8C = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
ON THE HILL
MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2003
LIVING COMMUNITIES
Halls offer learning communities
By Jennifer Wellington jwellington@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Freshmen will have the opportunity to embark on new living adventures in residence halls this year.
Five residence halls: Oliver, Ellsworth, Hashinger, McCollum and Lewis, will implement new living communities for students, called Thematic Learning Communities.
While new at the University of Kansas, TLCs have been used at universities such as the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Evergreen State College in Washington state.
Diana Robertson, associate director of the Department of Student Housing, said programs such as TLC had been successful at these other schools and were a useful retention tool in getting students active in a variety of interests and communities.
THEMATIC LEARNING COMMUNITIES
The residence halls will have 12
Oliver Hall
Health Professions Today (Allied Health and Nursing)
Majors and Meaning (undecided major)
Ellsworth Hall
■ The Leading Edge (Aerospace Engineering)
■ Law and Logic (Pre-Law)
■ Science and Ethics
■ Majors and Meaning (undecided major)
Hashinger Hall
communities this year, ranging from science and ethics to the meaning of film. Twenty students will participate in each community, living on the same floor and taking classes together.
Hashinger Hall
■ The Meaning of Film
■ Revolutions in Europe,
Revolutions in Theatre
McCollum Hall
Law, Politics and Society
Biology and Society
Mind, Brain and Behavior
Each community will have a Residential Peer Educator in addition to a resident assistant. PEs are upperclassmen in the same academic interest as the group. They, along with the RAS, will help each student make the
Lewis Hall
Leadership in America
adjustment to college life
"We see them as an academic bonus to the RA, a co-faciliter," Robertson said. "RAs will be able to focus more on discipline and floor community."
The PEs will have separate training from RAs before the residence halls open in the fall, Robertson said, but there will be overlapping times for the PEs and RAs to meet and discuss their plans and boundaries for
the year.
PEs receive free room and board in turn for working with their community.
Linda Dixon, interim thematic learning communities director, said parents and students were receptive toward this new type of living community.
living community.
"Parents think its a great idea," she said. "It gets their children connected to a community and, even better, an academic community."
Dixon and Robertson said they were not worried about students getting tired of each other or their theme community.
Robertson said that because there would be other people living on the same floor as each TLC group, it would give them an opportunity to meet other people.
"I would never think it would be a good idea to put all engineers on the same floor," Robertson said.
Edited by Saju Ng'alla
Resident assistants receive pay raises
HOUSING
By Annie Berneth
aberneth@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Discussions between the Department of Student Housing and the RA-Proctor Council has led to the pay raise for resident assistants this fall.
Jennifer Wamelink, assistant director of the Department of Student Housing, said the RA-Proctor Council asked the department last semester to take a look at the salaries of staff members to see if a raise was needed.
RAs typically made $40 bimonthly, plus free room and board. With the new contracts,
staff members who have been resident assistants for a year will make an additional $20 a month.
Scott Wilson, a resident assistant at Lewis Hall, said he was happy about the new agreement
"I feel as though the RAs do a lot and should be rewarded for that," said the Garden City senior.
Wilson said he became an RA because he had a lot to offer students and thought it would be interesting to form a community on the floor.
"I really enjoy that I'm basically getting free room and board to socialize with people, something I would be doing anyway," he said.
Carrie Clopton, Overland Park
"I feel as though the RAs do a lot and should be rewarded for that."
Scott Wilson Garden City senior
junior and resident assistant, said she was looking forward to the pay increase.
"Who's going to turn down more money?" she said.
However, because Clopton became an RA last spring,she must wait until spring semester 2004 for her pay increase.
She decided to become an RA after living in Lewis Hall her freshman year, Clopton said. She
is now an RA in the same residence hall.
"I wanted to be part of the complex," she said. "I really liked the idea of working with the staff and the students."
Clopton became an RA because she wanted to meet other people and plan events. After one semester as an RA in Lewis Hall, Clopton said she enjoyed her time.
