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The University Daily Kansas is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansen are 50 cents. Subscriptions can be purchased at the Kansen business office, 2051A Dole Human Development
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The University does not accept Visa cards to pay tuition because it "has some very specific requirements" that KU can't meet, said Katrina Yoakum.
Using a Visa to pay tuition? Think again.
KWANG HYUN
@ChwangWitlt
When JongHyun Park, a 23-year-old student from South Korea, tried to pay part of his tuition and fees with a Visa credit card through the University's online payment system, he couldn't use the card. He ended up having to get a MasterCard to make the payment.
That's because the University, unlike other Division I schools in Kansas, doesn't accept Visa as a payment option for tuition and fees.
Wichita State University and Kansas State University are among those that accept Visa, according to their websites. Nationally, more than 60 percent of public universities accept Visa for tuition and fees, according to Creditcard.com.
because I'm an international student and I don't have a lot of options to pay my tuition," Park said.
"It was inconvenient for me
He said other "foreign students use Visa since Master-Card isn't that popular in other countries like South Korea."
According to Cardhub.com, roughly 50 percent of credit card users have Visa, followed by MasterCard with about 30 percent. Along with MasterCard, KU accepts Discover
and American Express. If an attempt is made to use an invalid card to pay for tuition, or a card is returned for another reason, the University charges students a $1.50 fee.
Katrina Yoakum, the University's comptroller, said she periodically receives questions from parents and students about why the University does not accept Visa for tuition payments. She said the University's billing system cannot
meet Visa's requirement that it separates a 2.25 percent "convenience fee" from the overall tuition bill that the University charges for credit card transactions.
"Visa has some very specific requirements, and currently we cannot meet those requirements, so therefore we don't accept Visa," Yoakum said.
VIDEO FROM PAGE1
"We were trying to figure out what we could do to give people a baseline understanding, and when you have a campus this large, this is one of the ways you do that," she said.
KU Athletics is also working to provide student athletes with information and education on microaggression and other issues. The department has a diversity committee made up of staff, student athletes and representatives from offices on campus like the Multicultural Center and the Emily Taylor Center.
The committee works to educate and inform student athletes and staff on different diversity topics every year, said Theresa Becker, associate athletics director.
"It's kind of a broad topic for us this year, but generally speaking it has everything to do with social issues," Becker said. "With that being our focused topic, we are going to be very,very sensitive to and very committed to making sure we address microaggression issues when we present our information and our training and education to our students and staff."
Becker hopes this sort of awareness and training, paired with the education from the Office of Diversity and Equity, will help prepare student athletes for the real world after they finish their eligibility and graduate.
Thomas said he also agrees that this sort of awareness and training can help prepare students for successful careers and a future in the world after
college. He said he believes this generation doesn't want to create spaces where people feel mistreated because of certain comments and stereotypes.
"We want people to be more thoughtful, and I think this generation is pushing that," Thomas said. "How great would it be for our students to say, 'Yes, when you think about how we promote diversity and how we are seen as a leader around diversity, that's KU' Our students can wear that as a badge of honor. Our faculty can wear that as a badge of honor."
and go talk to teachers because they help a lot," Onianwa said. "But if you don't feel comfortable going to your teacher at all, especially if you feel like they aren't going to take you seriously, then you really won't go. Then your grades slip, and you're afraid to ask for help because you're afraid to fulfill the stereotype of not doing well in school or something. So then you get behind even more, and then you drop out."
Onianwa and others say a more welcoming environment could help KU improve the retention rate of black freshmen, which has been declining since 2010.
"Something I tell people to do a lot is go to office hours,
As far as the efforts of the University go. Onianwa said she thinks that they are a good start, but said she wonders whether people can change their habits.
"With microaggression, the people that actually know what it is are the people that actually care," she said. "But most people when they hear microaggression defined they're like,
'Oh that's stupid, why are you offended by that?' So the people who don't care probably aren't going to understand it."
The Office of Diversity and Equity and IOA are working to get feedback about the video from some students and groups to ensure that they are releasing an effective product.
"We want to get to a place where people are having more conversations than this office is having, and that they are starting to facilitate the process of, 'Hey let's talk about these things.'" Thomas said. "We really want it to be infused throughout our campus."
Edited by Amber Vandegrift
Student Senate committees pass a bill to use gender-neutral pronouns in rules handbook
ALANA FLINN
@alana_flinn
Two Student Senate committees passed a bill on Wednesday with the goal of eliminating microaggression on campus.
In an effort to make Student Senate more inclusive, a bill passed through both the University Affairs and Rights committees tonight that, if passed through full Senate next week, would remove all of the gender-specific pronouns, including "he," "she," "him," "her," "his" and "hers," from the Student Senate Rules and Regulations. They would be replaced with gender-neutral pronouns "they," "them" and
"I went through and eliminated every possible combination of pronouns that are microaggressions," Baker said. "We strive to be an inclusive group in Senate and sometimes we fall short of that, and this opens up as many doors as possible for those people."
Harrison Baker, an author of the bill and a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences senator, said there would be about 90 pronoun changes. The changes aim to make transgender students who want to be involved in Senate less alienated.
"their."
The bill will be seen by full Senate next Wednesday.
- Edited by Maddie Farber
COURTNEY VARNEY/KANSAN
COURTNEY VARNEY/KANSAN Harrison Baker points to the screen during a Student Senate meeting on Wednesday, Oct.14.
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