MONDAY, JAN. 28, 2002
NEWS
THEUNIVERSITYDAILYKANSAN • 5A
Ellsworth Hall to close for building renovations
With the building shuttered until 2003. 350 could lose rooms
By Mike Gilligan Kansan staff writer
Miranda Feagan was at the Department of Student Housing in Gertrude Sellards Pearson-Corbin Hall at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 22 with her intent-to-return card. She wasn't even the first student there.
Feagan lives in Ellsworth Hall, a residence hall that will not be open next year because of building renovations. It will reopen in August 2003.
"There were people there at 7:40 a.m." Feagan said.
Students who live in residence halls and want to return next year must turn in their intent-to-return cards by Friday, Feb. 15. Students can indicate on the card where they want to live on campus next year.
"Jan. 22 was the first day to turn in the cards," Feagan said. "I wanted to be there early so I have a better chance at getting a spot."
Ken Stoner, director of student housing, said the renovations at Ellsworth would reduce the beds available at residence halls by about 450.
That means about 350 students who return their intent-to-return cards late may not be able to live in residence halls.
After incoming freshmen, students who want to return to their current rooms get the next preference, followed by students living at Ellsworth.
Stoner said renovations would take place because the building showed signs of age.
"It will be brought up to the place it needs to be to meet student preferences," he said.
Jason Flay, Vernon Center, N.Y., freshman, said he had a few complaints about the building.
"The bathrooms are in poor shape," he said. "The walls are cracking and the paint is peeling in places."
Flay also mentioned cracks in the rooms and chips in the wood on doors. He said he planned to move off campus next year instead of living in a residence hall again.
According to the Office of University Relations, the new hall will contain suites, similar to those in Lewis and Templin
Summary
What happened? Ellsworth Hall will be closed for the 2002-2003 academic year for renovations.
What it means: There will be 450 fewer beds available in residence halls next year. Incoming freshmen will be given first priority, followed by students wishing to return to their current rooms and then Elsworth residents.
What next: Students now living in residence halls who want to return next year have to fill out an intent-to-return card and bring it to the Department of Student Housing in Corbin Hall. The deadline for turning in the cards is Friday, Feb. 15.
halls.
"I think a lot of people like the suite style that they have at Templin better," Feagan said.
The renovations are scheduled to begin May 20.
mgilligan@kansan.com. This story was edited by Brandon Stinnett.
Committee backs slim Kansas budget
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — A Senate committee spared public schools but approved spending cuts in higher education and social services to help resolve the state's budget problems.
On a 6-4 vote Friday, the Ways and Means Committee endorsed a bill to cut the current $4.5 billion state budget by about $54 million. Its authors also want to freeze spending during the budget year that begins July 1, but that won't be resolved until May.
Higher education spending would be cut $8.5 million. Social services and most other parts of the budget would be cut 2 percent across the board.
Originally, the bill called for deeper cuts, but the committee amended it to restore $23.7 million for elementary and secondary schools.
The committee action did not come without a cost. The bill would leave the state about $62 million short of balancing the budget for fiscal 2003. Legislators would have to increase taxes or find more spending cuts.
But Republicans who supported the bill said legislators had to start moving toward a solution.
"We've got to get something moving," said Sen. Nick Jordan, R-Shawnee. "The longer we wait, the longer this process becomes."
Eight of the committee's 11 members are Republicans, who cast all the yes votes.
Democrats suggested the committee did not review the budget sufficiently and said the panel should have waited until discussions on possible tax increases had started.
"I'm concerned with the haste and the lack of hard work we've put into this," said Sen. Jim
Barone, D-Frontenac.
The bill originally included an immediate cut in state aid to public schools of $39 per student, to $3,851. Education officials complained, and some legislators expressed a reluctance to cut school spending.
The state faces a $426 million gap between projected revenues and spending commitments for fiscal 2003.
The estimate for the budget gap does not take into account bad news the state received Friday. The Kansas Supreme Court ruled against the Department of Revenue in a corporate income tax dispute with Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co., of Houston, and the state could owe $26 million.
Gov. Bill Graves has proposed $228 million in cigarette, sales and motor fuels tax and vehicle registration fee increases. He opposes cuts in the current budget.
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