Tuesday, October 3, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 3
Brewery can't revive outside dining
By Matt Merkel-Hess
Kansan staff writer
City officials have asked the Brown Bear Brewing Co. to remove the railing that once surrounded its sidewalk tables, signaling an end to outside dining at the restaurant.
The Brown Bear Brewing Co., 729 Massachusetts St., could not meet a city regulation requiring certain downtown restaurants with outside dining areas to do at least 70 percent of their business in food and non-alcoholic beverages. Thus, the outside dining area now must be officially removed.
Ryan Rodenburg, a Brown Bear managing partner, said the 70-percent rule was hard for any restaurant to meet.
Brown Bear Brewing Company, 729 Massachusetts St., has its liquor license up for renewal. An executive session will be held to discuss buying property as well as possible sidewalk vending. Photo by Ashley Bonebroke/KANSAN
"My understanding of the 70 percent rule is that it was placed with the intent of keeping outside dining areas from turning into beer gardens," he said.
COMMISSION MEETING
Most downtown restaurants are required to do at least 55 percent of their business in food and non-alcoholic beverages. Brown Bear has not had outside dining since last summer, when it almost lost its drinking establishment license. The owners admitted they did not meet either the 55- or the 70-percent
When: 6:45 tonight
The commission will consider the renewal of the drinking establishment license for Brown Bear Brewing Co., 729 Massachusetts St. The commission will discuss the railing removal around the restaurant's former outside dining area.
■ The commission also will go into a private, executive session for 30 minutes to discuss the possible acquisition of property. The executive session is required to keep terms and conditions of the possible acquisition confidential.
requirement.
In order to its license, the restaurant came up with a new business plan and changed the menu. Rodenburg said. Recently, the restaurant opened for lunch.
The food-sale requirement was enacted in 1994 to keep the downtown from becoming a bar district, said Ray Hummert, city clerk.
"The council wanted a mixeduse business district with the emphasis on restaurants rather than just bars." Hummert said.
Establishments opened before the regulation was enacted do
not have to comply, Hummert said.
Rodenburg said he thought the intent of the rule was good, but it hurt businesses opened after 1994.
"I think it's a little unfair that
half the restaurants downtown have to do it, and half are exempt because of the grandfather clause," he said.
Rodenburg said he originally thought it would be hard to meet the requirement, but he's been
pleased with the support for the food menu, especially from KU students.
"We're a brewery and we sell a lot of beer," he said. "But our food side is really strong."
Edited by Casey Franklin
Senate seeks student input in spending reserve funds
By Kursten Phelps
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Student Senate has more than $400,000 in students' money, and it's trying to figure out what to do with it.
Senate treasurer Greg Wiley said the Senate reserve account had a balance of $438,861.50 at the end of last year. Whenever a student organization does not use all of the money Senate allocates to it, the leftovers go into the reserve account. The student activity fee provides the money Senate hands out to different groups.
The reserve account has been growing during the past few years. The addition of about $40,000 of unspent money from last year puts the account past the $400,000 mark.
Ben Walker, student body president, said there was a sense of urgency to spend the money because the state of Kansas would keep the interest earned on the account.
"If we kept the interest earned on the account, there would be no necessity to spend it," he said. "I think we need to look at it because students that have been paying into the account the last several years are going to be graduating soon, and they're not going to see the effects of it if we just sit on the money."
Wiley said although Senate was looking to spend the money, it wanted to save some of the funds for emergencies.
"We like to keep a minimum balance of $150,000 for unexpected situations, like a few years ago when we bailed out KU on Wheels because it was having financial trouble," he said.
In Spring 1996, Senate loaned $140,000 to KU on Wheels. Wiley said that was the last time the reserve account was used for anything substantial.
Walker said senators discussed ideas for spending the money at Senate's leadership training seminar in August. Ideas included providing information kiosks around campus, expanding Saferide and KU on Wheels, providing more email kiosks, extending Wescoe Terrace's hours and financing campus-beautification projects, he said.
Walker said that Senate also was looking for input from students about what to do with the funds. Senate will compile a list of ideas and discuss it at a meeting this semester, he said.
"It's not a decision we want to make hastily." Walker said. "We want to come up with some initial
THE RESERVE ACCOUNT
■ What happened? If Student Senate gives money to a student organization and that group does not spend it all, the remainder goes into Senate's reserve account. Last year's unspent money brings the account to $438,861.50.
