UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, April 25, 1994
9
Committee prepares KU for its accreditation test
By Jamie Munn
Kansan staff writer
As any good student would, the University of Kansas already has started studying for what could be considered a killer final—its accreditation test.
Andrew Debicki, dean of the Graduate School and chair of the accreditation steering committee, said he wasn't worried about the University making the grade in October.
= "Of course, I assume we will," he said.
As a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Universities, the University must pass the
accreditation test every 10 years,
Debicki said.
- Accreditation officials from the association will visit the University in October to evaluate it. They will tour the campus and speak with administrators, faculty and students.
"KU has been accredited all along," Debicki said. "But we see this as an opportunity to look over our own plans and to look at our thinking for the future."
A part of the test established this year will determine how KU and other universities deal with internal problems.
Problems such as racial and sexual harassment, health and safety issues and ethics in research and fiscal matters will be the University's significant concerns in this category, Debickd said.
"The important thing in all of these cases is to show that the University had to deal with some kind of problem and show how we handled it," he said.
Debicki said one example would be the case of former professor of law Emil Tonkovich, who was fired by Chancellor Gene Budig. The Faculty Senate Tenure Related Problems committee upheld Budig's decision in the summer. Charges of sexual harassment were made against Tonkovich two years ago.
The accreditation committee, which formed more than a year ago, has been working since summer on a self-study of the University to prepare for the October visit.
Members of the committee include William Crowe, dean of libraries; Sally Frost-Mason, associate dean of liberal arts and sciences; Richard Whelan, dean of special education and Tom Beisecker, associate professor of communication studies.
Debicki said the committee already had written a draft of the self-study,
which had been edited from 400 pages to about 200 pages.
"If we don't keep it to about 250 pages, the people who need to read it won't," he said.
The report should be available to the public on reserve in the University's libraries by June. Debicki encouraged students and faculty to read it and make recommendations.
"We want as much input on it before we send it to North Central," he said.
Frost-Mason said that although the process had been lengthy, she had enjoyed working on the committee.
"It's been a learning experience," she said. "I've learned a lot about the University."
She said that a program review of degrees in the fall and spring had been a great help to the accreditation study.
"A normal part of the study would have been a review of all the programs on campus," she said. "But we're including that in our study."
Frost-Mason said she also encouraged everyone to look at the study and then make comments or suggestions to Debicki.
"But I don't know that you'll find it the most interesting reading," she said.
The Associated Press
Kansas kids not as well off as before
TOPEKA — A national report concludes that children face a bleak future as poverty and violent juvenile arrest rates soar.
The fifth annual Kids Count Data Book ranks the states and Washington, D.C., in order of best to worst in conditions for children. Kansas comes in at No. 20, down from 13th last year, in the rankings released yesterday.
Kansas was 24th in its juvenile violent crime arrest rate. But even with a middle-range ranking, Kansas showed its most drastic change for the worse, with a 51 percent increase.
Kansas ranked 20th in births to single teen-agers. Here again, the state showed a dramatic change for the worse, with a 50 percent increase.
Kansas ranked third in the category of teens who are not in school and are not working. The state saw a 28 percent change for the better from 1985 to 1991, according to the report.
That's the only area in which Kansas ranks in the top 10.
The report uses 10 categories to measure the degree of children's well-being, from infant mortality to children in single-parent families. This year's figures are averages from the years 1985 to 1991, and the states are ranked according to their 1991 figures. The Kids Count book doesn't compare progress from year to year because researchers do not use the same 10 categories each year.
Kansas also ranks high among states with fewer children living in poverty. It ranked 11th. The state improved 8 percent in that category.
The state has fewer children in single-parent families than several other states. It also ranked 11th. State figures, however, show a 33 percent change for the worse from 1985 to 1991.
All but six states recorded an increase in that category. It's an important measure, the report said, because children in single-parent
Kansas also got high marks in the number of children who graduate from high school on time. But the state showed a drop of 5 percent in that category, as well.
families don't have the same opportunities. The poverty rate for these families is more than five times higher than for two-parent families.
The state ranked 35th in the child death rate, the number of children ages 1-14 who die from accidents, illness and other causes, for each 1,000 children.
However, the state showed an improvement in that category, up 15 percent from last year.
Kansas ranked 31st in violent deaths of teens. However, the state showed a drop in that category of 11 percent.
Kansas had 335 infant deaths in 1991 and ranked 26th in infant mortality. That is a 5 percent improvement.
The book will be used by schools and local governments for planning. The Kansas report gives a county-by-county breakdown of the figures.