KU News Release

Four ‘green’ KU groups to benefit from football tailgating fundraiser

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LAWRENCE — Four University of Kansas groups that are engaged in environmental sustainability will benefit when the 2008 “Proud to Be a Jayhawk” tailgating fundraising promotion and the KU football season kicks off at 6 p.m. Aug. 30. KU will play Florida International University at Memorial Stadium.

“Saturdays, tailgating and KU football are synonymous now,” said Athletics Director Lew Perkins. “To keep this popular new football tradition at KU, we hope all fans will consider buying a football program to support sustainability work and research at KU.”

The groups will split $1 from every KU football program sold at home football games. More than $25,000 has been raised through the tailgating fundraiser since the promotion began in 2002. In 2007, a record $4,911 was collected. This year’s beneficiaries are:

Studio 804
This graduate-student course, taught by Dan Rockhill, the J.L. Constant Distinguished Professor of Architecture, was established in 1995. Each spring semester, students in the studio design and build structures that are enviromentally friendly. Earnings from sales of projects go back to the organization for future designs. Architecture magazine has twice named residential projects designed and built by Studio 804 as “Home of the Year.” This year, the art center the students built for the tornado-ravaged town of Greensburg is the first LEED Platinum building in the state and the first in the nation designed and constructed by students. Platinum is the highest rating level of the rigorous LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System — a rating procedure that awards points for meeting particular green building criteria. Proceeds from “Proud to Be a Jayhawk” will support the studio’s projects.

Biodiesel Initiative
This student project, led by Susan Williams, associate professor of chemical and petroleum engineering, integrates research with refinement of biodiesel in the university’s two new reactors, which convert used cooking oil collected from a campus dining facility into biodiesel fuel. It is creating undergraduate research opportunities in alternative fuels for students in science and engineering as well as volunteers from across campus. The students are developing fuel testing methods that will support local industry and generating a useable fuel source out of materials that would otherwise be discarded as waste. Proceeds will support the initiative’s projects.

Center for Sustainability
The center promotes and facilitates research and learning opportunities that address environmental improvement, economic prosperity and social responsibility. It helps develop interdisciplinary research teams, supports student research projects, sponsors service learning courses, coordinates a campuswide network of sustainability ambassadors and promotes sustainable practices at KU. Proceeds will support the center’s Sustainability Leadership student award program.

Emerging Green Builders
Emerging Green Builders is a coalition of students and young professionals intent on promoting the integration of future leaders into the green building movement. Proceeds will benefit a 5,000-square-foot rain garden project at the Ambler Student Fitness Recreation Center initiated by the KU student chapter. The students already have earned funding support from the state department of health and environment, the KU Center for Sustainability, Student Senate and the Ambler center. Pipes on the roof will direct rain into the garden, and the slope of the garden will trap storm water and prevent flooding around the fitness center. The students will plant native flowers and grasses such as iris, sunflower, milkweed and lobelia, providing a year-round array of colorful blooms. The roots will filter dirt and chemicals, improve water quality and require less maintenance than non-native species.

Tailgating and shuttle bus information

Fans 21 and older may tailgate with alcohol in designated areas during a three-hour pre-game period and during halftime. Tailgating with alcohol is not permitted during game time. On Aug. 30, the game starts at 6 p.m. so tailgating may begin at 3 p.m. Free shuttle buses will begin running two hours before game time from campus parking lots to the east side of Memorial Stadium.

Four parking lots have been added to the list of designated tailgating lots between the stadium and Allen Fieldhouse. Designated tailgating lots are 1, 3 (excluding the canopy and other designated areas), 33, 36, 39, 50, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 65, 72, 90, 91, 92, 94 and 124. Tailgating is permitted in the Mississippi Street parking garage, but no cooking is allowed.

Public toll parking for home football games is no longer available on Memorial Drive or in the Mississippi Street garage. KU Parking and Transit will sell a limited number of parking spaces in lot 72, an approved tailgating lot between the Allen Fieldhouse parking garage and the Burge Union. Lot 90, east of the fieldhouse, previously was a free parking lot but now is a toll lot. Parking will cost $20. Both of these lots are served by a free shuttle for travel to and from Memorial Stadium.

For disabled people, there are 12 disabled parking stalls in lot 59 on the stadium’s east side, and 26 stalls in Lot 94 on the west side. Each now costs $20.

Alcohol consumption is not permitted on campus or city streets. KU Public Safety will establish a boundary line to designate where tailgating is allowed on Campanile Hill. The space on the hill will be reduced because of the construction.

In addition to providing portable toilets in all designated tailgating areas, Kansas Athletics will provide burn buckets for fans to safely dispose of hot coals.

In an effort to comply with all Homeland Security recommendations and provide the safest atmosphere for coaches, players and fans, backpacks are no longer allowed in Memorial Stadium.  

The tailgating rules are:

— Alcohol may be consumed only during a three-hour period before kickoff and during halftime in the designated tailgating area.
— Underage drinking, disorderly conduct or other unlawful conduct will not be tolerated.
— No kegs or other containers with a capacity greater than 1 gallon may be brought into this area. Fans are strongly encouraged not to use or bring glass containers.
— Alcohol may not be brought into Memorial Stadium.

Previous beneficiaries of the “Proud to Be a Jayhawk” promotion include the Marching Jayhawks, KU Math and Science Center, the Mi Familia Program, International House, Commission on the Status of Women, the Global Awareness Program, Global Partners Program, Center for Community Outreach, the Spirit Squad and the Nichols League Student Leadership Fund.

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