Wednesday
February 12, 2003
Vol. 113. Issue No. 95
Today's weather
46°
Tonight: 26°
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Contact Kristi Henderson, Jenna
Goepfert or Justin Henning at
864.4810 or editor@kanean.com
UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
Kansas delivers eighth conference loss to Baylor last night, 79-58 p.1B
SLAB members visit legislature
Students spend their day lobbying representatives
Johanna Maska and Katie Wolff, Student Legislative Awareness Board members, talk with Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, associate vice provost for student support, at Topeka for State Education Day. Yesterday was the first time this semester SLAB has lobbied at the Capitol building. They will continue to travel to Topeka every week to talk with legislators about higher education.
By Cate Batchleder
cbatchelder@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Members of the University of Kansas' Student Legislative Awareness Board lobbied state legislators yesterday in Topeka for State Education Day.
Cate Batchelder/Kansan
Between five and 10 students from each of the six Regents schools, including 10 from the University, began their efforts to make higher education issues known to legislators. This was the first time SLAB had gone to the Capitol building this semester and the first time for some SLAB members to lobby.
Molly McMurray, SLAB forums coordinator, is new to the lobbying efforts. Early in the day, she met with Rep. R.J. Wilson, D-Pittsburg, to talk about tuition increases. She said he was concerned with higher education because he represented a Regents school district.
"It's really given our SLAB members a chance to get their feet wet, walk around, look at different offices and find out where we need to be," Johanna Maska, SLAB director, said.
Later that morning, McMurray met with Rep. Nile Dillmore, D-Wichita, who took her inside a House Democratic agenda meeting. Dillmore introduced McMurray to the rest of the legislators, who applauded her. During the meeting she was given copies of bills and heard their discussion.
"It's great to see how willing all the representatives and senators are to talk to you."
Molly McMurray SLAB forums coordinator
Adam Obley, lobby coordinator, briefly spoke with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. He said she reaffirmed her commitment to higher education in Kansas. SLAB and Student Body President Jonathan Ng were hoping to meet longer with Sebelius but were not able to.
Maska and other SLAB members tracked down Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, between her meetings. One concern KU's SLAB board addressed was making sure financial aid increased proportionately to tuition increases.
Ballard, who is also associate vice provost for student support at the University, said this issue was crucial because many college students planned their budgets over five years. Tuition increases from fiscal year 2003 upset students' financial plans and probably would again next year, she said.
"I think that we have to have that balanced especially for people who have a plan of how they are going to finance their education," Ballard said.
Midway through the day, Maska said legislators had given the board a positive
response.
"Legislators for the most part are in favor of higher education. Why not be?" she said. "But the problems are going to come when they start asking for tax increases and
the money to fund higher education."
SLAB members will continue to lobby every week at the Capitol but Maska said it was hard to judge the progress of Sebelius' budget through the legislature. As
funding bills begin to go through, she said they would know which legislators they needed to lobby.
— Edited by Leah Shaffer
Kyou to add features
New portal to have online enrollment, new course catalog
By Jessica Hood
jhood@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas student portal, Kyou, on its way to completion.
The portal's services will expand to include more services such as online enrollment, online voting for student senate elections and an integrated timetable and course catalog.
Julie Loats, Web administrator and
project manager for Kyou, said the portal differed from a Web site in several ways.
"The portal is a place on the Web where one can do a lot of things," said Loats at an open forum yesterday in the Union. "It allows a user to personalize and customize the look and feel of the site along with the content and its location."
The forum was an opportunity to offer suggestions on services to include in the final version of the portal. The final version will be available by the start of the fall semester.
The portal provides 24-hour access seven days a week to services under one login. As of now, students have access to current and future class schedules, financial aid information, grades and the student book exchange.
On March 10, the timetable and the integrated course catalog will be available. At this time, students will also be able to get their enrollment start time. Students will also use the portal for access to online enrollment.
Michelle Commons, Emporia senior, said she was not impressed with the new Kyou portal.
"I used to know exactly how to get to everything I wanted," said Commons. "Now I have to search through a bunch of stuff to find anything."
