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Tuesday, February 24, 2015
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The student voice since 1904
FRANK WEIRICH/KANSAN
FRANK WFIRICH/KANSAN
Co-owner of Red Tractor Farm Jen Humphrey shows off the baby lettuce growing in the high tunnel. Red Tractor will be one of the farms participating in the Crops to Campus program.
The University is partnering with Common Harvests Community-Supported Agriculture to begin the Crops to Campus program, which will deliver organic produce to students and staff. The program is subscription-based, delivering four to five items for $13 per week, or seven to eight items for $18 per week.
SKYLAR ROLSTAD
@SkyRolNews
In a partnership with Common Harvests Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA), the University will launch a new program in the fall called Crops to Campus, which is a subscription-based service that will deliver organic produce to University students and staff.
Each week from September to October 2015, subscribers will receive portions of four to five produce items for $13 per week, or seven to eight items for $18 per week. Each delivery will contain different types of produce such as a bag of apples and other fruits or vegetables.
The Center for Sustainability is just one of the University organizations involved in the decision to partner with Common Harvests for Crops to Campus. The KU Faculty/Staff Wellness Committee, Watkins Health Services, KU Athletics, KU Dining Services, KU Endowment and Recreation Services will also sponsor the new program.
program "I think [the University] will benefit from the campus having a relationship with local farms and promoting the purchase of local food, which encourages better eating habits," said Kim Criner, the Center for
Sustainability's education and outreach coordinator.
Common Harvests CSA is a group of four organic-certified farms in Douglas County: Moon on the Meadow, Buller Family Farm, The Red Tractor Farm and Juniper Hill Farms. The Red Tractor Farm, located in Lawrence, is co-owned by Jen Humphrey and Jessica Pierson, both alumni of the
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"As a University alum and as staff at KU, I am excited to have a CSA on campus." Humphrey said. "I have been involved in farming for over five years and this program is a great step forward for the University to offer a CSA on campus."
University.
Humphrey is also the director of external affairs at the University's Biodiversity Insti.
tute and Museum of Natural History.
"We want to make [the program] as convenient as possible for KU staff and students." Humphrey said. "I think the people who would enjoy a CSA are people who would enjoy the convenience of having produce delivered to them, but who also like to get to know their farmers."
The growing interest in organic food and educated diet choices have made Humphrey hopeful that people will utilize Crops to Campus for obtaining local produce. The program will be able to accommodate 250 subscribers in its first year.
Student Senate allocates $274k to Educational Opportunity Fund
"I think that it's becoming an increasing trend for corporations, universities and schools to offer CSAs as part of wellness programs or as part of encouraging healthy behaviors." Humphrey said. "So one of the things I'm excited about as a KU employee and as a farmer is to bring fresh produce to people on campus and hopefully, in the process, encourage them to learn more about local food, eating good food and cooking with that food."
Students and staff can sign up at www.commonharvestcsa.com. For more information, visit www.wellness.ku.edu/csa.
Edited by Valerie Haag
ALANA FLINN
@alana_finn
After weeks of review, Student Senate has allocated $274,775 to the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) to be used by departments and University groups for scholarships and grants.
FILE PHOTO/KANSAN
EOF money goes to individual students through scholarships and grants, whereas line and block allocations go to student organizations for specific organization-related expenses, said treasurer Madeline Sniezek.
dent Senate will look at the requested amount and decide whether to adjust or approve it, said Student Body President Morgan Said.
Student body president Morgan Said speaks at a Student Senate meeting on Sept. 17, 2014. Student Senate recently allocated $274,775 to the Educational Opportunity Fund.
The $274,775 comes from the EOF fee each student pays every semester as a part of the campus-required fees. This academic year, each student paid $ 7.75 toward the fund.
Many departments require students to apply for a scholarship from their department, and a lot of those applicants are graduate students, Sniezek said.
Departments will request funding for something such as a scholarship, and then Students are in kind of a financial hardship, and this is the student population we want to specifically target to help them succeed and pay their way through school," so it's really students helping students."
"We help with application fees for grad schools because [most students who apply are] low-income or first-generation students, but it's all going back to students to further their education." Sniezek said.
