BY ZACH WHITE
zwhite@kansan.com
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich carried out his role as the Dole Institute for Politics’ first Distinguished Visiting Fellow yesterday, spending the day meet-ing with and talking to students, faculty and community members in numerous diverse settings.Gingrich first visited the Natural History Museum in Dyche Hall, which made such an impression on him that he gushed over it at all following events.“I had a tremendous time look-ing at fossils,” Gingrich said.He followed up his museum visit with a Pizza and Politics lec-ture in the Adams Alumni cen-ter’s Bruckmiller room at noon. Gingrich’s presence brought more than 100 people to enjoy the food and conversation combo, more than twice the previous record attendance since the program’s inception five years ago. Here he explained President Obama’s polit-ical future depends on whether he will be a Jimmy Carter or a Bill Clinton. He said that Carter failed because he refused to take the opponent’s policies into con-sideration, whereas Clinton was willing to work with Gingrich and his Republican majority after the 1994 congressional changeover. Gingrich then took questions from KU students from a variety of political backgrounds on his past in Congress and the future of the Republican party.Chelsea Mertz, Topeka senior and Pizza and Politics coordinator, scheduled the visit to Pizza and Politics.“They had scheduled him for the Dole forum program,” Mertz said, “So I asked if we could do the lunch program as well. It’s been a little hectic, but it’s gone really well.”Eric Foss, president of the KU College Republicans, explained the success of this event.“A lot of us political junkies started becoming aware of politics just around the same time he was leading the republicans, regaining control of Congress,” Foss said. “We’re all very excited that he chose to come.”After sipping a diet coke and hearing student’s thoughts, Gingrich got a chance to share his own during a visit to Jonathan Earle’s class “Conspiracy Theories and Paranoia in American History.” Earle is the Dole Institute’s program director and associate professor of history, which Gingrich himself used to teach at the University of West Georgia.“We here at the Dole Institute like to bring in people who mat-ter in contemporary politics,” Earle said, “With Speaker Gingrich we had kind of an interesting package, because he started out as a col-lege teacher. We were really able to meet all of those goals.”Next on Gingrich’s agenda was a reception downtown for the friends of the Dole Institute, before heading to the Dole Institute on west campus for his final obligation for the visit. The Dole Institute began seating at 6 p.m. The building was soon filled to its capacity of 525.Gingrich emerged shortly after 7:30pm and spoke for about 45 minutes about his view of the country’s current issues. He said the nation faces threats from radi-cal Islam and Chinese progress that everyone is scared to address. He also said the country needs a unified vision of America and its future, as Ronald Reagan had.Though discussing serious sub- ject matter the former Speaker of the House consistently cracked jokes all day about things such as Carter ineptitude and Eisenhower’s wily interstate development.Earle said the Institute hopes to replicate the visit’s success in the years to come.
— Edited by Betsy Cutcliff
BY ALEXANDRA GARRISON AND RAY SEGEBRECHT
agarrison@kansan.com and rsegebrecht@kansan.com
The University lost a longtime icon this week, according to the students and faculty who knew Harry Shaffer best. Harry Shaffer, professor emeri-tus of economics who retired last year after teaching for 52 years, died Tuesday at age 90.“He was a legend,” said Chris Billinger, WaKeeney senior and former student of Shaffer. “He’s the only professor I can think of who everyone knows.”Shaffer was born in Vienna, Austria in 1919 and came to the
BY ANNA ARCHIBALD
aarchibald@kansan.com
Fifteen pairs of black and white striped legs scuttle away as the bed sheets fling up into the air and hit the ceiling. Waking up to a house centipede staring down at you can be alarming.GSP resident Jenna Schwartz said the building been having a problem with centipedes for the last couple weeks. “One girl found one on her ceil-ing when she woke up one morn-ing, and we’ve also been finding them on our clothes,” Schwartz, Eden Prairie, Minn. freshman. said.Deb Smith, associate professor in the department of ecology and evo-lutionary biology, said that when the weather fluctuates between warm and cold temperatures, as it has in the past few weeks, tempera-tures aren’t cold enough to kill the bugs but are still cool enough for them to look for warmth in resi-dences.Smith said if the cold weather was more continuous, insects wouldn’t be as active. “There have been too many episodes of warming and cooling to keep them away,” she said.Consequently, students often end up with an unwanted, multi-legged roommate.Although house centipedes are predatory, which means they hunt other insects, Smith said they don’t pose a threat to people.“When you see them around, it usually means there are or there used to be other insects around, as well,” she said.The house centipede is just one of many types of insects creeping and crawling through dark corners of houses this time of year. Smith said the most common pests are box elder beetles, mouse spiders, grass spiders and the Asian lady beetle, which is usually
Living with roommates of the opposite sex can be challenging.
