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Volume 126 Issue 79
kansan.com
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
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FUNDING
MIKE VERNON
mvernon@kansan.com
Student body President Marcus Tetwiler and three other Advisory Board members recommended eliminating a student fee funding women's and non-revenue sports for Kansas Athletics Monday afternoon.
University of Kansas students are required to pay the semesterly $25 student fee to offset travel expenses for women's and non-revenue sports. Currently, students pay between $1.2 and $1.3 million annually to the athletic department fund through the current fee.
The committee recommended two different options to a separate Student Senate Fee Review Committee: That the student fee be eliminated entirely, or that the fee be lowered from $25 a semester to $20.
The $20 recommendation came based on a 2004 contract
signed by former student body President Andrew Knopp and former Athletic Director Lew Perkins that guaranteed a fee of $20 or more until at least the year 2020. David Catt, the chairman of the Women's and Non-Revenue Intercollegiate Sports Advisory Board, who voted on the recommendation, disputed the validity of the contract.
"Within the past three weeks, conversations with both law professors and practicing attorneys outside of the University of Kansas structure have indicated that the document is non-binding in any way and merely reflects what two people acting out of their power thought a decade ago," Catt said in an email to the Kansan.
Catt compiled a critical review of the fee. His report ends with the recommendation to eliminate the fee, which other members of the Advisory Board have agreed to.
"Is it the responsibility of
24,000 students to pay for Title IX compliance for a corporation?" Student Senate graduate affairs director Pantaleon Florez III asked during the meeting.
Florez asked the question after KU Athletics representatives explained why the fee exists. KU Athletics CFO Pat Kaufman and senior associate athletic director Debbie Van Saun helped clarify financial information and added insight from the Athletic Department's point of view.
Van Saun, Kaufman and two female student athletes focused on what the fee does to ensure that KU Athletics meets Title IX equality requirements for equal travel among sports teams.
Katy Evans, a former Kansas rower and current tutor for KU Athletics, said the fee is essential to keeping the quality of travel equal among sports teams.
"This fee has allowed for gender equality between sports," Evans said.
The Athletics Department spent $6,601,009 on travel expenses in 2013. It isn't clear how much of that money was spent on women's and non-revenue sports. KU Athletics revenues totaled $93.6 million during the same year. In 2012, the fee accounted for 1.6 percent of KU Athletics' total revenue.
The Senate's responsibility to help finance Title IX, a federal law, was a main question of senators. Tetwiler pointed to the Senate's earlier decision to forgo funding a federally required accessibility ramp at Strong Hall. The Senate questioned if students should pay for the University to meet government standards.
"Our opinion is that that's not a responsibility of student fees," Tetwil said.
The Senate also questioned KU Athletics' multi-million dollar revenues and whether the Athletics Department needs the $1.2 to $1.3 million of student fee revenue collected by
the fee to help support its travel expenses.
During the meeting, Catt asked if Athletics could appropriate money from other sources to account for the fee, should that income disappear for the department.
"We'll have to find a way somewhere, somewhere, somehow to cover it," Kaufman said. "The bottom line is: It will put a damper on our ability to cover these costs."
"It's very difficult to get donations that are earmarked for women and non-revenue sports and that's why this fee has become so important," Van Saun added.
Kaufman said the Athletic Department might have to consider "looking" at the $150 student ticket package if the student fee is eliminated.
In 2008, Senate was one vote shy of eliminating the fee. According to a Lawrence Journal-World report, Lew Perkins said he would maintain the price of the $150 student
ticket package as long as the student fee remained unchanged.
No mention of Knopp's contract was cited in the Journal-World or Kansan reports on the subject.
Four senators voted for the measure to eliminate the fee, while two voted against it. Five senators voted to move the fee to $20. The Senate's vote is simply a recommendation to the Fee Review Committee, which will make an additional recommendation before Senate takes final action on the issue.
Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little can then veto a proposed change — or elimination — of the fee.
"Athletics is a big dollar business and there's a lot of big dollar amounts." Kaufman said. "I'm not going to apologize for it, it's kind of the business that we're in."
Edited by Kansan Staff
HEALTH
BRENT BURFORD/KANSAN
Merck, the company that makes NuvaRing, is going to pay $100 million to settle lawsuits from women who have been harmed or not warned about NuvaRing's life-threatening side effects.
Birth control options have many serious side effects
LOGAN SCHLOSSBERG
news@kansan.com
More than 60 percent of American women use contraception, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There are around 15 different birth control options that our country provides. Some of these options include the birth control pill, the Depo Provera injectable and the NuvaRing.