For Said, having a hand in allocating these funds is meaningful because she gets to see how much departments care about the success of their students.
"On the Senate end, it's really cool to see departments saying. We realize our students are in kind of a financial hardship, and this is the student population we want to specifically target to help them succeed and pay their way through school," so it's really students helping students."
she said. "It's also really cool to see these professors or chairs, whoever they may be, advocating for the student departments and advocating for their funds."
— Edited by Emma LeGault
Drug and Vaccine Discovery Institute not being funded
KELLY CORDINGLEY
@kellycordingley
The Kansas House of Representatives budget subcommittee denied the Board of Regents' request for $5 million to establish a Drug and Vaccine Discovery Institute at the University, which would research new drugs and vaccines to treat and cure diseases.
This means the University won't receive state money to hire researchers and fund programs for the Institute, attract pharmaceutical companies to the area and further drug-related and vaccine-related research.
Virgil Peck (R-Tyro)
Virgil Peck (R-Tyro), a subcommittee member, called the Regents' requests "absurd" and "ridiculous" in light of Kansas' dire financial situation, Henry said. Peck was unavailable for comment before The Kansan's
"It was an opportunity for us to leverage the remarkable work we do in terms of discovery and pair that with vaccine creation," Caboni said. "Those two things together have incredible interest to companies, especially pharmaceutical companies who might want to partner with the University and invest. The great hope is to relocate businesses and build those businesses close to the University."
The subcommittee also denied a 3 percent pay increase for KU Medical Center faculty and staff.
In a regular fiscal year, the Board of Regents usually puts together a list of one or two issues critical to Regents universities and approaches the House budget subcommittee with those requests. However, this year, Gov. Sam Brownback denied all of these requests for additional funding, said Jerry Henry (D-Atchison), the ranking minority member on the House Appropriations Committee, which the budget subcommittee falls under.
"It's the Board of Regents' responsibility to talk to us and get down to the details on all budgets about what is needed for the universities, both for the students that we serve and also to remain competitive," Henry said.
Tim Caboni, vice chancellor for public affairs at the University, said the work done by the Institute would not only find cures for diseases, but would help stimulate the economy.
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Jerry Henry (D-Atchison) deadline.
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If we raise tuitions too high, students won't pay for that tuition," Henry said. "But the more important thing is that low-income, middle-class and even some upper-income students and families will have to make the choice of whether they can afford higher education. If tuition is too high
Henry said many members of the House and Senate feel universities should be finding ways to slash their budgets through things like refusing to build new buildings and raising tuition costs, but he disagrees.
"Some of us on the committee thought that was a comment that was out of line" Henry said. "This is more than just teaching. This is life-saving research for families and individuals. This is very important for our future."
SEE VACCINE PAGE 2
Lifeline 911 bill passes Senate committees sent to Kansas House of Representatives
"We'll see how the conversation progresses," Caboni said. "It's a difficult year for the state budget, and we knew any enhancement would be challenging to get approved, but we'll continue to work on that and we'll see how the conversation progresses over the next few months."
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Caboni said the rejection wasn't surprising because the fiscal state of Kansas is dismal.
The Lifeline 911 bill, designed to protect minors who seek medical assistance when they are or have been drinking, passed through Kansas Senate judiciary committees on Monday.
Don't Forget
The bill will move to the floor of the Kansas House of Representatives next week. There is not an official date or time the bill will be seen, said Morgan Said, student body president. Should the bill pass, it will move to the full Senate floor and then to the desk of Gov. Sam Brownback.
To enjoy the semi-warm sunny weather!
Said, who has supported the bill
Said will send letters tomorrow to representatives in the Lawrence area urging them to vote in favor of the bill. Said is also trying to get as many students who attended Higher Education Day on Feb. 10 as possible to travel to Topeka next week for the House of Representatives Hearing.
"We'll sit in the room and make ourselves available for questions if they have anything for us," she said. "I'm planning to bring students and bring them to chambers to put pressure on the legislators."
"We're one lap closer to the finish line, but we haven't reached victory vet." she said. "It's encouraging."
from the start, said the quick progress of the bill is exciting.
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2015 The University Daily Kansan
Alana Flinn
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