Tuesday

March 1, 2005

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first issue tree. Subsequent issues 25 cents.

K

e

Celebrating 33 years of independence

THE KENTUCKY

me

 

1%

Targeting Top-20: College-
town relations improving
Page 6

 

Too poor for an iPod?

Page 5

 

Most UK teams meet academic standard

NCAA rating system analyzes progress;
only men's basketball trails D-l goal

By Adam Sichko
THE KENiUCllV mm

All but one of UK's 22
athletic teams met or ex-
ceeded a new National (Dolle-
giate Athletic Association
academic performance stan-
dard announced yesterday.

According to the Acade-
mic Progress Rate system.
the UK's men‘s basketball
team has a value of 827. be-
low the NCAA Division I av-
erage of 906. The goal is 925:
a perfect score is a 1000.

Sandy Bell. UK's associ-
ate athletic director for com-

pliance. said last year was a
“unique year" for the men‘s
basketball team and stressed
that all data are preliminary

“The message is. just
don’t jump to any conclu-
sions. because there are
teams that don't look fine
this year that will be OK
next fall," Bell said. "And
there are teams who look
fine right now that could be
in trouble next fall.

“lt‘s way too early to
draw conclusions." she said.
“This is a snapshot of just
one year."

The NCAA created the
Academic Progress Rate as
part of an academic reform
program designed to better
reward ~ or punish ~ the
performance of a universi-
ty‘s student-athletes. said
NCAA President Myles
Brand.

“This is the implementa»
tion of a more far-reaching
academic reform than we've
seen in decades." Brand said
in a teleconference. “We‘re
holding schools and individ-
ual sports teams account-
able for the academic suc~
cess of student-athletes.

“The message is clear:
Recruit student‘athletes who
are capable of doing college-
level work. and help them

continue progress toward a
degree." he said.

This data doesn't come
with punishments yet.
The NCAA will wait to add
information from this
school year until the start of
the 2005-06 school year be-
fore taking away scholar-
ships from teams who aren’t
at the 925-point plateau.

To start. the NCAA will
not have much data to base
the rating system on. so a
“confidence interval" has
been temporarily estab—
lished to help project what
rating an individual team
could reach over an extend-
ed period of time.

Currently. UK’s baseball
and men‘s soccer teams are

 

 

CLOWNING AROUND

 

 

 

The Moscow (Iircus pcrfomted last
night at the I/exington Opera 1 louse as
part ofL'K’s Cultural Diversity li‘cstival.

The festival continues tonight with a

performance by the Prague Symphony
Orchestra at 7:30 pm. at the Singlctaiy
( Icntcr for the Arts.

Above: Russian circus clowns Vladimir Plu-
gatar (left) and Irina Pluhatar perform at
last night's “A Russian Winter's Tale" at the

Lexington Opera House.

Left: Gymnast lolanta Stradomskayte of the
Moscow Circus performs a silk aerial act.

PHOTOS BY KEITH SMILEY I STAFF

 

 

Career fair tomorrow offers job interviews

By Shannon Mason
rHr KENTUCKY K£RNEL

The James W Stuckert
(‘areer (‘enter will host a
Spring (‘areer Fair and iii-
ternship Expo in the Student
Center Ballroom on Wednes»
day from 11 am. to 3 pm.

More than 100 companies
have registered.

Sue Strip. (‘a-
reer (‘enter direc‘

such as Pricewater»
house(‘oopers.
lBM. Procter &
Gamble. Toyota. doors."
Walt Disney World
and Xerox will be
on campus.

More than half
of the companies
attending are from
Kentucky. including :17 com-
panies with large plants in
Lexington and surrounding
areas. and nine companies
from Louisville. The compa-
nies that are attending repre-
sent 16 states overall.

More than :10 companies
attending are high-tech engi-
neering companies. including
(TSX Railroad. UPS and UPS
Airlines. and Weyerhaeuser

0

“Get out
tor. said recruiters there and
open new

Leah Craft

French and economrcs
senior. on the iarr's benefits

Strup said that even
though nine career fairs take
place during the school year.
this is the first face-toface ca-
reer fair to be hosted in the
spring and on this scale.

The companies attending
are coming with open posi-
tions. and though students
may not get job offers. they
may get a chance to
interview. Strup
said.

“We have 15
companies on cam-
pus the next day to
do intervieWs." she
said.

(‘ompanies are
looking for students
from all majors for
full-time employ-
ment. part-time em-
ployment. summer and fall
internships. engineering co
op and summer employment

Employers and event
hosts advised students to
bring several resumes. dress
in a professional manner.
have questions to ask. and
have some knowledge of the
companies they would like to
speak with.

“Make a list of the top

three attributes you want to
stress to your employer." said
Jill Franxman. associate di-
rector of finance and ac-
counting for Procter & (lam-
ble. “That way you can hand
them your resume and point
out the three highlights. Kind
of prepare a 30-second com-
mercial about yourself."

(‘hristy Sweeney. the uni»
veisity relations specialist for
Lexmark inter-
national. lnc,.
said students
can never be
too prepared.

“ B r i n g
more resumes
than you think
you will need."
she said. “You never know
who you will want to give one
to."

Sweeney said companies
consider a few characteristics
when looking at candidates.

“You see so many people
at a career fair." she said.
“The people you remember
are either going to be really
put together or a mess."

