MARCH MADNESS kansan.com NCAA Tournament Stay up to date on the Jayhawks' progress in the NCAA Tournament during spring break with Kansan.com THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN VOL.115 ISSUE 118 WWW.KANSAN.COM FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2005 STUDENT SENATE Gay rights endorsed Senators to advocate gay rights BY DANIEL BERK dberk@kanansan.com DASKN STAFF WRITE Student Senate has taken a stance on gay marriage and wants the student body to adopt the same position. Senate passed a resolution Wednesday night urging students to vote against the gay marriage ban because it threatens students' rights. In a debate that lasted nearly 90 minutes, Nick Sterner, Shawnee junior and off-campus senator, began the argument by submitting a resolution that students vote against the gay marriage amendment. "This is not about personal ideology," Sterner said. "It is "T his is not about personal ideology. It is about students' rights." Nick Sterner Shawnee junior and off-campus senator about students' rights." Sterner cited an article from the University of Kansas Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities that states it is SEE GAY RIGHTS ON PAGE 4A Student Voice faces charges ELECTIONS CODE BY DANI LITT dlitt@kansan.com KANSAN STAFF WRITE Lucas Thompson, elections commission chair, filed two complaints that Web sites maintained by Student Voice contained libelous statements about KUnited. The coalition pled not guilty to the two libel-related offenses. Michael Diaz, elections commissioner, filed a complaint against the coalition for failing to submit campaign flyers of its platform by the due date, which was 5 p.m. the day after it announced its platform to the student body. AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT The commission voted unanimously that Student Voice was guilty of libel and breaking a campaign rule, but the commission dropped the charges from serious to significant. Student Voice pled no contest to the complaint because it was a misunderstanding of the procedure on its part. The commission charged Student Voice with libel for statements about KUnited's position on the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Differential Tuition proposal and increasing student fees. The first libel offense was in relation to information posted on the coalition's Xanga Web site, www.xanga.com/studentvoice05. Buildings unaccessible Members of the Student Voice Coalition stood before the University of Kansas Elections Commission for violations of the Elections Code in a hearing at 4:30 p.m. yesterday. Glen White, professor of Applied Behavior Sciences, explains his ADA accessibility stick to Andrea Pantoja, Mission senior. White invented the stick to measure a building's compliance to the Americans with Disabilities Act. SEE CHARGES ON PAGE 2A Five out of six buildings investigated do not comply with disability act regulations BY ESTUARDO GARCIA egarcia@hansan.com KANSAN STAFF WRITER Magario came to the University of Kansas to study CAMPUS BUILDING VIOLATIONS Rachel Magaria has to make a mental map of several of the buildings on campus. It helps her know where she is while she taps her way from point to point with her walking stick. "If that girl hadn't yelled at me, I would have fallen right into that six foot hole," Magario said. The maps have worked for the Brazilian graduate student for the most part. But sometimes changes in her routes can be dangerous. A couple of years ago, a stranger's warning was the only thing that prevented her from falling into a maintenance hole.

Selected ADA access requirements	Strong	Lippincott	Blake	Bailey	Dyche	Spooner
Accessible spaces close to accessible doors	no	yes	yes	no	yes	no
Compliant thresholds	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	no
Exterior doors less than 8 pounds of force	no	no	yes	yes	no	yes
Interior doors less than 5 pounds of force	no	no	yes	yes	N/A	no
Braille signs designating rooms	most	yes	yes	no	yes	yes
Braille signs designating floors	yes	no	yes	no	yes	yes
Visible and audible elevator buttons	no	no	yes	yes	yes	yes
At least one accessible restroom per gender	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	yes
Toilet seat 17-19 inches high	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	yes
Drinking fountains operable with one closed fist	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	yes
Total Violations	4	4	0	6	2	2

communications. She is part of a minority group of students with disabilities that sometimes get overlooked on campus. Glen White, professor of applied behavioral science. Source: Applied behavioral science study recently had his students in the "Independent Living and People with Disabilities" class investigate buildings on campus to determine if they complied with Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA was enacted to prevent discrimination to people with disabilities in the workplace, schools and in public areas. SEE UNACCESSIBLE ON PAGE 4A MED CENTER Fee proposed to benefit health center Pam Kepus, nurse practitioner for the University of Kansas Student Health Center in Kansas City, Kan., demonstrates how to use a microscope. Erin Droste/KANSAN BY TY BEAVER tbeaver@kansan.com KANSAN STAFF WRITER Students at the University of Kansas Medical Center want to improve the student health center. But those improvements may cost them. A group of student representatives met with Dorothy Knoll, dean of students, to solve problems for a resource relied on more and more by students. As the Med Center has grown complaints of under-staffing and insufficient services at the health center have persisted. "It seems like a closet compared to Watkins, but we're pretty proud of our center," Knoll said. The students will propose a student health fee plan to the student governing council April 6. If approved, the fee change would go into effect in Fall 2005. Student health services at the Med Center were paid entirely through student fees. The University pays only for maintenance and utilities, Knoll said. Currently, the amount a student pays in health fees depends on credit hours. Students who take less than six credit hours pay less than the $138 those taking more than six credit hours pay. The increase would add $41.41 to the fee.Because the Med Center only has 1,700 students,it doesn't have as large a group to pull fees from like the Lawrence campus, Knoll said. changes. All students will pay the amount paid by those taking six credit hours or more and a 30 percent fee increase will also be suggested. The proposal calls for two Leveling the field for other students was one of the goals of the proposal, Heather Hoelting, Shawnee nursing student representative, said. Nursing students don't use the student health center as much as other students, she said. "There were graduate students who take less than six hours and felt like they should be paying more for how much they use the health center," Hoetling said. All student representatives said a fee increase was necessary. Determining how much to increase it by was a different story. Increased fees would allow students more control of their health care and provide better services, Kevin McIntire, Atlanta, Ga., allied health graduate student representative, said. Today's weather SEE HEALTH ON PAGE 4A Sunday 58 32 Partly cloudy All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2005 The University Daily Kansan Skirting tradition Skirting tradition Five women in politics spoke last night at the Dole Institute of Politics. The women said the reason so few females take office is because so few run. They encouraged mentoring females in politics. PAGE 2A 'The Ring Two' disappoints Former players Kansan movie reviewer Stephen Shupe saw "The Ring Two," which comes out today. He says the movie does not live up to its predecessor. PAGE 6A Drew Gooden left Kansas basketball his junior year to enter the NBA. He has been traded twice and is now shooting hoops with the leagues top-ranked player. PAGE 1B Tournament kickoff Tournament kickoff The Jayhawks arrived in Oklahoma City and practiced for the NCAA Tournament yesterday. First-round action begins tonight as they take on the Bucknell Bison at 8:40. PAGE1B