich said he sees the trend lasting as long as the students continue to have options on where to live.
“Because they (the students) are willing to pay for it and we can offer it, that (trend) is not going to stop,” Sankovich said.
Next year, Clay Schneider plans to move out of Naismith Hall. Although he said he likes living there, he also said he would like a place with fewer amenities so he can feel more prepared for life after college.
“Sure it is nice to have the pool, the cafeteria and all of that,” Schneider said. “It kind of makes it feel more like a hotel. But I think I am going to try to find a place that is homier so I get used to living on my own.”

by Katherine Mulder
When Brett Lawrence, gives directions to his apartment he doesn’t need street names.
“It’s right by The Crossing,” Lawrence said. “Now walk toward the old Yello Sub.”
Lawrence lives in the Hawks Point III apartment complex on Mount Oread. The 0.75-acre site is home to many student landmarks including the bar The Crossing, the old Yello Sub, a bookstore, and a burrito shop. Those businesses, along with the apartment complex, would be demolished in order to build a seven story upscale hotel according to the redevelopment plan which recently reached City Hall.
On October 24 at 6:30 p.m., the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission will meet at City Hall to finish discussion and vote on the Oread Inn plan, which if passed would go in front of the City Commission for final approval as early as next month.
The plan states that the 90,000 square foot hotel interior would include 74 rooms, 30 for condominium use. The plan also includes an underground garage with three levels for valet parking. The plan calls for a realignment of Oread Avenue to 12th Street as a 90-degree T-intersection. A roundabout would also be added to help regulate traffic follow and speed.
The height of the hotel will not be taller than Frazer Hall. The height of the hotel is approximately 90 feet tall. The height of Frazer Hall is approximately 130-feet tall. Frazer is therefore 40 feet higher than the proposed hotel.
The developer, Thomas Fritzel, met with representatives from the Oread Neighborhood Association, the Historic Resources Commission, the University and the Alumni Association over the summer. These meetings resulted in letters which are included in the plan to express overall approval from each representative.
On behalf of the Historic Resources Commission, Carol VonTersch states that the period significance of the site hasn’t existed since 1919.
“Since that time the neighborhood has evolved into what has become what many call a student ghetto,” VonTersch said.
Kevin Corbett, president of the Alumni Association, personally elaborated on why he wrote a letter to be included in the development proposal.
“What is really fortunate for KU are the developers of the project,” Corbett said. “Every development they have done here in Lawrence has been of such high quality that I am sure this project would only enhance not detract from the area.”
The developers past projects include The Eldridge Hotel and Hutton Farms Apartment complexes.
Corbett says he has no problem publicly expressing support of the proposal due to countless requests he has heard from alumni to have a hotel close to campus. The hotel currently closest to campus is the Eldridge Hotel which is 1.05 miles from campus.
Eleven of the Big 12 universities have a hotel close to campus. Close being narrowed down to a few blocks from campus. However, only Iowa State University, Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma have a hotel located on campus.

by Katherine Mulder
Mary Chappell’s eyes may fail to see but they do not fail in telling her story.
It is no secret that Chappell, the director of the recreational center, is legally blind. Yet, it seems to be because Chappell’s professional life shows no evidence of it and personally she attracts no attention to it. In her 26 years of being here, Chappell has never slowed down. This fact is apparent in the recreational center alone, which after only four years is undergoing an expansion.
“I think this will surprise many people because the recreation center hasn’t skipped a beat,” longtime friend Ruth Stoner said.
Chappell’s eye trouble started with a water skiing accident in 1995. Chappell was at a family reunion and her cousins were driving the boat too fast and Chappell took a spill. The result was loss of sight in her left eye due to a damaged retina that could not be reattached. Surgery repaired the three tears in the retina of her right, leaving her with one good eye.
“When you hit the water that fast it is like hitting glass,” Chappell’s husband Mike said.
Overtime tears and scaring formed in that eye requiring another surgery in July of last year. During this surgery a blood vessel was nicked. This inevitably caused Chappell to undergo seven additional eye surgeries. In September the efforts at regaining Chappell’s sight came to a bit of a standstill. A trip to a specialist in New York resulted in the news that there was nothing more anyone can do unless her sight changes. Every month Chappell goes to the doctor to check for change. So far there is no change in her eyesight.
“I’m pretty darn independent,” Chappell said. “When you’re in sports and recreation that is just how you are. When you’re told to go out there you just do it. So that’s what you do, you just adapt and do it.”

