UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, June 18, 1997
3
Students to be housed in lap of luxury
Residence hall renovations improve on-campus living
By Graham Johnson Kansan staff writer
The Student Housing Department is so busy with construction projects this summer that even their own offices are being disrupted by cranes and construction workers.
The department is planning and implementing six renovation projects it hopes students will notice in the fall.
It's all part of a plan to renovate the residence halls.
"One of the things we're excited about is the completion of the Templin project," said Fred McElhenie, associate director of student housing.
Costing about $6 million, Templin Hall is the department's most expensive summer renovation project. The renovations will turn Templin's rooms into suites, which will have private bathrooms, kitchen areas and cable and Ethernet hook-ups. It will be able to house up to 290 residents.
Templin has been closed one year for renovations. It is scheduled to reopen in August. Ken Stoner, director of student housing, said Templin
would open on time.
"It will open one way or another," he said. "I don't have the ability to take 300 kids home with me."
Although more students lived in residence halls in the past, both Stoner and McElhene said the renovations were not in response to falling occupancy rates.
"Actually, we were full last year and we'll probably be full again this year," said Stoner.
According to the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, in 1986 about 5,000 students lived in residence halls, which was 19.2 percent. By 1991, about 3,800 students, 14.6 percent, lived in residence halls. The number leveled off in 1996 at 13.5 percent, about 3,300 students.
During the same time period, the percentage of students choosing to live off-campus increased from 48 percent, about 12,300 students, to 57.3 percent, about 14,000 students.
Stoner said there were many reasons for the decline in on-campus housing occupancy.
In the late '80s, fewer high school seniors enrolled in the University. This meant fewer freshmen coming to live in the residence halls. Transfer students made up for the decrease in enrollment, but transfer students tend to live off campus, which partially accounts for the declining percentage. Stoner said.
Another reason for the decreased numbers was the introduction of single-room rental. With more students renting single rooms, hall capacities decreased.
Students are no longer satisfied with the residence halls and therefore are turning to apartment living, Stoner said. Therefore, the main reason for the residence hall renovations is simple need.
"If you own a house for 35 years, you expect to do some upgrading on it sometime," said Stoner. "The buildings would have needed modernizing whether they were full or not."
The Templin project is part of a long-term plan.
"Putting together a plan to renovate the buildings on Daisy Hill was one of the first things put on my agenda when I got here 12 years ago," Stoner said.
The plan will take its next step in May when Lewis Hall closes for renovation.
Other current renovations include:
— a new parking lot for Jayhawker Towers.
— resurfacing of parking lots 102 and 103, which are across from Lewis residence hall.
— a new roof for the GSP side of Gertrude Sellards Pearson-Corbin residence hall.
— new laundromats in each of the residence halls.
Graham Johnson / KAN$AN
Templin Hall is the University's biggest renovation project this summer. Construction began last year and is part of the University's upgrades and modernization project. The new hall includes suites with bathrooms, and will open in August.
Recent punishments in military inconsistent
Flinn, Ralston cases are viewed very differently
By Lauren Dials
Kansan staff writer
offenders.
The rules military officers abide by may seem foreign and harsh to civilians, but even within the military, the rules are not always applied equally.
Nathan Hollingshead, Lawrence senior, served in the military for 17 years and has seen sexual harassment and adultery. He says the military is not consistent in punishing these
"For every one person who is made an example of, there are at least a dozen or so who get by," Hollingshead said. "I don't think that someone's personal life should reflect on their career. If it doesn't affect your job performance, the military shouldn't bother with it."
But military officers do lose their jobs.
There have been 163 men and women court-martialed in the last year in cases involving adultery. Air Force General Joseph Ralston and L.L. Kelly Flinn have been two of the most publicized cases in the military's recent crackdowns.
Ralston had been a top candidate for the highest military position in the
country, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, until his affair became public.
Flinn, the first woman to pilot a B-52, faced a court-martial for having an affair with the husband of an enlisted officer. Flinn lied about the affair to investigators and disobeyed an order from a superior to end the relationship.
Ll. Col. Don Denmark, professor of military science at the University of Kansas, said the military had strict rules at every level.
"My staff may not fraternize with students," Denmark said. "If a member of my staff is invited by students to a party or a picnic, they must get my permission. If my staff has contact with my students outside the training program, I am to be informed beforehand.
I need to know who will be there,
when they are going, how long they'll
be gone, and if there is, to be alcohol
there—and if there is, they will not go."
Denmark said there was a reason they abided by such strict rules.
Ralston's situation is unique in that he had terminated the career of a three-star general in 1995 for having an affair with a civilian. An Air Force report stated that Ralston had lost confidence in the officer's "ability to command due to inappropriate personal conduct."
"The military is America's most trusted institution," Denmark said. "I would like to think that the military would look at their officers and say, 'Yes, we hold them to a higher standard.' The consequences of failure in our profession are severe, not only to ourselves, but to the nation."
"We don't always do what we think is personally right," Denmark said. "Ralston was acting as he was advised to under a strict code of ethics. After what he did, his candidacy created a perception of unfairness, and he realized the harsh reactions that would come."
Whether the military is being too strict is relative. Lt. Col. James Gleisberg, Public Affairs Officer at Ft. Leavenworth, said the facts of each case must be considered individually before any conclusions are reached.
"It's hard to set a moral standard when the offense doesn't even interfere with their job," Gleisberg said. "We've had many presidents who
wouldn't have held that position had the government taken into account the affairs they'd had. Flinn isn't being punished as much for having an affair as she is for lying to investigators and her superior officers about it. In Ralston's case, though, I think the military is going to far."
Ralston's decision to withdraw his candidacy for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff may seem severe.
"Something he did 14 years ago is not going to affect his performance as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff," Gleisberg said. "Just because someone has a clean slate doesn't necessarily mean they're the best person for the job. Ralston having an affair doesn't make him any less of a military leader."
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