Multimedia Reporting (Bradford-Utsler)

By Dan Hoyt

Many state legislatures across the nation are pushing to have laws banning the sale of violent video games to kids. While this may seem like a good idea the particulars of the laws themselves make it more of a problem than a solution.

Many of the laws make no mention of the Electronic Software Ratings Board which rates video games for content on the lines of movies and gives each video game a rating to be printed on the box.

“I’m not arguing that video games aren’t violent,” said Brian Harris owner of Game Guy, 7 E. Seventh Street, “I’ just saying that it’s unnecessary.”

Many college students play video games that are considered Mature rated like Grand Theft Auto.

Many major retail stores that sell video games already have policies in effect banning the sale of “Mature” rated games to minors. So while creating laws to enforce these policies may sound like a good idea Harris disagrees.

“Once you have decided to enforce these laws then what?,” Harris said. “Do you hire somebody and give him a staff? Then you have to give him funding why spend the money fixing a problem that has already been taken care of.”

Harris said in his position he is afraid that the government, either federal or state may follow California’s example and push vague and arbitrary laws through and try to enforce them.

The laws may be good intentioned, but without taking any of the ESRB guidelines it would be very difficult to decide what games are considered violent and shouldn’t be sold to minors. The law makes no mention of the ESRB ratings system and even though it defines “violent acts” it makes little distinction between graphic violence and cartoon violence.

Harris said the answer is in parental supervision. He doesn’t sell “M” rated games to kids without their permission and parents still buy the games for their kids. Even if laws were enacted it wouldn’t change anything. It would just create problems and cost money.

“I usually help parents make a good decision about the games their kids can play,” he said. “I want them to know what the content of the game is. I want them to be able to make an informed decision. Some parents care and that’s good and some don’t and I wish they would.

Many parents are confused by the ratings system at first, but once it’s explained they seem to understand. Harris said he wants to sell games, but he feels he needs to be responsible and let parents know what they’re getting into.

“I usually point out things like what the game has the ratings for. Sometimes it gets a “T” (Teen) rating for something small like the lyrics of some of the songs,” he said.

He believes that sometimes the ratings system is a little too harsh, but overall he said he believes it is a fairly accurate depiction of the content of the game. He said he wished movies were as accurate sometimes.

The problem is already fixing itself said Harris since Wal-Mart has become such a huge retailer and it refuses to sell “Adults Only” rated games so game developers strive to make sure they don’t get that rating.

David Smith, Overland Park sophomore, has been playing video games for many years and he agrees with what Harris said.

“The people that want to push that legislation are just reactionaries,” said Smith. “They are overeating to things like Columbine, sure those kids played Doom, but John Hinckley, Jr. attributed ‘The Catcher and the Rye’ and Jodie Foster for trying to kill Ronald Reagan.’

Smith said that he has played games like Grand Theft Auto and Halo and he doesn’t want to kill anybody or steal anything.

“That’s not my thing,” he said.

Smith pointed out that anti-videogame advocate Jack Thompson said the Beltway Sniper attacks were caused by someone who trained on “killing simulators” like Halo. After the killers were caught it was proven that none of that was true.

Smith said he is a good sniper in Halo, but doesn’t think e could do any real sniping considering on the few occasions he has shot a real gun he found to be a terrible shot.

“How would that teach me to shoot? I can’t use a gun,” Smith said. “I don’t know how to load a gun. I can’t even shoot little clay pigeons with a shotgun and I’m real good and first-person shooters.”

Smith said that the concept of blaming something for corrupting the media isn’t a new idea. People accused Socrates of corrupting the media.

“They should come up with a law banning Socrates. That might be more efficient,” Smith said.

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By Bart Vandever

Dennis “Boog” Hiberger is a lanky man with shaggy, gray hair and a beard. He lives in a cooperative house in Lawrence’s student section, which now occupies Brenda Frankenfeld, her husband, Mike McKinney, and their three children, Oliver, Strully, and Cyprus, who were each born in the house with Brenda serving as the midwife. Today, Boog is sitting at a small desk in his study wearing a black suit. Behind him, books, debris, and fan mail from his yearlong term as city mayor, are stacked to the ceiling. Boog is soft-spoken and unassuming, conducting himself more like an artist than a politician.

Boog in his bedroom study. He has lived in a cooperative homes for most of his time in Lawrence.

When Boog’s term as mayor ended on April 4 of this year, he was well aware of his many supporters and detractors, some of which criticized him in online chat rooms and blogs. In an April poll conducted online by Channel 6 Lawrence, 55 percent of the 1,054 people polled said Boog had done a job that was “below average” or worse in his past year as mayor. Boog however, characterized such online polls as “unscientific,” and added, “If you’re a public official, you’re going to get negative comments, that’s just part of the territory.”

To his critics Boog chuckles, saying, “People talk about politicians as being in it all for themselves, but if I was in it all for myself, I would have quit this thing a long time ago.” Boog calculated that at $10,000 a year, and a 30-hour workweek, he earned a dollar over minimum wage during his time as mayor. And although, he currently gets paid just $9,000 for his job as city commissioner, he takes this in stride, saying, “as long as I have constitutes that are being paid minimum wage, I can’t complain about getting paid more than that. In fact, we’re among the higher paid commissioners in the state.”

Dan Kozak's rommates. Brenda Frankenfeld (center), Strully (left), and Cyprus (right).

In addition to his job as city commissioner, Boog spends his days as a lawyer for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. “Although I’ve never held a full time job, I’m always working way more than full time.” One of his best-known achievements prior to becoming mayor was his creation of the short-lived, but popular REAL dollars program in 2000, featuring bills with faces of well-known Lawrence residents like William S. Burroughs on them. The Lawrence-specific currency was redeemable at dozens of businesses across town.

On the subject of Lawrence politics, Boog speaks with a hushed and well-thought out drawl, choosing his words carefully. “Lawrence is famous for having a very educated and opinionated population, and it makes things take longer sometimes, and it makes things more stressful sometimes, but…I think we make much better decisions because of it.” “I really like how Lawrence is still the size where local, elected, officials are easily accessible.”

Boog has an extensive collection of fan mail from his time as mayor.

“I’ve always felt that I need to give something back. So many people have helped me get to where I am.” At 15, Boog had a serious accident when playing with his friends in the snow, and for two months he was paralyzed. He eventually regained motion and limited walking ability, and he then came to KU at the conclusion of his high school career in 1977. In 1984, he became the student body vice-president of his class. “We were sort of outsiders at that time…I certainly didn’t think I was one of those student government people that would actually end up in politics.”

Owen, a yellow cat jumps across the floor, and on to the windowsill to look out at the back yard garden, the shed, and a small pond filled with goldfish. “For the record, that is Owen…She had kittens yesterday. This is the first time I’ve seen her running around,” Boog says flashing his toothy smile. During the interview, it becomes clear that Boog feels more passion in discussing things like the Dadaism art movement of the 1920s than any negative ink he might have received in the press. “Some people criticize politicians…but I don’t feel like a “politician.” In fact, the event that gained Boog the most attention in the press came in December of 2005, when he declared the International Dadaism month, which called for the celebration of the absurd. In true Dada fashion, he spread the dates of the month not in sequential order, but randomly, throughout the year. “Dada’s based on a lot of chance and randomness. It’s a very playful world view, and I’ve been drawn to it for quite a while.”