JAYPLAY | INSIDE
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Fire caused delays in Philadelphia on the second day of a strike, forcing commuters to find alternate ways to get around.
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index
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2009
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 54
Students who lose loved ones while in school have added pressures.
CAMPUS | 4A
Coping with grief in college
A POLITICAL PARTY
Republican icon urges bipartisanship
Newt Gingrich asks for Obama to reach accross party lines
PROFESSOR
Weather causes home invasions
GOT BUGS?
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Shaffer remembered for his stories and charisma
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ON PAGE 3A
Chance Dibben/KANSAN
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich gives
a speech at The Dole Institue for Politics Wednesday night. Among the many topics discussed, Gingrich adressed the recent economic crisis, ways to improve national security, and current issues facing both the Rebuplican and Democratic parties. He also debated on the future of the Obama presidency, and how its success could lie on the shoulders of bipartisanship.
Follow Zach White at twitter.com/zachandthenews.
SERVICE HONORING SHAFFER, OPEN TO PUBLIC
WHEN:
2 p.m. Friday
WHERE:
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BY KIRSTEN KWON
kkwon@kansan.com
In a city known for celebrating everything hippie, it’s no surprise that a vintage store embodying the spirit of the ‘60s survives in Lawrence. Beyond the Door, 918 Massachusetts St., is a store that specializes in clothing, posters and “a lot of stuff,” as store owner Sherry Fitzgerald put it. Before opening the store in Lawrence three years ago, Fitzgerald worked at a store in Florida. Her children, who are Lawrence residents, con- vinced her to move the store here to be closer to them.“he store existed down in Florida so when I moved it here I just kept the same name,” she said. “Even though I don’t really know what it means.” Besides clothing, which includes purses, shoes, -shirts and even prom dresses, posters and framed artwork fill the store. In the back, a friend of Fitzgerald’s, Fred Sack, frames vintage inspired art and puts it up around the shop to be sold. Fitzgerald said the color-ful posters and humorous sayings often grab the attention of people walking by.“Just yesterday a lady came in and bought four of my signs,” she said. “hey love my signs, they’ll see them in the window and stop right in.”Beyond the Door is also unique in that Fitzgerald receives nearly all of her products from one con-signor. When Uptown Monkey, a vintage store in Mission closed down, the owner offered all of her remaining items, including cloth-ing, to Fitzgerald. Unlike most other secondhand shops, she doesn’t usually buy clothing from people looking to sell old belongings.“Only if it’s really something special I’ll buy it,” she said.In October, sales were high as many people stopped in the store in search of the perfect Halloween costume. But, throughout the year those seeking décor for their residence hall or apartment can sift through poster collections or browse iconic art in the back of the store. rue to the local vibe of Lawrence, Beyond the Door is also the place for anyone looking for Bob Marley tie-dyed -shirts, Woodstock posters or peace sign necklaces. “Most people that come in say ‘this takes me back to the ole hip-pie days,’” Fitzgerald said.
