6A the university daily kansan
news
wednesday, april 7, 2004
Senate may ease costs for groups
By Jodie Kraft
jkraft@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Student organizations on campus may soon have the opportunity to request money from Student Senate for conference registration fees if a bill is passed at tonight's Senate meeting.
If passed, the bill would allow any student organization going to a conference to ask Senate for funding for registration fees. Members of the Black Student Union Mark Dupree, Kansas City, Kan, senior, and Delia Kimbrel, Wichita freshman, along with student body president Andy Knopp and student body vice president Catherine Bell, wrote the bill.
Originally the bill was written to allow only four organizations to apply for Senate money; the Black
Student Union, Hispanic American Leadership Organization, Asian American Student Union and First Nations Student Association. When the bill went to committees last week, the committees amended it to include all student organizations on campus.
"It was something that we were all in favor of. I was very pleased that the committee was willing to open it up to all organizations," Bell said.
Student organizations can ask the Finance Committee for funding and the committee can then use its discretion about how much to give, Bell said. The bill would not provide for travel or hotel expenses, but Bell said organizations generally needed to raise registration fees the most.
"To give people that opportunity that a lot of people on campus take for granted — it struck a chord for
me and made me motivated to work on the job." Bell said.
Members of the First Nations Student Association spend a considerable amount of time raising money for their annual Big 12 Conference, said Olivia Standing Bear, co-president of the group. She said the bill would help the organization because members have to do several taco sales and other fundraising activities in April.
Standing Bear said the group's conference is April 23 to 25, and the cost is $60 per person.
Dupree said he started thinking about the bill in November but didn't take action until February after the Black Student Union's Big 12 Conference.
In terms of Big 12 schools, Dupree said the University of Kansas was lacking in its willingness to provide money for multicultural organizations. He said all
of the schools in the Big 12 except for the University receive money for conferences from either their universities or student senates.
"It's very common sense," Dupree said. "To receive this multicultural diversity and bring it back to their university — how much simpler can it be?"
Dupree said it was common for members of multicultural organizations to spend all of their time fundraising instead of receiving education or attending activities. He said this often caused members to become frustrated and quit the organizations.
"I wish I could stand up and clap, but all I can say is, 'It's about time.' Dupree said.
Tonight's Senate meeting is at 6:30 at the Kansas Room in the Kansas Union.
— Edited by Stephanie Lovett
Nielsen delays ratings system launch
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — After accusations that black and Hispanic viewers were being undercounted, Nielsen Media Research agreed yesterday to delay rollout of its new "people meter" television rating system.
Nielsen insisted its numbers are accurate, but agreed to the delay "out of respect and concern for how the community sees this," said company president and CEO Susan Whiting.
In tests of the new system, almost all of the most popular shows in black households
dropped in the ratings, some up to 60 percent.
Whiting announced the decision to put off tomorrow's scheduled launch until June 3 at a news conference in U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel's (D-N.Y.) Harlem office.
Rangel, who said he had just been aware of the concerns, said he and Nielsen would form a task force to study the issue. "I'm satisfied that at least I'll have the time to figure this out," he said.
witsen is in the midst of a gradual rollout of its "people meter" in the nation's largest television markets.
Currently, 500 households in each big city record their viewing habits in a diary kept during four ratings "sweeps" months. The new system uses a larger sample — 800 households — and electronically records what people are watching every day through a device connected to their TV.
Nielsen already uses the "people meters" to measure national ratings in an entirely different sample.
Boston is the only city where the new local system is operating. Nielsen, which wants "people meters" in the 10 largest cities by 2006, has delayed launches in
Chicago and Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, there were concerns the new sample did not have enough minority representation, Nielsen said.
That's not the case in New York; Whiting claims the new sample better represents the city's ethnic makeup than the group filling out diaries.
However, during test runs of the new system, virtually all of the most popular programs in black households showed ratings declines, some more than 60 percent, according to U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D.N.Y.), who had urged the delay.
