Monday, April 10.2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 5
Lobbying's effectiveness disputed
Candidates debate president's role
By Katrina Hull
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Kansan staff writer
Candidates for Student Senate president disagree about whether the next president should lead the student lobby at the state capitol in Topeka.
Some candidates say the student lobby is lacking because the Legislature has endorsed two tuition increases that will hit student pocketbooks in the fall.
Other candidates say the student lobby is making progress because the House nearly passed a proposal that would keep need-based financial aid on pace with tuition.
United Students' campaign platform includes a tuition bill of rights — collective initiatives that would safeguard students from future tuition increases.
"That's one of the most important roles," said Ben Walker, United Students candidate presidential candidate. "The job of the student body president is to take initiatives to higher levels and influence people who do impact our lives."
Students First presidential candidate Sam MacRoberts, however, said a president's first concern should be students.
"I would have spent more time in Lawrence and less time in Topeka," MacRoberts said about Korb Maxwell, outgoing student body president. "The Legislature is not my concern. The students are."
MacRoberts said that a student lobby was important but that it was the job of the Student Legislative Awareness Board and not the senate president.
Walker served as legislative director for SLAB under Maxwell. Although Walker said that position gave him experience dealing with the Legislature, Delta Force candidate Ben Burton said Walker was fooling students by saying that he had been effective.
Maxwell made campaign promises to create a tuition cap, but tuition increased twice, Burton said.
"For all their rhetoric, they can't hide the fact that all this stuff went down," Burton said. "They said
ISSUE STUDENT SENATE SPOTLIGHT
their strong point was working with the Legislature. I feel so strongly that the students are being duped."
But Walker said that progress was made in Topeka this year. A proposal mandating the governor to increase need-based financial aid by the same percentage as tuition failed by only three votes in the House.
"The fact that the bill failed by three votes shows that student lobby efforts paid off." Walker said.
But Burton said that the progress Walker claimed to have made was not in the areas promised and that he was frustrated students didn't know about Walker's failures.
"Ben Walker should be held accountable," Burton said. "There's disparity between what they said they'd do and what was done."
Ayman Azzeh, campaign manager for independent candidates Tyler O'Neal and Cesar Mori,
agreed that the student lobby had been ineffective.
"I saw tuition increases this year, and I don't believe we have been lobbying enough," Azzeh said. "But we have major issues that we need to work on on campus before we go to Topeka. I think we need to be working with corporations that can fund us, as well."
Although the independent candidates and candidates from United Students, Students First and Delta Force agreed that a strong student voice had its place in Topeka, the final party making a presidential bid remained apathetic.
Resume Builders presidential and vice-presidential candidates Luke Atkinson and Dave Jack said they would rather spend time at Westport in Kansas City, Mo., then go to Topeka. And if they would lobby, it wouldn't be at the state capitol.
"We would not go to Topeka; it's a horrible town," Atkinson said. "We'll go to Washington D.C. with money from our slush fund."
Jack agreed that lobbying efforts would be more effective at the nation's capitol.
we'll go straight to the top." Jack said. "And definitely get interns."
Housing improvements proposed
Erinn R. Barcomb
Kansan staff writer
Student Senate candidates want to make life on and off campus a little easier for students with programs that would improve living conditions on campus as well as easing the transition to an apartment or house.
Creating services that would help students who move away from campus is part of the Delta Force, Students First and United Students platforms.
Student Senate housing proposals
The ideas come from the Marshall Plan, developed by United Students vice-presidential candidate Marlon Marshall, and programs by Delta Force and Students First.
Independents
Dave Dietierch, senate candidate for Resume Builders, said he thought an off-campus resource
Tyler O'Neal and Cesar Mori, independent presidential and vicepresidential candidates, said at Tuesday night's debates that they also would like to improve campus life by focusing on environmental concerns, such as cleaning up Potter Lake.
Ben Burton and Justin Mills, Delta Force presidential and vice-presidential candidates, said they would like to see an off-campus resource center created that would help students find apartments and set up phone and water services.
Developed plans for off-campus, student-run housing resource center that would be housed in the Kansas Union. The center is located at 2314 W. Cedar Ave., Kansas City, KS.
The student-run center, which also would ask tenants for feedback about their complexes, eventually could be run out of the Student Organizations and Leadership Development Center, Burton said.
Moreover,paid staff could be added in the future if a student fee were added. Burton said.
Students First
Support an off-campus resource center that could help find nominees and be an efficient way to buy and sell furniture
want to put up a Web site for off-campus students that would include an apartment guide with ratings of complexes and managers.
United Students
Would produce a printed apartment guide with ratings, and advertising revenue could make the guide self-supporting.
center was not a good idea. He said that when students needed help moving off campus they should do what he did — call their moms.
Maggie Curry/ KANSAN
Yet O'Neal and Mori support the off-campus resource center, said campaign manager Ayman Azzeh. Azzeh said the center could help students find roommates and provide an efficient way to sell and buy furniture.
Delta Force also would like to see an apartment guide published that would include input from students about management and the apartments themselves.
Students First presidential and vice-presidential candidates Sam MacRoberts and Carrie Depenbusch said they would include an online apartment guide as part of a Web site they would create for off-campus students.
"It would be a place where the landlords and living groups can talk about themselves, and students can talk to other students about their experiences," Depenbusch said.
MacRoberts said he thought a Web site was the most effective way to help off-campus students. He
said other projects were too costly. Moreover, Corrine Hickman, offcampus senate candidate for Students First, said the Web site could be produced soon, and she said it could be updated more quickly than a printed apartment guide.
The Marshall plan includes publishing an apartment guide that would rate different complexes.
said other projects were too costly.
Ben Walker, United Students presidential candidate, said that he did not think one method could be used but that a Web site could accompany a printed apartment guide. He also said, a resource center could be added in the future.
The printed guide could be published using advertising revenue, which would make it self-supporting. Walker said.
But Jon Davis, Association of University Residence Halls senator who is running for re-election with Students First, said AURH already was working on some of those issues.
The Marshall Plan also asks for improvements on campus, including ATMs and copy centers in residence halls.
Investigation of accident still under way
Continued from page 1A
The train had been traveling faster than that because the speed limit was higher outside of town, McCall said, but it was slowing down as it approached Lawrence.
The car was thrown into a railroad signal box to the east of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad tracks. The train passengers reported no injuries.
McCall said yesterday that investigators had not determined who was driving the vehicle or whether alcohol had played a role in the accident. He said all three of the students had been tested for alcohol and that those tests had been sent to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation lab for analysis. He said the results likely would not be available for about two weeks.
In a statement released Saturday morning, Chancellor Robert Hemenway offered his conciolence to the students' Friends and families.
"Our hearts go out to the parents, families and friends of these young men," he said. On behalf of the entire University of Kansas community, I offer our deepest condolences.
"Nothing saddens the KU community more than the news of a tragic accident like this involving students, so young and full of promise."
Officials at McCollum Hall, where Travis and Mitchell lived, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Services for Travis will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in Beresford.
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