FEATURES: A new women's magazine published by a KU graduate focuses on girl talk. Page 9.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VOL.103.NO.108
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
KANSAS STATE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
TOPEKA KS 66612
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
(USPS 650-640)
Senate board helps to make campus bright
Lights,phones to be installed
Such fears had motivated the Student Senate campus lighting advisory board to improve lighting when it was formed three years ago. Now, the plans for lightning improvements are ahead of schedule, said Eric Mersmann, architecture and urban design senator and member of the board.
Senate created a new restrictive fee, which costs every students $2 a semester, to finance the board's plan. The plan included increased lighting in some areas of campus and improved emergency call boxes.
Maureen Sullivan, Shawnee junior, said that she occasionally felt scared when she walked on campus at night.
NEWS:864-4810
"A large percentage of the projects are completed," he said. "Several projects were moved up this year because of money saved on previous projects. Projects are coming in under the budget."
Despite problems, the original plan has not been altered, Mersmann said.
"Last summer we had problems getting work done because of weather," he said. "The project has gone really well. A list of projects per year was made when the advisory board was created. We've been following that."
By Heather Moore Kansan staff writer
"I try to be cautious," she said. "I get edgy. You always have to look around because you never know."
Mersmann said the area between Carruth-O'Leary Hall and the vacant Joseph R. Pearson Hall would be improved.
"We moved up work on the driveway behind Carruth-O'Leary that leads to JRP," he said. "There is a different use of the lot now. Before, it was used by JRP residents, but now it is used more by
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 24,1994
the sororites on West Campus Road. The board's goal is to help people feel safer."
John Mullens, head of security and safety for KU police, said crime had decreased in the last few years. He said that he was unsure whether this was due to people making safer decisions.
"Better lighting creates more use of walkways, which means there's less chance of something happening," he said. "Lighting is one of the many facets to prevent crime."
Mullens said that the lighting also had helped KU police do their jobs better.
"It's easier to watch people and to see things that might occur between buildings." he said.
The fast pace of the lighting improvement program is a change from previous years. Mullens said.
"We're seeing more day-to-day change." he said.
"With the old phones, we had trouble with people cutting the headset off," he said.
Mullens said that the call boxes were different because when the button was pushed, the operator at the University 911 Center could keep listening. With the old phones, pranksters could call the center and then hang up the receiver. But with the new boxes, the dispatcher can listen for laughter or a struggle.
The emergency phone boxes around campus also are being improved, Mullens said. Ed Meyen, executive vice chancellor, approved the money for the installation of 12 interior phone boxes.
The new phones also will decrease vandalism. Mullens said.
Cindy Alliss, community education and media officer, said lightning would help the officers patrol better.
"Use common sense and stay on the main walkways," she said.
Alliss said that students could take certain actions to be safer. These include walking with someone else, calling a security officer for an escort to their cars and calling Saferide.
S. A. Moore/KANSAN
Senate interviews violated rules
By Heather Moore Kansan staff writer
General confusion has prevailed in this semester's Student Senate replacement senator interviews.
Interviews were held Jan. 31, but a second round of interviews took place Feb. 7 because some applicants pointed out procedural problems in the first round of interviews.
Poeschel, who was not chosen as a replacement senator, said that numerous rules had been violated during the interview process.
And some applicants — such as Brian Poeschel, Senate Finance Committee member — said the second round of interviews also were flawed.
An elections commission member and five senators are required to attend replacement senator interviews, according to Senate rules.
"For the first round of interviews, five people were there for five or six interviews. Then a sixth, Bill Mills, showed, and there were six senators interviewing." he said.
No elections officer was present during either round of interviews, Poeschel said.
Poeschel said that only four senators had interviewed him during the second round. Senate rules require five senators at replacement interviews.
Although no rules dictate when an applicant must be called, Poeschel said, he is upset that he was given less than 24 hours notice for the interview. Ami Hizer, who was selected as a liberal arts and sciences replacement senator, said she was aware that rules had been broken the first time, but she understood the confusion.
"As far as I know, there were too many senators on the board," she said. "We have a million rules, and we can't be responsible for all of them. It's the nature of the beast. We can't please everyone all the time."
Bill Mills, liberal arts and sciences
senator, was the extra person on the first interview board.
He said that the same replacements would have been selected despite the errors.
"There had been miscommunication, but regardless, the outcome wouldn't have been much different," he said. "I'm confident that the extra person wasn't a factor. The decisions were unanimous, and it wasn't the question of a tie-breaker."
Mills said that the situation was blown out of proportion.
"At times, people make mountains out of molehills," he said.
Travis Harrod, chair of the Student Senate Executive Committee, was in charge of the interview process as stipulated in Senate rules and regulations. He said he had tried to get an elections officer to attend both rounds.
"I let an elections officer know and told them they could come," he said.
"Right now, I know that the elections commission is overburdened with planning the elections."
The presence of an extra person was due to miscommunication, Harrod said.