— Edited by Alicia Banister
NEWS
2A
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2009
KJHK is the student voice in radio. Each day there is news, music, sports, talk shows and other content made for students, by students. Whether it’s rock ‘n’ roll or reggae, sports or special events, KJHK 90.7 is for you. For more news, turn to KUJH-TV on Sunflower Broadband Channel 31 in Lawrence. The student-produced news airs at 5:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Also, check out KUJH online at tv.ku.edu.
CONTACT US
Tell us your news.Contact Brenna Hawley, Jessica Sain-Baird, Jennifer Torline, Brianne Pfannenstiel or Amanda Thompson at (785) 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com.Kansan newsroom111 Stauffer-Flint Hall1435 Jayhawk Blvd.Lawrence, KS 66045(785) 864-4810
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“You cannot teach a man any-thing; you can only help him find it within himself.”
— Galileo Galilei
FACT OF THE DAY
If the sun were the size of a dot on an ordinary-sized letter ‘i’, then the nearest star would be 10 miles away.
— astronomyforbeginners.com
MOST E-MAILED
Want to know what people are talking about? Here’s a list of the five most e-mailed stories from Kansan.com:1. Nursing students compete for academic edge2. Gingrich to speak on cam-pus today3. Politically Correct: The public option4. Letter to the Editor: Public option5. New Pharmacy building on schedule to open
ET CETERA
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of The Kansan are 25 cents. Subscriptions can be purchased at the Kansan business office, 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall, 1435 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045. The University Daily Kansan (ISSN 0746-4967) is published daily during the school year except Saturday, Sunday, fall break, spring break and exams and weekly during the summer session excluding holidays. Periodical postage is paid in Lawrence, KS 66044. Annual subscriptions by mail are $120 plus tax. Student subscriptions are paid through the student activity fee. Postmaster: Send address changes to The University Daily Kansan, 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall, 1435 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045
MEDIA PARTNERSON THE RECORD
About 2 a.m. Sunday near 12th and Tennessee streets, a University student reported a battery.About 4:30 a.m. Sunday near 31st and Iowa streets, a University student reported a battery.About 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Smith Hall, someone reported a burglary and the theft of a laptop, a at a loss of $1,820.About 6 p.m. Tuesday, a Uni-versity student reported crimi-nal damage to her vehicle’s tires, at a loss of $900.
ON CAMPUS
“Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun” will be shown at 3 p.m. in the Conference Hall in Hall Center. The Mark Rudd Talk and Book Signing will begin at 3 p.m. in Oread Books in the Kansas Union. Tea Time will begin at 3 p.m. in the lobby in the Kansas Union. The Gerontology Faculty Col-loquium will begin at 4 p.m. in Room 2094 in the Dole Hu-man Development Center.New Directions in Research on Close Relationships will begin at 5 p.m. the Spencer Museum of Art.“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” will be shown at 8 p.m. in Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
NEWS NEAR & FAR
NATIONAL
4. Fire explosion breaks out at refinery in Utah
WOODS CROSS, Utah — A fire broke out at a refinery north of Salt Lake City on Wednesday, reportedly causing an explosion that damaged homes. There were no immediate reports of injuries at the Silver Eagle Refinery.KSL said nearby residents reported damage to their homes from an explosion about 9:15 a.m.Smoke and flames were visible at the oil refinery in Woods Cross. Television images showed several streams of water pouring onto the facility.
5. Man identifies robber as a former classmate
ERIE, Pa. — After being robbed of his jacket, cell phone, keys and $300, a Pennsylvania man was left with the odd feeling that his assailants looked familiar. Police say that’s because they went to school together about 15 years ago.Erie police arrested 30-year-old Anthony Williams on Monday on charges of robbery, terroris-tic threats and simple assault. The other suspect has not been found. They say Williams was one of two men who accosted the vic-tim outside a convenience store Oct. 17.Police say the victim recog-nized Williams because they both attended Central Career and Technical School in the mid-1990s. The victim brought old yearbooks to the police station and identified a newer picture of Williams from a photo lineup.
