University Daliv Kansan / Wednesdav. June 19, 1991
5
Orientation adds new elements
By Kelley Frieze
Kansan staff writer
Sal Manzi, Wichita senior, hands out KUIDs to incoming students. Manzi and other KU students were working yesterday at the Kansas Union helping with summer orientation.
A revamped cultural-diversity program was introduced Thursday as part of new-student orientation
A skit by the orientation assistants also is new to the program.
The program includes a new videotape featuring 22 KU students in informal interviews about their academic interests at the University of Kapas.
New-student orientation is the enrollment process for freshmen and transfer students. They are introduced to the University environment, advised and enrolled for the fall. Nineteen days during the summer are scheduled for new student orientation.
The purpose of the program is to show students the importance of diversity at KU.
"No one person at KU is exactly like you," Ballard told a group of transfer students at orientation yesterday.
The showing of the videotape is preceded by a speech from Barbara Ballard, associate dean of student counselor, followed by the orientation assistant's skit.
Kristen Myers, orientation assistant, said that more time and effort was put into this year's video than into last year's, and the students who were used were selected from many interviewed.
People who are new to orientation this year are not only incoming freshmen and transfer students, but also 11 of the 12 orientation assistants and the director of the orientation program, Kathryn Kretschmer.
Training was increased this year from three to four weeks. During training, orientation assistants learned about the University, met administrators and went on a day-and-day retreat to learn about cultural diversity.
Jill Raines, orientation assistant, said, "It was really interesting to see that side of the University."
For the most part, the training was to teach the assistants about every aspect of the University.
"You can never be prepared for all of the questions you're going to get," Rames said.
The orientation assistants were given handouts from most of the administrators they met and from other University offices. she said
Being familiar with all this information was helpful when orientation began.
Sal Manzi, orientation assistant,
said. "I was really nervous at first
that I wasn't going to be able to tell
them everything."
Ron Koecker, another assistant, said, "I wasn't really sure how much about KU I knew until Thursday.
"Parents are not shy at all with their questions. They're really concerned. I think they want to know that everything's OK."
KU officials disagree with Bush about bill
By Linda Morrison
Special to the Kansan
President Bush's threatened veto of the 1991 civil-rights bill is a big mistake, some KU officials said.
The president's view that the bill would establish minority-hiring quotas is incorrect, said Tom Berger, director of affirmative action.
What the bill does is set goals, not quotas. he said.
"Goals are an effort to increase the approximate number of qualified persons in the workplace." Berger emphasizes motivation to call this the quota bill.
Hiring quotas are court-mandated decisions that require a set number of minorities or women to be represented in the workplace, Berger said.
The 1991 bill would overturn several Supreme Court decisions that have made it more difficult for women and minorities to sue successfully for discrimination in hiring and promotion
President Bush has said the bill would establish quotas.
Barbara Ballard, director of the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center, said minorities needed to be included in the workplace to create a balance.
Otherwise, the work force is not representative of the nation's diverse population.
"People who have been forgotten need to get a chance," she said. "Making a special effort to include them in the been forgiven is not discrimination."
Jacob Gordon, associate professor of African-American studies and faculty adviser for the College Republicans, said he was not interested in the political debate, only in the outcome.
"The issue is not Republican or Democrat," said Gordon, who supports the hill. "We need to provide for all Americans equally and with fair
"Civil rights does not mean anything unless we can provide people with adequate housing and employment."
Darren Fulcher, student body presiden, said, "Everyone should go by qualifications, but one has to realize just like law schools and medical schools that one has to look at one's background to see what opportunities
that person has had.
"If one looks at our history it is clear and evident that discrimination exists in the workplace."
Sherwool Thompson, director of minority affairs, said the civil-rights bill was an important piece of legislation for minorities because it provided an opportunity for people who were under represented.
"Racism is alive and well in America," Thompson said.
He said that the civil-rights bill would prevent U.S. corporations from discriminating and that the president and others misinformed and divided the nation when they said the bill would set quotas.
It gives racists additional ammunition to attack people from different backgrounds.
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