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KU football looks to break a near decade-long homecoming losing streak
Thursday, October 24, 2019
KU international enrollment dropped 14% over the last four years — staff blame more restrictive immigration policies KU International Enrollment 6 5.1
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‘Stomp the Hill’
KU National Pan-Hellenic Council will host its annual homecoming step show “Stomp the Hill” Friday, Oct. 25.
Emma Pravecek/UDK
Nancy Bocskor
This fall, Nancy Bocskor was selected as the fellow at the Dole Institute of Politics. She is leading a series of discussions at the Dole Institute titled “Create Change: Women, Democracy and Global Politics.”
Defensive rebuild
KU football looks to fix defense and special teams mistakes before the game against Texas Tech Saturday.
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This year’s homecoming theme, “Far Above the Golden Valley,” pays tribute to KU’s alma mater.
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Connor Heaton/UDK
Vol. 139/Issue 17
‘Long climb out’
Fall ‘16
News on deck at kansan.com
The Student Voice Since 1904
Fall ‘15
WHAT’S NEW AT KU
Homecoming Special inside — events, art and awards
Source: KU International Support Services
Philip Mueller/UDK
Data shows the recent decline in international enrollment.
Corey Minkoff
@Corey_Minkoff
International enrollment at the University of Kansas fell for the fourth consecutive year in the fall 2019 semester, according to data provided by International Support Services. Total international enrollment at the University has fallen from 2,363 to 2,031 students — approximately 14% — since fall 2015, according to the data. This stands in contrast to previous years as international enrollment grew from 1,740 to 2,363 students — about 36% — between fall 2008 and fall 2015. On average within that time frame, international enrollment increased each year by about 5%. The decline mirrors a national trend. Institutions across the country continue to report dropping international enrollment numbers, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Chuck Olcese, director for KU ISS, said the drop caught staff by surprise.
“We thought, ‘Oh, all you had to do was have a presence on the internet, and [international students] would find us, and they’d come,’” Olcese said. “And they did! Quite frankly, we were just blindsided by the perfect storm.” Olcese described the “perfect
“Quite frankly, we were just blindsided by the perfect storm.” Chuck Olcese Director for KU ISS
storm” as a combination of primarily three phenomena: the rapidly growing cost of higher education, expanding institutional competition for international students and the message being sent out to the world by President Donald Trump’s administration. Olcese said he believes Trump’s controversial Muslim travel ban,
which was put into place in January 2017, and continued anti-immigrant rhetoric has sent an unwelcoming message to the rest of the world. Trump’s rhetoric has made agencies more stringent in immigration law interpretation, Olcese said. In the past when a student’s visa fell out of status, ISS advisers had wiggle room in options they could present to students. Now, advisers are at a loss as to how they should counsel those in need. “It’s kind of a crapshoot,” Olcese said. The shifting political climate is even affecting students whose visas are still within legal status. Students who could once take breaks to visit their families now often spend their holidays at the University, fearing if they left the United States their visas could be declined upon re-entry. “We’ve got students here who haven’t been home in years,” Olcese said. “There’s a real risk as to whether they’ll be able to come Continue on page 2
KU students win global architecture award Tianna Witmer @TiannaJWtimer
Liam Mays
@LiamWMays
On the horizon
Contributed by Jeff Jacobsen/KU Athletics
Soccer travels to Fort Worth to play TCU
Jayhawks will face the Horned Frogs on Oct. 27 at 1 p.m.
Standing 15 feet tall, the leaning poles of the Kaw Pavilion at Burroughs Creek Park slant toward the center of the structure as they circle its canopy made of fabric sails. The cloth is cut to the likeness of the stretched animal hides used by the original indigenous tribes of Kansas. Recycled road signs layer the two sides of the pavilion in the pattern of water, prairie grass and fire. Assistant architecture professor Keith Van de Riet taught the third-year architecture studio that designed and built the pavilion at 900 E. 15th St. Pavilions are usually decorative structures found in parks that give some form of shelter. The studio collaborated with the city and community to create the structure without a budget, ultimately winning the international Architecture MasterPrize for green architecture. “It’s an award that generally just recognizes a significant achievement in architecture,” Van de Riet
The Kaw Pavilion stands at Burroughs Creek Park.
said. “We entered the student category on that one, and we won the small project award for green architecture.” The studio also won the AIA Kansas Design Awards for “Small Architectural Project” where it entered into the professional category for architectural design. “I think it’s a unique piece of architecture, and I’m very proud of what we accomplished,” Van de Riet said. “It’s unlike anything else in Lawrence or in the state, and I think that’s why it won. When you’re forced to innovate, because of a low budget, or purely recycled materials, new things happen.”
Liam Mays/UDK
This was the first project Van de Riet had done with no budget. “We relied entirely on donations and recycled materials. We were able to work with a lot of local vendors and local contractors to help us out,” Van de Riet said. “It really kind of came together piece by piece, but in the end, it was really a big project for us.” The studio also collaborated with architect and urban designer Suzan Hampton, who worked as a project leader during the semester, connecting the class with the community. “I was really proud of the Continue on page 3
KU Natural History Museum reports the theft of three fossils Nicole Asbury @NicoleAsbury
Emma Bascom @EBascom3
The KU Natural History Museum reported the theft of three plant fossils Monday morning, according to a crime log from the KU Public Safety Office. The museum reported the three plant fossils were stolen some time in between Oct. 18 and Oct. 19. Unknown thieves pried hooks from display cases and took three fossils. The loss was valued at about $650, Deputy Chief James Anguiano from KU PSO said. The case is open and under investigation. The largest fossil was about five inches by five inches in size, University spokesperson Andy Hyland said in an email to the Kansan. “They include a petrified palm stem and leaf compressions of Ginkgo and a cycad-like plant called Zamites,” Hyland said. The fossils were a part of an exhibit that allowed people to touch plant fossils. The museum is exploring alternative methods for display teaching specimens, Hyland said.
Stairs behind Wescoe close, disrupt traffic Tianna Witmer @TiannaJWitmer
Wescoe Hall will be under construction for the remainder of the semester as KU Facilities Planning and Development works to replace the roof before “harsh winter weather sets in,” according to a KU Facilities press release. The construction, which started this week, closed the sidewalk running from Malott Hall and up the backstairs of Wescoe toward The Underground. This will allow the construction crew to block off space for a crane to assist in the project. According to the release, Facilities is working to minimize disruptions to the school day. However, noise could be an issue at times. Permit parking on Wescoe Hall Drive will not be available, and the back stairs of Wescoe that lead to The Underground will be limited during the day. There will also be changes to limited mobility access on campus, including limited mobility parking and Hawk Route access. A parking map can be found at accessibility.ku.edu. Access to the Hawk Route through Budig Hall will still be available during building hours, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. KU Facilities hopes to have construction complete by the end of the semester, said Mark Reiske, director of facilities planning and development at the University. “We would have loved to wait until summer, but that just didn’t work,” Reiske said.