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CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, April 6, 1995
3A
Student Senate considers campus safety
Kim Cocks
Kim Cocks is running for student body president with the United Students coalition. Her views on how Student Senate should deal with campus safety:
"I think that, just making sure the student voice is heard throughout is important. We want more campus lighting and blue lights, especially up on Daisy Hill. We'll assure that that's a project that is not ignored. Right now, I feel the blue lights are spaced too far apart to be effective for safety."
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By Teresa Veazey Kansan staff writer
On a campus the size of a small city, concerns about student safety have often been voiced to Student Senate.
"Student Senate has for a number of years taken safety issues very seriously," Browning said. "We are willing to address whatever concerns there are."
And Senate has responded with more campus lighting and a free taxi service for students, said Chad Browning, Senate treasurer and a member of the campus lighting committee.
One concern was a dark campus at night without many well-lighted areas, said John Mullens, coordinator of security and safety operations for KU police. In 1992, the campus lighting committee was formed to allocate part of the campus fee to purchasing and placing lights around campus.
Student Senate Election Information
"If you compare us with a city of the same size, you will find a higher percentage of property crimes," Mullen said. "You will see a smaller percentage of crimes against persons."
Election dates: April 12 and 13
Debate date: 8 p.m. April 10 in Woodruff Auditorium at the Kansas Union
Safefer, the nightly service that provides free transportation to students, has been beneficial to the University, Mullens said.
"Saferide is one of the most spectacular uses of student money I've seen," he said. "We don't know how many injuries, property damage and fatalities have been saved each month, due to Saferide."
With the Saferide program, students with a valid KUID can be transported from any place within city limits to a residence free of charge, he said.
Browning agreed that Saferide was one of Senate's most successful programs. Saferide was created three years ago out of an existing program called Secure Cab, which operated more as a "tipsy-taxi," or ride service for students too drunk to drive. Browning said.
The University had made several attempts to create some kind of ride service, none of which lasted more than a few months, Mullens said
"In the time that program has been in existence, crimes against persons have declined on campus." Brownings said. "There is a correlation."
Chrissy Campbasso, Panhellenic senator and member of the campus lighting committee, said Senate had been supportive of campus safety issues and had responded by giving money to those areas. A recent increase in the student activity fee provided additional funding for Saferide, which had not happened in a long time, Campbasso said.
Campbasso said that while Senate had been financially supportive of the lighting committee and Saferide, campus safety issues had not been dealt with extensively during the past two years because crime had not been increasing.
"I don't see it as being as big of an issue as other things are," Campobasso said. "If there were a raise in crime on campus, students could look to us to do something about it."
David Stevens
David Stevens is running for student body president with the REAL coalition. His views on how Student Senate should deal with campus safety:
"I think it's an issue that certainly needs to be looked at on Daisy Hill. It's terrible that students are forced to walk home at night without proper lighting. When campus lighting was established, they just ignored Daisy Hill. Putting lights on campus and stuff like that, why should students be forced to pay? These are capital expenditures at a state level. Why isn't the state paying for these expenditures?"
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Swingin' the day away
Valerie Crow / KANSAN
Mike Kidwell, Lansing senior, relaxes in his hammock on Campanile Hill. He took advantage of the mild and breezy weather to prove to his friend that you can swing in a hammock on campus.
GTA's run-in highlights problems with status
By Virginia Marghelm
Kansan staff writer
Tom Argiro was confronted with a difficult question Friday afternoon.
When Argio, Western Civilization graduate teaching assistant, stopped at the parking booth north of the Kansas Union to ask permission to drive on campus, the booth attendant asked, "Are you a student or an employee?"
Argiro is both. He is a doctoral student at the University of Kansas and a GTA, which makes him a public employee.
After consulting with someone on the telephone, though, the attendant told Argiro that he was classified as a student and could not drive on campus.
But according to an October ruling of the Kansas Public Employees Relations Board, GTAs are public employees.
So why wasn't Argiro allowed on campus?
Donna Hultine, assistant director of parking, said that one reason Argiro was
denied campus access could have been because he did not have a staff identification card. In order to be classified as staff for parking purposes, a person must have a part-time to full-time classified or unclassified appointment at KU, she said.
Staff who show staff identification cards are allowed on campus and can park at meters, Hultine said.
Hultine said that students delivering heavy loads on campus usually were given 20-minute passes. But the booth attendant makes the final decision.
"If it's something large and obvious, then the attendants will use their discretion," she said.
Argiro did have a large load of books he needed to return to Watson Library, but the attendant wasn't swayed.
But not being allowed to return books was not what
prompted Argiro to take his story public. He felt he had been discriminated against. Argiro said that Friday was the first time in his three years as a GTA that he was not allowed on campus in order to make a delivery.
Argiro's problem illustrates the seemingly gray area that GTAs at the University occupy. How should they be treated, as students or as employees?
For Dan Murtaugh, GTA and leader of the GTA unionization movement, the answer is simple.
"Once we're employees, I don't think it's particularly gray anymore," he said.
Murtaugh said that he was not familiar with parking department regulations but that GTAs should be entitled to the same privileges as other employees.
Until that time comes, Argiro just wishes that the University would set a policy to avoid further problems like the one he ran into on Friday.
"It was blatantly smart-ass behavior," he said.
Two Student Senate candidates have records with the police
Two Student Senate candidates have criminal records,according to Douglas County criminal records.
By Christoph Fuhrmans
Kansan staff writer
The candidates are Ana Calderon, Shawnee freshman, and Brent Bowen, Olathe junior. Calderon is a Nunemaker senator candidate for the REAL Coalition. A Nunemaker senator is a liberal arts and sciences senator who at the time of the election had fewer than 60 hours.
Bowen is a Liberal Arts and Sciences senator candidate for the United Students coalition.
In October 1994, Calderon pleaded no contest to the charge of a minor in possession and paid a fine of $25. A charge of possession of a fake I.D. was dismissed.
Calderon could have paid a total fine of $199.50, but the fine was reduced when she agreed to help the FBI break the ring of selling and making fake I.D.s.
"I got my charges dropped because I cooperated with the prosecutor and judge." Calderon said. "I left it on my record, so I could petition it to be removed a year later." Calderon refused to comment on the circumstances of the crime.
Bowen was charged with possession of stolen property in 1992 during his freshman year at Oliver Hall, but the charges were dismissed. Bowen was charged with the crime when police officers discovered several license plates in Bowen's room during a
room search after a fire alarm.
One of the plates had been reported stolen, but Bowen said he never actually took any plates. He said he had gotten the plates from friends or had found them.
Bowen agreed to pay a $1617 fine and do a minimum of 20 hours of community service, thus prompting the district attorney's office to dismiss the charges.
Kim Cocks, Lee's Summit, Mo., senior and president of the United Students coalition, said that it was up to the voters to decide
whether candidates' past records were relevant.
"We went and sought out people who were active in student activities and would be good senators," she said.
DIRECTOR: Student Senate candidate Eric Moore was convicted of sexual indecency with a minor Page1A.
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