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ART OF WAR L FALL OF THE HOUSES OF STEWART FAM me Visit our website where the latest KU merchandise is available online. KansasSampler.com 1-800-645-5409 [email protected] ' % Topeka 9548 Antioch, Overland Park vlall, Missi Town Center Plaza, Leawood KANSAS ALUMNI CONTENTS FEATURES 20 FIRST WORD Candid Combat The editor's tun Glenn Kappelman knew his battlefield duty in World War II would give him a frontline view oj history. Fifty years later his photographs do the same for us. By Steven Hill 26 By Any Other Name Why is retired chemistry professor Albert Burgstahler combing Shakespeare's sonnets and plays for clues to the works' true author? Because they're there. By Chris Lazzarino Cover illustration by Christine M. Schneider 32 Going, Going, Gone? The decline of Stewart Avenue, once a haven of Greek life, is only one of the challenges that make this a pivotal year for KU's fraternities and sororities. By Chris Lazzarino Page 32 VOLUME 98 NO. 5, 2000 KANSAS ALUMNI Put Your We ve spent our Uv§s building the Herbarium into Trust a valuable resource for KU qr InKU tire region. This gift allows us to continue our involvement by contribute As a boy, KU alumnus Ronald L. McGregor, Ph.D., became fasci- to the future success of ttm facility." nated by the varied and abundant — Ronald & Dorothy McGregor plant life on his grandfather's ranch. His youthful enthusiasm grew into a 42-year career at KU. As director of the Herbarium at KU from 1950 to 1989, he guided the growth of the Herbarium's collection of flora to become the largest in the region, including more than 400,000 different spec- imens. In 1990, KU honored his dedication by renaming the col- lection the Ronald L. McGregor Herbarium. Because his commitment to the Herbarium continues today, McGregor and his wife, KU alumna Dorothy M. McGregor, have funded a charitable remain- der trust at The Kansas University Endowment Association. In the future, the trust will provide sup- port for maintenance and research at the Herbarium. The gift benefits the McGregors by providing them with income for their lifetimes in addition to a FIRST WORD BY JENNIFER JACKSON SANNER converted him to the Oxfordian side of the authorship argu- ment. Burgstahler the scientist has painstakingly analyzed what M.entio. n "Macbeth," and I he says are calculated arrangements of letters—word puzzles see before me a box of Dunkin' known as acrostics—in which Edward de Vere cleverly revealed Donuts. his own name, though he otherwise sought to conceal it behind I'm serious—and so was the pseudonym William Shakespeare. Burgstahler says he has marvelous Margery Bakalar, punctured a literary hoax. g'71, my high-school English Sacrilege? Some say yes. But the debate is just the kind of fun teacher, who knew, like that attracts not only scholars with literary credentials but also Shakespeare, that somber interlopers like Burgstahler and Dickson—and perhaps curious subjects cried out for comic folks who will crack open the sonnets or plays to see what all relief. So, to cajole precocious, the fuss is about. I suspect Marge Bakalar, erudite and ornery preoccupied seniors into spend- scholar, would approve. ing a semester on Macbeth, Marge Just as she would applaud Glenn Kappelman's noble mis- encouraged us to play with the play. deed. As a young soldier in World War II, Kappelman, c'48, She called herself Hecate, for the goddess of witchcraft who g'50, disobeyed orders and secretly photographed daily life commands the three witches. She nicknamed various students within his army cavalry unit as it made its way through France, after other characters: Banquo, Macduff, Thane and Cawdor. Germany and Austria. As she combed through the meanings of the most memorable Sacrilege? Absolutely. But Kappelman's photos, now compiled lines, she also laughed mischievously when we shouted short- in video form, offer rare, uncensored glimpses of war. Steve Hill ened soliloquies of the play's most insignificant utterances: tells the stories behind the novice photographer's uncanny shots. "Not yet" or "Come let me clutch thee." (Macbeth's plea to the Our final feature also flirts with rejecting the rules, if you dagger soon took on salacious symbolism only teen-agers could consider upholding tradition one of the commandments of the love.) The curtain call was our Macbeth party, where we dined University's venerable fraternity and sorority system. This fall, on, you guessed it, Dunkin' Donuts, after Duncan, the slain Greek brothers and sisters returned to the Hill to find that six king of Scotland. fraternities had vacated the row of Greek houses along Stewart Sacrilege? Sure. But in spite of—and because of—the antics, Avenue, leaving only stalwart Alpha Gamma Delta sorority. They many of us not only learned, but