Tomorrow's weather
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
ansan
The weather will be a little colder today with continuing cloudy skies.
Wednesday
January 21, 1998
Section:
A
Vol. 108 • No. 83
Get the skinny on current political issues at Mother Jones' Web site.
Online today
http://www.motherjones.com
Sports today
The NCAA alleged yesterday that Kansas forward Lester Earl received payments from Louisiana State before he became a Jayhawk.
SEE PAGE 1B
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Graduate student Wuchien Yang monitors the Asian market. He is concerned with the recent drop in the value of the currency of his native Taiwan. Photo by Dan Elansky/KANSAN
KU students caught in overseas turmoil
By Tamara Miller Kansan staff writer
Like many University of Kansas students, Andre Widjaja is worried about the cost of a college education.
Widjada, a senior from Indonesia, has an on-campus job to pay for living expenses, but his parents pay his tuition. Widjada now is worried that his parents will not be able to afford tuition this semester.
The currency in Indonesia has been devalued because of an economic crisis in Asia. David Lambertson, director of international development, said that the crisis is affecting many Asian countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia.
The problem began when stock markets in these countries crashed, devaluing the currencies. Indonesia's currency, the rupee, has lost three-fourths of its value.
The economic crisis in Asia affects about 300 students at the University of Kansas, said Hodgie Bricke, assistant director for International Student Services.
Wuchien Yang, a graduate student from Taiwan, said that he was feeling effects of his homeland's financial problems.
"My financial source is my parents and since they're not making as much money as they did, they can't send me as much money," he said.
Bricke said that International Student Services was working with students affected by this crisis. The center is encouraging students to apply for graduate teaching positions or off-campus work permits.
The crisis affected students whose parents paid their tuition and students who had scholarships paid by their country's government.
"The Royal Thai scholarship has been suspended because of the economic crisis," she said. "Those currently on scholarship will continue to receive it, but no new people can receive the scholarship."
"It's easy to give up but if you ask the right offices, I think they will be able to help," he said.
Karen Bailey, University bursar, said that extending the tuition payment deadline was possible, but that each situation was reviewed individually. Students who cannot pay tuition on time also may enroll in the Academic Management Services payment plan.
The plan allows student to pay tuition in four installments. Because the plan began in December, students who enroll now must make the first three payments Feb. 3. The fourth and final payment would be due March 1.
Widjaja said he was trying to defer his tuition payment and was considering an off-campus work permit. He said students should explore their onions.
Regents to examine rights issue
By Gerry Doyle gdoyle@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
What if a University of Kansas student were to paint a picture and then publish a print of it in a coffee-table collection book?
Who would get the money?
The student? The University?
Who?
These questions and others will be addressed by all Regents schools, including the University of Kansas, in a presentation to the Kansas Board of Regents this afternoon.
The topic is intellectual property. It is an issue regarding laws that define who owns the copyright to a work, whether it is a paper, a piece of art, a poem or a computer program. The presentation will encompass the views of the Regents schools' administrations, students and faculty, Provost David Shulenburger said.
"We're all sort of desperate to find a natural solution," Shulenburger said. "There are a lot of things going on nationally that will affect what we do here."
Work done by the University faculty could fall under the control of the University under an item called "work-for-hire." According to the U.S. Copyright Office, this means "...the employer or other person for whom the work was prepared is considered the author for purposes of this title, and ...owns all of the rights comprised in the copyright."
Because of copyright issues, prices have risen to the point where University libraries have 65 percent more money than 10 years ago, but they have 35 percent fewer journals, he said.
One way this could be solved is to move the copyrights from
the professor to the University, he said.
"We have to find out how to balance the rights of the creator with the rights of society," he said. "Society is really built on ready access to information. Copyright law is built on that. Nobody's going to make a lot of money on this."
Students' work may or may not fall under work-for-hire, said Carl Locke, dean of engineering. There is no clear boundary on whether a student's class work belongs to the student or the University.
"Part of the policy will affect student work," Locke said. "Classroom projects have traditionally been the property of the student, but it hasn't been defined so far."
