CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, March 5, 1996
KU seeks slight change in admissions bill
Exemption window should include more
By John Collar
Kansan staff writer
Chancellor Robert Hemenway said the University of Kansas would ask the Kansas Senate to revise a portion of the qualified admissions bill before the Legislature.
Hemenway said he was concerned about a provision in the bill called the "window."
Circumstances, such as the death of a parent, might adversely affect a student's scholastic performance. The window would allow otherwise good students admission to Regents institutions on a case-by-case basis.
The bill, which is sponsored by State Rep. Ralph Tanner, R-Wildin City, originally stated that all students would be eligible for admission through the window.
which would allow an institution to exempt up to 10 percent of its freshmen from meeting the proposed admissions standards.
allow only Kansas residents to be admitted through the window. The amendment, which was introduced by State Rep. Tim Carmody, R-Overland Park, passed by voice vote.
However, during debate on the bill, the House passed an amendment that would
Hemenway said he thought the window was necessary for resident and non-resident students. Admissions officers need the flexibility of the window to admit non-resident students who do not meet the standards.
"You've got to have some exemptions just to manage the process," he said.
Hemenway said some students might not meet the requirements but would have individual circumstances that would merit their admission to the University.
Some legislators have criticized the window, but for other reasons. House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, D-Wichita, and State Rep. Bill Reardon, D-Kansas City, have said that the window was hypocritical. They said the window would allow institutions to give preferential treatment to certain students who may be athletes or have a friendship with an administrator or a faculty member.
To address this concern, State Rep. Henry Helgerson, D-Wichita, introduced an amendment that would require Regents institutions to document who was admitted through the
The amendment passed by voice vote.
window.
The bill would require incoming freshmen at Regents institutions to have a 2.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale, a score of 21 on the ACT or rank in the top one-third of their high school class.
Students who score at least 50 on the Graduate Educational Development test also would be admitted.
Non-resident students also would have to meet one of the three admission requirements, but the GPA standard would be 2.5 on a 4.0 scale.
City bus system to be discussed
By Sarah Morrison
Kansan staff writer
The Kaw Valley chapter of the Older Women's League hopes to put a new spin on an old debate when it sponsors a meeting on local public transportation tomorrow.
The meeting, scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St., will include a panel of representatives from KU Administration, KU transportation board, Douglas County Planning Department, Douglas County Community Transportation Coordinating Council and Douglas County Area Transportation.
Hilda Enoch, member of the Older Women's League, said the league hopes the panelists will look at the possibility of a citywide fixed route bus system run by both the city and the University.
The only local transportation options available are KU on Wheels and a van service run by Douglas County Area Transportation.
"This is the first time we have had representatives from both the University and the city planning office." Enoch said. "Maybe it's time to see if we can work together and do better than what we are doing apart."
But Enoch said both services fall short of meeting the community's transportation needs. Transportation with the DCAT van service must be arranged 24 hours in advance, and is often so busy it must turn away customers.
KU on Wheels does not have enough routes to serve Lawrence residents, Enoch said.
Nancy Jorn, maternal infant coordinator at the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department, said she sees the problems that a lack of public transportation has on the community everyday.
"A lack of transportation keeps people from taking advantage of services that are available," Jorn said. "People can't get their child to a doctor or get to the Social and Rehabilitation Services office. If you're poor and you live in Lawrence and you don't have a car, you can't get where you need to go."
Lawrence Vice Mayor John Nalbandian agreed that the city should look to cooperate with the University to develop a fixed-route citywide bus system when such a system is needed, but that time had not come, he said.
But not everyone sees public transportation as a pressing need.
"It would cost so much money and benefit so few people," Nalbandian said. "People who advocate public transportation are not concerned with how much it will cost. If people think it's needed they think we should pay for it one way or another."
"They think since it's federal money it does not matter, but it matters to me. It still taxpayers' money."
Nalbandian said the spread-out residential neighborhoods would doom a bus system in Lawrence.
"We need to try and put money into this slowly, to make sure we don't outstrip the demand. I know it's too slow for some people, but I just don't want to see a situation where we see buses with one or two people riding around in them." Nalbandian said.
Despite the critics, Enoch said the time was right for the University and the city to develop a fixed-route city-wide bus system that could potentially ease traffic congestion and the University's parking problems.
