Big Splash WWW. KYKERNEL ( OM _RIDAY UK's swimming and diving team hopes to continue successes from recent years as the Cats open in Knoxville today Score PAGE 3 ()( TOBER 26 2007 NTUCKY KERNEL CELEBRATING 36 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE Text-message warnings slower to start than hoped Official says emergency system will begin running within the next couple of weeks, after testing _By Alice Haymofll ahaymond®kykernel com In the last two months. UK has sent out campus-wide e—mails alerting stu» dents. faculty and staff of assaults on campus. but emergency management officials hoped to have been farther along in using text—message wamings. The text messaging would be part of a new emergency notification system UK signed a purchase order for in late August. At that time. the university‘s intent was to send out sign-up sheets for students to register with the system by the end of September. Within the next couple of weeks. UK expects to launch the system. UK Alert. which will give administrators another way to contact the campus community quickly in case of an emer- gency. through a text message. e-mail. voice message or fax. Christy Giles. director of UK’s 0f— fice of Emergency Management. had been researching campus alert systems for two years before the Virginia Tech University shootings in April. which prompted Giles and other UK adminis- trators to speed up the process. “It has taken. unfortunately. a little longer than we had anticipated getting the technical issues worked out." Giles said. Giles' office has trained staff to know how to send out different emer~ gency alerts if something were to hap- pen. The office has also prepared mes- sage templates for specific situations. such as a tomado wanting. The system will be up and running in the first part of November as soon as Giles runs a test on the registration form to make sure students who sign up for the service are actually added to the list. she said. “We are frantically working on this." she said. “When you‘re dealing with technology. sometimes you just don’t know what the delays might be until you get into it.“ Students and employees will be able to choose what infomiation to sub— mit to the system and how they want to be contacted. UK Alert will also be available to parents. library patrons and Lexington residents. The university will continue to send campus—wide safety advisory emails as it does now. with UK Alert as an anoth— er way of communicating. The difference between UK Alert and the current e-mails is that the con- tent in a text message is brief and to the point. and it also gives the recipient an option to respond to certain notifica- tions by pressing No. l for “I need help" or No. 2 for "I‘m OK." Giles emphasized the need for mul- tiple notification methods so that when an emergency happens. people will know about it as soon as possible. How soon those alerts would be sent out during an emergency will de- pend on the situation. “If the need arose that a message needed to go out immediately. it would See Warnings on page Ii SI l()L’T IT ()L'T PHOTOS BY ED MATTHEWS i STAFF UK women's basketball head coach Matthew Mitchell gets excrted after junior forward Jenn'c Jackson, holding the microphone, demonstrates her Sll’lgll'lg tal- ents for the crowd at Women‘s Basketball Fan Day last night The UK women’s basketball team ran onto the floor of Memorial Coliseum last night amid the cheers of fans young and old for its first-ever li‘an Day. The event featured inflatable games and free -57‘l8l8. Leea Haarz watches as her 2year~old son, Zachary. slides down an inflatable pyramid last night at Fan Day com l. exhibition game Nov. posters. as well as a Blue-\Vhitc scrimmage. More than 250 fans came out to take part in the festivities. Head coach Matthew Mitchell asked the each member of the team personal questions so the fans in the stands could learn more about their favorite players beyond the court. The ['K I loops season begins at home with an iagainst Kentucky Wesley an. 1 ickets for (singlet, Games go on sale that day in the .l(oc Ir aft Centers ticket office. and season tickets can be purchased by calling the UK Ticket Office at l he team’s first two games. which are exhibition games. are free and do not require a ticket. according to the L' K Athletics Web site iwww.ukathlctics. Banquet to honor black UK students, alumni ceive the Torch Bearer award Opening remarks will be given by Lyman M. Johnson. son of Ly- man T. Johnson. The younger John- son continues to uphold his father's By Jasmine Whitlow news®kykernel corn (‘urrent UK students aren‘t the only ones celebrating during home- coming. Tonight. paths of UK students from the past will cross once again as they return to Lexington for the l7th annual Lyman T. Johnson Alumni Homecoming Awards Ban- quet. The event. which focuses on black UK alumni. will be held tonight at 7 in the Hyatt Regency Hotel. UK's Lyman T. Johnson Alum— ni Constituent Group. which is a part of the National UK Alumni As— sociation. will host the banquet. Lye man Tefft Johnson. the group’s namesake. became the first black student to attend UK in W49. “The event has become an ex- cellent opportunity for African- American alumni to share memo- ries and rekindle friendships. to demonstrate pride and commit- ment to the university." said Em- mett “Buzz" Bumam. president of the Lyman T. Johnson alumni group. The banquet not only allows people to pay respect to the legacy of Johnson. but also provides an or» www.mnmacm. Q portunity to acknowledge the many achievements of black alumni and present scholarships. The events committee asked each UK college to select a notable alumnus who has positiyely impact~ ed his or her community and who continuously makes fellow alumni burst with "big blue pride" by mak- ing a difference in his or her respec- tive field. During the banquet. undergrad- uate students will be recognized as well. The Torch of Excellence award will be given to an alumnus from each college. and an under- graduate from each college will re» legacy by attending the banquet each year. The legacy that broke the racial barrier at the UK has served as the pioneer for other minorities to apply at the institution. After speeches by alumni. fac— ulty. staff. family and friends. there will be a presentation by the keynote speaker. Alicestyne Turley- Adams. director of the National Underground Railroad Research In- stitution. MyUK adds wait-list info to online registration By Juliana Vachon ivachon®kykernalcom Priority registration for Spring 2008 classes starting next week will feature updated navigation tools and the ability for students to see their posi— tion on class wait lists. “We did listen to concerns and comments after the last priority registration and the opening of term. and we made some changes." said Kathy Hamperian. director of information management and technical project manager of Integrated Re~ source lnforrnation Systems. a computer manage- ment system UK is implementing. Lack of visible wait-list positions and difficul- ty in navigating UK's online campus management W the student information system that went live in February and includes students‘ email. billing and personal infomiation. along with class registration capabilities ., were among users' top concems. Hamperian said. Students and advisers working through the reg- istration process will find a more user—friendly in- terface. she said. “A lot of it comes from getting used to the sys- tem." Hamperian said. “Everyone should be a lot more comfortable with what they're seeing." The new student—infomiation system is a single sign-on interface where students must log in using Active Directory credentials. Students should be aware of the new password regulations requiring students to change their Link Blue password every 90 days for security purpos- es. sard Sidney Scott. manager of the Information Technology (‘ustomer Service Center. See MyUK on page 6 Columnist Gender divide still present in newsrooms We“ hit Sho_rt news@kykernel com Ellen Goodman graduated from Radcliffe Col— lege as a history major with no joumalism experi- ence. But she said nerve and endurance helped her become a Pulitzer Prilcv'inning columnist. whose work appears in 375 newspapers. from her start in a primarily gender-segregated news business. The syndicated columnist was the noted speak- er for the 2007 Paul G. Blazer Lecture Series in the Humanities yesterday at Memorial Hall. "It is not an exaggeration to say her voice has reached millions." said Ron Formisano. the William T. Bryan (‘hair of American History at UK. Goodman had the audience laughing within the first minute of her speech titled “Men. Women and Media: Is the Political (Tool Personal?" “What I decided to do tonight is to try and make sense of a major change that we're going through as journalists and as Americans. a change in the way we think about the relationship between private and public life. between the personal and the political." she said. Goodman focused on two main issues through- out her speech; an ongoing gender gap that influ- ences journalism and the increasing connection be— tween the private and public lives of politicians. See cm on page. W 257-1915; W 257-2872 O '.