Multimedia Reporting (Bradford)

Formal rush will soon be taking over the University of Kansas campus which means that many Greek men will be doing their best to sell their chapter to high school seniors that hope to land in the house of their choice.

Lack of time and less than ideal conditions lead to a flawed formal rush for fraternities on campus.

Michael Gillaspie, Ashland, Kansas, sophomore and Vice President for recruitment said that the weekend of formal rush is too condensed. He said that the guys coming up don't really get a good feel of what each chapter has to offer in the limited time they get with each chapter. Gillaspie went through the formal rush process and felt like the amount of time spent at each house should be extended so that everyone can get to know each other better. He also said that since he has been through it he has a good idea of what are some ways to change it for the better since he understands where the parents and their sons are coming from.

"They can't form educated opinions in such a little amount of time," Gillaspie said, "and it is hard for chapters without houses to get any interest from the kids."

Gillaspie said that he expects around 100 high school seniors will participate in formal rush. Formal rush takes place June 22nd - June 25th. Everyday the men will travel in groups and visit each chapter while deciding which ones they favor. The Greek members also pick out worthy candidates that they would like to have back to get a little more information on them. With only 100 or so people to choose from, the competition for men can be quite competitive which can lead to dirty recruiting from chapters.

Ryan McIntosh, Prairie Village, Kansas, sophomore and rush chair for Phi Kappa Psi fraternity said that he would prefer it if there were more monitors at each chapter during the formal rush process to prevent dirty recruiting from happening. He said that during last year's formal rush process he overheard some of the rushees talking about how a certain chapter said some negative things about another one and he didn't want that to happen this year.

The University of Kansas does not promote the Greek systems adequately according to Ryan Lonergan, Shawnee Mission, Kansas, junior and Vice President of the interfraternity council said that the high schools do not know enough about the Greek system at KU and that KU needs to do more to promote it. The KU Greek website does not include any information about formal rush on it (kugreek.org). Lonergan got a chance to go to some schools this year and talk about the Greek system and what comes with being involved with the Greek life at KU. He felt that this was definitely a step in the right direction but more needs to be done.

Lonergan said, "When KU goes to schools and talks to the students about the University, they should include the Greek system more and tell them about the Greek houses instead of focusing only on the dorms and off campus living."

The Greek system at KU is extremely productive and does a lot to contribute to the community. They have one of the nation's biggest university run philanthropies in Rock Chalk Revue. There are 19 fraternities and 13 sororities that create the Greek system at KU. In order to keep the Greek system at KU strong, change may need to happen in the formal rush process to get more people involved that might not know enough information to make an educated decision.

The road construction that has plagued drivers along Kasold Street between 15th St. and 22nd St. is finally coming to an end.

The construction has been going on for so long because of different additions made to the original plans.

Mike Hadl, Secretary for Street Maintenance for the Lawrence City Commission said the construction started last fall.

The mess is finally nearing its end though. The crews are placing finishing touches and cleaning up the surrounding areas.

Dena Mezger, Assistant Director of Infrastructure and Maintenance for the Lawrence City Commission said, "I don't have an exact date at this time because we have added a little work to the project and have not determined exactly how long the additional work will take. However, I expect everything will be complete before school starts again."

The construction has forced Kasold to lower its speed limit to 20 mph in the construction zone which caused longer trips for people using that route. There have also been some speed traps set up by the local police according to Josh Riesgo, Kansas junior.

Riesgo said, "Only being able to go 20 mph really affects the amount of time it takes to get from one place to another. There are often cops there too so I really need to watch my speed. I still like taking Kasold because it is pretty much routine, but if I find a new route I might just start taking it."

With one big piece of construction nearing its end, more projects begin to take place. Mezger explained that there are a few projects that are going to be taking place in the near future.

Mezger said, "Design is underway for widening and improvement of 19th St between Alabama Street and Ohio Street." She said that the hope is for that construction to take place next summer while school is out since it abuts Lawrence High School. There is state funding involved, though, and the schedule will depend on how quickly reviews and approvals from the state can be obtained. If it is not constructed next summer we will wait until the summer of 2009 in order not to adversely impact the high school traffic.

Along with that, Mezger said that the Lawrence City Commission is planning construction on 25th Terrace between O'Connell Street and Franklin Street that is expected to begin this fall. It is a completely new street in a new development area. Also this summer Iowa Street between Sixth St. and Ninth St. and also between Irving Hill Road and 23rd St will be repaved. That work may occur at night to avoid traffic as much as possible.

The big streets are not getting all of the attention though; Mezger said that the Lawrence City Commission is also planning on repaving a number of neighborhood streets in various parts of town as part of our annual pavement maintenance program.

Now that one construction zone is almost complete, Lawrence is already looking to future improvements to keep the city's streets in prime condition.

The University of Kansas football team held the Super Jayhawk Camp on June 16th for high school juniors that are interested in pursuing football after high school.

One thing that is unique about these camps is that some of the managers for the football team get to assist the coaches and get some hands on experience with the high school kids.

Kevin Veltri, Kansas football manager said, “I like working these camps because I feel like it is a good way for me to see what coaching is like and I know that I am going to be with college coaches that know what they are doing.”

The Kansas football program has coaches from around the area come and help at these camps as well as a few of their own coaches. It is a good experience for area coaches as well because they have a chance to look at prospects that might not have gone to their camps because of their size.

The high school seniors-to-be that come to the camp go through drills that teach them proper footwork and help to get them acquainted with some drills that are used at a Kansas football practice.

Casey Green, Kansas football manager said, “This camp is bringing in around 100 high school prospects that KU is interested in, if they get one or two out of all these prospects that they think could play here, I would consider this camp a success.”

