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Wednesday, August 24, 1977
University Daily Kansan
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Comment
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Kansas editorial staff. Signed column represent only the views of the writers.
Switch on computers
As students trudge to Allen Field House this week to endure a sweaty, hours-long enrollment struggle, they might pause a computerized virtual virtues of computerized pre-enrollment.
How nice it would be, they should remind themselves, to have spots reserved in all their classes. Hownice it would be to have cleared up all those enrollment snags last spring rather than confront the problems now, a few days before classes start.
How terrible it is, to be forced to cram a visit to an adviser, registration, receipt of class cards and payment of fees into a few steamy, tense hours. How sad it will be to all those lost students wandering with glazed eyes through the field house.
How luck are students at Kansas State University and other state schools that have pre-enrollment. How lucky are first-semester freshmen and those students in the School of Journalism and some departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who can pre-enroll.
And students may wonder when all the promises of computerized pre-enrollment at the University of Kansas will be fulfilled. At this point, Mr. Trace's traces the history of pre-enrollment at KU:
- Fall 1974. The Student Senate Academic Affairs Committee recommends that the
University begin to study a totally computerized early enrollment system.
The Student Senate forwards petitions recommending computerized pre-
- Spring 1975: Administrators voice commitment to computerized pre-enrollment and say it might begin in a year.
— Fall 1975: Officials say that computerized pre-enrollment cannot start before the fall of 1976 because of a delay in receiving a new computer system.
Then, last spring, administrators began dropping hints that they weren't sure students would like computerized pre-enrollment at all.
- Summer 1976: The long-awaited new computers arrive.
As we sweat through more agonizing afternoons in the field house this week, let the administration be assured that KU students should enjoy the advantage already granted students at large schools across the country.
— Spring 1976: Administrators reiterate their commitment to computerized pre-enrollment but say it will not be started until they have had a chance of uncertainty about the new computer system.
We would like to give computerized pre-enrollment a try.
Open the lobby doors
In a move right out of the days when railroad lobbyists bankrolled votes in the Kansas Legislature, a special legislative elections committee has paid back lobbyists more information the lobbyists provided last spring during the legislative session.
The interim elections committee last week rejected proposals from the Governmental Ethics Commission that would have obliged employers financial reporting requirements.
Instead, the interim committee approved for introduction in the 1978 legislature a bill that would make lobbyist financial reporting mandatory and impose legal law — a law that already is inadequate.
Lobbyist registration and financial reporting files in the secretary of state's office are thin. About all a lobbyist has to do is tell whom he represents, but where much more than $0 in the previous month and disclose gifts worth more than $10 given to legislators.
THESE IS nothing to prevent the lobbyist from spending amounts just under the limit at each of a number of restaurants and clubs while he wines and dines legislators. Nor does a lobbyist have to tell where he got the money.
The ethics commission had recommended that the law be tightened and simplified by requiring that lobbyists report total monthly expenses in dollars for a number of places at which they spent money
The interim elections committee turned that proposal upside down. The committee rejected it.
present guidelines, so that a lobbist, if the bill is passed, will soon be able to spread $100 expenditures all around town. The Comptroller's office will extend a merchand gift limit be increased from $10 to $12.
LOBYISTS—OR “advocates” as some of them like to call themselves—say they are a valuable source of information for legislators and are an important part in the legislative process, which seems to be a less-than-reasonable assumption when one considers that lobbyists supply “facts” favorable to whoever pays them.
But if lobbyists are right about their worth, and if they are to be tolerated at all, their proper function would not be impaired if they would not get their money and where they spend it.
If legislators and lobbyists want to continue wining and dining together—certainly a questionable extension of lobbyists' supposed informational role—then, at the least, lobbyists should be required to report it.
At a time when public skepticism of politicians and government is high, politicians and leaders they work with should try to regain their meetings laws, if only to try to regain the public's trust.
For legislators—the beneficiaries of lobbyists" -vuable services"- to allow lobbyists to escape a proper measure of financial accountability is suspect in itself.
And to deny the public full access to legislator-lobbyist relations shows thinking not worthy of trust. A legislature where lobbyists cannot secret wine and dine legislators is much better than a legislature without public support and trust.
A sage old baseball umprince observed that he had the only job in the world that required him to be perfect the first day and to improve each day thereafter.
Editor vows to seek perfection
After spending some hot nights behind an ampire's mask in recent summers, I tended to agree with that maxim. But today, in my first day as editor of a major newspaper, fear I may have found the second such job.