also yearned for more, begin- also learned that the systems longtime adviser, Bill Nelson, was ning a lifelong fascination with Shakespeare. leaving KU to return to graduate school. As fraternities and But was it truly William Shakespeare of Stratford who capti- sororities continue to debate rules for alcohol and, as always, vated us? compete for members and stature on the Hill, Nelson says the One winter evening two years ago, as I sipped a tall skinny very tradition that strengthens the system may also stifle it. mocha in an Alexandria, Va., coffee shop, I picked up an Sacrilege? Perhaps. But listen to Nelson and others, witness orphaned Style section of The Washington Post and devoured the decline of houses that cannot compete with those whose the lead article, headlined, "Shakespeare in Trouble: Who Was reputations fuel plentiful recruits and alumni contributions, and Will Shakespeare?" The story chronicled the exhaustive research you might see that tradition can sometimes be a bane as well of Peter Dickson, an ex-CIA policy analyst who had devoted his as a boon. retirement to the ardent pursuit of the Shakespeare authorship Or, as Marge would chuckle and remind us over Dunkin' question. After poring over rare 16th- and 17th-century records Donuts: Fair is foul, and foul is fair. ***** and literary documents, Dickson had concluded that a poet and nobleman, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, had written the worlds most famous tragedies and comedies masquerading as William Shakespeare. Dickson and other Oxfordians, the Post reported, were taking on traditional Shakespearean scholars, known as Stratfordians. The story was too intriguing to abandon at the coffee shop, so I shared it with managing editor Chris Lazzarino, who stowed it among the count- less clips we save as curiosities. Months later, the story became one for our cover after Lazz heard from a campus colleague that a retired KU profes- sor of chemistry, Albert Burgstahler, had uncov- ered clues in Shakespeare's words that had LIFT THE CHORUS KANSAS ALUMNI MAGAZINE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Taxpayers overlooked Publisher Chairman The Kansas Alumni story about under- Fred B.Williams Reid Holbrook, c'64, T66, Overland Park, Editor Kansas graduates spending more than four years Jennifer Jackson Sanner, j'81 to graduate ["No Piece of Cake," issue No. Executive Vice Chairman Art Director Janet Martin McKinney, c'74, Port Ludlow, 4] is interesting for what it doesn't say Susan Younger, f 91 Washington which is that those hanging around are a Managing Editor Chris Lazzarino, j'86 Executive Committee drain on Kansas taxpayers. Staff Writer Jim Adam, e'56, Overland Park, Kansas My younger daughter is a 1985 Univer- Steven Hill Reid Holbrook, c'64,1*66, Overland Park, sity of California-Berkeley graduate. She Kansas Editorial Assistants and her classmates had a time slot of four Karen Goodell Janet Martin McKinney, c'74. Port Ludlow, Washington years or less to get their undergraduate Photographer Corded D. Meeks Jr., c'64, l'67, Kansas City, Wally Emerson, j'76 degrees. They were out in four, finished or Kansas Graphic Designer Gil M. Reich, e'54, Savannah, Georgia not. Demand for Cal entry was very high, Valerie Spicher, j'94 Carol Swanson Ritchie, d'54,Wichita, Kansas so they didn't allow waste of California Editorial Office taxpayer money on those who wanted to Kansas Alumni Association Vice Chairmen 1266 Oread Ave., Lawrence, KS 66044-3 169 Gary Bender, g'64, Scottsdale, Arizona, and dawdle. If students couldn't get their 785-864-4760 Colorado Springs.Colorado degree within their time slot, they had to Advertising Office Michelle Senecal de Fonseca, b'83, Brussels, get out so someone more motivated could Sarah Lober, Advertising Manager Belgium Knight Enterprises, 4840 W. 15th St., Suite 1000 Tim S. Dibble, d'74, Issaquah,Washington use the facilities. Lawrence, KS 66049 Patricia Weems Gaston, j'81, Annandale, 785-843-5511 or 1-800-844-3781 In light of the continuing shortage of Virginia fax 785-843-7555 funds at KU, I don't see why the same e-mail: [email protected] Directors to July 2001 doesn't apply there. It is a bit tough on Kansas Alumni Magazine (ISSN 0745-3345) is published Lisa Ashner Adkins, c'84,1*87, Leawood, Kansas some students, but it works at Cal. If KU by the Alumni Association of the University of Kansas John B. Dicus, b'83, g'85,Topeka, Kansas wants to be in the same class of university six times a year in January, March, May, July, September Robert L. Driscoll, c'61, 1*64, Mission Woods, and November $40 annual subscription includes mem- Kansas as Cal then resources at KU should also be bership in the Alumni Association. Office of Publication: used to the fullest. 1266 Oread Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66044^3169.