WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003
NEWS
OPINION
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS AWARDS
A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY,FEBRUARY 19,2003
TAUKTOUS
Kristi Henderson
seller
684-4854 or klienderson@kansan.com
Jenna Goepfert and Justin Henning
managing editors
684-4854 or jgoepfert@kansan.com and
hennings@kansan.com
Leah Shaffer
readers' representative
684-4810 or lshaffer@kansan.com
Amanda Sears and Lindsay Hanson
opinion editor
684-4974 or opinion@kansan.com
Eric Kelting
business manager
684-4358 or adsaes@kansan.com
Sarah Jantz
retail sales manager
684-4358 or adsaes@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson
general manager and news adviser
684-7687 or mgibson@kansan.com
Matt Fisher
sales and marketing adviser
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Small stuff important in search for housing
It's getting to be that time of year again when students start to think about life outside McCollum Hall and look for other living options. The search for an off-campus house or apartment can be one that is fraught with peril if not approached correctly. Learn how to do your research on off-campus living.
The first step is obvious. Decide what you and your possible roommates are looking for. A six-person house? A two-bedroom apartment? Something close to campus?
Perhaps on a bus route? These are all criteria that must be decided upon before embarking on your search.
Once you know the basics of what you are looking for, find several options within your narrowed field. The Off Campus Living Resource Center on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union might be a good place to start. They offer rental and roommate listings, prices for rent and links to resources for Kansas tenants.
You could also ask older, more seasoned veterans of off-campus living for advice. Find out what resources they've used and what they've found to be a waste of time.
Further exploring those options is a matter of asking the right questions. Some are obvious. Find out the rent. Does it include utilities or are those extra? What utilities are available (cable TV, high-speed Internet access, etc.)? How do students in the area you are looking at usually get to campus?
Pay attention to details. Turn on the shower. How is the water pressure and heat? Check out the windows and doors. Do they lock securely? Are the heat and air conditioning adequate? Are the walls paper thin? Is the house visibly haunted? Finding these things out before moving in will decrease the likelihood of having a horror story to tell down the road.
Finally, you need to find out about the management. Knock on the door of someone who lives in the apartment complex or in another property owned by the same landlord. They will almost certainly be more than happy to grouse about the person who oversees their lease. Expect a normal amount of moaning but be attentive for real problems. For instance, how quickly does the landlord respond to maintenance requests? Make sure your prospective landlord is not the sort who thinks a backed-up toilet builds character in his or her tenants. Another good thing to find out is if the landlord in question is in the habit of gouging security deposits. Once you have decided upon your desired residence, employ a little-known secret. Haggle. Some landlords can be brought down a little bit on their prices with just a bit of old-fashioned dickering. Hey, it's worth a shot.
Matt Pirottie for the editorial board
MOORE'S VIEW
stickman was Warned about doing his laundry with all his clothes
Chris Moore for The University Daily Kansan
PERSPECTIVE
Kansas needs quality education
Testified recently before a legislative committee on a topic of great interest to students, faculty, staff and alumni the 2003-04 state budget and its effect on KU.
My message was reinforced this month by visits to the Capitol from KU's classified staff, unclassified employees and students. I appreciate the work those groups are doing toward our common cause.
I told the committee that the University of Kansas had been seriously harmed this fiscal year, losing $18.8 million through reductions and unfunded costs, which account for about 8 percent of our budget. No one at the University received a regular salary increase this year, for example.
Robert Hemenway
opinion@hansan.com
GUEST COMMENTARY
We are hurting, but we are not "whining." Our situation could be worse and, for many in our society, it is.
Governor Sebelius' proposed budget is helpful to the University, but her proposal does not hold us harmless. Nor does it repair any of the damage we absorbed this year.
If we again have to pay for increases in health insurance and other fringe benefit costs out of our own resources, it's the same as cutting our budget an additional $3.7 million next year.
The University received $242 million in state funds in the fiscal year of 2002, but our total revenue was $708 million. We use state appropriations to leverage
How will these past cuts and the prospect of additional cuts in the new year affect the University's capacity to help lift Kansas out of its existing budget crisis?
If you factor in the hospital revenues earned by the University of Kansas Medical Center, the direct economic impact of this University enterprise easily exceeds $1 billion. The indirect impact is even greater. But it all begins with the state's original investment.
Budget cuts are necessary in a funding crisis, but there are other measures we can take. One is to cut costly bureaucratic regulations imposed by the state on its universities. We intend to pursue such an initiative, which I regard as the continuation of the reform of public higher education in Kansas that began in 1999.
No other arm of state government generates this kind of immediate return on investment. We are committed to the economic development mission, but our ability to deliver is being undermined.
Despite the constraints and the shortfalls, the University continues to benefit Kansas:
nearly three times as much money, which includes tuition, room and board, private gifts and research grants.
We received a record $243 million in grants last year to support research
This year's tuition increase enhanced selected programs and facilities at the University and included $2.2 million in tuition grants.
