4A
Wednesday, August 30,1995
OPINION UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE: TUITION PAYMENT PLAN
Installments will help students
Next semester, the University of Kansas will offer an installment plan option for tuition payment. This new method of fee payment will allow students to forego paying their tuition in full and instead make four payments throughout the semester.
This new plan is a great option for students who have trouble coming up with tuition money in one lump sum at the beginning of each semester. KU is joining the ranks of many other universities that have similar plans. However, many other universities charge interest.
KU has decided not to charge interest, which makes the new plan a financially wise choice. Students and parents can earn interest on their own money while waiting to make payments, instead of allowing the state of Kansas to earn the interest.
There will be four interest-free payments beginning with a down payment in December and a $25 application fee per semester, but students cannot be turned down for the plan. A fee of $25 is very reasonable compared to the expense of interest payments charged by some universities. But the plan shouldn't be misused. If students miss a payment, they will be dropped from their semester courses and required to make full restitution before applying for reinstatement.
A new fee payment plan could allow those who normally could not afford an education to receive one
This plan has the potential to help alleviate the burden of paying for school by allowing students to work during school and make installment payments as they go. This will allow a greater number of individuals to attend KU and to receive the education that might not otherwise be possible.
CHRIS VINE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
THE ISSUE: CAMPUS ID CARD
KU should make use of ID card
A multi-use ID card would be a benefit to the entire KU campus.
These ID cards could be used at campus businesses but also could be expanded to include area businesses. This ID card would function like a debit card or a check. A student could buy a sweatshirt at the KU Bookstore, and the amount spent would be taken from his or her checking account. Also, the card could be used as a long-distance calling card and could access ATM machines.
The University of Kansas has started working toward a multiuse ID card. The KUID card now can be used at the Kansas and Burge Unions to purchase food and products from the bookstores. But this is an opportunity that few students are aware of or utilize.
Expanding the ID card's uses would be useful to KU students. The card would be an added service and convenience for those who frequent campus businesses.
ID card could eliminate hassles of carrying cash or approving checks and could increase student purchasing power
Implementation of this ID card also would be advantageous to campus businesses. Most likely, the card would increase the number of students who utilize services, purchase supplies and dine on campus.
University officials are discussing the implementation of this type of ID card. ID cards similar to what KU is considering are available at universities throughout the nation. At Fort Hays State University, the ID card gives students access to services such as laundry machines and soda machines.
A multi-use ID card would be profitable to the KU community. An advance such as this would facilitate life for the student body.
TARA FITZPATRICK FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Matt Hood / KANSAN
Leave your living room and experience real life
The Aug. 28 issue of Time magazine printed part of an identification quiz given to a group of undergraduate journalism students at Arizona State University. The purpose of the quiz was to test the students' knowledge of current events and prominent people.
One would think that journalism majors would do well on such a quiz. One would think that they would actually read the papers for which they may someday write. Unfortunately, one would also be wrong. My favorite pathetic answer was from the student who identified Jesse Jackson as leader of the Moral Majority.
Now, far be it from me to speak for Jackson, but I don't see him looking favorably on being confused with the Rev. Jerry Falwell. Pat Robertson, maybe. At least Robertson has his own show, has run for president and has the power to turn back hurricanes with nothing but the force of his prayers.
The last I heard from Falwell, he was throwing the first stone at Jim Bakker as they slid off into obscurity together. The Rev. Jackson is a better man than that.
I also enjoyed the student who confused Sandra Day O'Connor
STAFF COLUMNIST
with Susan Dey. This did make a little more sense. Dey played a powerful attorney and judge on "L.A. Law." Justice O'Connor sits on the Supreme Court. Also, if you use only Justice O'Connor's first initial and middle name
and, compare it to S. Dey, it sounds identical.
And the similarities don't stop there. Both are Caucasian and both are prominent women in their field.
But as amusing as the ignorance of my peers may be, the fact remains that many of our nation's undergraduates are more familiar with who is starring in "The Real World" than with what is going on in the real world. This is inexcusable.