Currently, Boog is considering running for mayor again in 2007, and he hopes to see some of his plans, like the development of the South Lawrence Traffic Way fully realized. “I hope I’ve done a good job…but, like I said, it’s always hard for me to tell…I guess if I run again, I’ll find out if I’ve done a good job or not.”

LINKS:

Boog's contact information as city commissioner
KUJH TV's story on Boog's background
Dadaism month

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By Dan Hoyt

With finals week approaching many on-campus residents have begun scrambling to pack-up their possessions and get ready to ship out for the summer, but packing can be a daunting task.

Tricia Woodward Complex Director for Templin and Lewis residence halls said many residents refuse to plan ahead and always wait until the last minute to try to get out. The Department of Student Housing has the final day to stay in the dorms in on Friday and Friday night many students will still be scrambling to move as many of their possessions out as quickly as they can.

“They usually just don’t think about anything beyond their finals, which I can understand since they need to be focused on their school work,” she said. “But they need to put a little thought into it.”

While some on-campus residents struggle to move out, some communicate with their roommates to work together and move out smoothly.

She has been conducting meetings with her assistant complex directors--A.C.D.s-- and her resident assistants--R.A.s—over the past several weeks to discuss problems they will encounter while getting everyone moved out.

Woodward has been changing her staffs schedule to help her R.A.s. during finals week R.A.s wont have any desk duty, where they sort mail and help residents with problems that need immediate attention. All the R.A.s will be in the building by 8 p.m. every night during finals week.

“I understand that these are students too and I want them to be able to have some free time, but be able to get their duties done this week,” Woodward said.

She said she needs her residents out as soon as possible because on the May 22 they will be moving students in for several summer camps going on at the University of Kansas. Having all the repairs on the rooms will be a hard task for the maintenance crew the days after her residents are out.

It means a lot of stress on her part as well, since she has to be around to deal with the transition from spring to summer and that’s a big transition to occur in four days.

She said she has been encouraging her residents to turn in any maintenance requests as soon as they can so they can have things fixed and working when they move out. That will also give the maintenance department a place to start when they go into rooms.

Rebecca Deeds, Little River sophomore, is a resident assistant in Lewis Residence Hall. Even with the decreased desk duty her week will be extremely stressful since she has her own finals on top of worrying about her residents.

“I know they’re busy and I know that during this week I’m going to be a little short tempered and I don’t want to deal with them being lazy and waiting until the last minute to leave,” she said.

Packing up is a lot easier if residents plan and communicate with their roommates said Deeds. That means people living together should make sure everyone does some work to get their rooms cleaned up if one resident leaves without doing any work the others are just stuck with picking up.

Deeds said being organized is the key. Residents may not be able to pack up their computers yet, but they can do small things like take down their posters and do the dishes.

“So many residents just take off without saying anything and then their roommates get real mad at them, that’s no way to end several semesters living together,” she said.

Deeds said she has asked her residents to check out at the same time as their roommates, both to save time for her and them. If they check out together if Deeds finds anything that needs cleaned she can get them to clean it together.

If any of Deeds superiors check the room and it’s not to their standards Deeds will end up cleaning, so she has extra motivation to make sure her residents do a good job.

Deeds said the biggest problem will be if she finds anything wrong with the room that needs repaired. If she finds a hole in the wall and one of her residents put it there they will end up paying for it. She’s expecting to have some trouble with this since some rooms were damaged when residents moved in and if they didn’t put those damages on the paperwork they did when they moved in, they will get charged anyway.

“I’m expecting to have a lot of drama over this. The rooms aren’t always completely in perfect shape and if they don’t notice they things wrong they could end up being charged and paying a fee for something you didn’t do isn’t very fun,” Deeds said.

To help keep students from paying they can make sure they fill out maintenance requests as soon as they can. If the problem is fixed or scheduled to be fixed it’s easier to get around the fine Deeds said.

“I just hope my residents make it through finals week without breaking anything they’ll get charged for and I know they’ll be tempted,” she said.

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Study Abroad programs allow students to learn about a topic of interest while at the same time exploring a different part of the world. One such experience offered to The Unversity of Kansas students is called Study Abroad in Peruvian Culture and Disabilities, lead by Dr. Glen White, professor in the Applied Behavioral Sciences Department.

The main goals of this trip are to show students services that are available to those with disabilities in Peru, and to give students more knowledge about some difficulties those with disabilities have in Peru. These goals will be accomplished by visiting different facilities that help those with disabilities and by listening to various lectures given at Universities in Lima discussing disability in Peru.

While Study Abroad programs are not uncommon for KU students, a trip to Peru is a bit unique. Common destinations for summer of 2006 Study Abroad programs include: Costa Rica, France, Germany, and Italy. Because Peru is not a popular location of travel for Study Abroad students the cost of such a trip for the students is high at $4,200 per person. This trip was originally planned for the summer of 2006, however, cost issues surfaced pushing the date back to summer of 2007.

So why go all the way to Peru? White himself said there are people with disabilities everywhere. He has known others who have gone to Peru and has made friends with some who live there. Being handicapped himself, White has done work with the Christopher Reeves Foundation in Peru. It has been an area of interest to him for awhile. In order to prepare for this Study Abroad program White has visited Peru two times, one with an undergraduate student and the other with a graduate student.

To gain a better understanding about people with disabilities in Peru, the agenda for the trip includes many visits to different disability services, both privately owned and publicly owned, in the cities of Lima and Cusco. Time will be spent at Centro Ann Sullivan del Peru (CASP), a non-profit organization that helps people with disabilities in Peru and conducts research and training programs. Students will be able to observe the facilities and include themselves in the work that is being done there. White encourages students to directly interact with workers and those with disabilities.

White said this trip will not focus on a certain type of disability or on a certain age of people with disabilities. He said students may work with children who have developmental disabilities or cognitive disabilities. They may also work with people who have sensory disabilities such as blindness.

The trip won’t be all work. White has planned to focus part of the Peru experience on learning about the history and culture of the country. While in Lima, the group will experience folk dancing, see the Colonial, and explore archeological areas which the Incas inhabited.

Learning the history and culture of Peru will not be the only new knowledge students will be able to bring home with them. White said that by visiting a country in a distant part of the world from the United States students will experience international differences among countries. Peru is a developing country that is different than what some students may be familiar with so the trip may give them an “awakening of sorts,” White said.

Zach Coble, Winfield, Kansas junior, has experienced disabilities within Kansas and works for the Kansas Youth Empowerment Academy, an organization that Coble said provides leadership and cultural types of activities to high school aged people with disabilities. Coble said he wants to go on this Study Abroad trip to Peru in order to experience disabilities in a different part of the world.

Study Abroad in Peruvian Culture and Disabilities is scheduled for the summer of 2007. White said undergraduate and graduate students of any major are able to join this Study Abroad trip where they will learn about and work with people who have disabilities and also have fun while experiencing a society in a different part of the world.

