CAMPUS
Members of the Ki Aikido Club go jump in a lake. Page 3A THUNDERSTORMS High 65° Low 48° Page 2A
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KANSAN
KS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
TOPEKA, KS 66612
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
VOL.104, NO.137
MONDAY, APRIL 17, 1995
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
(USPS 650-640)
NEWS:864-4810
Sorority reviews KU membership
Alpha Omicron Pi asks members to become inactive
By Paul Todd
Kansan staff writer
Shannon Cavanaugh was only a freshman when her sorority asked her to become an inactive alumna member — a title usually reserved for graduates who are not involved in the sorority any longer. Cavanaugh, Lawrence freshman, was not alone, though.
Several members of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority at KU were asked to go on alumnae status Wednesday. Each woman was given a reason by the sorority's international governing body, but what those reasons were remains unclear.
Becoming alumnae would mean the women still would be members of the sorority officially, but they would not be involved in the undergraduate chapter's activities or be allowed to live in the chapter house at 1510 Sigma Nu Place.
Officials from the KU Alpha Omicron Pi chapter, the Alpha Omicron Pi international governing body and the University said declining membership and poor grades caused them to worry that some of the women in the sorority were not helping to improve the chapter's reputation and overall morale. This prompted the international sorority officials to review the chapter's membership.
Lynette Personette, the sorority's regional director, said all the women in the sorority were asked by sorority officials if they were committed to the house. Those who said "no" or "maybe" then were asked to become alumnae, along with some women whose conduct was questionable. The women who were asked to become alumni were given the option of returning to full activity, staying an alumna or suspending their membership, Personette said.
But Cavanaugh, one of the members asked to become an alumna, said only a few women, herself included, were asked to become
active members again after they had been asked to become alumnae members. Most only had two choices — become alumnae or terminate their memberships in the sorority.
Most of them were given reasons such as underaged drinking or poor conduct for their being asked to become alumnae, Cavanaugh said. But officials from the KU chapter and the University said alcohol was not part of the decision to ask the members to become alumnae.
"Itit wasn't alcohol," said Amy Woodling, the sorority's vice president for membership education. "Nothing like that had anything to do with it."
But Cavanaugh said that underaged drinking was the exact reason she was given when four members of the sorority's national organization asked her to go on alumnae status.
"They gave me the reason 'undergaged drinking,'" Cavanahaugh said. "It was not at an Alpha Omicron Pi event but was because they just thought I drank underage."
Woodling said it was her understanding that the international sorority officials came to KU with the intention of deciding who would go and who would stay, but they aborted that plan and gave the women a choice.
Bill Nelson, coordinator for greek programs, said the sorority was not on any kind of judicial status with the University or Panhellenic Association and that the international sorority officials had been in contact with his office.
A national fraternity or sorority has the right to evaluate its own membership, he said, and he knew the international officials were coming beforehand.
"There were several indicators that there were issues that needed to be addressed within the chapter," he said. "Statistics said that chapter membership had been declining and grades had dropped, and it's my observation chapter morale had slipped."
He said that the chapter was not closing down and still would be around next year.
No one would say how many women were originally asked to become alumnae or how many active members remain. Nelson said the chapter began the semester with approximately 80 members. Cavanaugh said she thought that about 45 women were asked to become alumnae.
The power of
Photos and text by Yumi Chikamori
More than 300 Native Americans joined to celebrate the fifth annual Spring Powwow ceremony Saturday at the Kansas Union Ballroom. The Powwow is a ceremony in which dancers from several different states gather to compete in traditional Native-American dancing as well as to socialize among Native Americans from different regions of the country. The ceremony started with a prayer to honor the head.
man and woman dancers. About 50 adult and children dancers dressed in colorful costumes and showed their dancing techniques to win the honor for their tribes. The contest was divided into four categories: male, female, youth and tiny tots. Each had two different styles: traditional and fancy. Prizes were awarded to the winners.
ABOVE: Kingfisher of the Northern Cheyenne tribe dances as a part of a traditional Native-American dance contest.
ABOVE LEFT: Neil Lawhead of the Ottawa-Shawnee-Osage tribe from Kansas City, Mo., watches the other dancers' performances during the dancing contest. Lawhead won the second place prize in men's traditional style.
LEFT: Charles Horse of the Kiowa and Apache tribes from Carnegie, Okla., and Steven Quoetone of the Kiowa tribe from Carnegie, dance in colorful costumes as a part of an intertribal dance.
Student awareness can prevent loss of deposits
Knowing rights can help when dealing with landlords
By Sarah Morrison Kansan staff writer
It's a spring ritual. Every May, thousands of students move out of their apartments and rental houses, and every May, many of them complain about losing some or all of their deposit money to their landlords.
