4A
Tuesday, April 9.1996
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
ENDORSEMENTS
The Kansan editorial board interviewed both coalitions' candidates for student body president and student body vice president. This endorsement reflects the candidates the Kansan thinks would be the most effective president and vice president.
THE KANSAN'S CHOICE
Grey Montgomery and Jamie Johnson
Four candidates, two coalitions and plenty of ideas for change.
The presidential and vice presidential candidates for both the Voice coalition, Cesar Millan and Samantha Bowman, and the Vision coalition, Grey Montgomery and Jamie Johnson, have included in their platforms plans to make life at the University of Kansas a more enjoyable and more economical experience for the students.
However, when it comes to choosing the best pair to lead the student body, the decision comes to whose plans are more realistic.
That is why Montgomery and Johnson would be the best choices for KU student body president and vice president.
Both candidate pairs have included enrollment as a major issue in their platforms. Millan and Bowman have said that they hope to push the administration to speed up its plan to get distributed enrollment on-line and ready to go.
STUDENT SENATE
Unfortunately, even if the University did have the $1 million needed to pay for the technology to implement the on-line enrollment system, it still could take several years before a program is developed that could be used by the University.
However, Montgomery and Johnson are aware that distributed enrollment is many years away, so they have devised a plan that would make waiting in line less painful in the meantime. By having representatives from the parking department and the libraries in Strong Hall during the time of enrollment, students would not have to go very far to pay fines to release any holds they had on their enrollment.
Linear tuition has made how students choose their classes a crucial decision, so releasing faculty evaluations have become important for students to help them decide which instructors would be the most beneficial.
While this issue is about to be debated in the courts, Montgomery and Johnson have worked on a plan to let instructors who agree with the release of evaluations voluntarily turn them in to be published, most likely on-line, as that would be the cheapest way.
The popularity of this might encourage other instructors to jump on the bandwagon and allow their evaluations to be published.
When it comes to the issue of diversity, something both coalitions have addressed, Millan and Bowman do seem to show the most concern.By looking at their coalition, which includes 25 percent minorities compared to Vision's 13 percent, it is apparent that these two want to make Student Senate a diverse group that can represent all ethnic groups.
He said that although he could have worked on other committees,he wanted to focus on making improvements in the area of multicultural affairs, which is honorable.
Nevertheless, Montgomery has worked this year with several different organizing bodies, such as the Senate Executive Committee ad-hoc committee on parking and transportation, the Academic Policies and Procedure committee which worked on amending the University's grievance procedures, the Multicultural Peer Educating Team, and the campus fee reviews subcommittee. This shows that Montgomery can handle several tasks at one time, an ability the student body president will need.
Millan has spent this school year as the chairman of the Multicultural Affairs Committee and as a senate representative of University Council.
All four candidates have talents which make them good candidates for the University's student body president and vice president. Millan has shown a strong concern for multicultural issues. Montgomery has realistic solutions for some of the student body's main problems.
Bowman, who has been extremely active as a member the Student Legislative Awareness Board and former chairwoman of KU College Republicans, could help get the students' voice heard in the state legislature with her lobbying and understanding of politics. Johnson, who has academic and extra-curricular experience in communications, could help to improve the relations between Senate and the highly apathetic student body.
While Montgomery and Johnson would be the best choice for student body president and vice president, we hope that whoever gets elected will place the opposing candidates in important positions after the election.
KANSAN STAFF
ASHLEY MILLER
Editor
VIRGINIA MARGHEIM
Managing editor
ROBERT ALLEN
News editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
It would be a shame to waste such talented individuals.
Editors
made for every Senate seat. No endorsements were made for the School of Journalism because of a conflict of interest. The following represents who the Kansan thinks will serve the student body best as student senators.
Campus .. Joann Birk
Philip Brownlee
Editorial .. Paul Todd
Associate editorial .. Craig Lang
Mitch Hood
Sports .. Tom Ridkinson
Associate sports .. Bill Potella
Photo .. Matt Fickenbright
Graphics .. Nush Nussner
Accessories .. Terra Reynolds
Wire .. Tara Treynor
Illustration .. Micha Lanker
HEATHER NEHAUS
Business manager
KONAN HAUSER
Retail sales manager
JAY STEINER
Sales and marketing adviser
JUSTIN KNUPP
Technology coordinator
Business Staff
Campus mgr...Karen Gerech
Regional mgra...Kelly Connally
Legal mgra...Mary Beasley
Special Sections mgr...Norm Blow
Production mgra...Rachael Cahill
Marketing director...Cary Breelsof
Public Relations dir...Angle Adamson
Creative director...Ed Kowalski
SEASON MANAGER...Season Management
Internship/o-oop mgr...T.J. Clark
THE KANSAN'S STUDENT SENATE ENDORSEMENTS
The University Daily Kansan interviewed students running for the University's Student Senate. During four days of interviews, the Kansan editorial board met with candidates for each Senate seat. The candidates were asked questions about pressing campus issues, issues surrounding the Senate seat they were running for and their reasons for running.
Because of scheduling conflicts, some of the candidates were not interviewed and were not endorsed by the Kansan. And, endorsements were not
The Kansan editorial board also reviewed three campus issues that both coalitions took a stance on during their campaigns. The following is the Kansan's opinion on each issue, including which coalition the Kansan agrees with.
Computer enrollment isn't in the near future, and the University needs a plan to alleviate students' enrollment headaches in the meantime.
THE ISSUE: enrollment COALITION: Vision
The Vision coalition wants to have officials from the parking department, the libraries, and the office of the comptroller on hand in the enrollment center to take care of student enrollment holds. In addition, they would like officials from the professional schools there to provide dean's stamps and advising in one location. Then students would not have to run around campus in case they did not understand what stamps or special permission cards they needed.
The University will not have the computer system, software or money to begin computer enrollment for at least four years. If the administration already has a timeline for implementing computer enrollment, it doesn't make sense
to demand it now and face cutbacks in academic programs to pay for it.
"We don't support cutting academic programs for something that's going to happen anyway," said Grey Montgomery, Vision candidate for student body president.
The Voice coalition said it would lobby the Chancellor, the Board of Regents and the state legislature for funds for computer enrollment, but those offices already have said that the present timeline is best. The Voice coalition's computer enrollment promise is unresearched and unrealistic.
THE ISSUE: restricted fees COALITION: Voice
The Voice coalition has taken an admirably solid stance on the University's student fees situation. "No new restricted fees," it says.
Restricted fees are those that go to a certain Senate entity such as the transportation board and require no oversight by Senate once passed. Without a committee to oversee such a fee, it would be easy for a board to spend student money unwisely. Many times, restricted fees are small and are passed by Senate without a student referendum vote, but these fees add up.
THE ISSUE: transportation COALITION: Vision
Both Cesar Millan, Voice candidate for student body president, and Samantha Bowman, Voice candidate for student body vice president, said that they were opposed to the $14 restricted fee for transportation because it is administered by the transportation board with no oversight by Senate.
Parking and transportation problems go hand in hand, and the Vision coalition would like to see these two Senate boards merged so that parking revenue could help subsidize the falling transportation system. Eventually the two could operate off the same account.
Vision also supports the park-and-ride system for helping the University's parking crunch, which is a more cost-effective and environmentally sound alternative to simply increasing parking space on campus or building an expensive new garage.
The Voice Coalition considers a citywide transportation system the best way to solve the parking and transportation problem, but the University needs action now. A combined parking and transportation department would help alleviate stress for students and faculty.
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