CAMPUS/AREA UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesdav, June 26,1996
3A
Orientation assistants ease transition to college
Sessions inform on enrollment KU traditions
By Erin Hubert Special to the Kansan
Just after 8 a.m. on a Saturday, 15 smiling KU students line the ramp leading to Woodruff Auditorium at the Kansas Union. Their crimson shirts are adorned with name tags and buttons that say, "Ask Me," giving the students the appearance of an eager army unit.
The orientation assistants are the University's front line for providing peer counseling to more than 6,000 freshmen, transfer and readmitted students who attend summer orientation sessions.
Students and their families crowd into the auditorium. After introductions from faculty and staff, the orientation assistants make their way onto the stage to give prospective students a first impression of the University.
The advice the orientation assistants give reflects their individuality. They take turns responding to the question, "What do you know now that you wish you had known before you came to KU?"
Some answers are traditional: manage your money well, get to know your professors, ask questions, and it is okay to be undecided. Others are more practical: sleep is important, coffee is not always the best study aid, and doughnuts and homework don't mix, unless you want glaze sticking your assignments together.
Before filling out a schedule, prospective students get into groups led by an orientation assistant to learn more
Incoming freshman Tara Lake gets directions from orientation assistant Ryan Colburn, Prairie Village senior, during new student orientation last week. The University of Kansas welcomes new freshmen and transfer students with orientation sessions throughout the summer.
about enrollment.
Edmée Rodriguez / KANSAN
Scott Jarboe, spring graduate and orientation assistant, stands before his group trying to cram everything into 25 minutes. Course catalogs, timetables and class lists are shuffled everywhere as he lists requirements and gives advice. He asks for a course suggestion to use on a sample enrollment form.
"Chemistry 184!" one student calls out.
"Ah yes, the mythical 500-person lecture class," Jarboe said. While describing the course, he scrawls information about line numbers and labs across a board.
As suddenly as it began, the bombardment of information ceases. Time is up. The students move to the next session, and the orientation assistants return to the hallways to resume their positions as human sign posts and information booths.
After orientation, students emerge from Strong Hall with schedules in hand.
Leslie Pitsenberger, Topeka freshman, said the orientation assistants were helpful directing traffic because they kept everyone from going the wrong way.
This year's assistant group includes students from Lawrence and as far away as Illinois. Mary Ryan, acting director of New Student Orientation, said that assistants had to be extremely flexible and willing to work in a team.
Jessica Bobker, spring graduate and orientation assistant, wanted to be an assistant after she went through orientation herself.
"It just looked like a lot of fun," she said.
The team meets four times in April and spends three weeks training for orientation sessions.
Assistants study the undergraduate course catalog and timetable, but sometimes the questions go beyond basic
academic information.
Bobker said the most frequently asked question so far has been about obtaining KU basketball tickets.
Assistants are involved in the KU Summer Orientation programs, which run until July 23, and work with new students during Hawk Week. The assistants earn $6 an hour.
The selection process begins in the fall. Ryan said the application requires information about grades, work experience and an essay. After reviewing the applications, candidates participate in
Candidates that advance must present a speech and are interviewed again. Finalists return for an interview. Fifteen orientation assistants are selected to guide the next year's flock of new students.
group interviews.
Streets damaged by storms leave motorists in the hole
City powerless against elements
By Dave Breltenstein Kansan staff writer
"It's hard for them to totally redo the streets, but I think it's taking way too much time," said Scott, Shawnee junior.
Potholes caused by recent rainfall have been more than an annoyance to Kristy Scott. She had to replace a U-joint on her car after repeatedly driving over bad spots in the road.
Streets in Lawrence sustain weather damage every year, but Scott said she thought this could be avoided.
"They should repair the whole street instead of just temporarily patching up areas," Scott said. "Some spots haven't been
repaired properly."
Mike Wildgen, Lawrence city manager, said that city employees were prioritizing street problems, and that busier streets, such as Sixth Street and 23rd Street, would be repaired first.
"We do $1 million worth of overlay every year on streets that have fallen apart or been damaged," Wildgen said. "Large rainstorms exacerbate some of those areas because water gets underneath the overlay and pops it up. That happens every year to some degree."
Wildgen said streets were damaged by more than just heavy rain.
"Vehicles wear down the road and create potholes, and we put salt on them in the winter, and that also deteriorates them. There's really nothing that can be done to stop that from happening." Wildgen said.
But Wildgen did acknowledge that the primary cause of road problems was heavy rain.
"What's been unusual in the storms has been the intensity of the rain. It causes a lot more problems in a shorter period of time," he said.
Tom Orzulak, Lawrence street division manager, agreed that recent storms caused more problems than normal.
"Everything is designed for normal weather," Orzulak said. "If you get nine inches of rain and flash flooding, anything can happen."
"We probably have a month's worth of extra work to do. With all of the other things that we do, it is just added to the list."
Orzulak said busier streets had been cleaned and crews would finish repairing minor streets with a month, weather permitting.
Crumbling library collections may cost $10 million in repairs
Books with acidic paper will require attention
By Tom Moore
Kansan staff writer
A library committee will issue a report next month that warns the University of Kansas to take better care of its books.
The survey, carried out last year, examined the condition of books in the University's libraries. Although a final draft is not yet available, preliminary findings paint a grim picture. Thousands of books are being lost to age and abuse.
"I was hoping it would be better," said William Crowe, dean of libraries. "Our collection is above average, but it is in jeopardy."
Brian Baird, preservation librarian, said 120,000 volumes, or 6 percent of KU libraries' general collections, had brittle
paper. He estimated repairs will cost $10 million.
Acidity in the paper causes books to become brittle, and books that are affected must be copied on new paper and rebound. The survey revealed that 66 percent of the University's books were printed on acidic paper and will need attention in the future.
"I liken it to a slow fire," Crowe said. "These books are literally eating themselves."
More disturbing to Crowe is that more than 400,000 of the University's books have been abused.
"That's the one thing that leaps out at me — the amount of mutilation," Crowe said. "I don't think anyone is consciously going out to destroy the library, but we are here to be used, not abused."
Baird said about half of all volumes that had circulated six or more times in the past 10 years had been mutilated.
Crowe said the percentage of
William Crowde dean of libraries
damaged books at the University was high but not greater than that of other institutions of the same size.
"We can't save everything. We don't have the money to do that," Crowe said. "But mutilation can be stopped, and without spending a lot of money."
Crowe emphasized that the study's findings threaten the mission of a library to pass on knowledge to future generations.
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