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The University Daily Kansan
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Tuesday, November 14.2000
Sports: The Kansas women's basketball team gains confidence after a 69-50 win against the Basketball Travelers.
SEE PAGE 10A
Inside: Watkins
Memorial Health Center
wants to help students
quit smoking this week.
SEE PAGE 3A
(USPS 650-640) • VOL. 111 NO. 36 For comments, contact Nathan Willis or Chris Borniger at 864-4810 or e-mail editor@kansan.com
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Students anticipate end to presidency hoopla
By Matt Merkel-Hess writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
As the election debacle drags on, University of Kansas students say they are ready for the presidential free for all to end.
There is no immediate end in sight, because overseas ballots will not be counted until after Friday.
Meghan Tebo, Bennington freshman, said all the election news coverage was getting old.
"It is fair to count the votes, but everyone's put their life on hold," she said. "I just think they should pick a president."
Adrian Erlinger, St. Louis junior, said he thought news media were too busy jumping to conclusions and time should be taken to count the Florida ballots accurately.
"The reason why there's a debate right now is we just wanted it done too quick," he said. "We have a stable system, and things are going to work out."
In Tallahassee, Florida's Republican secretary of state said the states' 67 counties must finish recounting votes by 5 p.m. today. Al Gore's advisers decried the decision as "arbittary and unreasonable" and promised court action.
Volusia County, one of four Democratic-leaning counties recounting votes, sued in state court yesterday for the right to complete and certify its manual count regardless of the deadline and to bar the state from ignoring its results.
The county asked for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to block the state from enforcing the deadline. Democratic lawyers sought to join the case and asked a judge to delay his hearing
"It is fair to count the votes, but everyone's put their life on hold.I just think they should pick a president."
Meghan Tebo bennington freshman
until later in the day to give them time to prepare their case.
The deadline is a major roadblock for Gore because some of the manual recounts requested by Democrats probably cannot be completed by then. The state warned that counties that don't certify their vote by the deadline "shall be ignored."
"The electoral process is a balance between the desire of each individual voter to have his or her intended vote recorded and the right of the public to a clear, final result within a reasonable time," said Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, explaining the deadline. "The process of counting and recounting the votes cast on Election Day must end.
Harris said she expected to certify the election results Saturday afternoon.
Aaron Akins, Olathe senior, said he thought deciding between a manual recount and a machine count was a messy problem.
"Do we trust a machine or do we trust a person?" he said.
Akins said regardless of the outcome, he thought the next president's image was going to be weakened in the United States and abroad by the lack of a conclusive victory.
"Neither of these guys is going to
have any political clout," he said. "Other countries will look at this and think, 'This guy has got to be a wimp.'"
Ishita Banerjee, Calcutta, India, junior, said although she couldn't vote in the election, she,and her family in Calcutta, were following the election coverage. She said people in India were interested in who the next president would be because of the increased number of people from India moving to the United States for jobs.
"This is being telecast everywhere," she said. "It is really important for us to see who is going to be president."
Palm Beach — another county involved in manual recounts — also indicated it would legally challenge any imposed deadline.
Election officials in Palm Beach County said workers would start hand counting about 425,000 ballots this morning and expected to continue through Sunday.
The county canvassing board unanimously voted yesterday, before Harris's statement, to ask her and the attorney general for an advisory opinion on whether today's deadline can be extended.
The other two counties, Broward and Miami-Dade, had not yet begun recounts, with Broward starting a manual recount of sample precincts Monday and Miami-Dade with a hearing scheduled Tuesday on the question.
Bush has a 388-vote lead in the decisive state, with the manual recounts and the overseas ballots that are due Friday the biggest remaining issues.
— The Associated Press contributed to this story.
— Edited by Erin Adamson
Source: www.msn.com
Kyle Ramsey/KANSAN
Election shifts stocks
By LD McKee
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The confusion resulting from the presidential elections has not only caused uncertainty about who will lead the country, but it has also caused uncertainty for the stock market and its investors.
The market has been in a steady decline since the elections on Nov. 7. Analysts attribute this to the split voters' opinions about the issues and candidates in the elections.
The market plummeted immediately after republican candidate George W. Bush was declared the winner early Wednesday morning but rebounded after that decision was overturned.
"We shouldn't read too much into the initial reaction," said Paul Koch, professor of business. "Investors were understanding the election was so close that whoever would win would not have a mandate from the people."
Koch also said the fact that there was no clear majority in Congress for the president to work with created additional uncertainty.
"Uncertainty is not good for the market," he said.
Since the elections, the Dow Jones has dropped about 435 points, from about 10,952 points on Nov. 7 to about 10,517 yesterday, and the Nasdaq has dropped about 449 points, from about 3,415 points on Nov. 7 to about 2,966 yesterday.
Willy Chen, Topeka sophomore, isn't worried about the recent drop.
Chen, who invests mostly in technology stocks, said he didn't think his stocks would be affected by either Bush or democratic candidate AI Gore taking office, even though he had lost about $1,000 in the past week.
"It's investors being stupid and panicking over nothing," he said.
"Tech will always go forward," Chen said. "It doesn't depend on who's in office."
Ryan Gerstner, Frankfort senior, also has seen his stocks drop in the past week. He said his portfolio had dropped about 10 percent since the election, although he said he wasn't concerned.
"Once everything gets resolved, market will rebound." he said.
Gerstner said he wouldn't alter his investment strategy depending on who eventually won the presidency.
