THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN VOL.116 ISSUE 54 WWW.KANSAN.COM ACADEMICS Full classes frustrate students BY GABY SOUZA g souza@ku.edu KAMSAN STAFF WRITER Vanessa Pierson was looking forward to taking her final creative writing class. She's not graduating until May 2007, but she didn't want to wait until the last minute to take the class. The Shawnee senior had to submit an example of her writing to the professor in order to enroll. The professor was then supposed to give her a permission code that would enable her to get into the class. The professor wrote her back and said that even though Pierson's writing was good, the class was full. Pierson said the professor told her that her only option was to try again next semester. "Saying I was a senior and I needed to take the class didn't seem to sway her in any way," Pierson said. Students at the University of Kansas are finding it difficult to enroll in the classes they need to graduate. The University has found solutions to remedy the problem as best it can. Departments are as lenient as they can be to graduating seniors, but at the same time, they want to ensure that juniors and underclassmen have the opportunity to get into the classes they need. One solution to the problem is to stagger the open classes, which is common, Joan Hahn, assistant University registrar, said. This means that enrollment is spread out over time and a few sections of a class are opened each week. David Dewar, assistant director of enrollment for the department of humanities and Western Civilization, started staggering open classes for Western Civilization I and II, two classes that a majority of the students at the University are required to complete. Both classes are intended for sophomores. However, students hear the "myth" that the classes are difficult, and delay taking them until their senior years, Dewar said. Staggering the classes ensures that sophomores can still reserve spots, despite their later enrollment times. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2005 The departments can also help enrollment by changing the maximum enrollment size of classes, Hahn said. The registrar's office is able to change the sizes but only at the request of a specific department. David Guth, associate dean of the School of Journalism, said the enrollment capacity of classes at the school would be changed if a student was in danger of not graduating without the class. He said this was usually the only exception they made. Pierson enrolled despite not being able to take her creative writing class. She plans on taking it next semester. She said she was happy that she got such an early enrollment date and was able to get into the all the other classes she needed. She said she pites freshmen because they don't get as many choices for classes as she does. "I'm glad that I'm old," Pierson said. T-shirts for the taking Edited by Anne Burgard Josh Kirk/KANSAN Lindsey Gross, Olathe senior, signs up to receive a shift from the next shipment of "gay? fine by me" t-Shirts, Kus Leis, Gay, Biseuxal and Transpended program handed out 250 free T-shirts on Wescoe Beach Wednesday. The shirts were gone in less than 30 minutes. Michael Franklin, LGBT coordinator, said the group was planning to give 1,000 more shirts to give to 1,000 students. GRADUATION Four-year grads few Comparison of Graduation Rates: Public Big 12 Institutions
4-Year Grad 5-Year Grad 6-Year Grad
Big 12 UniversitiesMedian SATRateRateRate
University of Missouri-Columbia116537%63%67%
University of Colorado at Boulder116537%63%68%
University of Texas at Austin123036%64%71%
Texas A&M University118532%68%75%
University of Kansas-Main Campus110529%52%58%
Iowa State University112527%59%66%
Oklahoma State University108524%51%58%
Texas Tech University112024%48%54%
Kansas State University102522%50%56%
University of Nebraska at Lincoln110521%53%60%
University of Oklahoma-Norman118519%44%52%
Table created by Melissa Byrd Source: www.ku.edu/~oirp/GIF/GIF_TaskForceReport_090205.pdf Task force gives reasons for prolonged college careers BY MELISA$ BYRD editor@kansan.com KANSAN CORRESPONDENT Watch any movie about the college experience, and you will likely see that familiar eighth-year senior, still living in the fraternity house, unable to finish his degree. While these examples may not be entirely realistic, it is becoming increasingly common for college students — including students at the University of Kansas — to take more than four years to graduate. Only 29 percent of KU students graduate in four years. In an effort to determine the cause of this low four-year graduation rate, the University created a "Graduate in Four" task force. Kathleen McCluskey-Fawcett, senior vice provost for academic affairs and the chairwoman of the task force, said faculty cited the University's non-selective admission standards as one of the main reasons for the low graduation rate. Faculty said these standards attracted students with low qualifications, who usually take longer than four years to graduate. The University's graduation rate ranks fifth out of 11 schools in the Big 12 Conference, according to the task force. "Our graduation rate is very low for a school like ours," McCluskey-Fawcett said. "Our ACT composite average is exactly like Indiana University's. Its four-year graduation is significantly higher." The task force found that although several factors tend to influence low four-year graduation rates at the University, the major triggers behind them seem to be cultural reasons, liberal policies regarding course withdrawal and major declaration, too few credit hours taken each semester and off-campus student jobs. Baylor University, the conference's only private university, was not included in the report. Although several factors tend to influence low four-year graduation rates at the University, the major triggers behind them seem to be cultural reasons. liberal policies regarding course withdrawal and major declaration, too few credit hours taken each semester and off-campus student jobs. "We have never put much emphasis on the fact that we expect you to get out in four years," McCluskey-Fawcett said. Cultural factors She said that many students do not have the expectation for themselves that they will finish on time. Kelly Jenkins, a fifth-year senior, said he did not take college seriously his first year, which put him behind. POLICE New board to address profiling KU officers excluded from jurisdiction SEE TASK FORCE ON PAGE 4A BY STEVE LYNN slynn@kansan.com KANSAN STAFF WRITE A city ordinance that would establish an independent advisory board to address racial profiling in Lawrence would not affect the KU Public Safety Office. City officials presented the commission the draft of an ordinance on Oct. 18 that would comply with the recently passed Kansas Senate Bill 77. It requires Lawrence and other cities to form citizen advisory boards to work with local law enforcement to prevent racial profiling. Mayor Dennis "Boog" Highberger said the law required the advisory board to be formed by July 1, 2006, but that city commissioners wanted to create it sooner. David Corliss, assistant city manager, said city commissioners would have the option to pass the ordinance in November or December. The city doesn't regulate the KU Public Safety Office. Corliss said. Ralph Oliver, chief of the KU Public Safety Office, said the office would comply with the bill's requirements for data collection. The office has never received any complaints about racial profiling, Oliver said. He said that if students had complaints of discrimination by an officer or staff member, they should come to the office and file a report so police could investigate. Kristen Guillot, Shawnee senior and president of the Black Student Union, said he had experienced racial profiling on and off campus. He said he was walking to Jayhawker Towers at night when a police officer stopped him. The officer asked him where he was walking. He said he answered and the officer told him he just wanted to make sure he was a student. The city's approval of an independent advisory board means that commissioners are acknowledging that racial profiling exists, Guillot said. SEE RACIAL ON PAGE 4A U. S. Poet Laureate to visit University today Ted Kooser will participate in a panel this afternoon addressing the value of poetry. This evening Kooser will share his poetry in a reading. PAGE 3A Volleyball loses again Wednesday night's 3-1 loss to Colorado was more of the same for Kansas.The Jayhawks have now lost eight straight games since Oct.1 PAGE 10A While you're at home on the couch, students like Todd Beauford are training for the ironman Triathalon. Read Kathryn Anderson's article on Triathalons and be inspired to get up off the couch and try it yourself. Index Index Comics...6A Classifieds...7A Crossword...6A Horoscopes...6A Opinion...5A Sports...10A 15 1 All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2005 The University Daily Kansan 1