UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, August 19. 1992
13D
Legal Services for Students offers free help and advice
By Terrilyn McCormick Special to the Kansan
Interpreting a lease, being charged with a misdemeanor, filing income tax — all may be foreign to students before they come to college. But because students are now in the real world, they need a lawyer, said Jo Hardesty, director of Legal Services for Students.
Legal Services for Students, a service financed by Student Senate through the student activity fee, is one option students have when they need a lawyer or legal advice.
The service was created in 1979 by Senate to give students a place to begin when they faced a legal question or problem, Hardesty said.
"They created it because legal problems can bother a student enough that it is difficult for them to be a student," she said.
The service provides free legal advice as long as the client is enrolled and the action does not involve the University or another student, Hardesty said.
"Students should use this service if they need it because technically they have prepaid for it with their activity fee," she said.
The office, staffed by Hardesty, two
lawyers and five third-year law students, will represent a client in court only if the case is in Douglas County and not a University housing case or a consumer issue.
Hardesty said students should use small claims court if the case involved less than $1,000. Legal services will help prepare such cases and provide information about what to expect in court.
The service also conducts workshops on legal problems that may arise for students.
Helping students before they are in a legal problem is the goal of these workshops, said Vivian Bliss, an attorney at legal services.
The most common student problems, Hardesty said, are housing cases, either between landlord and tenant or tenant and tenant; consumer cases including sales contracts, loan contracts, employment, service contracts, banking problems and debt collection; traffic and midemeanor cases, including drunken driving, fake identification, minor possession of alcohol and tax questions.
"Most times when a person needs a lawyer it is an emergency." Bliss said, "The nice thing about this job is that we get to practice preventive law with
the workshops."
Starting this fall, legal services will offer workshops throughout the semester on a regular basis because of more financing from the Senate through the Equal Opportunities Fund. The service will hire another third-year law student to research and prepare these workshops.
Another possible change this fall is that legal services might become able to advise students in cases against the University. Senate has approved such a change, and it is awaiting approval from the chancellor.
If this change were to go into effect, legal services would be able to advise students on the possible channels for their cases, help with informal negotiations with the department or school involved and sit in on committee hearings in a student's case with the student's permission. The service would not be representing the student but would simply be observing the process.
Legal Services does not give advice over the phone. A student should call and make an appointment. Because of the case load, a case that is not an emergency may require a week or two to get an appointment with legal services, Hardesty said.
Student housing is optimistic despite declining occupancy
By Carmen Phelps Special to the Kansan
A dozen years ago, residence halls at the University of Kansas were so popular that students had to live in small rooms designed for storage. Now, even with the closing of Joseph R. Pearson Hall, the residence halls will have vacancies this fall.
The department estimated that $30 million students would live in residence buildings.
In 1987, the peak year of residence hall occupancy, there were 4,548 students living in residence halls, according to the student housing department. By Spring 1991, the number had fallen to 3,681 students.
Ken Stoner, director of student housing, said several factors contributed to the lower number of students living in residence halls.
"There are smaller high school graduating classes, so the number of freshman students is down." Stoner said. "This has caused us some vacancies."
Stoner said he thought another reason for residence hall vacancies was that more students were deciding to live off campus. He said that students liked the idea of having more space but that they often would move back to residence halls.
"Many seniors come back after living off campus," Stoner said. "They want to cook and shop. The cooking takesake more time than is realized."
Stoner said several changes were being developed in the residence housing system to provide better services for students.
Among the changes will be a new cafeteria at Lewis Hall that will accommodate every residence hall on Daisy Hills. Oliver and Gertrude Sel-
lards Pearson-Corbin Halls will continue to have their own cafeterias. The Lewis cafeteria will be open 24 students can eat when ever they want.
Diane Michel, dietitian manager at DGP-Corbin, said the staffs of residence halls were mainly concerned with how best to serve the students.
"We've incorporated a lot of changes, trying to consistently provide a variety of foods and flavors for the many ethnic backgrounds in the residence halls, Michel said. "We are continuing looking at trying to keep our products fresh and protective products that might be wise for us to serve in the residence hall system."
Michel said the future for residence halls was looking positive.
"I am committed to making the college experience a positive one and to providing the best quality services possible," she said.
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