The campers also get to participate in one-on-one, three-on-three and seven-on-seven drills. These drills give the prospects some chances to show off their abilities in the game of football against good competition. They had two different sessions so that they could play offense in one session and play defense in the other if they had a secondary position.

Jordan Poskey, Kansas football manager said, “The drills that we do at these camps are a good way to test some of the kids and see how they compare to each other since we can’t put them in pads and see how they play in actual game situations.”

The University of Kansas football team received two oral commitments following the Super Jayhawk Camp.

The two oral commitments are both from players that project to play tight end in college. Both of them committed in the week following the actual camp. The first to commit was Tanner Hawkinson from McPherson, Kansas. He measured in at six feet and six inches and weighed 235 pounds. The second commitment came from Tim Biere from Omaha, Nebraska. He measured in at six feet and four inches and weighed 235 pounds.

An oral commitment is a non binding commitment that is not official. Both of these recruits will have to wait until the first Wednesday of February before they can sign their letter of intent and make their commitment official.

If both of these players stay true to their commitment and sign with the Kansas football team, they will immediately get a chance to play because the football team is losing their top two tight ends to graduation.

Along with the Super Jayhawk Camp, the Kansas football team also held Camp schedule for offensive and defensive lineman, kickers and they had camps for kids from grades four through 12.

A thankless job finally gets recognition. Click the image above for an audio slideshow of why they deserve recognition.

The ongoing storm drainage problem in North Lawrence is expected to start improving in the next couple of years as construction projects begin. Currently, all of the water in North Lawrence has to be pumped out through one nine-inch pump at fifth and Maple. This can take from an hour up to a couple of days, and sometimes causes flooding at Lyons Park. A study done a year ago revealed that the total storm water improvement needed in North Lawrence was $16 million in the residential area, and another $25 million north of Lawrence to keep the water out of the area. “We don’t really have a drainage system; it’s all just open ditches, and there’s no curbs or gutters in the residential areas,” Ted Boyle, North Lawrence Improvement Association president, said. “Most of the water just sits in these ditches until it’s finally pumped out.” Boyle said North Lawrence needs two 30-inch pumps to replace the one nine-inch pump to help solve the problem. Installing the new pumps would cost approximately $3.9 million, and this amount increases each year that it doesn’t get done. The plan has been proposed to the city budget, but there are no official plans to begin work. “This is our top priority, because it would benefit the residents the most. We want to get this done before we do anything else in the area,” Boyle said. City Manager Dave Corliss said there are not any plans for providing funding for improving storm drainage in residential areas of North Lawrence. However, construction will begin this Fall on the second and Locust intersection, which will widen the traffic lanes, and Corliss said will help drainage at the underpass near the intersection. Construction on a 900-acre airport industrial park in North Lawrence is likely to begin at the end of the year. Anthony Santaularia, developer of the industrial park, said that this construction would help with the storm drainage problem. “There’s not a drainage problem where we want to build the park, but in North Lawrence there is,” Santaularia said. “We plan to work with the city and county to upsize the pumps, and will handle what comes up during our development.” Boyle said the area where the industrial park is to be built needs to install a $9 million storm water pump, and the Improvement Association feels the developer should pay for it. However, Santaularia had not heard these figures. For now, Boyle is mainly worried about flooding in the neighborhood, and the increasing cost these projects will require as each year goes by. “We aren’t even as worried about the river flooding as we are about the actual water problem in our neighborhoods, and so it’s really our number one concern right now,” Boyle said.

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Residents at The Reserve on West 31st apartments might find themselves homeless for a week or two to start off the summer.

The leasing policy for The Reserve requires residents to move out by July 31 and new leases do not start until August 15. This creates a problem for people that are moving from one apartment to another within The Reserve.

Derrick Rowland, Olathe, Kansas, senior and resident of The Reserve faced this problem last year. Rowland said, “It is just a huge hassle to move everything from one place to another for storage and then have to move everything again back to the same apartment complex.”

The lease at The Reserve leaves the gap in between the move-in date and the move-out date to allow professional cleaners ample amount of time to come in and clean the apartments. Staff at The Reserve also comes in and repaint and repair anything that needs it.

Kory Wilcoxson, The Reserve manager, said that there has to be a break in order to keep the apartments in good condition. If the crews did not get the two weeks the apartments would not get the necessary amount of attention that was needed to make sure everything was prepared for the next tenant.

He also said that they have a strict policy that absolutely nobody can move in early or move out late. Wilcoxson said, “If he let one person move in early or out late that would let the flood gates open to more people requesting the same treatment and he doesn’t want that to happen.”

This problem affects less than 20 percent of the people at The Reserve though because many of the residents that stay there do not switch apartments. For the residents that do switch apartments it creates a significant problem.

Josh Riesgo, Wichita, Kansas, senior and resident of The Reserve said that his roommates are moving to a different apartment in The Reserve and are going to have to store their things in his new house for a little bit of time. “I feel like my roommates are getting hosed because they are not switching complexes but just apartments,” Riesgo said, “But on the other hand I can understand that things need to be cleaned and painted.”

Wilcoxson would love to allow people to move in earlier but said that it just is not feasible. He said that the work crews really work for 24 hours a day for the two weeks until people are allowed to move back in.

This last summer The Reserve had around 700 residents and about 20 percent of those people will stay in there same apartment for the next school year according to Wilcoxson.

Wilcoxson does have some advice for future apartment renters. Wilcoxson said, “I recommend that anyone interested in signing a lease to an apartment complex, read and reread your lease before you sign it to avoid problems in the future.”