Tuesday
September 17, 2002
Vol. 113. Issue No. 18 / 19
Today's weather
84°
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Tell us your news Call Jay Krall, Brooke Hesler or Kyle Ramsey at 864-4810
KANSAN
Students kill time,develop skills playing intramural sports,p.1B
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Budget cuts quiet campus timekeeper
By Kyle Ramsey
Kansan staff writer
A familiar campus timepiece has suffered a budget cut deep enough to silence it indefinitely.
The century-old campus steam whistle, part of the University of Kansas' power plant, was muted after it received a new steam line this summer.
The upgrade left the whistle inoperable because the Facilities Operations department's budget didn't have the money to insulate the steam line, said George Cone, assistant director of Facilities Operations.
"Everyone's got to take a budget cut somewhere," Cone said. "We've got to make choices about other projects on campus."
Not insulating the line, which can reach temperatures of 250 degrees, creates a work hazard for employees in the power plant. Cone said.
Facilities Operations officials aren't sure when the whistle will be back in action. Doug Riat, director of Facilities Operations, said the department would have a better idea of the fate of the whistle in a few weeks. Officials are waiting on a bid from a consulting company that is evaluating the University's energy efficiency.
The whistle's silenced bellow has been noticed.
Jason Lance, Salina junior, sat in the Kansas Union yesterday waiting for his next class without a clock in view.
"There's no clocks and there's no whistle." he said.
Lance said the University should consider the whistle a priority and get it fixed.
The University silenced the whistle for two months because of budget concerns in September 1999.
The whistle was first introduced in 1899. It signaled the 8 p.m. student curfew. In 1912 the whistle became a classroom bell, signaling the beginning and end of classes each hour.
Contact Ramsey at kramsey@kansan.com. This story was edited by Melissa Shuman.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
The whistle that signals the end of each class period has been silenced this year because of budget cuts. Money was not available to insulate the new pipe for the steam whistle and an uninsulated pipe was considered a work hazard.
Brandon Baker/Kansan
John Chaffee Lawrence sophomore, marches down Massachusetts Street. Participation is declining in marching bands at some Big 12 Conference universities, including KU.
Band marching with fewer feet
By Jenna Goepfert
Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas Marching Band is playing on, but with fewer musicians.
Tom Stidham, assistant director of bands, said the band's lack of money to offer as stipends to musicians and time-consuming band activities were the main reasons for small membership this year.
He said the marching band used to have nearly 275 members about 15 years ago, and would average about 240 per year. Now there are just 150 participants.
Newly appointed director of bands John Lynch said he was concerned about
membership given the size of the University.
Lynch said it was his goal to increase enrollment to 300 members within the next three years, but said the current decline was not specific to KU and that the membership decrease could be seen nationally.
Stidham said providing reimbursement for students' time in the form of stipends might help attract and retain interested musicians.
"We would consider doing that very strongly, but especially now with budgets being the way they are, it's hard to do that," he said.
Lynch said the band's budget was paid
for with money from Student Senate, the Kansas University Athletics Corporation and the Department of Music.
The University of Missouri Marching Band offers stipends to its members after they have begun their third year of participation in the band. Tina Price, administrative assistant for the band, said she was not sure how much money musicians received but said payments increased for each year thereafter.
Price said enrollment in Missouri's 242-member marching band had also struggled recently.
"We're in kind of a transition," she said. "We're in a bit of a decline. We usually have about 280 members, so it's not
Officials from both Oklahoma and Kansas State universities said their numbers had fluctuated, but they had not noticed any decline. Neither band offers stipends to its participants. Oklahoma's band has 288 members while Kansas State's has about 280.
Valerie Cole, Wichita junior, had been a trumpet player for the Marching Jayhawks for two years. She said she still played for fun and practiced but was not participating this year because it took up too much time.
But some students and professors see
Students want simpler way to get paid
SEE BAND ON PAGE 6A
By Justin Henning
By Justin Henning
Kansan staff writer
Amy Boydston has a problem with her campus job. Not with the pay, but how she receives her check.
