CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, February 9, 1994
3
Washburn's addition concerns legislators
Regents schools balance funds
By Stephen Martino Kansan staff writer
TOEKA — Many opponents to Washburn University entering the Board of Regents system say the financial pie supporting all Regents schools is only so large. Another mouth to feed, they say, does not make the pie larger—just everyone's slice smaller.
"It is inevitable that we will come into the system," said State Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence. "The concerns I hear is whether or not the state can afford to bring one more institution into the system."
Ballard said that Regents schools were fighting for funds to provide
scholarships, equipment and capital improvements and that another school might sap money away from schools in need.
However, Washburn advocates say their school would contribute much to the Regents system and would improve the quality of education in the northeast area of Kansas. It operates one of two law schools in the state and is the only higher education school in Shawnee County.
David Monical, director of government relations and executive assistant to the president of Washburn, said that people did not understand the demographics of Washburn.
He said the 6,500 students at Washburn paid $87 an hour for tuition, more an hour than any of the Regents schools. Part-time and nontraditional students make up about 45 percent of students, and the most common student, he said, is a divorced female in her late 20s.
"Working together we can make the pie bigger," Monical said. "We have to set priorities, and the magic numbers are 63, 21, 1. Sixty-three votes in the House, 21 in the Senate and the governor's signature."
However, Monical said that Regents professors should not fear for their salary increases if Washburn was admitted.
Gov. Joan Finney has linked the Partnership for Excellence, a plan to increase Regents professor's salaries, to Washburn's admittance. Passage of one without the other would earn a veto, she has said.
"We wouldn't become a member until July 1, 1997, and we will work to keep our professors' salaries competitive with our own resources," he said. "Except for governance and finance, we are a public university already. No one has anything to fear from Washburn."
Supporters of Washburn say inclusion could help Regents
By Stephen Martino Kansan staff writer
If Washburn University could talk, it probably would compare itself to a jilted lover — always a bride's maid and never a bride.
Almost every year, the Legislature mentions bringing the Topeka school into the Board of Regents system. Every couple of years, serious proposals are introduced to do exactly that. But they seem to die under the weight of opposition from pro-Regents and anti-higher education legislators.
But this year may be different. Washburn may be walking down the aisle, and Gov. Joan Finney, of all people, may be giving away the bride.
At least that is the hope of Washburn supporters, who say that the school's inclusion in the Regents system is inevitable and that people should support it now while the school's economic picture is rosy.
State Rep. Tom Bradley, R-Topeka, said that any coordinated policy among higher education schools in the state must include Washburn. That policy, he said, would only occur if Washburn is a school.
"The Regents will be getting a $100 million campus and the support of the entire Shawnee County delegation for
Regents issues if Washburn is admitted," Bradley said.
Washburn is the last municipally supported university in the nation. Its entire operating budget comes from tuition, an 18-mill property tax levy assessed on Topeka residents, and money it receives from the state.
And that last point, Bradley said, was the chief reason why the Legislature should support Washburn's inclusion.
This year, Washburn will receive about $6/3 million from the state general fund. The Regents have no control over how this money will be spent or for what projects it will be used.
Bradley said that it was important to the long-term quality of Washburn for the school to become a member of the Regents system. But he cautioned opponents against thinking that Topea residents had scored a major coup if Washburn was included.
The residents of Topeka, he said, would still have to pay the 18-mill levy and residents of Manhattan and Lawrence would pay nothing to support the state schools in their cities.
"This should not be seen as Topeka-wins situation," he said. "A lot of people think Topeka pulled something over on everyone else — that we hit a home run. Most people believe that we advanced to first base by getting hit by a pitch."
Brian Vandervliet/KANSAN
Wintery walk
Leann Keefe, Whitewater, Wis., graduate student, briskly walks along a snow-covered sidewalk on campus.
Group unites, recruits graduate students
African Americans form support system
Kansan staffwriter
By Denise Nell
Only about 138 of the University's nearly 7,167 graduate students are African American.
UNITING TO BE HEARD
"It's definitely a shortage," said Ronald Sullivan, first-year law student and member of the Association of African-American Graduate Students. "It's reflective of the undergraduate population."
That's why Sullivan joined the association. He said that the purpose of the association was to recruit and provide support for African-American graduate students.
"One of the focuses is to help promote the idea of graduate schools in the minds of African Americans," he said. "It has enlightened me that there are other African Americans here as opposed to the few I do see in the law school on a daily basis."
Mary Myers, the association's co-adviser, helped get the group restarted in 1991. She said that about four years earlier the group, which had existed as the Black Graduate Student Organization, had died out.
"More and more Black graduate students were coming to KU with no outlet," she
said. "We were trying to come together more as a social organization, a kind of networking outlet."
The group, which has between 15 and 20 members, meets once a month and organizes a graduate student symposium each semester for African-American graduate students, undergraduate students and faculty to get to know each other. These symposiums serve as recruiting tools for future African-American graduate students, Myers said.
"We're really trying to make the climate supportive in and of itself," she said. "I think the association at least gives us that mechanism where we can come together and interact and socialize."
The association will be sponsoring three events this week in conjunction with Black
History Month celebrations. It will sponsor "Onyx to Onyx," a student and faculty reception at 5:30 p.m. at the English Room in the Kansas Union. At 8:30 p.m. Friday, the association will sponsor "Second Fridays," a networking meeting at the Granada Theater, 1020 Massachusetts St. A panel discussion, which will address graduate school issues, will take place from 9 a.m. to noon in the Burge Union.
"I think the group basically serves as a support system," said Jonathan Allen, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., graduate student and president of the association. "It's nice to know I'm not going through this alone. We're still in the early stages of the organization, but I believe we've established a foundation that will carry us into the future."
CAMPUS BRIEF
Groups vie for extra Senate funds
Kansan staff report
Organizations are *surreuring* to get a remaining, unallocated amount of money from Student Senate.
Jeremy Haas, Senate treasurer, said that without any complications in the bills that were passed last week, Senate would have $3,716 unallocated for the remainder of fiscal year 1994.
The first to be submitted is a bill to finance the Asian American Student Union's festival. The group now is asking for $2,775 to pay for Jude Narita, a performance dancer.
KuoJen Tsao, off-campus senator, said the group would have to downscale the festival because Senate had not financed the original bill.
The second bill on the agenda is "Day on the Hill" bill. It went through Senate Finance Committee on Jan. 19 and failed. It failed again before the full Senate on Jan. 26. Tonight a bill requesting $3,200, which is the cost of the stage, will be submitted to the Finance Committee.
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