Representation issues before Senate
Medical students want a greater voice in their education. Students at the University of Kansas Medical Center are involved in a confrontation with the faculty in Kansas City to gain that voice.
Brian Biles, third year medical student and representative to the student senate, introduced a resolution to the Senate last night asking the Senate Executive Committee (SenEx) to investigate the restriction of students from school government.
The Senate Code, passed last year, guarantees KU students a position on committees. Biles said medical students feel they also should be included in a decision-making position on the Kansas City campus.
The resolution was passed by the Senate. It is hoped, Biles said, this will put the "pinch" on the faculty to allow students to share in governing the Medical Center.
Presently students are concerned about not being allowed to aid in choosing a new head of the Surgery Department. When two students offered to sit with the committee, Dr. Santiago Grisolia, Surgery Chairmanship Search Committee head, said in a memo, "the committee has unanimously voted to decline the kind offer of student assistance."
The Student Senate at the Medical Center then selected three seniors, who were appointed by the dean, to aid in the choosing of the new department head. They are not allowed to sit on the faculty committee, but instead meet separately with the nominees. The selection of the new head will rest sup-
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Photo by Greg Gorman Chuck Loveland
Photo by Ron Bishop Steve Hix
Representation was the principal issue at Wednesday night's Student Senate meeting. Steve Hix, freshman class president from Overland Park, told the meeting the freshman class presidency was a meaningless job.
The class president, Hix said had the power only to organize class parties. Hix said his campaign platform stated he would strive to get the freshman class a membership in the Senate, and this platform, Hix said, he believes resulted in his election.
Two alternatives to achieve this goal were presented by Hix. One, that freshman officers elected in October become members of the Senate upon their election, or that freshmen should elect class representatives when they elect class officers.
Hix proposed that next October an exclusive election of freshmen to the Senate be held. He added this would be contradictory to the Senate Code, and then raised the thought of changing the code.
Hix presented the Senate meeting with signed petitions from the freshman class members and said the support from within the Colleges Within a College is needed for the proposals to succeed.
David Awbrey, Senate president, complimented Hix for his efforts but did not outwardly commit himself to support or fight the proposal.
The meeting also marked the return of Marilyn Bowman, elected last year as Senate Vice-president but suspended from
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80th Year, No.72
The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas
Thursday, Feb. 5, 1970
ROTC status outlined
Chancellor E. Laurence Chalmers Jr., in a Kansan interview Wednesday, outlined the present status of ROTC on campus and the outlook for the future of the program.
In response to the Kansas legislature's adoption of the resolution that pledges support for ROTC, Chalmers said, "The resolution does not in fact do any violence to our ROTC program. It did what it was intended to do—it gives a strong legislation
endorsement to ROTC on campus."
"The question we face with ROTC," he said, "is, 'Can we be sure the courses are evaluated correctly?' We also have to incorporate ROTC into the University more effectively. Most people are concerned with the problem that ROTC does exist and not how we can improve it."
Chalmers said ROTC's relationship with the rest of the University was only an artificial separation. "It's an outsider to, say,
the English department of Fine Arts, but it's not a separation of individual personality," he said.
When asked about the ROTC curriculum and its relevance as an academic discipline, Chalmers said, "The war training aspects are not conducted on campus but are conducted in summer programs off campus or after officer commission ceremonies. I don't personally believe that ROTC drill should be granted credit—and it isn't at KU—but many
Photo by Greg Sorber
People who live in plastic houses...
Trucks maneuvered two sections of the trailers to be used for University office space down the hill next to the Student Union and backed onto an empty lot north of the union Wednesday afternoon. The trailers came in half sections and are covered with a large plastic sheet. The other sides of the trailers will arrive tomorrow. A similar structure sets between Summerfield Hall and New Haworth Hall.
By United Press International
UDK News Roundup
U.S. bids for Olympics
WASHINGTON—President Nixon gave his formal backing Wednesday to the United States' bid to gain the Olympic Games in 1976.
Nixon issued a special proclamation for the U.S. delegation to the International Olympic Committee meeting in Switzerland later this month when the site will be picked.
Senate clashes over ABM
WASHINGTON—Democrats and Republicans clashed on the Senate floor Wednesday over whether expansion of the Safeguard antiballistic missile system is vital to U.S. security or a round of "nuclear gamesmanship" with the Soviet Union.
Sen. Stuart Symington, D-Mo., said Nixon's decision to extend Safeguard deployment beyond two initial sites in Montana and North Dakota "just about eliminates any possibility of reaching agreement" with the Russians over mutual control of multiple nuclear warheads.
Nixon man opposed
WASHINGTON—Opposition to 37-year old Charles J. DiBona as director of the Selective Service system is so strong in the Senate Armed Services Committee that President Nixon may never nominate him to lead the draft.
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