CAMPUS/AREA
University Daily Kansan/Wednesday, November 20, 1991
3
Wetlands definition may change
Proposed national legislation would affect land south of Lawrence
By Heather Anderson Kansan staff writer
Don Palmater keeps his eyes on proposed natural wetland legislation.
Palmateer, who owns a farm northwest of Lawrence, is not allowed to drain water off of his land because some of it is protected wetlands.
The national government protects wetlands areas because of the unique nature of these ecosystems.
Palmateer agrees with the proposed legislation change.
The Bush administration, however, has proposed that the definition of wetlands be changed so that fewer areas are protected by the federal government.
"It should not be declared a wetland just because it has some water stand-in."
The Bush administration made one proposal that would require standing water to cover an area for at least 15 consecutive days. The current policy states that land must be saturated for seven days to be considered a wetland.
The definition includes stipulations concerning soil and vegetation.
Palmateer, who also heads the
Dice Discovery Board.
Dice should not be seen until pre-
sequence is completed.
Other area people disagreee.
If federal legislation changes the definition of wetlands, about half of the land in the Baker Wetlands area would no longer fall under federal protection.
tain areas should be set aside for wildlife. He also wants to educate other farmers about the wetlands.
Baker Wetlands endangered
Roger Boyd, professor of biology at Baker University, said that about 50 percent of the land in the Baker Wetland Complex was considered as wetlands under the proposed
Aimee Brainard/KANSAN
Boyd said this would mean that the federal government could not stop developers seeking to build on it.
Boyd said development probably would not take place because Baker University would try to protect the area for research.
The Baker Wetlands, which are south of 31st Street between Louisiana Street and Haskell Avenue, is a site of plants, birds and reptiles he said.
Joyce Wolf, the legislative liaison for the Kansas Audubon Council, said the new definition could affect as much as 50 percent of the land in Kansas that is classified as a wetland area.
Wolf said wetlands offered benefits such as filtering air pollutants.
"We can't afford to turn our backs on benefits of wetlands," she said.
Wolf, who attended a wetland conference last week, said the new definition would cause concerns throughout the United States, not just in Kansas.
Doug Gahn, district conservationist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture soil conservation service, said his office had not received much reaction from area farmers concerned with the proposed definition.
Weaving a design
JulieDenesha/KANSAN
Abel Ramirez, Emporia junior, weaves different fibers to create various patterns and textures. Ramirez was weaving yesterday afternoon at the Art and Design building.
Up close and personal with your campus mailman
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is the second in a series of articles about some of the people who make the changes to the new website.
By Laura Schaffer Special to the Kansan
Jim Richey, KU alumnus, jumped into the white Chevrolet S-10 truck as students rushed to their 8 a.m. classes. "Campus mail" was spelled out in his first route of the day. Richey was off his first route of the day.
He was doing the "overhill route," which took in to the south end of campus and over to West Campus.
At every stop, Richey hopped out of the truck,
grabbed a bundle of yellow envelopes and made
Richey said that he liked the job. However, his position at the University is only temporary. He is replacing an office assistant who is on maternity leave and will be working in another office; he will have to find an alternative source of income.
After 19 stops, he returns to the campus mail office in the basement of Strong Hall. He will go out again after lunch after he separates and bundles the mail he has just picked up. That is his routine.
Richey graduated from KU in May 1990 with a degree in advertising. Unable to find an advertising job immediately, he took a job with the campus mail department.
his way to the boxes in each department labeled campus mail. Some people said hello, and he responded cordially. With the outgoing mail in his arms, he jogged back to his truck.
Wenfi Groves / KANSAN
Jim Richey, Lawrence, delivers the campus mail.
Student, faculty mission ideas meet opposition
By Alexander Bloemhof
Kansan staff writer
Faculty and student representatives yesterday discussed the Student Advisory Committee's refusal to endorse a mission statement drafted by the chief academic officers.
The advisory committee is composed of the student body presidents from the Board of Regents universities.
At Thursday's Regents meeting, the advisory committee said it endorsed neither the mission statement proposed by the Regents staff nor the one drafted by the Council of Regents to compose of the heads of the academic affairs offices from Regents schools.
In September, the Regents asked the academic officers to write an alternative mission statement because the Regents staff's proposal drew sharp criticism from all campuses.
The staff document was criticized because it proposed shifting power from the individual campuses to the Regents.
However, the mission statement, which was written by the academic officers, proposed to leave power on the campuses. The document was endorsed by the presidents and top faculty representatives of the Regents schools at Thursday's meeting.
The advisory committee's response yesterday surprised university and faculty representatives.
"We and CoCAO members went in thinking that there was no major student opposition," said Frances
Members of the University Senate Executive committee yesterday asked Darren Fulcher, student counselor at Northwestern, to advise the advisory committee's stance.
Ingemann,
professor of
linguistics.
"We were
surprised by
it."
Fulcher said he thought that the committee had been pressured to
"I was almost insulted that students should not be able to develop their own position." he said. "We were not trying to put off approval of the document. We wanted student concerns expressed."
approve the CoCAO document.
Among other things, students wanted systemwide faculty evaluation and monetary awards linked to university performance, Fulcher said.
Both points were included in the Regents staff document but not in the CoCAO document.
Del Brinkman, vice chancellor for academic affairs, said that the head of the advisory committee had sat in on the meetings during which CoCAO drafted its document.
"There were representatives there watching the process with the opportunity to respond," Brinkman said. "But the word I got the night before the Regents meeting was that the students preferred the staff document."
The head of the advisory committee, Sarah Scribner, said she had participated only in preliminary CoCAO meetings.
"We received the document when it was distributed to everyone," Scribner said. "There was no way to get together and discuss the document as a group."
She said the committee did not favor one document over the other.
BACCHUS members share ideas at meeting
By Kerrie Gottschalk
Kansan staff writer
Dead Day, designated driving programs, non-alcohol bars and other alcohol awareness activities were some of the issues discussed at the international BACCHU conference last weekend in Indianapolis.
Six members of Boosting Alcohol Consciousness Concerning the Health of University Students and their adviser attended the conference last week and shared ideas on promoting alcohol awareness among college students.
"The conference provided a lot of motivation for us, and it gave us different techniques we can use to get the campus involved," said Julie the advisor to BACCHUS and health education at Watkins Memorial Health Center.
About 600 people from the United States, Canada and Mexico attended the three-day conference. Conference members attended various presentations, activities and workshops, Huntingster said.
Brian Ullman, Fairway freshman, attended several presentations that addressed public relations issues.
He said he primarily was interested in how to organize and publicize activities that the group could sponsor for KU students.
"The presentations varied quite a bit. he said.
Huntings said that she attended seven different presentations and that much of what she learned could be used for KU's BACCHUS program.
"We want to get the message out that we are not an anti-drinking group. We are an anti-drunk driving organization," Huntsinger said.
She said she also learned about alcohol awareness events like Dead Day. On a certain day, selected students would wear white makeup and signs that they were killed in drunken driving accidents.
Students who are interested in participating in BACCHUS should call Julie Dolan at 843-4610 or Julie Huntingser at 864-9570.