Campus beautification is thorn in students' sides
By STEVE BOYCE
Reporter
During the past month, many University or Kansas students have been suffering from painful Berberis thunbergia erecta.
The pain is inflicted when a carefree student tries to use his dirt path short cut to class and runs into the Berberis, a red, thorned shrubberry commonly known as barberry.
According to Harold E. Blitch, ground supervisor at KU, about 2,500 barberry and other varieties of arumberry have been planted in the past year. The campus will block unwanted paths and to beautify the campus.
The program is directed by Keith Lawton, director of facilities planning and operations for the University. Lawton's administrative orders are relayed to Allon Thomas, University landscape architect, and Thomas draws a blueprint showing where new plants are to go. Thomas and Bitch then decide which kinds of vegetation should be purchased and submit an order.
Blitch said these shrubs weren't planted carelessly or "on the spur of the moment" but were part of the University's landscape beautification program.
Blitch and Lawton noted three causes of the destruction: new construction, temporary buildings and peacetime
"You'd be surprised at the amount of planning that goes into this," Blitch said.
Lawton said that during construction of Wescoe Hall, the center of the campus was disrupted and many temporary paths were formed. With the completion of the hall, he said, many of these paths were abandoned, but the scars remained and needed relandscaping.
The temporary buildings on campus, Blitch said, can't have adequate sidewalks because of their anticipated removal and the subsequent conversion to parking. The building is located unit between Haworth Hall and Summerfield Hall.
and its dirt paths leading to other buildings and sidewalks as an example of this problem.
But some of the newly blocked paths aren't related to construction or temporary buildings.
"They shouldn't have put in bulbs; they should have put in sidewalls. Either that, or they should extend the time they give you between classes," one student said.
Lawton and Bitch both said they thought that if every pedestrian short cut was made into a sidewalk, the campus would become an ugly "concrete jungle." They said the sidewalls were planned to provide a reasonably direct route to any building.
Pedestrian laziness and thoughtlessness are the
causes of paths that cut from one sidewalk to another, cut to the inside of a corner, or cut diagonally through a rectangular sidewalk system, they said.
"We have a beautiful campus," Lawton said, "and over the years it has developed into one. A hundred years ago, you know, this was basically a bare hill."
Both Lawton and Biltch said there was no way to compare the cost of building sidewalks on paths to the cost of planting shrubbery. To do so requires computing the volume of concrete needed, the number and kinds of shrubs to be purchased and the labor costs involved, they said.
See THORNS Page 5
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
Vol. 85-No.63 Friday, November 22,1974
The University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
By Kansan photographer DEBRIE GUMP
Keepina watch
When Charles Johnston, center, traveling representative for the Young Social Alliance (YSA), left his table in front of the Union yesterday to sell his literature elsewhere. University security officer, explained to bystanders that she was stationed
there until it could be determined whether Johnston had broken the agreement between the YSA and the University Events Committee in pamilleteering elsewhere. It was decided he had, and he remained in front of the Union.
Pamphleteers seek selling permit
Members of the Young Socialist Alliance (YSA) will request permission to sell their political material on campus at the next meeting of the University Events Committee.
About a month ago, Security and Parking officers closed a table set up by the YSA. An officer at the scene said that because the University Events Committee had no knowledge of the table, the group had no right to sell the material. The group later received permission to sell its literature.
Mark Baughman, a Midwest field worker for the group, said yesterday that a member of the YSA who was selling papers near the Museum of Natural History was asked to check with the committee before selling papers there again.
granted permission to have a literature table and sell political pamphlets for the sale of books.
Mike Thomas, director of Security and Parking, said the YSA member who was asked to take the teamum was asked to check with the University Committee before selling more papers.
3-year plan to stay in Robinson growth
By DAVID OLSON Senate Reporter
The Kansas Board of Regents probably will stay with its recommendation of placing expansion of Robinson Gymnasium on a three-year funding schedule instead of having it accelerated two-year schedule, John Beissner, student body president, said last night.
Beiner met with several regents yesterday in Topeka and said they told him it was too late in the budget process to budget proposal to the Kansas Legislature.
Beiser said the regents thought that after the current building projects were completed, there wouldn't be any concession to their request because enrollment was expected to decline.
"They felt that we were going to have a difficult enough time selling the budget to the legislature as it stands now," Beisner said. "The regents have decided that we will keep the line on increased budget requests in order to keep support in the legislature."
