TODAY'S WEATHER: Mostly sunny and warmer with a high of 86. SPORTS: Volleyball drops another game, this time to Missouri.
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
TUESDAY OCTOBER 2,2001
ISSUE 27
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOLUME 112
New forum to urge alliance among Asian associations
By J. R. Mendoza Kansan staff writer
Tiffany Lopez said she thought the Asian community at the University of Kansas needed to be more unified.
So the Minneapolis junior and student senator — and the only other Asian-American student senator Jonathan Ng, who is also a Kansan readers' representative, created the Asian Alliance Presidents' Forum to address issues among Asian groups on campus.
"In the past, there's been a lack of communication between Asian organizations," Lopez said. "The Asian community is suffering because of that. Our presence is not known as well because we don't collaborate. I wanted to bridge the communication gap between all the organizations."
Lopez said the alliance members, who were compiled from eight student organizations, discussed ways to work toward planning the Asian American Student Union-sponsored Taste of Asia event in the spring. They also want to create a central Web site for the different Asian organizations and find ways to receive money from Student Senate.
Lopez said she helped form the alliance so she could better represent Asian-American students.
"This will enable me to get a better consensus of how the Asian population feels and looks to accomplish," she said.
Jerry Wang, Atlanta senior and president of the Asian American Student Union, said the meeting was important because of a lack of cohesion among the organizations. He said a language and cultural barrier also existed.
"There is so many diverse organizations with different languages," Wang said. "We want to try to get everyone together. I hope good things come out of this."
Wang said the alliance also addressed the drop in the Asian student population on campus.
The Office of Institutional Research and Planning reported last week that the number of Asian-American students at the University decreased from 164 students to 121 this year.a 26-percent decline.
"We want to show the incoming freshman that there is Asian unity on campus so that the Asian population will increase." Wang said.
Mansoor Shaffie, Leawood junior and president of the Pakistan Cultural Club, said the alliance wanted to unify all Asian groups.
"It's about time something like this happened," Shaffie said. "I had no idea so many people were involved in Asian culture on campus. There's a lot of good ideas. I think it will be a good year."
The forum included members from the following student groups: the Asian American Student Union, Indonesia Student Organization, Pakistan Cultural Club, Thai Student Association, Taiwanese Student Association, Bangladesh Student Association, Cultural India Club and the Vietnamese Student Association.
Contact Mendoza at 864-4810
Bussystems work alone
Opinions still differ on feasibility of uniting city, campus buses
By Justin Henning and Andrew Ledell Special to the Kansan
A survey of KU students in the spring of 1999 showed they were in favor of a joint bus system between the city of Lawrence and the University of Kansas by more than a 10 to one margin
Two years later, the two systems remain separate.
Instead of combining systems, the city created a separate bus system in December 2000 that complemented KU on Wheels.
"There was a preliminary discussion about combining the two, and lots of
ideas were bounced around," said Danny Kaiser, member of the Lawrence Public Transit Advisory Committee and director of the KU Organizations and Leadership Center. "But nothing was ever finalized or formalized."
Several obstacles prevent the two systems from working together. First, the buses for KU on Wheels do not meet federal statutes. Second, University money cannot be used to finance city projects.
In addition to these reasons, Kaiser said the two systems could not work together because they served two different purposes. The city system, known as the "T," aims to provide general access to public transport citywide and has only one route that runs through campus. KU on Wheels focuses on getting students to and from class.
"The students have a very functional bus system," Kaiser said. "It has proven that it works. The city has yet to prove it can run a system. Why would KU merge prematurely with the city?"
Mary Michener, the vice chairwoman for the advisory committee, thinks otherwise. She said the two systems should be combined to bring KU on Wheels up to the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which sets the ground rules for handicap accessibility in public transportation.
"Most of the KU on Wheels buses are old," Michener said. "They do not comply with the ADA standards. As long as they neglect this, they may not receive state funds."
This is not a concern for KU on Wheels, however, which is privately
owned and operated by Student Senate. Forty percent of KU on Wheels' money comes from student fees and the remaining 60 percent from the sale of bus passes.
Mike Appleby, KU on Wheels coordinator for Student Senate and advisory committee member, said Disabilities Act regulations applied to only buses added after the statute was passed. Regardless, Appleby said KU's Services for Students with Disabilities department provided van rides for bus pass holders who were permanently or temporarily handicapped.
In addition to Disabilities Act compliance, another problem prevents the two bus systems from merging.
SEE BUSES PAGE 3A
CRACKING THE COCOON
Students from the school of dance emerge from a "cocoon" as part of an interpretive dance. The performance took place in Marvin Grove near the Campanile yester day as part of a three-day conference on landscape architecture. The conference was organized by the University of Kansas and Kansas State schools of architecture
Students snag new directories
Directories free for students in residence halls; Otherwise, $2
By Jeremy Clarkson Kansan staff writer
Student directories for the 2001-2002 academic year arrived on campus last week.
Cohen said more directories should be delivered by the end of this week and would be distributed across campus with a copy going to each phone.
In the upcoming weeks, various locations on campus will receive directories, said Todd Cohen, assistant director of University Relations.
Residence halls received piles of directories for residents only.
"Books are provided only for on-campus phones." Cohen said. "If you live off-campus, you have to go to the bookstores and buy them."
Directories are available for students at bookstores in the Kansas and Burge unions.
Last week, residence halls received copies of the directories, which are available for students to pick up in the main lobbies.
The bookstores sell the directories for $2 with a faculty, student or staff ID and $4 without an ID.
Ethan Adams, Parsons sophomore and Ellsworth Hall resident, said his hall ran out of directories soon after they were delivered.
Most of the residence halls still have copies, but some halls are already out of directories.
The cover of the 2001-2002 student directory that was released last week.
Adams said he was pleased he picked up his directory when he did.
Cohen said the listings in the directories mainly came from the student database.
He suggested that students should make changes if information in the directory is incorrect.
If the listing has an error, the correct information can be obtained from the University operator at 864-2700.
Cohen said errors could be corrected at the University Registrar's office in Strong Hall.
Although the directories won't reflect the change, the office would update the student information on the KU Web site and in the student database.
Cohen said corrections in Administrative Offices could be made by sending the changes in writing to the University Registrar's office.
He said errors in the faculty and staff listings could be reported to Human Resources at 864-7416.
Contact Clarkson at 864-4810
Students to protest blood donation policy
By Paul Smith Kansan staff writer
Members of KU Queers and Allies will protest the blood drive at the Kansas Union Ballroom tomorrow in response to a policy regarding blood donation which members of the organization say discriminates against gays.
Neither the American Red Cross nor the Community Blood Center, both sponsors of the blood drive, accept blood from male donors with any homosexual history. They also refuse blood from women whose partners have had sex with homosexual men.
C. J. Snow, Lawrence freshman and co-director of Queers and Allies, said the organization supported the blood drive, but the Food and Drug Administration policy that governed blood donation was objectionable.
INSIDETODAY
SEE BLOOD PAGE 3A
COMING IN TOMORROW'S KANSAN
WORLD NEWS ...5A
HOROSCOPES ...9A
WEATHER ...8A
CROSSWORD ...8A
NEWS: Read why Student Senate decided not to give College Republicans funding this year.
SPORTS: Men's and women's golf teams complete tournament play.
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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.
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