Maybe it's just opening night jitters. But one can't escape from the fact that a newspaper's mistakes are there in black and white every time someone makes it. If that is not enough to scare an editor, it should at least give him frequent thoughtful pauses.
So it is that, after several such pases, I have reached a conclusion. The only way to do this is to make the Kansan perfect.
IT IS a pipe dream, of course
we here in Flint Hall cannot walk on water. But we can pledge to do our utmost to make the Kansan a dependable, valuable and enjoyable newspaper day. The day it will not be perfect, but it will be as close as we can come.
Jerry
Seib
Editor
Our initial effort toward this end is this 94-page back-to-school special, the largest of any newspaper. Our newspaper is our first opportunity to take advantage of a new capability to print 16-page sections. In the past, we have limited to 12-page sections.
The last three sections in this package—those sections entitled University Life, City Life and Easy Life—are the work of
The rest—this news section and two sports sections—are the work of a skeleton fall staff. We hope that these pages will provide a helpful introduction, or reintroduction, to the Indiana of the Kansas, Lawrence and Kansas's advertisers.
the summer Kansan editor, Julie Williams,and her staff.
HOWEVEK, THE true test of the Kansan's value to our customers, the students and faculty of KU, will come in the days ahead. This semester, we want to increase professional in every sense of the word. We want to continue to cover campus and city news as thoroughly and aggressively as possible, and we want to shore up our coverage of education, new arrivals, we want the Kansan to be a newspaper that answers all your needs.
The only way we can be sure that we are moving toward this
goal is to hear from our readers. Whether it is through a letter to the editor, a phone-in comment or a visit to the office, we would like to know what you think. And if you have expertise in an area of interest and would like to help us sum up, please get in touch with us.
The door to my office in 112 Flint Hall always is open to any and all comers.
IN PAST YEARS, the Kanansa has been the kind of top-notch newspaper we envision this year. Our newsroom is lined with journalists from the Kanasa as an All-American publication. There are two heavy plaques signifying that the Kanasa was, in 1971 and now a national Pressmaker, the best college newspaper in the land.
We cannot rest on our laurels. But we can realistically aim for the ton.
As an admittedly biased observer, I think the Kansan
AND THIS IS WHERE WE KEEP THE PROFESSORS THAT ORIGINATED THE PRESENT ENROLLMENT SYSTEM.
today has a staff that can get them. Students are returning to the Kansas summer jobs group from Minnesota to Texas.
Jim Cobb, a senior in journalism, is managing editor. He spent the summer working at the Austin, Tex., American Statesman and has worked for numerous Kansas newspapers. He spent last intercession at the Kansas City Times.
STEVE FRAZIER, a senior in journalism, is editorial editor. He returns from a summer as a reporter for the *New York Times* and Barbara Rosewicz, campus editor, also is a senior in journalism returning from a summer at the Eagle and Beacon. Like Cobb, she spent an afternoon in the *Times newsroom*.
Rosewick' associate is Dan Bowerman, who has worked for the Parsons Sun and the Times.
Assistant campus editors are Carol Luman, who has spent years in journalism. News, and Deena Kerbow, who has worked part-time for the Kansas City Star.
George Miller, a longtime Kansan photographer, is photo editor. He returns from his second summer at the Eagle and Beacon, and his photos also have appeared in such books as The New Times. Rob Rains returns from a summer on the Springfield, Mo., News and Leader to take over as sports editor.
COPY CHEFES, those people who will be guarding our prose from mistakes and perfecting the craft of Mueller, who returns from the Minneapolis, Minn., Tribute; Beth Greenwald, who returns from the Eagle and Beacon, and John Mueller, who returns from the Salina Journal.
Finally, I am Jerry Seb, the editor. I have spent a summer with the Phillips County blog, an intercession as news editor of the Phillips County Review and this summer as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal.
And fear not. After enduring the slings and arrows of the enemy, you may still have difficulties this job brings can only be easy by comparison.
Head start needed to win race
Atty. Gen. Curt Schneider also is using his office to keep him in the news. He already has
Gov. Robert Bennett is garnering good publicity with his surprise inspections of nursing homes, which is under pressure in a state with such a high percentage of older residents.
There is darkness on the face of the waters, but the political levitations of the state are beginning to stir. Politicians have waged their revenge eyes on the distant 1789 race for governor of Kansas.
Ross McIlvain
Editorial Writer
the endorsement of several important Democratic party chieftains.