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22 years ago Allison Frizell’s life was taking her down the path she always dreamed of. She was happily married, her husband Trip, just finished law school, and she was pregnant with the couples first child. Since she was young she dreamed about staying at home to care for her kids. The couple had no reason to believe anything was wrong. Her pregnancy was normal. On April 3rd 1984 she gave birth to the couples first son Tom. Allison now had the family she wanted.

Six months after Tom’s birth, Allison began to suspect that something might be wrong with Tom. She didn’t think that Tom was progressing the same way that her friends babies were, but she quickly blew that off convincing herself that she was just an overreacting mother. Tom’s progress did not improve. By one year old, Tom was not speaking, he didn’t make eye contact and his muscles looked very relax. Allison knew something was wrong with her first son.

When Tom was two and a half years old, Allison asked her neighbor who was also a therapist to tell her exactly what she thought was wrong with Tom. Her neighbor told her that Tom was showing a lot of signs of autism and she was right. Within six months Tom was officially diagnosed with autism and non-verbal. The diagnosis crushed Allison because it meant she would have to accept the loss of not having a healthy child

Tom’s autism changed the Allison and Trip’s lives. They moved from Kansas City to Lawrence for Tom to participate in programs conducted through Community Living. Now they are working with CLO to create Midnight Farms, which will be a rural facility, just south of Lawrence, which will give autistic people and care takers alternative living options to the city.

In January 2005 CLO and the Frizell’s began to pursue Allison’s dream creating Midnight Farms. Midnight Farms will be a small community spread out on 40 acres of farmland southeast of Lawrence. It is intended give autistic and mentally handicapped people a place to live the most normal life possible. This type of living arrangement for the mentally handicapped will be the first in Kansas.

Allison Frizell, co-creator of Midnight Farms said, “We hope to create a community of families taking care of people with special needs, that work together to support each other.”

Frizell got the idea to creat Midnight Farms while reading a magazine about autistic children about 15 years ago. The magazine featured an article about a father whose son had spent an entire summer at Bittersweet Farms and how benefical the experience was to his son. Since reading this Frizell has dreamed about Tom living in this type of environment, even if she would have to create it.

Last year, 40 acres of farmland was purchased for Midnight Farms. During the last seven months the Frizell’s have been working with land developers, planners and financial advisors to write grants for funding. They are currently working on the final details of the plans. Final plans are scheduled to be finished within the next month. Next month they plan to meet with the Douglas County Planning Commission to have the project approved.

Once the plans are approved they hope to plan to begin construction quickly. By the end of next year they hope to complete their first home and a large activity center.

The activity center will feature six horse stalls, an indoor horse arena and a large meeting area that can be used for banquets. Its estimated cost is $300,000

Midnight Farms will have four to eight separate homes on the farm. Each home will have one couple or family living in them. These couples will be care providers for one or two mentally handicapped people living with them. It will have an approximate ratio of 1 to1 for care takers to mentally handicapped, which is the ideal living conditions for people with disabilities.

Jim Sherman, professor of applied behavior and science at the University of Kansas said, “A 1 to 1 ratio is best for the people with disabilities because it gives them the most normal living environment possible. This ratio allows them to build a solid relationship with there caretakers”

Each couple hired to live in these homes will have to go through an extensive training program overseen by CLO supervisors. Midnight Farm will also have full time CLO employees working there. Sherman said, “The job of a caretakers is to help a person develop the most normal and independent life possible, but not everybody can be helped. Success depends on the individual.”

Midnight Farms will also feature many unique opportunities for disabled people that would not be able to experience by living in urban areas. These features include a green house, horseback riding, a small amphitheatre, walking trails and a pumpkin patch. These features were chosen by the Board of Directors, consultants and experts about disabilities.

Midnight Farms will provide more than recreational opportunities for the disabled. It will also provide them therapy, which should help to improve their lives. The therapy is based heavily on the laws of learning. It is intended to teach them new behavior that will allow them to interact in the everyday world.

According to Sherman, 47% of disabled people who received intensive amounts of treatment (40 to 50 hours a week) showed signs of improvement that allowed them to be in a normal classroom by 2nd grade. This compared to 10% who received little or no treatment.

Construction of Midnight Farms will take time. It will be completed in different phases. Currently Frizell believes it will take 10 years to complete the entire project.

If and when Midnight Farms is finished she will have lived the dreams she has wanted. She said, “If this happens the way it is planned now, I will be the happiest person in the world.”

Check out these links to learn more information about autism and programs for autistic people http://www.clokansas.org/pages/services.htm http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm http://home.tbbs.net/semisweet/about-us/

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The Kansas Beef Council is honoring the state’s $6 billion industry, beef production, by declaring the month of May “Kansas Beef Month.” Restaurants around the state will feature new creative beef entrees. Zesty radio ads will be promoting with pride an industry that has been a part of the state’s identity since the early Kansas City stockyard era. After all, Kansas is the top cattle processing state in the nation, with 7 million head processed in 2005. It may be known as the “Wheat State,” but the wheat industry actually brings in less than half the revenue of the cattle industry. Kansans are proud of this “cash cow” industry.

“This month is to draw on the significance of the cattle industry to our state’s economy,” said Todd Johnson, executive director of the Kansas Beef Council. “There’s a long history here, and a lot of success.”

Does eating meat aid in global warming? Researchers from the University of Chicago say so. photo from macveg.com

That success, however, could be aiding in global warming. Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin, professors of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago, researched and conducted data analysis of diet, energy and global warming. According to their tabulations, 6 percent of the greenhouse gases emitted in the United States are from meat production. In other words, if we were a strictly vegetarian society, the amount of gases that trap heat in the atmosphere would be 94 percent of its current value. Their report reached mainstream media in April, spurring a debate about whether such numbers are significant. For Kansas, one of the top cattle producers in the country, this means that global warming catalysts are right here, on small landlocked farms, away from threats like hurricanes that are arguably results of the greenhouse effect. However, few expect a drastic change in the American diet any time soon, even as the effects of global warming continue to rise.

Scientifically, it’s clear that a carnivore diet is less energy-efficient. Each step on the food process has a 10 percent efficiency rate. The first step is the food producers, or the plants. The next phase on the meat-eating ladder is feeding the plants to the livestock. Then, that livestock is fed to humans. If that middle step were cut out, the world’s crops could conceivably support 10 times more humans.

"We've been aware of this for a while," said Johannes Feddema, associate professor of geography at the University of Kansas. Feddema has done extensive research on global warming and land surface changes. "Whether or not you eat meat makes a big difference in terms of your energy use."

Chris Brown, assistant professor in geography and environmental studies at the University of Kansas, simplified the concept to students in his Principles of Environmental Studies class with a relatable situation.

“You’re taking out the middle man. Think of how much money you save, for example, if you go directly to a warehouse to buy something instead of through a retailer. You’re going to get a much better deal.”

The middle man won’t be going anywhere any time soon. The average American consumes 55 pounds of beef annually. In the United States alone, 182 million tons of methane are emitted from agriculture each year, with 172 million of those tons directly due to livestock. Approximately 173 million tons of agriculture-related nitrous oxide are emitted per year.

In Kansas, the meat packing industry creates more than 18,000 jobs, and the state has 32,000 cattle farms. These farms can, however, partake in environmentally friendly tactics to curtail the harmful emissions of methane and carbon dioxide and the use of fossil fuels. Joel DeRouchey, an environmental specialist in Kansas State University’s department of animal science and industry, said one of the most helpful ways is simply preventing the land from containing large pile ups of manure.

