Multimedia Reporting (Kuhr-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.”

You do not want to have to call Don McNulty. Sure, he’s a nice enough guy; friendly and compassionate. But he is the president of a company that punches in only when others are punching out.

Bio Cleaning Services of America, Inc. offers the kind of services that no one wants to think about, but someone must provide. Their mission is to clean up after trauma and death sites including murders, suicides and unattended deaths, or “de-comps.” Their motto: “No one should be victimized twice.”

Technicians from Bio Cleaning Services of America use a modest truck to travel to clean up sites and transport their equipment.
Photo: Dylan Sands

Mr. McNulty and his wife, Laura, started the business 14 years ago. Today, they are
virtually the only service of their kind that serves areas of Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. McNulty maintains that his is a business just like any other.

“We’ve been cleaning up our own dead since Cain and Able,” McNulty said. “Until the advent of companies like this, it’s been done by friends and family. Most families are looking for someone disconnected to do the cleanup.”

McNulty was a mechanical draftsman and worked in plant management before being tapped to perform hospital housekeeping at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. That’s where he first learned he had a passion for helping people. He also learned he had a strong stomach.

“They were really good about teaching every member of the staff about medicine; from the janitor on up,” McNulty said of the hospital. “If someone was trying to find me, they’d say ‘Oh, McNulty is downstairs watching a lung removal.’”

Now, McNulty has his own business with offices in St. Louis, Omaha, Neb., Des Moines, Iowa and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He said his background in engineering helped him prepare for his current job, which he feels is much more complex than most people anticipate.

“In order to do a cleanup, you have to know about deconstruction and how things fit together,” he said. “What we do is constructive demolition.”

Dirty Work

McNulty and his cleaning technicians typically handle three types of cleanup sites: murder scenes, suicide scenes and unattended death scenes in which a person’s decomposing body has gone undiscovered for days. In the case of such a “de-comp,” as McNulty calls them, sometimes sections of flooring, walls or other parts of the house have to be removed.

“You wouldn’t believe the smell that can create,” McNulty said. “It is very difficult to get rid of.”

Cleaning technicians must wear masks to protect them from potentially contaminated blood and other fluids.
Photo: Dylan Sands

His service also handles the occasional cleanup of a meth-lab and other “unsanitary dwellings.” Most of their business, however, comes from suicides. According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, there are nearly 400 suicides each year in the state of Kansas alone. There are 14 suicides for every 100,000 residents in McNulty’s area. Nearly 70 percent of suicides involve self-inflicted gunshot wounds which can create extremely gory scenes.

Many of these types of suicides are carried out in automobiles. McNulty estimated that his technicians clean between 80 and 110 automobiles involved in suicides per year. Unattended deaths make up the second most frequent type of cleanup, with murder in third.

Figures from Kansas Department of Health and Environment

McNulty and his technicians recently cleaned the Ward Parkway Shopping Center in Kansas City, Mo. following an incident in which a gunman killed two people before killing himself. A job of that size can be especially taxing. By Kansas law, McNulty’s service must assume that any blood is contaminated and must be sanitized. In the case of the mall shooting, wounded shoppers ran through many areas of the mall while bleeding all the way. McNulty and his crew took three days to completely clean and sanitize the mall.

All cleanups are different, but the average cost for the customer is $2,000. In most cases, house insurance covers the bill. McNulty has even worked pro-bono and at discount rates in the past to accommodate grieving families unable to pay.

Now, his business can rest easier, and more importantly, so can anyone unfortunate enough to have to call on such a service. The Kansas House of Representatives recently passed a bill that will help survivors pay for cleanups through the Crime Victims Compensation Board. The board will pay up to $1,000 for an individual cleanup.

CSI it isn't

McNulty screens all potential technicians to weed out those that are trying to satisfy a morbid curiosity.

“They might say, ‘Well, I want to go to work for you,’ and when I ask them what makes them think they can be a bio-tech, they say ‘Well, I watch CSI,’” he said.

Others are often disappointed to see the lack of high-tech equipment in a bio-cleaning truck. Most of the cleaning products are typical disinfectants. The company uses environmentally friendly cleaners and degreasers. They even use such mundane cleaners as thyme, the “spice your mother has in her cabinet,” says McNulty.

Bio Cleaning Services of America has recently "gone green" and uses only environmentally friendly cleaning products.
Photo: Dylan Sands

‘Just so much matter’

Even though there are some who think it might be exciting to see such gore, the real shock comes from another place. For the technicians, the hardest part is dealing with the grief and interacting with bereaved families.

‘We have good days and bad days,” said Lindsey Trevino, Medical Examiner. “Each case leaves a mark, and unfortunately it does not get easier.”