The two-year funding program would mean expansion would be completed a year ahead of schedule. The regents now are recommending that the project be placed on the regular three-year schedule for funding University building projects.
Debbie Reid, Student Senate Sports Committee member who was one of the authors of the Senate petition asking for the accelerated funding schedule, expressed agreement with the regents action and disagreed with the regents' prediction on enrollment.
"We're going to appear next week at the committee's meeting. We're going to ask for our democratic right to sell our papers on campus." Baumhauch said.
"I don't think they're right in predicting a decrease in enrollment," she said. "We got an increase in enrollment this year when they were expecting a decrease."
"We'll have to appeal to the legislature itself," he said. "We'll have to talk to it not only about Robinson expansion, but in general we need for recreational facilities."
The only alternative left to the Senate will be to lobby within the legislature to get construction going on the two-year funding schedule, instead of the three-year program now proposed, Dierck Casselman, sports committee chairman, said last night.
Casselman said he could understand the regents' position on the proposal.
Leta Ehrman, secretary in charge of reservations at the Kansas Union, said the YSA had permission from the events committee to sell literature at the Union.
another year, when we already need the recreational facilities so badly," he said.
"It's too bad we're going to have to wait
Beiser said that although students could lobby within the legislature concerning budget proposals, the administration and faculty were prohibited by law to lobby.
Had the regents agreed to include the accelerated funding schedule for Robinson expansion, and if the legislature approved the budget, completion date would have been delayed. The legislature passes the current budget proposal occupancy won't be until fall of 1979
Casselman and the sports committee had said that by moving ahead with funding on the accelerated schedule, as much as possible, they could reduce costs and inflationary building costs.
According to the minutes of the committee, published Wednesday, the YSA was
"Normally they would set up in the lobby, but today, since it was so nice, I let them set up on the picnic table outside," Ehrman said.
Haskell opens alcohol center
Alcoholism is America's leading drug problem, according to many experts. Among minority groups Indians have the highest rate of alcoholism.
Tahnakhra's idea became reality three and a half weeks ago in a program funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse. The program involved Haskell students who have a problem with
alcohol, Sandi Golden, educator counselor to the program, said this week.
Three years ago at Haskell American Indian College, a group led by Garrison Tahmakhera decided to alleviate the alcohol problem among Indians. It began plans for an alcohol and drug abuse program.
Although the program does handle other
types of drug cases, its emphasis is on
preventing overdose.
"Our long-range goal is to branch out in the community," Golden said. "We know there are Indians in the community who could use our help, too."
Students who need help are referred to the program by the faculty and the administration, the health clinic and the courts.
George Catt, Lawrence municipal court judge, said he referred all cases involving
See HASKELL Page :
Scholarship halls feeling inflation squeeze
By BETTY PALLANICH
Inflation is at it again.
Rising food prices and increased costs for supplies and maintenance are responsible for a probable increase of about $60 next year for room and board at scholarship accounts according to Mary Mahoney, president of the All Scholarship Hall Council.
Medical schools use computer to give students lectures, exams
Representatives from 25 medical schools met recently at the KU Medical center to discuss
The subject of the discussion wasn't feline, however. According to Edward J. Walaszek, chairman of the pharmacology department at the Med Center, CATS is an acronym for Computer Assisted Teaching Systems.
An association of CATS users was formed at the meeting, he said. Each member will provide assistance and ideas to other CATS users.
Walasek said representatives from the National Library of Medicine and the American Association of Medical Colleges also attended the meeting. He said they were interested in helping with the organization and dissemination of CATS.
"The first part of the program is the Computer Aided Instruction (CAI), which is used to teach programming."
The meeting included representatives from the 15 current CATS users and from 10 other medical schools that are potential CATS users, Walaszek said.
Walaszek said CATS was run on a computer named PHELI.
CATS is used to teach pharmacology to medical students at the Med Center and 14 units.
The second part of the program is the Computer Managed Instruction (CMI), which includes computer questions. When a student is ready, the computer gives him exams for each of the four units in the pharmacology course. Then he takes an exam and then take a final exam from the computer.
"The computer gives the student lectures, asks questions, gives additional information about the course."
"A medical student can finish the course in six, eight or nine weeks, or he may use the entire 19 weeks," he said. Even then, the student can get a six-week extension.
"This system can teach pharmacology to medical students, physicians in the state, nurses, dentists, anybody." Walaszek said. Some parts of the pharmacology program are translated into Spanish, Italian, Ger-
man, French, and Hebrew. The said. They will be demonstrated in Europe.
