LAWRENCE IOURNAL-WORLD
KU EDITION
SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 1996 17B
Continuing Ed shows learning never has to end
- Continuing Education keeps up with technology.
BY JL WATSON
JOURNAL-WORLD WRITER
On a summer afternoon when many Kansas University faculty members are on vacation, Continuing Education dean Robert Senecal is reading "How to Make Your Employees Fall in Love with Your Company."
His "company" is the Continuing Education program, and his employees have to be devoted to the concept of lifetime learning if they are to succeed under Senecal's direction.
"Lifetime learning is where it's at," Senecal said. "Things are changing so fast. We have to take learning and society ideas more seriously, and I think we are."
Senecal is serious about the latest developments taking place through the office of Continuing Education. Many former students and members of the business community are familiar with traditional programs, including relicensing for teachers, lawyers and engineers, but there is more to the outreach program, Senecal said.
"We take graduates and give them a continuing education applicable to their lives and their jobs," he said.
In the past, correspondence courses set the mainstream standard for off-campus programs. Continuing Education has changed to accommodate newer methods of communication and technology.
"We have instructional television and compressed video that allows two-way video and audio across the state." Senecal said, adding that video access is especially important in remote areas of the state, where medical care is less available.
See Continuing, page 20B
RICHARD GWIN/JOURNAL-WORLD PHOTO
KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway talks to faculty and staff at the Regents Center in Overland Park with the help of interactive television from the Lawrence campus under the supervision of Continuing Education.
Services help students sort out legal woes
- Untangling Kansas University student's legal knots is the specialty of the Legal Services for Students office on campus.
BY CAROLINE TROWBRIDGE
JOURNAL-WORLD WRITER
For Kansas University students who find themselves in legal quagmires, a group of attorneys who work in Burge Union can provide help.
The Legal Services for Students office, which was formed in 1979 with student fees, provides free legal counsel to KU students. The office is on the lower level of the Burge Union.
Staffed by three full-time attorneys, the office's lawyers spend a great deal of time on three main legal tangles: landlord-tenant dis
putes, consumer cases and traffic cases. The annual caseload numbers about 3,000.
Jo Hardesty, director of the office since 1987, said landlord-
office since 1987,
tenant cases
make up a large
amount of the
caseload.
"For a lot of students, that's really the first contract they've dealt with," said Hardesty, who earned a bache.
home didn't exist." she said.
Misdemeanor traffic cases also involve a large number of students each year. Students also get involved in a large number alco-
"Just because they're students, they're not shielded from the real world."
—Jo Hardesty, Legal Services for Students director
lor's degree from KU in 1982 and her law degree from KU in 1986.
Consumer problems also face students, she said. In a recent case, students had trouble on a spring break trip to Mexico.
"The trip existed, but the trip
hol-related
offenses, such as minor in possession of alcohol, fake identification or operating a vehicle under the influence. The office is restricted in how far it can go to
represent students, Hardesty said. Except for landlord-tenant disputes or consumer cases, the office's attorneys cannot represent students in court.
A student who is charged with a felony, for example, would be
referred to other legal counsel.
"We try to get the word out to students about our program," Hardesty said.
The Legal Service for Students office also handles educational programs, on a request basis, for organizations, living groups and classes.
In addition to full-time lawyers, the office also employs five KU students in their second or third year of law school. The law students must be overseen by a full-fledged attorney.
"We keep pretty busy," Hardesty said.
The number and type of cases affecting students continues to grow, she said.
"It's justlike anybody else," she said. "Just because they're students, they're not shielded from the real world."
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