CAMPUS / AREA
University Daily Kansan/Wednesday September 4,1991
3
Senate spends less on seminar
Financing and location changes keep cost below previous year's
By Blaine Kimrey
Kansan staff writer
The 1991 Leadership Training Seminar for Student Senate, conducted Aug. 22, cost less than half of what it did last year.
Last year, the $2,774 cost of the seminar prompted protest on the editorial page of the Kansan.
A Sept. 12, 1990, Kansan editorial stated that Senate spent more money for last year's seminar than it did before the organization organizes for the whole year.
According to the editorial, last year's Senate appropriations for Environs and Students Against Crater were $2,200 and $500 respectively.
Stuart Comfort, student body treasurer, said that this year's seminar cost a little under $1,000.
Money for this year's seminar was taken from the Senate's operating expense account, he said.
Last year, the cost of the seminar exceeded projections made by the Senate, said Aime Hall, last year's president, in an August 1990 interview.
Therefore, money in the Special Projects Account, a subdivision of Senate's internal account, had to be spent to finance the seminar, she said.
The Senate Special Projects Account usually had been used to finance public functions such as speaker engagements. Hall said.
The Special Projects Account no longer exists, said Alan Lowden, Senate vice president.
Lowden said the account was eliminated because of the Student Senate
Executive Committee's direct access to it, StudEx had unchecked power to use the money in the account any way it saw fit. Lowden said.
"I used to think Student Senate didn't scruimize it itself, enough," he said. "Eliminating that account helped a lot."
Money for the annual Leadership Training Seminar used to come from the Senate Unallocated Fund, which finances student organizations.
The Senate voted to change that three years ago to ease the accounting burden on the Senate and the burden on the unallocated fund.
Comfort said he thought that the cost of the conference room at the Holidime was greater than the cost of the conference room at Johnson County Community College, the site of this year's seminar.
Last year's seminar was conducted at the Holiday Inn Holidome, 200 W. Turnippe Access Road.
Lunch and dinner were provided at last year's conference. The elimination of lunch from this year's program increased by this year's cost, Comfort said.
Comfort said that last year also had been more expensive because the price of catering remained the same regardless of how many people ate.
"This year, the meal price was based on the number of people who ate," he said.
Jason McIntosh, senior senator, said that although this year's seminars might have been cheaper than last year's, it was still beneficial.
- I think they did a good job, "Mclen-
lard" or "Alas" (Lowden) worked
hard putti.
Cover-up clouds POW issue, vet says
Nixon's deals slow progress; media plays part, he says
By Stephanie Patrick Kansan staff writer
The United States is not getting the truth about Vietnam prisoners of war because of a cover-up by the U.S. government and the media, said Army veteran Michael Caron.
Caron, co-founder of Project Prairie Fire, an organization dedicated to freeing POWs, told an audience of Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps cadets last night that the U.S. government had been able to protect them in public in order to hide secret deals it made with the Vietnamese government.
In a speech in the Centennial Room of the Kansas Union, Caron said that former President Richard Nixon had made secret pledges worth to North and South Vietnam for rebuilding efforts.
Because of this, POW investigations have been hampered, and relatives are not getting the truth about their family members. Caron said.
He said that President George Bush and Defense Secretary Dick Cheney played key roles in the Nixon administration and that is why more information is not getting to the families.
"The leadership at the top is not leading this where it needs to go," he said. "These politicians are not new to this. They have dug their graves very deep, and they are trying hard not to fall into them."
Caroon joined Army Special Forces in 1966 and went to Vietnam as a medical specialist in 1968.
"it is because of that, that nothing has been done about it," he said. "The media is sticking its heads in the sand."
Caron said he also blamed the media for failing to take the POW issue seriously.
Michael Caron explains how the U.S. government hid information about POWs in Vietnam.
Caron is a full-time researcher at the KU Government Documents and Map Library and is writing a book on the POW issue.
Caron said that he did not know for sure whether any living POWs were still in Vietnam but that the handling of a recent photograph of possible POWs raised questions about how the government was treating the issue.
Caron said the U.S. government had determined the picture to be a fake, saving that it was a picture of
5. government hid information about three Soviet. The media had accepted the government's explanation, he said.
"If it is a fake, it is a very good
fame," he said. "All the family members
identified it as their own."
Caron said it was important to remember that two of the POW cases involved unusual circumstances.
He told of the wife of John Robertson, who once was told that the remains of her husband had been found. But when she asked that the remains be returned to government said they had made a mistake and that the remains were
POWS in Vietnam:
not her husband's
Caron also told the audience that the government had lost the palm and finger prints of Larry Stevens.
"It is not going to go away," he said.
"It is something that is festering, and it has a real bad odor."