6. Fire erupts on train, complicates commutes
PHILADELPHIA — Fire has broken out on a Philadelphia commuter train during the morn-ing rush, complicating commutes hampered by the city’s transit strike. Officials say no injuries have been reported.Flames were shooting from the front of the Southeastern Penn-sylvania Transportation Authority regional train shortly after 7 a.m. Wednesday, the strike’s second day. A big cloud of smoke also billowed from the train, which was heading east from the Over-brook station in West Philadel-phia toward the Amtrak station in Center City.SEPTA spokesman Gary Fairfax says no injuries have been re-ported. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.
— Associated Press
INTERNATIONAL
1. Earthquake in Iran injures 700 inhabitants
TEHRAN, Iran — An earthquake struck a key port city in southern Iran early Wednesday, injuring at least 700 people and cutting power and telephone lines, the state news agency reported.IRNA said 100 of the injured had been hospitalized while the rest were minor cases. The 4.9-magnitude quake struck Bandar Abbas at 2:56 a.m. local time, sending residents streaming into the streets. Bandar Abbas is home to a large oil refinery that primarily serves the domestic market. The broadcast said there were no reports of deaths in the quake, which hit 850 miles south of the capital.Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. It experiences at least one slight earthquake everyday on average.
2. Ousted Zelaya asks US to clarify stance on coup
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Ousted President Manuel Zelaya has sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking the U.S. to clarify its position on the coup that overthrew him four months ago.Zelaya sent the letter Wednesday, a day after assistant U.S. Secretary of State Thomas Shannon told CNN en Espanol that “the U.S. will recognize the outcome” of Honduras’ Nov. 29 election even if Honduras’ Congress does not restore Zelaya to power first.Zelaya asks Clinton in his letter “to clarify to the Honduran people if the position condemning the coup d’etat has been changed or modified.” The Obama administration has said Honduras needs to restore the constitutional government.
3. Children drown after boat capsizes in India
NEW DELHI — At least eight children drowned Wednesday when a boat carrying at least 35 students capsized in southern India, police said.Rescue workers were searching for the other children and their fate was not immediately known, said Vasudev, a local police official who uses only one name. The cause of the accident was not known, he said. The accident occurred on the Chaliyar river in the Malappuram district of Kerala state, more than 1,300 miles south of New Delhi. Kerala is a popular tourist destina-tion.Boat accidents are common in India, where many vessels are
KU
lture:
Beyond the Door
ODD NEWS
Mom guilty of letting teen ride on top of van
ALBERTVILLE, Ala. — A woman pleaded guilty and will spend five days in jail after letting her daughter ride in a cardboard box on top of their van. The judge ordered Jackie Knott to 90 days jail time, of which she will serve only five days.WAFF reported Tuesday that the 37-year-old Knott admit-ted endangering the welfare of a child. The sentence began immediately and she also has to complete 40 hours of community service, attend a parenting class and driving school followed by two years probation.Albertville police arrested Knott last month after con-cerned drivers called police when they saw the 13-year-old in the box.Knott reportedly told police the box wouldn’t fit inside the van so her daughter was sitting inside to weigh it down on the roof. The teen was not hurt.
Image of Jesus Christ appears on man’s truck
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — Jim Stevens said he’s not particularly religious and is clueless about why an image resembling Jesus Christ keeps appearing on his pickup. Stevens, of Jonesborough, said nearly every morning, an image that looks to him like the face of Jesus Christ has appeared in the condensation on the driver’s side window of his Isuzu truck. A Johnson City Press photo of the truck showed a facial image.Stevens said when he first saw the image, he figured it would evaporate and not return. But it kept reappear-ing for two weeks now.Stevens said folks at the grocery store he goes to were amazed to see the image.
