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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
TALK TO US: Contact Leita Walker, Jay Krall or Kyle Ramsey at (785) 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
WWW.KANSAN.COM
WEDNESDAY APRIL 17,2002
ISSUE 132 VOLUME 112
Students make suggestions for minority recruitment
By Leah Shaffer
Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas could attract more minorities with more scholarships, more support networks and more commitment from the administration, students suggested yesterday at an open forum.
The forum at the Kansas Union was a way for the Commission on the Status of Minorities to hear student ideas on how to improve minority recruitment and retention at the University. About 30 people attended.
Fred Rodriguez, associate professor in education administration and chair of the commission, said the Provost established the commission last fall to look into a student recruitment plan and gather long term data on recruitment patterns. A set of recommendations have already been sent to the Provost. Rodriguez said the next step was to open up the commission to students.
"It would be remiss not to hear and learn from you." he said.
Juan Toledo, Topeka second-year pharmacy school student, said the University needed to do a better job of exposing new minority students to different organizations where they could find support.
Toledo, former president of Hispanic American Leadership Organization, said not enough new students even knew about organizations such as Black Student Union and Hispanic American Leadership Organization.
For Fall 2001, 2.6 percent of the KU student population was African American, 3.1 percent was Asian American and 2.4 percent was Hispanic American, according to the Office of Institutional Research and Planning.
Toledo said freshmen Hispanic students had told him the University was a culture shock because they came to the predominantly Caucasian campus from all-Hispanic neighborhoods. He said if they just saw more Hispanic faces guiding them, they would be more comfortable at the University.
Mark Dupree, Kansas City, Kan., sophomore, said that it could help if minority students were introduced to the University with others of their cultural background. Dupree said he was the only minority during his recruitment trip to the University.
"Strangely, enough, I expected to see more minorities when I came to college," said Dupree, president of Black Student Union.
Justin Mills, president of Student Senate and commission member, said minority retention would not go up until the administration was willing to make the commitment to improve programs like the Multicultural Resource Center.
"The priority is not there for the administration," he said.
A factor that could affect minority recruitment and retention is the elimination of one position next year at the Office of Multicultural Affairs because of budget cuts.
Tony Daniels, assistant director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, said his current position would be eliminated, although he would stay on next year as an associate director. He said the loss of a staff member would leave more hard work for the current director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs Robert Page, and the director of the Multicultural Resource Center, Santos Nunez.
"There's no way that Santos and Robert can do it," he said.
Contact Shaffer at ishaffer@kansan.com. This story was edited by Kristi Henderson.
Cheers erupt from the student section during a men's basketball game earlier this season at Allen Fieldhouse. Many students would camp for days for prime sear at the fieldhouse, while other student ticket holders have simply opted to stay home.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO BY CHRISTINA NEFF
FILLING THE PHOG
Students want better seats,but their low attendance is hurting the cause
By Brent Wasko Kansan sportswriter
Sam Klein loves the Kansas men's basketball team.
The Olathe freshman could hardly wait to cheer on the Jayhawks this season, his first in the student section at Allen Fieldhouse.
He had watched the team play hundreds of times on television and would finally get the chance to sway to the
alma mater, chant "Rock Chalk Jayhawk" and shake the rafters.
But the experience wasn't quite what he had expected.
For his first game, he waited in line outside Allen Fieldhouse for almost an hour, finally grabbed a seat near the top of the arena, then sat in the bleachers for another hour, waiting for the
game to begin. Once it began, he had to stand the entire game, sometimes struggling to see the action out on the court.
Klein walked out of Allen Field house that night and didn't return the rest of the season.
"I watch all the games on TV and everything," he said. I'm a pretty big fan, but I don't a big fan of waiting in line and then maybe not being able to see the game."
Klein isn't alone.
It seems unbelievable, but students who have tickets to see the Jayhawks, one of the best teams in the country, aren't making the effort to show up at Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas officials say that, in some cases, fewer than 25 percent of students who hold tickets actually come to the arena to watch the games.
Students say they want to sit courtside, where the opponents can hear their screams and television cameras can catch their fanaticism. One student group even has research to show the athletics department why it should bump alumni from their prime courtseats.
Low student attendance is putting
the athletics department in a bind, and none of the solutions look good. Move the students and lose alumni dollars; do nothing and watch as student attendance slowly slides; or change student tickets to reserved seats and upset the most rabid fans.
Where are all the students?
Ticket receipts and turnstile numbers for Kansas' game against Valparaiso on Jan. 2 showed that less than a quarter of the approximately 6,300 students who held vouchers redeemed them for game tickets. And then, only 1,011 students actually went to the game. The athletics department had estimated that more students would show up, leaving empty seats throughout Allen Fieldhouse.
Low student turnover was a problem all season. A little more than half of the students who held vouchers attended the Wake Forest game on Dec. 4, and that was the best student turnout of the year.
Richard Konzem, associate athletics director, said student attendance had
SEE FIELDHOUSE ON PAGE 6A
Campus creek littered with University's recycling
By Lauren Beatty and Mike Gilligan Kansan staff writers
More oil and trash was found in a West Campus creek last week, days after the Kansas Department of Health and Environment inspected the area.
Sean Ringey, Clearwater junior, was biking in the area April 6 when he discovered an oil sheen on the water and piles of broken office equipment in the area around the creek.
Piles of trash litter the bank of a West Campus creek. Doug Riat, director of Facilities Operations said the piles were University recyclables and that they were removed every few weeks or when they began to accumulate.
"These things didn't just fall in there," he said. "There's more to it."
Ringey said he remembered that a University mechanic had made a complaint about the creek and went back home to get his camera. He took photos of the oil and of piles of computer parts and office machinery. He submitted the photos to the Kansan.
Doug Riat, director of Facilities Operations, said he went to the creek after the results from an April 3 complaint about sludge in the creek. His inspection didn't reveal any oil.
"There wasn't any residue," he said. "The creek has an orange rust color from iron in the soil."
Riat said the oil sheen on the creek could have come from one drop of oil from a passing vehicle.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
"If there was an oily film in the creek, I think we'd do what we could to help," Riat said. "I don't think we'd idly sit by and let it happen."
Riat said the piles of broken machinery were the University's recycling piles. He said the piles were picked up when they began to accumulate or every few weeks.
Karl Birns, instructor of environmental studies, inspected the creek and surrounding area yesterday and found no oily residue in the creek. The recycling piles had also been disposed of.
"While the stream bank is untidy, it doesn't seem to be contaminated," he said. "Most of what I've seen here is just a housekeeping problem."
Mike Russell, director of the department of Health, Safety and Environment, said there were no regulations about how recycling piles should be kept.
On April 3, Tom Bryce, a University mechanic, complained that some possibly toxic sludge had been dumped into the creek, but officials from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment tested the sludge April 5 and found that it was not toxic and had no environmental impact, said Mike Heideman, director of public information for KDHE.
He said a few years ago, the University entered into a consent agreement with the KDHE because of some environmental violations that had since
been corrected.
"The University was cooperative and eager to work with us to get those issues resolved," Heideman said.
Contact Beatty at lbeatty@ kansan.com or Gilligan at mgilligan@ kansan.com. This story was edited by Justin Henning.
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