Taking it breezy
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday October 6,1987 Vol. 98, No.32
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
(USPS 650-640)
Autumn trees should have striking color
By MICHAEL MERSCHEL
Staff writer
The calendar says autumn started Sept. 23, but across campus, the season's first signs are just appearing. Bathroom floors in the morning are cool to bare feet, more students are wearing jackets than shorts, and campus trees are showing their first shades of yellow, orange and red.
The changing of colors should be especially nice this year, said Greg Wade, a landscape architect with the office of facilities planning.
Fairly dry soil conditions this year, combined with a gradual change from warm to cold weather, could produce slow and lingering color changes in the trees, he said.
Philip Wells, professor of botany, said campus trees should hit their color peak within two to three weeks.
"You can always bet on the third week in October," he said.
The color-changing process is triggered by cool weather, when trees start pulling minerals out of their leaves to
One mineral, magnesium, is a key part of chlorophyll molecules, which give leaves their green color, he said.
As chlorophyll disappears, another type of motuece, carotene, becomes the predominant pigment. Carotene, the substance that makes butter yellow and carrots orange, is present in the leaves year-round, but it only makes leaves appear yellow or orange after the green chlorophyll has disappeared.
In some tree species, Wells said, the disappearance of chlorophyll sparks production of anthocynia, which makes red wine red and gives red or purple leaves their color.
Scientists aren't sure about the function of the mucus that gives leave colors. Wells said. Carotene probably assists in the photosynthesis process, and anthocynia often acts as a "sunscreen" to block out ultraviolet light.
But it doesn't take a botany degree to figure out that those mysterious molecules are pretty to look at. Wade mentioned the following tees as ones to watch for color this fall;
- Maple trees, which can be distinguished by the shape of their leaves — think Canadian flag — which turn orange, yellow and orange, and yellow. Maple trees grow in alpine areas.
- Auditorium and in other places across campus.
- ■ Green ash trees should turn a variety of colors, ranging from purple-red to yellow to orange and red. Green ash grow near Fraser Hall and Watson Library, and they can be recognized by their stringy pods of seeds. ■ Red oak trees, which grow by the dater at Potter Lake or Allen Field House, should turn orange, red and gold
- Bradford pear trees, which grow on the east side of Strong Hall and near the parking lot south of Robinson Gymnasium, don't bear any fruit but do turn bright purple, Wade said.
But not every type of the hundreds of different kinds found on campus will put on much of a show, Wade said. Elm trees, many of which have started turning yellow already, won't do much more changing, he said.
Scoot Customer KANAN
Mindie Denton, Tulsa, Okla., senior, heads home after classes. Yesterday, Denton used the stairway between Strong and Bailey halls, with its overhang of fall leaves.
KU sees drop in enrollment of foreigners
By MICHAEL HORAK
Staff writer
Clark Coan, the director, said 1,730 students from 96 nations were enrolled at KU this fall, a decrease of 47 from last year. Figures showing foreign student enrollment and their home countries were released recently by Coan's office.
Stricter admissions policies at the University of Kansas and declining economies in many oil-producing nations have resulted in a slight decrease this year in the number of foreign students at KU, the director of foreign admissions.
"Saudi Arabia, which sent 70 to 80 students to KU three years ago, now sends only 31." Coa said. "Countries which have economies based on oil send fewer students here."
Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Mexico and Nigeria, all oil-producing nations, together sent 33 fewer students to KU this fall.
Coan said increasingly stringent admissions standards set by KU for foreign students had made it more difficult for them to get into KU.
Foreign students are admitted to KU on the basis of grades. English proficiency and ability to pay for their education. Because yardsticks of academic performance vary around the world, KU admits only those students whose grades are comparable with those required of U.S. students.
However, a large pool of foreign applicants has allowed KU to keep its number of foreign students between 1,700 and 1,800 the last five years.
Coan said he didn't want the program to grow any larger because he had a small office staff and limited facilities.
Foreign students have to pay out-of-state tuition, unless KU has a contractual agreement with their nations' universities or unless they are part of an exchange program, Coan said.
Students from schools such as the University of Costa Rica, which has had a contractual agreement with KU for almost three decades, pay in-state tuition. Exchange students, which make up less than 20 percent of KU's foreign students, pay tuition based on agreements in the individual exchange program.
Coan said the thriving economies of Far East and South Asian nations had brought more students from those regions.
"Another reason for the large number of students from the Far East is that those countries are densely populated and don't have enough universities for their people." Coan said.
This year, Malaysia sent 188 students, the most of any foreign nation, to KU. Taiwan sent 134 students. China sent 124 students; and Japan sent 100 students.
France sent 47 students, the most of any European nation, to KU this year; and Costa Rica sent 28, the most from any Latin American nation. The Malagasy Republic Guadaloupe送学生 to KU for the first time.
Iran, which now has 77 students enrolled at KU, had the largest decrease from last year, a decrease of 16
See FOREIGN, p. 6, col. 3
PARKING CRUNCH
Kathe Sauer, Chicago senior, is a student employee of KU Parking Services. Sauer has been working for Parking Services since she was a sophomore.
