Tomorrow's weather
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Sunny and cool as temperatures begin to rise again.
Kansan
LOW 28
Thursday
January 28,1999
Section:
A
Vol.109·No.82
Online today
Everyone's favorite cubicle dweller can now be seen on the television. This is Dilbert's official site.
Sports today
http://www.dilbert.com
The men's basketball team loses two conference games in a row for the first time in Big 12 history.
SEE PAGE 1B
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Bills protect candidates' rights
Pending vote regards coalition identities
(USPS 650-640)
By Nadia Mustafa
Kansan staff writer
The Student Senate rights committee passed two bills last night in response to the initial draft of the 1999 Senate elections code.
The initial elections code, which was released Monday, omitted the right of candidates to be identified by coalitions on the ballots.
The rights committee amended Senate rules and regulations and gave candidates the right to print their registered coilitions next to their names on the ballot.
"The elections commission is trying to eliminate coalitions," said Partha Mazum
dar, graduate senator. "They can't do that overright."
Ben Walker, Nunemaker senator and the bill's sponsor, said that being identified with a coalition was important in an issue-oriented campaign. He said that many students voted for candidates based upon which coalition they belonged to because students felt that a coalition, not an individual candidate, represented their views
If the bill is approved by the full Senate at next Wednesday's meeting, candidates will have the right to choose whether or not they want to be identified by their coalitions.
The committee also passed a bill allowing candidates to appeal elections commission decisions such as fines for illegal campaign posters. Currently, there is no review process for the commission's decisions.
Dave Stras, graduate senator, said the
only way a candidate can appeal a decision is to go to federal court. He said that each year the elections commission has been limiting free speech.
"I wish the elections commission would be more cognizant. " Stras said. "This bill gives people the right to appeal."
The bill amended Senate rules and regulations to allow candidates to appeal to the University Judicial Board, but the bill stipulated that the board could not review findings of fact. The bill also stated that the board may summarize deny frivolous appeals.
Seth Hoffman, Nunemaker senator, said that he wished Senate could have cooperated with the elections commission instead of passing the bills without the commission's consent.
"This creates a barrier between coalitions and the elections commission instead of facilitating a working relation
STUDENT SENATE
Senate committees passed the following legislation last night:
A resolution requesting the president of Emporia State University add the phrase 'sexual orientation' to the university's official announcement
A bill creating a joint campus sory board between the University and Student Senate.
A bill establishing a Student legislative Awareness Board forum on alcohol issues at 8 p.m. on Feb. 8.
The amendments to the Senate rules and regulations will not take effect unless the full Senate passes the bills next Wednesday.
ship," he said.
Sewer improvements would handle runoff
By Heather Woodward
Kansan staff writer
"The landlord got on it right away." Shuckahosee said. "It was really gross. The landlord said it was because the sewer system in the neighborhood was really old."
After a bad September storm, Maria Shuckahosee, Lawrence junior, returned to her home at 1221 Tennessee St. to find her basement covered with puddles of sewage.
The risk of basements flooding during storms has been a concern for a while, said Debbie Van Saun, assistant utilities director for Lawrence.
"The new line will increase the capacity of the sewers to handle those kinds of flows," Van Saun said.
Van Sauen said that a sewer replacement project was deemed necessary in 1995 when certain sections of existing sanitary sewers, along Ninth Street between Alabama and Connecticut streets and along Connecticut Street between Eighth and 13th streets, became full of storm water during storms.
The project would take about a year to complete, she said, but until bids are taken Feb. 23, project costs could not be determined.
"Our project should not cause as much inconvenience," Van Said said. "We're using a method that takes place mostly underground. There will
be some disruption and some above- ground construction."
Two other projects would share a portion of the space with the sanitary sewer project.
A storm sewer would be constructed along Ninth Street between Vermont and New Hampshire streets. The storm sewer project would alleviate flooding during storms in that area.
At the same time, a water line would be replaced on the same stretch of road.
Van Saun said that contractors for the sanitary sewer project, the storm sewer and the water line projects would have to work together as a part of their contracts.
Chad Voigt, storm water engineer for the city's public works department, said the storm sewer project was scheduled to begin March 8, but work would not begin until work on the sanitary storm sewer begins.
Voigt said the storm sewer project should take about three months to complete.
"The contractors are going to be forced to phase the projects so that certain stretches of the street will be closed at different times," Voigt said. "We will still allow pedestrian access."
Van Saan said that the storm sewer, water line and sanitary sewer projects were all being handled by the public works department.
