Section A · Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, January 25, 1999
Dancing club jumps, jives and wails
By Heather Woodward Kansan staff writer
Swing music's return to the pop charts is leading some people to the KU Ballroom Dancing Club's 2 to 4 p.m. classes on Sundays.
At yesterday's semester kickoff class, where about 30 people attended, Abby Hostetler, club copresident, announced that a $10 membership dues will now be required to attend more than one class.
"Usually if people make a monetary commitment then they will also make a time commitment." Hostetler, St. Louis senior, said.
In the past, people who have come every week had to start over with basic lessons to allow for newcomers.
With the added money, the group plans to have more workshops with guest instructors, which means people can learn additional types of dances.
Hostetler said she also wanted to start a Web site for the club so that people will be able to find out what venues have swing music nights.
On Saturday, there will be a Jitterbug workshop from 1-3 p.m., a Lindy Hop workshop from 4-6 p.m. and on Sunday, after the regular 2-4 p.m. class, there will be an Aerials workshop from 4-6 p.m. All of the work
BALLROOM DANCING
1-3 p.m. Saturday, there will be a Jitterbug workshop for $10 and from 4-6 p.m. there
Silentbay workshop for $20 and from 4-6 p.m. there will be a Lindy Hop workshop for $15.
4-6 p.m. Sunday, a workshop on
Aeroplane will be held.
All of the workshops will be at the ECM Ballroom at 12th and Oread
Tina Warinner, Overland Park freshman, and David Vermooten, Arlington, Texas, senior, demonstrate swing to fellow dancers. The two are part of a ballroom dancing club that meets Sundays in the Kansas Union Ballroom. Photo by Rachel Marta Orr/KANSAN
Club members who attend will
Club members who attend will receive a reduced rate for their membership dues.
shops will be at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries Ballroom at 12th and Oread.
"The workshops are more intensive." Hostetler said. "I thought the Aerial workshop would be a great idea because it's not safe to do Aerials if you don't learn them correctly."
"It's a lot more friendly than the club grinding, which has a deafening undertone of sexuality," said Moore, Lenexa senior. "It can be much more romantic, but usually you're dating
Doug Underwood, a 1979 KU graduate, drives up from Ottawa on Sundays so he can attend the lessons. When he was a student, Underwood took ballet and modern dance at the University, and he said the club was a good way for him to practice and learn some new moves.
Mike Moore, club co-president, said he initially was attracted to swing and ballroom dancing because they offered an alternative to typical bar dancing.
"It can take hours to learn minutes of dancing," Underwood said. "It's hard to make your different parts of the body to different things at the same time."
All of the club's student instructors will graduate in May, so Larissa Grodecki, Quivera freshman, plans to take over.
someone, they don't get jealous if you're swing dancing with someone else."
"I just want to keep the club going and get more people involved," she said.
Local libraries enlist help of collection agencies
By Chris Hopkins
Kansan staff writer
Borrowers beware -national collection agencies are now being hired by some libraries to collect fines for overdue books.
The Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St., recently made a deal with Unique Management Systems to handle overdue books and fines.
Unique Management Systems already has tracked down truant or tardy borrowers for the Hutchinson, Wichita, Leavenworth and Johnson County library systems.
Outside of Kansas, Unique Management has more than 150 clients, including the Queensborough, N.Y. system, which is the largest library system in the nation.
Bruce Flanders, library director for Lawrence Public Library, realized that the library's overdue book problem was too large to handle alone after a Dec. 8 report showed that the library had $137,000 worth of overdue materials since 1996.
"We moved expeditionally once we discovered the extent of the problem," Flanders said.
The Lawrence Library only will give Unique Management Systems accounts that are worth more than $25 and that are at least 45 days overdue.
Unique earns $4.95 for each account it settles for the library. An additional $15 also is added to an individual's fine if Unique is enlisted to collect their fines.
Rob Easterling, Topeka junior who works at the Watson Library fines office, said the University of Kansas libraries turn accounts that are 60 to 90 days late over to General Accounting, which has the option to turn it
over to a collection agency.
As an added incentive for paying, students with fines are not able to enroll and cannot receive their transcripts until they have paid.
Christopher Mandernach, Lee Summit, Mo., freshman, said allowing collection agencies to handle overdue accounts might accomplish more than other systems he had seen.
"Judging from what I saw at my old school, the fines are never paid," Mandernach said.
Kira Holland, Overland Park senior, has checked out a few books from the Lawrence library and said the new program could have a negative impact.
"I don't know if it would get back more overdue materials," she said. "I think it would make a lot of people mad."
Unique Management Systems only
LAWRENCE LIBRARY
The Lawrence Public Library hired Unique Management Systems to recover late fees and overdue materials.
Since 1996, the library has had $137,000 worth of overdue materials.
KU libraries turns accounts that are 60 to 90 days overdue to General Accounting, who may contact a collection agency.
Students who do not pay their late fees to KU libraries cannot enroll and cannot receive their transcripts until the payments have been made.
works with libraries. As the company's clients keep track of their books, the company is informed electronically regarding from whom it needs to collect.
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