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FROM TUITION PAGE 1
NEWS
proposal from 3 to 2.9 percent for a final vote.
Compared to tuition increases in recent years, all of this year's rates were well below that. Last year, for example, the University saw
an increase of 5 percent. Regent Shane Bangerter said this improvement from historical patterns is one of the reasons he voted to approve.
"Nobody likes [the increase], but you look at what the University is doing, the kind of services they're providing, and compare that to what a private institution would cost, it's still a bargain and it's still a great value," Bangerter said after the vote.
In the future, Bangter- er said he would like to
curb the increases or even keep tuition steady, but increased state funding would be necessary to make that happen.
Along with the tuition increases, the Regents approved the University's fees for next year. The fees in-
KANSAN.COM
by campus fees, technology fees, infrastructure fees and course fees. Altogether, those fees are increasing by $17.50 per student per semester for a total of $502.75.
Also a part of his bundling is the historically
controversial funding for Multicultural Student Government. After a failed attempt last year and a lot of negotiations, MSG will finally be funded at $1 per student per semester.
FROM GUNS PAGE 1
any public facility unless security measures are in place.
University student ambassadors Allie Melendez and David Stine lead a campus tour for incoming freshman and their parents outside of the KU Visitor Center on Nov. 11. Melendez is a junior from Los Angeles and Stine is a senior from Olathe.
"Any time a new question comes up at orientation, I submit it to the Provost's office and they craft a response and make it publicly available so that in the future we can continue answering those questions," Treadwell said. "Because part of making people feel OK about it is making them feel that their question is important even if it's the hundredth time you've been asked that question."
File Photo/KANSAN
The University's concealed carry website, concealedcarry.ku.edu, is home to the collection of frequently asked questions.
"The conversations that we've had with students have really been those 'what if scenarios, not necessarily from a place of fear," Treadwell said. "But just from a place of wanting to be prepared and being unsure about what this looks like on campus."
INCOMING STUDENTS
Sarah Malakoff, a freshman from Mckinney, Texas, said she has been sure of her choice to attend the University for quite some time. Now, after only recently becoming aware of concealed carry at the University, she said she sees both negative and positive sides to the issue.
"It's great as it can allow
someone to feel safe on campus and if need be, protect themselves in a dangerous situation," Malakoff said. "However, you can be sitting in class or walking on Jayhawk Boulevard and a student right next to you will be able to have a gun and you have no clue as to what their intentions are."
Although full of hypothetical questions right now, Malakoff said, it doesn't change her decision to come to Kansas.
"It didn't even pop into my mind when considering where to go to college," Malakoff said. "It's not something I think most high school students think about."
The issue's influence, or lack thereof, on choice of college was the same with Nate Gendler, a freshman from Omaha, Nebraska.
Gendler, who described himself as supporting the second amendment, said he has become fairly educated on carrying a concealed weapon and has plans to conceal carry in the future. However, his opinion skews when it comes to college campuses.
"I just think it should be a gun-free area, as public and private high schools and such are," Gendler said.
When thinking about the issue and how it will influence his upcoming time at the University, Gendler said he weighs the pros and cons.
The pros, he said, include the possibility that guns could make the campus safer. The cons are paramount too, though, he added.
ORIENTATION ASSISTANTS
"I am not indifferent, I'd prefer it be gun-free," Gender said. "But I do understand and support the legality of concealed carry. I just don't know how I feel about them on a campus."
Although students like Malakoff and Gendler didn't consider the change when choosing a university, they may have questions about it once they get here. That's why orientation assistants like Kenny Nguyen and Leslie Alva were trained to have the answers, or at least know
Instead of changing it, Nguyen said, the University is focused on educating students about concealed carry. Although the campus safety panel during orientation is for everyone except incoming students, they may have something just as good: peers who likely had or have
“It's all about prevention education right now, stuff like what to do if you see it, this is how you should conceal it and this is how it should be,” Nguyen said. “It's nothing that KU can change.”
where to find them.
Nguyen, a junior from Dodge City, said in serving his second year as an orientation assistant, he hopes to help educate new students on concealed carry with the tools he has gained through training.
the same questions as them.
"It's one of those topics where you're not just like, 'Hey, by the way...' There's not really a way for you to introduce the topic to them," Alva said. "You just be there."
Alva, a junior from Kansas City, Kansas, said the issue of concealed carry will likely be one discussed daily during the two months of orientation. How that issue is to be discussed, she said, is up to the students.
Along with their assistants, incoming students will also attend an Opportunities Fair during their one day orientation. Hosted in a ballroom at the Union, the fair has been specifically designed to station KUPSO front and center in order to answer any questions.
As part of their orientation assistant training, Nguyen and Alva attended the same panel that parents and guests will attend at orientation, where KUPSO was available to answer many of their questions. According to Treadwell, this panel will eventually be presented to incoming students at required Hawk Week event Jayhawk Jumpstart on Aug. 18.
"One of the things that we found when we talk with students about some of those pieces, the health, wellness, life on campus, is in June it's not quite as relevant as when they're actually here and spend a night on campus," Treadwell said. "It's a lot more real and more relevant at that point."