Tomorrow's weather
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Kansan
Cool and cloudy with a chance for snow this weekend.
Thursday
February 18, 1999
Section:
A
Vol. 109 • No. 97
The Kansan online classifieds are working again. Please visit.
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Sports today
The Kansas men's basketball team snapped its two-game losing streak by defeating Kansas State 62-47 last night, preserving Kansas' NCAA berth chances.
SEE PAGE 1B
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
KU town hall meeting tonight
(U$PS 650-640)
Chancellor and student body president will speak
By Nadia Mustafa
Kansan staff writer
Students will have a chance to talk to the chancellor about campus issues at a town hall meeting tonight.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway and Student Body President Kevin Yoder will give "State of the Campus" reports at 7 at the auditorium in the new Visitor Center next to Templin Hall.
Hemenway and Yoder each will spend five to 10 minutes delivering their speeches, and students will have an hour to raise questions about any campus issues.
Mary Burg, executive assistant to the chancellor, said that Hemenway felt strongly about reaching out to students on campus.
"This is students' opportunity to talk to the chancellor, and the chancellor's opportunity to talk to them," she said. "He wants to hear what has been on students' minds."
Burg said that Hemenway would talk about the University of Kansas' priorities and state legislative issues that affect students, such as the faculty salary initiative.
Yoder will speak about what is occurring on campus, including campus safety, recreation, parking and online enrollment.
Yoder said that the meeting would be a good opportunity to address students' concerns and to inform them about campus issues.
oudest concepts in representative democracy, and my job is to go out and speak with the students."
“It’s a rarity that the chancellor does this,” Yoder said. “The town hall meeting is one of the
He said that it also would be a good time for students to see the new Visitor Center.
R. J. Woodring, Lisle, Ill., sophomore, said that he hadn't had a chance to hear the chancellor speak about campus issues and was looking forward to hearing Hemenway's perspective.
"I want to see the chancellor interact with other students who do not really know a lot about what's going on," he said. "I'd like to see the different perceptions that Kevin (Yoder) and the chancellor have on issues."
Mary Liu, Overland Park senior, said that she liked the idea of having a town hall meeting on Daisy Hill.
"I'm going to listen to what's going on and see what the chancellor has been up to," she said.
—Copyedited by Clint Hooker
Changing seasons all in a day's weather
10:20 a.m.
5:45 p.m.
Sasha Shapovalov, Russia junior, packs a snowball during a snowball fight with a friend. Snow fell yesterday morning, but accumulated only on grassy surfaces. Scott Dergan, National Weather Service meteorologist, said that the snow showers were caused by an upper level disturbance. Dergan said that there is a chance for snow again today. Photo by Rachel Marta Orr/KANSAN
Nathan Berg, Lawrence Madison and Lila Self Graduate Fellow, rides his bicycle in front of Watson Library with his son Calvin. 4. The two rode around campus yesterday afternoon after a dramatic change in the weather. Photo by Jeff Severin/KANSAN.
Ads reflect real trends in students' drinking
By Kristi Reimer
By Krisn Reimter
Kansan staff writer
Michael Haines wants to expose what he calls the best-kept secret on college campuses — that most students are responsible drinkers.
haines, coordinator of health enhancement at Northern Illinois University, is at the University of Kansas this week by the Kansas Health Foundation to help plan a campaign to reduce harmful drinking. He spoke to about 80 staff members, faculty and students in a Student Affairs seminar yesterday at the Kansas Union.
Haines said most alcohol-education programs were ineffective because they tried to scare students.
He said well-meaning advocates often worsened the problem by focusing on damaging behavior and publicizing it, leading to the perception that alcohol abuse is typical.
"It had a dollar for every time I heard the phrase, 'College students think they're invincible, I would be rich,' Haines said. "Our mission is to make them feel vulnerable, at risk, like they could die tomorrow." Yuck. What an ugly mission."
Haines said that even students who believed harmful drinking was wrong were more likely to do it if they thought it was normal.
"We are our own worst enemies in terms of protecting our students from harm," he said.
