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kansan.com
Monday, January 20, 2014
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Reducing Plastic Bags
Kansas Memorial Unions is the organization that runs both the bookstores and KU dining, two of the largest utilizers of plastic bags on campus. We have collaborated with the Unions on many projects throughout the fall semester, and look forward to sharing our plastic bag reduction proposal with them in the spring. We also anticipate collaborating with environmentally minded student organizations on the project to reduce the number of plastic bags used at the university to work toward a more environmentally friendly campus.
Increase Access & Accountability within Senates
We have focused on many structural changes this term to increase Student Senate transparency. This summer, we created a new website consistent with the university's branding. You can find any of our Full Senate and Committee meeting minutes, as well as voting records and any open Senate positions, at studentsenateku.edu. We're currently working with KU Information Technology to create an online scheduling system so that students and senators can schedule meetings with any Student Senate executive staff member online. By the end of this term, we plan to live-stream all of our Full Senate meetings and upload audio from all committee meetings to our website. Follow us on Twitter (@KUSenate and @KUPresident), on Facebook (facebook.com/KU-StudentSenate) and on Instagram (@kusenate) to engage in conversation and stay up-to-date on our daily progress!
Lower Transcript Fees
After meeting with officials at the Office of the Registrar, we have come to understand that reducing fees for transcripts may be a longer process than initially anticipated. The renegotiation of the university's current contract with its transcript vendor does not expire for another two years. The vendor cost for electronically delivered, picked up, U.S. mailed, and internationally mailed transcripts are bundled under the contract, which makes reducing any forms of the fee during this term difficult. The Office of the University Registrar is audited once every two years to ensure that the fees being charged for each transcript delivery method are appropriate. That audit started recently and will be ongoing into the spring semester, with fees adjusted if deemed necessary. We are still working closely with the Office of the Registrar to create a framework for future administrations to be a part of the greater decision-making process and help see this platform through its completion.
Improving Student Parking
Throughout the fall semester, we have participated in KU Master Plan meetings and voiced the student, faculty, and staff concern about KU parking. The last comprehensive campus master plan for the Lawrence campus, which was completed in 1997, played a positive role in the development of West Campus and in enhancing the character of Jayhawk Blvd. This semester, student leadership, university administrators, and an industry leading consulting firm have been working to evaluate and address the projected lifespans and maintenance of existing buildings, needs for new and renovated research space, classroom requirements, networking infrastructure, transportation systems, and environmental sustainability. The geography of our campus does not lend itself to easy parking solutions. Despite the expensive and difficult steps needed to improve, we believe KU Parking has been receptive to change and has been fully compliant with the call for change from the Student Body, as well as from the KU Master Plan, which we are happy to report, has prioritized KU Parking at the top of its list.
Lock In Transfer Student Tuition Rates:
As the university's state funding level continues to be debated in the legislature, this platform will be an interesting one to follow. University committees overseeing tuition policies may be forced to examine alternative tuition models, and our administration will be a strong advocate for transfer students in this process.Much of this conversation will take place in the spring semester and we hope to engage the university's transfer students in this process so that their voices may be heard.
With the rising cost of higher education, any type of monetary relief is a necessity for students. Because the execution of this platform relies heavily on governmental relations, this has compelled us to strengthen Student Senate's relations with various entities within the state of Kansas like never before. These entities include, but are not limited to: the Kansas Board of Regents, Kansas State House, and Senate. To ensure that this is a statewide initiative, we have partnered with the five other Regent universities as well as many Junior colleges in the state of Kansas to strengthen the argument for this platform. This initiative is on track, and we will capitalize on our fall semester efforts by pushing for the implementation of this exemption in the spring semester through student advocacy.
Eliminating Sales Tax on Textbooks:
Increase Student Input in Housing:
Our initiative to increase student input within University Housing will be gearing up this spring semester. The Executive Staff will be working with the On-Campus Senator, who is the chair of the Student Senate Residential Housing Board, to reform and refocus the Housing Board. We're excited about engaging in conversation with students living in and working for housing to help bring their concerns to the fore. The Student Senate Residential Housing Board has been underutilized by the Student Senate in the past and we look forward to giving this board a renewed mission and purpose.
Prioritizing Student Health:
We've formed a great relationship with Watkins Memorial Health Center this semester, and our Prioritizing Student Health platform is in full swing. We have senators and Student Health Advisory Board members providing input for the re-design of the Watkins first floor lobby, signage, and marketing materials, which will provide a fresh look for the facility. We're also planning an event scheduled for next semester, in conjunction with Watkins and Student Health Advisory Board, which will entail a day of outdoor fun, fitness, prizes and giveaways. Watkins recently hosted Student Senate and the Student Health Advisory Board for a walkthrough of the facility, where Watkins and Senate personnel each had the opportunity to converse about student health and the continuation of our partnership for the upcoming semester and beyond.
Potter's Lake Pavilion Renovation:
Events for the spring semester are being planned in celebration of our campus's historic Potter's Lake Pavilion. This fall semester, the Student Senate Executive Staff has been focused on being as financially responsible with student dollars as possible, making a physical renovation to the current Pavilion structure a second semester initiative. A future renovation to this space must be in accordance with the Historical aesthetic requirements of KU's campus. KU architecture and design students will be recruited in the spring semester to develop a plan and blueprint that will be on file to be implemented and constructed when deemed appropriate.
Next year's Common Book will hit close to home literally.
"The Center of Everything," by University professor Laura Moriarty, set in the fictional town of Kerrville, Kan., during the 1980s, has been selected as the 2014-2015 Common Book.
"It's the first time that we've chosen a book that was written by a professor here at KU," said Howard Graham from the Office of First-Year Experience. "That lends itself to the community aspect of the goal in a really unique way."
incoming first-year and
"It's not exactly a high-concept plot." Laura Moriary said. "The readers who like it tend to like it for the narrator's voice and the characters and the ideas."
The novel, the first fictional Common Book, is a coming-of-age story. It deals with poverty, religion, evolution, role models, family and Reagan-era politics, following the fictional character Evelyn Bucknow from 10 years old until going off to college.
Index
receive a copy, Graham said this builds a community and creates a shared academic experience that helps students transition into college.
Moriarty is an English
GEORGE MULLINIX/KANSAN
CLASSIFIEDS 2B
CROSSWORD 5A
The University Daily Kansan:
What should KU students who read "The Center of Everything" take away from it?
Laura Moriarty: I would never want to tell a reader what he or she should take away from my book. But for me, the novel is very much about a girl who, at least when she's young, clings to black-and-white thinking as a survival skill. That kind of thinking does serve her for a while, when her circumstances are pretty desperate. But as she gets older, new experiences encourage her to consider a
degrees at the University.
Laura Moriarty, a University english professor, shares her book, "The Center of Everything," which has been selected as next year's Common Book. The book is set in the fictional small Kansas town during the 1980s.
SEE BOOK PAGE 9A
CRYPTOQUIPS 5J
OPINION 4A
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2014 The University Daily Kansan
SPORTS 1B
SUDOKU 5A
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