“The manure can run off into nearby lakes and ponds on the property, and it also emits quite a bit of methane,” DeRouchey said. “A lot of farms are careful to do this, but a lot of farms also aren’t.”

Pamela Martin, one of the co-authors of the study, said the effects of methane emissions were largely ignored compared to other aspects of the fight on global warming. Methane is, in fact, more potent and harmful to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, but less of it is emitted.

“Our point was to bring attention to the fact that food production is associated with a significant amount of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in the United States,” Martin said. “Our personal dietary choices can significantly affect personal emissions budgets.”

Vegetarian Food Pyramid. photo from www.westbrae.com

Although a more plant-based diet is healthier for the environment, many Americans have qualms about giving up nutritional sources they think can only be found in animal products. B12, for example, maintains a sheath around nerve fibers and promotes normal growth of bone cell activity. Ann Chapman, registered dietician at Watkins Health Center, said going vegetarian requires research of what food can replace those important nutrients found in animal foods.

“Honestly, you can just take vitamin supplements in many cases, including B12,” Chapman said. “One concern with a vegetarian diet is it’s usually lower in calories because it’s very rich in fiber, which fills you up more quickly.”

In Kansas, a place that dedicates an entire month to its cattle industry, eating less meat requires stepping out of comfortable food boundaries, Brown said. He is not a vegetarian, but he does limit his beef intake.

“It’s sort of an identity of Kansas. People have to change a sense of who they are,” Brown said. “But it can be done. Don’t take meat out of your diet entirely, but when you do eat it, for the sake of the environment, try eating grass-fed meat.”

Debbie Yarnell, owner of Homespun Hill Farms near Baldwin, feeds and finishes all her beef with an all-grass diet. They are never in a feedlot, and she doesn’t allow her cattle to defecate or urinate in her property’s pond. Although she started out running her farm this way for moral reasons, she’s learned over the years that her methods are friendlier to the environment. Because the cattle are never in confinement, “you never get this big, sloppy manure mess you’d get otherwise,” Yarnell said.

The grain-fed versus grass-fed issue is debatable, DeRouchey said. The environmental friendliness of the facility also has to do with whether there is a water source, or if the cattle use a water trough. Grass- feeding cattle does not determine the amount of manure run-off in that water source. But Yarnell makes sure to plot manure around the pastures to avoid both run-off and a build up.

Despite the efforts of Yarnell and other small farms in Kansas, many large facilities in other areas of the state hold more than 100,000 cattle in very small confinement. Beyond the obvious malodorous issues, the manure run off and methane emissions in these lots are both unavoidable and detrimental. There’s concrete evidence that changes in climate directly correlate with methane emissions. Scientists find methane in bubbles on the surfaces of polar ice sheets.

“It’s proven that human activity changes the environment, and it’s proven that beef production is a part of what is causing these changes,” Feddema said.

Despite the mounting evidence from his research and other sources, Eshel said he doesn’t foresee any significant change in the American diet.

“Our report produced a lot of attention, but basically people just do what they do,” Eshel said. “People aren’t going to stop eating meat just because Professor Joe Somebody from Chicago wrote a paper.”

Feddema said the only possibility for a decrease in meat consumption is through self-interest, as obesity becomes more and more of a problem. But he agreed with Eshel’s outlook.

“I sure haven’t seen the burger stand lines here getting any shorter,” Feddema said.

Watch the trailer of "An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's new documentary on global warming, out in theaters May 24

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People who take the Graduate Record Examination starting in the fall of 2007 will notice some big changes to the format of the exam. Educational Testing Service, the company that administers the exam, is revamping it to provide more accurate information about the capabilities of test-takers.

The exam has long been used by many graduate schools and programs to measure a student's aptitude for succeeding in graduate coursework. Dawn Piacentino, associate director of GRE client relations at ETS, said that the new GRE exam will place more emphasis on real-life scenarios and include more diverse reading passages in some sections. To make the exam more relevant and valuable to graduate admissions departments, ETS will eliminate analogies and place less dependence on vocabulary. The new exam will rely on a fixed format to create a standardized benchmark for determining success.

"The revised exam will better focus on skills that are necessary for success in graduate school, Piacentino said. "In both the verbal and quantitative sections, test-takers will be responding to test questions that are closer to the kinds of activities they will be involved with regularly in graduate school."

Time Makes The Difference The GRE has both computer-based and paper-based structures. The following graphs serve as comparisons between the lengths of each part of the exam on the two different forms. (Click for enlargement) Source of graph data: Educational Testing Service

Most graduate programs at the University of Kansas require GRE scores for admission consideration, with the exception of some music, art, and design programs that put more emphasis on portfolios or work completed in the field, instead. The School of Journalism prefers GRE scores from applicants but will accept LSAT and GMAT scores for certain graduate programs. GRE scores are combined with grade point averages, letters of recommendation and other evidence of academic work and experience to determine admittance into programs.

The revised exam is also intended to help administrators in these programs better select graduate students in the application process. Carole Ross, assistant dean of the graduate school and international programs at KU, said she hopes the changes will provide more accurate information to the University.

"We hope it will teach us more about the quality of our graduate students," Ross said. It might provide faculty with better information of the applicants skills and abilities."

The exam will change from an adaptive format to a more fixed format. Questions on the original exam once used computers to modify questions to suit the difficulty levels of each test-taker as they answered more questions on the exam. The new exam will not adapt to each test-taker, but instead will create more of a standardized benchmark to gauge a test-taker's ability.

The new exam will also tackle security issues. The original exam relied on the same pool of questions for all the tests given throughout the world. Piacentino said that five years ago ETS discovered that test-takers in Asia were memorizing questions as they took the exam and then posting them on the Internet for test-takers in different time zones to view. In response to this issue, the revised exam will use a brand new test form and set of questions each day the exam is given, preventing memorization.

The new exam was slated to begin this year, but Piacentino said its release was pushed back to 2007 to accommodate for the extensive changes.

The changes will prompt an increase in the price of the exam, too. Though the new exam won't hit testing centers until 2007, this July the price of the exam will increase from $115 to $130. The increase will allow for greater accessibility. The revised exam will be administered on 29 different dates and will increase from being given out in 600 testing areas worldwide to 2,500 areas worldwide, to include test-takers who live in more rural areas that originally did not offer the exam.

"More people will also be able to take it now," Ross said. "Not as many students will petition for admittance into graduate programs because they dont live in an area where the test was given."

Ross said the inability for students to take the test because they lived in rural areas is most common in international students. Ross said 6,000 international students are currently enrolled in graduate programs at KU. International students who are already enrolled as undergraduates at KU can take the exam on campus. The exam is also offered in Hays, Overland Park, Pittsburg, Topeka and Wichita.

Over 500,000 people take the GRE worldwide each year. With the increase in testing facilities those numbers are expected to go up. ETS hopes the increase in test-takers will make the exam even more valuable to programs and students.

While the changes are expected to improve the exam, they have also prompted faculty members and students to question the previous validity and relevance of the GRE. John Poggio, professor of psychology and co-director of the Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation in the School of Education, said the significance of the GRE to graduate admissions processes should be considered to determine the benefit of the changes.

