MONDAY, APRIL 1, 1996
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS 864-4810
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
ADVERTISING 864-4358
SECTION A VOL.102.NO.123
(USPS 650-640)
TODAY KANSAN
SPORTS
Close but no cigar
Both the Kansas men's and women's basketball teams couldn't hang on for a berth to the Final Four. Page 1B
CAMPUS
Parents may be out of luck finding hotel rooms during graduation weekend. Page 3A
Just no room at the inn
Chechan combat halted
A surrender by the Freemen militant group is expected soon. Page 7A
NATION
Stand-off continues
Yeltsin plans to hold indirect talks with rebel's leader. Page 5A
WORLD
"I'm personally offended," Stevens said.
Stevens and Schreiner were frustrated that they were never informed about the bill or that student senators were dissatisfied with the board's performance.
"In my defense, this is not a personal vendetta against anything except ineffective spending or money," he said.
a structure could accomplish if given the time to grow," Stevens said.
WARM
WEATHER
AAAAAHHH
Schreiner said he thought the bill was being introduced for personal and political reasons.
The Senate finance committee denied the board's request for $2,740 for next fall during line-item allocation hearings on March 20 because the committee was uncertain if the board would still exist.
High 60° Low 30°
However, Obermueller disputed their claim.
INDEX
Weather: Page 2A
SLAB chairman to resign tonight
Opinion ... 4A
Nation/World ... 5A
Features ... 8A
Sports ... 1B
Scoreboard ... 2B
Proposal to cut awareness board prompts,decision
The bill and the finance committee's decision not to finance the board will face approval by Senate committees Wednesday.
By Nicole Kennedy Kansan staff writer
Student Legislative Awareness Board Chairman Andy Obermueller plans to resign at a meeting tonight.
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents.
Dave Stevens, issues coordinator,
and Jason Schreiner, on-campus
coordinator, argued that disbanding the board would be a disservice to KU students.
Board members requested Obermueler's resignation at a March 22
meeting after he drafted a Senate bill that would disband the board and create a legislative liaison position to fulfill its duties.
According to a draft of the bill, the student body president would appoint a liaison to gather information about State legislative issues that affect KU students. The president would use that information to lobby in Topeka.
"If you want a resignation tonight, you've got it." Obermuelter said.
"I don't believe a liaison could ever accomplish what this board as
Obermueller said that putting one student in charge of lobbying would streamline communications between the student body president, the Senate and the Legislature.
This semester, the board received $2,800 directly from students through the options card.
spent.
Cash flows faster for federal aid
By Jason Strait
Kansan staff writer
Life just got a little easier for the 7,500 KU students who receive federal student loans. The Direct Student Loan Program will begin next fall at the University of Kansas.
The program, which was endorsed by President Bill Clinton and established in 1993, takes banks out of the student loan process and makes the turnaround for students faster.
Through the program, loans are distributed by the Department of Education and sent directly to the University, which then distributes them to students.
4.2
"The critical thing is that there is no change in the initial application process for the students," said Rachel Rademacher, associate director of financial aid. "The banks are just no longer involved."
Rademacher said all transactions would be conducted electronically, making the process faster. For example, loan money now will be available the day after the promissory note is completed.
"What it does for us is it will streamline things, making them much easier," she said.
The loan terms will not change, but students will make loan payments to the government's direct loan servicing center instead of the University, which will have no collection responsibilities.
"Banks provided good service." Rademacher said. "But we think with this we can make it easier for the students."
Education Department personnel estimated that in the 1995-96 school year, nearly half of the schools that provided federal student aid offered direct loans. They estimated that by 1998-99 almost all schools would offer the program.
Ross Kleiman is a representative of Sallie Mae, a loan-guarantee agency, said the Education Department's success or failure would be determined when students started making, or defaulting, on loan payments.
The University of Kansas and the University of Oklahoma had been the only two schools in the Big Eight that did not offer direct loans.
But Education Department officials said the program not only was easier to administer but also would save the federal government billions of dollars in payments to lenders and guaranty agencies.
Critics of the program are concerned about the government's ability to collect the loan money, however.
"We didn't jump into it right away," Rademacher said. "We wanted to see if it was something we could do. It is something that has been thought through."
Kevin Frost, Topeka junior, said he liked the idea of getting loans directly from the government instead of through lending institutions.
The officials also claimed the program's simplicity would reduce the number of student loan defaults instead of increasing them.
"That makes sense," he said.
"You'll eliminate the middle man."