The Associated Press
Rebel strike results in marine fatalities
NAJAF, Iraq — Iraqi insurgents and rebellious Shiites mounted a string of attacks across the south and fought pitched battles against Marines in the turbulent city of Fallujah yesterday. Up to a dozen Marines, two more coalition soldiers and at least 66 Iraqis were reported killed.
Two more coalition soldiers—an American in Baghdad and a Ukrainian in Kut—were killed in fighting. The deaths brought the three-day total to up to about 30 Americans and 136 Iraqis killed in the worst fighting since the war that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Reports from the city of Ramadi, near Fallujah, said dozens of Iraqis attacked a Marine position near the governor's palace, a senior defense official said from Washington. "A significant number" of Marines were killed, and initial reports indicate it may be up to a dozen, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
U. S. authorities also launched a crackdown on radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr al-Sadr and his militia after a series of weekend uprisings in Baghdad and cities and towns to the south that took a heavy toll in both American and Iraqi lives. The fighting marks the first major outbreak of violence between the U.S.-led occupation force and the Shiites since Baghdad fell a year ago.
In the Ramadi fighting,heavy casualties were inflicted on the insurgents as well, officials said.
It was not immediately known who the attackers were; nor whether the attack was related to fighting under way in nearby Falluiah.
On the Fallujah front, Marines drove into the center of the Sunni city in heavy fighting before pulling back before nightfall. The assault had been promised after the brutal killings and mutilations of four American civilians there last week. Hospital officials said eight Iraqis died yesterday and 20 were wounded, including women and children.
U. S. warplanes firing rockets destroyed four houses in Fallujah after nightfall yesterday, witnesses said. A doctor said 26 Iraqis, including women and children, were killed and 30 wounded in the strike. The deaths brought to 34 the number of Iraqis killed in Fallujah yesterday, including eight who died in street battles earlier in the day.
The dusty, Euphrates River city 35 miles west of Baghdad is a stronghold of the anti-U.S. insurgency that sprang up shortly after Saddam's ouster a year ago.
With fighting intensifying ahead of the June 30 handover of power to an Iraqi government, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said American commanders in Iraq would get additional troops if needed. None has asked so far, he said.
Al-Sadr issued a statement saying he was ready to die to oust the Americans. He urged his followers to resist foreign forces.
"I'm prepared to have my own blood shed for what is holy to me," he said.
Congrats to the SUA 2004-2005 Board!
President: Rachel Peart
Vice President: Jamie Labrier
Director of Public Relations: Kaitlin Connealy
Traditions: Lauren Stewart
Comedy and Concerts: Will Lamborn
Social Issues: Megan Storm
Games and Novelty: Sean Hatfield
Cultural Arts: Megan Wesley
Films: Nick Meneefee
thursday
Mystic River 7 & 10pm
Afternoon Tea 3-4pm
Come and enjoy a free cup of tea in the
Kansas Union Lobby.
9 friday
Tunes at Noon 12-1pm
Featuring Cheating K
Mystic River 7 & 10pm
Video Game Night 7-9pm HR
13 tuesday
SUA Committee Meetings 5.6. &7pm
Governor's Room
International Room
Alcove D
Interested in joining SUA?
Come to a committee meeting on Tuesday night to find out more.
Attendees for showers #10 can join the Hack Shop Live! / Kansas Group or free with NLA Magic Club. The show will be held in the SLV events' Check room, write proofs on half of the SLV AOffice, at shop SHOW.
event locations
802 SUAOfne-4th Floor, Kansas Union
803 Kansas Union Ballroom, 5th Floor
804 Kansas Union Library, 4th Floor
805 Hawks Neat-Floor Kansas Union
806 Anderson Aquarium, 4th Floor, Kansas Union
807 Woodruff Aimentor, 4th Floor, Kansas Union
student union activities · The University of Kansas Level 4, Kansas Union · 785-864-SHOW · suaevents.com
LIBERTY HALL 644 Mass
749-1912
ETERNAL SUNSHINE...(R)
4:30 7:00 9:30
GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING
4:40 7:10 9:40 (PG-13)
Tahiti image only - Students $4.50
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