THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY APRIL 23
NEWS
3A
STUDENT SENATE
Subcommittee finalizes recommendations for funding cuts
BY BRIANNE PFANNENSTIEL
bpfannenstiel@kansan.com
After about 40 hours of hearings, reviews and deliberations, the Student Senate fee review subcommittee finalized its recommendations regarding which campus organizations would see cuts in funding.
The recommendations were amended slightly and then passed at the finance meeting Wednesday night and will go before full, Senate for final approval next week.
In total, 30 fees were reviewed for the purpose of maintaining fee costs at the current level for next school year.
Student Body President
Adam McGonigle said it was important that any cost increase for students be used to fund academics over other campus programs. Five of the fees reviewed received increased funding while another nine were decreased.
"The fees are the largest amount of money students have control over," Brian Douhard, fee review committee chairman, said. "So it's important that we show students and the administration that we can handle their money responsibly."
THE FEES
Below is a comprehensive evaluation of the more controversial fee changes.
1) Campus Transportation
2) Environmental Improvement
3) Student Media
4) Student Union Activities
5) Campus Safety
THE CHANGE
1) Increased by $1.00
2) Decreased by $1.40
3) No change
4) Decreased by 50 cents
5) Eliminated
1) The dollar increase for transportation would go into a general bus procurement fund.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU
Danny Kaiser, assistant director of parking and transit, said purchasing new buses was beneficial to students because they were more
reliable, more environmentally friendly and required fewer maintenance costs. He said the buses currently owned were old beyond the normal life expectancy of buses and needed to be replaced.
2) England Porter. Independence senior and chairman of the student environmental advisory board, said the cuts would drastically affect the group's efforts to bring sustainability projects to campus.
"There are a lot of students who are really discouraged that it was cut and to such a great degree," Porter said.
She said there were many projects in the works and did not know how the cut in funding would affect them.
3) The campus media fee funds KJHK, The University Daily
Kansan, Kiosk Magazine, KUpedia and KU Filmworks and was originally recommended to be cut by 25 cents. However, in the last minutes of the meeting, Alex Porte, Great Falls, Va., junior, amended the bill to take an additional 25 cents from the newspaper readership fee and put it towards the campus media fee.
In his presentation of the amendment, Porte said it was important to fund student media over national outlets.
4) Nathan Mack, Lawrence senior and vice president of administration and finance for Student Union Activities, said the 50-cent fee cut, coupled with decreased funding from other sources, would have a dramatic effect on the types of programming SUA would be able to offer next year.
Mack said the group would try not to cut the number of events it organized, but would instead have to focus on doing them for less.
5) Felix Zacharias, Wichita junior, who chairs the campus safety board, said cutting the campus safety fee sent a negative message to the student body, though he understood why it was done.
"It's just going to take a lot more work," Mack said.
He said he thought the campus safety fee had accumulated enough money in its reserve account for the board to work with next year.
Zacharias also said some projects would no longer be possible.
numbers
"Difficult times bring innovation, and it's just going to be a matter of how creative we can get," he said.
- Edited by Heather Melanson
STUDENT HEALTH FEE
Student Health Operations $2.98 fee increase
Student Health Maintenance:
$1.00 fee increase
Counseling and Psychological Services: 32-cent fee increase
Student Union Building Fee:
No Change
Student Union Renovation:
No Change
Student Senate Activity:
$2.00 decrease
Student Media Fee:
$0.25 decrease
WOMEN'S AND NON-REVENUE SPORTS
Operations:
No Change
Capital Improvements:
No Change
Educational Opportunity Fee:
25-cent decrease
Campus Safety: Fee retired Board allowed to retain its reserve
Child Care Construction: No Change
CAMPUS TRANSPORTATION
Operations: No Change
Bus Procurement: $1.00 increase
SafeBus: No Change
SafeRide: No Change
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT
Recycling: $0.40 decrease
Newspaper Readership: 50-cent decrease
OFFICE OF MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS
Legal Services for Students: 20-cent decrease
Renewable Energy & Sustainability: $1.00 decrease, New Stipulation restricting fee to capital construction only
OMA Operations:
10-cent decrease
Multicultural Education Fund:
35-cent decrease, New Stipulation limiting travel to below 40 percent of total MEF budget
Multicultural Resource Center Construction: No Change
Facilities Maintenance:No Change
Student Union Activities:
50-cent decrease
Wireless Implementation Fee:
No Change
STUDENT RECREATION & FITNESS CENTER
Operations: $1.00 increase
Construction: No Change
Facilities Maintenance: No Change
Sports Clubs: No Change
PUTTING IT IN PERSPECTIVE
$13,000 is generated for every
25 cents students pay in fees
and every dollar generates
$50,000
NATION
NATION
Federal authorities seize
Madoff's beach mansion
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Federal authorities seized disgraced financier Bernard Madoff's Palm Beach mansion, his vintage yacht and a smaller boat Wednesday as part of an effort to recoup assets to pay back investors he swindled.
Barry Golden, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service, said about five U.S. marshals arrived at the 8,753-square-foot, five-bedroom mansion late Wednesday afternoon, hours
after marshals seized the boats. Authorities planned to enter and secure the mansion, change the locks and conduct an inventory of the property, which Palm Beach County records show had a taxable value of 59.3 million last year.
Golden said marshals will spend about three to four hours filming and photographing items in the house that might be removed at some point. The mansion was unoccupied when federal authorities arrived.
"It's not an April Fools' joke," he said.
Associated Press
THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS funded by: Student Senate
First Nations Students Association University of Kansas
21st Annual Spring Pow-Wow April 4, 2009 5-11pm Kansas Union Ballroom 5th Floor
International Photo Contest sponsored by Phi Beta Delta Honor Society
Entry Fee:
S3 per Photo
Open to all Students, Faculty, Staff, and Alumni of KU
Winners will be showcased in the Kansas Union
Alpha Gamma Delta Jaywalk for Juvenile Diabetes
WHAT: 5k Walk Through KU Campus
WHEN: Saturday April 4
CHECK-IN: 10:30am at the Kansas Union
REGISTRATION: $15 for Walk, Shirt, Balloon and Raffle Ticket
Together we can defeat diabetes one step at a time
Saturday - April 11th
Individuals & Teams Register On Line @ www.douglascountyaidsproject.org
Walk starts @ Maceli's 1031 New Hampshire Doors Open @7:30AM - Walk Begins @8:30AM Breakfast to Follow - Sponsored by NetworQ
)