Matt Flickner and Richard Devinki /KANSAN
ABOVE: Junior guard Jerod Haase sits in the locker room agonizing on the 60-57 loss to Syracuse. RIGHT: Kansas women's players and
to Tennessee.
players and coaches endure the final moments of their 92-71 loss to Texas.
X
KU coaches still proud of players
By Evan Blackwell and Jenni Carlson Kansas sportwriters
Kansan sportswriters
The Kansas men's and women's basketball teams hoped their regional games would launch them into the Final Four.
Instead, the games proved to be springboards to the championship game for their opponents.
Syracuse defeated the men 60-57 in the West Regional final game on March 24 in Denver's McNichols Sports Arena. The Orangemen will play Kentucky tonight for the national championship.
During the East Regional semifinals on March 23, the Kansas women lost 92-71 to Tennessee in Charlottesville, Va. The Lady Volunteers claimed the national championship last night with a 83-65 defeat of Georgia.
Both Jayhawk teams had dreamed of being in the championship games.
Kansas men's coach Roy Williams also fought his emotions as he recalled a fan who talked to him before the season. The man asked if Williams would have a void if he went down in history as the best college basketball coach never to win a national championship.
"It's not easy," said Kansas junior guard Jerod Hasek after the loss, pausing to find the right words. "Coach Williams and my teammates worked too hard for that to happen."
"I told my team in the locker room that if I never won a national championship, as long as I could have those kind of kids, I was going to enjoy my life every single day," Williams said. "That doesn't mean that I don't have a desperate dream. ... But if I had to choose, I would choose those kind of kids I have in the locker room."
"We've gone through a lot this year." Washington said. "From trying to overcome injuries and surgeries to a tough schedule, we pulled ourselves together and earned our wav here."
Kansas women's coach Marian Washington also was proud of her players, even after the crushing 21-point loss that ended the Jayhawks first Sweet 16 appearance.
While the agony of defeat was harsh for both teams, the coaches still were able to look ahead.
"We're the new kid on the block," said Washington, who will lose only one starter from this year's squad. "After today, hopefully we won't be new anymore."
The men will lose three reserve seniors while returning all five starters next season, and Williams said he hadn't lost faith in any of his players.
"I'm going to tell them I still want them on my team. I still love 'em and will still put them out there," he said.
"That may sound corny, but that's Roy Williams."
Retired Justice White to speak today in Union
Former All-American quarterback visits University for a second time
By David Teeka Kansan staff writer
Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White will make a return visit to the University of Kansas today.
White will speak about the U.S. Supreme Court at 4:30 p.m. at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
In October 1984, White gave the first lecture in the Stephenson Lecture Series on Law and Government.
the lecture series was established by Judge Donnan Stephenson, former New Mexico Supreme Court
Byron R. White
judge and a 1948 graduate of the University, and his late wife, Patricia Stephenson, who died in June 1995.
"The idea was to bring people who were involved in the highest levels of law and government," Eglinski said.
Georgann Egilski, associate dean of law, said that although the speakers have tended to be Supreme Court justices, the Stephensons allowed for flexibility when choosing a speaker.
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White is returning to speak in memory of Patricia Stephenson, Eglinska said.
"She was very instrumental in starting the series," Eglinski said. "This is an occasion to remember her."
For more than thirty years, White served on the nation's highest court after his appointment by President John F. Kennedy in 1962. He previously served as deputy attorney general under Robert F. Kennedy.
"He played football in the fall and attended law
White was an All-American quarterback at the University of Colorado where he played football from 1935 to 1937 and placed second in the Heisman Trophy voting his senior year. From 1940 to 1941, he played for the Detroit Lions while he attended law school.
school in the summer," said Stephen McAllister, associate professor of law, who served as a law clerk for White from 1890 to 1991.
McAllister said each Supreme Court justice was authorized four clerks who wrote bench memos, documents that summarized cases, and conducted research. White was unusual in that he tended to write his own bench memos, McAllister said.
"He'd just pick up the briefs, read them and prepare them himself," he said.
Christopher Drahozal, associate professor of law, clerked for White from 1988 to 1989 and said the clerks also made recommendations on what cases to hear.
White saw the court as having a role in resolving conflict in the law, Drahoalz said.
"He thought the court should be more active in reviewing cases," he said. "Our job was to identify them because he felt it was important."
McAllister said it was hard to predict how White would decide a case, because he took each case on its merits.
"I view him as a judge's judge." he said.
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