THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2008
HOUSING
NEWS | 3A
HOUSING
Athletics Department expedites Tower renovations
BY B.J. RAINS
bjrains@kansan.com
Ryan McGeeney/KANSAN
At the request of the KI athletics department, renovations to the Jahayw Towers apartment buildings that were originally scheduled for fall 2009 will begin this fall.
When basketball coach Bill Self agreed to a new 10-year, $30 million contract to remain at the University back in April, the school promised to improve housing for athletes at Jayhawk Towers.
Diana Robertson, student housing director, said plans were already set to begin renovations of the Jayhawker Towers beginning Fall 2009, but because the Athletics Department wanted to expedite the process, the housing department was asked to make arrangements to move the renovations up and begin this fall instead.
It took only three days for Robertson and her staff to reassign the 180 people living in Tower A, and plans were set to begin renovations of the tower this fall.
"When we were asked to do it, three days later we had the changes made and got that out to folks," Robertson said. "It was really kind of a phenomenal process for our assignment staff. They worked very quickly because we knew some people would have anxiety about it."
Tower A, which was for graduate students before this year, was chosen as the first tower to be renovated because it had the most year-round occupancy and had the least amount of renovations completed so far. When it reopens in Fall 2009, it will be co-ed and open to all traditional students. Robertson said that up to 50 percent of the students assigned there could be athletes.
"We approached the University because it was something that was high on our list," said Jim Marchiony, Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs. "What's good about it is that it not only helps athletics, but also other areas of the University. A lot of regular students live in that facility
and I think it was a realization that we can help not only athletics but the rest of the University if we can put this on the fast track"
All returning residents to the Jayhawker Towers were guaranteed spots in the towers again this fall, but new applicants were assigned to other residence halls on campus. Some took the new assignment, while others decided to forfeit the $300 deposit and look for housing elsewhere off-campus.
"We already had people assigned for this fall," Robertson said. "Everyone who had contracted with us got reassigned throughout the complex. Some people who had applied to come into the complex, we started issuing residence hall contracts to them with the intentions that we could get them back into the complex and we did."
Robertson said anyone who originally signed up to live in Jayhawker Towers but were moved somewhere else in April had been reassigned back to the towers, although not all were with the same roommate or building that they had requested.
Some students, such as Marc Ruiz, were assigned new, unfamiliar
roommates but decided to stay in the towers anyway after realizing that choices were limited.
"I thought about getting out, but there really aren't many other options that are this close to campus," Ruiz, Lenexa senior, said. "I would have liked to have at least known who my roommate was, being a senior who has lived in the towers for three years, but I guess that's just what happened. It wasn't really worth all of the trouble trying to find a new place at the last minute."
The renovations will include a complete overhaul of the plumbing and electrical systems as well as new cabinets and flooring. Each tower will be closed for one school year, but the work itself won't take that long. Robertson hopes another tower can be renovated during 2009-2010 school year but said that it woId probably be a few years before the other two towers would be renovated.
Robertson said that plans were in place to renovate other residence halls in the near future, with the first being GSP in two years.
Edited by Scott Toland
STUDENT SENATE
Committee suggests campain duration limits
BY HALEY JONES
hjones@kansan.com
Student Senate is working to improve its elections process after students complained about the duration of last spring's nearly three-month-long campaigning period.
Student body president Adam McGonigle, Wichita junior, created an elections reform committee on July 16 to review and modify election rules for the spring 2009 Student Senate elections. Mason Heilman, student executive committee chairman and Lawrence junior, chairs the committee.
"One of the biggest concerns we had was the notion that students were feeling harassed, and candidates were feeling harassed having to harass them," Heilman said.
He said the committee was trying to pare down the amount of time candidates had to approach students during campaigning while still giving candidates adequate
time to give students their message if students wanted to hear it.
The panel is comprised of senators who supported opposite coalitions during the 2008 elections. Heilman said the senators met several times during the summer to brainstorm various things they felt needed to be changed in elections.
The committee plans to present a bill of elections rules at the first full senate meeting on Sept. 3. If approved, Heilman said the bill would lower the campaign spending limit and the time allowed to do campaign activities such as chalking and tabling at the Kansas Union. Heilman said students weren't necessarily adverse to active campaigning, but they were turned off by nine weeks of campaign talk and then two full weeks of candidates approaching them.
Heilman said the committee has been in agreement on most rules it would like to change, but has not come to a final decision on spending limits. Heilman said he would like the bill to be as unanimous as possible, but anything the committee couldn't agree on would be kept out of the bill and could be proposed as an amendment to the bill if it was passed.
“If students frequent Wescoe Beach during campaigning, they might be talked to multiple times every day for two weeks,” Heilman said. “Many students lost interest or faith in Student Senate and
wouldn't vote."
"Right now students just think we're annoying and that we're not important," Haverkamp said. "We definitely need to change the way we are broadcasted out there. Shortening the amount of time for campaigning will help that."
"It is my hope that committee will have very significant bill," McGonigle said. "We want to make sure we have a bill that is fair that all of Student Senate can agree on."
Andy Haverkamp, engineering senator and Hoyt sophomore, said he thought the committee was something Student Senate needed for a long time.
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