Gotta wear shades
Richard Bachman/Kansan
Ritisha Amin, Olathe junior, and Becky Westerman, Olathe senior, enjoy the January sun outside Strong Hall. The pair were delighted with the unexpected change in weather yesterday and brought out their sunglasses for the occasion. Photo by Rachel Marta Orr / KANSAN.
For more photographs from yesterday go to the UDKi at www.kansan.com/tracks
Renowned KU author will return to Arizona
By Dan Curry
Kansan staff writer
Luci Tapahonso, an associate professor of English and an award-winning author is leaving the University of Kansas after this semester and moving to Tuscon. Ariz.
"It's really sad," she said. "I feel excited about the new possibilities and going to new place. I really do like KU. It has been really wonderful in terms of support."
She said that the move was not motivated by dissatisfaction with the University or the community.
"I'm really close to my family," she said. "I just want to be nearer to relatives and to the land where I grew up."
Robert Martin, Tapahonso's husband and president of Haskell Indian Nations University, also will be leaving his position.
Tapahonso said that they would move during the summer and take positions at the American Indian Studies Program at the University of Arizona.
"It was a very difficult decision," Martin said. "After discussing it with my family, and especially with my wife, Luci, we decided it was time for a change. I believe change will be healthy."
"Her mother is getting on in years," Hardin said. "She has quite a bit of family in that area. She'll be within an easy drive of her mother and her Navajo home area."
Richard Hardin, chairman of the English department, said that Tapahonso's departure was sad news for the department. However, he said that he understood Tapahonso's family responsibilities in Arizona.
Hardin said that Tapahonso assured him she was not dissatisfied with the University.
Tapahonso has become a major figure among Native American poets, according to an English department memo that Hardin wrote yesterday.
Tapahonso has given readings of her poetry and stories across the United States.
Tapahonso said that she hoped the University would hire another Native American in her place.
Tapahonso helped start the Indigenous Studies Program this year.
She said that the program would help draw more students and scholars of indigenous people.
Sam Osterhout, Hutchinson senior and a student in Tapahonso's poetry class two years ago, said that it wouldn't be easy to fill her void at the University.
"It'll be hard to replace her, that particular voice," he said. "She was a pretty valuable part of the University because she would encourage students to go to events at Haskell and take part in other cultures."
"Our loss is their gain," he said.
Kenneth Irby, associate professor of English and a poet himself, said he was sorry to see her go.
Hacker breaks into student body vice president's e-mail account
Kaiser: Has changed his password because of the break-in to his e-mailaccount
There's no way for workers at Academic Computing Services to tell who hacked into the e-mail account of Scott Kaiser, student body vice president.
Kansan staff writer
Craig Paul, systems support programmer and Analyst IV at Academic Computing Services, said that during the last week of winter break, Kaiser's account was hacked into from a computer in the Student Senate office in the Kansas Union.
that read "You've been hacked."
Kaiser said that when he logged onto his account after the break, he discovered that he had received an e-mail
Kaiser said that the hacker added profanities to his user profile.
"It was really embarrassing because I sent out official Student Senate email," Kaiser said referring to his altered user profile.
The hacker also posted a message to the Student Senate listserv with the heading "cheating scandal."
That message consisted of an e-mail that Kaiser had sent to his KU account from his parents' America Online account.
He had attached a political science paper that he had written during Thanksgiving break.
He reported the problem to Academic Computing Services, who searched logs of activity on his account.
Kaiser said that by posting the cheating headline, the hacker tried to make it seem as though he had cheated.
The office determined that Kaiser's account had been accessed between 9 and 11 p.m. on Jan. 13, 14 and 15.
Kaiser's account was also accessed from a computer at either the Computer Center or the computer lab in Budig Hall.
"I'm not going to go on a witch hunt or anything," Kaiser said. "But it was probably someone from Student Senate or someone involved with it."
Paul said password theft is not uncommon.
"The most common ways that people lose passwords is by writing them down and leaving them on sticky notes on their monitors, or they leave them in their mail program, or through shoulder-surfing." he said.
Paul said that shoulder-surfing was when someone looked over shoulders to retrieve passwords.
He said that students could protect themselves from password theft in a variety of ways.
In order to avoid additional problems, Kaiser said he had changed his password.
AVOIDING PASSWORD THEFT
- Don't share passwords with anyone.
- Make passwords longer.
Don't make passwords common words
Don't write down passwords
- Don't use passwords that are obviously personal, such as birthdates.
"Make passwords longer," he said.
"Don't make them common words, and don't make them personal names or dates that people could associate with you."
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