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Kansan
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Sports: Two foreign students should give the Kansas track and field team a boost.
SEE PAGE 1B
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2000
(USPS 650-640) • VOL.110 NO.77
Inside: Governor's proposal may strengthen seat belt laws
SEE PAGE 3A
City may enact keg registration ordinance
By Ryan Devlin
By Ryan Devlin
writer@kanson.com
Kansan staff writer
People wishing to purchase kgs in the city of Lawrence soon may be required to register through the city.
City officials last Tuesday agreed to reconvene the Joint City Universities Task Force on Alcohol Abuse Prevention to discuss the possible implementation of keg registration in the city of Lawrence.
Provost David Shulenburger chaired the task force, which, in January 1999 presented 11 recommendations intended to address the problem of underage drinking. Citywide mandatory keg registration was one of the recommendations.
Mayor Erv Hodges said that a date had yet to be set for the meeting and that the city was still in the process of gathering information.
"We asked the city manager to get some information to present to the advisory board," Hodges said. "I would support keg registration so long as its intent is to prevent underage drinking and so long as the legislative requirements are not overwhelming."
Shulenburger said that underage drinkers frequently obtained alcohol at keg parties where kegs purchased by people of legal age were easily accessible.
"Testimony to our committee was that yard parties were the most frequent source of alcohol for high school students and that enforcement was very tough for the police because they could not establish ownership of kegs," Shulenburger said. "Since the task force made its report, Emporia adopted a keg registration ordinance. That prompted the task force to reiterate its recommendation that Lawrence adopt a keg
registration ordinance of its own."
Emporia passed its keg registration ordinance in October 1999, but it has been in effect only since Jan. 1.
"It merely gives law enforcement an additional tool, so that if a keg is provided to minors, law enforcement can identify by the tag where the keg came from, who bought it and whether they need to investigate further," Bell said.
Dale Bell, Emporia's city attorney and assistant city manager, said it was still too early to tell whether the policy was working. In any case, Bell said, keg registration was only part of the solution.
Teresa Walters, executive director of Emporians for Drug Awareness, a nonprofit organization, said that she thought keg registration was an effective means for curbing underage drinking and that it provided insurance that liquor retailers were doing their job.
Brian McCracken, owner of the Liquor Locker in Emporia, disagreed. He said that those wishing to have parties and serve beer to minors easily could avoid the registration requirement by instead purchasing bottles or cans. McCracken said that sales of kegs at the Liquor Locker were down but that it did not necessarily mean that kegs weren't being furnished.
"I suspect they just drove over to Osage County where kegs aren't required to be tagged to buy them," McCracken said.
Local retailers are uncertain whether keg registration will actually have any effect.
Greg Wehner, owner of Wehner's
"I don't know whether it will help or not," said Shelley Ayers, manager of Patterson Liquor, 846 N. Illinois St. "We keep records on everyone who buys a keg anyway. I don't think one more registration would stop them."
Jason Williams/KANSAN
Retail Liquor, 945 E. 23rd St.
agreed.
"I don't think it will do any good," he said. "It's just another law, and we don't need any more of those." Students had differing opinions.
students had utter my opinions.
"I don't think it's a good idea," said Allison Hardtke, Oak Park, Ill., junior. "If someone is of legal age and they have a party, they can't be responsible for everyone who comes in their door. It would just get more people into trouble
for no good reason."
McMillion.
Amanda McMilton, Albuquerque, N.M., sophomore, said those responsible for throwing parties likely would become more responsible with keg registration in place.
"Maybe if registration was in place, the people who were responsible would learn to be more responsible in the future and that they need to monitor who is at their parties," McMillion said.
Fraternity houses take steps toward no-alcohol rules
By Jessie Meyer
writer@kansan.com
Kanson staff writer
Following in the footsteps of the sororities at the University of Kansas, a movement toward alcohol-free fraternities is under way.
Chace Ramey, president of the Interfraternity Council and Delta Chi fraternity member, said that although it was up to each chapter to decide when to adopt this policy, IFC was in full support of it. He also said there were many KU chapters working to adopt it.
To be considered alcohol-free, the individual chapter must adopt a policy that bans alcohol from the house and the chapter's premises, Ramey, Kansas City, Mo., junior, said. He also said that it was up to each chapter to specify rules.
Chris Mandernach, president of Theta Chi fraternity, said his chapter had been alcohol-free since the fall of 1999. The switch was prompted by a lease requirement for the house it acquired this past fall. He also said not having alcohol in the house helped to maintain the overall quality of the house.
"All Greek organizations are required to be alcohol-free by 2003," Mandernach, Le耸 Summit, Mo., sophomore, said. "We wanted to switch now so it wouldn't be harder later."
mandernach said his chapter had not encountered any serious problems with the transition and that, overall, people had accepted it.
"Anytime you try to impose something like this, you will have skeptics." Mandernach said. "But in the long run, I think it will really help us out."
