Stephenson Scholarship Hall

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Stephenson Scholarship Hall
Motto "Leave It 2 Lyle"
Founded April, 1952
Benefactor Lyle Stephenson
Architect Raymond Coolidge, KU - 1924
Address 1404 Alumni Place, Lawrence, Kansas, 66044
Oldest and Most Wanted Resident Wilbur Nether
Hall Director Juan Araoz
President Brandon Tackett
Vice-President James "Andy" Coffman
Secretary "Big" Ben Anderson
Treasurer Bowe "Maple" Neuenschwander
Proctor John "Russell" Davies
Elected ASHC Chair Andrew Cross
Acting ASHC Chair William "Daddy" Snider
Hat Chair Charlie "Chaz Money" Stern
First Floor Representative Reuben Dermyer

Stephenson Scholarship Hall, founded in 1952, is one of eleven Scholarship Halls at the University of Kansas, and one of five men's halls in the Scholarship Hall system. Stephenson was built and furnished as the result of a gift of $90,000 from the estate of Lyle Stephenson, a Kansas City insurance man, and financial assistance from the Endowment Association. Residents of the hall are known as Stephensonites or Lylemen. Famous former residents include Major League Baseball statistician Bill James[1], Kansas Board of Regents president Reggie Robinson and former Candler School of Theology Dean and Simpson College president R. Kevin LaGree.

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[edit] Daily Life

Stephenson houses 50 men, who live paired with another Lyleman in a single room.

Like all other scholarship hall inhabitants, residents pay almost $1,600 less than in a regular University of Kansas dormitory. For this privilege, students do regular work shifts, which range from cooking meals to cleaning restrooms. An older resident (called a "Proctor") is earmarked late in the previous year to enforce and assign these shifts, and is, per tradition, baptized as such in Potter's Lake on campus.

[edit] The Building

Stephenson contains four floors. In the basement level, there is an expansive kitchen, pantry (though typically barren), dining area, and lounge containing a big-screen television, and a billiards table. A door leads out from this floor to the back yard, which contains a basketball court and a concrete staircase leading to the parking lot. This parking lot overflows on Fridays and Saturdays with individuals illegally parking there to gain access to The Hawk and The Wheel, two popular night spots.

The ground level contains a living room complete with grand piano, a bookshelf containing many stolen and odd books, and a trophy case, which houses the many memberships of "Wilbur Q. Nether" (a "fictional" resident, although some claim otherwise) and various trophies, either earned, bought, or "acquired". Also on this level is the Scholarship Hall Director's (SHD) room, mail room and telephone, a work office for maintenance staff, two restrooms (one for residents and one for guests), and three dormitory rooms (Wait, people actually live down there?). This is one of the quietest floors in Stephenson, and the private restroom is the cleanest in the Hall because it is cleaned by the maintenance staff, not by the residents.

The second and third levels contain nothing but dorm rooms, with a communal bathroom on each floor. The bathrooms each have three sinks, two urinals, three bathroom stalls, and a group shower, which the Lylemen refer to as a "gang" shower arrangement. The proctor generally lives on the third floor by himself, and is the only resident (other than the S.H.D.) to not have a roommate. In recent years, however, the proctor has found himself living on the second floor.

[edit] Scholarship

  • GPA requirement (?)

Lance Storie Foster Memorial Scholarship: The Lance Storie Foster Memorial Scholarship was established in 1989 through contributions received from the family and friends of Lance S. Foster. The scholarship is awarded to a resident returning to Stephenson Scholarship Hall, who has contributed to Stephenson, the scholarship hall system, and the university community.

Lance was a native of Stillwater, Oklahoma, and a transfer from Oklahoma State University. He earned his bachelor’s degrees (granted posthumously in 1989) in Systematics and Ecology and Political Science from The University of Kansas. Lance lived in Stephenson Scholarship Hall for three years of his undergraduate studies and was actively involved in scholarship hall government; he also rose to the highest student position of program director at radio station KJHK. Lance supplemented his course work through his involvement with the KU Democrats and Biology Club. He was also voted a life member of Phi Beta Kappa. In his spare time, Lance enjoyed playing guitar, running, and intramural sports. He died on May 7, 1989, at the age of 23.

[edit] Other Scholarship Halls

The ten other Scholarship Halls, alphabetically, are as follows:

  • Battenfeld Scholarship Hall (Men, est. 1940) . . . The first men's Scholarship Hall at KU, Battenfeld was built in 1940 to honor the memory of John Curry Battenfeld.
  • Dennis E. Rieger Scholarship Hall (Women, est. 2005) . . . KU’s newest scholarship hall, Dennis E. Rieger Hall opened its doors in Fall 2005.
  • Douthart Scholarship Hall (Women)
  • Grace Pearson Scholarship Hall (Men) . . . Known as "G.P." or "Gracey Pearsey" to avoid confusion with Pearson.
  • K.K. Amini Scholarship Hall (Men)
  • Margaret Amini Scholarship Hall (Women) . . . Affectionately known as "Maggie," to avoid confusion with K.K. Amini.
  • Miller Scholarship Hall (Women)
  • Pearson Scholarship Hall (Men, est. Fall 1952)
  • Sellards Scholarship Hall (Women, est. Fall 1952)
  • Watkins Scholarship Hall (Women est. 1926) . . . Watkins opened in 1926 as the first of KU’s scholarship halls and maintains strong bonds with alumnae by hosting an annual spring tea.

[edit] Stephenson in the News

Hall Sweet Home University Daily Kansan article by Robert Perkins, published Wednesday, August 17, 2005.

Border War Lawrence Journal-World Article by Mike Rigg, published Saturday, September 27, 2003.

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