University Daily Kansan / Thursday, April 30, 1992
5
Residence-hall director hears students' concerns
By Erik Bauer
Kansan staff writer
The founder of Outrage, a group protesting unfair treatment in the residence hall system, delivered complaint letters to the director of student housing yesterday but was not satisfied with his response.
Bob Zielinski, founder of Outrage, said Ken Stoner, the director, had accused him during a 20-minute meeting yesterday of censoring the letters from disgruntled residents.
Zielinski, Omaha, Neb, freshman, said he had removed two of the letters from the stack because they were written by a resident assistant and "an RA sympathizer."
Outrage sponsored a meeting Tuesday night at Ewellworth Hall to address grievances about residence hall policies. People supporting Outrage and those agreeing with housing policies attended the meeting.
However, Zielinski said that the meeting had not been meant as a forum for RAs to voice their support for housing policies and that he was not obligated to take their complaints to
Stoner
"We didn't want the RAs to show up, so screw them," he said.
After the meeting with Stoner, Amy Hizer, who was appointed by Student Senate to represent the Association of University Residence Halls, spoke with Zielinski and three other members of Outrage about possible channels in the housing administration that the group could follow.
"We've got a lot of people on the board that can help with legitimate grievances," she said. "We can get a plan of attack."
Hizer said AURH would be willing to discuss the return of a student judicial board that could handle complaints.
"There's no way for a student to take a redress to Student Senate," he said. "They're part of the system."
"It all comes down to the willingness of the people to work together," she said. "He hasn't gone through all the channels vet."
Zielinski said Senate was part of a system he no longer trusted.
Zielinski said that Stoner had not been very willing to listen to his complaints and that Outrage wanted to
work outside the system.
would observe the system.
"I'm sick of working within a system that tells me how I perceive things," he said.
Stoner said he could not comment on his discussion between Zellinski and J. Bentley.
Steve Rudy, head of the housing and contracts committee for AURH, and Jamie Cuturb, president of AURH, also talked to members of Outrage after the meeting with Stoner.
Members of Outrage said they had been treated unfairly by a small number of RAs and security monitors at Ellsworth Hall. Complaints ranged from favoritism to forms of punishment that included writing essays about violations and having to work security as a punitive measure.
Rachel Goldstein, a Leawood freshman who helped Zielinski organize the group, said some of the RAS and security monitors had let personal biases get in the way of fair enforcement of rules.
"They go out of their way, literally,
to find you doing something wrong."
she said. "They don't know how to handle disciplinary situations."
Legislature meets for wrap-up; education financing is priority
Kansan staff and wire reports
The Legislature reconvened yesterday for its annual wrap-up session, hoping to reach compromises on several unsettled issues.
School finance and congressional redistricting headed the agenda as the 168 lawmakers returned from a two and a half day trip to Washington.
The annual wrap-up session began 25 years ago as a one-day added session to consider bills the governor had vetoed, but has grown into a lengthy cleanup meeting that last year consumed 13 days beyond the regular session.
The most pressing matter facing lawmakers is the question of school finance.
District Judge Terry Bullock of Shawnee County last fall recommended that the Legislature change the method of financing for primary and secondary education so that it would ensure that all students receive the same amount of financial support.
Currently, individual boards of education set local budgets and property tax rates to finance the districts.
The House on March 11 passed a bill that would change Kansas to a state-financed education system and impose a 29-mill state property tax to help finance it. The Senate rejected two similar plans.
Senate debate was scheduled for mid-afternoon yesterday on a compromise plan worked out by two Democratic and two Republican senators.
It is a less-expensive version of the House plan that would create a state financing system for school districts' budgets, spending $3,600 per pupil and requiring $229 million in income and sales tax increases to finance — including a half-cent increase in sales tax.
A variety of other issues remain unsolved, including congressional redistricting. Indian casino and video gambling, the state's worker compensation laws and adoption of new criminal sentencing guidelines.
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