Loats said other services would be added based on responses from open forums and other small meetings.
Edited by Leah Shaffer
Student revels in Popple pastime
Scott Reynolds/Kansan
Elizabeth Gardner, Lincoln, Neb., senior, prepares to display one of the Popples she made. "A lot of my work deals with comfort," Gardner said. "I like to look into my past." Gardner's work will be on display in the Kansas Union this week.
By Megan Hickerson mhickerson@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Gardner, Lincoln, Neb., senior, just completed knitting five Popples, including one that is 6-feet tall. The Poples represented five stages of her life.
"People tell me that they can picture me as an 80-year-old Popple," Gardner said. "The newest Popple isn't sealed up all the way. It represents me as I am opening up and not as shut off to the world."
Elizabeth Gardner identifies with Popples — the childhood stuffed-animals that were popular in the mid-1980s.
Gardner didn't start knitting until a friend taught her during her sophomore year of college.
Gardner played with Popples as a child and discovered that her knitting pieces took Popple form.
In addition to the woolly Popples, Gardner knits with unconventional materials such as wire. Her latest piece is
"It's really more of an organic form," Gardner said. "It was more about the process than the form itself. Some people say that it looks like a garment, and other people say that it looks phallic."
made of small and large gauge wire.
"I'm a night girl," Gardner said. "I can stay up really late knitting. My roommates have to accept my messiness. There's fiber all over our house."
Gardner knits best in the evening hours.
Gardner said knitting was therapeutic. After graduation, Gardner would like to pursue a job in art therapy.
"It's hard to make it as an artist without having another source of income," Gardner said.
Gardner's works are on display and for sale on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union this week. She constructed the display for a class, but she said she wanted to sell some of the artwork.
— Edited by Andrew Ward
Health care wait will lessen with new triage system
By Nikki Overfelt
noverfelt@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
University of Kansas students who want to see a doctor no longer have to spend as much time in the waiting room.
Watkins Memorial Health Center has a triage nurse system and information on its Web site to shorten students' waiting time.
Before even going to the office, students can call and talk to a triage nurse. The triage nurse can talk to students about their symptoms and help them decide whether they need to make an appointment, said Myra Strother, associate director and chief of staff of Watkins.
If they don't need to make an appointment, the triage nurse can educate the students on how to take care of their symptoms. And for students who need to be seen right away, the triage nurse has access to emergency slots in the doctors' schedules, Strothers said.
Another option for students seeking medical help before they wait to see a doctor is the Watkins Web site.
The information is from HealthyLife's Students' Self-Care Guide from the American Institute for Preventive Medicine in Farmington Hills, Mich., Watkins started putting the information on its Web site in August.
The Web site gives students information about their symptoms and helps them decide if they need to see a doctor Strother said.
"This is our piece to try to give the students as much information and a
taster contact with somebody that answers questions," she said.
The information is especially helpful for students who are hesitant to go the doctor right away, Strother said.
The Watkins Web site at www.ku.edu/~shs, also provides links to other credible medical Web sites, she said.
"Before it used to be a three- or four-hour wait," she said. "But we are able to take care of some of the minor things, so they don't have to wait to see a provider."
Helping students with problems such as class notes, sore throats and counseling are other tasks the triage nurses tend to, said Tammy Guinn, head triage nurse at Watkins.
Instead of all students just walking in to the office and waiting to see a doctor, if they call first, the triage nurse can help decide who needs to be seen immediately. Strother said.
"They can prioritize people and that's been the reason we wanted triage," she said.
Another responsibility for the triage nurses, Guinn said, is to educate students about important health topics.
The triage nurse system has been a success with students. Strother said.
"Students have been real pleased with it," she said. "They seem to be a lot happier than having to sit and wait when they aren't feeling good."
Chris Steppig, Platte City, Mo., junior, goes to Watkins for medical care and said his wait to see the doctor had been decent. The triage nurses are a good way to cut down on waiting time, he said.
— Edited by Leah Shaffer
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