Volume 124 Issue 82
kansan.com
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
NO ID, NO PROBLEM
Fingerprint scanners make workouts easier for students
KELSEY CIPOLLA
kcipolla@kansan.com
Students no longer need an ID to enter the Ambler recreation center thanks to last month's high-tech upgrade, which included the addition of a fingerprint scanner.
Bobby Arnold, facility coordinator, said that Student Senates student recreation board asked the Rec center to come up with a way for students to enter that didn't require IDs to increase convenience for students. The scanner proved to be the most viable option and seems to be improving the entry process.
"It's always crazier in the spring, but I think its been going smoother than usual." Arnold said.
Although both entry processes take roughly the same amount of time,he said the fingerprint scanner has reduced the number of people digging through their bags in line.
The fingerprint scanner uses a system similar to the process used to check IDs: The fingerprint is
scanned, then the employee working at the turnstile confirms that the face matches the on-screen image
Arnold estimated that about half of the Rec center's visitors have started using their fingerprint entry procedure since it was introduced last month, although people are still welcome to use their IDs.
The scanner was purchased as a part of a software system upgrade that Arnold said was needed since the building opened. The new system handles entry, equipment checkout, schedules, facility spaces and personal training. Lockers were also installed around the same time in an effort to reduce theft. The new lockers are located on the first and second floors where the cubbies used to be and have built-in combination locks.
Before installing the lockers, around 30 thefts per semester were reported to Rec center staff or the police. In the roughly two months since the lockers debuted, only one theft has been reported.
Matt Abraham, a senior from
Overland Park, said he is a fan of both the lockers and the new ID- less entry option.
"its just convenient," Abraham said. "And it's worked every time for me."
Kristin Nohr, a senior from Leawood, likes not having to carry extra things, like her ID, when she goes to work out. The fingerprint scanner also means she doesn't have to bring her card in and risk losing it, which has happened to her in the past.
So far, the fingerprint scanner has had only minor problems, all relating to difficulties reading certain fingerprints.
"When you try to accommodate almost 27,000 students, faculty and staff, you have 27,000 different kinds of fingers," Arnold said. "Some fingers work better than others, but for the most part I think we're seeing a pretty good success rate."
Edited by Katie James
K'cie Kinsinger, a junior from Ulysses, records the fingerprint of Ananya Mateos, a sophomore from Dallas, at the Ambler recreation center Tuesday night. The Rec center purchased the fingerprint scanner as part of a technology upgrade.
TRAVIS YOUNG/KANSAN
BOOKS AND BRAWN
TARA RRYANT/KANSAN
Amy Perko, Knight Commission Executive Director, speaks at the Dole Institute of Politics Tuesday night for her discussion "Restoring the Balance: Dollars, Values, and the Future of College Sports." Perko has served in various leader positions in sports for more than 20 years, including at the University as the Associate Athletics Director.
Talk looks to bridge gap for athletes
LUKE RANKER
lukeke@kaoop.com
lranker@kansan.com
The Ecumenical Campus Ministries sponsored two discussions on the divide between intercollegiate athletics and academics on Tuesday.
The events featured Amy Perko, Knight Commission Executive Director, and were meant to foster discussion on the financial divide between college sports and their academic institutions. The goal of the Knight Commission is to ensure intercollegiate athletic programs work within their college's academic mission.
The Rev. Thad Holcombe of the ECM said that he became aware of the "isolation" of athletes during his time at the University of Oklahoma and found the same culture of separation here. Holcombe said that after recent athletic scandals, including the one at Pennsylvania State University and the ticket scandal at the University, he decided to hold a community forum.
"Athletics must be considered part of universities, not apart from them," Perko said during the Q&A-style forum Tuesday evening.
"My concern as far as student athletes is how can we enrich their experience with education and integrate with other students in a more viable
way, " Holcombe said.
Perko said the tension between entertainment and education has existed since the 1920s but became more prominent in the 1990s with expansion of game broadcasting. She said the Knight Commission was seeing issues and trends that it felt threatened the future of college sports.
She said that due to conference realignments, media revenues for the top five conferences will double. This growth has raised the concerned about whether college football is only about money.
"For the majority of Division I schools, the current model is not financially sustainable," she said. "In the future, there will be a different structure for Division I."
"The economic engine for college sports has accelerated over the past couple years," she said.