While Chappell refused to let this change her life, it required a change in lifestyle. Chappell has special computer software that allows her to listen to her emails. She also has a cell phone designed for the blind that literally talks to her. Chappell gets most excited talking about Auto-Reader, a service she describes as the Disneyland of print.
Auto-Reader is a free public service offered by KU that reads all forms of printed material for individuals in need across Kansas and western Missouri. Thanks to Chappell’s suggestion, Audio-Reader now reads the University Daily Kansan and the Oread. Chappell was honored as the key note speaker at the last Audio-Reader volunteer appreciation banquet.
“What would have devastated most people seemed like a challenge to her,” Peggy Sampson Audio-Reader Outreach Coordinator said. “Her courage and attitude is an inspiration to me and I work with blind people every single day.”
In fact the only thing Chappell has not figured out how to do is drive. For that she has friends like Ruth Stoner who give her rides to and from work everyday. Stoner who has known Chappell for about 25 years was Chappell’s guest at the Audio-Reader banquet. Stoner got emotional talking about how Chappell has always been an inspiration and a teacher.
“Instead of ‘Tuesday’s with Morrie’ it’s mornings with Mary,” Stoner said.
Both personally and professionally Chappell inspires. Rick Rosenstengle has known Chappell since 1992 when she was his graduate teacher here at KU. Rosenstengle was hired by Chappell in 1993 and is now the Associate Director at the recreation center.
“To say that Mary is one of my mentors would be an understatement,” Rosenstengle said.
As a former student he said Chappell has always cared first and foremost about students. He said that she is the reason why the university has Relay for Life, the new recreation center and the expansion. In all these projects Chappell worked closely with students to make it possible and then gave students the credit. He credits her with giving leadership and guidance to students with visions before anyone else will at the university.
“Why Mary hasn’t been recognized as a Woman of Distinction here at KU is beyond me,” Rosenstengle said.
It is undeniable that Chappell has won countless awards but their number and extent remain a mystery. Rosenstengle said Chappell is involved in so many aspects of the Lawrence community that it is impossible to know how much she has done or what recognition she has received because of her relentless humility.
Chappell continues to teach graduate students today, though no longer in the classroom. Grad Assistant at the recreation center, Melissa Operle said she has known Chappell for a year and a half as a supervisor. When asked to describe her experience with Chappell she said she is hesitant because she wants to make sure to give her the honor and respect she deserves. She spoke after a pause.
“She is one of those one of a kind people who you had better take advantage of meeting because you don’t run into people like her very often,” Operle said.

by Katherine Mulder
Starting in November K. Ryan Jones, 2007 graduate, will see his Fred Phelps documentary “Fall From Grace” air on national TV.
The film will first be featured, along with Jones, as part of a story about Phelps for ABC’s ‘20/20’ that will air on Nov 16. Then the complete one hour and 15 minute film will nationally premiere in high-definition on Showtime thanks to a five-figure contract Jones signed this summer.
“Ryan is the first [KU] student to have had a film originated for a class be sold to a major cable channel,” said Matt Jacobson, associate professor of film who taught Jones. “It is the first film to garner major national attention. That doesn’t happen every day.”
Though Jones is excited and thankful for what this might do for his career, he describes his emotions over the success as a mixed bag. Jones stresses the emotional anguish that comes from documenting Phelps who is infamous for his controversial protests at funerals of Iraq soldiers and AIDS victims. Jones started filming Phelps for a school project for Jacobson in 2005. He spent a year shooting additional footage to complete the documentary gaining intimate access to Phelps, his church and his family. Jones wants to move on.
“I’ve been ready to be done with this for 18 of the past 24 months,” Jones said. “If I had known it was going to go on this long I don’t know if I would have done it. It has kind of become cumbersome because I’ve become somewhat of an expert.”
Although Phelps and his followers are generally known to seek attention, especially from the media, Jones was not surprised with their reaction to the news.
“They were kind of nonchalant,” Jones said. “I didn’t expect anything else really. The woman I talked to said ‘Well, we don’t get Showtime.’”
Jones is often asked if he feels he is helping create yet another platform for Phelps’ messages. Jones said this idea no longer bothers him.
“Yes it is giving their message a wider audience but it’s falling on unsupportive ears,” Jones said. “For me it’s just about educating people on who these people are and how they relate to our society.”
Jones estimates more than 5,000 people have seen the film including members of Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church. The film gained much if its national attention after being shown in March at the film festival South by Southwest in Texas. Jones also said that the DVD for the film should be available sometime in January, though an official deal is still in the works.
The national interest with the film has given Jones dual celebrity. Naturally, with the success of the film came professional acclaim but with that came a less expected association with the films’ subjects.
“He became very personally identified with his subjects,” Jacobson said.
Jones said his role in the ‘20/20’ story will be as more of an expert rather than a filmmaker. Jones is living in New York to further his film career and is eager to start other projects such as a film on the writer J.D. Salinger.