The student presentation to the Regents will state that all work done by students should be their property, regardless of whether it is created using University materials or equipment.
Most students won't face copyright issues, but some fields of study have more potential for conflict. For example, art students may create something that becomes famous or is reproduced for profit.
"It's been mentioned to me before," said Kevin Loecke, Des Moines, Iowa junior. "It's not something I worry about — it seems kind of silly, because I'm the one making the art, and I'm generally using my own supplies."
The debate gets down to the basics of scholarship and creativity at an institute of learning, said Laurence Draper, president of University Senate.
"Traditionally, intellectual property has belonged to the creator," he said. "The question is, 'What are the rights of the creator?'"
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
How it works: Copyrights for works of students and professors — including journal articles, art, books and software — can belong to the creator or the University. Employees who create something in the line of their work generally have the copyrights transferred to their employers because of a work-for-hire provision in U.S. copyright law. However, teachers historically have been immune to this by the "teachers' exemption." There are no definite policies regarding students' work, but in the past, copyrights have belonged to them.
Who it affects? students and professors who create works in the course of their time at the University.
Senate may bend rules to establish new polling sites
By Melissa Ngo
mngo@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The Daisy Hill polling site controversy will be decided by Student Senate at 6:30 tonight in the Big 12 Room of the Kansas Unicn.
Two bills up for debate would require Senate to change its rules and regulations to mandate that the Elections Commission set up polling sites at Ekdahl Dining Commons, Oliver Hall and Gertrude Sellards Pearson-Corbin Hall.
The original bill was a petition to create a polling site at the cafeteria. A second bill that added GSP-Corbin and Oliver Halls as sites was created in the Student Rights Committee last week.
The controversy centers on whether Senate has the jurisdiction to regulate these sites. Senate rules and regulations state that it is the responsibility of the Elections Commission to establish and
enforce all rules and regulations relating to Student Senate elections and election campaigns.
"I believe any piece of legislation that is brought up before Student Senate mandating on any aspect of Student Senate campaigns is improper," said Mike Walden, student body vice president.
Bradyinkelder, Elections Commission chairman, said it was not in Senate's jurisdiction to mandate that the commission set the new polling sites.
Brad Finkeldei. Elec-
"Once Senate starts down the road of how elections should be run, every decision on that road limits our impartiality
and fairness." Finkeldei said. "The question senators should ask when deciding how to vote on this legislation is 'Is it appropriate for Senate to be setting the policy for the Elections Commission even though the commission was set up to be an independent board?"
Finkeldei's question
Walden: Opposes legislation for Daisy Hill polling
was answered last year when Senate passed a bill that changed the type of campaigning that Senate candidates were allowed to do, said Seth Hoffman, All Scholarship Hall Council senator. Hoffman has been lobbying for a Daisy Hill polling site since September.
Walden said neither last year's legislation nor the polling site bills were in Senate's hurisdiction.
"It is inconsistent to say that Student Senate could regulate campaigns last year, but not this year," Hoffman said.
Walden has opposed the legislation for the new polling sites since the debate began. He ruled the legislation out of order at the last full Senate meeting, but Senate voted to overrule Walden's motion.
"I think (last year)'s legislation had the potential of making it a worse election," he said. "These decisions should be made without Senate intervention."
Finkeldei agreed with Walden and said that the policy was inconsistent, and last year's legislation was inappropriate.
"Student Senate should not be looking at this legislation at all," he said. "It should have been presented to the Elections Commission or put before the student body in a referendum."
ELECTION RULES In Senate Rules and Regulations [6.5.1]
The Elections Commission shall: Establish and enforce all rules and regulations relating to Student Senate elections and election campaigns.
Finkeldei said there was a site at the Kansas Union every year because the Elections Commission learned that it was a needed site.
"We have started down the road to finding out if the three sites are appropriate," Finkeldei said. "If they are sites that bring in voters and are in a fair environment, then we will most likely continue to have them in following years. What we want is the flexibility to decide which sites are appropriate and which aren't. We think the mandate is inappropriate, not the context."
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