Technicians often see portraits of the deceased on the walls of a cleanup site. Putting a face to the violence can be scarier than the gore.

“It’s just so much matter,” McNulty said. “That isn’t the person laying all over the floors and all over the walls. All we have are fragments.”

At times, encountering these scenes can lead to serious emotional trauma. Critical Incident Stress Syndrome, or CISS, can sink in and cause a kind of shock similar to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“As professionals, we are better adept at seeing such things,” Trevino said. “But death will always have an impact, and it’s very difficult to see such disregard for human life.”

The stress from seeing so much grief and violence can cause flashbacks, sleeping disorders and depression.

“When somebody sees a gross, gory scene, the typical response is to go overboard and see recurring images,” Psychologist Anne Owen said.

Technicians at Bio Cleaning Services usually undergo “debriefings” in which they recreate the events and talk out their feelings as a group. If such stress lasts more than one month, it can turn into full blown Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Plastic buckets are used to collect body parts and fluids at clean-up sites. The bodily waste is then taken to a hospital for disposal.
Photo: Dylan Sands

“Getting people to share memories can help put a narrative around the images and make them less traumatizing,” Owen said.

McNulty said grieving family members look to his team for their own closure.
“I’m lachrymose: given to tears,” he said. “If you’re crying, I’m crying. When you’re that kind of person, to be in that room where the grief is so thick, you could cut it with a knife; that becomes the most difficult thing to handle.”

With murder and suicide rates in their current numbers, Bio Cleaning Services of America will no doubt be able to offer their service of “Care, Concern and Peace of Mind” for years to come.

“When I was a kid, I got sick at a blood scene and I told myself from that day forward that I couldn’t be a veterinarian or a doctor because I get sick at the sight of blood,” McNulty said. “Well that’s not true—to say the very least.”

“Some girls…sometimes...they’re a rarity.”

That was what Matt Schott, Olathe engineering sophomore, had to say about the frequency in which he spots women in the School of Engineering. That’s just while going to classes. There isn’t a single woman in any of his engineering classes this semester, not even in a lecture class of 50.

Florence Boldridge, the director of Diversity Programs for the School of Engineering, said that women are the most under-represented group in the department.

The School of Engineering implements several programs to help boost the enrollment level of women in engineering. One such program, Project Discovery, allows high school girls to attend a week-long engineering summer camp at the University. Participants engage in classes and labs, in the field of their choosing, taught by KU engineering professors. A maximum of 40 girls can participate in each week.

“Project Discovery is but one of the recruitment tools that we use in accomplishing our goal of bringing women and minorities into our School of Engineering,” Boldridge said.

The School of Engineering runs Engineer Your Career. This half-day program introduces junior high and high school girls to career possibilities in engineering. Participants have the opportunity to speak to KU professors about different programs at the University.

The School of Engineering and the Society of Women Engineers also host the SWE Weekend of Engineering. The program is designed to introduce girls to KU life and the School of Engineering. Activities include: demonstrations by University professors, an engineering group project, attending a either a KU football or basketball game, and a pizza party.

Christina Conrad, Stilwell junior in chemical engineering, thinks that programs like Project Discovery can help girls find that engineering is just right for them.

“You never really hear about any women role models in engineering,” Conrad said.

She thinks the main reason girls don’t go into engineering is that they don’t have much of an opportunity to explore the potential there. Historically it has been a male dominated profession.

She also thinks times are changing for women engineers. The number of women engineers is increasing.

“I look at my dad’s year books and at mine and I can see it’s changing,” Conrad said.

This gradual change could make women a much more common sighting in the passages of Eaton and Learned Halls.

Beth Ruhl remembers when she asked Cole Brown to be her date for the senior prom. He was different from most dates.

“Cole Brown had a heart of gold, but was a social outcast because he was born with severe mental retardation,” Ruhl said.

“When I asked his mom for her approval she said, ‘Why would you want to take him?’ I was shocked.”

“This was her son we were talking about. Why wouldn’t I want to take him? He treats me like a queen, isn’t afraid to dance and would just be an all-around great date,” Ruhl said.

This was not Ruhl’s first or last experience helping others. She was the philanthropy chair of her sorority at Kansas State University, volunteered with various Special Olympic events, traveled to Belize for two months during a summer volunteer program and spent two years in West Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Ruhl currently works at Heart of America United Way in Kansas City as a campaign manager. She‘s an example of the growing number of young-adult and student volunteers. Agencies, universities and organizations note that numbers of young people volunteering has been growing for the past six-years - especially since 9/11.

Ruhl thinks it’s important for students to volunteer. “Everyone has something to offer this world and when you find your special something it creates positive change for everyone else,” she said. We need to spread the volunteer bug down from generation to generation.”

