Tomorrow's weather
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
T7
KS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PO BOX 3585
TOPEKA, KS 66601-3585
ansan
Thursday
October 9,1997
Section:
A
Vol. 108 No. 36
Mild and dry.
Vol. 108 - No.36
Inside today
English Alternative Theatre will present two short plays about homelessness. The plays will be held in the Lawrence Arts Center.
SEE PAGE 3A
Sports today
Kansas linebacker Ron Warner needs 3.5 sacks in the remaining six games to tie former Jayhawk Dana Stubblefield for the single-season sack record.
SEE PAGE 1B
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Thank ya ... thank ya very much
Tracie Googlein, Overland Park sophomore, Emily Barger, Larned junior, Sarah Lamberton, Owasso, Okla., junior, Patty Antebachner, San Antonio sophomore, and Jaime Stratz, Albuquerque junior, dance with Elis during the Step Out for Breast Cancer benefit. The benefit was held Saturday at the Knights of Columbus building. Photo by Geoff Krieger/KANSAN
University buys $2-million software
New system to help enrollment, records
（USPS 650-640）
By Matthew Friedrichs
Kansan staff writer
New software packages may improve students' access to their KU records and eventually allow students to enroll online.
The University has purchased both financial-management and student-records software from PeopleSoft, said Lindy Eakin, associate provost.
The $2-million software was purchased for both the Lawrence and the University of Kansas Medical Center campuses, Eakin said.
Compact discs containing the financial software, which will replace financial software developed in the '60s and in use by the University since the '70s, arrived this week and should be in use next fall.
The student-information software will
not be available until December and is on a more tenuous implementation timeline.
The packages will include numerous online features and make information access easier for students and departments across campus, said Rich Morrell, university registrar.
When the University receives and installs the "PeopleSoft Student Administration" software, students can expect online, web-based access to their addresses and financial information, Morrell said. Students also will be able to look up closed classes, determine how many seats are available in a class and enroll online when the University fully implements the software.
Morrell did not provide a specific time line for the installation of the student-records software.
"We want to do it as quickly as we can,
but we want to do it well," Morrell said.
The financial system the University uses now acts only as a general ledger, Eakin said.
"PeopleSoft Financials for Public Sector," is the new financial software.
"What we really hope to be able to do is to provide meaningful management tools to the units on campus."
Lindy Eakin
Eakin said the software also would include inventory features and online, real-time access to account information. Access to account information online could eliminate duplicate systems now in existence in many campus offices, Eakin said.
associate provost
The new financial software will allow offices to reduce paperwork about purchasing, accounting and payment transactions.
The new software also would allow the University to track the expenditures for different programs from the same account, such as the expenditures by the
"What we really hope to be able to do is to provide meaningful management tools to the units on campus," he said.
The office sponsors 30 different overseas programs, and current University computer software treats all expenditures from the office as one account. The office has to maintain its own system to track the expenditures of each programs.
Office of Study Abroad.
Three years ago, the University also purchased the "PeopleSoft Human Resources Management System for Public Sector."
The human-resources software, which generates paychecks, was plagued by implementation glitches.
Morrall said the initial problems with the software resulted from extensive modifications made to the software by state programmers.
"We had PeopleSortOf instead of PeopleSoft. Morrell said.
To avoid problems in the implementation of the financial and student records software, the University will attempt few or no modifications to the new software, Morrell said.
Police inform students about local gangs
By Sarah McWilliams
Detective Mike McAtee and Officer Darren Othick of the Lawrence police department spoke to a group of 15 students last night in the Burge Union.
Kansan staff writer
Gangs are a part of Lawrence, and gangs are equal-opportunity recruiters, say Lawrence Police Department members.
smcwilliams@kansan.com
The speech was part of an ongoing series the two officers have given to grade schools, junior high schools and high schools. The Office of Minority Affairs sponsored last night's speech for KU students.
Police officers do not identify gang members by their race or economic status. McAtee said. Rather, they go by the crimes the games commit.
