CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, August 25, 1992
3
New management could improve Safe Ride
By Stacy Morford Kansan staff writer
Last year, students dialing 864-SAFE could expect an over-use, exhaust-behalf auto to sputter to pick them up 30 to 60 minutes after their first call, if the car arrived at all.
Now, because of last week's switch in operations from A-1 City Cab to Lawrence Bus Co., that same number will page a 1991 Ford Tempo to pick up any KU students, with valid KUDS, and drive them to their homes just minutes after they dial the number.
"If you call at 2 o'clock in the morning from Wescoe and they don't show up until three, how safe is that?" said Brad Garlinghouse, student body president, said.
When Safe Ride, previously called Secure Cab, was contracted to A-1 City Cab, student
complaints of 30-minute waits or longer for cabs were not unusual, Garlinghe house said.
At their last meeting of the spring semester, Senate members decided that a change needed to be made. Senate, which finances the Safe Ride program with student activity fees, voted to accept operation cost bids from companies other than A-1 that were interested in continuing the Safe Ride program.
On Aug. 15, the Student Executive Committee, which meets in place of Senate when school is not in session, accepted a bid from the Lawrence Bus Co. and appropriated $55,000 to finance Safe Ride for the 1992-93 school year.
"We feel much more comfortable with this company to provide better service," Garling-house said. "I consider this company more professional."
Garlinghouse cited slow service and safety as the biggest problems with A-1's operation of Safe Ride.
"Last year we had a lot of problems with hour-long waits, which really is not effective." Garlinghouse said.
"The previous cab service was operating a cab company and Secure Cab at the same time," he said. "If they get a call from Mr. Lawrence resident, they'll pick up Mr. Lawrence resident first. We weren't guaranteed that they were picking up students."
Chris Ogle, Lawrence Bus Co. director, said Safe Ride passengers could expect to wait less time for his cabs to arrive.
"Our goal is to be at the pick-up point within 15 minutes after the call." Ogle said. "We've only been going a couple of weeks, but so far we've been able to do that."
The owners of A-1 could not be reached for comment.
A Ford van equipped with a hydraulic lift for handicapped accessibility and four 1991 Ford Tempos will be on the streets from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. seven days a week solely for the Safe Ride program.
Ogle said the five Safe Ride vehicles would pick up only KU students. They will circulate through the sections of town most frequented by students while taking assignments from a dispatcher.
Ogle said he thought that Johnny's Tavern, Benchwarmers Sports Bar and Grill, downtown Lawrence and the KU campus would be the origins of most cab calls.
In past years, students have also complained about the drivers, Garlinghouse said. The Lawrence Bus Co. is responding by hiring KU
students to drive the cabs three days a week and every other weekend, according to Oglu
"Our thinking is that they'll be able to relate to the riders better," Ogle said.
Garlinghouse said, "I've heard from women that don't use Safe Ride because they're worried about the drivers," he said. "That's the whole purpose of Safe Ride — to have safe drivers."
Garlinghouse said that a situation last year in which a woman had complained about a Secure Cab driver "hitting on her" had prompted Senate to look for a new cab company.
"I'm hoping that that type of thing will certainly be avoided now," he said. "These are new cars. I think people will be less intimidated to use Safe Ride now."
Abortion law flawed, state official says
By KC Trauer
Kansan staff writer
Less than a year after the Kansas Legislature's tug of war to enact a new abortion law, Attorney General Bob Stephan has weighed in with a tug of his own by declaring part of the new law unconstitutional.
His challenge may reopen abortion debate in the 1983 session of the Legislature, and if he refuses to enforce that part he finds unconstitutional, it effectively will create a loophole in the new law.
In a news conference Friday, Stephan said the law was unconstitutional because of the restriction that outlaws all abortions after the fetus is viable — or able to survive outside the womb — except when the fetus is severely deformed or the woman's life is in danger.
Stephan said that the restriction was too strict and that it should be widened to allow late-term abortions when carrying the fetus to term endangers a woman's health. He cited three Supreme Court cases that he said called for states to allow late-term abortions when a woman's health was at risk.
The attorney general's statement sends the signal that he will not prosecute any abortion cases where a woman's health was at risk, which virtually creates a loophole in the Russell Getter, associate professor of government at KU.
An attorney general's opinion is law in Kansas until the state's supreme court overturns the opinion, said Getter, who added that the court rarely overturns an attorney general's opinion.
