Tuesday, January 18, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 5
Graves recommends higher education funding
By Katrina Hull
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
University of Kansas students are helping foot the bill for higher education restructuring through tuition increases, said student body president Korb Maxwell following Gov. Bill Graves' Jan. 10 State of the State address.
In the address, Graves recommended $21.9 million for community colleges and Regents institutions — money promised under Senate Bill 345, which restructured the state's higher education system.
As with any funding this year, however, an aspect of
mystery exists that Graves refers to as "don't ask, don't tell."
Maxwell said Graves' promise came with tuition-increase strings attached. The Board of Regents announced a 2.5 percent overall tuition increase in May for Regents universities and a second increase in December of $3.20 per credit hour for the University, Kansas State University and Wichita State University.
The December tuition increase will raise $5.4 million for university budgets. The more tuition dollars students
pay, the less the state provides, meaning KU students are paying to lower Washburn University's tuition and property taxes in counties with community colleges, Maxwell said.
"Senate Bill 345 was promised with no strings attached," Maxwell said. "Now students are swallowing the sour pill to fund higher education restructuring."
House Minority Leader Jim Garner, D-Coffeyville, said that tuition increases weren't paying for restructuring but that the December tuition increase instead offset 1 percent across-the-board cuts in the state budget. Moreover, he said the goal of higher education reform was to create less competition between universities and community colleges for state money.
"I was very pleased the governor announced his eagerness to engage with the Legislature to keep the commitments made last year," Tanner said. "That becomes a tremendous priority for me."
For Maxwell, the top priority is ensuring that state-supported financial aid will increase to help students afford the tuition increase of almost 8 percent.
"We're dealing with forces bigger than ourselves," Maxwell said. "We have to push forward, look out for ourselves and lobby for financial aid."
Money for higher education
In the budget for the fiscal year 2001, Governor Bill Graves promised $21.9 million for higher education. The University of Kansas will split $8.4 million with five other state universities. The money will be used to increase faculty salaries, fund programs and ease tuition.
Maggie Curry/KANSAN
Union Square food court at the Kansas Union got one of the lowest health department ratings. Representatives from the Union Square said that they would never leave it open if it posed a health risk to the public. Photo by Shelby Smith/KANSAN
Unions' food deemed safe; Starbucks coffee added
By Jim O'Malley
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The food at Burge Union and Union Square is safe, despite low scores in a recent Laurence Journal- World article about health inspections in Douglas County, state health officials said last week.
The Dec. 26 Journal-World article used Kansas Department of Health and Environment health inspection records to grade Douglas County restaurants. Two campus restaurants, Union Square at the Kansas Union and the restaurant at the Burge Union, received two of the 10 worst scores.
But Mary Glassburner, director of the food protection and consumer safety program at the KDHE, said the food at the unions was safe.
"We would never leave a facility open that poses a health risk to the public," she said.
Roger Ozias is the department's inspector for Douglas County. He said any restaurant found to be a major health risk would be closed.
But that rarely happens, he said. Most violations are taken care of in a few hours, often while he is still on site.
In April 1988, the department cited Union Square for leaving cleansers on counters, needing another hand sink for employees, storing
cold cuts at too high a temperature, and for keeping chill at too low a temperature.
Burge Union food service was cited for open doors that could let in insects, improper labeling and storage of cleaners, an inaccessible hand sink, lacking a back-flow preventer on a soft drink carbonator, and storing food under sewer lines.
KDHE officials said that inspections were just a snapshot in time and that there was no pattern of repeated serious violations by the Kansas Union's restaurants.
A 1996 inspection of Burge found only improperly stored cleansers, and an inspection of Union Square earlier this month found no serious violations.
Randall Rock, chief of staff at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said he was not aware of any problem with food poisoning on campus in the past year. When doctors at Watkins see students with possible food poisoning, they ask what they have eaten and where. They then tell the county health department if they see a trend, Rock said.
They have not seen a trend, he said.
Jay Glatz, manager of food services at the Kansas Union, said the Union had high standards and corrected problems found in inspections as quickly as possible. For example, the Union installed a $2,000 compressor to lower the temperature for cold cut storage he said.
"We were shocked by the Journal-World article because of the scoring system they came up with." Glatz said.
Glassburner said the department had not scored inspections since 1994 because scores did not reflect the potential risk to the consumer. People tend to concentrate on the scores rather than what the violations were, she said.
"The bottom line is that the Union food service is doing a pretty good job," she said. "They're cooperative, and they do correct things when they're requested to."
Not only is the food at Union Square safe, but customers also now can wash it down with Starbucks coffee. Coffee dispensers with the Starbucks logo are lined up on the counters at Union Square and ready to go.
Glatz said the Union was the first Starbucks outlet in Douglas County.
Owners of local coffee shops don't expect the arrival of the coffee giant on campus to have much effect on their business.
Meghann Fagg, El Dorado freshman, said that her Education 100 class heard that Starbucks coffee was coming to campus.