"The exam serves a small slice of the pie about trying to determine a person's readiness for graduate studies," Poggio said. "The real question is how much weight do you give it, because if you made the exam 180 degrees different and it has relatively little weight, who cares?"

Poggio said the School of Education has a minimum combined score it likes to see when examining applicants, but has a history of sometimes disregarding the scores of some students that fall below the mark, if other elements of their application make up for it.

"We don't use it as one single hurdle that must be passed," Poggio said. "It is just one piece of all the information that we consider in the admissions process."

While the GRE is intended to measure the abilities of a student, Poggio thinks the exam misses out on measuring some crucial components that contribute to the overall success of a test-taker. He said that it can't predict the persistence of students who have been successful in their undergraduate careers.

Amber Hall is one person who thinks the exam is an inaccurate predictor. Hall, Spring Branch, Texas senior, will graduate with honors and distinctions in psychology and applied behavioral sciences in May and she will attend a graduate program in family and child studies in the fall. Though Hall exhibited strong academic skills throughout her classes and activities at KU, her mediocre GRE scores failed to reveal the same strengths.

"Obviously my lower score does not reflect how capable I am as a student," Hall said. "If they could make an examination to measure how hard of a worker you are or the perseverance you had when it came to school, I think it would be a different story. A standardized test can't predict how hard you will work as a student no matter how smart you are."

Hall said she thinks the exam could be improved for potential graduate students if it was more tailored to suit the different areas of real-life graduate study. She said she thought the old GRE used analogies, vocabulary and math problems that she will never see in her graduate coursework. She said the exam didn't correctly reflect all the work and learning she accomplished during her time as an undergraduate.

ETS hopes they have an answer for Hall's concerns when the new GRE exam rolls out next year.

Valuable Links

GRE Website

KU's graduate school's Website

Jay Cutt's GRE review and planning Website

Educational Testing Service's Website

Posted by Courtney Hagen at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Cindy Rivera, library assistant at Watson Library, remembers that in the old days, libraries had “little old men” who stood at the library entrance and people could not get out until they checked people’s backpacks to be sure that there was a date stamped in the back of library books.

Today, technology checks the books, instead. A door-way security system prevents books from being stolen.

A gateway security system at Watson Library checks people.

“I think that it is a lot harder to steal library books nowadays than that it used be because of the technology,” Rivera said. “The system is very sensitive.”

Today, automation plays a significant role in libraries at the University of Kansas. Technology has replaced what people have to do by hand. However, technology has not lightened the work. The information explosion and continuous technology-upgrading keeps libraries just as busy. Libraries hire more people than they used to.

“We have plenty of work to keep us busy,” Miloche Kottman, program manager of cataloging at Watson Library, said. She said she needed to install patches and upgrades, and always has people to retrain. “Even if the technology makes it faster for us to work, there is actually more for us to do,” she said.

According to Kottman, there was still a card catalog system when she started to work at Watson Library in 1983. “Windows was not invented yet, so a lot of work was done by hand,” she said.

Each library has a portion of the entire collection collesponed to the school’s areas of study, Kottman said.

Today, KU library has several library venders for cataloging. One of the cataloging systems that Watson Library uses is called “Voyager.”

Voyager was introduced July 27, 1999. The library sent a request for purchase to library venders and asked what venders could do, what would be the cost and so on. The venders did presentations of what their systems could do. Some members of the library visited venders, solicted input and finally decided which system to purchase

Sometimes Voyager shuts down because of problems related to a server.

“Last time, we got a lot of the problems because we got a new server and new version of Voyager,” Kottman said. After the upgrading, Voyager did not work well on the server and it took a while to figure out what the problem was. The problem with the server is fixed, but there are still problems related to the upgrade. The vender handles the problems case by case.

Kottoman said KU libraries were “held hostage” by the venders. If the venders do not invent new technology, the libraries can not apply it.

“In library literature, KU libraries are pushing for venders to do more automation of the cataloging systems and they are changing the cataloging rules,” Kottoman said. The new cataloging rules that might simplify the process are coming out in 2008.

According to Kottman, recently, the Chinese orders have switched to a new book-order system that enables records to appear online immediately. However, some books are out of print. “We have to buy used books from somewhere else, and in that case, we have to call and fax them,” Kottman said.

Watson Library still needs extra people to work on the many tasks that technology cannot do. The library adds a number of new and used books (most of them are degital articles or books) each week and the total number keeps doubling. In 2004, the library added 77,732 books; it increased to 83,469 books in 2005, Kottman said.

Rivera, who works in the marking section at Watson Library, said keeping up with the number of books added every week is her challenge now. She is also working on a project to reclassify thousands of old books with old ID numbers and without tattle tapes.

There are two types of the tattle tape. Green one is used for peperback books, and white one is used for hardback books.

A tattle tape is a sticky strip that has a magnetic socket in it; it is put down either the spine of the book or inside one of the pages. They put it in the books so they can not be stolen. Once it is in place, if someone tries to go though the gateway at the library door, it sets off the alarm unless it has been desensitized. When a book is checked out at the circulation desk, a staff member desensitizes the tattle tape.

Rivera said it is the same technology that many stores use for their products. A mark is put on the price tag so that nobody can steal the product. She also said most libraries have a security system like this.

Thanks to security, the number of books stolen has decreased, Rivera said.

“The tattle tape is hard to see and it has become a lot harder to steal our books, than it,” she said.

She said the tattle tape system has been in use for about ten years. The older books do not have a tattle tape on them.

Many new and old books that have not tattle-taped pile up on a desk at Watson Library.

She has had projects for people to go in the stacks and put tattle tapes on the books, but there are still a lot of books without tattle tapes.

“One of our goals is putting tattle tapes on all books,” Rivera said.

She also said that while some books are stolen, most of books are just lost because sometimes students pick them up and put them back in the wrong place.

“That happens a lot,” she said. “We have millions of books and it is hard to keep track of them.”

She said the library has people whose job is just to look for books that are in the wrong place. Automation can tell her whether the book is in the building, but if it is in the wrong place, they have to look for it in a number of stacks.

At this point, she said, no technology can replace people in terms of finding books.

Related Links:
The University of Kansas Libraries
ID Recall Systems

Posted by Michiko Takei at 01:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"Each day can be just like a bed of roses as long as day starts with joy within your heart."

Wilbur West, Lawrence resident, calmly reads a poem he wrote for his late wife, titled "Days of Joy."

Despite arthritis in his hands, he keeps handwriting poems and music compositions. He said he doesn’t let it slow him down.

Even though many different types of arthritis exist, when asked what type West had, he said, “No type, its just arthritis.”

Since 1990, the percentage of people with arthritis has nearly doubled, leaving one in three adults with the disease, according to the Arthritis Foundation. Arthritis causes pain to the joints, mostly in the hands and toes, but can occur in any part of the body.

People have many choices when treating arthritis. Without an exact cause, a cure for the disease remains to be found, however many options to ease the pain stand.

Pam Ebert, a physical therapist at Brandon Woods Retirement Community, works with residents doing exercises to help the hurting. “Strengthening of muscles will help support the joints and hopefully reduce the pain.”