— Associated Press
MEDICAL
Calf fitted with two prosthetic legs
ASSOCIATED PRES
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Meadow the yearling Black Angus calf spends her days frolicking in northeastern New Mexico’s cattle country, all with her prosthetic hind legs.Te bucolic scene seemed impos-sible just a few months ago, when rancher Nancy Dickenson and her stepdaughter, Martha, found Meadow on a neighbor’s property. Te 11-month-old calf had lost her back hooves and half of her ears to severe frostbite.Te Dickensons have rescued dozens of animals and wanted to give Meadow a chance to walk nor-mally again. Tey located the calf’s owner and bought Meadow, and convinced veterinarians and stu-dents at Colorado State University to help her.Doctors amputated a portion of Meadow’s hind legs in August and fitted her with the prosthetics, a rare procedure done on livestock typically destined for the food sup-ply. Meadow is believed to be the first bovine calf fitted with double prosthetics, Colorado State vet-erinarian Dr. Robert Callan said. He based his claim on discussions with other veterinarian clinics and schools.Nancy Dickenson said the fam-ily decided to pay what she expects will cost “thousands of dollars” for the procedures because Meadow has become another family pet.Meadow, named for the spot she was found, returned home to New Mexico last month. Dickenson said she doesn’t want any visitors at win Willows Ranch near Ocate while Meadow recuperates.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
This undated photo provided by Martha Dickenson shows 9-year-old Luke Burton petting
his family’s Black Angus yearling calf. The calf is trying out her new prosthetic hind legs at Colorado State University’s James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Fort Collins, Colo.
ODD NEWS
Boar escapes game preserve, runs into car
NEW LONDON, N.H. — New Hampshire wildlife officials said a boar that ran into the side of a woman’s car on Interstate 89 in New London most likely escaped from a private game preserve. Becky Field said she didn’t realize her car had been hit by a boar until a state trooper told her after her ve-hicle was damaged on Sunday night.Fish and Game Wildlife Chief Steve Weber said boar are not native to New Hampshire, but they are stocked at the 24,000-thousand acre Blue Mountain Forest and Game Preserve two towns away.
‘Dead’ bricklayer shows up to his own funeral
RIO DE JANEIRO — A Brazil-ian bricklayer reportedly killed in a car crash shocked his mourning family by showing up alive at his funeral.Relatives of Ademir Jorge Goncalves, 59, had identified him as the victim of a Sunday night car crash in Parana state in southern Brazil, police said.
— Associated Press
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA — Commuters biked, walked, juggled carpool schedules and hitched rides as the city’s transit system ground to a near halt for a second day Wednesday, a rush worsened when a regional rail train caught fire.Regional rail lines are running because their workers are repre-sented by a different union. But trouble hit around 7 a.m. when a car caught fire as it headed down-town, causing delays and confu-sion. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority officials said it was likely an electrical fire and was not suspicious.More than 5,000 members of SEPTA’s largest union walked off the job early Tuesday, leaving thousands of people struggling for ways to get around without the use of subways, trolleys or buses.“I can’t take the whole strike off,” said Niki LaGrone, 27, a Catholic school teacher in North Philadelphia, as she prepared to take regional rail as far as it goes and then walk a mile and a half to school. “I’m going to have to show up. ... Hopefully, I can find somebody when I get in to work to help me out.”The Philadelphia school district reported a 16 percent drop in high school attendance Wednesday. On an average weekday, about 54,000 public and parochial students take SEPTA to school.At the J.R. Masterman high school, Robin Carpenter unloaded a bicycle from his father’s car so he could make the 7-mile ride home in the afternoon.“I do ride my bike sometimes but not during cross-country sea-son,” he said, adding that the strike was an inconvenience. “It’s too tir-ing.”Karen Pollack scrambled to find ways to get her 16- and 13-year-old daughters to and from their respective schools.Pollack lives in the city’s Germantown sec-tion and left about 15 minutes earlier to drop off her younger daugh-ter at Masterman. Her husband dropped off their older daughter at a school about 5 miles from home.Getting them home could be a challenge, though, since her older daughter usually takes SEPTA. Now, she’s going to walk the 15 or so blocks to her sister’s school and hopefully find a spot in that car pool — if there’s room.