Thursday
February 27, 2003
Vol. 113. Issue No.106
Today's weather
31°
Tonight: 18°
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
Contact Kristi Henderson, jenna Goepfert or Justin Henning at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
Tell us your news
Lawrence poets display variety of poetic styles, experiences Jayplay
Jay play
Poetic Variety
A mix of
displays their
disinterested styles
Powwowbill OK'd
By Cate Batchelder
cbatchelder@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The First Nations Student Association will receive the $6,069 for its spring powwow, including $400 to pay its Student Head Lady and Student Head Man as an honorarium for their dancing.
Some senators didn't agree with the $400 gift because of the precedent it
The bill passed after two long discussions.
could set for Student Senate to pay other student groups for their services.
Tiffany Lopez, Asian American Student Association senator and president, was against the bill. Lopez said every year AASU had a traditional dragon dance, a cultural event in which students within the group displayed their talents. She said it was the same situation, but AASU didn't ask for money.
Lopez said she appreciated the topics the proposed bill brought up even though she didn't agree.
"I think it starts a precedent for Student Senate to make more cultural exceptions," she said. "It will force us to make decisions on a more individual basis."
The group's senator and Student Head Lady, Yvette Washington, said she didn't sponsor the bill to fund the powwow or the honorarium because she personally wanted to get the money. She was elected by the group to be Student Head Lady. Washington said it was part of Native American tradition to receive something in return for a performance, whether it was money or another form of appreciation.
Mark Dupree, Black Student Union senator and president, was strongly in favor of the $400 honorarium. He said no one could truly understand the cultural significance inherent in the group's traditions without being a group member.
SEE SENATE ON PAGE 6A
PASSED RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
A resolution against the Kansas University Athletic Corporation's increase of student combo ticket prices. Tickets were raised from $100 to $125.
A resolution to thank Mike Appleby and wish him well. Appleby was the transportation board coordinator last semester who now serves in the military.
A resolution to express respect for the memory of Bob Billings. Billings served as student body president from 1957 to 1958 and was a guard on the basketball team.
A recommendation to the city commission candidates to reconsider two city ordinances concerning living situations in Lawrence.
A resolution supporting the progressive Lawrence campaign during the 2003 Lawrence City Commission elections.
Campaign recognized
By Josh Kendall editor@kansan.com Special to the Kansan
Politics and the Student Senate do not mix well, but yesterday the senate agreed on a resolution supporting a local political coalition.
The Senate, which is a nonpartisan body, passed a resolution to recognize the Progressive Lawrence Campaign that three of the six candidates for the city commission — Mike Rundle, Dennis "Boog" Highberger and David Schauner — support. Jeff Allmon, community affairs director of the Student Senate, said the progressive candidates had the students' interests in mind.
The three candidates, the top three vote-getters in Tuesday's primary, were not affiliated with any party, so the Senate's support didn't affect its nonpartisan stance, Allmon said.
"The Progressive Lawrence Campaign does not affiliate itself to any party, but merely addresses issues that affect students." Allmon said.
Allmon said the candidates in the campaign supported living wages, affordable housing and planned city growth that directly corresponded with student issues.
Katie Wolff, senator for the college of liberal arts and sciences and research coordinator of the Student Legislative Awareness Board, wrote the resolution and said she hoped it would begin a dialogue between the students and city government. College of Liberal Arts and Sciences senators represent students enrolled in the college with more than 60 hours. The support by the Senate was designed to jump start this relationship she said.
"We just want to let the candidates know that the students have taken a stance on this issue and we support them." Wolff said.
Wolff was not alone in her opinion. The entire Senate, except one senator, voted last night that the resolution was in the best interest of the students.
"I don't think it can hurt. It can only
SEE PROGRESSIVE ON PAGE 6A
Task force evaluates vending
By Nikki Overfelt
overfelt@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
KU students craving a healthy snack may be able to get their fix at vending machines on campus in the near future.
Healthier vending machine options are the goal of the task force, Health Options for Movement, Exercise, Body Acceptance and Savvy Eating.
As a part of Celebrate Every Body week, Ann Chapman, dietitian and coordinator of the task force, and other members of the task force asked students to fill out surveys about their views on campus vending yesterday.
The task force plans on approaching Treat America, the vending company the University is contracted with and it hopes to have an impact, Chapman said.
The idea stems from the dissatisfaction in options she has heard from students and faculty, Chapman said.
"We feel we'll be better equipped if we act-
Lance Meneley/Kansan
Refrigeration would be needed for many of the options, but Chapman said she had been told many of the machines could refrigerate foods but just had to be turned on.