"It's not going to affect my portfolio either way," he said. "I think most people will use their same strategy."
Ashley Dew, Charleston, S.C., senior, prepares for graduate school auditions at Swarthout Recital Hall in Murphy Hall. Although Dew, a flute performance major, won't audition until February and March, she spent yesterday evening practicing. Photo by Selena Jabara/KANSAN
Koch said the Bush administration indicated it would have more conservative policies that would benefit most industries. He said Gore had given mixed signals about attitudes toward businesses.
"None of us knows whether this was just rhetoric on both sides to get elected or whether meaningful reform will come or meaningful tax cuts will come," Koch said. "It depends on who is elected."
- Edited by Kimberly Thompson
Practice makes perfect
Writing helpers outgrow Roosts
writer@kanson.com
Kansan staff writer
KU Writer's Roosts are seeing record numbers of students this semester and hoping to expand. But students looking for help with papers face longer waits to see a writing consultant, and the main roost has outgrown its location.
After helping out on 1,100 visits from student last fall, the centers have done about 1,000 so far this semester and expect the count to reach 1,500 by semester's end.
Emily Donnelli, writing consultant for the roosts and Platte City, Mo., graduate student in English, said students without appointments were having to wait for help for the first time this semester. Consultants
sometimes visit with two students at once who are working on the same assignment.
Donnelli said that while consultants helped with mechanics such as proper citation and grammar, their main purpose was to help writers with organization, clarity and flow.
"At the core of our philosophy is that all writers need other writers," she said. "When someone else reads your paper, it brings a new perspective."
Michele Eodice, director of the KU Writing Center, which oversees the roosts, said she was hoping to secure more funding to hire new consultants next year.
She said she hoped to move the Wescoe roost to a larger room elsewhere in the building. When the School of Education moves
from Bailey Hall to J.R. Pearson Hall this spring, some departments moving from Wescoe to Bailey could free up room for the roost to expand, Eodice said.
A constant flow of students has kept the roosts busy as more instructors either require students to get help there or offer them extra credit for making visits.
Alan Diehl, Kansas City, Mo., freshman, waited in the Wescoe roost yesterday for help on an essay on Jane Austen's *Pride and Prejudice*. Diehl said his English 102 instructor required the visit.
After their first visit, students also can seek help through the center's online writing lab at www.ukans.edu/~writing. Students can submit their papers online and receive
feedback within 48 hours.
feedback within 48 hours.
The guidance students receive online is similar to what they get in person.
"We're not an editing service," Donnelli said. "We won't fix all your commas and e-mail you a perfect paper back."
The roosts, launched in 1998, added a location at GSP-Corbin Hall this semester. Like the roost at Templin Hall, students use the Corbin location because it stays open late and is closer for off-campus students than the main roost in Wescoe Hall, Eodice said. Evening roosts are held from 7 to 10 p.m. in Corbin on Wednesday, in Templin on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and at Watson Library on Sundays and Mondays.
— Edited by Clay McCusistion
Future of Student Senate campus safety board depends on fee
Board's input about emergency lighting could be eliminated
By Kursten Phipps
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Student Senate currently has a say in campus safety decisions, thanks to the $1 campus lighting fee students pay each semester.
The University matches those dollars, and because student money is involved, Student Senate and Senate's campus safety board have a stronger voice in decisions on how that money is spent, said Nooshin Soltani, the
board's chairperson.
But Senate's role in deciding where blue emergency phones and new lights are placed may change, she said, if the fee is allowed to expire this year.
The fee would have to pass legislation to be renewed. If the fee is allowed to expire, Soltani said, the board probably would no longer exist and Senate would not have the same input it has now.
"It's a difficult situation because with the campus lighting, the campus safety advisory board is able to do different things pertaining to safety," Soltani said.
John Mullens, assistant director of the office of public safety, said Senate's biggest contribution was its involvement in the lighting fee.
gotten as far as we have," Mullens said. "Part of that has been the student fee associated with it. Basically, the projects progressed twice as fast as they would have with what the University normally would have been able to afford."
"Their participation with the lighting projects has been the reason why we've
Jessica Bankston, Student Legislative Awareness board legislative director and last year's campus safety board chairperson, agreed
also should assess student concerns about safety.
"We need to first address student concerns and the difference between what areas are actually unsafe compared to what areas people feel unsafe, then try
Bankston said a comprehensive campus safety survey completed last year showed property crimes, not personal crimes, to be the biggest problem on campus.
According to Office of Public Safety statistics, reported incidents of burglary dropped from 103 to 73 last year. Aggravated assaults dropped from 13 in 1997 to four in 1998 and 1999. Reported rapes also dropped from seven in 1998 to one in each of the past two years.
to address those concerns somehow," she said.
Another major campus safety initiative Senate was involved in was the implementation of SafeRide, which provides free rides for students at night. Senate has discussed expanding its service but has not done so yet, Bankston said.
"We found out that it's exorbitantly expensive and only serves a small number of students," she said. "It wasn't in the best interest of students and was not a responsible use of student fee money."
Senate also had proposed initiating SafeWalk, a program that would provide escorts for students walking on campus at night, but Bankston said it wasn't feasible.
"The money just hasn't been there to expand SafeRide," she said.
Bankston said campus safety would be an ongoing issue that always could be improved.
"We need to work on the perception of safety," she said. "If a student doesn't feel safe, it's just as bad as actually not being safe."
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- Edited by Shawn Hutchinson