by Katherine Mulder
Ashleigh Garcia, Topeka junior, said she was shocked when her doctor told her that her asthma relief inhaler albuterol is essentially going into retirement due to its harmful effects on the ozone layer. Garcia’s doctor warned her that because the alternative ozone safe medication is more expensive, albuterol is becoming increasingly harder to find.
The impact of this change first effected Garcia this summer when she said she spent an hour to find and drive to a pharmacy that had albuterol in stock.
“We have to search extra hard to find it. We had to call around a lot,” Garcia said. “It is just such an inconvenience to call everywhere just to get the medication I need.”
The effects of the Food and Drug Administrations decision in 2005 to phase out the asthma relief inhaler albuterol due to its harmful effects on the ozone are finally being felt. By this time next year this popular relief inhaler for asthma patients will no longer be available. The high cost of the ozone safe, brand name replacement inhalers is creating a frenzy over the diminishing supply of albuterol as the deadline of December 31, 2008 approaches.
In an effort to help with financial concerns, Garcia’s doctor prescribed an inhaled anti-inflammatory steroid, which if used daily can reduce the need for a relief inhaler.
“I remember when we went to get the new stuff the first time we heard albuterol was going off the shelves it was about $80,” Garcia said. “Usually just for the albuterol it is about $20. Both medications would cost me over $100. It’s definitely a huge increase.”

Garcia is not alone. More than 22 million Americans have asthma. While Cathy Thrasher, the head of Watkins Memorial Health Center Pharmacy said she can’t estimate the amount of college students that have asthma she said that albuterol was one of their top 25 dispensed prescriptions this fiscal year. She also said HFA inhaler prescriptions were dispensed 90 percent less then the cheaper CFC albuterol. For students albuterol costs $20. The generic brand name options Proventil HFA costs $43.50 and Ventolin HFA costs $38.50. There is no way to tell when the pharmacy will no longer have albuterol in stock because it has received different product estimates from different manufactures. In another words, when albuterol is gone it is gone for good.
Chief of Staff at Watkins Memorial Health Center, Dr. Patricia Denning said only a handful of her patients have made the switch to the HFAs because of the difference in price. Denning understands the financial concerns of students but believes that minor budget adjustments should be made because health should always be a top priority.
“I think the vast majority of students have the means to cover the cost if they just decide to look at their budget critically,” Denning said. “Will they? Probably not because that is not in the nature of college students.”
Denning explained that HFA is a new chemical and as a result there are research and development costs that go along with getting a trademark. The drug companies try to recover these costs. So when the trademark drug makes it to the consumer the drug companies introduce it at a higher cost until they loose their trademark and then the price drops. She expects HFAs will be on the open market for 10 years before the price will drop. U.S. News and World Report estimates that by December 2008 albuterol costs will raise for patients and their insures by $1.2 billion.
This long-term financial reality is what Garcia said worries her the most. Garcia said that she would have to make serious adjustments to her already limited budget to pay for the four prescriptions her chronic asthma requires.
“I’m starting to pay for my own medications so as the price goes up it just feels like a huge burden on me because I’m a college student and I don’t make a lot of money, so it will affect me a lot,” Garcia said.
Health care provides like Denning are worried the change in cost will result in asthma patients not properly using their medications. Garcia admits the change will make her rethink when she uses her inhaler.
“I will use my inhaler less when it cost more,” said Garcia.

by Katherine Mulder
Every Monday a basket of homemade Biscotti is delivered to Audio-Reader. One of the volunteers makes them. She has 34 different recipes.
“We’ve had all of them,” Peg Sampson, outreach coordinator at Audio-Reader, said. “The day Bev doesn’t bring Biscotti is the day the world comes to an end.”

Bev Wilson has been volunteering and baking for Audio-Reader for eight years and has no plans to stop. Audio-Reader, the free public service offered by KU that reads all forms of printed material for individuals in need across Kansas and western Missouri, is a place that is hard to leave. Sampson said that the average time a volunteer stays with an organization is seven years. The average amount of time the 350 volunteers have stayed with Audio-Reader is 20 years. Audio-Reader began 36 years ago in 1971.
“I plan to be at Audio-Reader as long as I can drive up the hill and speak,” said Marlyin Bradt, who has been a volunteer since Audio-Readers beginning.
Audio-Reader announced that in 2007 they have never had so many volunteers. Jennifer Nigro, the coordinator of volunteers, said that she has made that announcement at the end of each year for the past few years. The reason for this increase is not only because of the continued loyalty of returning volunteers but mostly because of a boost in new student volunteers. Fifty students volunteer at Audio-Reader. While Nigro is one of the first coordinators to recruit students she said that many students came to volunteer by word-of-mouth.
It isn’t only volunteers who have the long time ties to Audio-Reader. Diana Frederick, the development director, is leaving after 26 years of being at Audio-Reader to peruse other opportunities in service. Her last day is December 14. She said the decision to leave was difficult and talking about it makes her emotional. Frederick was the mastermind behind Audio-Readers sensory garden. As the first director of develpment she pioneered the Audio-Reader development committee. She led the first five years of For Your Eyes Only, which is Audio-Readers annual sale of music and electronics.
“Her impact has been immeasurable,” Sampson said.
Fredrick said she plans continue to be involved with Audio-Reader as a volunteer of the sensory garden. Interviews for Fredrick’s replacement are being held but Sampson said the position would be filled by the end of the year. Sampson said that filling the seven employee positions at Audio-Reader has never been a problem; it is a matter of finding the right people.