6B
Friday, October 25.1974
University Dally Kansan
Laws give birth to administrative brood
A popular saying has it that three things are necessary to run a university.
"You need students, you need a faculty, and you need research tools. You don't need athletics and (the voice leaders to a whisper here) you don't need administrators."
Administrators.
Many people don't know where they come from, but there they are. Some people think administrators breed in the spring and pop out during the summer like larvae. Others
think they breed in closets like coat bangars.
But the real reason for the proliferation of administrators is federal and state
In the past 10 years federal and state government regulations have led to a faster increase in the number of administrators at the university of Kansas than the number of students.
"Much of this is increased reporting,
affirmative action, HIWE reporting and
administration of fringe benefits” Martin
cantor for business affairs, and record-
ing.
From 1964 to 1974 the number of persons listed in the administrative section of the KU budget went up 135 per cent, while the number of students increased 65 per cent.
Not all administrative functions at KU are included in the administration section of the budget, but the section does include the administrative function. The offices of the dean of men and women,
In 1964 only three activities—chancellor's office, business office and personnel office.
the vice chancellor for student affairs and the administrators of schools and departments are listed in separate sections of the budget.
This year 10 activities are listed, including affirmative action, administration information systems and institutional research.
Just over half the increase in the number of administrators came in two years: from the fall of 1968 to the fall of 1969 and from the fall of 1972 to the fall of 1973. KU coincidentally got a new chancellor in each of those periods.
of the 18.5 "new" positions that year, only one wasn't a shift in assignment from one section of the budget to another or a position created by federal or state requirements.
From 1972 to 1973, for example, the number of positions went up 22 per cent, in just one year, when Archie R. Dykes became chancellor.
The number of persons assigned to institutional research increased dramatically, from 1.8 to 19.2. Systems development was combined with the office of institutional research in that year, adding 5.2 positions.
That year an affirmative action office added two positions to the administration.
A shift of 12.5 positions from the computation center contributed the most to the increase in temperature.
Two more positions were added when the Kansas legislature passed a law allowing new members to be appointed as needed to administer KU's labor relations. From 1968 to 1969 the number of staff members went up 21 per cent, the year when E. Laurence Chalmers became
That year a new office of systems development was created. Four of the five people in that new office were transferred from another part of the University budget. The number of persons in the chancellor's office was but only two of those were new positions.
The business office increased by three and the personnel office by one to make up the balance of the 14 person increase that year.
Make-up Editor
Universities as living, breathing, growing creatures? This analogy may not be as far fetched as it may seem, for in many respects universities are like human beings.
The University of Kansas is no exception. Nothing is static—there is constant motion, change and growth. The body of the University is the campus itself, a physical entity that allows the processes of education to function.
Plan keeps KU physically fit
As with living creatures, unless this body is functioning smoothly, the mental and emotional state of an individual without the cooperation of thousands of different people, the University will fail to
THE TERM UNIVERSITY has away<sup>a</sup> been of nebulous and varied meaning, since it combines so many different philosophies and ideas. Most people generally think of the University as a place to come for a course in computer science, but the definition can no longer suffice for the conglomerate that KU has become throughout the years.
By MARK MITCHELL
In the original charter for the University, it was stated that the role and mission of KU was to teach and train students in the field of Kansas with means of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the various branches of literature, science and arts. "Essentially, the university of Kansas was a liberal arts institution.
been the rule rather than the exception, according to Chancellor Archie R. Dykes.
practical education of the industrial class-
es, and professional proficiency.
*College of Computer Pfit-It-
tle*
... the KU faculty can be reduced during times of depressed enrollment without dismissing anyone with tenure or anyone working toward tenure ..
Jones said that in the past six years the University had added personnel to handle workmen's compensation, health insurance—new benefits for its employees.
The legislature is seeking more information about the University. Faculty, staff and students are more engaged in the administration of the University.
At the same time, Jones said, more and more people wanted more and more in-
forcing.
Thus, the administration has been forced to create functions, like administrative information systems, to generate that information.
"We sedism get any new positions except on the basis of enrollment increases," Jones said.
Sometimes the administration can add a position or two through the use of unrestricted funds supplied by the Endowment Association, but most increases come from increased student enrollment or increased state appropriations.
The term university has always been of nebulous and varied meaning, since it combines so many different philosophies and ideas.
past people had thought of KU as a place to stay. The university KU has multiplicity of roles, he said.
See MASTER Next Page
On the other hand, other state institutions were designed for specifically different purposes. Kansas State University, founded in 1850, is one of the institutions designed "to promote the liberal and
burg were designed specifically to educate prospective teachers.
function properly, bringing an educational decay that is similar to human sickness
Continued reevaluation and discussion of plans for state institutions goes on conference through committees such as the Council (COCAO) which submitted a report last winter recommending certain changes in the six state-supported universities, Nichols
In a living body, each part has a special purpose. So it is at the University of Kansas. Streets, sidewalks and bike routes serve as access points to the campus flow of traffic. Building and grounds personnel keep the campus clean and operative. The physical plant provides energy. Administrators act as an impulse system to interconnect the entire University.
ORIGINALLY, THE STATE institutions were delegated specific functions in the Kansas system of higher education, KU was the state's major liberal arts college, KState concentrated on the applied and industrial colleges and Pittsburg were teachers' colleges.
EACH STUDENT is like a cell—the smallest but most important part of the body. Each cell has its own structure. Each cell may seem insignificant in the total scheme, but the University as a whole must be seen as a vehicle for the individual rather than the reverse.
Although the master plan (KU Physical Development Plan) does deal with physical planning, philosophy of education and changes in curricula, Nichols said, the term "it would be impossible to design one plan to serve a changing, growing university."
According to Raymond Nichols, chancellor emeritus, the master plan is a guideline submitted to the Board of Regents that gives a very general picture of what KU is and will be through 1980. It is designed by the KU Planning Council.
However, in recent years there has been increased overlapping of the state universities to the point where the stereotype of the liberal arts college won't actually fit KU, neither will the stereotype of the agricultural college fit K-State.
Every living creature grows. So does KU, and continuous preparation and discussion of species.
FOR EXAMPLE, just as a doctor predicts that a child will grow to be a certain height at maturity, the "master plan" forecasts the future needs of the University in building space, lighting, streets, land and other areas.
This overlapping of functions between liberal arts and agricultural colleges has
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