The program Haines introduced was developed at NIU and offered alcohol education alternatives. Through advertising he demonstrated that most students drink moderately and know how to protect themselves from problems associated with alcohol, such as academic failure, injury to themselves or others, violence and crime.
"We want students to feel better about themselves, to feel more capable of protecting themselves and to be more willing to express their ideas," he said.
Haines displayed a chart showing that between 1988 — when the campaign was introduced — and the present, perceptions of alcohol use and actual alcohol use both fell at NIU. Heavy drinking, defined as five or more drinks in one setting, fell 44 percent.
setting, ten 14 per person.
One ad in the NIU campaign — modeled on a Dewars Scotch ad — contains pictures of student role models with information about their lives and interests along with their definitions of responsible drinking and advice for students to avoid alcohol-related harm.
Similar ads might soon be showing up on the KU campus. The University is preparing to launch a campaign based on Haines' ideas financed by a $450,000 grant from the Kansas Health Foundation.
Meg Gedderz, graduate assistant for Greek programs, said she was impressed with Haines' ideas.
she was hipped except to it, I was apprehensive," Godderz said. "But I had just heard pieces, not the whole plan of action. Once I heard his speech, he had me convinced."
action. Brad Fletcher, owner of Rita Madl, owner of the Sandbar, 17 E. Eighth St., attended the session. She said that as a local bar owner she wanted to promote responsible drinking.
profilere responsibleng drinking.
"The future of our business is not the amount of alcohol consumed at one time but the number of people we serve," Madl said. "I'm interested in healthy, moderate drinking."
Copyedited by Melody Ard
Bill-dodging roommates could hurt students' credit reports
Bv Jamie Knodel
Kansan staff writer
"They will be the one that needs to make arrangements to avoid running into problems," said Phyllis Harrison, credit counselor at Consumer Credit Counseling Services. 2158 Ridge Court.
Roommates who fail to pay their share of the bills do more than irritate the people that they live with — they can also affect their roommates' credit histories.
- When utilities are listed in one roommate's name, that person alone is accountable for payments.
Last year, Erin Binter, Overland Park junior, lived with roommates who were consistently late covering their portions of bills.
"The bills would just sit there with my check in the envelope waiting for their checks," she said.
ered entire bills to avoid late payments.
Binter said that her roommates often owed her money because she had cov-
extremely mild — no pain.
He was the very nervous — I didn't
notice much had happened.
Not all students can cover for their roommates like Binter did.
Harrison said that if the person responsible could not cover for roommates, he or she should contact the utility company or landlord as soon as possible.
"The longer it goes on, the worse the situation gets." Harrison said. "Creditors don't know that there is a roommate involved. They just expect to receive payment."
She said that making the creditor aware of the situation could prevent damage to an individual's credit history. Creditors generally will arrange a plan to make undelinquent payments, she said.
City of Lawrence Utilities, which provides water, sewer and trash services, often grants extensions through the
next period's due date.
"We prefer to work with the customer rather than having to turn off their services," said Cindy Naff, a senior account clerk with the company.
Naff said City of Lawrence Utilities turned off water services if delinquent notifications were sent and customers failed to contact them.
She also said that once services had been turned off, customers had to pay before they would be restored.
After three payment notifications, Naff said, the names of people who haven't made arrangements with the company are turned in to a collection agency.
Late payments and delinquencies can show up on credit histories for seven years. Harrison said.
Creditors are not required to inform individuals when they report delinquent payments that could affect the
credit reports, Harrison said.
She suggested that if roommates' failure to pay their portion of bills affected someone else's credit history, an explanatory note should be attached to the credit report.
Julie Gibler, manager of Colony Woods Apartments, 1301 W.24th St., said Colony Woods didn't let delinquent roommates miss payments without punishment.
"In our leases, all roommates are jointly and severely responsible," Gibler said.
Copyedited by Kelli Raybern
Harrison said that it was not uncommon for students to contact her with financial problems related to roommates.
She said that missed payments could result in late fees and even eviction to everyone in the unit depending on the situation.
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Illustration by Jeff Shumway
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