TODAY'S WEATHER: Scattered, cold showers with a high of 45. MEN'S BASKETBALL: Jayhawks to take on Princeton tonight.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TALK TO US: Contact
Kursten Phelps or Leita
Schultes at (785) 864-4810
or editor@kansan.com
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 12,2001
WWW.KANSAN.COM
ISSUE 72 VOLUME 112
Flex Plan to provide on-campus meal account
By Christina Neff Kansan managing editor
Marita Robinson eats a sack lunch between classes every day. A Lawrence freshman who lives in McCollum Hall, Robinson said there was no way she could make it from her classes to Ekdahl Dining Commons for lunch every day.
"I just have an hour in between (classes) on most days, so that isn't enough time to walk back," she said.
Thousands of KU students face a similar problem, and some say the ritual is unfair. They say the University should provide a way for residence hall students to eat on campus.
The Department of Student Housing is introducing a program next fall hoping to ease some of these frustrations. The Flex Plan will allow students to access an account on their KUIDs to use at the eating establishments in the Kansas and Burge Unions and at Wescoe Terrace.
There is a catch, though.
The plan will raise student housing fees $20, which goes directly into the meal accounts. After students have used their $20, they can add more out of their own pockets, but $20 is the extent of credit included in the meal plan.
Mary Ann Graham, manager of the KU card center, said the Flex Plan was really no different than the computer chip on KUID cards that was already available to students.
A student's Flex Plan account, however, will be programmed onto the card's magnetic stripe instead of onto the computer chip.
"The stripe is online if you lose your card you still have your money." Graham said. "With the chip, if you lose your card, you lose your money."
The meal plan is not without its drawbacks, however.
Students can save 15 percent by using the chip. This discount would not be part of the deal with the Flex Plan. Students would also be unable to use the meal plan account for vending machines.
"That is not the plan we are looking for, but it is a good step," said Steppe, a St. Joseph, Mo., junior said.
Matt Steppe, a student senator representing residence halls, is spearheading efforts on behalf of students to provide dining alternatives, and he said the housing department's plan was not perfect.
Nona Golledge, assistant director for student housing dining services, said the department was still discussing details on how the program would be implemented.
It is examining the programs of several other universities while determining its policies. Golledge said KU officials had visited Kansas State University and the University of Missouri, among others.
Duke University in Durham, N.C., already has a system in place similar to what Steppe would like for KU.
Duke students receive points when they buy their meal plans. They are then able to spend those points as cash at select restaurants on and off campus.
Steppe said he hoped that KU's program evolves into a system similar to Duke's.
"Students are very receptive to the idea." he said.
Steppe said there was no quick solution, but he said the student housing department and the Unions had a duty to serve students fairly.
"The students want it and it is their duty to give it to them," he said.
Parking garage approved
Contact Neff at 864-4810
Commission votes 4-1 to build addition, garage at St. Lawrence Center
By Courtney Craigmile Kansan staff writer
The St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center got the go-ahead last night to build a two-level parking garage and a 16,000-square-foot addition to the Administration/Religious Education Center.
The City Commission voted 4-1 to approve the new site plan. Mayor Mike
"I may cast the stone opposing vore just to side with the neighbors," Rundle said.
Rundle was the only dissenting vote.
Commissioners Sue Hack, Marty Kennedy, Jim Henry and David Dunfield voted to approve the additions after listening to two and a half hours of public comment on the issue.
About 30 neighborhood residents told commissioners why they opposed the construction at 1631 Crescent Road.
"Everybody in this neighborhood is concerned about what is happening here." resident Faye Watson said. "This has been our neighborhood for many,
many years, and it seems like it's being taken away from us."
The four commissioners said they approved the plan because the center was a benefit to the University of Kansas community and students.
Watson said she felt as if the education center was becoming too large for her single-family neighborhood.
"The need is there and the center is growing. It is appropriately located that close to the University, and it provides a service to the students," commissioner Henry said.
Derek Teeter, Oakley senior, spoke before the commission to express how
influential the center had been during his time at KU.
"I came from a small town, and I was looking for a transition to a large city and university. St. Lawrence provided that, and the location is part of the reason why," he said.
The center has daily Mass and provides activities for KU students.
Construction on the new parking garage and building space will begin next summer. The parking garage is expected to be completed around January 2003.
Contact Craigmile at 864-4810
A credit card can be convenient, but overspending can lead some college students into a Debt Trap
STORY BY LUKE DALEY PHOTOS BY JOHN NOWAK
All that Mary Corcoran has left to show for her $10,500 credit card debt is a closet full of clothes she seldom wears.
They hang untouched in the closet of her room, serving as a reminder of the money she spent, the sorority house she can no longer afford and the debt she started racking up four years ago that she is now trying to repay.
