SPORTS: The Kansas women's basketball team defeats Southwest Missouri State 65-51. Page 9.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
VOL.102.NO.75
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 9.1992
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Plans draw new attention to minorities
By Mark Martin Kansan staff writer
Kansan staff writer
A recent proposal by the African American Student Concerns Task Force and a resolution passed by Student Senate three weeks ago have rekindled debate concerning the creation of an administrative position responsible for cultural affairs.
Administrators say they are looking into the recommendations, but many minority students at the University of Kansas wonder whether their concerns are really ever heard.
"It seems like nothing will be done with this until students make some noise about it," said Peter Braithwaite, off-campus student senator and member of the African American Student Concerns Task Force.
Knight-Ridder Tribune
Braithwaite pointed out that in 1898, a task force recommended that the University create a new position to oversee
That position was never created
Braithwaite co-wrote the Senate resolution this year, which demanded that the Office of Minority Affairs, which operates within the division of student affairs, be moved up to operate within the executive vice chancellor's office. The resolution also calls for elevating the OMA director to assistant or associate vice chancellor status.
Some think raising OMA's status would allow it to be more effective. Hispanic students have complained that the OMA has been insensitive to their needs and lacks Hispanic resources such as magazines and journals. Most say that with an expanded role, the OMA could serve minority students better.
The problem with the office currently is that students come there with problems they're having on campus, and that office has no power to change policies," Braithwaite said. "They can just make suggestions. We're just saying that the office needs more respect on campus and more power."
Tim Dawson, chairperson of Student Senate's minority affairs committee and the co-author of the Senate resolution, said that the OMA was lost in the shuffle because the office was too low in KU's organizational structure.
A member of the U.S. armed forces takes cover after an early morning beach landing near the main airport in Mogadishu, Somalia.
"Right now they have to go through too many channels to get anything done," he said. "They have to go to the dean of student life, then to the vice chancellor for student affairs, then the executive vice chancellor. Things die down before people at the top even hear about them."
Before 1987, OMA worked within the chancellor's office, and the director reported straight to the chancellor. The office was moved into the student affairs division, where it stands now.
David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs, said the office was moved to student affairs because studies determined that the office's main function was to deal with students.
Moving the office to student affairs would allow more contact with students and with other offices it needs to work with, such as admissions and financial aid.
Ambler said that because of KU's budget constraints, he did not think the University would be able to create a new position in the administration.
"The University is carefully studying the recent task force report," he said. "One of their recommendations was to create a University-wide council that could oversee all the programs that deal with minority needs."
Source: The Associated Press. Knight-Ridder Tribune
Sherwood Thompson, director of minority affairs, said that as KU became more multicultural, more would need to be done to coordinate minority affairs.
"With more and more minority students coming to KU, it may be necessary to have a representative at the administrative level," he said. "It would help to coordinate, plan and assess the needs of minority students in all areas."
Administrators point to the planned multicultural center as an example of KU's commitment to minority affairs. And minority enrollment has risen each of the last three years.
"Right now, it seems like minority and cultural affairs are treated as a program at KU, instead of within University structure," Braithwaite said. "We need someone on this campus with enough power to keep people aware of what's going on, and what needs to go on."
But a planning committee has yet to be formed for the center, and the original opening date of Fall 1993 has been pushed back a year. And despite the enrollment increases, more than 90 percent of the student body is white.
U.S. troops land in Somalia
Marines arrive aim to 'restore sanity' in land
The first American troops went ashore in Somalia yesterday in a U.N.-backed humanitarian mission. About 1,800 Marines lead an American force of 28,000. Their mission is to provide security and stability to Mogadishu and the rest of Somalia so that non-governmental organizations can deliver badly needed food.
The Associated Press
U.S. troops land in Somalia
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Marines who carried off history's most advertised amphibious landing yesterday in Somalia hoped to "restore a level of sanity" to that starving nation but may not disarm its roving clans, officials said.
The White House said President Bush was pleased by the success of the initial landing phase. His press secretary said Bush would be kept up to date on a regular basis by his national security staff in the White House Situation Room.
"The president met with his national security advisers around 5 p.m. this afternoon for a final update on the status of the coalition preparations," said Marlin Fitzwater, White House press secretary. He said that Gen. Colin Powell, chairman of the joint Chiefs of Staff, said the operation in Somalia was on schedule and proceeding well.
The first Marines quickly seized control of the seaside airport and harbor area so that additional U.S. and
"As far as we can tell, everything is going smoothly and on time," he said as the Marines poured ashore in amphibious landing craft and assault and transport helicopters.
Pete Williams, the chief Pentagon representative, also said after a asperhead unit of 1,800 Marines began rushing ashore last night that the operation was going well.
Williams said some of the U.S. forces would drop leaflets and broadcast messages explaining why the Marines had intervened.
Earlier, Williams said four Navy supply ships arrived in the area yesterday with provisions for the U.S. landing force. He said the mission, authorized by the United Nations, was strictly humanitarian.
allied armed forces could join the unconventional mercy mission.
