CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, April 26, 1994
3
FACES
Heather Lofflin / KANSAN
Stuart Canning, London graduate student, works over a table of books and other items associated with the Hare Krishna movement. Ganapati Swami of Denver, a monk for the Krishna Consciousness Movement, asks for a donation for these items.
SPREADING A MESSAGE OF SIMPLICITY
Hare Krishna follower travels to universities
By Denise Nell Kansan staff writer
Dressed in baggy, fluorescent-orange clothes, he sits behind a table on campus for one week each semester, spreading the word of the Krishna Consciousness Movement to students.
But Ganapati Swami, a monk in the movement who set up in front of Dyche Hall last week, said that the clothes by which most people recognized him were unimportant.
Swami, who joined the Hare Krishna movement in 1971, said he followed the teachings of the Bhagavad-Gita, ancient philosophical scriptures from India that promote a simplistic lifestyle.
"The Bhagavad-Gita teaches us that at the present time, we inhabit our bodies just like college students inhabit apartments for a while," he said. "That apartment is neither you nor is it yours, so in the same way, the body made of material elements is not us nor does it actually belong to us."
Swami said the Bhagavad-Gita movement emphasized focusing on the spiritual identity instead of the body. Followers usually are vegetarians, avoid caffeine and nicotine, are celibate and have no personal possessions.
"Merely maintaining the body is not our purpose," he said. "There is a higher purpose which is to be fulfilled in the human body, and that's self-realization."
Swami said he had been part of the hippie movement and had studied Eastern philosophy at a Canadian college when he had come across the Bhagavad-Gita. He said he had found answers to issues with which he was struggling.
Eventually, he became a monk in the movement, signified by his fluorescent-orange clothing. He lives in Denver and travels the country in a motor home, visiting universities. Occasionally, he is asked to speak in religion classes, he said.
Swami said he had been coming to the University of Kansas for the last 10 years. He explains the movement to those who stop at his table, where he offers copies of the Bhagavad-Gita, books explaining the scripture and vegetarian cookbooks. The books are not priced, but Swami accepts donations from those who want one.
Most students are receptive to his message, Swami said. Some even stop to ask him for advice about their boyfriends or girlfriends.
"Some are curious," he said. "Some have a genuine interest, and some ask for serious advice about personal problems. There is very little disrespect and no harassment."
Devaki Nandana, who is traveling with Swami, said KU students were particularly receptive to the message of the Bhagavad-Gita.
"They're very friendly," he said. "People here are very interested in spirituality, and almost everyone we talk to says 'Oh, that's interesting.'"
Ganapati Swami said he had entered the Hare Krishna movement in 1971. Swami who travels around the country, said he had never been harassed while visiting universities.
Heather Lofflin/KANSAN
Stealing funds is tough, officials say
Policy breakdown may have doomed MU
By Jamie Munn
Kansan staff writer
After a University of Missouri administrative assistant was charged this month with embezzling $650,000, KU officials said they weren't worried about a similar incident here.
Lindy Eakin, associate vice chancellor of administration and finance, said he thought that there had been no similar incidents at the University during his 15 years here.
"I'm just glad it didn't happen here," Eakin said.
Earlier this month, Missouri employee Christy Ann Tutin was arrested after allegedly fabricating more than 900 "trips for university purposes" by graduate students. Tutin allegedly faked expense vouchers for meals and travel expenses and turned in the vouchers in graduate students' names.
Eakin said there always was a possibility that employees could embezzle from the University. But he said he thought that the Missouri incident had been a system failure rather than a loophole in the university's financial system.
At Missouri, cashiers failed to follow a university policy and distributed cash to individuals on behalf of someone else. Usually, the money could be given only to the person authorized to spend it.
Eakin said the main difference between Missouri's and KU's policies was that KU did not give cash advances for travel. KU also reimburses expenses with checks, not cash.
"It would have to be out-of-state travel to be
that amount of money," Eakin said of the amounts Tutin allegedly was receiving.
Most KU reimbursements require the signature of the individual and two superiors in that person's department. Eakdn said.
KU employees could embzzle money but that would require the participation of more than one employee.
"It is possible," he said. "You could put a fake student on the navroll and collect the money."
But that example would require that the person who hired the student, the person who signs the time sheet and the person who signs the check be in on it.
"And that would be a conspiracy," Eakin said. Another problem at Missouri was the computer system that accounted for expenses. In that case, a supervisor's password was stolen to distribute bogus expenses among accounts.
KU's disbursements are checked daily through the office of the comproller, which probably will discover unusual expenses, Eakin said.
Eakin plans to attend a meeting in November of the financial officers in the Big Eight Conference.
"We'll probably be asking, 'How'd you let that happen?'" he said.
Dennis Moss, KU internal audit supervisor,
said he also would be talking with Missouri's auditors later this year. He said he had not been aware of what Missouri's policy was or what had contributed to the ease of the alleged embezzlement.
But Moss also said he thought that nothing like the Missouri incident had happened or could happen at the University.
"Obviously, we're not aware of any situation that wouldn't be noticed or prevented," he said. "But there's always the possibility that things could occur."
CAMPUS BRIEFS
KU student's death still questioned
Kansan staffreport
The investigation into the death of Scott McWhorter, Dallas freshman, a KU student who fell from the fourth floor of Gertrude Sellards Pearson-Corbin Hall on Sunday morning has yet to be completed, Sgt. Rose Rozmiarek of KU police said.
Also, Rozmiarek said that an autopsy had
been performed and that its results would be included in the police report when it was finished. She said that the autopsy would help determine whether alcohol had been involved in the accident.
Rozmiarek said she thought that police would conclude the investigation sometime today or tomorrow.
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