The Numbers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 61.2 million Americans or 26.7 percent of the population volunteered through or with an organization in 2006.

Kansas was ranked fifth among all states for volunteerism in 2006 by the bureau. More than 38 percent of Kansas’s residents volunteered.

The Corporation for National and Community Service , the nation’s largest grant maker supporting service and volunteering, is working with other federal agencies, universities and nonprofit organizations to increase volunteerism among college students. The corporation also published a report, College Students Helping America, in October of 2006.

The report said that college students who choose to volunteer increased about 20 percent between 2000 and 2005. The report defined college students as individuals between the ages of 16 and 24 that are enrolled at a post-secondary institution. This increase is nearly double that of adults, whose numbers only increased 9 percent from 2000 to 2005. The number of college student volunteers reached almost 3.3 million in 2005.

The report said 31.5 percent of Kansas college students volunteered in 2005, ranking the state 24th in the nation.

What They’re Doing

The report showed tutoring and mentoring as the most common volunteer activities among college students. About 27 percent of college students who volunteered tutored, and 24 percent mentored in 2005.

Maggie Bixler, Americorps member, said volunteering was good for students no matter what kind of work they did. “Volunteering gives you experience in the field you wouldn’t otherwise have when you graduate,” Bixler said. “ I’ve read studies and articles that say volunteering helps increase your lifespan, makes you healthier and makes you happier.”

KU student Lauren Uhlmansiek volunteered with other KU students in an Alternative Spring Break program organized by the Ecumenical Christian Ministries.

The group of 10 students traveled to New Orleans during the 2007 spring break. Uhlmansiek was assigned to work on a house that belonged to an area resident, Patricia.

Patricia’s house was completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. She used all of the insurance money she had collected to buy a house that was completely gutted. Uhlmansiek and the other students helped rebuild Patricia’s house and worked on projects such as dry walling, mudding and cleaning.

“Patricia is the funniest, most positive and upbeat lady I’ve ever met," Uhlmansiek said. "She is a living example of what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.”

Uhlmansiek plans to return to New Orleans and volunteer for two weeks this August.

How to Get Involved

Several local and national organizations provide volunteer opportunities to college students. For example:

The Center for Community Outreach(CCO) at the University of Kansas works to increase meaningful student involvement within the community. It offers service opportunities, community contacts and student organization activities. It has 1,989 registered volunteers for the 2006-2007 school year and has logged 6,162 volunteer hours since August 2005.

The center works with 15 core organizations. Elaine Jardon, co-director of the center, said the CCO has had to create more programs for the greater need over the past few years, but she didn’t have exact numbers. Programs like Alternative Breaks have grown and moved out from under the center’s umbrella, and they now operate on their own.

KU Alternative Breaks offers weekend, spring and winter volunteer trips to university students. Katie Jahnke, co-director of KU Alternative Breaks, said the program has grown since her freshman year.

“You see so much in the world that needs changed everyday,” Jahnke said. “We can really do something and have the energy to do it. That is why alternative breaks is such a good program.”

KU Weekend Breaks was created five years ago to fulfill an increased demand for service learning. Weekend Breaks offers a volunteer trip once a month.

“We try to balance between social and physical activities and cover a variety of issues,” said Elizabeth Cattell, co-director of Weekend Breaks.

The United Way of America is also working to create more programs for college student volunteers. Sheila Consaul, former director of media relations at the United Way of America, said the United Way has about 1.1 million volunteers each year.

The United Way started a new Alternative Spring Break in Spring 2006 to help with hurricane relief for areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Consaul said. The first year the program had about 100 participants and lasted a week. The program ran again in Spring 2007 and expanded to a four-week program and included more than 300 participants.

The United Way also works with programs such as the 10,000 Hour Show and Youth Venture. Consaul said there was a great need for student volunteer programs.

“College volunteers are different from other volunteers,” Consaul said. “College students have different needs and interests. They have more time and more energy, but not a disposable income.”

The Impact

The Corporation for National and Community Service and its partners have set a goal to increase the number of college volunteers to five million by 2010.

As an employee of the United Way, Ruhl hopes to motivate other students to volunteer.

Her inspiration is remembering some of the people she’s helped, like Cole.

When Ruhl asked if Cole could go the prom, his mother’s eyes swelled with tears, and she told Ruhl, “Unless another girl learns from your example, he may never have another experience like this in his life.”

Ruhl said they had a great time at prom.

“Cole was not only the best date," Ruhl said. "But he also taught me that what may seem like the smallest act of kindness could have the biggest impact on others."