We have a responsibility to know what is going on locally, nationally and globally. We have a responsibility to make informed decisions, join the public dialogue and to vote responsibly. Furthermore, we have the
responsibility to use our higher learning to make this a better world for everyone, and we can't do that unless we know what is happening and who is making it happen. I understand that "L.A. Law" is riveting. But we have to make time for CNN and the occasional newspaper.
For those who have managed to kindle some interest in the ebb and flow of life outside the living room, congratulations. Now is the time to expand your awareness and become active in the community. Luckily, you are not alone. There are 406 student groups at KU registered through the Organizations and Activities Center.
Many of these focus on world politics or local outreach. Some can teach you about other cultures. Some can teach you about your own. The best among them will not only provide education and increase your awareness of the world, but will also reach out to help those in need.
Do yourself a favor and volunteer your time. Join a group. Read a paper. Turn off the tube. Just don't make all of us look bad by being one of those who thinks Alzheimer's is an imported beer.
Todd Hlatt is a Lyndon junior in social welfare.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Budget solution is splitting faculty
KU is hard-pressed to accommodate a $3 million cut in a general budget of about $170 million.
About 52 percent of the general budget goes for faculty salaries. That is where rational and equitable long-term focus should be.
Kansas has the lowest total revenue of its peer states. At $2.8 billion in 1994, its total revenue was 20 percent less than the next lowest state, which was Colorado at $3.5 billion. Here alone is the economic reality that KU faculty salaries are to be at least 20 percent below peer schools. Actually, it is about 8 percent lower.
As Princeton University is a "mostly research" institute and Wichita State University is "mostly teaching," KU is a hybrid of research and teaching.
Classes up to and including master's are ordinary regular textbook teaching, making research status irrelevant.
Research faculty are significantly more expensive than teaching faculty. Teaching faculty have Ph.D.s but are not required to publish. For a long-term fiscal solution, hire as research faculty or as teaching faculty. The former do post-master's teaching.
This will save millions, which can be put into research instrumentation (facilities). It will enhance research to attract more federal and corporate research funds. It will enhance teaching as well, both within the economic reality of Kansas.
Pennsylvania's higher education system has this split faculty model in geographically separate campuses. Having it on the same campus at Lawrence is not an academic minus, but probably a plus.
T. S. David Lawrence graduate student
Learning should not be based on the quick fix or the next final
"Will this be on the test?"
A fellow student in my philosophy class recently asked our teacher this after the teacher had spent the hour telling us wonderful stories about ancient Greece. How does one respond to that? I didn't wait around to hear his answer, or to see if he
banged his head repeatedly on the chalkboard and screamed, "Is this all for naught?"
We have for-saken learning for the sake of learning. No longer is there a driving passion to seek knowledge for the mere fact that it benefits us. We want to learn
only enough to regurgitate it back into a blue book at the end of the semester.
Our society could be partly to blame. We want everything to be faster and easier. Welcome to McDonald's University. Thank you, drive through.
Part of the problem is the grading system. We base our learning on As and Bs. Isn't it possible to learn more in a class and still get a C? But how well would that go over with Mom and Dad?
"Gee Mom, I'm getting a C, but I'm learning a heck of a lot."
When a class exposes you to something new and causes you to question the world around you, that's learning, despite the grade you receive. But unfortunately, no other system has been found to measure our success. Maybe we should measure our own success, painfully and honestly.
We also should think about retention. Our education should have the shelf life of more than a semester or four years. Granted, the Epic of Gilgamesh may never come up in casual dinner conversation, but the analytical and critical thinking skills that we learn in studying will help us for the rest of our life.
What is the purpose of being at a university if not to learn? We didn't just pack up our belongings and naively move away for four fun-filled years at Camp College. We are here to do a job.
The solution lies mostly within ourselves. We need to commit oursels to acquiring a broad base of knowledge. We need to realize that the learning shouldn't stop when our four years are over.
So, will this be on the test?
Yeah, the minute you walk down the hill and leave Camp College. That is the real test.
Heather Lawrenz is a Wellsville senior in journalism.
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