"The class got excited because they all like coffee, and everyone knows the name," she said.
Some students seemed excited by its arrival.
Watkins mails late bills
Pharmacy bills retrieved after computer failure
By Warisa Chulindra writer @kanson.com Kansan staff writer
By the end of the month, students and faculty will receive pharmacy bills they might have forgotten about from Watkins Memorial Health Center.
The bills, covering prescriptions from September through mid-January, were late when the disk controller and disk drive for the billing records malfunctioned Sept. 9.
Because Watkins has two computer systems, officials were able to retrieve bills through the pharmacy computer program. However, when the system
went down, the pharmacy disconnected with Watkins' computer system. The pharmacy will reconnect with billing today.
Students and faculty received bills Dec. 1 and Dec. 29 for other services from September and October. The bills were the last statements off the old computer system.
Carol Seager, director of Watkins, said officials already had chosen new hardware and software to replace the 12-year-old computer system when it crashed.
Employees began registering students on the new system Dec. 17. No information was lost, so students do not need to worry about confirming mailing addresses or insurance.
Bills for other services past November may not be
"We're doing everything on our end to help the students out."
Margaret Cameron
Watkins pharmacy clerk
sent until March.
Donna Hurd, assistant supervisor of the Watkins business office, said if students had a large bill, they could work out a monthly payment system.
Margaret Cameron,
pharmacy clerk, said some
students had come in to
pay their bills so the
charges wouldn't pile up.
"We're doing everything on our end to help the students out," she said.
Concerned students can contact the Watkins business office at 864-9521.
Lawrence closes in on city bus system
By John Audlehle writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
In December, the city hired Karin Rexroad for the new job of public transit administrator. She will begin work Feb. 7.
Tonight, the City Commission will discuss and is expected to approve a contract with California-based MV Transportation Inc. to manage and operate the system.
Lawrence is two steps closer to having a bus system.
The city expects the system to start in May or June, said Mayor Erv Hodges.
Rexroad has worked for Reno County since 1984 for the aging and county transportation departments. During that time, the Reno County transportation system expanded from a seniors-only system to one for the general public.
The city's buses would not interfere with KU on
Wheels, the University of Kansas' bus system. Instead, City Manager Mike Wildgen said the city would try to coordinate the Lawrence and KU buses.
Lawrence has been working on the bus system since April 1999, when city commissioners approved the project.
To this point, the city has:
Hired North Co.,1040 New Hampshire St. to advertise and market the new system.
Hired Blue Bird Corp., Macon, Ga., to manufacture the buses. Hodges said Blue Bird Corp. would make 12-30-foot buses that
would seat 29 and cost about $200,000 each.
■ Increased Lawrence's property tax mill levy to raise $1.5 million to run the buses.
■ Received state and federal money to buy the buses. Lawrence has received about $270,000 from the Kansas Department of Transportation and about $3 million from the Federal Transit Administration.
Received a protest from Chance Coach, Inc., a Wichita manufacturer that did not receive the contract to make the buses. Hodges said the city's position was that it complied with all procedures in hiring Blue Bird Corp.
Decided against a March 1 start date. MV Transportation, Inc., offered to provide interim vehicles, but Hodges said the city commission wanted to start the new bus system with new buses.
Created the Public Transportation Advisory Committee.
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Hollywood Theaters
| | Size (in) | Start | End |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 1 Galaxy Quest II | 2.00 | 1.55 | 7.50, 9.55 |
| 2 The Tainted Mr. Ripley III | 1.50 | 1.45 | 7.50, 9.55 |
| 3 Snow Falling On Cedars IV | 1.55 | 1.40 | 7.25, 11.55 |
| 4 Anne And the King VI | 1.50 | 1.40 | 7.25 |
| also Magnolia VII | 1.50 | | 7.35 |
| 5 Girl Interrupted IX | 1.55 | 1.45 | 6.55, 10.50 |
| 6 The Hurricane IX | 1.00 | 4.00 | 7.00, 10.10 |
| 7 The Green Mile IX | 1.00 | 4.00 | 7.00, 9.15 |
| 8 Toy Story II X | 2.00 | 4.15 | 7.45, 9.10 |
| 10 Biometern Man IX | 1.00 | 4.10 | 7.10, 10.00 |
| 11 The Clerid House Rules IX | 1.05 | 4.10 | 7.25, 10.00 |
| 12 Magnolia VIII | 1.55 | 1.55 | 7.00 |
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1 Ride With The Devil¹ 1:50 1:40 9:45
2 Deuce Bigalow¹ 1:45 4:40 7:00, 9:30
3 The Man On the Moon¹ *1:50 9:30
4 Any Given Sunday¹ ---- 4:30, 8:00 ----
5 Next Friday¹ 1:55 4:35, 7:15, 9:35
6 Supernova⁴ <sup>≈</sup> 1:45 4:55, 7:15, 9:40
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