Tuesday, March 31, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 3
Higher education bill on hold
Legislature has little time, money for reform plan
By Brandon Copley bcpleoy@kanson.com Kansan staff writer
The Kansas Legislature's plan to reform higher education governance is not dead, it is just resting.
Sen. Dave Kerr, R-Hutchinson, Ways and Means Committee chairman, and Sen. Barbara, R-Lawrence, chairwoman of the Education Committee, agreed yesterday that the Senate probably would not act on the plan this year.
"There is so very limited time that it would be exceedingly difficult for us to do a quality job analyzing the plan," Kerr said. "The need to do something is not so urgent that we should rush through it in the remaining time this session and end up with a plan that is not the best."
The committees heard testimony on the plan yesterday during a joint
meeting. Members of the House Select Committee on Higher Education presented the plan, which would replace the Board of Regents with a new body to govern universities and coordinate activity among universities, community colleges and vocational/technical schools.
If the Senate does not act on the plan this year, the bill would remain in committee and would be held until the 1999 legislative session.
Rep. David Adkins, chairman of the select committee, said he would not give up passing the plan this year. The Republican said that because the Legislature must finance the Kansas highway bill next year, it would be even more difficult to pass the plan in 1999.
Kerr said highway funding and education funding came from different sources, but Adkins said highway funding would affect all spending bills next year.
"We will beg, borrow and steal from many places in order to pay for highways," he said. "As a result, we'll see less money for the
universities."
Representatives of the Board of Regents and the state's community colleges also testified yesterday. The Regents oppose the plan. All state community colleges except Johnson Count Community College support the plan.
Bob Talkington, Regents chairman, responded with a hint of sarcasm.
Adkins told the committee the Regents were statespeople for the universities but the community colleges would not agree to be governed by the Regents because the community colleges mistrust the Regents.
"I was particularly pleased to hear Chairman Adkins say the Board of Regents were statespeople," Talkington said. "They're apparently untrustworthy, but they're statespeople."
In a display of the mistrust alluded to by Adkins, former Sen. Sheila Frahm spoke on behalf of the community colleges.
"The community colleges are not hungry puppies (as one Regent said) who should be taken care of only after the needs of the state universities are met," Frahm said.
KU center makes a difference
Food drive is finalist for national award
Melissa Ngo
mgo@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
A canned-food drive sponsored by the University of Kansas' Center for Community Outreach is a finalist for a national Make a Difference Day award.
The seventh annual Make a Difference Day was Oct. 25. Of the thousands of projects, 60 will be chosen as winners. The award includes a $2,000 donation to a charitable agency of the winner's choosing.
Members of the center and volunteers held a canned-food drive on Make a Difference Day, which was also the day of the Kansas-Nebraska football game.
Food drop-off points were set up at
Memorial Stadium, Checkers,
HyVee and all local Dillons stores,
said Jamie Najim, center co-director.
Sixty dollars and 6,200 cans of food were collected and distributed to the Ballard Center, Pelathte Indian Center, East Central Kansas Economic Opportunity Corporation, Penn House and the Salvation Army, Najim said.
"We'd never taken part in Make a Difference Day before, and we'll be pretty amazed if we win it this year," Najim said.
Najim said about 30 volunteers from the center, the Boys and Girls Club and the University helped with the project.
Emily Heath, center co-director, said center members chose a food drive because they thought Lawrence needed it.
"With the new welfare-reform laws, people are getting less food," Heath said. "People needed to chip in because the government was not providing enough."
Nicole Skalla, Salina sophomore, helped with the canned-foOD drive. She said she hoped the center would hold it every year.
"It was a great way to get the community to help feed the hungry, and I know it benefited a lot of people," Skalla said.
Najim said she would be happy if the center won the award but she already was proud of the group's work.
"We don't need a national award to say, 'You've done a good job' because people ate, and that's the most important thing," Najim said.
Najim said 1.3 million people participated nationally in the 1997 Make a Difference Day.
The award winners will be announced and some projects highlighted in the April 17-19 issue of USA Weekend.
The 1998 Make a Difference Day will be October 24.
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