The Indoor Aquatics Center, located in west Lawrence understands the suffering many people deal with from arthritis. A couple of years ago, they combined with Lawrence Memorial Hospital to produce an aquatics class designed to relieve pain from arthritis. The warm water from the pool soothes the joints and relieves the pain.

The class, which runs in eight week periods on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9:00 a.m., has been such a success for people with the disease, that starting this summer the Indoor Aquatics Center will begin another class which will be held on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for the same purpose.

Lori Madaus, Aquatics Supervisor for the Indoor Aquatics Center, said the class, which will continue with more sessions into the fall, uses lots of flexibility movement within the joints. “It’s a slower moving class with no aerobics. It will help people affectively progress through the rest of their day without pain.”

The class will utilize slow movements of the body, such as walking through the water.

The Indoor Aquatics Center stands as the only facility in Lawrence to offer an aquatics class designed for people with arthritis. The eight-week course will run from June 6 to July 27 and cost $34.00. Already, four people have signed up.

The Brandon Woods Retirement Community houses its own pool with people trained to hold classes such as the aquatics class for its residents.

West said he heard the success of the class and tried it once, but enjoys relieving his pain by walking half a mile everyday. He adds that he used to walk a full mile, but had to cut it down. “When you get to be 91 years old things start to change.”

Corky Caillouet works in social services in the Arbor branch at Brandon Woods Retirement Community and deals with arthritis on a daily basis. She contributes her arthritis to family history.

She said it the disease has been on her father’s side of family for generations. “I grew up with people who had cripple hands and trouble walking.”

Caillouet agrees that water exercising is great for arthritis and said she herself enjoys the relaxation of the joints from swimming and hot tubs. However, Caillouet took a different approach to ease her pain.

In Garden City at the Sandhill Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine clinic, Dr. Michael J. Baughman helped Caillouet with her pain by removing the joints in her thumbs, the place that held the majority of her pain.

Julie Kirshoff, a nurse at Sandhill Orthopaedic, said the surgery is not unusual for doctors to perform. "It's fairly common to do in the hands and toes. It's for severe arthritis when the person can't tolerate the pain anymore."

"I had a friend in Garden City whose father had every joint in his hand removed," Caillouet said.

Along with his daily half-mile walks, West started a few weeks ago stretching his legs in bed to help the pain of arthritis that started in his lower back. For his last word of advice he said, "Sometimes I don't feel like doing it, but I do it anyway. You have to keep pushing yourself. It's so easy just to sit in a chair and do nothing, just like now, I was watching an old '007' movie when I should be out doing something else."

West said he will continue his walks instead of the aquatics class to help with his pain. He also added that on top of his daily walks, every night he walks a block to another part of the retirement community to visit his girlfriend.

Posted by Adrienne Bommarito at 01:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last month, students voted for a resolution that will help build the rowing team a new boathouse. But what most students may not have realized was that plans for the boathouse barely exist.

There is no timetable set for construction to begin. An architect has not been approved, and a construction company has yet to be hired. The Athletics Department said the students have funded 40 percent of the bill, but a specific source for the remaining costs have not been determined.

The rowing team currently stores its boats at city-owned Burcham Park, in a fenced-in area called “The Cage.” But the city hasn’t agreed to let the University build a facility there.

The Kansas rowing team practices on the Kansas River Saturday. With the $20 fee increase for women's and non-revenue sports, the team is expecting a new boathouse in the next three years.

Kansas is one of two Division I schools with a rowing team that does not have a boathouse for its rowing team or is in the process of building one.

With the students approving the $20 women’s and non-revenue fee increase, $15 of which goes for the boathouse in last month’s elections, the rowing team finally has plans for a boathouse. It’s an improvement that Kansas coach Rob Catloth has been asking for since the program became a NCAA Division I varsity sport in 1995.

But is it the students’ responsibility to pay for the rowing team’s boathouse?

Some say no.

Ian Staples, the legislative director of student senate, said he thought the athletic department could afford to pay for the boathouse without the student’s support.

“Through the spirit of Title IX, through the spirit of women’s and non-revenue sports, it would be more appropriate to fund it through the athletic department,” the Lawrence junior said. “The athletic corporation has the resources. They’re able to do it themselves. They are not in the red here.”

The Department of Education reported that the Athletics Department had $10 million in profit last school year. Only the University of Texas had more profits in the Big 12.

These are the expenses and revenues for all the Big 12 schools during the 2004-05 school year. (source: Department of Education)

The Indianapolis Star reported that the department was the third most profitable in the country.

Marchiony said it was fair to ask the students to support women’s and non-revenue sports financially.

“If the students had said no, you wouldn’t have heard any kind of clamor from athletics,” Marchiony said.

The students did not say no. Referendum No. 2, the $20 increased fee for women’s and non-revenue sports, $15 of which goes toward the rowing facility, received more votes — 5,316 — than any other referendum on the ballot.

Out of the $20 increase that will take effect next semester — increasing the non-revenue and women’s sports fee to $40 — $15 will go to the boathouse fund for the next three years. Marchiony estimated the costs of building the boathouse should be between 4 to $6 million. The students will pay approximately 40 percent of that cost. Donations will cover the other 60 percent. Marchiony said the Athletics Department had yet to find a donor.

Most athletic facilities on campus, such as the new football facility that will be built next to Memorial stadium, are paid for entirely through donations.

However, with a small alumni base in rowing, associate athletic director Jim Marchiony said it was difficult to find a donor.

At Kansas State, the athletic department raised funds through a Boathouse campaign for a $1.3 million rowing facility, according to the Kansas State athletics Web site.

The student fee for athletics at Kansas is one of the only fees that does not have a student advisory board to determine what will be done with the money. Instead, with athletics, the $40 goes straight to the athletics department.

To ensure that the money would go to the construction of the boathouse and women’s and non-revenue sports, Student Senate asked Athletics Director Lew Perkins to guarantee in writing that the money would not go elsewhere.

If construction of the boathouse does not begin in the next three years, Perkins agreed to return all of the money back to the students.

The increase came as a result of a study that was conducted by the Campus Fee Review Subcommittee of Student Senate. The group evaluates every student fee once every three years.

“This is something that isn’t going to Bill Self’s salary,” student senator Cory Kelly said. “We were guaranteed that none of it would go to football or basketball through moving funds around.”

Marchiony said the Athletics Department began meeting in February or March with various senate groups expressing a need for the boathouse.

Student Senate never voted on the fee increase to fund the boathouse.

“Senate really doesn’t like voting on student fee increases in senate,” Kelly said. “We’d rather have students vote on it.”

Kelly, West Des Moines, Iowa freshman, and fellow student senator Jack Connor began collecting signatures for a referendum of the $20 fee increase, including the $15 for the boathouse, to go on the April ballot. For a referendum to be voted on by students, 1,000 signatures must be collected or student senate can vote to put it on the ballot with a two-thirds vote.

The referendum got 2,000 signatures.

Marchiony said there was no timetable set for the construction to begin of the boathouse. First, the Athletics Department must find a donor or donors to pay for the other 60 percent of the costs. Then, they must meet with architects and the city to determine what they can build and where.