"One individual said that he'd have trouble making it," he said. "We got a replacement for him. We started the interviews and did one guy. Then Bill walks in, and we invite him in. We should have said, 'We already have five people, now there is one too many.'"
Harrod said that he had had trouble getting senators to come to the second interviews.
"We decided to plod ahead with four people and hope that Senate would understand," he said. "We did our best with the intent of the law. All I'm trying to do is fill the seats with qualified people. The first time it was a procedural error. Anyone should have caught it. It probably should have been me."
Amy Solt/ KANSAN
Slip sliding away
Will Worst, Lawrence junior, uses a cafeteria tray to tread down the hill behind vacant Joseph R. Pearson Hall. Lawrence enjoyed a 1.1/2-inch accumulation of snow Tuesday night and continued flurries through yesterday.
SenEx saves international committee
Kansan staffwriter
By Stephen Martino
The Committee on International Students was saved from the chopping block.
The University Senate Executive Committee decided yesterday not to accept the recommendation of the committee's leader to dissolve the committee.
The international committee voted unanimously for Moos to speak to SenEx and explain why the committee should be dissolved, his letter said.
Felix Moos, professor of anthropology, suggested in a Feb. 8 letter to T.P. Srivasan, head of SenEx and professor of mathematics, that the committee could not continue with its present membership.
SenEx rejected this idea, saying the committee performed an important function within the University community.
"I think the committee is way out of line to suggest disbandment," Srinivasan said. "I think it has a very active role to play."
However, Moos, who did not attend the SenEx meeting, said current international students wanted something different than they did 30 years ago, when the committee first was formed.
He said that international students today wanted integration into the Lawrence community and help securing financial aid. But no one from the community or the Office of Student Financial Aid served on the committee. Moos said.
"We really don't do any good because we don't have the people we need," he said. "We have many committees on campus looking at international students now."
In addition to addressing the international committee issue, SenEx approved the charges for the Committee on Grievance Procedures.
This committee will make suggestions on improving the access of grievance information. A grievance can be filed by a student or a staff member in the case of harassment, a rights violation or a grade dispute.
The grievance committee should report by the end of the semester on three areas: increasing awareness of the University Ombudsman's office, suggesting a minimum set of grievance procedures for the University and considering time extensions for the Judicial Board when reviewing a grievance.
Jill Bechtel, SenEx member, said many people did not know that the ombudsman was available to discuss grievance procedures.
The committee's second goal — the establishment of minimum campus grievance standards — was necessary because each academic department has its own grievance standards, said John Altevogt, graduate SenEx member.
Not again
Page 11.
Law professor fights violence as White House Fellow
Kansas staged a furious second-half comeback but fell short against Nebraska last night, 96-87. Kansas lost for the fourth time in a row at Nebraska. Page 11
By Roberta Johnson Kansas staff writer
By Roberta Johnson
Reno and Robinson have been working on initiatives to combat violence across the nation, he said.
Robinson has been working with Attorney General Janet Reno since Sept. 1. He is one of 17 White House Fellows who works directly under cabinet members for a year.
Reginald Robinson, associate professor of law, is taking direct steps to combat violence in the United States.
The Department of Justice has introduced a plan to support local strategies to combat violence on a community level. The project involves the cities of Denver, Washington and Atlanta and the state of Nebraska.
"No one denies that there is a serious, emerging violence problem." he said.
Robinson, who is on the committee that created the plan, said the federal governmendment should not take total responsibility for the reduction of crime.
"Any serious crime-
fighting attempts
should be locally
driven," he said.
The federal government would provide a "clearinghouse" of information about which local experiments worked but would not be responsible for the decisions of the communities, Robinson said.
Reginald Robinson
"This is a long-term project that is intended to create a framework," he said. "The strategy is not to tell the cities what to do."
A second goal of the project is to encourage coordination of anti-violence initiatives among groups in the community,
Robinson said. These include schools police, social service groups and private foundations.
In addition, Robinson serves on several committees. One helps President Clinton nominate federal district court judges.
"For a number of years, we've dealt with issues categorically," he said. "We need to work across disciplinary lines. The federal government has not been a model in that regard."
Part of his research may take place this spring, when the White House Fellows will take a trip to the American Southwest. Robinson said he hoped that the group would visit the Navajo reservation.
Robinson also is part of a new committee that examines issues dealing with Native Americans. He said the relationship between sovereign tribes and the federal government had not been studied for years.
Robinson said he planned to return to the School of Law after his year in Washington. However, he said, he feels that his experience will affect his work in the community more than it will affect his teaching. He said he could give the Lawrence community another viewpoint about violence.
"The local government then gets a sense of how issues appear to the federal government," he said.
The White House Fellowship can help people become more in touch with the community, said Deanell Tacha, a White House Fellow in 1971-1972. She said that her year in the White House had affected her daily work, as well.
"It's a life-changing experience," said Tacha, who lives in Lawrence and is a judge for the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "The exposure and understanding one derives can't be duplicated. I was a better lawyer, a better administrator and now a better judge for it."