CAMPUS / AREA
University Daily Kansan / Monday. February 10, 1992
3
Committee still reviewing Board of Regents budget
Appropriations panel considers recommendations 'fair'
By Greg Farmer
By Greg Farmer and Gayle Osterberg Kansan staff writers
The fate of Hoch Auditorium, faculty salaries and state-financed scholarships rests in the hands of five members of the House Appropriations Committee.
After concluding the first week of hearings Thursday, members of the subcommittee considering Board of Regents budgets said
Kansas
1992
Legislature
ought Gov. Joan Finney's recommendations for the University of Kansas and other Regents schools were fair.
The House Appropriations Committee will consider and amend the governor's proposed budget for Regents to budget passes to the legislature for vote.
"I don't think we'll stray far from the governor's recommendations," said state Rep. Lee Hamm, D-Pratt. "We'll have to wait for the late estimates of how much money we have, and then we may have to make some changes. But as a starting point, the governor's recommendations are good."
In her State of the State address, the governor unveiled a budget package that included 2.5 percent merit salary increases for faculty and staff, 100 percent fee waivers for graduate teaching assistants and a 4 percent increase for
operating costs.
State Rep. Robert Vancrum, R-Overland Park, said the proposed fee waiver and salary increases were positive points in the governor's proposal.
State Rep. George Teagarden, Blaise
Committee, and the subcommit-
tees.
tee would use the governor's proposal as a starting point.
"I feel the governor has treated the institutions reasonably, and I think that we can generally
support her budget," he said. "I'm sure we can provide all items we may have questions about."
KU administrators said they were disappointed that the budget did not include $1 million to begin planning Hoch's reconstruction.
Teagarden said it was the state's responsibility to replace Hoff, but the $18 million long-term commitment was more than the state could afford.
"Before we can commit, we have to make sure we can finish the project," he said. "If you put out planning money and don't go on with the project for several years, you often have to go back and re-plan."
A tight state budget has been further strained by a judge's order to equalize the state's primary and secondary school system.
The governor has proposed a 45-mill statewide property tax levy to finance the equalization. This tax rate would
decrease property taxes in 253 of 304 school districts, creating a $217 million shortfall.
"The chances for raising additional funds for other areas are slim," Tea-garden said.
One area that could be slighted is faculty salaries. Two KU professors recently announced their decision to leave the University, citing a lack of state support for universities and their faculty.
State Rep. Bill Wisdom, D-Kansas City, said the committee addressed the issue of salary increases every year.
"There is a time when you must consider the economy of the state," he said. "You must balance needs with economic resources the state has to offer.
"All our Regents institutions need more funding. In some areas, professors certainly need some salary adjustment."
Another subject subcommittee members will discuss is state-financed scholarships.
State Rep. Rochelle Chronister, R-Neodesha, said state-financed scholarships were one of the committee's biggest concerns.
"We are considering the possibility of more need-based scholarships," she said.
The subcommittee heard testimony from the Regents last week and is scheduled to hear KU budget information Feb.19.
AP executive calls for change
By Janet Rorholm
Kansan staff writer
Journalists should have a passion for their work if they are to face the challenges that confront the media today, the head of the world's largest news organization said Friday.
Louis Boccardi, chief executive officer of The Associated Press, spoke to about 200 administrators, professors, students and journalists in the Kansas Union Ballroom after he was presented with the 1992 William Allen White Award for Journalistic Merit.
"We must explain the issues," said Boccardi, 54. "And we must write what grips the heart and what enlightens the mind. On a good day we should do both. For if we don't raise our voices for the common good, who will?"
Boccardi said that people today
lived in the most media-intense society the world had ever known but that the media was not explaining the news well enough.
He said the challenge to change was right in front of journalists.
"We need to look at the issues that face us today, and remember that we have a pretty good system, and it is up to us to make it work," he said. He credited the 3,200 people who work for AP for his award.
Hank Booth, president of the William Allen White Foundation, said Boccardi was an obvious choice for the organization's mission or for the world's largest news gatherer.
He said Boccardi's work in the release of employee and former hostage Terry Anderson was another reason he was selected.
"It's this kind of compassion he has
Boccardi told young journalists that he had been encouraged by journalists just entering the field.
shown for just one of the employees that makes him stand out "Boots said
Boccardi told students not to give up on the field, even though the job market was bleak. He said he knew that the climate was tough and the recession had caused a collision between reality and what editors would like to do, which was hire.
"The young people who have come into the profession are bright," he said. "They are far more well-rounded than when I entered the profession."
"It will end and all the reasons why you wanted to become journalists will remain," he said. "And if you persevere, then one day you too may stand up here and say thank you for the William Allen White Award."