Whether the students should pay for the boathouse or the athletics department should foot the bill is now up to the Provost and the Board of Regents, who still have to approve the referendum.

Posted by Curtis Moore at 01:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Nine-year battle to make animal cruelty a felony ended last month

Betsy McLeod returned home last September to find her bunny’s cage empty. The bunny, Coco, wasn’t hiding under the bed or with McLeod’s roommates though. She was dead.

The bunny that McLeod, Overland Park sophomore, bought nearly three months before had been thrown off her balcony by a man who claimed he was too drunk to know what he was doing. “He blamed it on his alcoholism,” McLeod said.

On Sept. 28, that man went to court for charges of animal cruelty. He was sentenced to probation and fined $200. McLeod said she thought it was nothing more than a slap on the wrist for his actions. At the time animal cruelty was not considered a felony in the state of Kansas, though. Today, intentional animal cruelty is a felony according to the Senate Bill 408.

Contributed by Holly Romero.

Quentin the ferret was one several animals rescued from neglect by the Human Society. Holly Romero, Colorado Springs, Colo., senior, adopted Quentin last semester.

For Midge Grinstead, director of the Lawrence Humane Societ, the bill was a nine-year battle. The bill finally passed unanimously through the house in March. Just last month Gov. Kathleen Seblius signed the bill into law.

“It not only passed, but it was a slam dunk,” Grinstead said.

According to the bill people convicted of intentional animal cruelty will be sentenced to a minimum of 30 days or a maximum of one year in jail. While in jail, they must have a psychological evaluation. They would also be fined $500 - $5,000 depending on the severity of the abuse. Once convicted a person cannot own an animal for the next five years.

For McLeod though, the bill came to late.

“I wish they would have made it a felony a long time ago,” McLeod said. “It should have been a felony.” The Lawrence Humane Society performed more than 750 investigations on animal cruelty and neglect last year according to Grinstead. About 20 percent of the investigations resulted in the animals being removed from the home.

If you can take in an animal that’s been abused or neglected it’s an amazing thing.

-Holly Romero, Colorado Springs, Colo., senior

Dogs, especially larger breeds such as pit bulls and rottweilers, account for a majority of animal cruelty cases, Grinstead said. The most common type of abuse for all animals the Humane Society sees is neglect, though. Under the new law, neglect isn’t automatically a felony; only on the second offense of neglect can a person be convicted of a felony.

Animals that are removed from homes because of abuse or neglect are taken in at the Humane Society. After the police department gives releases for the animals, they can be adopted. Background checks for animal cruelty are done on anyone adopting a pet.

Contributed by Holly Romero.

Holly Romero and her boyfriend, Dan Miller, hold Romero's pet ferrets, Baz, left, and Quentin. Quentin was neglected by his previous owners before being adopted from the Humane Society by Romero.

People interesting in adopting an animal rescued from abuse are informed about the animal’s history before adopting. Knowing the history of the pet doesn’t discourage people from adopting though.

“I think they all want to help,” Grinstead said. “People are very sympathetic and want to adopt.” Holly Romero, Colorado Springs, Colo., senior, is one such person. Last fall she went to nearly every pet store in Lawrence in search for another ferret, but ended up at the Humane Society. Quentin, a neglected ferret, arrived at the shelter with a family of ferrets.

“If you can take in an animal that’s been abused or neglected it’s an amazing thing,” Romero. “I immediately fell in love with Quentin.”

The Humane Society told Romero that Quentin came from a home with a number of pets that had been neglected. Grinstead remembers when the ferrets arrive at the shelter they were invested with fleas and underweight. When Romero first brought Quentin home he was less active than her other ferret, Baz.

“He slept a lot and seemed exhausted,” she said. “It would take Quentin awhile to come out of the cage, like he was scared.”

Quentin is more active and less timid now, Romero said.

The Humane Society has an adoption process and application for all animals. Watch the video to learn more about the process and what students don't often think about before adopting a pet.

Today, the fleas and fears are gone, but Quentin deals with a more permanent problem because of his neglect.

“He doesn’t have good use of his back legs,” Romero said.

From what she had been told, Quentin’s legs suffer from being caged and walking on the wire floors of the cage for too long.

Romero said the new law would give people more of a reason to not abuse their animals. Not that people should need a reason to not abuse their pets, she said.

Posted by Rachel Seymour at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When the phone chimed for the 200th time, Melissa Coons, Overland Park junior, had had enough. Her phone would go off in class, while she was at work, and even while she slept. It seemed as though it never stopped ringing. Her life had been disturbed enough by her ex-boyfriend’s relentless text messaging. She finally decided to change her phone number.

Most phones that are currently being sold are compatible for text messaging. Most providers are selling phone plans that include text messaging packages. However, going over your alotted texts costs ten cents for every extra text message.

This is an increasingly common occurrence in the new technological savvy world of cell phones. Text messaging has opened the door to another medium of conversation. However, when the conversation is unwanted, it is called another thing: harassment.

Yet, this type of harassment is gaining more notice after a recent case in Wisconsin. A 26-year-old man sent his 19-year-old ex-girlfriend over 1,000 text messages in a one month period. Charges on the woman’s phone totaled $146.40. Each message that was sent to her after her monthly allotted text messages were used were ten cents a piece. The woman was eventually forced to change her phone number.

Text messaging is a way for people to send short messages to each other on their cell phones without actually speaking into the phone. It is a popular way for teens and young adults to communicate and is gaining popularity in today’s fast paced world.

State officials are starting to notice text message harassment and are taking action. Oklahoma legislators passed House bill 1804 in March 2005 making harassment by sending numerous text messages a criminal act. The new law states that it is against the law for anyone to use telecommunication or electronic communication, regardless of whether a conversation ensues or not, to annoy, threaten, harass, or annoy the person at the called number. The law goes on to state that anyone who is involved in or knowingly permits someone to make repeated calls or electronic communications or simultaneous calls or electronic communications with the intent of harassing the called number to be breaking the law.

“The texts would just keep coming. My phone bill was horrifying,” said Coons about the ordeal.

In Kansas, there are a couple laws that pertain to phone harassment. Kansas statute pertaining to telephone harassment says that making a telephone call, whether or not conversation ensues, with intent to abuse, threaten or harass any person at the called number is against the law. It is also against Kansas law to make or cause someone’s phone to repeatedly ring, with intent to harass any person at the called number. Kansas has yet to revise this statute to accommodate other, newer forms of communication such as text messaging. There have been no efforts to attempt to change the current statutes as of yet.

“It’s really creepy that people are doing this. I think that people should just get a life,” said Adam Turk, Baldwin senior.

Currently, the Lawrence Police Department files all types of phone harassment under the same category so it is unknown how many text message harassment cases have occurred in Lawrence.

“I have some friends that have had similar things happen to them. It’s just not fair that someone else can do this,” said Coons.

Most states have laws like Kansas that do not single out text message harassment. The laws apply to telephone use in general.

Posted by Megan Heffley at 01:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Lynne Braddock-Zollner doesn’t want future generations of Lawrence residents to look at the Lawrence Register of Historic Places and see only high-style, architecturally advanced, commercial and residential properties.

