University Daliv Kansan. November 23. 1982
Page 5
Wheels
From page one
and now an attorney in Kansas City, Mo., said he didn't remember why the transportation subcommittee was inactive during the year.
I knew part of the thing we were waiting for was this consultant study," he said. "I had discussed it with Steve that year, and I know we had intended to make the board more active."
I’m sorry I botched it. ”Leben said. “And I’m sorry that others did the same.”
BUT THE transportation subcommittee was not reorganized into a board during Leben's term, and today Leben regrets not having worked more with the bus system.
But Leben said he thought other accomplishments during his term, including the formation of KU's Student Legal Services office, overshadowed the problems of KU on Wheels.
"I felt that student government was accomplishment a great deal at KU. Leben said." And I'm not sure those things would have been accomplished had the Senate been distracted by the transportation system. In hindlight, we don't know and now we are paying the huge financial cost."
IN FEBRUARY 1978, the Student Senate on Communications launched a formal inquest into what it called 'the mystery of the University of Kansas transportation system'.
Committee members said they were unsure about the status of the transportation subcommittee. Furthermore, they questioned the time McMurray had been directing KU on Wheels.
Senate leaders say today that the committee's proposed study probably was never completed. There is no record. The inquiry itself, however, has been a topic of much debate. Certain how the bus system ran and who ran it.
IN ADDITION, late in his term as 1978 student body president, Mike Harper told the Senate's Committee on Services to improve KU on Wheels. Harper criticized the contract with the university that was based on Mr. McKurry's friendship with Diane Ogle, the owner of the bus company.
"It's not really a business relationship," Harper said.
At time, McMurry had been coordinator of KU on Wheels for an unusually long time — nearly five years. He was to be reappointed five more times before his arrest.
"I think many senators would have been surprised if I had not reappointed McMurry," Leben said. "But in reality, I didn't want to take responsibility. My easiest thing to do was leave Steve in there."
Others said they also felt obligated to reappoint McMurry.
ADKINS SAID, "I regretted appointing Steve McMurry when there was no one in the office to handle phone calls about the bus system. I regretted appointing Steve McMurry when there was no one in the office to explain the procedures about lost or stolen bus passes."
But Adkins said that when he made appointments last November, "Steve was the only option available."
David Ambler, KU's vice chancellor for student affairs has criticized the selection process of his class.
"It got to the point where they didn't reappear Steve — they just assumed he was on. You can't tell," she said.
During Harper's term, a working Transportation Board finally became a reality. Matt Davies, who later became body vice president in 1880, was a charter member of the board.
"MOST OF THE SYSTEM was just fine," Davis, now a law student at the University of Texas at Austin, recalled. "The Transportation Board was working on deciding the routes and figuring what expenditures needed to be made."
And Steve Memory. "He just continued on." Davis said.
Senate leaders cannot explain exactly why the board died in 1881. But Adkins said McMurry exercised a great deal of influence over the board, and his predecessors have theorized, the bus board became unnecessary.
"Steve McMurry was seen as the board's equivalent, in that he exercised a great deal of efficiency in the bus system," Adams said. "But Steve's personality was not one which would openly accept suggestions about how he could run the system better."
THE LACK OF Senate supervision may have resulted in one of the largest embezzlement of funds in the country.
"I am worried about the future of Student Senate at KU," Leben said. "I'm really concerned about what the average student thinks about this problem. I wonder if they say, 'Wow, these Student Senate people are idiots. How could they let this happen?'
The McMurray case also has raised questions about responsible student government. Can the administration, or for that matter, the state, expect students to have complete control over a bus system with an annual budget of $ 5 million? The answer, Senate leaders say, is a
"Yes, this is a large embezzlement. Yes, these
are state funds. But I am very strongly committed to the idea that students can run programs and do a very good job at it," Leben said.
KU INTERNAL auditors now studying a decade's worth of bus system records probably not all of which are within reach.
But Ambler said the administration did not want to assume control over KU on Wheels, despite the fact that the university earned senators to tighten up the transfer of money within its auxiliary boards.
The last such warning came from Ambler in a July 2 to Adkins.
"It is obvious that the Student Senate does not scrutinize budget requests in great detail." Amber wrote, "indeed the budget of the state must be examined even included in the total Student Senate budget."
Despite such observations, Ambler remains confident that students can handle such services.