Ramey said that his fraternity supported the movement nationally, but he did not say whether the KU Delta Chi chapter would make the switch anytime soon.
He said Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Alpha Epsilon were two other chapters that decided to become alcohol-free this year.
"The movement is designed to get back to the meaning of fraternities," Ramey said. "Without alcohol, the environment is safer, and it's been proven that grades are higher."
Mandernach agreed.
Mandernach said alcohol-free events, sponsored by the fraternities, were what made the organizations special. He also said the chapter had a better reputation without alcohol, which made it easier to recruit new members.
"The unfortunate thing is that people think that an integral part of being in a fraternity is drinking, but I don't think that is the case," he said.
Punishments for violating the policy vary from confiscation of the alcohol to extra work duty in the house.
Ramey said IFC could not be responsible for these punishments because each chapter made its own rules and was responsible for enforcing them.
"We need to keep doing what we think is right," Mandernach said.
Textbook hunting
Sara Nelson, Iola junior, and Laura Kissel, Garnett junior, shop for books required for their classes in the Kansas Union Bookstore. This time of the year causes book shortages, leaving many students frustrated. Photo by Carrie Julian/KANSAN
State won't give matching funds for KU library fee
By Doug Pacey
By Doug Pacey
writer@kansas.com
Kansan staff writer
The $1 library fee approved last June is slated to begin next fall, but not the way that Student Senate thought it would.
The library fee would charge students an additional $1 per credit that would increase library hours, put more employees at the reference desks and put more material online, student body president Korb Maxwell said.
When Student Senate agreed on the increase last spring, it was told that for every dollar paid by students, the state would match it one dollar.
But the state isn't going to match funds, and that
upsets Maxwell. ___
"The students hesitate and were wary," he said. "But we agreed to accept it. Now we're confronted with a budget where the governor decided not to match the money."
Maxwell cited the technology fee as a reason why students were cautious last spring.
"Generally,it was a tight budget year all the way around. They were looking
"The tech fee started at two-for-one," he said. "For every dollar students pay, the state was supposed to
for a dime anyway they could find."
Board of Regents relations
Mike Matson
pay two. But then it went to one-for-one, and now there's a tuition increase."
Mike Matson, who handles relations for the Board of Regents, said that he was under the impression that the state is not going to match the $1.
"Generally, it was a tight budget year all the way around," he said. "They were looking for a dime anyway they could find."
Maxwell said that if the state was not going to match the fee, there was a possibility that he would push for the fee to be reconsidered.
"I'm going to press for the $1 to be reconsider," he said. "I think that the students should reconsider that fee if they don't match it. It's a very realistic possibility. It's an item for consideration for the students advisory committee."
The $1 library fee would have to be repealed by the Board of Regents.
Associate Provost Lindy Eakin did not think that this would happen.
"Even if the students were unanimous in trying to get the fee repealed, I don't think the Board of Regents would do that in such a tight budget year." he said.
The fee, coupled with the 2.5 percent base increase and the $3.20 per credit increase, would raise tuition from its current cost for in-state students 8.5 percent and 3.9 percent for out-of-state students.
For some University students, residency can be a state of limbo
Rv Jim O'Mallev
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
kelly Barrow may be a student without a state, at least in the eyes of the University.
It makes a big difference — a Kansas resident pays $1,044.75 a semester for fifteen hours, but a nonresident pays $4,346.25.
So the Lawrence junior is taking the University to court in hopes of winning Kansas residency status.
In a petition filed in Douglas County District Court Dec. 16, Barrow said she was born in Missouri and lived there until she moved to Kansas in 1996 to attend college, first at Johnson County Community College, and then at the University. She's been here ever since, summers included.
She's no longer a Missouri resident — Barrow's petition said she had to pay non-resident tuition for three hours she took at Longview Community College in Lee's Summit, Mo.
But under the residency rules for the six state universities, she's not a Kansas resident either.
Barrow applied for Kansas residency status at the University last fall, but the University Registrar's Office rejected her application. So did the Residency Appeals Committee.
Neither the University nor the Board of Regents has responded to the petition yet.
The Board of Regents' complete residency rules are on the University's Web site.
According to the Web site, "Demonstrating that you have met these criteria while attending school can be difficult."
Richard C. Morrell, University Registrar,
said the rules boiled down to three factors.
To be a Kansas resident, a student must
have; physically lived in the state for 365
days before the first day of class; have relied on Kansas sources of financial support for that period; and have come to Kansas with the intent of making it his or her permanent home.
中
And the rules presume that students who enroll full time at the University are in the state for educational purposes, Morrell said. Students have to overcome that presumption by proving they intend to make Kansas their permanent homes.
"That's a really tough presumption to override." Morrell said.
But Rose Marino, associate general counsel, said it wasn't an impossible standard.
See STUDENT on page 2A