Campus/Area
University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, September 19, 1990
5.24
Lovd Davidson, of Lawrence, drills a hole for the installation of wiring in the third Lawrence Habitat for Humanity house.
Habitat house nears completion
By Tracey Chalpin
Habitat for Humanity, an international volunteer organization that provides housing support to low-income families, may be within six weeks of completing its third home in Lawrence
John Gingerich, president of the Lawrence board of Habitat for Humanity, said the third house, situated at 1609 Powers St., was purchased during the summer after a fire destroyed its interior.
Kansan staff writer
"The owners called it to our attention and gave us a very reasonable price." he said.
Gingerich said that volunteers from the Lawrence organization had helped gut the house and that they
were in the process of rebuilding it.
Ester Barnes, of Lawrence, said she applied for a Habitat home after she read about the first house the group built in Lawrence.
Representatives from the organization reviewed her application, visited her apartment to see her present her son and chose her and her son, Dustin.
"They told me to have an open mind because the inside had been eaten by the fire," she said. "They told me it, and I said it would be gross."
Barnes said Habitat would charge her $2,000 to $2,100 for the three-bedroom home and would ask for no more than a 1 percent down payment.
She said the monthly payments would be no more than what she now paid for rent.
Barnes said she had been involved in the progress of the project.
"It's a small house, but it's all me and Dustin need." she said. "I can't tell you how much I think of Habitat. It's a great opportunity for us."
Ganay Johnson, Habitat representative at the University of Kansas, said Habitat for the University had a new chapter and the University has year with a new chapter chapter.
Johnson, Kansas City, Kan. senior, said that there were some efforts last year to create a chapter but that this year KU officially had joined the hundreds of colleges and universities with Habitat chapters.
Johnson said 20 to 25 students showed up at the first meeting about two weeks ago.
"I wish we could have had more, but I guess that's pretty good," she said.
Johnson said she became interested in the work of Habitat for Humanity after working at the local church where workers in Georgia during the summer.
At the next meeting of the campus group, which is scheduled for Oct. 4, Johnson said the group would begin planning a major fund-raiser.
"We want to get a campus-wide effort," she said. "If everyone on campus donated $1, we could build a house for someone."
Final vote on ROTC class credit approaches
Kansan staff report
The final decision on whether to count ROTC courses toward graduation requirements will be reached Monday.
University Senate members have until 5 p.m. Monday to return the mail ballots that were sent to them
At a University Senate Executive Committee meeting yesterday, members decided to ask two faculty members, two SenEx members and two student members to count the ballots.
In other action, Dan Breslauer, professor of religious studies.
resigned from SenEx and University Council, citing commitments to the religious studies department.
A resolution was introduced at
Thursday's meeting that would defer
the May 3 Council resolution prohibit
abuse of the word "donor" from
names from being conducted on campus.
The proposed resolution would recommend to Chancellor Gene A. Budd that he appoint a special chancellor's committee to deal with problems of discrimination against homosexuals in ROTC programs.
Students scramble to find book deals
Bv Debbie Mvers
When it comes to textbooks, Josepha Lara shops around.
Kansan staff writer
Lara, Kansas City, Mo., senior,
said she checked prices at the KU
bookstores and Jayhawk Bookstore.
She says these are her best
deals on books each semester.
Like thousands of other college students, Lara is frustrated by high retail prices and low sell-back prices.
Charles Thodt, director of industry information and research for the National Association of College Stores in Olinibio, Ohio, said the prices textbook publishers collected and the amount bookstores added to cover their costs made up the largest part of textbook prices.
Those prices have risen by 10 percent each year during the past 10 to 12 years. Thadt said.
He said the average student at a four-year institution spent $463.15 for a year's supply of books during fiscal 1988.
Undergraduate students at the University of Kansas spend about $300 a semester on books and basic supplies for a 15-hour class load, said Bill Getz, assistant manager for books at the KU bookstores.
Used books at the KU bookstores cost about 25 percent less than new books. Reid said
Mike Reid, manager of the KU bookstores, said students could keep textbook costs down by buying used books, selling their books at the end of the semester and using the student dividend program.
He said the bookstore bought books back for half the new-book value if they were being used the next semester. If they were not being used the next semester at KU, a wholesale price of $10 per book was to 10 to 50 percent of their retail value.
Kurt Skinner, Lawrence senior,
said he was disappointed with low
sell-back prices, especially for soft-
cover books.
'One semester's use and they're
'One semester's use and they're practically
valuedue to the student, and the bookstore is able to sell them back and get their value many times over.'
Kurt Skinner Lawrence senior
practically valueless to the student, and the bookstore is able to sell them back and get their value many times over." Skinner said.
Reid said that during the 44 years that the KU bookstores had used the dividend program, more than $2 million had been paid to students. But there were still $3 million he have paid students 7 percent of the amount of a semester's cash receipts.
Stephen Goldman, associate professor of English, is the co-author of a textbook that has been available at the library's bookstores for about three years.
Goldman said any royalties he received from sales of his book at KU were sent to the New York Zoological Society.
"I don't feel that I should get royalties for any book sold at KU, and this was my way to avoid a conflict of interest," he said.
Goldman said he thought most faculty members wrote textbooks so they could teach their classes the way they wanted.
Many times, the amount authors received in royalties was so small that they kept the money because it was insignificant. Other arrangements, Goldman said.
He said textbook prices were influential in the English department's decisions about which textbooks to require for students.
"Things have just gotten hotter out of control," Goldman said. "It is very definitely a factor in what it costs a student to go to school now."
Textbook Costs
What makes up the cost of the average textbook? The average costs for textbooks published by companies that are either members of the American Association of Publishers or the National Association of College Stores.
Source: The College Stores Research and Educational Foundation
Commission votes to ban skateboards on campus
By Elicia Hill
Kansan staff writer
City commissioners last night approved an amendment to a city ordinance that will limit the number of firefighters.
It will amend a city ordinance that prohibits bicycles, roller skates and skateboards on sidewalks in the downtown area on Massachusetts Street.
Rose Marino, KU associate general counsel, said the University requested the amendment because of continuing property damage and potential injury to students.
The amendment states that skateboards and roller skates would be illegal on the
sidewalks along Jayhawk Boulevard from West Campus Road to 13th Street. It also includes 1,000 feet on either side of this area, which includes Wescourt Hall.
"We tried to modify the environment by adding cement blocks in the Wesco area and grading the handicap access ramps to make them more accessible," Marino said. "I did not discourage them." Marino said
Wescote. Marino said that Wescote periodically sues the glass-slat windows concrete in a garage.
On Aug. 27, a 20-year-old KU student was struck in the head by a skateboard while she was playing basketball.
Two students gave public comment to the amendment.
Carl Cavallaro, Kansas City, Mo., senior,
said, "A bike is expensive, but a skateboard is cheap. I use my skateboard to get to me."
"The only accident that there has been was by an 11-year-old non-KU student," he said. "Why doesn't the city place a time restriction on students to use their boards to get around campus?"
Billy Beeson, a 17-year-old Lawrence resident, said that the restriction had been enforced to prevent people from entering the school.
"Accidents will happen," he said. "There have been numerous accidents on bicycles and mopeds and they have not been banned from campus. Skateboarding is starting to establish itself. If you ban it from Wescow, it will just go somewhere else."
Cavaliar said that he would continue to ride his board even though it was illegal.
Last night was the first reading of the amendment to the ordinance, which will have to be heard before the commission again before it becomes law.
The commissioners passed the amendment 4-1 with commissioner David Penny dissenting.