State Rep. John Carlin, D-Smolan, is at a disadvantage because he has little opportunity to use his office for making news until the legislature convenes. Carlin's performance as speaker of the house during the next session
STATE SEN. Bert Chaney, D Hutchinson, is also reportedly gathering support for the race.
will determine his chances to be governor in 1978.
Vern Merm尔, Sedgwick County district attorney, is campaigning for governor by scourging the hordes of the voters who ran in 1974. The former state attorney general is flamboyantly fighting drugs, nude dancers and pornography and has recently come out in support of homosexuality to holy war against homosexuals.
Sloppy work crumbles campus buildings
Shoddy amateurism plagues construction at Kansas universities. New buildings are a big business, worth almost $100 million in projects under construction at the University of Kansas alone. The business is forced to letter state officials or contractors who can't or won't do their jobs efficiently.
KU was supposed to open a new school of Law building this August. It won't. But last spring, state and University officials solemnly stated that the law would be reinstated resplendent on time. Louis Krueger, state architect, was especially estatic.
On February 17, Krueger told the Kansan that "the building should be completed on time—there is every reason to believe that there will be no delay." Just a week later, he changed his time, saying for the first time that the building's contractor had been pushed back to June 7. Why? "Bad weather."
THE EXTENSION, he said had been granted after consultations with officials from the university, the Kansas Board of Regents and most importantly, the state architect's office. Krueger either did not know about the case or Forcefully 17 or declined to let him.
Max Lucas, University director of facilities planning, said Saturday. "The building will be ready for classes by the end of September or early October."
The general contractor.
John Mueller
Editorial Writer
CONSTRUCTION on the law building sometimes resembled a slapstick comedy. A wall of the collapsed建筑 as two news reporters watched. They were ejected from the site.
Casson Construction, Topeka,
finally received an ultimate
deadline of July 13 for completion.
Why? Again, bad weather—this time in June.
Pity the poor contractor who has to work in the miserable weather of Kansas.
A subcontractor for the building had more financial problems than Bert Lance. Casson initially hedged on the issue, although the subcontractor paid the concrete panels to the site. The panels had to be replaced.
Martin Dickinson, dean of the KU law school, knew as early as February 4 that the building would not be open on time. He asked that the university school faculty-student meeting as saying "it is now virtually
Casson's president later admitted in an interview that his company was considering legal action against the subcontractor he also said that had been dropped and broken.
Casson was fined $500 a day for each day after July 13. But why was it penalized so late in the game?
certain" that the construction would be delayed. But he didn't help his cause any by comment, public comment on the affair.
DICKINSON BECAME one fall guy, Lucas, for example, often said, "You'll have to talk to the manager of building. The minutes of the February 4 meeting had been posted on a Green Hall bulletin board, but Dickinson and other managers referred not to elaborate on them.
According to the minutes, Chancellor Archie Dykes was "lending every possible support to efforts to induce the contractor to take the steps necessary to compensate being on time." Dykes said he didn't know what the minutes could possibly mean.
MAYBE KRUEGER has problems more serious than those of communication. Other KU buildings are on or ahead of schedule, with the glaring problems that buildings at Wichita State have absorbed the sting of Constructionate.
Kruger, meanwhile, said, "The concrete blocks aren't as hard as the concrete he also maintained that "Dean Dickinson obviously had a misconception about the game" and has a communication problem."
The WSU trawl was exposed in a detailed report prepared for the interim Kansas Senate Ways and Means Committee. The senate committee administraite to state Sen. Norman Gaar, R-Westwood.
concluded that sloppy work on buildings at WSU was approved by the state architect's office.
The report indicated that fixing the flaws would cost more than $600,000. Repairing the life Science Building in St. Louis allegedly faulty mortar, would take $497,116 of that amount. The state architect's office apparently did not notify the office's manager about 12 of 15 significant construction problems.
KRUEGER TOOK office in 1974 and told the interim panel he was not at fault for many of the mistakes. But the report stated that Kruger often was notified of many of the problems and either failed to take action or acted belated, and only after prompting from VoS officials. The problems at VoS were also investigated in late 1973. The state architect's office began to seriously investigate the problems in March 1975.
According to the report, "The delay was because the state architect's office believed the problem was caused by weathering, rather than by a failure of the mortar. There was reason to suspect that the mortar was falling, however."
WSU has been subjected to leaky pipes, sloping floors, windows that fog and walls that fall anall. brick by brick.
Why was the state architect's office so slow in starting its investigation?
At the McKnight Arts Center, the state architect's office
approved a crosswalk that twice has been struck by trucks.
AT CLINTON HALL, a leaky roof cost $10,000 in damages to the inside of the building. The roof will cost $18,000. fixing the roof will cost $18,000.
At the Liberal Arts Building, an architectural error put fire hoses behind stairwell doors. The fire department wouldn't have gone to houses to a standpipe on the same floor as a fire if one broke out.
It's not unreasonable to expect contractors and state officials to give state universities a professional performance. Judging from past experience, they haven't always done that.
The Kanas welcome letters to the editor. Letters should be typewritten and include the writer's name, address, phone number, email address. If the writer is affiliated with the University, the letter should include the writer's class and home town or faculty or school affiliation. The reserves the right to edit letters for publication.
Letters Policy
easier to win adherents who are undecided and then keep those supporters than to come into the race late and try to convert them to a party or muted to someone else. Even hard-core political activists have a limited amount of time and money that they are willing to give a candidate. To a certain extent, first to come are the first served.
The motions of the various contenders may seem uninticipated, but apparently an old political rule is at work. The right time to start campaigning is the morning after election
Although most of the public pays little attention to such early campaigning, it benefits the candidate in several ways.
EARLER CAMPAIGN EFFORTS are more likely to make to the front page, because there is less political news to compete with. But as campaigns. Editors have to fill the white space with something, and if little else happened that day, the candidate's actions are much more likely to catch the attention of the media and thus the public.
But in the middle of the campaigns an overload of political news is generated and editors and broadcast executives have more time to make haste and move events of moderate importance —which a candidate may have counted on heavily for publicity —might get little or no coverage. After getting burned a political time, a politician learns to schedule these events early.
ONCE A CANDIDATE has accomplished this, the reporters seek interviews and flock to cover his speeches and rallies. If the media think of him as a fringe candidate who entered the race, the reporters will not spend time covering him. The candidate might waste time and money through the whole campaign
Early campaigning also helps establish a politician as a serious contender in the minds of journalists.
trying to overcome that image and get on the front page.
The candidate needs to win over contributors and workers early in the campaign for yet another reason: He cannot start campraising full blast until he has them. A campaign cannot be on pretty dreams alone to take it out of *c*' work and a lot of money.
ALTHOUGH MOST of the public may pay little attention to a candidate's early efforts, it is important to win them over.
This group has a much higher interest in politics than the mass public. They tend to read and watch political news all the time instead of waiting until just before elections.
It also is important for a politician to establish himself early as a serious candidate in local elections, to participate in political activists and party regulars. It is from this group that candidates draw most of their money and politically influence from these more resources of any campaign.
A candidate who wants their support needs to get his bid in early other candidates, maybe even his competitor. It is much
In short, there is one simple reason why politicians start campaigning early (even if much of the public is unprepared now for next year's campaign).
They want to win.
Kansan Telephone Numbers
Newsroom--684-4810
Business Office--684-4358
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Published at the University of Kansas daily August 16, 2014 *University of Kansas* June and July except Saturday, Sunday and halloween. Subscriptions by mail are $9 a semester or $18 a year outside the county. Subscription subscriptions are a year outside the county. University student subscriptions are a year outside the county.
Editor
Jerry Seib
Managing Editor
Cobb
Campus Editor
Associate Campus Editor
Assistant Campus Editor
Sports Editor
Photo Editor
Editor Entertainment
Associate Entertainment Editor
Copy Chiefs
Make-up Editors
Wire Editors
Editorial Writers
Dave Johnson, Rose Mellon
Photographer
Eli Reichman, Paul Rose, John Sharkey
Editorial Cartoonist
El Reichman, Paul Rose, Ken Westphal
Deputy Director
Carol Laman
Spotlight Editor
Sports Editor
Dr. Johnson
George Milleren
Lyon Kirkman
Lyon Kirkman
Greenwald, John Mueller
Janet Ward, Chuck Wilson
Shannon Drew,
Miller
Dance Dechant,
Dave Johnson, Rose Mellon
Rick Thiermett
Photographer
Eli Reichman, Paul Rose, John Sharkey
Editorial Cartoonist
El Reichman, Paul Rose, Ken Westphal
Business Manager Judv Lohr
Assistant Business Manager Pat Thornton
Advertising Manager Kathy Long
Marketing Manager Denise Shireh
National Advertising Manager Denise Shireh
Classified Managers Diana Lewon.
Publisher News Adviser
David Dary Rick Musser
Advertising Adviser Business Coordinator
Mel Adams Helen Ross