But before making any housing transaction, students should be aware of their rights, said Michele Kessler, assistant director of Legal Services for Students.
State law requires landlords to return deposit money to renters within 30 days after they move out. If any money is deducted from the deposit, the landlord must send an itemized sheet of what damages the money was deducted for.
"The biggest thing is the landlord has to give the
deposit or an itemized deduction within 30 days." Kessler said. If that does not happen, students should seek legal help to get their deposit money back, she said.
John Dejong, second year law student, said he was concerned that his landlord might try to wrongfully keep his deposit. He went through the apartment with his landlord and took pictures of everything the landlord said was wrong.
"Under the Kansas Tenant-Landlord Act, the law says landlords can't deduct money from security deposits for normal wear and tear," Dejong said. "Just because there are some rub marks on the wall, that doesn't mean your landlord can charge you for that."
Dejong said taking pictures protected him because if his landlord wrongfully kept his deposit, he had evidence of the condition of the apartment in case he had to go to court.
Dejong said that all of his deposit money was returned.
Wade Spencer, manager of Sunrise Village, Sixth and
Don Taylor, manager of Park 25 apartments, 2401 W. 25th St., said he usually returned all of a renter's deposit money. But apartments are sometimes so badly damaged that keeping a renter's deposit does not even come close to covering repair costs.
Gateway streets, said students should clean their apartments, including ovens and refrigerators, before checking out to avoid being charged a cleaning fee.
"We don't allow pets, but sometimes they sneak them in," Taylor said. "Cats are the worst because if they urinate on the carpet, we can't get the smell out. We have to rip up the carpet, replace it and deodorize the concrete underneath. It can get real expensive."
Spencer said students should be responsible and work with the landlord to make sure everyone is happy.
"Students should make sure the apartment is clean and in good condition before the check out," he said. "Students need to be active in the check out process and make sure the unit is in the same condition when they move out that it was in when they moved in."
The quest to keep the cash
Legal Services for Students offers the following tips to students who want to get their deposit money back or avoid being wrongly charged:
■ When you move in, do an itemized inventory with the landlord.
- When checking out, ask the landlord what exactly you will be charged for
- When you turn in your keys, get a written receipt to avoid being charged rent for days after you moved out.
Take pictures of the apartment to use for evidence if you are wrongfully charged for damages.
- Ask for receipts for all repairs you are charged for.
- If you want to repair damages yourself, make sure the landlord will agree not to charge you for the damages anyway.
Regionals bound
The Kansas men's Ultimate team won the Western Plains Sectional Ultimate tournament this weekend and will advance to regionals April 29-30 in Madison, Wis. Page 18
Pittsburg State's union used as example
By Virginia Margheim
Kansan staff writer
Administrators at the University of Kansas say that it won't do graduate teaching assistants any good to form a union.
Look at what a union did for faculty at Pittsburg State University — nothing, they say.
David Shulenburger, vice chancellor for academic affairs, said that the faculty union at Pittsburg had not given faculty any advantages. Since the faculty formed a union approximately 20 years ago, it has not received greater pay increases or more benefits than those at other Regents institutions, he said.
But GTAs at KU say that the administrators' argument doesn't hold water. If Pittsburg's union hadn't gotten faculty something, the union wouldn't still exist, said
the leaders of the KU GTA union movement.
David Lomshek, president of Pittsburg's faculty union, sides with the KU GTAs. The biggest advantage of having a union has been that they have gained equality with the administration, Lomshek said. The administration must negotiate with the faculty in good faith. These privileges are not guaranteed without a union, he said.
Not only has the union helped faculty at Pittsburgh, but it also has helped faculty across the state, Lomshek said. The union helped Pittsburgh to establish a shared sick leave program, in which faculty could donate up to 10 days of their sick leave to another faculty member who needed it. The program was so successful that the Board of Regents adopted the policy for all Regents institutions, Lomshek said.
Lonshek said that forming a union definitely would benefit GTAs at KU.
"It is time-consuming," he said
Ratzlaff said that, although no extra personnel had been hired to deal with the union, it did take extra work.
Bob Ratzlaff, vice president for academic affairs at Pittsburg, said that the faculty union had actually been beneficial to the university. Although it took about nine years to establish an agreement — the Regents initially were unwilling to agree on anything — the union has been helpful to the faculty, Ratzlaff said. Many agreements on procedures such as promotion and tenure, sabbatical leave and workload have been reached through union negotiations.
"It will be the best thing they could collectively do," Lomshek said.
GTAUNION
When and where
Graduate teaching assistants will vote today and tomorrow whether to affiliate with a union for collective bargaining purposes. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., both days. All GTAs can vote in the rotunda of Strong Hall today and in the lobby of the Computer Center tomorrow.
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