University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
KANSAN
Tuesday, March 22, 1983
Vol. 93, No. 118 USPS 650-640
Legislator promotes fee waiver
By JEFF TAYLOR Staff Reporter
'TOPEKA — In an appeal to lure students into teaching, House Speaker Mike Hydden yesterday promoted his plan to waive tuition for enrolled in Board of Regents schools of education.
Hayden, R-Attwood, told the House Ways and Means Committee that since 1972, the number of students graduating with teaching degrees had sharply declined.
By paying tuition and providing $100 for supplies each semester, he said, the state could encourage both in-state and out-of-state students to enroll in schools of education.
Hayden's scholarship proposal would pay an additional $400 after the completion of each semester to students planning to teach math and science. The teacher desperately needs those teachers, he said.
HAYDEN SAID SOME of the 0.75 percent budget increase included in the school finance bill passed by the House to raise teacher salaries are used to pay for the scholarship program
If the same number of students enroll in the three Regents schools of education, the program would have 200 students.
Students could receive the money for only six semesters under Hayden's plan, which he said was designed to fit the five-year program at the University of Kansas.
Students do not enter a school of education
If students failed to be certified by the state or did not graduate with a teaching degree, they may have been expelled from school.
until they have completed 60 credit hours,
usually in their junior year.
NEW STUDENTS WOULD have to meet academic guidelines for the grants. Students already enrolled in schools of education would not be eligible for grants.
Hayden said the state probably could not finance the program immediately but he said the Legislature should pass the bill and wait until the state's resources were not depleted — at the time.
In opposition to the teacher-training grants, Craig Grant, of the Kansas National Education Association, said that the state did not have enough money to increase elementary and secondary teachers' salaries, so it should not consider financing such a program.
The Legislature recently defeated a proposal from Gov. John Carlin that would have increased salaries for elementary and secondary teachers by 8 percent.
Grant said Kansas teachers were leaving their jobs because the pay was low so
HAYDEN'S SCHOLARSHIP PROPOSAL would not alleviate the state's teacher shortage, Craig said, because students find jobs outside of teaching after they receive their degree.
"It is a Band-Aid approach to a serious problem - attracting and retaining high quality teachers," he said. "It's not that students can't be trained." The problem is, it doesn't nav to teach.
Rut Havden disagreed that teachers were
But Hayden disagreed that teachers were
severely underpaid. He said he knew a teacher who was complaining about raising a family on $22,000 a year, but he said he had never made that much money.
"It's no gold mine to teach. It never was," Hayden said. "$2,000 is not a gold mine, but it certainly isn't poverty row."
EXPRESSING SKETCHICISM FOR the plan,
State Rep. Ruz Luthazz, D-Wichita, told Hayden
she did not think the state should try to charm
students into enrolling in schools of education.
State Rep. Mike Meacham, R-Wichita, agreed, saying the state should concentrate on improving the quality of teachers already certified.
"I'm just a little dubious about getting student into education using your approach."
And he said he was concerned about offering an additional $400 to students studying to teach math or science, while good teachers were needed in other fields, too.
"We seem to be graduating a lot of people from high school who can neither read nor write very well," he said. "My interest in foreign language is that, if my interest in the English language is good."
HAYDEN SAID THE Legislature needed to address such problems as teacher qualifications and access to school facilities.
Hayden said the expense involved in keeping track of graduates who took out loans might cost the state more money than supplying the scholarships.
Regents schools of education graduates
1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982
Since 1972, enrollment in Board of Regents schools of education has been declining. Kansas House Speaker Mike Hayden said the decline has caused a drop in the number of teachers in the state. In an effort to increase enrollment, the Legislature is considering a proposal that would pay the tuition of students enrolling in Regents schools of education.
KU to aim for more minority faculty
By ANNE FITZGERALD
Staff Reporter
But recognition is only half of the solution.
If recognition is half of a problem's solution, then the University of Kansas may be on its way to correcting the problem of a shortage of minority and female faculty members.
but recognition is only half of the battle.
"I am not satisfied with the progress the University is making," said Dean Nella Tacha, vice chancellor for academic affairs.
Her concern was echoed recently by other KU administrators and by students and faculty of both sexes and from a variety of ethnic backgrounds.
ACCORDING TO THE MOST recent figures
available from the office of academic affairs, minorities at KU make up 6 percent of the total faculty. Women make up 19 percent of the total faculty.