KU parking job is risky business Patrolman has dangers along with his duties
Dan Ruettlmann/KANSAN
By JORN E. KAALSTAD Staff writer
Gary Skeet has been threatened with his life, run over by cars and verbally harassed while doing his job.
Skeet, 52, a Lawrence resident, is responsible for the parking areas around Oliver Hall and the home of the parking meter repairman.
He has one of the most unpopular and difficult jobs on campus — he's a parking patrolman for KU parking Services.
Being out in the field enforcing sometimes unpopular parking regulations can be frustrating, Skeet said. Especially now, when the parking situation on campus is aggravating.
On Sept. 19, Chancellor Gene A. Budig pre-regime the blue-zone areas on Jayhawk Boulevard for a Chancellor's Club gathering, to the great disappointment of on-duty faculty and staff members, he said. Budig has the privilege of doing that for special events.
Surprisingly, Skeet said, it is faculty and staff members, not students, who complain most of the parking and receiving tickets.
"I like the job as far as doing it, but I don't like some of the situations I get into," he said.
"It's hard to tell people that they can't park in a zone they have paid £70 to park in."
In addition to seven full-time employees like Skeet, Parking Services also employs about 20 part-time student ticket writers.
Kathe Sauer, Chicago senior,
has been one of those ticket writers
for three years, ever since she
was a student in the Kansan as a sophomore.
"Are you still doing that job?" her friends keep asking her, she said.
"I'm not thinking about the fact that I'm writing people tickets. I just enjoy strolling around campus and hearing what he wants me to do or how to do it."
She's not only doing it,but loving it,she said.
Winter shifts can be freezing.
though, she said.
Sauer, who's supposed to write at least six tickets an hour, said he had no formulas for handling people who try to talk her out of a hotel.
Like Skeet, Sauer said dealing with unreasonable and frustrated people was part of the job.
"First I go by rules, then if the rules are unfair I use intuition or common sense," she said.
"However, it happens rarely that I cancel tickets. I have only voided four written tickets so this semester," Sauer said. That's because people come up with riddles and challenges for their parking violations, but not so many.
"I've lost my dog." "I just got
Skeet is not inclined to talk and bad experiences he's had as a parking patrolman. Reluctantly, he said he recalled an incident at Stouffer Place when an outraged car-owner threatened to get a shotgun and blow Skeet's head off because Skeet wrote a $7.50 ticket.
out of class," and "my girlfriend
has cramps so she can't walk," are
some of the excuses she has heard.
Usually, Skeet is able to brush off verbal abuse, but that time he had to call police. he said.
"No one likes to be told he's wrong, even if he is," he said.
Skeet has been hit by cars several times, but he doesn't know
See SKEET, p. 7, col. 6
Parking policies the work of many
Editor's note: This is the second in a three-part series on parking at the University of Kansas' Lawrence campus. Today's stories focus on the KU Parking Services' budget and how parking decisions are made.
- Tomorrow: Will KU have more parking in the future?
By JORN E. KAALSTAD Staff writer
Students, staff and faculty frequently misunderstand how parking decisions are made and aren't sure what other issuesupports itself, officials say.
Heard any good KU Parking Services myths lately? Parking Services officials think most KU students have.
Campus parking decision-making is a lengthy and multi-faceted process that starts with suggestions by Parking Services and ends with final approval by the Board of Regents in Topeka.
"Parking Services merely execute directions from the parking board." he said.
People on campus have the misconception that Parking Services is responsible for decisions, aid Don Kearns, director of parking.
The board is in charge of making and changing rules. Parking Services takes care of the day-to-day enforcement of them, said Donna Hultine, assistant director of parking.
Ray Moore, professor of civil engineering and chairman of the board, described the parking board as a free-standing entity that is supposed to represent the whole KU community.
The parking board consists of 10 voting members: three faculty, three students, three classified staff members and one unclassified staff member. The board also consists of three ex-officio — or non-voting — members.
Unfortunately, Hultine said, students have little interest in parking issues.
"In my six years with the Parking Services, I can't remember one board meeting with all three students present," she said.
Last year, according to parking board minutes, fewer than half of the student members were present, looking cumulatively at all board meetings.
Kelly Milligan, last year's student body vice president, said the reason for low student attendance was a consensus in student government that the parking board doesn't listen to student concerns.
"that's not my perception at all," Moore said. "Last Wednesday, we authorized Parking Services to increase the number of visitors inside Joseph R. Pearson Hall at the request of student petitioners."
Only one student, Philip Duff,
attended the Dec. 2 parking board
meeting when a recommendation
to install meters in the yellow-
zoned Lot 91, southeast of Memorial
Stadium, was approved.
Duff, who graduated in May, was in favor of the Lot 91 recommendation, which will reduce yellow-zoned parking by 235 stalls when the meters are installed in a few weeks.
"It was in the best interest of
See BUDGET, p. 7, col. 1