TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2002
NEWS
THEUNIVERSITYDAILYKANSAN 3A
City considers surveying public
Commission might poll opinions of Lawrence officials
The City Commissionistaking steps to make City Hall a more friendly place for Lawrence residents.
The commission met Wednesday to discuss the possibility of improving Lawrence's City Hall.
The commission discussed hiring local statisticians to surveys the public and city employees about city officials' accessibility, which could cost the city between $5,000 and $20,000.
By Lauren Beatty
Kansan staff writer
The meeting stemmed from the commission's annual evaluation in January of City Manager Mike Wildden. David Dunfield, city commissioner, said questions were raised about how satisfied the people of Lawrence were with their government officials.
"To some extent, anything the city proposes has supporters and detractors," he said. "I think we felt it was time to get a more well-rounded picture."
Dunfield said some of the problems had to do with Wildgen's personality.
"There may be some people that feel Lawrence is hard to deal with." Dunfield said.
Mike Rees, chief counsel for the Kansas Department of Transportation, said he generally had a good relationship with the city staff.
"I wouldn't say it's tough to deal with them," he said. "Some are more open than others."
Wildgen would not comment on whether he thought the people of Lawrence saw him as unfriendly or on specific comments from his evaluation, but did say that he had received a lot of public support.
Wildgen said plans for general improvements to City Hall were not finalized, but cited past improvements made in response to public feedback.
"It's not just the building, but all of City Hall," Wildgen said. "All departments should be sensitive to those issues."
John Nalbandian, chairman of the public administration department at the University of Kansas and former city commissioner, said two aspects of public administration were courtesy and respect.
A1996 report that also addressed accessibility issues led to changes to the building and increased Web access, he said.
"We don't teach courtesy. We do teach respect that public officials should have as local government officials," he said.
Nalbandian said the department took time to teach students in the program who would become city government officials to spend a lot of time building relationships between the public and the government.
Officials have responsibilities to the public and the profession. Nalbandian said, but the issue is complex and responsibilities are sometimes difficult to handle.
"It's really a matter of talking about the role of government," he said.
Contact Beautyat
beatyatt@kansan.com. This story
was edited by Sarah Smarsh.
Contact Beauty at
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
ENGINEERING
Boldridge said when she first came to the University in 1983, she thought there were more than 1,000 African-American students. This year, there are 666 African-American students campuswide, with 33 in the engineering school. The three groups make up 5.9 percent of the University population.
Tama Aga, Overland Park junior, is vice president of the KU chapter of Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. That society, along with the National Society of Black Engineers, works to create a communities for the different ethnic groups within the engineering school. Aga said there were a variety of
Aga said his organization visited such schools in order to encourage the students to pursue engineering. The next step was for the University to retain the minority students, he said.
"I think that a big reason for it are a lot of minorities are in inner-city schools and they don't get exposed to it." Aga said.
reasons for the low numbers of minorities in engineering.
According to "Upping the Numbers," a report commissioned by the General Electric Fund, these same groups are unrepresented nationwide in the quantitative sciences.
According to the report, minorities will compose up to 40 percent of the workforce by 2008. African Americans and Hispanics currently make up 20 percent of the general workforce
Boldridge said the national numbers were low because, until today, many minorities did not have role models to guide them into engineering.
but less than 8 percent of the workforce in engineering, physical sciences and economics.
Kansas is doing a good job at attracting another underrepresented group, female engineers. Women make up 18 percent of students in the engineering school, which is above the national average. Boldridge said the school also was doing a better job of hiring female professors.
Boldridge said the school's diversity program was 31 years old. It has served as the model for similar programs in other schools at the University.
Boldridge said the main key to getting more minorities was a
matter of money.
"The same students you are after are the same that all the schools are after." Boldridge said.
Boldridge said the diversity programs received plenty of support from the dean's office and that raising the numbers was a high priority.
The best way to be competitive with the other schools was to offer more scholarships, Boldridge said. However, she said that getting more money for scholarships would be tough because of the current tight budget situation.
"Our school and current dean have been very good about encouraging through scholarship," she said.
Contact Shaffer at
TUITION
Contact Shafer at Ishaffer@kansan.com. This story was edited by Molly Gise.
Tuition scenarios
Overview of the various tuition plans
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
Scenarios Total increase Increase per credit hour per year Net amount
A $96 per credit hour $19.20 $50 million
The Committee approved this scenario yesterday
B $76 per credit hour $15.20 $40 million
C $48 per credit hour $9.60 $25 million
D $69 per credit hour $13.80 $35 million
E $115 per credit hour $23.00 $60 million
conference room. The meeting is open to the public.
Students will also have a chance to share their views on spending the $50 million at a rally from noon to 1 p.m. today in front of Wescoe Hall. A group of concerned students is planning to set up an open microphone for students to voice their opinions.
The committee chose the $50 million increase over four other proposals, which ranged in increasing tuition from $25 million to $60 million. The $50 million proposal was the second
largest of the five.
While the committee continues to work on proposals to raise more money from students, the University will continue to lobby for more money from the Kansas Legislature. Administrators will be going to Topeka to support Senate Bill 345, which would fund increases in faculty salaries.
The final tuition proposal draft is due to the Board of Regents by Friday, April 5. The Regents will decide by their April meeting if the proposal is adequate.
Scenario A
Contact Carr at
mcarr@kansan.com. This story was edited by Eve Lamborn.
Scenario A Tuition increase situation during the next five years
Source: Ad Hoc Committee on University Funding
You are invited to a Special Screening of 'Harrison's Flowers'
Log onto allcampus.com for event information
Date: Tuesday, March 12, 2002 Time: 8:00 p.m. Location: Woodruff Auditorium
Students may pick up passes at the SUA Box Office on the day of the event (3.12.02) starting at 8:30 am. Admissions is free! Please arrive early! Seating is available on a first-one, first-served basis with pass holders admitted first.
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