According to reports required every two years by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the percentage of female faculty at KU rose only 0.02 percent from 1975 to 1981. The percentage of minority faculty at KU dropped 0.63 percent in the same period.
Those figures are similar at other Big Eight universities.
The situation at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater is typical. The percentage of female students enrolled in the program is 18 percent to 18 percent of the total between 1975 and 1981. Minority faculty at the school increased from 4
percent of the total faculty to 7 percent of the total during that time.
AT IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY in Ames, as of last fall, about 20 percent of the faculty were women and about 6 percent were minorities. At Oklahoma University, Norman, about 20 percent of the faculty were women and about eight percent were minorities.
William Hogan, associate executive vice chancellor, said that retaining KU's minority faculty was just as important as recruiting them to the University in the first place.
Attracting people to KU, Hogan said, depended first on identifying qualified candidates and then on making the University appeal to them.
See MINORITY page 5
Native American chemistry prof in minority
Rv ANNE FITZGERALD
Staff Reporter
Greg Daigneault is a minority among minorities, both at the University of Kansas and within the Native American community.
Daigneault, a Chippewa Indian, was hired as an assistant professor of chemistry at KU last year. He was the only Native American faculty member hired by the University in 1982.
But what also makes him unusual, Daigneault said, is that few Native Americans pursue doctorates in the natural sciences, and even their way to college-level teaching positions.
Not only Native Americans, but other minorities and women are poorly represented on university natural science faculties, he said.
ALTHOUGH THE NUMBER of women and minorities who held doctorates in those fields increased dramatically in the past decade, their representation on most American college campuses changed little during the same period, Daimreault said.
The most obvious reason for that, he said, is industry's competitive edge in attracting women
and minorities by paying salaries higher than most universities can afford to pay.
"If you're looking at a difference between salaries of $10,000 or $20,000, where are you going?"
Despite the recent surge in women and minorities studying the hard sciences, Daigneault said, universities are faced with depleted pools of qualified faculty candidates.
Not only has industry drawn the pools dry, but schools have failed to refill them. he said. And that problem can be traced to elementary schools' deficient science programs, he said.
"It's a general problem," Daigneault said, "but it tends to be exacerbated by inadequate schools in inner-city ghettoes and on Indian reservations."
"Either parents or teachers to be well enough versed in science to encourage the interested student," Daigneault said. "Preferably, it would involve both."
WITH THE CURRENT economic cutbacks across the country, solutions to those problems may not be at hand, he said.
What is happened in his class?
Both of his parents were interested in the natural world, he said. They had encouraged his interest in science since he was young.
That is what happened in his case.
A high school chemistry teacher and two undergraduate professors — none of whom were Native Americans — also encouraged Daiengault's interest.
One of them, John Going, for whom Daigneuart did undergraduate research at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said that his former advisor no special treatment for being a minority.
"Greg was the type of student who was a pleasure to work with." Going said. "But it was totally incidental that he was a Native man; it was neither a drawback nor an advantage."
THE LACK OF NATIVE American role models in the classroom hasn't been a problem for him, Daigneault said, but it might be for others.
An institution with more visible role models, he said, is more attractive to minorities and women, and it creates a richer educational environment for the entire community.
But the greatest reason to draw more minorities and women into fields traditionally dominated by white males is to prevent them from being elitist institutions, Daigneault said.
By JOEL THORNTON
Staff Reporter
Students returning to Regents schools in the fall of 1984 may be greeted by higher fees for the second year in a row, under proposals now being studied by a Board of Regents committee.
Among the options are a higher tuition rate for graduate students and an extra $15 restricted fee for library acquisitions and academic computing. The options were discussed for the first time last week by a special committee of student leaders, administrators and regents.
TUITION AT REGENTS schools for Kansas residents will be increased from $342 to $410 next
Tom Rawson, Regents director of planning,
said the committee looked at six plans, all of
which would establish a fixed percentage of the
total budget that students would pay for
with tuition.
Tutition now pays for about 22.4 percent of total costs at Regents schools, he said.
"I's an option. Nothing has been discussed definitely." Rauson said. "There are a lot of options."
Rob Raine, student body president at Wichita State University and the only student representative at the meeting, he opposed the Regens goal of achieving a 25 percent cost-fair
He said he disliked the idea of students committing themselves to pay more in tuition
when the state was not increasing its support of Residents schools.