"I want to be someone people can come talk to if they have problems," she said.
Members of the RA-Proctor Council could not be reached for comment.
Edited by Jennifer Wellington
HEALTH
Vending machines to sell healthier products
By Richard Gintowt rgintowt@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
University of Kansas students will have healthier choices in vending machines this fall.
Phil Spaeth, manager of Treat America Food Services, said
Ann Chapman, coordinator of nutrition services, spearheaded the "Better Bites" plan to put items such as baked potato chips, tuna and chicken salad, dried apples and diced fruit into vending machines on campus.
"A lot of people think they want it but when you put it in machines they don't buy it."
Spaeth said the healthy items
Manager of Treat America Food Service
"A lot of people think they want it but when you put it in machines they don't buy it," Spaeth said.
healthy items did not sell as well as junk food.
would be more expensive.
Last year, Chapman started the "Fresh & Hearty" plan to get healthier options in residence hall dining centers and the Kansas Union.
"It costs us more so we have to charge more for them," he said.
"Vending was the logical next place to go," Chapman said. "If you're going to love your body then you should put the right food in it."
Chapman's options were limited by a lack of refrigerated vending machines, which meant she couldn't suggest items such as yogurt and string cheese.
"I initially I was disappointed, but I think we've still come up with a lot of good options," she said.
Bites logo
She will be passing out Better Bites samples at the Health Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Aug. 27 on the front lawn of Stauffer-Flint Hall.
Chapman said there would be eight Better Bites options in each machine, marked with the Better Bites logo.
"Thekey to making this work is educating students that these options exist." Chapman said.
Edited by Maggie Newcomer
Zach Straus/Kansan
Addie Cullen, Tonganoxie resident, gives Thomas Andersen, Copenhagen, Denmark, graduate student, a trim at Great Clips in the Kansas Union. Cullen said business had been slow over the summer but she expected to be busy in the fall.
BUSINESS
Kansas Union gains new business, aims to lure restaurants
Concerted effort under way,but a store's success not guaranteed
By Richard Gintowt
rgintowt@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
This year, for the first time ever, students could get a haircut, buy a cell phone and schedule their spring break trip in the Kansas Union. Now they'll also be able to buy Birkenstocks.
Footprints, 1339 Massachusetts St., a local footwear retailer, will open a satellite store in the Union this fall.
Owner Mick Ranney signed a three-year lease June 20 after Pat Beard, director of Building Services, put out an offer to more than 50 local businesses.
"We had tapped our creativity and kind of threw it open." Beard said. "We're not doing it to make a lot of money as much as to provide a service."
service. The store, which will be located on the third floor of the Union between Great Clips and T-Mobile, will serve as an outlet shop for Footprints' downtown location, 1359 Massachusetts St.
Footprints' arrival in the Union follows on the heels of three businesses — Great Clips, STA Travel and T-Mobile — that opened shop within the last year.
The influx of business reflects a landmark effort from Union directors to offer
"We had tapped our creativity and kind of threw it open. We're not doing it to make a lot of money as much as to provide a service."
Pat Beard Director of Building Services
more services within the Union and increase student traffic.
Students should also have more dining options in the fall. The Union is accepting submissions from local restaurants to take over the Prairie Cafe, located on the third floor, and a coffee and snack bar in the first floor Hawk's Nest.
If past ventures are any indication, the success of these ventures should not be taken for granted.
Upperclassmen may recall the end of Mailboxes Etc.'s two-year tenure in the Union in December 2001. Beard had solicited the business' presence after the Union's 10-year-old postal station closed because of postal service cutbacks.
The gamble did not pay off. Mailboxes Etc. never generated a profit and turned the business over to the Union after six months.
Beard said the Memorial Corporation lost about $30,000 on the venture.
— Edited by Maggie Newcomer
LAWRENCE
812 Massachusetts
3514 Clinton Parkway
6th & Wakarusa
Opening in August
BUY ANY SMOOTHIE
GET A PRETZEL
FOR ONLY $1.00
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