"The Americans are coming and they're here to help; they're here to feed," Williams said. "They're not here to obstruct; they're not here to cause violence. They're here to bring a sense of order so that humanitarian relief can get going again."
Armed bandits and looters, many of them teen-agers, have paralyzed international relief agencies' efforts to feed the hundreds of thousands of starving Somalia. Tons of donated food are already in Somalia but cannot be distributed because of the threat of violence.
"They need somebody to restore a level of sanity," he said.
Williams said it had not yet been determined whether the U.S. forces would attempt to disarm the clans.
"Disarmament is not an end in itself," he said. "It's a means to an end to provide for a secure atmosphere in which the relief workers can do the job to get the food to the people."
See related story. Page 12.
Call to active duty cuts into student's semester
By Delin Cormeny Kansan staff writer
Derek Donlon, Lainaah,
Hawaii, freshman, just got
out of taking his finals.
Well for me.
Well, for now, anyway.
Donlin is in the U.S. Army and is among the 28,000 troops President Bush ordered into Somalia Friday on a humanitarian mission. He said he planned to leave Saturday for Fort Bragg, N.C., for his official orders and a week-long orientation. Then he is off to the northeastern African country for an estimated two-month stay.
"I'm anxious to get there," Donlon said. "There's not going to be any fighting over there. If there was going to be fighting, I might have different views."
He said he anticipated he would guard trucks and routes used to transport food and supplies to starving people. Warring factions have been intercepting much of the aid since early 1991, when President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown.
"It's better to do it now than later," Donlon said. "We're spending so much money and it isn't getting to them. We need to do something. If we don't react now it'll just get worse."
Although he admits the call to duty came at an inconvenient time in the semester, Donlon said he did not mind making the sacrifice.
"This is what I signed up for," he said. "The world doesn't wait."
He said that although he would lose a semester, he should be back in time to take summer courses to make up for it. He said he still planned to graduate on time.
"I've got it all worked out with my teachers," he said.
"I'll all cleared, and they all wished me good luck."
Donlon said he knew of two other KU students who were scheduled to go to Somalia. The students, whose names were not available, left last week.
Donlon said that although spending Christmas away from home was going to be difficult, his parents — especially his father, who is also in the military — were supportive and wished him the best.
"One time I miss is not going to make a major impact," he said. "As long as I'm doing what I want to do, I'm all for it and they're all for it. This is the chance of a lifetime."
See related story. Page 3.
Cashing in on books
After a semester of reading and home-work problems, students can avenge a lack of practice including pain by cashing in their textbooks.
Students live unhealthy
A recent study shows that most health habits of incoming freshmen worsened after a year in college.
See related story, Page 14.
Loans can mean college dreams, nightmarish debts
Student borrowers often face long-term burdens
By Muneera Naseer
Kansan staff writer
A college education was important to Roland Diaz.
No one in his family finished high school, much less attended college.
"I was only too aware of what would happen to me," said Diaz, assistant director of the Office of Minority Affairs. "I did not want to be working in the fields for the rest of my life."
Diaz is from the town of Allende in Coahvilla, Mexico.
Now he holds a bachelor's degree, two master's degrees and is aiming for a Ph.D.
Diaz and his wife, Lewanda, have
assured a crushing debt of whats $70,000.
times," he said with a sigh. "With a $70,000 debt, I will be paying this off when I am 60, unless I have a really high-paying job."
"It is certainly overwhelming some-
Diaz earns $20,000. He said that he and his wife were caught in a vicious cycle.
Both wanted to have a college education and had to rely on student loans to pay for it. Once in college, the loans snowballed. The couple could not afford to stop going to college because their loan repayment would begin. At the same time they needed student loans to survive, so they borrowed more.
"The financial program is designed to help you, but it can very quickly turn against you."
The couple is trying to save money so they can make $1,000-a-month loan payments. So far, they have made a few monthly payments of $200. At that rate, it would take them more than 20 years to pay off the debt.
Statistics show that more and more students must take out loans to finance their
education, borrowing now figuring that they will pay later. After graduation, they find themselves in debt, staring up from the bottom of a deen, deen hole.
"Some students take out loans without realizing what they are doing," she said. "They are only concerned about paying off an immediate bill."
She said the average cumulative debt for students in their final year of education was about $4,000 for a public, two-year institution, $5,000 for a proprietary school and $7,000 for a private institution, $7,000 for a public, four-year institution and $10,000 for a private school.
Laura Knapp, assistant director for policy analysis at the College Board in Washington said that the national debt on student loans was rising because more students were borrowing.
"Borrowing for College," a report put out in October by the board, showed that it is the middle and upper-middle class students who face the biggest debts. Students
"It looks like money and it looks like fun, but it is actually a time bomb that is going to blow in their faces."
Chava@acPhoe assistant director, Office of Financial Aid
Story continues; Page 6.