"We want to look at ways that the money can strengthen the educational missions of the universities," she said.
The question was raised during the forum as to whether or not the National Collegiate Athletic Association as it is now would still exist in the coming years. Perko said there is a definite separation between the top 70 teams with big football programs and the rest of the NCAA schools.
Another controversial issue briefly discussed was the concept of paying players. The idea gained momentum after an "Atlantic" article by Taylor Branch highlighted how players go largely uncompensated for their work while college athletic departments profit.
Perko said she has not done many discussion in campus community settings recently but mostly meets with athletic conferences, faculty groups, trustee groups and governing boards.
Associate Athletics Director for Student Support Paul Buskirk said that at the University funding for student resources is spread out evenly across all sports.
Buskirk said he was still undecided about the concept of paying student athletes.
"We would welcome having more conversations like these on university campuses," Perko said.
Edited by Taylor Lewis
STUDENT SENATE
Code needs simplicity
VIKAAS SHANKER
vshanker@kansan.com
How student organizations obtain funding for travel expenses will be reviewed this semester, along with several other changes, as the Student Senate Finance Committee updates the 11-year-old Student Senate Budget Code.
Finance Committee chairman Josh Dean said members of the committee are altering the Budget Code, Article VIII of the Student Senate Rules and Regulations, to make its structure and language clearer for the student body. The committee also intends to take record of rules that are currently in practice but have never been written down.
"The last overhaul of the budget code took place in 2000, and people have made lots of amendments, and many rules have been changed," Dean said. "Right now, the rules are very confusing for people."
One such rule is item 8.2.5.6.1, which says, "No funds from student fees shall be allocated or apportioned to any corporation, organization, or group for travel expenses." Organizations are able to apply for an exemption to this rule, but requirements for the exemption are not written in the code and currently need to be interpreted by the Finance Committee.
Any student organization can apply for the exemption with a bill that must receive two-thirds of the vote in the Finance and Rights committees before going to the Senate for another two-thirds vote.
"The big test we use is, 'Is travel vital to the existence of your group?'," Dean said about any organization seeking a travel exemption.
If the general answer is yes, the organization may be eligible for an exemption. Another parameter the committee looks at is if
the organization is inclusive to all students, Dean said.
While these specifications have been the unofficial benchmarks for a travel exemption for many years, at least one student organization has not agreed with the committee's answer to that question.
Engineers Without Borders,
organizationthat participates in engineering projects around the world, applied for a travel exemption in November. It was de-
ARTICLE 8.2.5.6.1:
"No funds from student fees shall be allocated or apportioned to any corporation, organization, or group for travel expenses."
"To exist as a chapter, we have to travel in this case, but to exist as a member in the chapter, you don't have to travel," she said.
with the exemption and because it was compared with other organizations that didn't have the same travel requirements.
nied, because the Finance and Rights committees thought it was an organization that could exist without travel.
Source: Student Senate Rules and Regulations, last updated in 2000
But the leader of Engineers Without Borders contends that the group is still inclusive by being open to all KU students from any major.
Rights Committee chairman Aaron Harris ruled out the proposed exemption for Engineers Without Borders, because he thought the organization wasn't completely inclusive.
"We can't fund a group that charges dues to its members," he said. "If a group wants funding, it must be open to all students, not those who pay."
"We have other majors besides engineering that travel with us," said Mary Adams, the president of Engineers Without Borders.
Dean said the committee discussed that the organization
The travel exemption request was brought to a vote in the Finance Committee, but didn't receive the two-thirds vote to move onto the Senate. Adams said she thought the bill was rejected because Engineers Without Borders doesn't participate in competitions like some organizations
doesn't participate in competitions and that most group members don't travel when the committee made its decision.
Engineers Without Borders was hoping to take
about eight people to Bolivia to build latrines for underdeveloped areas, but are now taking fewer people, Adams said. The organization has applied for funding in previous years, but was also denied then.
"The fact that they've been around without [student fee] funding shows they can exist," Harris said.
Clarification of the rules and regulations about funding may help organizations better determine if they should put resources into providing exemption requests.
"I think it would be very beneficial to be more clear about that," Adams said about the Finance Committee's review of the Budget Code.
According to Dean, members of the Finance Committee are currently reviewing the studentfee portion of the Budget Code, but he estimated the committee will start reviewing the part related to travel exemptions in March.
— Edited by Corinne Westeman
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