"Every prosecuting attorney has the discretion to elect not to prosecute if he thinks he can't get a conviction, or in which case he should."
State Rep. Tim Carmody, R-Overland Park, said he thought it was Stephan's job to enforce the law, not ignore it.
In his statement, Stephan said that if the Legislature did not change the restriction in its 1903 session, he would file a lawsuit.
"I think we are getting into a morass if he chooses to enforce only the laws he agrees with," Carmody said. "We can't have him deciding which laws he's going to enforce. That's a judge's duty."
State Rep. Sandy Praeger, R-Lawrence, who voted against the law, said that throwing the matter back to the Legislature would make abortion the major issue in the coming elections.
"There are many new candidates running, and abortion is already a major plank in their platforms," Praeger said. "I think these elections may spell the fate of abortion law in the Legislature one way or another."
Carmody, an attorney and anti-abortion advocate, said he disagreed with Stephan's interpretation of the Supreme Court decisions, especially *Roe v. Wade*, which permits states to outlaw all late-term abortions, he said.
Richard Levy, professor of constitutional law at KU, said that in light of this summer's Supreme Court ruling on a Pennsylvania case, a court might rule that the new Kansas abortion law places an undue burden on women seeking abortions, which the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional in June.
"I can see where the courts would rule risking health problems to have a child as undue burden," Levy said. "It's clear there is a burden concerning health risks, but I think our nation'sortion advocates would not consider it an undue burden."
Giving information
att of the information fair in front of Wescoe Hall, Burdel Welish, KU police representative, gives Steve Hirsch, Highland Park, Ill., senior, information about bike registration facilities. The information fair, which includes representatives from nearly every campus group, will run through today.
Daron ⬇. Bennett / KANSAN
Departments stiffen major requirements
Changes force students to meet higher standards By Muneera Naseer
By Muneera Naseer Kansan staff writer
New admittance requirements set last fall in the department of communication studies are heightening competi-
tions.
Diana Carlin, head of the communication undergraduate committee, said that in order to alleviate its 48-1 student-to-faculty ratio, the department had to set higher standards to reduce the number of students admitted.
■ a minimum of 30 hours of course work before applying for a major.
students must have completed the two introductory communications courses and completed one other mid-
students must have an overall grade point average of 2.0.
munications students from 750 in Fall 1991 to almost 650 in Spring 1992.
She also said that because some communications classes were required for journalism and business students, communication majors sometimes had to wait for courses or graduate late.
Carlin said the new requirements cut the number of com-
"The quality of education was suffering, so we needed to do something about it," Carlin said. "When students know they have to work to get in, they take the work more seriously."
Howard Sypher, head of the communication studies department, said he thought this was the first time the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences had a capping requirement at the undergraduate level.
"The problem is that a lot of students will have done half of the major's courses before they apply and they might not get admitted because their GPA might be low among other reasons," he said.
Sypher said the capping would help the faculty by lessening the burden of advising so many students while teaching courses.
"Our main reason was so we could provide the quality education needed for undergrads and simultaneously maintain a nationally-ranked graduate program," he said.
Sypher said it was important for students to realize that to improve their chances of being admitted, they should declare their major early and maintain a good grade point average in the introductory courses.
He said the requirements would stand for five years but were not permanent.
To major in political science, students must take all three introductory courses and maintain a 2.3 GPA in those courses. Prior to the change, students only had to take two introductory courses.
- New political science majors also face a more competitive curriculum. The department increased the number of required political science hours from 27 in Fall 1991 to 33 in Spring 1992
Elaine Sharp, head of the political science department, said fewer students were deciding to major in political science late in their college careers.
The changes were made in an effort to discourage students from majoring in political science because they
"Before the changes students would enroll in senior level courses without having any background in political science," said Ken Collery, assistant professor of political science. "It was not a productive situation for them."
Male Student Special $137.50 per semester
JUNKYARD'S JYM
842-
4966
DUNKYARD'S
Join us on a CanoeTrip sponsored by Student Union Activities!
Friday, September 4, through Sunday, September 6.
Cost ($48.00) includes canoe rental for two days, camping area, and 5 meals.
To sign up or for more information, call SUA office at 864-3477
Informal Meeting Wednesday, August 26.
in the Burge Union Daisy Hill Room, at 7:00pm.
(Limited space available!)