The fraternity was left in shambles – like the aftermath of a group of boys unwilling to leave their clubhouse. Holes were punched in walls, a toilet was destroyed, and $700 worth of plaques and paintings were stolen according to police reports. Sigma Nu lost its national charter in September 2005 after an investigation into hazing reports. Members were given 30 days to vacate.

The second-story porch overlooking Emery Road was crowded with weathered couches- the black wooden letters above read ΣN. Now the balcony is covered in ivy; the sign reads AΓΔ- changes made when Alpha Gamma Delta leased the house from Sigma Nu. The sorority signed a one-year lease, according to Debbie Pitts, chapter advisor for Alpha Gamma Delta.

“We didn’t think they would come back as soon as they have,” said Pitts, “We were hoping to have the house for at least two years. But we wish the best to Sigma Nu.”

Pitts’ assumptions are understandable, considering most fraternities must wait up to four years before they can begin recolonization.

“Usually they wait long enough to get rid of the seed that caused the original problem,” said Don Raidt, a Sigma Nu alumnus who is leading the recolonization efforts.

It is especially understandable to assume that a Sigma Nu would be particularly cautious about revoking a house that closed because of hazing. In a recent edition of Sigma Nu Inc.’s magazine, The Delta, the fraternity said it would lead greek efforts to “militate against hazing.” The publication also announced Sigma Nu as the “premier sponsor of the National Hazing Prevention Week and the National Hazing Symposium.” But Sigma Nu will be returning to KU next semester – less than two years after its charter was revoked.

Even though students will be living in the Sigma Nu house, the Sigma Nu national headquarters will not immediately recognize the house as an official chapter. At first the house will only been known as a Sigma Nu “colony.”

“The alumni have officially begun recolonizaion,” said Brad Beacham, executive director of Sigma Nu, “They are working to meet basic operational standards so that they may become an official entity. I am confident in the alumni. It is one of the fraternity’s most outstanding chapters.”

The colony will work for University recognition once it regain its charter, said Ian Lang, Interfraternity Council president.

The recolonization is largely thanks to the assistance of Don Raidt. Raidt has been a professor for 42 years, mostly teaching at the University of California, Irvine. On October 28, shortly after Sigma Nu lost its charter, Raidt came to Lawrence to meet with other alumni about rebuilding the chapter.

“We all were shocked,” Raidt said, “It seemed impossible that this should happen.”

Raidt was chosen by other alums to lead the recolonization. He left California and began teaching at KU so that he could focus on the endeavor. But Raidt isn’t the only one dedicated to reestablishing Sigma Nu’s presence on campus. He assembled a 12-man transition team and has the assistance and support of many alumni.

KU Vice Provost of Research and Sigma Nu alum Jim Roberts said, “I really think Don Raidt is doing a great job on recolonizing Sigma Nu, but I think we’re going to have to look at different models for fraternities and sororities as we look to the future in terms of how they interact with the University.”

This is one of Raidt’s main concerns. He hopes to build a much stronger relationship with the University than in past years. And he intends to do this by bringing the University to Sigma Nu.

According to Raidt, they are working on a new audio/visual program that will allow Sigma Nu to have the most technologically equipped house on campus. Along with benefiting members and connecting with alums, this will help facilitate a KU class. The fraternity plans to allow a class to meet in one of the rooms of the house. Although nothing has been determined, Raidt says the class will be small and scheduled around fraternity activities.

Alumni intend to stay active even after students move back into the house. They will be monitoring the reestablishment and tutoring members. But returning Sigma Nus aren’t concerned with their involvement or supervision.

“They know that part of their experience was partying, and they want us to have that experience too,” said John LeRoy, a former pledge who was invited back.

The returning members of the 2005 pledge class had their GPAs and involvement histories considered before being invited back, Raidt said. However, about seven of the original group intend to return. Many lost interest or joined other fraternities, LeRoy said.

The pledges have been meeting monthly with alumni and recruiting high school seniors to live in the house. Raidt estimates that about 50 men will move into the house in May.

Active members who lived in the house when the fraternity closed have not been invited back. Many of them are apprehensive about the chapter’s future but still support the recolonization.

“I’m glad Sigma Nu will be back on campus,” said Rob Rossiter, Sigma Nu junior, “I’m just upset it’s not going to be anywhere near what the old Sigma Nu was like.”

Most Sigma Nu juniors knew little about the process.

“We haven’t been involved at all,” said Miller Davis, Sigma Nu junior, “But everyone understands why we’re not.”

Raidt understands. He’s made sure that members of the fraternity and corporation board that were involved in the 2005 incident have no direct influence on the recolonization.

“This way, we will avoid the virus that caused the problem in the first place,” Raidt said.

The men will move into the Sigma Nu colony around Aug. 7.