"For someone who lives off campus, it's really inconvenient to have to pick up my paycheck from Carruth-O'Leary every two weeks," the Overland Park sophomore said.
This fall, students returning to, or starting campus jobs have to hike over to Carruth-O'Leary Hall, 1246 West Campus Road, every two weeks to pick up their checks. A year ago, paychecks were delivered to the place a student worked. Faculty members' paychecks
still get mailed to their homes.
Diane Goddard, assistant vice provost and comptroller, said there were good reasons for the change.
"You want as few people as possible to handle students' checks," she said. "We discovered that there were way too many people these checks flowed through."
Over the summer, there were about 700 paychecks printed each week, but only half of them were picked up.
This fall, the office of the comptroller has been encouraging staff and faculty to sign up for the Electronic Fund Transfer option. This allows paychecks to be deposited directly into their bank accounts. However, about 1,300 students with campus jobs are not signed
up for direct deposit. Employment numbers for this year are not available, but last year about 4,000 students were employed by the University.
Students can also elect to have their checks mailed to them via the United States Postal Service. But Goddard said this led to more returned checks than delivered ones because students failed to update their address with the Office of the Comptroller.
"We don't have everybody's current address in our system," she said. "The last time we mailed out W-2 forms, so many were returned that we decided it wasn't effective to use the addresses we had."
This is why the direct deposit system has been suggested. Goddard said direct deposit forms could be found on
the comptroller's Web site, www.comptrollerku.edu. The process takes one full pay cycle to begin because the direct deposit information for each student is sent first as a test to their bank. "I know this is causing an inconvenience," Goddard said. "I just want to get us to a much better place."
In the meantime, Boydston, who works at the front desk of Hashinger Hall, thought she had a better idea.
"I think the University should pay for the time it takes for me to walk over there and get it," she said.
Contact Henning at
jhening@kansan.com. Andy Samuelson edited this story.
Freedom's Answer voter drive comes to campus
Bv Caleb Nothwehr
Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas is among the first universities to include its voice in Freedom's Answer, a nationwide campaign designed to achieve the largest voter turnout in a nonpresidential election.
Several colleges have expressed interest in Freedom's Answer, but none to the extent of KU, said Joe Novak, the Kansas state director for the program.
The campaign, started in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, seeks to publicize the November election and mobilize high school students to collect
voter pledge cards.
Nick Sterner, Shawnee freshman, brought the program to KU. Sterner was involved in the program last year at Mill Valley High School in Shawnee, and introduced it to Student Senate this fall.
Now KU is taking the tactics developed by the program and implementing them on its campus.
Sterner approached his high school principal, Novak, with the idea of expanding the program to KU this summer. Novak contacted Freedom's Answer's national office about including KU.
Sterner has high expectations for the campaign.
"I really hope Freedom's Answer is a significant part of our registration drive and gets students out there voting - not just ignoring what's going on around them," he said.
Senate is adopting Freedom's Answer tactics into its voter registration drive by having KU students sign voter pledge cards and manning booths at KU football games.
Novak said he hoped Freedom's Answer would introduce young people to the voting process and keep them interested in voting for the rest of their lives.
"It's like playing golf," Novak said.
"Once you set started, you'll be hooked."
Betsy White, press secretary for Free-
dom's Answer, said the title of the campaign referred to America's response to last year's terrorist attacks.
"We're trying to show that our great democracy is unshaken. What better way to do that than in the voting booth?" White said.
Johanna Maska, Galesburg, Ill., junior, and Senate legislative director, said Freedom's Answer would be an effective addition to KU's voter registration campaign because it would remind people to get to the polls.
White said KU would be a strong voice
"If we get 5,000 people registered, that's great. But if they don't go to the polls, in the end, it doesn't matter." Maska said.
in Freedom's Answer.
"We're thrilled at the University of Kansas' participation." White said "It's only going to make our program stronger."
The registration has proven surprisingly convenient for students, said Christal Lloyd, McPherson freshman, who registered to vote at the University Info Fair.
"I figured if I'm going to be here for four years, I might as well get it taken care of." Lloyd said.
Contact Nothweir at cnothwehr@kansan.com. Katie Taske edited this story.
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