Corcoran, Lawrence senior, is one of many students at the University who rely on credit cards as a primary source of instant spending gratification yet later find that high interest rates make it difficult to repay the debt.
Getting credit cards is easy because companies often solicit on campus — something Student Senate wants stopped. Senate endorsed a petition asking the University to ban credit card solicitors from campus, saying the solicitors provide no educational service and facilitate harmful spending practices.
According to the American Bank Institute, the average college student owes $2,748 in credit card debt and 10 percent of students with credit cards have debt of more than $7,000. SUSPECT SPENDING
SUSPECT SPENDING
Corcoran charged her way into debt by using eight different credit cards by the time she was 19.
"I look at it as a game, and I didn't have the right strategy." Corcoran said.
"I don't have a car. I don't have anything to show for it, just clothes that I really don't even wear anymore."
Corcoran's friends and family warned her what could happen if she kept spending, but the pull to spend what she wanted, when she wanted, took over.
Paul Corcoran, Mary's father, said he didn't know the extent of the debt his daughter charged up through credit cards.
"She has a tendency to buy 'cool' things and then stop wearing them," Paul Corcoran said.
In March of 2001, Mary Corcoran moved out of her sorority, Gamma Phi
Beta, when her debt left her without the cash to pay for it.
Corcoran said she went to Mazatlan, Mexico for spring break last year by using financial aid money that was supposed to pay for her housing.
"I had never been on a big trip," Corcoran said. "I thought, what the hell."
She intended to pay her Gamma Phi Beta bills when she returned, but she was unaware that in her absence, threatening bills were arriving from credit card companies. She had changed her address and statements were being mailed to her old residence.
Coronar returned to find large credit card bills she had to start paying immediately and an expensive sorority.
She had no choice but to move back into her parents' home.
DEFENSE AGAINST DEBT
In January, Coronor tried to escape her web of credit card debts by consolidating them through a financial company. The debt became even bigger.
The debt became even bigger.
She said that while she thought her debts were being consolidated, credit card companies were still charging her interest and late fees.
Corcoran then sought help from Robert Baker, credit counselor for Consumer Credit Counseling Service in Lawrence.
Baker, who agreed to discuss Corcoran's problems publicly only after she gave him permission, said the consolidation company didn't tell Corcoran that her first month's payment went to paying the company's service charge and not to reducing her debt. The confusion caused her to miss a month's worth of payments.
"The cards that she wasn't on on, she became late on." Baker said. "That resulted in late fees that sent her over her limit, causing her to get fees for charging over her limit."
FRAUDULENT FINANCES
One former KU student, Eman Tabrizi, spent his way into $5,000 of
Student studying cancer now has to fight it
By Courtney Craigmile
Kansan staff writer
But unlike most KU students, Boos has cancer.
Lee Boos is like most KU students: He likes KU basketball, he likes to hang out with friends, and he studies hard.
The nodular sclerosing subtype of Hodgkin's disease was diagnosed in the Ellis senior on Halloween. He is 24.
According to the National Cancer Institute, that subtype of
"Cancer is a very lonely diagnosis," he said. "It's difficult, especially the timing, since this is my last year at KU. The diagnosis was very ironic since this is what I've studied for years."
Boos is majoring in human biology and has fulfilled the prerequisites for the pre-cytotech
Hodgkin's disease is most common in adolescents and adults. It is concentrated in the midchest region and has an 85 percent survival rate.
nology program so he can attend the cytotechnology program at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Cytotechnology is the science of diagnosing cancer.
"I've honestly been interested in cancer since I came to KU six years ago," he said.
The reality sets in
Boos' cancer began in his left lymph node right above his collar bone. He said the lymph node grew to about the size of a pingpong ball before he went to
the doctor.
"A swollen lymph node isn't something you get too excited about," he said. "Lymph nodes can be swollen for a number of reasons."
And because he didn't have any typical symptoms for Hodgkin's, he wasn't worried that he had the disease.
But his mom said she thought something was wrong with her son.
SEE CANCER PAGE 5A
Symptoms of Hodgkin's Disease:
■ Painless swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck underarm or groin.
■ Unexplained recurrent fevers.
■ Night sweats.
■ Unexplained weight loss.
■ Itchy skin.
**Source:** National Cancer Institute
INSIDETODAY
WORLD NEWS ...2A
HOROSCOPES ...2B
WEATHER ...6B
CROSSWORD ...6B
COMING IN TOMORROW'S KANSAN
STRESS: Hitting the gym might help you make it through finals.
BASKETBALL: Results from Kansas' road trip to Princeton.
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents. Subscriptions can be purchased at 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall.