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University Daily Kansan, October 9, 1981
Great People
Higher education needs support Budig predicts continued federal funding for KU
By SHARON APPELBAUM Staff Reporter
Declining enrollment. Reduced federal funding. A stingy state legislature.
Some say these afflictions will plague the University of Kansas for the next decade.
But Chancellor Gene A. Budig thinks otherwise.
The 1980s "could be one of KU's most productive periods of history," he said.
ON THE HEELS of the president's sweeping budget cuts, Budig predicted funds would continue to flow into the University's coffers.
"I believe that we will be funded by the federal government in the 1980s," he said. "Solid proposals will be supported. Our society cannot back away from good ideas for a sustained period of time.
"People will demand support of ideas and programs that impact them. The federal government will have to return its sights on higher education.
"There could be a significant change in attitudes in the next few years. Many citizens do not realize the impact of these deductions. But they will."
Budig said this change might show up in the congressional elections in 1982.
IF NOT, Budig is prepared to go to other sources for help.
"With the federal government's new posture toward higher education, KU must move to acquire significantly more assistance from the private
"Business and industry must be persuaded that increased scholarship aid is vital to us and them."
Budig is also counting on support from around the state.
"Kansans believe in the importance
Kansas believe in the importance 'Business and industry must be persuaded that increased scholarship aid is vital to us and them.'
Gene A. Budig
of higher education. That's reflected in their record of support. It's also reflected in the fact that the people of the state continue to send their sons and daughters to this institution in very large numbers."
KANSAN ALSO WILL support the University because of research accomplishments of faculty and students, he said.
"I see a great deal of our research addressing economic and social issues through the use that more and more of our services will touch and improve the lives of Kansans.
"The state of Kansas needs a strong university. It cannot realize its potential without strength at the University of Kansas."
To make sure people get that message, Budig will travel around the state to drum up support for the University.
"We're engaged in a massive campaign to explain the strengths and weaknesses of the University to the students of the state. We need to educate them.
"I have visited more than 70 counties.
In the next three months I will be out in
the country."
"I respond to any questions anybody has. I emphasize our desire to serve them better. I emphasize our desire to be receptive to the state's needs."
SUPPORT REALLY counts in the Kansas State Legislature, he said, the body that determines University funding.
"Legislative support is essential. We must have it. I believe we will make plastic bags."
Legislature. Legislative leaders have been receptive to our message."
Legislators had disappointed University officials earlier this year when they appropriated only a 7 percent discount, instead of the requested 11 percent.
"Higher education in Kansas must regain the position of high priority. It's on the verge of doing just that."
Although legislators have been tight-fisted with University funds because
' the state of Kansas needs a strong university. It cannot realize its potential without strength at the University of Kansas.'
—Gene A. Budig
they expect declining enrollment, Budig said he wasn't worried.
"Enrolment on the Lawrence campus should remain stable throughout the 1980s," he said. "There will be a change in the mix of students."
HE PREDICTED the students of the '80s would be somewhat older than those of today.
'Ther reservoir of traditional
students is dropping, traditional being 18-22 year-olds. The University will attract more and more students who are keen in college and want to return."
Budig discussed this change in his book, "Higher Education, Surviving the New World."
Quoting from his book, Budig said, "We must remember that 40 million Americans say they're in career transition. Sixty percent say they want more education. The demand for what employers to offer will have to be greater."
He added that 30 percent of the nation's inforce labor had fringed benefits to him.
"Less than 5 percent use them. It's important that institutions of higher learning reach these people. We must know of them in the educational mainstream."
ASKED IF THE change in students would change the University's course offerings, Budig said, "There will always be some revision in the curriculum. The University must remain responsive to societal needs."
Budig stressed that the University would not become a string of vocational schools and would keep its traditional courses.
Gene A. Budig
"The University must maintain its historic commitment to the liberal arts and sciences in the 1980s. Strength in the liberal arts and sciences is basic to a comprehensive institution of higher education.
"KU must retain its commitment to fine arts as well. We must not turn our backs on the issues of academic integrity."
KU Student Senate born in erupting activism of late 1960s
By MICHAEL ROBINSON Staff Reporter
These days, Richard von Ende occupies an office next to the chancellor's as executive secretary to the chancellor.
And Mark Retunde is co-owner and
leader of Marina
and lives in Johnston County
But in 1968, they were both KU students interested in student government, and the Student Senate was just an idea.
"The atmosphere then was charged with the idea of participatory democracy," von Ende said. "The real underlying principle was that people responsible would act responsibly on affairs concerning them."
AT THAT TIME, about 30
representatives were elected by KU living groups to the All Student Council. The council was dominated by fraternities and sororites.
But in the fall of 1967 and the spring of 1968, a group of students called the People's Voice demanded more student participation.
The ASC had no power to allocate funds and many people complained that only a limited number of students were represented. Retunde said.
"The groups that formed and controlled ASC were beginning to lose their grasp. Refutde, a 1970 journalism group, has been one of the more than a debating society."
During the summer and fall of 1968, the student-faculty committee hernied out the present-day Senate code faculty, and the students, faculty and the Board of Receivers.
IN RESPONSE to people's Voice and other student groups, then-Student Body President Cliff Conard set up a meeting to a new form of student government.
Von Ende was a member of that committee.
"It worked out very, very well," he said of the committee's work.
outnumbered the faculty, the students should control things."
Both von Ende and Retunde said the committee developed the Senate through a process of give and take with the administration.
"the administration didn't just lay
down and say 'Okay, take whatever you
want.'"
'What was more difficult was selling the concept to radical students who thought that just because the students outnumbered the faculty, the students should control things.'
—Richard von Ende
"Everybody who was involved in it was wrong. There were many angles. It was just a question of what kind."
"What was more difficult was selling the concept to radical students who had not seen a film before.
Von Ende said, "I think what was worked out was in some ways a compromise, but I think it worked out well."
The students and administration agreed. And in the spring of 1969, the
students and the Regents adopted a Student Activity Power to help the Student Activity Power
RETUNDE, one of the first student senators by virtue of his presidency of the Interfraternity Council, said that he was particularly proud of new months embroiled in political debate.
"That first year the Senate didn't get a hell of a lot done," he said. "There was one."
Von Ende said the politics were intense.
"It was very intense because campuses were erupting," he said. "We contained some of that eruption by giving students a voice.
MUCH OF SENATE'S time was taken up with social issues of the day and Senate supported a day-long moratorium against the Vietnam War.
But were the months spent building, selling and getting Senate off the ground?
"The Senate today acts in a very structured manner," von Ende said.
"In some ways, we didn't have time to deal with those issues because we were already in charge."
"I thought it was something I should have done," von Ende said. "I might have spent my time in other ways, but I thought it was productive.
Retunde was also glad about having been present at the birth of Student Sekretaria.
"Capturing the ability to basically tax gave them the power they have," he said.
"Those of us that came out of those days learned some good basic politics. We learned how to get things done when you had to get things done."
"As bad as things got on this campus, the Senate provided a little bit of sanity."
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