Some UK students have
already benefited from (‘a-
reer (‘enter events,

Career Fair

For a list of companies attend-
ing tomorrow’s Career Fair. visit
www.uky.edu/CareerCenter

Leah Craft. a French and ‘;

economics senior. is current-

ly interning with Merrill 1
Lynch. one of the companies -
that she was introduced to ‘
through the (‘areer Center. ,
She recommends that stu- ‘

dents attend any and all ca-
reer events that they can.
“Get out there and open

new doors." (‘raft said. “Be .

ambitious. don't be shy"

Jared}

Braswell. a De-
cember ac-
counting and fi- .
nance gradu-
ate. is now in-
terning with
l’ricewater-
house(‘oopers.
a compzny he met through j
the (‘areer (‘enter ‘

“It‘s easy to get online and
get the feel of a company."
Braswell said. “The best way .
to do it is 11 person. Take ad- ‘
vantage of this opportunity." ‘

Students not available to .
attend the fair are encour- :
aged to go online and partici- i
pate in the Virtual Career
Fair. which began Feb. 21 and
will run through March 4.

Email newsakykernelmm 1

using this interval to top the
925-point goal.

Nine UK teams earned
perfect scores.

To incur a penalty. a
team using a confidence in
terval must be below the 925-
point mark. and it must also
have at least one “0»for-2"
student-athlete , someone
who did not return to school
the following semester and
was at the same time acade~
mically ineligible.

Bell said once the data
for this school year is added
to the current ratings, the
UK men's basketball team
should not have to be penal-
ized.

“The average for the
men’s team next year will be

UHS director urges

way higher than this
year‘s." Bell said.

Last year‘s team featured
four seniors who each pur-
sued professional basketball
opportunities without fin-
ishing their degrees, which
counted against UK. Bell
said the calculations do not
figure in non-scholarship
walk-ons.

But this year’s team has
two seniors 7 both of whom
will graduate —— and is also
expected to have everyone
else remain academically el-
igible. Bell said.

"That being said. would
we have liked men‘s basket.
ball to be higher?" Bell

See NCAA on page 2

healthcare coverage

UK offers student insurance plans;
one student tells of debt due to bills

By Becky Hall
is: kmuckv KERNEL

Health insurance may be
one of the last things on stu-
dents‘ minds when they head
to college. but a UK adminis:
trator said students are run
ning a huge risk without it.

About 20 percent to 30
percent of college students
do not have medical insur-
ance. said Dr. Greg Moore. di-
rector of University Health
Services.

Most private colleges and
an increasing number of
public schools are requiring
students to have health in-
surance. he said.

UK has a $96.75 mandato-
ry health fee each semester
that allows students unlimit
ed visits at UHS. laboratory
work. X-rays. mental health
appointments and some med-
ication costs.

Moore said the fee does
not cover anything that hap-
pens at the hospital.

However. UK does offer
its students health insurance
coverage for about $600 a
year.

The student insurance
plan covers costs related to
hospitalization. accident care
and surgical procedures.

Moore said about 6.000
[K students. half of whom
are undergraduates and half
of whom are graduate stu-

Suicide bomb in Iraq

dents. are covered through
the plan.

Phillip Rieger. a comput-
er information and technolo
gy sophomore at LCC. spent
a week at UK hospital after a
lung collapsed Feb. 2.

Rieger said he wishes he
would have gotten insurance
prior to his hospitalization
but never thought he would
need it.

“I didn‘t really know
what my coverage was
through UK.” Rieger said. “I
didn‘t know about the 3600
plan until after the fact.

“You don't think it's go-
ing to happen to you, and
then it does."

Now Rieger is trying to
find a way to pay off the
834.000 he owes to the UK
Chandler Medical Center.

His doctor visits cost
810.000. and his hospital costs
were an additional $30,000.

Because his income falls
within a low-income catego-
ry. he has to pay 40 percent of
the 810.000 in doctor fees. He
has to pay the full amount of
hospital costs. leaving him
with a 314.000 total bill.

Adding to his financial
woes are payments for a new
car he purchased in January
and an increased car insur»
ance bill because of an acci~
dent he had last year. Rieger
said.

See Insure on page 4

kills at least 115 people

By Jackie Spinner and Saad Sarban
THE wisnmcrou P051

BAGHDAILIraq Early
Monday morning. Younis
Qasim had sent his 10-year
old son to buy vegetables at
the market in central Hilla. a
city south of the capital. Lat-
er. at home with his wife and
family. Qasim heard an explo
sion. immediately thought of
his son and ran out to find
him.

Khalid Alwan had been
sitting in his apartment near
a medical clinic. Alwan. :11.
realized what had happened
just before the windows of
his apartment shattered in a
spray of glass.

A car bomb targeting
lraqi civilians applying for
government jobs had explod-
ed outside the clinic, killing
at least 115 people and Wound-
ing at least 146. It was one of
the deadliest attacks of the
insurgency

"We were shocked." Al-
wan said as he stepped
around pools of blood and
pieces of flesh. “i don‘t know
what these cowards get from
killing all those people."

The bomb blew up at 9:30
am. as people were lining up
at the Popular Clinic of Hilla
for medical tests required for
positions in the health and

education ministries and the
security forces. said Qais
Hamza. police chief of Babil
province. which includes
Hilla. a bustling city of near-
ly half a million people 60
miles south of Baghdad.

Fire and metal shards
from the blast ripped through
the crowd of job applicants as
well as the nearby vegetable
and fruit market. which was
filled with women and chil-
dren shopping for their daily
produce.

Qasim. 34. had raced to
the market to look for his son.
But hours after the blast. he
still had not located him. “I
am afraid." Qasim said. “This
place should have been well
protected. How could the po
lice or army not recognize
that? Don't they know this
country is full of terrorism?"

Witnesses said the blast
came from a white Mit-
subishi sedan parked on the
street.

“It was terrible." said
Aqeel Muslim. 40. who oper-
ates a small tea stand near
the clinic. “People were
screaming and running, cov-
ered with blood. Some of the
shrapnel and pieces of flesh
fell near my stand."

The clinic and nearby
buildings were pocked with

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