FRIDAY,OCTOBER 20,2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
VOL.117 ISSUE 45
BOARD OF REGENTS
Plan for fixed tuition approved
BY JACK WEINSTEIN
TOPEKA — Incoming University of Kansas freshmen are a step closer to having a fixed tuition rate for their first four years of college. The plan could go into effect as early as next fall.
The Kansas Board of Regents voted unanimously to approve the idea of guaranteed tuition Thursday. The board did not take any action toward determining the specific rate of increase or other details of the plan. Those questions will be
addressed when the board convenes in May to approve, deny or delay the University's official proposal.
The guaranteed tuition would be based on projections of inflation over the next four years, Provost Richard Lariviere said.
The plan, which was originally proposed in Spring 2004, would give incoming freshman a base tuition cost for a four-year period. The first two years would be more expensive than non-guaranteed tuition and the final two years would be cheaper so it would balance out among students
who weren't incoming freshmen.
"This was a response to a specific student request," Lariviere said. "We do our damnedest to honor those requests."
Students that do not complete their degrees within four years would have to pay a rate of tuition that wouldn't be guaranteed past the fourth year.
Ian Staples, Student Senate legislative director, said the plan provided students and their parents with a level of predictability that they didn't have with non-guaranteed tuition.
Staples also said the plan provides "an incredible incentive" to graduate in four years.
Lariviere said the University would also like to guarantee fees and housing, but it wasn't ready to do that quite yet. The University would like to have those numbers by May, he said.
Lariviere added that differential tuition couldn't be guaranteed
because a fixed rate would defeat the purpose of meeting the individual financial requirements of each professional school.
Members of the Board of Regents were concerned that the four-year window would put excess pressure on students to graduate and could prevent them from studying abroad or working while they went to school.
The board questioned the current 26 percent four-year graduation rate at the University, but Lariviere said that was a common problem
among public institutions of higher education.
He also said that students that studied abroad, worked less than 20 hours a week and took 15 credit hours a semester graduated in four years more often than students who didn't.
Kansan staff writer Jack Weinstein can be contacted at jweinstein@ kansan.com.
TRANSPORTATION
University requests battery-operated bus
BY NATE MCGINNIS
The University of Kansas Transportation Research Institute is requesting permission from the Federal Transit Authority to bring a battery-operated bus, outfitted with new charging technology, to campus within a year.
The institute wants to test a battery system, called an opportunity charging system, which was developed in Germany. Bob Honea, director of the Transportation Research Institute, said the system was developed in a laboratory and had never been tested in real life.
Honea said with the opportu
LAWRENCE Apartment fire causes moderate injury, damage
A small apartment fire damaged six units about 3 p.m.
Thursday at SouthPointe Apartments, 2166 W. 26th St.
nity charging system, a metal plate under the bus would recharge the bus' batteries as it loads or unloads. The metal plate would reduce the number of times that the bus had to be plugged in to recharge.
Honea said the Federal Transit Authority needed to approve the institute's request because it owned the new technology. He said of the approximately $350,000 collected for the project, $150,000 came from the institute and another $200,000 came from the Advanced Transportation Technologies Institute.
SEE BUS ON PAGE 4A
The apartment's residents, Cori Nerhbass and her two sons, were not at home when the fire occurred.
The fire originated from apartment No. 4. Firefighters were on the scene within 15 minutes of the call. They extinguished the blaze before anyone was seriously injured. Lawrence-Douglas County Fire and Medical chief Mark Bradford said one woman was treated for smoke inhalation.
Bradford said that there was some damage to the apartment. There was also moderate water damage to the unit below it and some smoke and heat damage to four nearby units.
The fire department was still investigating as of press time. Officials estimated the investigation would be finished sometime today.
Virgie K. Farmer, of Lawrence, called emergency personnel. She did not live at SouthPointe, but was helping her friend move across the hall from apartment No. 4 when she heard the alarm going off. She opened the door and saw the smoke, she said. Farmer said she dashed back into her friend's apartment to call 911 before trying to aid any residents she thought might be across the hall.
"I tried to kick the damn door down," Farmer said. "But I couldn't get it."
Farmer screamed for help and eventually the fire department showed up.
Residents were allowed back into the building around 5:30 p.m.
Jared Gab/KANSAS
— Jack Weinstein and Mark Vierthaler
Lawrence firefighters respond to an apartment fire at 2166 W 26th Street Thursday afternoon. No persons were in the apartment when the fire broke.
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BREAST CANCER AWARENESS
Inaugural informative week finishes
Casey Topol, Mamaroneck, NY, senior, attaches a breast cancer awareness ribbon to her jacket as Liz Cohen, Leawood junior, discusses breast cancer issues at an outreach table located in the Kansas Union on Tuesday. "I've had several family friends who have either survived breast cancer or died from it." Topol said, "So I'm a big supporter of the research."
Events come to close with Jayhawk 5k run/walk Saturday at Burge Union
BY COURTNEY HAGEN
Jodi Carlson wants the University of Kansas to know that breast cancer is a real possibility for students.
Whether it is early detection or the treatment of existing cancer, Carlson, the clinical coordinator in the cancer research department and the breast center at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, said that breast cancer can affect both men and women at young ages.
"We've had patients here as young as 24 who have been diagnosed with breast cancer," Carlson said. "College-aged women really need to know what to look for at this age. If the cancer is caught early enough there is almost a 98 percent chance that patients will live past five years after detection. If it's caught later, the survival rate is almost 26 percent."
Carlson and the hospital joined forces with the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center, Watkins Memorial Health Center, the KU Panhellenic Association and Sigma Lambda Gamma sorority to promote breast cancer awareness week at the University in observance of
breast cancer awareness month.
Kathy Rose-Mockry, director of the ETWC, said this week was the first time that KU and community groups have set aside a whole week of activities and programs at the University.
The week attention to the cancer and promote health and early detection. Though Carlson said that more than 213,000 women and 1,700 men would be diagnosed with the cancer this year, it still remains
The week is intended to bring
"It is so important for women, as well as men, to be aware of breast cancer because it can be a threat to anyone."
has worked countless hours to get the word out.
"It is so important for women, as well as men, to be aware of breast cancer because it can be a threat to anyone," Gerson said. "It can happen to any person, any age, any
one of the most detected cancers in the nation.
STEFANI GERSON Graduate student
Stefani Gerson, graduate program coordinator for the ETWC and Overland Park grad student,
The causes and origin of the cancer are unclear, Carlson said. Since the cancer strikes at random, student groups have begun to stress the importance of the awareness of breast cancer at an early age.
race, regardless of whether it is in their family history or not. Everyone always seems to know at least one person that has been touched by breast cancer; we might as well use that to our benefit
1.
to raise awareness and provide support to finding a cure"
The hospital, the ETWC and Watkins used interactive resource tables throughout the week to educate on campus students and staff with information on how to do self-breast exams and on the importance of mammograms. They also held a panel of breast cancer
survivors Monday.
To end the week, the University will hold the first Jayhawk 5k run/walk for breast cancer. Mallory Curry, women's programming appointed officer for Panhellenic and Overland Park sophomore, helped to plan the event. Curry said the $2 entrance fee would go directly to support the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which researches breast cancer causes and works to find a cure.
When the week is over, organizers said they hoped that the community would continue to remember the cancer and work to create healthier lifestyles to prevent it.
The Jayhawk 5k run/walk will start at 4 p.m. at the Burge Union on Sunday and is open to the public.
More information on breast cancer can be found at www.komen.org or www.lmh.org/breastcenter/.
Kansan staff writer Courtney Hagen can be contacted at chagen@kansan.com.
Edited by Erin Wiley
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