6D SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 1996
STUDENT LIFE
LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
Halls provide savings for work
Jody Linn, a Kansas University freshman from Abilene, studies in the hopper atmosphere of Watkins Scholarship Hall.
EARL RICHARDSON/JOURNAL-WORLD PHOTO
- For those who aren't daunted by a little work, KU has a housing alternative.
BY KARA MONSON
SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL-WORLD
Kansas University's nine scholarship halls shatter the typical residence hall mold.
The scholarship halls create a home-like environment in the same way a family does: by putting its members to work.
All 50 residents of each single-sex hall carry their own weight. Each is expected to spend between three and six hours a week cooking meals, cleaning the hall and doing dishes. The reward for their hard work is a substantial savings on room and board.
As its namesake implies, residents are admitted to scholarship halls on the basis of their academic achievement. Acceptance into the scholarship halls is selective and highly competitive. To apply, any prospective or current student must submit a scholarship hall application, two references, three essays, ACT or SAT scores, grade point average and class rank (if freshman) or GPA (if upperclassmen).
For the 1995-96 academic year there were approximately 450 applicants for the 200 available spaces. Each year there are typically between 400 and 500 applicants.
"Not all 450 of the applicants will go to KU, but there is a long waiting list," said Kami Thomas, assistant director of the KU's Department of Student Housing.
The scholarship halls have no set qualifications or required GPA. Students are basically graded against each other. A scholarship hall committee, made up of 10 to 12 current scholarship hall residents, reviews the essays
What's the allure?
"It's all done anonymously. They do not know who wrote which essay. It's very confidential." Thomas said.
"The main difference (between scholarship halls and other residence halls) is the cost. It is much lower, about $1,000 less," Thomas said.
The price for a student to live in any of the halls except for Watkins Hall and Miller Hall for one school year is $2,448. The price for Watkins Hall and Miller Hall is $816.
Unlike the other scholarship halls, meals are not included in the price of Watkins and Miller halls. Both of these halls have seven separate kitchens, with seven residents assigned to each. Each group decides on a theme (vegetarian, semi-vegetarian, health food, "I don't care," budget or independent) and budget.
"Each group sits down and decides the days and times it wants to eat together, so it's like a little family," Larissa Lee, a freshman from Derby, said. "We also
decide on a budget. In general, we spend $45 per week. That about $10-12 for a meal that feeds seven. We all take turns grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning. I like it because you really get to know the people you eat with."
Another major difference between scholarship halls and residence halls is the way they are governed.
"The residents run the hall," said Paul Hubbman, director of Battenfeld, an all-male hall. "I help with organizing the kitchen and maintenance. I also advise, but that's it. They are in charge of their own discipline, and they plan their own activities."
Scholarship hall's plan a lot of social activities for their residents throughout the year. Many of the events take place annually. For example, each year Amini Hall has a Weenie Roast, Douthart Hall has a Halloween "Blood Bash". Grace Pearson Hall has Karaoke Night, Sellards Hall has an IRS Party and Watkins Hall has a Winter Informal.
There is a lot of mixing among the scholarship halls.
"Usually when we plan an activity, it's generally with a women's hall," Hubbman said. "ASHC (All Scholarship Hall Council) plans all of our activities. Last semester, I couldn't believe how many activities we had. There was one or two a week, but that's abnormally high because our socials were very motivated.
"We also have study breaks with other halls," Hubbman explained. "Sometimes it will be to watch "Seinfeld," or go to Joe's for doughnuts. In the past, we've done everything from playing Twister to massage therapy."
But scholarship halls are not for all students.
"I'd like to say that scholarship halls are for everyone, but there are people who haven't meshed here basically because they haven't worked," Hubbman said. "They were not interested in vacuuming and cleaning, and that's fine because the other residence halls are ideal for that situation."
toward KU's scholarship halls is positive.
"If you don't mind the chores, the greatest advantage is the quiet atmosphere, which is really geared toward scholarship and studying," Lee said. "But you can't stereotype it because it's not a bunch of people studying all of the time."
in general, the attitude
- KU's top administrator expects new students to work and play hard in and out of the classroom.
BY TIM CARPENTER
JOURNAL-WORLD WRITER
Hemenway: Learning lasts beyond class
Chancellor Robert Hemenway doesn't expect freshmen at Kansas University to wear beanies on campus.
Thankfully, some traditions die. The paddle-wielding K Club members who enforced the beanie rule went the way of the Model T.
"But I do have great expectations for students," Hemenway said. "I anticipate they will have a special experience at the University of Kansas."
"We are deadly serious about the classroom," KU's top administrator said. "But there is also an informal part of learning at KU. It's in your residence hall at 1 a.m. during a discussion about AIDS, it's when you're having a discussion about the ethics of euthanasia at one of the campus ministries, it's the rush of fraternity and sorority rush."
That adventure begins, but doesn't end, in the classroom.
Hemenway will implement a new administrative structure July 1. It's designed to make university officials more accountable.
It's important for today's college students to realize their education doesn't stop at commencement, he said. There's no reason to put limits on a person's potential as an educated human being, he added.
"Any organizational structure in place 20 years tends to get communication channels clogged, tends to barnacles attached to it," he said.
Streamlining the administration should make KU more responsive to student needs, he said.
Hemenway has encouraged university faculty to seek opportunities to improve the KU learning experience. That might be accomplished by greater integration of computers in the classroom.
It all boils down to making certain KU offers a first-rate undergraduate education, he said.
"I believe we must have a student-centered university," Hemenway said.
He said KU students shouldn't permit themselves to be harassed or abused in any way.
"If anyone tells you that you
must be abused or degraded,
hazed or harassed so that you can
be a member of a group — Greek
or non-Greek — you let us know."
In the same vein, students shouldn't engage in dangerous behavior.
"Don't abuse yourself, either," he said. "You're not safe when you're sloppy drunk. You're not safe when you hive."
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The chancellor urged students to resist efforts by anyone to restrain them intellectually.
"If Einstein had been intellectually careful, he would have spent his life in a Swiss patent office." Hemenway said.
The chancellor told students not to fail because they "lacked courage or self-confidence or integrity."
"And above all, have fun these next four years."
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