The healthier options the task force are considering are yogurt, fresh and dried fruits, bagels and cream cheese, string cheese and whole wheat crackers Chapman said.
ally have responses from students about their dissatisfaction," she said.
Kara Rechterman, Tipton, Iowa senior, is an advocate for the task force and said she would like to see foods such as granola bars in vending machines.
Another option for students and faculty who have access to a microwave would be foods such as soups, she said.
Juliann Mitchell, a Lawrence graduate student who filled out the survey, doesn't use the vending machines now but would if the machines had healthier options, she said.
"Students need healthier options than just candy bars and big liters of pop," she said.
"I don't even really look because I know there's nothing there anyway," she said.
Ron Buhr, Lawrence senior, also filled out the survey and said he would be more willing to visit the vending machines if they contained options such as health food bars.
- Edited by Julie Jantzer
All for one, Wads for all
Brandon Baker/Kansan
Andy Foertsch, Lenexa senior and vice president of the Lord Wads and the 12 Crusaders Coalition, discusses the coalition's Student Senate campaign issues, such as the division between students, with Brett Wadsworth, Overland Park junior and president of the coalition. Wadsworth said the motto of the campaign was "It's our strategy that will win this one," and the emphasis of the campaign was to change the University of Kansas and unite students. "KU is not a degree factory," Wadsworth said. "It's a place for students to come together and learn, party and live in the world."
Student analyzes tax abatements
Computer program helps researcher determine if tax breaks improve city
By Angela Hein and Ehren Meditz editor@kansan.com Special to the Kansan
High on the sixth floor of Blake Hall, graduate student Luke Middleton and his computer analyze economic data that could decide which new jobs and companies come to Lawrence.
Middleton handles tax abatement requests for the city as a research assistant at the Center for Economic and Business Analysis, an arm of the Policy Research Institute at the University of Kansas.
The Lawrence City Commission grants tax abatements, a waiver of taxes on real estate and purchased equipment, to lure companies to Lawrence.
Using numbers from these companies, he enters data into the institute's computer model to determine whether the company's benefits to the city outweigh the costs.
His computer then spits out a "yes" or a "no."
Actually, it prints out more than 20 pages of detailed analysis after a week's worth of work.
"It's one of the most important things we use," said Jere McElhaney, Douglas County Commissioner and member of the Public Incentives Review Committee. The committee assigns a favorable or unfavorable rating to a company's abatement request.
Tax abatement policy remains a controversial issue in Lawrence. On Tuesday, voters narrowed a field of city commission candidates with clashing perspectives on living wage requirements and tax abatement policies to six.
Middleton said the KU benefit-cost model was derived from a version created at Kansas State University 15 years ago.
The institute hired Middleton, who graduated with a degree in Economics in May 2000, to update the model. He has worked with it ever since. The city negotiates a paid contract with the institute every year.
The model uses an array of factors and variables to estimate whether the tax break will be a good or bad investment for the city.
"It estimates the origin of the company's employees, how much of their disposable income will be spent in Lawrence and even the number of new children that will be attending the city's public schools," Middleton said. Middleton said the model had changed many times, which made it, in his opinion, the best of its kind.
However, he stressed that it was one of a multitude of factors that should be considered when debating tax abatements.
"It's just a book at dollars, and there's a lot more to life than dollars," he said.
The model cannot calculate intangible costs and benefits, like environmental damage and the social benefits of economic growth.
It also makes no recommendations to the city on how much tax to waive, or if the company deserves an abatement at all. Middleton said the model could not calculate those values.
Kirk McClure, professor of urban planning and committee member, said the committee did not adequately consider those other factors.
"The PIRC, as it stands now, is a useless entity," he said. The meeting functions only as a "rubber stamp" instead of a place for debate, he said. McClure also said the model remained limited in its usefulness and overblown in its importance.
"This benefit-cost analysis fails as a utility," he said. "We all know the benefits exceed the costs. They're letting it shelter them from the harder political question." McClure said the harder question concerned whether the company merited a tax break or if other incentives would be as productive.
McElhaney disagreed with McClure's notion that the committee was worthless. He said the committee made sure that companies met four criteria: that they operated in an environmentally sound manner, were small or medium in size, offered at least average wages and met a certain benefit-cost ratio.
"It should not, and should never be, a place to air personal opinions," he said.
The city granted the last abatement in late January for the biotechnology company Serologicals Corporation.
The company plans to invest $25 million in Lawrence by purchasing land and equipment.
Its 10-year tax abatement saves the company a total of $2.5 million. Middleton said no other abatements were currently under consideration.
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Edited by Andrew Ward
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