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• I think it’s fair to say that nothing in KU’s Natural History Museum attracts more attention than Comanche, the horse that was sole survivor of Gen. George Custer’s ill-fated Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.
The museum has an event coming up at 7 p.m. on Thursday in the museum in Dyche Hall, “Comanche@150.”
Speakers for the event include Leonard Krishtalka, director of the KU Biodiversity Institute; William Sharp, author of a book about KU chancellor Lewis Lindsay Dyche; and Bruce Scherting, the museum’s exhibits director who oversaw a restoration of the exhibit.
A museum official told a few tidbits of Comanche trivia — my favorite was that the horse, apparently, came to enjoy beer after being “retired” to recover from his battle wounds.
• Officials at the University of Nebraska are trying to leverage the funds given to KU in support of its cancer initiatives to get some state funds of its own.
Kansas has committed about $60 million to KU for cancer initiatives, the Lincoln Journal-Star reported, while Oklahoma has committed about $90 million to the University of Oklahoma.
Now Nebraska is looking for $91 million of its own.
It’s worth pointing out that much of the support KU has received comes from the Kansas Bioscience Authority.
Kirk Schulz, Kansas State University’s president, visited the Journal-World last week, and said that, during the recession, the KBA seemed like the one group that continued to have a sizeable pool of money with which to fund projects.
So, for a place like KU, if you wanted money to fund, say, your application for National Cancer Institute designation, you knocked on the KBA’s door.
The KBA has answered, too, to the tune of about $50 million for KU in support of its cancer project.
• Some intrepid students have stumbled upon an interesting little gimmick to generate some interest in the KU Dance Marathon.
They’re going to be standing during all of their classes on Wednesday.
The program benefits KU Dance Marathon, a group that sponsors a dance marathon each year, and has raised more than $75,000 for local children’s hospitals since its founding in 2007.
The main marathon runs from 10 a.m to 10 p.m. on Saturday at the Kansas Union. And the participants stand for the entire time, hence the standing in classes.
So if you see someone standing up in class on Wednesday, you’ll know what’s up.
• I’ll stand up and write Heard on the Hill if you’ll send me a tip at ahyland@ljworld.com. Really, I will.
Comments
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benofthebull (anonymous) says…
The statement that this horse was the sole survivor of the Battle at Little Big Horn is both completely inaccurate and disrespectful. Completely inaccurate because of the hundreds, if not thousands of tribal people who most certainly survived this battle. This statement is also disrespectful to the thousands of descendants of these tribal survivors who are very much alive today as a result of their ancestors' survival of the Battle at Little Big Horn.
Souki (anonymous) replies…
Well, it's wrong anyway.
And if you update the story, Andy, don't change it to "sole US Army survivor..." because that's wrong, too. Lots of other horses survived the battle; the Army just didn't get them back.
Bob_Keeshan (anonymous) replies…
It's a pretty standard grammatical usage, and would also apply in reference to the sole survivor of a US Army rout over "tribal people" or any other military engagement.
If, for instance, one references the survivors of the Battle of Sand Creek, it is a clear reference to Cheyenne and Arapaho. Are you equally offended for the thousands of descendants of the 700 US soldiers who also survived that battle?
That's how military references work. You don't refer to the victors as "survivors", only the losers.
geekin_topekan (anonymous) replies…
To survive you must be on the defensive, otherwise you'd be a Remainder.
littlexav (anonymous) says…
Comanche was the sole surviving horse. Give him a break.
ahyland (Andy Hyland) says…
Hi, folks.
I understand both points — the ones raised by benofthebull and Souki, as well as by Capt. Kangaroo.
I think I'll leave this be for now, but I'm glad you folks raised these points, and I think I'll be more careful with my wording in the future. It's a good conversation to have.