CAMPUS / AREA
University Daily Kansan/Friday, October 25, 1991
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Council takes no action on Regents mission statement
By Alexander Bloemhof
Kansan staff writer
University Council yesterday missed its only opportunity to provide input for a mission statement that will shape the Board of Regents system through the year 2000.
After discussing three of six strategic themes of the statement, more than half of the 51 members had left, so the Council did not require attendance required to take official action.
The statement was drafted by the Council of Chief Academic Officers, which is composed of the heads of the academic affairs offices at the six Regents schools.
The Board of Regents asked the chief academic officers in September to draft an alternative mission statement after one from the Regents staff was sharply criticized by all Regents schools because it would have shifted authority in school matters from the individual schools to the Regents.
University officials expressed hope that the chief academic officers would draft a more acceptable statement.
However, Del Brinkman, vice chancellor for academics affairs, said the time lines were so short that there was hardly any opportunity to faculty, staff and students to provide impd.
Tom Beiseker, chairperson of the University Senate Executive Committee, the executive body of Council, said there was no possibility for input from the Council before Wednesday.
He said that the chief academic officers had to present the statement to the heads of the Regents schools Wednesday and that any input would have to come before then.
There was little discussion about the first three strategic themes because many Council members had received the 19-page statement only shortly before the meeting.
CarlBurkhead, professor of civilengineering, said there should be further discussion after everyone had enough time to read the statement.
The purpose of the six strategic themes is to outline important areas for improving higher education in Kansas.
Beisecker said that was not possible because the Council would not meet before the chief academic officers prepared their final draft.
The themes include governance and administration, academic programs and units, the undergraduate experience and tuition and financial aid.
They must be addressed in the statement because they were approved by the Board of Regents in June, said Frances Ingemann, presiding officer of University Council.
Before adjourning the meeting, Ingemann said frustrated members could provide input on new initiatives.
Boeing considering Lawrence for site of wind tunnel center
By William Ramsey
Kansan staff writer
Lawrence is being considered as a future site for a Boeing Co. wind tunnel center because of low-cost power and water available in the area.
Boeing announced Wednesday that Lawrence was one of five finalists for the project.
The aircraft company accepted proposals from 76 utility companies, including KPL Gas Service, which recommended Lawrence.
Tom Sloan, a KPL representative, said that the Seattle-based Boeing's first priority was cheap power and a reliable water source. He said water would not be taken from Clinton Lake but transferred from KPL wells.
Sloan said that if Boehne chose Lawrence for its proposed project, the utility might have done the work.
"In other words, if Boeing throws a switch, the city of Lawrence doesn't go dark," he said.
However, the company has not decided yet whether it even will build the center, said Sherry Nebel, Boeing public relations manager.
"If we don't build, we will continue to use our existing tunnels," she said.
Nebel said the company operated four wind tunnel centers nationwide.
The proposed center, which would contain three wind tunnels, could be used to test models of aircraft and outer-space vehicles, she said.
Nebel said that the final decision would be made sometime next year and that the project could begin in the late 1990s.
Gary Toebben, president of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, said Lawrence had been chosen as a finalist from a list of more than 40 candidates in official visits Lawrence in mid-September.
"Now it comes down to how competitive we are with the other four communities," he said.
Jan Roskam, professor of aerospace engineering, said the wind tunnel project could benefit from the engineering resources at the University of Kansas.
The other four proposed sites are in Hanging Rock, Ohio; Oakridge, Tenn.; Portage, Ind.; and Rathdrum, Idaho.
"Those kind of people will obviously be attracted to the University for continuing education." he said.
Making faces
In the spirit of Halloween, Chris Sieggen, Leawood junior and employee at Joe's Bakery, decorates pumpkin-shaped cookies. Sieggen said the cookies were one of the store's best sellers during the Halloween season.
Panel discusses women's issues encountered in the workplace
By William Ramsey Kansan staff writer
Women need to explode the myths that exist about their place in the force work, three panelists said last week. An event sponsored by KU Democrats.
One of the panelists, State Rep. Kathleen Sebelius, said women were not going to stay home to bake cookies and drive station wagons.
