Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MCNAUGHTON: TIME TO RETHINK IMAGE OF LAWRENCE 'PLEASANTVILE'
MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2009
COMING TUESDAY
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To the kid who found my ID and then Facebooked me: if everyone was like you, there would be world peace.
President McGonigle should be impaired. If he is not, I will throw a peach at him.
I'm looking at the upside-down KU flag on top of Fraser
Class should be illegal when KU basketball is on.
Free-for-All, I just saw a dude with a United Students shirt and Uqg boots.
I just saw this girl's status on Facebook that said she's going to AA. I hope she knows that by doing so she is removing the second A from AA.
I have to go to class after a week of lying out on the beach and sleeping 12 hours per day. FML.
--to "retire," especially given the recent trend of increased crime against students in Lawrence?
My mom just seriously asked me, "How many teams make it to the Sweet Sixteen?"
I think I went temporarily insane when I was doing my bracket — I put Missouri in the Final Four. I'm ashamed of myself
This dorm is like 100 degrees. Someone bring me a beer.
That Coke commercial that features a KU home game is glorious.
I'm falling for one of my friends but I can't tell if she feels the same way.
I have a seven-hour drive that I still need to find to get back to KU. Hitchhiking anyone?
Jeez Brady, if you are not getting the three, at least stay in front of your man.
Please note: Expecting Obama to clean up eight years of disarray in two months is ridiculous. Sometimes things have to get more messy in order to be cleaned up properly.
--to "retire," especially given the recent trend of increased crime against students in Lawrence?
PAGE 5A
Somehow I don't think that adding deficit spending on programs we can't afford and wouldn't have been able to afford without the current deficit counts as cleaning up Rush's mess
Bush's mess.
How do I know spring break is over? 'Cause Free for All is active again.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Students should oppose retirement of safety fee
In the wake of budget cuts at the University, Student Senate is looking for ways to keep student fees constant. One proposal is to "retire" the student safety fee for a three year period, after which the fee would return. During these three years, student safety programs would run on the money in its reserve account. But is safety really something we want
McGonigle, who authored the proposal, said the board that
oversees student safety currently did not spend anywhere near the amount allocated to it and student money already paid should be used first before cuts were made into other fees. McGonigle said student safety should use the remainder of the unallocated account before it collected the fee again.
One of the greatest concerns is the recent highly publicized incidents of sexual assault on or near campus. On March 1, the Lawrence Journal-World published a map of assault locations in Lawrence during the past four years, with the majority of these occurring in areas populated with student residents. Most notable of these assaults is the suspected serial rapist, who has been linked to 13 rapes in the last eight years
at both the University and Kansas State University.
Marcy Brammer, Wichita junior, said she had spent countless late nights on campus studying or working in a design studio before walking back to her sorority house on Emery Road.
"A lot of times I can find someone to come pick me up, but sometimes I have to walk home at one.
KANSAN'S
OPINION
two in the morning.
Brammer said, "I
don't know that I feel
comfortable with the
idea of cutting safety,
even if it is just a
temporary thing."
Security services such as the emergency blue phones located around campus are provided by the student safety fee. These phones are directly connected to the KU Public Safety Office's dispatch center. According to the Public Safety Office's Web site, an officer will be dispatched to the location whether or not a person talks on the phone
Other safety programs on campus include SafeRide and SafeBus. SafeRide is available to students who need a ride home from anywhere in Lawrence free of charge between 11 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. SafeBus operates from 9 a.m. to 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturday, giving students a free and safe ride home.
Programs and services like these not only help ensure student safety,
TO VOICE YOUR OPINION ON THE SAFETY FEE:
Call the Student Senate office at (785) 864-3710
but give many students peace of mind while on campus at night. Brammer said although she had never used the emergency blue phones and rarely used SafeRide for a ride home from campus, she felt better knowing these were available to her.
The KU Public Safety Office's Web site offers students helpful information on how to deal with various safety issues. Students should be sure to be aware of safety services available to them through the University and should always be aware of their surroundings, especially while on campus late at night.
Awareness of the proposed budget cuts is also very important, especially when they're regarding student safety. Senate should consider cutting fees that won't harm students, rather than cutting those that directly benefit them.
EDITORIAL CARTOON
— Amy Johnson for The Kansan Editorial Board
NICHOLAS SAMBALUK
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Last week's items you might have missed. Check out Kansan.com Roundup for full stories.
About the number of people who attended the funeral service of Jason Wren, who was a 19-year-old KU freshman and member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. The funeral was held on March 16 in Littleton, Colo., Wren's hometown. About 10 KU students joined Wren's family and friends at the service.