A great asset of CATS is its flexibility, Walaszek said.
In addition, each student receives a weekly letter from the computer, Walaszek said. The letter mentions areas of progress where the student should catch up, be said.
"It's a sophisticated program," he said.
"We think it's a very good system."
Mahoney said yesterday that the increase would be based on projected cost figures which should be released from the housing office within two weeks. She said these figures would be studied by the contract committee, which consists of at least one resident from each hall.
Mahoney said the committee would review all expenditures, make recommendations about next year's rates and present them to the council. She said attempts would be made to avoid the increase.
Cape complained of the amount of time it took to get maintenance work done. She said the halls usually had to call the housing office five or six times before getting action.
Cape said she didn't know how cuts could be made in food budgets.
"Scharolship hall people are already as thrifty as we can be," she said.
The current rate at Douthart and Sellars hills is $750 a year. All of the men's scholarship halls cost $283 a year. Watkins and Miller halls cost $250 a year, but this rate excludes the cost of food, which the residents buy themselves.
"We will try to adjust the problems of inefficient maintenance to avoid raising costs." Mahoney said. "In the final solution we try to compromise with the housing office."
"There's no magical way to solve these problems," the NASA scientist said. "there you can build a new planet."
J. J. Wilson, director of the housing office, said the only way to avoid the increase was to cut services, because it wilt not possible to hold prices down. He said the halls wrote off the losses. He believed what they wanted to spend. He blamed the increase on the cost of goods.
Jeff Hineman, contract committee member from Stephen Hall, said the committees would emphasize the review of all staff who hadn' t needed improved services, but he couldn't see justification for the current rate. Hineman said about one-third was for maintenance. Until a few weeks ago, he said, some of the halls were without heat.
"The whole idea of a scholarship hall is to have a low-cost living situation," Hinman said. "If it increases, the difference (between residence and residence halls) just isn't that great."
specific reasons for the increase. She said the rates increased $100 last year.
Evelyn Cape, committee member from Miller, said she thought the increase might not be as great for Miller and Watkins hills because they pay for their food separately. Food costs at Miller average $30 to $35 a month for each resident.
Ricki McMillan, Watkins committee member, said the committee would look for further information.
Repairs on Hoch called for
Immediate action should be taken to alleviate the hazardous conditions existing in Hoch Auditorium, Del Shankel, executive vice chancellor, said yesterday.
A meeting is scheduled Wednesday to discuss repair requests that will be submitted for next year's budget. Shankel sales Fund are needed to fund repairs in Hoech and for extensive remodeling, he said.
While the University waits for funds the curtains in Hoch should be taken down, James Seaver, chairman of SenEx, said. These curtains are eight feet wide and 10 feet tall. Harry Buehholz, director of the physical plant.
Eight to 10 years is too long for curtains of this type to be used, Clark Brubaker, state fire marshall, said. Flame-retardant curtains are required in all state schools, including private schools. After curtains have been treated with fire-resistant materials, they are labeled with the date of treatment and then periodically checked, Brubaker said.
All the University's buildings are inspected once a year by the state fire marshall, Brubaker said. All exits, stairways and wires are checked at this time.
Brubaker writes a report on each building, which is sent to the state fire marshall's office in Topeka. A copy of the report is sent to Buchholz. If steps are taken to correct requests, another check is made on the building.
Seaver said appropriation for repairs was needed immediately. He guessed that $20,000 to $30,000 would be needed to replace the curtains. This cost couldn't be covered by this year's budget, Seaver said.
It may be a long wait for the necessary funds. Budget requests are submitted in the spring and the Board of Regents decides which requests to support in May, Shankel said. These requests are then sent to the state's budget division June 1 and the state budget director holds budget hearings. The secretary serves to the governor next, who passes them on to the treasury department. Ways and Means Committee announces which requests will be funded sometime in February or March.
Until funds are provided, there should be some restrictions on the use of Hoch. Shakkel said.
Seaver said problems could arise if smoking regulations were not more rigidly enforced. One suggestion has been to stop performances if people in the audience were asked to stop smoking and have been told. However, this could present a difficult situation because people would have paid for the performance, he said.
A committee has been set up to present recommendations to the University about controls of fire hazards in Hoch. No money is now allowed in the University budget for continued maintenance of Hoch, Jon Josserand, member of the study committee, said.