“It was a little stressful last night,” Pollack said. “It’s going to be day-to-day.”Jim Jordan, an assistant gen-eral manager for SEPTA, said the regional rail car that caught fire was about 40 years old, one of many slated to be replaced soon. The origin of the blaze was prob-ably in the heating or electrical system, Jordan said, and the entire fleet will be inspected once the cause is determined.Flames could be seen shooting from the front of the train shortly after 7 a.m. A big cloud of smoke also billowed from the train. No injuries were reported.Wayne Rafferty, 27, of Pottstown, a lab technician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said he had to calm down another pas-senger on the packed train, and he saw other passen-gers kicking out the removable emergen-cy windows. Once outside the train, he took a picture of the front of it with flames and smoke.“I already texted in the photos to my boss. I said, ‘This was my train,’” he said. “He said he’ll see me when he sees me, so I’m going to start making the hike.” Rafferty estimated that it would take about an hour to walk to his workplace.The sudden strike by Transport Workers Union Local 234 has all but crippled the system, which averages more than 928,000 trips each weekday. The union walked away from negotiations on a new contract over disagreements on wage, pension and health care issues.
NEWS
3A
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2009
mistaken for a common ladybug. “These beetles were originally brought here to control the popu-lation of other types of insects, but have now become more of a nuisance themselves,” Smith said. “And honey bees generally come out on these warmish days to eat and dump waste, so they’re around more, meaning people are more likely to come into contact with them.”Schwartz said there were always five to 10 of the ladybug-like bee-tles by her windows in her room.“They’ve been getting a lot worse,” she said. “It’s kind of con-fusing, though, because my win-dow is closed and I don’t know how they are getting in.”Joanie Haley, office manager of Haley Pest Control, Inc. said that this fall had been busy with calls about pests. She said ants, brown spiders, ladybugs, roaches and termites have been problems this year, but she had also seen an unusual amount of pack rats. “Pack rats can be a huge nui-sance since they like to chew on electrical wiring,” Haley said. “They can also get into car engines and cause all kinds of expensive damages.”Vince Avila, associate director for facilities in the Department of Student Housing, said most insects found in residence halls traveled in on backpacks, grocery bags and clothes.“That’s how many of the roach-es travel in and then they stay because they food that’s been left out,” Avila said. “That’s also where a lot of the rodents come from that we’ve had to relocate.”Avila said he recommended students report insect problems so Housing can take care of the issue.“We use safe insecticides,” he said. “Some of the ones in stores are pretty strong.”Avila said the Housing Department treated every campus building with kitchens monthly for pest problems and responded to others on a call-in basis. He also said he didn’t think there weren’t many problems in residence halls because students didn’t often call in with problems. There are, however, cases in stu-dent living that do require atten-tion, if not by Student Housing, then by the students themselves.“Bugs are so much bigger here than they are at home,” Jenny Curran, Chicago freshman, said. “When I moved into Corbin, I had a ton of huge spiders in my room.”Curran, like many other students, did not call Housing and Maintenance to help solve the pest problem. She took matters into her own hands. “I had my dad go get me spray,” she said. “That pretty much killed all of them, but I still see bugs around fairly often.”Patty Quinlan, supervisor of nursing at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said students generally came in with honey bee stings more as temperature changes, but said bug bites could be hard to identify unless the bug is caught. “We see a couple people every week who could have a bug bite,” she said. “The only time it is a problem is when there’s an aller-gic reaction, Quinlan said, “but, fortunately, most bites aren’t that horrific.”