What it means: The state of Kansas keeps the interest earned on the account — so the University earns nothing by not spending the money.
What's next? Senate is looking for ideas for ways to spend the money and will discuss possible projects at a future meeting.
project, but there will be much more discussion about this."
He said the process for allocating the reserve fund would be the same as the process for allocating money to organizations. Senate would have to pass a bill to finance any projects, and then Walker would have to approve it. Chancellor Robert Hemenway has the final say on any Senate decisions, but Walker said that wasn't usually a concern.
"Everything is subject to the chancellor, but they've never really questioned any of our expenditures of student fees," he said.
Fall in minorities a national trend
Continued from page 1A
While the number of Caucasian students continues to rise — up from 76.7 percent in 1995 to 81 percent of this year's student body—the overall number of minorities on campus continues to fall. The only minority numbers that have increased since 1995 are Asian American, from 2.9 to 3 percent, and Hispanic American, from 2.1 to 2.3 percent.
— Edited by John Audlehelm
Alan Cerveny, director of admissions and scholarships, said the struggles of minority recruitment were not unique to the University but were part of a national trend. He said African-American students especially looked to traditionally African-American universities.
Bates said the University of Kansas' environment, which is different than the high schools or neighborhoods of many minority students, could hurt minority recruitment.
Hemenway acknowledged that minority recruitment was a nationwide problem but said that should not be an excuse.
"I think it's a Midwestern thing," she said. "There isn't much to
"KU shouldn't be saying, We're like everybody else," he said. "KU should be saying, How can we make KU better than other institutions?"
recruit."
Efforts are being made to make the University better at minority recruitment.
HAWKLINK, a minority recruitment and retention program that previously was only a Hawk Week event, now is a year-long program, Titus said. And Cerveny added that a multicultural student recruitment board was being formed and that the search for minority scholarship funding was ongoing.
Hemenway summed up the University's goal.
"We want to see a richly diverse student body," he said. "If we want that kind of campus, that kind of university, then it's everyone's responsibility."
Edited by Sara Nutt
Senate service helps students locate tutors
By Kursten Phelps
writer@kanson.com
Kansas staff writer
Students who want to be a tutor or find a tutor now can turn to Student Senate instead of the Student Development Center.
Senate is initiating a tutor referral service to replace the service that the Student Development Center discontinued in May. The center does, however, provide tutoring for select classes through a new program.
Michael Roessler, graduate senator and chairman of the Senate academic services task force, said anyone who turned in an application to Senate would be put on the tutor list. Applications are available at the Senate office in the Kansas Union.
"We're basically trying to provide a service that's comprehensive, so that a student could find a tutor for any course." Roossler said.
The tutor referral list is not yet available, Roessler said, but will be compiled and published when about a dozen tutors have signed up. Four applications have been turned in so far.
Roessler said Senate would not supervise tutoring beyond providing a list of tutors, so the quality of a tutor would not be guaranteed.
"Anyone that turns in an application will get put on the list, so we're not guaranteeing the quality of the tutor," Roessler said. "But if we get lots of complaints about one tutor, there would be the possibility of removing them for the list."
Rossier said he thought poor quality probably would not be a big problem.
"What I've experienced in the past is that people can't fake it," Roessler said. "Tutors are usually pretty honest about their capabilities."
The referral service recommends that tutors turn in a transcript and letter of reference. The list would reflect whether the tutor turned in those items, but students would not be able to see the documents. Roessler said.
Mary Ann Rasnak, director of the Student Development Center, said the center decided to replace its tutor referral service with its own tutoring program to reduce confusion. The center now hires and trains tutors for specific classes in chemistry, biology, math, economics and Spanish.
"I was uncomfortable with our office's association with tutors who we had no idea if they were qualified or not," Rasnak said. "If a student had a bad experience with a tutor, they might have thought that we had bad tutors, but really we had no control over those tutors. If they signed up, they were put on the list. It was always a kind of buyer-beware thing."
Rasnak said the center's referral list included about 30 to 50 tutors last year. She said there was no way to know for sure how many students used the service to find a tutor, although about 50 signed an information book that the center kept to assess the program. Providing information to the book was not required.
Roessler said that he hoped to get as many students as possible on the referral list and that he thought two dozen tutors in 30 subjects would constitute an effective program.
- Edited by Amy Randolph
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