Friday inside Martin trial continues Six witnesses testified yesterday in Golfito, Costa Rica, during the third day of testimony in the Martin Shannon Martin murder trial. Martin was killed in 2001. PAGE3A Steamymusical University Theatre and Stage Too! Theatre will heat up campus in November with12 showings of the hit musical Cabaret. PAGE 3A Trying to snap the skid The Kansas football team looks to end a losing streak and keep bowl hopes alive on the road against the Oklahoma State Cowboys tomorrow. PAGE7A Record breaker? A Kansas victory over Iowa State tonight would set a volleyball record for consecutive conference victories. PAGE 7A Getting defensive The women's basketball team will focus on defense in its game against St. Louis Goldstar. PAGE7A Weather Today 4933 Cool and breezy Two-day forecast Tomorrow Sunday 5837 6140 Partly cloudy Sunny and warmer — Joe Molgren/KUJ-HTV Talk to us Tell us your news. Contact Michelle Burhenn-Rombeck, Lindsay Hanson or Leah Shaffer at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com index Briefs 2A Opinion 4A Sports 7A Sports briefs 9A Horoscopes 10A Cronics 10A KANSAN Friday, November 14, 2003 Vol.114 Issue No.60 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY The Student Newspaper of the University of Kansas Remembering the past Aaron Showalter/Kansan Kristen Guillot, Shawnee sophomore, lit a candle last night in front of the KU Visitor Center for a ceremony in remembrance of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. "We forget that this was so close," Guillot said, referring to Topeka's proximity to the University. "This had an impact not just on African Americans, but on everyone." University Council changes add/drop Add/drop may shorten from 5 to 3 weeks pending approval By Robert Perkins rperkins@kansan.com Kansan staff writer Students wanting to drop a class next semester won't have as long to do it. University Council voted yesterday to shorten the add/drop period for next semester: from five weeks to three weeks. After three weeks, students who drop classes will receive a "W," for "withdrawal," on their transcripts. Alicia Ellingson, junior/senior class senator, vocally condemned the change while the issue was being discussed. "I think that a lot of students will be disappointed," she said after the vote. She looked into other schools and said that students at many Ivy League schools got much longer to decide — as UNIVERSITY COURSE WITHDRAWAL POLICY: The way it was: Weeks 1-5 — withdrawal without a "W" on transcript - Weeks 6-10 — withdrawal with a "W" on transcript Week 11-last day of classes — withdrawal with either a “W” or “F” on transcript much as half of t' $ e $ semester. At the meeting, most of those who voted by show of hands for the change were faculty and staff, while most of those who voted against it were students. With the students outnumbered roughly three to one, the vote wasn't even close. "I would have liked that more faculty agreed with students, but some felt that the administration's needs were more important," Ellingson said. The way it is now: ■ Weeks 1-3 – withdrawal without a "W" on transcript - Weeks 4-10 — withdrawal with a "W" on transcript A Week 11--last day of classes — no change Source: University Council George McCleary, associate professor of geography, voted for the change. He said that the change would help students as well as administrators, because it would allow those on waiting lists to get into the classes they needed sooner. "I feel mostly for the kids who can't get in because they're waiting on someone who wouldn't decide sooner," he SEE ADD/DROP ON PAGE 6A Internet evaluation to benefit students By Paul Kramer pkramer@kansan.com Kansas staff writer Students wanting to know more about an instructor before enrolling will now have that chance. The first-ever online course/instructor evaluation, which unanimously passed University Council last night, will be made-up of 10 questions. The 10 questions, which will be standard in evaluating all courses, were primarily designed to benefit students, not faculty. Andy Knopp, student body president, designed the questions with the help of Dan Bernstein, director of the center for teaching excellence. Knopp said he wanted to get the type of questions that one might ask a friend who had already taken the class. Students will have access to past evaluations, facilitating the decision on whether to take the class. Bernstein said the questions would help students find a professor that would give them the experience they were looking for. Whether a student was looking for a instructor who taught a challenging course, a course with lax attendance policies, or an instructor who gives periodic feedback, Bernstein said the evaluation would address all of those concerns. Although the questions are tailored to students, Knopp said departments can also use the results as another way to evaluate performance. "It's just another form of accountability." Knopp said. The evaluation period will begin the Sunday preceding stop day, and end on the Monday after finals are over. Students will be asked through a campus-wide e-mail to fill out the online evaluation through their Kyou student portal. The results will be displayed as graph representing the five categories: strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree and strongly disagree. No average scores, rankings or total scores will appear on the graph. Standard Scantron evaluations currently used by schools and departments for internal course and faculty review will still be given. The University Council's vote to accept the plan was unanimous after a friendly amendment to make all online results available to instructors was added. The program will begin at the end of the fall semester. Edited by Shane Mettlen 'Cabaret sold out tonight Matt Simon, Overland Park senior, played Emcee during dress rehearsal for Cabaret Wednesday night. His character started by introducing the other characters with a thick German accent. Cabaret opens tonight at Murphy Hall. SEE STORY ON 3A. Abby Yillery/Kensan Staff, faculty accept basketball seating By Robert Perkins rperkins@kansan.com Kansan staff writer Faculty and staff at the University of Kansas are getting closer to the game. The University Council voted unanimously, yesterday to accept the Senate Executive Committee's proposed seating arrangement, which would give faculty and staff closer seats at basketball games. Ray Davis, president of SenEx, helped to negotiate the details of the arrangement with Kansas Athletics Director Lew Perkins. Davis said he was pleased with the way the negotiations had turned out, a view echoed by audience members. The proposal makes 219 more seats available for faculty and staff next season, bringing them to a total of 1,427 seats, allotted by seniority. Of those, 900 will be in the first and second tier of three corners of Allen Fieldhouse, which is a significant improvement for those who have been stuck in the third tier. Also, faculty and staff would be given a chance at 12 premium seats behind the bench of the opposing team through a proposed lottery system. Despite the change, faculty and staff members will continue to pay no more than they used to — 80 percent of the retail value of their tickets. Some faculty members voiced concerns at the meeting about losing seats that might be closer than the ones they will be moved to, a concern Davis advised them to take up with the athletics director Concerns aside, when it came time to vote, the new seating arrangement met with silent approval by non-ticket holders and ticket holders alike. "I have seats, and I think it's great that we get to move to the corners," said Jason O'Connor, academic adviser for the Freshman-Sophomore Advising Center. After the vote, Davis did a quick survey by show of hands to see how many council members would be interested in half- or quarter-season tickets, an issue that SenEx may consider in the near future. Of the about 25 faculty and staff members present, none of those who already had tickets raised their hands and only one or two of those who lacked tickets did. With the council's approval, the issue will now go back to SenEx on Tuesday to work out more of the details. 2 Edited by Jonathan Reeder 喜 1 ?