— Edited by Betsy Cutcliff
University in 1956 after resigning from his position at the University of Alabama in protest of segrega-tion.Shaffer was opinionated and passionate, and not just about eco-nomics — he acted as an advo-cate of human rights and freedom of speech throughout his life. He spoke out against Nazi Germany in the 1940s, American segregation in the 1950s, the Vietnam War in the 1970s and recently demonstrated against the Iraq war.In 1990 Shaffer confronted more injustice when a law, later ruled unconstitutional, forced full-time professors to retire at age 70, said Joe Sicilian, chairman of the department of economics. Sicilian said Shaffer continued to teach, however, for significantly less pay until age 89 because he enjoyed working with students.“That was what he loved the most, his interaction with stu-dents,” Sicilian said. “He would tell me he would love to run into stu-dents from the past or the present in town or on campus.” Sarah Frazelle, KU research ana-lyst and lecturer, spent five semes-ters as Shaffer’s teaching assistant before assuming his role as the current economics 104 instructor. Frazelle said she always tried to follow the example Shaffer set with the course, but that there were aspects to his lectures that she couldn’t recreate. For example, she said, he would always present a long, detailed island analogy on the advent of money.“That is something that will never be able to be told the way he told it,” Frazelle said. “That is something students for generations will always remember: that money story.”Shaffer, in his 50-plus years at the University, had the opportunity to tell that story and others to mul-tiple generations of Jayhawks. In a 2007 interview with The Kansan, Shaffer reported that multiple stu-dents had commented on having parents who took his course before they did. “Only once did I have some-body say ‘Professor Shaffer, my grandfather took your course,’” Shaffer said.Manda Barker, a 2005 graduate and former stu-dent of Shaffer, said she mostly remembered his endearing charm. It always charac-terized the stories he would unravel to his hundreds of economic students, she said.She said she also remembered it fondly from when she bumped into him in person in the grocery store six years after she took his course.Shaffer was with his wife Betty at the time, Barker said, and seized the moment to compliment her good her looks. When Barker agreed that Betty was indeed beau-tiful, Shaffer gleamed and said, “Well, of course, she was a dancer,” Barker said.Russ Ptacek, longtime friend of Shaffer, said it was moments such as these that characterized their entire marriage. He said he noticed the steadfast devotion they had for one another from the first time he met Shaffer at the Unity Church of Lawrence. “Harry is jewish and he went to a Christian-based church in Lawrence to be with his wife Betty who is a Christian,” Ptacek said. “They were probably the most incredible love story that anybody who knew them had ever seen.”Shaffer, who exhaled his last breath in the presence of his wife, was a man who graced every-one around him with his positive spirit and will be missed by many, Ptacek said. Ptacek said he would most miss his friend in the poker group that Shaffer would enliven for hours every Sunday afternoon.“He was very lively. He had a lot of energy,” Ptacek said, before add-ing that the slow, deliberate game was, “absolutely never dull with Harry Shaffer.”
— Edited by Anna Kathagnarath
PROFESSOR
CONTINUED FROM 1A
BUGS
CONTINUED FROM 1A
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Harry Shaffer, former KU economics professor died
Tuesday. He was 90 years old.
“That is something students for gen-erations will always remember: that money story.”
SARAH FRAZELLEKU lecturer
“I can’t take the whole strike off. I’m going to have to show up.”
NIKI LAGRONEPhiladelphia school teacher
NATIONAL
Train fire worsens already bad transportation strike
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Stranded commuters are
loaded on busses near the scene of a train fire in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Nov. 4. A Philadelphia commuter train caught fire Wednesday, complicating the morning rush already hampered by the city’s transit strike. Officials said no injuries were reported.
ENVIRONMENT
1,200 new life forms identified at Yellowstone
HELENA, Mont. — Scien-tists searching for Yellowstone National Park’s lesser-known life forms — beyond its famed bison, bears and wolves — found more than 1,200 species, including several never known before to exist in the park.A one-day study of the park in late August found microscopic worms, mushrooms, a bluish-green lichen, a slender grass and a colorful tiger beetle, among other creatures, in about two square miles of Yellowstone, ac-cording to initial results released this week.
— Associated Press
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Tudo o que você quer ler.
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Sem compromisso. Cancele quando quiser.