"We're not telling them how to run their bus system," Ambler said. "But we are setting the parameters for the operation. We don't want what has already happened to happen again."
IN A SKEPT, 21 meeting of the Senate, Ambler provided a three-point plan to prevent future problems.
Ambler called for the creation of a student activities center, which would house the Senate office and the administration-run office of student organizations and activities.
In addition, Amber said, a student accounts office should be created to store the financial records of the Senate and all student organizations. The student organizationizations should be audited yearly.
But financial matters have not been so quick to change.
Money from the sale of bus passes at the Union is still being counted by Senate leaders and others. And in Competee in Carruth O'Leary Hall, just as was done when McMurry was in charge.
However, Ambler said that, too, would change. "THE FIRST PART of reform is with the organization, the second on financial methods," he said. "But so little money is taken in now from the sale of bus passes that financial changes won't be necessary until next semester."
Now, more than 60 days after McMurry's arrest, the Transportation Board meets with regularity. And Sellen, who will graduate in May, said they will take the bus for the night bus route she sought 11 months ago.
But for the Senate's Transportation Board, which has been reorganized twice in less than a year, the state is now "on track."
That's the sad life. Alkins said it had always been difficult for the
The board probably will carry out the responsibilities assigned to it. And few senators are questioning the board's ability to govern KU on Wheels.
BUT ADKINS said he was worried that future Senate leaders may never know what happened under McMurray, just as the 1977 criticism of McMurry's one-man show has fallen by the
"Student Senate history does not last more than two years," Adkins said grimly. "We have no comprehensive review of what went on five years ago."
"That's the sad fact."
Senate to run a bus service when its membership changed every one or two years.
HOWEVER, Ambler was more optimistic about the Senate and its newly-reactivated Transportation Board.
"I'm one who believes we learn from everything," he said. "Not only student government has learned, but the University has learned. I think that there will be positive changes from all of this, and that those changes will be permanent."
Margaret Berlin, 1979 student body president,
said she was confident, too.
"What has happened was nobody's fault and it's everybody's fault," she said. "But student
Kuralt
From page one
Kurall traveled to Manhattan to take part in the lecture series on public issues, which was started by former Kansas Gov. Alfred M. Landon.
BEFORE IHS hour-long address in K-State's McCain Auditorium, Kuralt conducted a small press conference. He was then scheduled to have breakfast before taking the students' before visitation with K-State honor students.
President Reagan was the last London lecturer to speak at K-State. Kurall joked that
perhaps he was not as serious or as well-known a lecturer as his predecessors.
"some probably wish Cronkite were here," he said. "CBS never let me cover many of them."
Kurait has been with CBS News since 1957, and was transferred to the East coast in 1964 after a stint as the network's chief Latin American and West Coast correspondent.
EVEN THOUGH KURIL conceded that fame and fortune in television came with an immense cost, and that the cost was
remain in a job where he had the freedom to wander.
"I enjoy the romance of the road — feeling what any traveler might feel.
"Sometimes when we've planned where we're going, I almost hope we never get there," he said.
Switching from life on the road to days spent dodging New York City tax cabs, Kurall said he knew nothing of it.
"I feel the variety and richness of the country we live in," he said.
Seminar to stress marketing
Area small business owners will learn competitive marketing strategies at a seminar Dec. 1 at the Holiday Holidone, 200 West Turnipke Access Road.
The seminar is co-sponsored by the School of Business and the First National Bank of Lawrence.
"Not every owner or manager of a business has the benefit of a strong background in management," he said.
requirement for success," said Lynn Anderson, president of First National.
The seminar, which will be led by John Welsh, director of the Cararth Institute of Owner-Managed Business, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, will study competitive forces, strategic competition, record keeping, profit and cash flow and audits.
Registration for the seminar can be made through Dan Winter, marketing manager for First National, until Dec. 1. There is a registration fee.
When?
Tuesday Nov. 30,1982 6:00 pm & 8:00 pm
Where?
Who?
Jay Bowl - Kansas Union
K. U. Students/Staff (Part-time Students 3 hrs. minimum)
- Prize fund returned 100%
- Entry deadline Tuesday Nov. 23 at 5 pm
FREE BEER FOR CONTESTANTS!!
For details call 864-3545 or inquire at Jay Bowl desk