"People ask, 'Do we have gangs in
Detective Mike McAtee answers a question from the audience concerning gangs in Kansas. McAtee spoke yesterday at the Burge Union. Photo by Tara Bradley/KANSAN
Most of the students at the speech were members of the Step Program, part of the Office of Minority Affairs, said Julius Williams, the office's assistant director. The program offers weekly seminars on a variety of subjects, he said.
Lawrence?," McAtee said. "I say yes because we have graffiti; we have drugs; we have aggravated robbery and assault; we have attempted murder. Knock on wood, we don't have any gang-related homicides vet."
Williams said it was important for KU students to realize that gangs were a part of Lawrence and that they should know how to avoid being a victim of a gang.
Students from Wichita, Chicago and Los Angeles nodded their heads as McAtee talked about drive-by shootings and other gang-related activity.
McAtee said that between February and Mav of 1996, there were six drive-bv shootings in Lawrence, two of which went unreported.
Marisa Moreno, Wichita junior, said she knew about gang activity in her hometown but had no idea the activity was in Lawrence as well.
"In big cities, you might see six drive-by shootings in a week and think that the number here is not very many," McAtee said. "But I would hate to live in a community where it's okay to have any shootings or stabblings."
"A lot of students here don't think it could be in a small town like this." Moreno said.
McAtee also addressed the differences in gang activity between cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and Lawrence. He said that gangs are not territorial and that gang-related activity happened in poor and wealthy neighborhoods and apartment complexes.
Oliver residents tired of late-night false alarms, want answers, suspects Hall has had four warnings set off in last six nights
By Sarah McWilliams
mcwilliams@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Residents of Oliver Hall are getting a little tired of the "boy who cried wolf" story. Or in this case, the one who cried "fire."
Four fire alarms have gone off at Oliver in the last six nights, said Rance Melton, Oliver complex director.
Melton said that all of the false alarms had occurred around 2:30 a.m. In each case, students have had to stand outside for at least an hour while firefighters and police made sure all residents had left their rooms, he said.
Melton said no one knew who was pulling the alarm, but that the department of student housing and KU police were investigating the incidents.
Amy Allen, Chicago freshman, said she and other students were fed up with the alarms.
"I don't know who's doing it, but obviously, they're not thinking about how it affects students." Allen said.
"I'm sleeping at a friend's place tonight," she said.
Allen said she was so tired from getting up in the middle of the night that making it to morning classes and turning in assignments had become a problem.
Other residents are tired of being obligated to go outside when they think a prankster has pulled the alarm. Allen said.
"People are crawling under their beds and hiding in their closets so that they don't have to go outside," Allen said.
The students also have waited for an hour or more after the firefighters have left to go back into the building, Melton said. The delay is due to Oliver staff and KU police investigating the alarms, including taking fingerprints from the alarms.
Pulling a false alarm is a felony, Grassmeyer said, and KU police could consider punishing students as well.
"I think it shows a lack of respect for your peers, and I just don't understand it," Grassmeyer said.
She said the penalty for pulling a false alarm depended on the individual, but when it happened night after night, the department could go as far as removing the student from the hall and canceling his or her housing contract.
Kansan staff report
Former Med Center workers charged with embezzling
Two former University of Kansas Medical Center employees formally were charged in Wyandotte County District Court Tuesday with felony theft for allegedly embezzling almost $50,000.
Berta D. Nicholson, 40, Kansas City, Kan., and Pamela McMickle, 36, Kansas City, Mo., former pharmacy department clerks, were arrested after an internal Med Center audit and criminal investigation
Officials at the Med Center declined to comment.
The investigation began July 2 when an Outpatient Pharmacy administrator reported a discrepancy between pharmacy receipts and deposits, according to Rick Johnson, director of Medical Center police. In September, the Med Center police turned over to the Wyandotte County District Attorney evidence of a pattern of alleged embezzlement.
Arrest warrants were issued for the two employees, and subsequently, they were dismissed from their positions at the Med Center
"I'm assuming that the pharmacy has already filled the positions," said Johnson. "They were terminated well over a month ago."
Nicholson and McMickle pleaded not guilty to the charges, said Johnson.
They are to appear at 9 a.m. Tuesday in court for a preliminary hearing.
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