Braddock-Zollner, the city’s Historic Resources Administrator, knows that if this happens future residents will say, ‘Wow, look how everyone lived,’ - a clear contrast to the city’s history. Instead, the mission of the Historic Resources Commission (HRC) and of the Lawrence register is to preserve the entire character of the community, from the fine commercial properties to the poor worker’s home, so that generations can have a tangible account of the city’s history.

“The important part is giving something tangible to what we read about in history books. They [Lawrence residents] don’t just read about it, they can go and visit these places,” Braddock-Zollner said.

This fall the HRC added Grover Barn, the only structure still standing in Lawrence today with a direct connection to the Underground Railroad, to the city register of historic places. The city commission is now considering a proposal from the Underground Railroad Association of Douglas County to transform the barn into a museum. This summer the site will be vacant for the first time since 1982, when it was renovated and extended to accommodate city fire station No.4. The additions of properties like Grover Barn to the register guarantee the preservation of their historical significance. But they also give property owners the prestige and attention that is necessary to fund projects that could bring the history of these structures out from the text books and into the lives of residents.

Historic Grover Barn will be left vacant this summer when firefighters at Fire Station No. 4 move to a new location as part of the city's public safety plan.

The HRC and the Lawrence Register of Historic Places were both set up through the city’s conservation of historic resources code, chapter 22, with the intent to identify, protect and preserve historic sites within the city of Lawrence. To date, there are over 90 Lawrence properties and 10 historic districts individually listed on the city, state and national registers. The state and national registers, governed by the Kansas State Historical Society and the National Parks Service, respectively, serve as models for the city of Lawrence’s mission to protect and maintain the character of historic sites and properties that make them significant to the city’s history.

According to the Underground Railroad Association's proposal to the city commission, in 1857 abolitionist Joel Grover began construction of a barn on his property, located on what today is Stonebarn Terrace in Lawrence, Kan. He documented the construction of the barn - where he acquired the wood and stones- in a diary now showcased in the Kenneth Spencer Research Library on the University of Kansas campus. Soon after the barn’s completion in 1858, it began serving as an Underground Railroad station; sheltering abolitionists and the African-American slaves they were helping escape from slave territories throughout the south.

In January 1859, Grover and his wife, Emily, welcomed to Grover Barn abolitionist John Brown and a group of 11 slaves escaping slaveholders in Missouri. This stop would be Brown’s last along the Kansas Underground Railroad and the most researched and famous event to transpire within the walls of the barn.

Judy Sweets, co-founder of the Underground Railroad Association of Douglas County, said it is not only the rich history of events that transpired within the barn but a desire to commemorate the actions of the Grover family that lead the association to propose the development of The Grover Barn Underground Railroad Interpretive Center/ Abolition Museum.

“The thing about the Grovers is that they were a young couple, they had an 18-month child when the group came in with John Brown. We feel that they were just so courageous to let these slaves stay there, because they could have been fined or sent to prison,” Sweets said.

Sweets and the association proposed the abolition museum to the city in February. If city commissioners accept the proposal, the most recent addition to the barn would showcase interactive wall maps of Underground Railroad routes, photographs, artifacts and interactive exhibits. All oriented toward teaching visitors the unique history of Grover Barn and of the Kansas Underground Railroad, as well as linking the site to the struggle for freedom that was occurring at a national level prior to the civil war.

According to the proposal, the barn would stay “close to the original appearance, with minimal exhibits.” Sweets said that museum visitors would enter the barn after viewing the educational exhibits of the modern museum. “Then people could go into the actual barn and see the ax’s marks on the wood, the actual stone and the place where the slaves were,” Sweets said.

Since the February proposal, the city has shown interest in the museum. Sue Hack, city commissioner, said the abolition museum is a perfect example of creative reuse of a historic structure. However, the city will not approve the plan until they are certain that the association has the funding to operate and maintain the building.

“As to funding, business plans, etc., those are still in the planning stages,” Hack said.

Sweets said the association hopes to raise $250,000 by December 2007 and is currently working on a market analysis to present to city commissioners upon its completion later this year.

Although there is no financial gain for a property after being added to the Lawrence Register of Historic Places, there are a number of other incentives. For the city, placing a site like Grover Barn on the register guarantees that even if the property is relinquished to private hands any changes to that structure must be approved through a design review process by the HRC and the city commission.

“I think that it gives some level of security that the building, or at least the façade of the building, will be maintained for the pleasure of the public,” Braddock-Zollner said of the city’s incentive to have Grover Barn added to the register.

Unlike the city register, financial incentives through tax credit programs are available to properties listed on the state and national registers of historic places. However, because the architectural integrity of Grover Barn was compromised through various additions and modifications, it is ineligible for listing on either the state or national register.

Nevertheless, Sweets and the association believe that the addition of the barn to the Lawrence register will help the development of the abolition museum in ways far beyond documenting the historic site. The association believe the listing will attract corporate and private donors who are looking to contribute to a historic site.

“I think that when talking with possible donors the fact that it is on the [city's] historic preservation register will help,” Sweets said.

For example, the listing of Grover Barn on the register may make it eligible to receive funding from a federal bill, currently being entertained, that would establish a national heritage area for much of eastern Kansas, including historic properties within Lawrence. The establishment of the Bleeding Kansas and the Enduring Struggle for Freedom National Heritage Area would allocate $10 million to heritage tourism efforts in parts of Kansas and Missouri.

“I think this [Grover Barn] would be one of the major sites on the national heritage area if that were passed,” Sweets said when talking about foundations and grants that may contribute the development of the museum.

As a preservationist, the designation of properties like Grover Barn to the Lawrence Register of Historic Places eases two of Braddock-Zollner’s primary concerns about historic properties.

The first is that the building will be used. “It has been proven that buildings that are used have a longer lifespan than buildings that sit vacant,” Braddock-Zollner said.

At Grover Barn, for the prospective owners of the Underground Railroad Association, the listing on the register will help attract the necessary funds to develop the abolition museum which will attract residents, visitors and tour groups to the site each day.

The second concern is that the building is being used in a compatible way, so as not to harm the historic integrity.

Regardless of the city’s decision about the proposed museum, the listing of Grover Barn on the register guarantees the protection of the structure and of the historical significance the property brings to the community.

Watch here to learn more about the history of Grover Barn.

Read the Underground Railroad Association of Douglas County's proposal for an abolition museum.

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Devin Fuchs, Kansas City sophomore, paused before answering the question. "If I wasn't racing cars this summer, what would I be doing?" he repeated. "I probably wouldn't even get up in the morning. Or maybe I'd just be doing what everybody else is doing."

But Fuchs isn't doing what everybody else is doing. He's going to spend his summer racing modified cars for the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), and not just for fun, either. Fuchs wants to do this for the rest of his life.

"The thought of having my hobby and my passion be my job...that's amazing!"

A recent study by the University of Utah shows that Fuchs is a rarity among college students; he's not going to spend his summer working in one of the top five most common summer jobs for students. Groundskeeping and Landscaping, Childcare, Food Service, Retail Sales, and General Office Work are the top five summer jobs of choice for students during the out-of-school months.

Many other KU students will abandon the typical summer job in favor of one that will further their future career. As interns, they will earn valuable experience in their chosen field.

Director of the KU Business School's Internship Program, Lisa Leroux-Smith said that over 70 of KU's business school students will