Alumni and friends pushed the "KU First: Invest in Excellence" campaign of the Kansas University Endowment Association to the $404-million level, and the association provided a record $68.9 million to KU students; faculty, projects and programs.
of all kinds
A recent graduate received a Rhodes Scholarship and another received a Marshall Scholarship, which is the first such "double" in one year for the University since 1965.
A slightly older alumnus — Vernon Smith, a 1951 master's degree recipient — shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
The University played a significant role in the decision of a pharmaceutical products firm, Serologicals Corporation, to build a new manufacturing plant in Kansas
I shared all that and much more with the committee, and we will continue our efforts throughout the session.
My message was clear: Educated people are an asset for any state, every bit as much as its roads, water, oil or wheat.
If Kansas is to be positioned for economic recovery, the state must support its universities and give them more freedom to manage their affairs as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Hemenway is chancellor of the University of Kansas.
Free for All
Call 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Standerous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
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Holy cow. I'm at the corner of 15th and Iowa in my car, and the KU Visitors Center bus just crashed into the stoplight.
I'm online looking at the experiments to sign up for for my psychology class, and under the requirements for one of the experiments, it says "males and females only"
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Like escalators. They can never break
They can only become stairs.
Eating dog is cuisine in Vietnam. It isn't sturrotypical, it's just how it is.
I would just like to point out the error in the spelling of Al Daesa in the cartoon in Monday's Kansan. Ignorant liberals.
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There's a very serious threat to my health and well-being and happiness, and I was just wondering if it should call the police. His name is George W. Bush.
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I'm watching Joe Millionaire and I really want to have Zora's babies.
I have a class Monday nights from 5-7:30 called Principles of Health and Nutrition, but really they should call it Principles of Sorority Girls Who Won't Shut Their Yaps.
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My friend is going on an all-meat diet. Is that good?
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This is just an apology to all the people who eat lunch in Section 8 at Mrs. E's. As a black man, I just wanted to say, don't be scared of black women, because all black women aren't like that. Just keep that in mind.
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I want to know, why is it that the Holy Roman Empire wasn't holy or Roman? What's with that?
Why do people meet you and after a few words think they can figure you out? Don't they realize that a few experiences don't make them a master of character?
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George Carlin is a comedic genius.
It's a good question, what's more important: the sodomy protest or the war protest? Ultimately, it's the same protest. We're protesting against injustice.
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PERSPECTIVE
if you could clone yourself, would you have intimate relations with your clone?
Senate should offer solutions instead of opposition
Tonight, Delta Force will presen the committees of Student Senate with a resolution in opposition to the tuition increase that was approved by the Board of Regents last year.
The natural inclination for the students on these committees will be to support this idea, given that no student seems interested in paying more tuition.
Andy Knopp
opinion@kansan.com
GUEST COMMENTARY
But it is my hope that the committee members take a closer look at this resolution and learn from the mistakes of past Student Senate administrations.
The purpose of this legislation appears to exercise the rights of students to voice opinions and participate in University governance.
But this resolution is missing one important part of the participation equation: a viable alternative to the given course of action.
If senators are genuinely concerned that students are being priced out of a University education or that these increases are not improving our education, they should come to a Tuition Advisory Committee meeting.
All year, a handful of students have advised the provost on how these tuition enhancement funds should be spent. The committee advocated for the student hourly wage increase of $1 million annually to reduce the burden of tuition increases on the students who presumably need it most; those who are working their way through school.
The approval of this wage increase proves that the administration is willing to listen to reasonable student input.
I understand that this is the time of year for making grand statements and "playing to the crowd." This resolution certainly achieves that goal effectively.
It is unfortunate that supporters of this resolution are forgetting an important lesson from last year's tuition battle. Remaining fundamentally opposed to the idea of a tuition increase — or even advocating a decrease, as some protesters did — was clearly an ineffective means of handling the situation.
Instead of stopping the tuition increase, we ended up with the largest tuition increase in University history and found ourselves, as student leaders, picketing and yelling outside the doors of administrators, the Board of Regents and the Legislature.
comprehensive financial aid program with an appeals process to make sure that students do not slip through the cracks.
Last year's focus on protests wasted the opportunity to effectively voice student concerns, to work together to ensure that no student is left behind and
The next idea to push for is a more
to see to it that these inevitable increases would truly serve to enhance our education immediately.
I don't like tuition increases any more than the next student. I am scraping by to afford school, too. But as senators and responsible student leaders, we need to make the best of the situation.
Lobbying for adequate funding for higher education from the Legislature should continue to be a priority for our student government.
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I'll support a resolution that presents a viable alternative to raising our tuition. Until then, the Tuition Advisory Committee will be finding ways to put money back into the pockets of students and improve the educational experience at the University.
When the Legislature and Regents present a challenge, we can sit around and pass resolutions, or we can step up and offer real solutions.
Knopp is a Manhattan junior in business and a business sonator.
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