Guttmacher Institute says that 64 percent of women who use contraception currently use the pill, patch, intrauterine device (IUD) implant, Depo Provera shot, or the NuvaRing. However, the Depo Provera shot and NuvaRing are causing serious complications.
The NuvaRing is something that women can insert themselves, unlike an IUD or a Depo Provera shot. Over three weeks, this ring releases hormones that block sperm from getting to an egg, according to a National Public Radio health blog.
Merck, the company that makes NuvaRing, is going to pay $100 million to settle many lawsuits from women who have been harmed or not warned about NuvaRing's side effects of life-threatening blood clots.
Still, women continue to use this contraception choice because, according to McKee, there are always going to be side effects no matter the birth control type. McKee said that if a woman knows enough about her body, she will be able to tell if something is wrong with a birth control method and know that it's not the choice for her.
"You're adding more hormones to your body that your body already makes," said Jenny Mckee, a health educator at Watkins Memorial Health Center. "Different people respond differently to that."
"I've been on various pills and they've had horrible side effects like depression, weight gain and acne but I haven't
SEE HEALTH PAGE 3
- According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention there are around 15 different birth control methods available in the U.S.
CONTRACEPTION IN CONTEXT
- In 2004 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a black box warning for the Depo Provera injection, due to its ability to cause bone marrow density loss
- Merck is paying $100 million to settle lawsuits from women who were harmed or unwarned of the life-threatening blood clots that NuvaRing can cause
- NuvaRing and Depo Provera can cause serious complications
- The Affordable Care Act has made all FDA-approved birth control options free under most insurances
FINANCE
Legal Services help students file taxes
PAIGE STINGLEY news@kansan.com
Starting in February and continuing through April, several law students and attorneys from the Legal Services for Students will provide a free service to help students file tax returns.
KU students, and those with an annual income of under $58,000 a year, have access to a program from H&R Block called myfreetaxes.com. The program is easy to use and doesn't require a knowledge of tax laws or lingo; it walks users through the process of filing for federal and state taxes.
Students can use the program on their computers, or they can come to the main Budig computer lab for workshops to get help Law students who have been trained in tax law and have taken tax classes will be at the computer labs to provide assistance. The workshops are come-and-go; students are not required to stay for the entire time.
The program makes it easy for students to file taxes, even if they don't know how, said Jo Hardesty, director and managing attorney for Legal Services for Students. The process can take as few as 30 minutes.
The program is also accessible for international students, whose tax process is much different. The website has an option for international tax forms next to the option for U.S. tax forms.
Many students have already started preparing their tax forms for the upcoming FAF-
SA deadline. The program will file federal taxes first, then state taxes. Users can receive their refunds in as few as 10 days after filing.
Rob Williams, a third year law student from Manhattan, is one of the law students who is available to help in the Budig computer labs. This will be Williams' third year assisting students.
"Our job is to help answer students' questions, anything from whether or not they should itemize deductions, to deciding if they should apply for education credits...things
"Come in and get free advice and assistance and file... federal and state returns for free."
ROB WILLIAMS Third-year law student
like that," Williams said.
There are three law students available during the workshops, but more may be added toward the end of the season when it gets busier.
"It's a great opportunity to come in and get free advice and assistance, and file... federal and state returns for free." Williams said.
The program is available at myfreetaxes.com/ku. The schedule of workshops is at legalservices.ku.edu Students need to bring all of the necessary tax documents listed on the website in order to file.
— Edited by Krista Montgomery
HOW TO GET HELP WITH YOUR TAXES
- Forms such as a W-2, 1099,
1042-S or other statements or
information reporting income,
including: scholarships,
grants, and fellowships.
- Your checkbook to verify your routing number and bank account number for direct deposit refunds.
- Enroll and Pay information showing tuition paid and financial aid received.
- Workshops this week:
Tuesday, Feb. 18 - 2-30 a.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 19 - 3-5 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 20 - 3-30-5-30 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 21 - 1-3 p.m.
- information showing total amounts paid for course-related books, supplies, and equipment in 2013.
-If you plan to itemize deductions, bring statements showing your medical expenses, home mortgage interest, gifts to charity, real estate and personal property tax, unreimbursed employee expenses, etc.
Things to bring to Budig:
Computer Labs:
- Social security cards for you,
your spouse and children
Index
- Your KU ID card
- Your federal and state income tax returns from 2012
- International students. Your passport and I-20 or DS-2019
CLASSIFIEDS 9
CROSSWORD 5
Don't Forget
CRYPTOQUIPS 5
OPINION 4
SPORTS 10
SUDOKU 5
"House of Cards" season two is waiting for you.
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2014 The University Daily Kansan
Today's Weather
Sunny. Zero percent chance of rain. Wind WSW at 20 mph.
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Good day, sunshine.
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