"TO ME, I THINK we're being boondogged into a bad situation with any of these alternatives," he said. "I'm opposed to the 25 percent ratio.
"I wouldn't mind an increase in tuition of 10 percent if the Legislature would increase its funding."
Lisa Ashera, student body president, said she would support a proposal which would establish a fee-cost ratio for all Regents schools at 25 percent.
She said she opposed plans such as a higher tuition level for graduate students because they singled out specific areas of study for higher tuition rates.
"I think they should just figure out the average costs and assess that," Ashner said. "I don't think there should be factors that deter you from going to one major to another."
THE COMMITTEE WILL meet again April 4 to decide which of the proposals they will recommend at the Regents April meeting, Rawson said.
Other committee members include Regents Jordan Haines, James Pickert, KU Chancellor Gene A. Budig, Gerald Tomanek, president of Pittsburgh State University and Tom Aikens, student body president of Emporia State University.
Budig, Haines and Pickert declined to comment specifically on the committee meeting.
Weather
Today will be cloudy and cold with a high in the mid-30s, according to the National Weather Service.
Tnight will be cold with a 70 percent chance of snow. The low will be in the
Snow is likely tomorrow. The high will be in the low 30s.
Owens out; search for coach to begin
KU basketball coach Ted Owens, who was benched permanently by Athletic Director Monte Johnson yesterday, was a familiar figure on the KU sideline for 19 seasons. He is flanked by assistants Jo Je White and Bob Hill. Johnson said he would welcome their applying for the position.
By ANDREW HARTLEY
Staff Reporter
Ted Owens, KU head basketball coach for 19 seasons, was fired yesterday because a change was needed to make KU a consistent national contender. Athletic Director Monte Johnson said yesterday.
Owens' assistants Jo Jo White and Bob Hill and other staff members were also dismissed. They will be paid through July 1 or until they take another job.
Owens had one year remaining on his contract, and Johnson said the University would honor all of his accomplishments.
IN A NEWS CONFERENCE yesterday afternoon, Johnson said, "My concern for the University of Kansas was that it is hard for people to accept that we can't be a consistent
In a prepared statement, Owens said, "Our prospects for the future were very exciting. Unfortunately Monte Johnson, our athletic director, has decided not to honor the University's contractual obligations to me and because I was going to lead the KU football team some of its greatest days."
But Johnson said the decision to fire Owens had been based more on the record of the past 12 months.
cannot state that of the prospect. Johnson said that over the last 12 years, the
basketball program had undergone four cycles of powerful teams and weak teams. This year
"It just looked like it was almost a carbon copy," he said.
"But I felt it necessary to make a change now in order to return the Kansas University basketball program to the consistent level of achievement. The team has played basketball ball program has enjoyed in the past."
"During his 19 seasons at Kansas, Coach Owens has made many positive contributions to the University and in particular to the basketball program.
THIS SEASON, KANNAS, 13-16, tied for sixth place in the Big Eight Conference. Last season the Jayhawks were 13-14. Under the leadership of the Jayhawks, the Jayhawks compiled a record of 348-149.
"It was my feeling that it was hard to be assured that we wouldn't still be somewhat inconsistent," Johnson said. "I didn't feel that one year, whether it was next year or the year after, was as important as the pattern we established in the past 12 years.
JOHNSON SAID THAT because he had evaluated Owens' entire record, the upturn toward the end of the season and the first round victory in the Big Eight Post-Season Tournament did not enter into the consideration of whether to retain the coach.
Announcement of a new coach could come in three weeks, Johnson said.
The new coach will apparently carry a heavy burden to produce a winning team consistently. However, Johnson said he hoped to select a new leader who had already proved his ability at another school.
Johnson said he wanted the basketball team to go to a post-season tournament every year and they were happy with it.
"I just look at what KU has done in the past and what I think we have the ability to do in the future and think we should be in post-season play every year," Johnson said. "If you're in the 84 program in the country, you have a fair chance to go into post-season competition.
"I'd just consistently like to be in the top 20."
Owens could not be reached for further comments.
ALTHOUGH MOST HEAD basketball coaches across the nation could not be reached for comment yesterday, one Big Eight coach said he had been saddened by the move.
Jack Hartman, head coach at Kansas State University, said, "My first reaction was disappointment and depression. Ted's record speaks for itself. It needs no defending.
1
"Ped is the type of coach that everyone would like to be. He was sound, thorough, innovative, creative."
See OWENS page 5
.