Yonis Ahmed of Somalia, Khaliso Koepaletswe of Botswana and John Sosiba of South Africa (left to right) sing and dance in traditional African style.
African-American students unite for scholarship drive
By Shelly Solon
Kansan staff writer
Different African-American and African student organizations put aside past divisions and worked together at a Black History Month celebration Friday night to raise money for a new scholarship fund.
The celebration, sponsored by Student Union Activities and Black Student Union, was a showcase of African-American and African culture, including dancing, singing and poetry readings.
After talking to former KU students, he said, the show could have been the first time ever that all the people he had involved in had been involved in an activity
"The student organizations have been divided for so long," said Carlos Fleming, executive board member of Black Men of Today. "It was the first time since I've been here that we've all worked together. I'm glad BSU took the initiative and brought us together."
together.
Fleming said that the $3 admission fee and donations would go to a scholarship fund for African-American students and that various fund-raising activities for the scholarship would continue throughout the year.
The event raised about $200 for the scholarship, said Kim Thomas, vice president of BSU. About 50 people attended.
Curtis Jones, president of Black Panhellenic, said it was important for Black Panhellenic to participate because of past differences between greeks and non-grecs.
"There should be no division," he
said. "And no one is higher than anyone else."
Jones said Black Panhellenic was working on a study program with Black Men of Today and also was planning to work with Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic.
"We need to break down the walls between all of us." he said.
Gloria Masinga, president of African Affairs Student Association.
said it was the first large event the group had participated in with the African-American organizations. The association performed traditional African dances at the celebration.
"We are all Black," she said. "We need to break the gap between us, and not just because it's Black History Month. We have to build up communication."
Inspirational Gospel Voices opened the program with two songs and closed with two songs.
"We thought it was important to give another look at the talent and culture on campus," said Moses Smith, director of Inspirational Voices. "Gospel is an important part of Black culture and Black history."
Marek Jacobs, who performed with the Black Poets Society, said the celebration was an exhibit of different aspects of African-American culture. He said it was a chance for each group to show what it was doing on campus.
Sergei Nazarevsky, head of a Russian delegation, offers a Soviet Union flag to Thad Lawrence, director of operations for Price Chopper grocery stores. The delegation visited Kansas City-area businesses to promote a project designed to send medical and food supplies to Russia.
Project hopes to ease Russia's shortages
By Katherine Manweiler
Kansan staff writer
OVERLAND PARK — An effort to airlift medical supplies and baby food to Russia brought people from two continents together Saturday.
A delegation of Russians visited a Price Chopper grocery store to promote the Heart to Heart Airlift, a project with a goal of sending 100 tons of supplies to Russia in a cargo plane by the end of this month.
For some members of the delegation, it was their first time inside a U.S. grocery store.
Sergei Nazarevsky, head of the delegation, said the need for baby formula was desperate because the milk supply in Russia was very low.
"In Russia, there's no milk," he said.
"I have a good life because I have the opportunity to get milk from the
countryside."
Nazarevsky said that when milk was available in the stores, a gallon cost 90 rubles. Ninety rubles is equivalent to one-third of the lowest monthly salary in Russia.
Several members of a Russian delegation came to the United States 10 days ago to meet with businesses and organizations and asked them to donate money or supplies.
Wearing a sweatshirt that read "Peace on Earth" and sporting new Reeboks, Gennady Lukin, chief physician of a major children's hospital in Russia, spoke of the medical shortages there.
"My mother kept telling me, 'Do not ask for anything for yourself,' and I never did," he said. "However, our country is now facing a very critical situation, and we are here to ask for
help."
He thanked the people in the United States who had responded to the need in the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Lukin said that in parts of Russia, only 14 percent of the basic medical items required to treat patients were available.
"Thanks to the efforts of our brothers and sisters in Christ in many countries, we have seen the steady flow of medicines come that help to alleviate the shortages," Lukin said.
Heather Devocelle, Olathe senior and the Lawrence public relations representative for the Heart to Heart Airlift, also was at the grocery store Saturday.
"I want to help out these people," she said. "It's no big deal for us to put a Band-Aid on our finger, but there are
Many KU fraternities and sororites are considering making donations to the airlift, Devocelle said.
thousands of people over there who have no medicine at all."
KU students could have significant impact on the project if they would donate items such as bandages, cotton balls and Tylenol to the airlift, she said.
She said she hoped to travel to Russia with the supplies once the goal of 100 tons was reached.
Donation boxes are set up at the Dillons stores in Lawrence.
Lisa Poyas, Tulsa, Okla., junior,
said she donated a bag of cotton balls
and a box of Band-Aids to the airlift.
"It cost me two dollars," she said. "It's such an easy effort, and they need so much help."