"We see transportation as a basic need for what a community does for its citizens, like providing a public library, fire department and police department," she said.
Artworks reflect history of abortion
Display in Kansas Union draws viewers, controversy
By R. Adam Ward Kansan staff writer
A controversial new exhibit called Wake Up Little Susie: Pregnancy and Power before Roe v. Wade opened at the Kansas Union Gallery yesterday.
The exhibit, sponsored by the Student Union Activities Fine Arts Committee, is arranged on a large chess board, with women portrayed as pawns. The clergy, psychiatrists, white males and police officers are represented by the more powerful bishop, king, knight and rook pieces.
The exhibit shares the gallery with another series of photographs called Warnings, which use digitally processed photographs that compare the threats to women's rights to the erosion of rights in Nazi Germany.
This series of photographs includes one of women doing the cancan with pictures of the faces of politicians such as George Bush superimposed on their crotches.
The exhibit runs until March 21 and will attract attention because it is an important issue that people feel strongly about, said Beatriz Ibarra, SUA Fine Arts Committee coordinator. The exhibit is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Sunday and from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday.
Ibarra, Overland Park sophomore, said three Colorado artists—Kay Obering, Catthele Meadows and Kathy Hutton — created the work from the inspiration of a book by historian Rickie Solinger, entitled Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe v. Wade.
The American studies department, women's studies department and Student Senate will bring Solinger to speak at 7 p.m., March 12 at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union. Ibarra said.
Hutton, a sculptor, said she worked on the project because if people were to forget about the history of illegal abortions, there was a danger that abortion would become illegal again.
"It's something people need to be reminded of, like the Holocaust," she said.
But some KU students had a problem with art of such a controversial nature coming to the University.
"It shouldn't be spending money or taking sides over an issue people are getting killed over," said Steve Dannenwerth, Campus Christian volunteer and Gardner junior.
But Ibarra said, "The SUA isn't taking any sides."
Ibarra said the committee selected the exhibits because they were inventive, and the abortion issue was an important part of women's history. SUA paid $1,750 to display the works, Ibarra said.
name anrist, the gallery guard for the exhibit, said 114 people had visited the display from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.yesterday.
"I believe all art is a distortion of reality," said Phil Stilwell, Lawrence senior. Rather than resort to emotional appeals, people should express the rational issues on both sides of the debate, Stilwell said.
Some students who saw the exhibit weren't sure whether art was an appropriate way to express views about abortion.
Structures and prints expressing views about abortion and reproduction stand in the Kansas Union Gallery. The artists 'works reflect opinions about women's right to choose.
Wanted: outstanding women
Six $300 awards to be given; deadline to apply is March 20
By Susanna Löff
Kansan staff writer
The Commission on the Status of Women is looking for a few good women.
The commission, a student group working to advance educational opportunities for women and to recognize their contributions, is searching for nominees for its Women's Recomposition Program.
Renee Speicher, co-chairwoman of the Commission
on the Status of Women, said the purpose of the program, which was started in 1970, was to honor women for their contributions to the University or to society at large.
ing non-traditional and international women students and outstanding women teachers and staff members.
The group is accepting nominations until March 20. Forms are available at the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center, 115 Strong Hall.
Six students will be selected by a committee of female students, staff and faculty. The winners will receive $300.
Awards given to teachers, staff members or women who have made historic contributions to humanity are
Women's History Month events and activities
Several events will be arranged in honor of Women's History Month. The following are some of the events being planned:
Contributing to the World's Work, 7 to 9 tonight at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
Pregnancy and Power: Women's Struggle Over Time, 7.30 p.m. March 12 at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
Patricia Wheeas Gaston, assistant international editor of the Dallas Morning News and co-winner of a 1994 Pulitzer Prize, will speak at 7 p.m. March 14 at the Jayhawk Room in the Kansas Union.
*Women Make the Best Friends, 7 to 9 p.m March 12 at the Pine Room in the Kansas Union.*
A book fair will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. March 19 at the Jahawk Room in the Kansas Union.
Adam Wolinetz, Columbus, Ohio, sophomore, questioned whether scholarships available only to women were fair.
Women's History Month Celebration, 7 p.m. March 21 at the Malott Room in the Kansas Union.
honorary and do not include cash prizes.
"If women want to be just as equal as men, then they ought to start doing a thing for men also," Wolinetz said.