"They need the economic power that the work force will bring them," Sebelius said to about 30 people at Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
Sebelius said recent allegations made by Anita Hill that she was harassed by her former boss, newly appointed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, highlighted the difficulties for women in the work
Sebelius said she thought it was unrealistic for women fighting sexual harassment to expect success through litigation under current laws.
If litigation had been pursued in Hill's case, the only benefit for her might have been an injunction
against Thomas and the return of court costs, she said.
"We are asking women to take enormous personal risks and enormous career risks for absolutely no personal gain," Sebelius said.
"Why in the world would any sane human being do that?"
A second panelist, Jo Hardesty, director of Legal Services for Students, agreed that the laws aimed at women's rights did not work perfectly.
"Even though laws are in place, these still are issues that women have to deal with in the workplace," she said.
In a male-dominated atmosphere, women who have worked their way up in a company and are ready to face other hurdles, Hardesty said.
A thirdpanelist, Barbara Balla director of the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center, said there were many ways that women were treated differently than men in the workplace.
"（Employers) assume she is going to throw everything away as soon as she finds this great man," Hardesty said.
Many women are as well-educated and have as much experience as their male counterparts, but they often make less money, she said.
"You earned everything you got and you expect to be paid for it," Ballard said.
"They're not gripping, they are just asking for things that are theirs in the first place."
Women also miss opportunities to be involved and to advance because of society's attitude toward women, she said.
"It is not planned that way, but it works that way." Ballard said.
However, she said that separate political organizations open only to women did not help.
Sebelius said a way to change these perceptions was for women to mobilize and gather their resources.
"We do ourselves a disservise by pulling out of the power structure and forming our own little groups," Sebelius said.
"They each have qualities women should strive for." said Dodd.
Jeni Dodd, president of KU Democrats, said she thought the three speakers were excellent role models.
Students grasp for basics without prep classes
By Jennifer Bach
Kansan staff writer
Joe VanZandt, coordinator of advising, said that the question of which courses to take has always been an issue with students.
Some KU professors think students should get the basics down before they come to the University of Kansas.
But every semester during the enrollment and advising period, advisers encounter students who need to enroll in basic math and English courses that are no longer available at KU.
"Many students come to KU with single-digit ACT scores in math," he said. "They're not ready for the math we require."
The department of mathematics in Spring 1987 cancelled Math 000, a course that taught students basic algebra. The department of English in Spring 1886 dropped English 050, a course that taught basic grammar and writing skills.
The math course had been designed for students who did not have at least one year of algebra in high school, 1983-88 University undergraduate catalog.
If the University plans to continue its open-admissions policy, then it needs to accommodate students with disabilities in additional backgrounds, VanZand said.
Philip Montgomery, associate professor of mathematics, said students
"The University will probably not be able to help a mathilliterate student if they are already in
college."
Philip Montgomery Associate professor of mathematics
already should have an understanding of basic algebra by the time they
Math 000 is too basic a course to be offered at a college level, he said.
"I don't think the University should offer that particular course," he said. "You could have learned algebra in high school."
Offering students basic courses at the college level will not help solve the nation's illiteracy problem, Montgomery said.
"The University will probably not be able to help a math-illiterate student if you do."
Montgomery said that Kansas open-admissions policy was one rea
son so many students came to college without basic mathematical skills.
"If you want to have any student, enter the University regardless of their high school education, then you are going to have to be willing to provide them with the courses they need," he said.
Having more money to hire additional full professors to teach first year college mathematics courses is the ideal solution, Montgomery said.
Philip Barnard, assistant professor of English, said KU had a responsibility to give all students a chance to attend college. The absence of teachers of their high school background.
However, he said the University should not be expected to provide all the basic courses that students did not receive in high school.
"It's a complicated problem," he said. "You need to keep the door open for everyone, but at the same time you want students to be prepared up for students who are capable."
English courses 101 and 102, introductory composition courses, are basic enough that college students can take them without the excuse to prepare for them. Barnard said.
"If a student is at all literate, they should be able to get by with some success," he said.
The problem of illiteracy should be dealt with in primary and secondary schools, Barnard said.