Maj. Ray Rhodd, instructor of military science, said Caron was invited o spoken to the cadets because heart is the most important learner to become better teach
"It's one man's point of view, but its food for thought," he said. "Both sides have to be told."
Grades in math classes add up
More students earn passing grades after Math 002 and Math 101 computerization
By Jennifer Bach
Kansan staff writer
It is 10:50 a.m., and 35 students are sitting on the floor of Storm Hall in front of Room 336.
About every 10 seconds, students emerge through the wooden doors of Room 336, where they have just taken a computerized test for Math 002 or 101.
Some of the students coming in and out said they were pleased with the math program they were enrolled in, while only a few had complaints.
During Fall 1990, the department of math changed the self-paced format of Math 002 and 101 to a more structured system.
In Math 002, the number of students receiving above-average grades increased by 28 percent. In Math 003, the number of students receiving above-average grades
Marilyn Carlson, coordinator of the algebra center, said that the percentage of students earning A's, B's and C's had increased between Fall 1989 and Fall 1990.
In the new program, students are required to complete two homework assignments each week that are worth four points each and attend class twice a week.
"There's no doubt in my mind that the students are more content." she said.
"The feedback I get is that they love that everything is laid out for them," Carlson said. "I have many students telling me at the end of the lesson that they first good experience in a math class."
Before taking a weekly test, a students must pass a computerized flash card test with at least
"The feedback I get is that they love that everything is laid out for them. I have many students telling me at the end of the semester that this was their first good experience in a math class."
Marilyn Carlson, coordinator of the algebra center
a 75 percent. These pre-examination tests are a review of the material learned in the previous week.
A student's final grade will be determined by the his or her exam scores, class attendance and quality of their homework assignments.
The graduate and undergraduate tutors from the math center teach the classes and tutor the students in their courses.
Afterward, the students were left to sink or swim on their own. Carlson said she had received many complaints about the old program
To help place students in the right math course, the math department began a placement process so that students were enrolled in a level of math they could handle.
"We had a lot of students discontent because they didn't have enough guidance," she said.
Before 1990, students in courses 002 and 101 would meet once in the first week of classes for instruction on the course.
However, some aspects of the old system remain the same.
Math 002 and 101 deal with similar subject matter, but 101 is more advanced.
Both courses require that students pass 10 tests worth 20 points each during the semester. To pass, the student must receive a score of 14 or higher.
Students can retake a test until they have received the necessary score, and they must
Jack Porter, professor of mathematics, said he was pleased with the results of the program.
"The student has learned better, better," they retain it better and from that standpoint, "the student is far better."
Mary Cole, Little Rock, Ark, freshman, enrollee in Math 002. She said she was pleased
"I think if it was self-taught I wouldn't do it," she said. "I need someone behind me helping me do the work."
Rose Muelter, St. Louis freshman, enrolled in Math 101 and was not so impressed by the system.
Jeff Worly, Columbus, Ohio, freshman, said the program was beneficial because it encouraged the students to be more responsible.
"I think it's frustrating going to class and then searching for a tutor because you still need help," she said. "I think you might as well do it on your own."
"I like it because you have to take responsibility taking the tests, and that's a big part of college," he said.
Commission may conduct meetings during afternoon
Bv Heather Anderson
Kansan staff writer
The Lawrence City Commission last night decided to postpone a decision that would change the times of future City Commission meetings.
The commission voted 4-0 to wait until Mayor Bob Walters, who was unable to attend the meeting, could vote on the proposed change.
Commissioner Bob Schumm proposed that the commission meet Tuesday afternoons twice a month and Tuesday evenings for the two other weekly meetings. The commission currently conducts its meetings every Tuesday night.
"I would give staff breaks from two potentially late nights a month,"
City Manager Mike Wildgen said the meetings had been conducted during the city council meeting.
Schumm suggested that the Tuesday afternoon meetings could be used to discuss non-political business. The Tuesdays would be would be held to discuss political issues.
The commissioners' main concern was whether the new meeting time would hurt the public's ability to attend the meetings or watch them on television.
Wildgen said that the meetings would be shown live on television even if the meeting was not taking place.
Commissioner Bob Schulte said that he would prefer to meet later in the afternoon because the meeting would be more accessible to the public.
Commissioner Shirley Martin-Smith met with meeting time would conflict with his base plan.
Schumm said that the afternoon meetings could begin at 3 or 4 p.m.
"It would be difficult to take more day hours out of my business," Martin-Smith said.
Martin-Smith said that she had received calls from three people who were opposed to the commission changing the times of its meetings.
The City Commission decided that waiting on this issue would also give the public more of a chance to voice its preference.
In other business, the commission proclaimed September as the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Month.
Phil Humphrey, director of the museum, said that he hoped the museum could improve its collections and enhance the community.
The commission also proclaimed September as Asian-American Month.