File photo by Ryan McGeeney
The room number at the Kansas Union where students can register to vote in the upcoming city elections. The Student Legislative Awareness Board students will deliver them. Students can also register at Douglas County offices at 1100 Massachusetts St. Monday, March 23, is the last day to register.
THE CONTEXT
THE CONTEXT
The number of years covered in the University's current tuition compact. A recent proposal approved by the Board of Regents would freeze tuition for in-state students for the next academic year. The proposal, if passed in the Legislature, could make it difficult for the University to continue its four-year tuition compact.
THE CONTEXT
Nick Gerik/KANSAN
THE CONTEXT
The date of the Public Transit Advisory Committee meeting from 4:10 to 5:30 p.m., in the Lawrence Public Library Auditorium. At the meeting, the public can comment on any of the proposed route changes for KU on Wheels and the Lawrence Transit System. The current recommendation includes fewer routes but more stops in a consolidated system of KU on Wheels and Lawrence Transit.
ECONOMY
Tips for recovering from spring break spending
messery, the real world has slammed you in the face. You had to wake up before 1 p.m., classes are in full swing, and you're scheduled for an eight-hour shift tonight. All this, and your hangover from the last night in paradise is still lingering. Then, as you try to buy more ibuprofen, you're forced to focus your bleary eyes long enough to see "insufficient funds" on the register. Where did all your money go?
1. Know how much money you have and how much you make. Break your income into monthly and weekly increments and then forecast your income for at least three months
Those memories you don't remember are conveniently listed on your bank statement. $50 at La Vela, $60 at Schooners, $100 at Boatyard, and the list goes on. Getting out of the hole will take some successful money management. Here are some tips for getting out of the spring-break sink-hole and making sure you don't fall in again:
2. Know where your money is going. Rent and utilities typically don't change; the hard part is determining where the rest of your money goes. Take a week and keep track of all your expenses: food, gas, movies, bars, etc. Group these expenses into categories (housing, car, food, luxuries).
3. Combine your info and calculate your income and expenses for at least the next three months. Are you in the red or black?
4. Now comes the hard part: cutting out the waste. Turn off the lights, unplug appliances, don't use the TV for background noise and soak up free air conditioning in Anschutz while keeping your AC off. Before you go shopping, make a list and find coupons. When you're shopping, buy the off-brand and look at the unit price (at Wal-mart it's the
Now that you've got the basics of budgeting down, here are some advanced tips for becoming financially savvy.
orange price). Change your way of thinking about dollars and cents. Instead of "It's only $1," think "That's one more McChicken sandwich." Throw the McChicken sandwiches that you and your stomach don't need into a savings account for next year's spring break.
1. Keep three months' worth of rent and utilities in a savings or money market account. These types of accounts usually require a minimum balance and have restrictions on how many withdrawals you can make each month. Because of these restrictions, the banks pay a higher interest rate. Rent and utilities are once-a-month bills, so you won't have a problem with too many withdrawals. Staying three months ahead should cover the minimum balance and give you a sound footing in case you lose your job.
2. Get a credit card with rewards. This is going to require discipline on your part, because it will only pay off if you don't carry a balance. Use the rewards card on all your basic necessities, because, unlike a debit card, when you swipe a rewards card you get points which can be redeemed for cash, travel, or retail rewards. The trick is to treat this credit card as if it were debit. Do not spend money you don't have, because the second you carry a balance you will more than pay for those once-free rewards.
With good money management, spring break 2010 will be twice the party. Good luck!
Davidson is a Tonganoxie senior in economics.
Response to student's death should not be shifting of blame
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
I read the Kansan article about the SAE memorial service for the very sad death of Jason Wren. A couple of online comments following the article troubled me as I thought more about them.
One or two comments sing- gled out and criticized the SAE house for lack of leadership and its members for not looking out for their brothers. The comments sound as if looking after your brother stops at the fraternity's external walls.
Why wouldn't the Inter-fraternity Council (and the University, for that matter) have strong policies about excess drinking in any fraternities and exercise fines and responsible oversight? And if there are policies why do
some fraternities follow them while others don't and are then simply condemned rather than corrected?
Putting others down to put yourself up is false empowerment. And, sadly this was a palpable aspect of the greek life at the University that my son found distasteful, one reason he transferred to another school.
From what he said, there seemed to be a fairly dominant pecking order. It's natural for people to feel defensive when tragedy strikes, but I would hope and expect that this very sad incident will be responded to with a sense of community responsibility, not as yet another way for some to put themselves above others.
— Melanie Barton, mother of former KU student
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kansan Edison Board are Brenna Hawley, Tara Smith, Mary Sorick, Kelsey Hayes and Dan Thompson.