WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2002
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Class project turns profit after sold for thousands
By Caroline Boyer Kansan staff writer
What started out as a project for a journalism media class has turned into a Web site worth thousands of dollars.
The Apartment Department, a site linked through the School of Journalism's Digital Jayhawk Web site, was purchased by the The Lawrence World-World last December. Gary Hawke, Digital Jayhawk operator, couldn't divulge the exact amount of the sale, but said it was in the tens of thousands of dollars. That money will go to the school's endowment fund.
"It's a perfect example of faculty and students working on something that ends up being good for both of them," Hawke said.
The site aides in searching for apartments, sublets and roommates in Lawrence. It allows users to choose a specific monthly rent, apartment complex amenities and apartment amenities.
The Apartment Department was created Fall 2000 for late associate professor John Katich's media management class.
Hawke said the site had hundreds of hits a week.
Ann Brill, associate professor of journalism, said the apartment site was so successful it received funds to continue during the summer. Brill said as the site became larger, a staff shortage made it hard for the Digital Jayhawk to keep up with the Apartment Department. So the staff looked for someone to take it over.
"It seemed such a shame to just not do anything with it," Brill said. "It was a great class project, but it wasn't something that we could manage and promote."
Bernie Re, online journal manager for the Journal-World, said the Journal-World had formed a contract with the Digital Jayhawk to pay for use of the apartment site in monthly installments.
Re said the Journal-World first considered buying the Apartment Department late last summer, and began reworking the site in early December. It had a trial run of the site January 19.
He said the site would continue to run through the Digital Jayhawk until the Journal-World began its monthly payments, which would probably be within the next few weeks. He said the site still had some small glitches that needed to be worked out.
Ryan Duckworth, Lenexa junior and computer science major, has been the programmer for the site for the past year. He thought the site would be more helpful to students searching for apartments now that it had joined with the Journal-World.
"It provides a lot of services that a pamphlet wouldn't be able to provide, and it really narrows down the search." Duckworth said.
The Apartment Department can be visited at www.apartments.lawrence.com.
Contact Boyer at cboyer@kansan.com. This story was edited by Kristi Henderson.
NEWS
Senate copy machine misused
Student Senate has found few clues about the 4,000-copy theft
By Sarah Hill Kansan staff writer
The Student Senate executive staff is investigating the theft of as many as 4,000 photocopies made without permission at the Student Senate office two weeks ago.
Anna Gregory, Student Senate communications director, said the theft probably occurred after 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21, after Kyle Browning, student body vice president, locked the door for the night. Senators first noticed that something was wrong when they could not find paper for copies on Friday, Feb. 22.
Diana Rhodes, Student Senate office secretary, said she initially thought 4,000 copies had been made on her copy code but later realized that she might have misread the screen on the copier.
STUDENT SENATE
"I got home and thought about it, and I could have just read the copy machine wrong," she said.
Rhodes said she could not go back to check a specific day on the copy machine, making it impossible to pin down a specific date or number of copies.
Browning, Justin Mills, student body president, Matt Steppe, Student Legislative Advisory Board director and presidential candidate with the Vision Coalition, and Ben Burton, Student Senate executive committee chairman, are the only four Student Senate members who have keys. A fifth key, which used to be in the Hawk Shop for senators to use when the office was locked, has
been missing from the Hawk Shop for several months.
Mills said that the Student Senate office had improved its security since the incident, but there was no way it could completely lock down the office and still allow other groups to use the Senate copy machine.
"If we could make our office as safe as possible, we wouldn't be able to serve all the groups that use our copier," he said.
Mills has checked with the Kansas Union staff about people going in or out of the Union during the time of the theft but has found nothing conclusive.
"We can only look so far," he said. "If there is no proof or evidence, we can't go any farther."
contact Hill at shill@kansan.com. This story was edited by Sarah Smash.
AARON LERNER/KANSAN
Vision Coalition presidential candidate Matt Steppe, St. Joseph, Mo., junior, and vice-presidential candidate Laura Rupe, Wichita junior, speak to an audience of about 25 students yesterday in front of Wescoe Hall.
Coalition wants to provide new 'Vision'
By Meredith Carr Kansan staff writer
More student-friendly unions, meal plan revisions, campus safety enhancements and no new student fees are the promises of the Vision Coalition. The coalition had its platform unveiling at 12:50 p.m. yesterday in front of Wescoe Hall.
Vision presidential candidate and St. Joseph, Mo., junior Matt Steppe and vice presidential candidate and Wichita junior Laura Rupe spoke about their platform's issues.
Steppe said the Vision Coalition was inclusive of every student on campus.
"Laura and I have Senate experience from two different
coalitions," Steppe said. "With ideas from both coalitions, every student will be able to identify with at least one platform issue." he said.
Steppe ran with Delta Force
last year,
while Rupe ran with
the Voice
coalition.
Steppe and Rupea all so wanted to
let students know that Vision Coalition was not only about sponsoring and passing bills. Its most important value was working outside of the Student Senate office and meeting places.
STUDENT SENATE elections 2002
"We have a goal outside of
Rupe agreed that putting the students first was most important to her.
Senate to find quality people to represent every student on this campus." Steppe said.
"I think it's important to let the students know that Matt lives in student housing, and I am a member of a sorority, and we want to get opinions of every student on this campus from all different organizations," Rupe said.
The Vision coalition is anticipating having a full roster of 64 senators by the March 13 filing deadline for Senate candidates. The group is still recruiting students to run with the coalition.
"Right now we aren't worried about finding students
within Senate to fill those positions, but looking for quality students outside of Senate," Rupe said.
Other student coalitions include Delta Force, which will have its kick-off party and platform unveiling at 11 p.m. Thursday at The Bottleneck, 757 New Hampshire St. The tentative Smile coalition will also have its kick-off meeting next week and discuss its platform issues with the students. KUnited already had its kick-off meeting last Thursday, but will discuss its platform issues with the students on Monday.
Contact Carr at mcarr@kansan.com. This story was edited by Kristi Henderson.
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