Apathy issue confronts graduate Senators
By LORI LINENBERGER
Staff Writer
Although graduate students make up the largest segment of students at the University of Kansas, only one of them filed for a Student Senate seat in last week's election.
With 23 of the 24 seats open, some graduate students run write-in campaigns and twenty of them win. (The school has a write-in ballot.)
Some people might wonder why only one of 5,000 graduate students decided to file for a seat and what persuaded 20 other graduate students from the department of geology to run as write-in votes for those
This answer, one graduate student who did file for a Student Senate seat and also a student in the department of geology, said apathy among graduate students might be 'one factor.'
"There can be only one reason why no one file except me and that's because no one cared," he said. "I don't want to speak for the rest of the graduate students, but I think they don't believe that the Student Senate can do anything for them. So they lose interest."
SALTER SAID that after he realized he was the only person who had filed for a seat, he went to a police station and said, "Hey, I
KANSAN Analysis
geology and urged them to run as write-in candidates.
Dan Jackson, Middletown, N.Y., graduate student and one of the write-in winners, and he thought the students would like to see him.
"At first, when we developed the idea of running,
we all thought it was hilarious. I didn't take it
seriously," he said. "Now we think there are things
that need to be done and we want to try to do them."
David Foster, Washington Courthouse, Ohio, graduate student and a write-in winner, said he thought most graduate students did not have any interest in student government.
"PEOPLE DIDN'T run because of a lack of interest," he said. "Most graduate students aren't really interested in student government. It doesn't matter how much government has ever really accomplished anything, I guess."
"I have never really been interested in student government and I don't think it means much to most graduate students. I'm still skeptical, but I'm willing to give it a try."
Salter agreed that most graduate students had no
interested in student government because they were dislaborated with the limits on power. They
Margaret Berlin, student body president,
disagreed.
"From what I've heard, graduate students are just so easy and capable up in their own work that they can teach you everything."
"ALSO, THEY are usually pretty confident that they can win a seat just by getting 10 or 11 of their friends to write them in. That way they don't have to pay $3 for the fee," she said.
Mike Harper, former student body president, said graduate students rarely filed for a Student Senate
"In the graduate school, they only need a couple of votes to win. They can get that with write-in votes."
If graduate students expected to win a seat with two or three votes in this year's elections, they probably were surprised when each winner from the necissary department received 23 to 26 votes.
In past elections, however, graduate students have been elected by a small number of votes. Heggie was elected in 1974.
YOU DON'T really have a lock of interest when graduate students don't file," he said. "As long as
But Robinson agreed that interest in student government generally diminished by the time a teacher became a university professor.
they're able to get elected by write-ins, they must think there's no reason to file."
"I would say there's a lack of interest among graduate students just like there is a lack of interest in physics," she said.
Lynn Brett, Lawrence graduate student and former graduate student senator, said she also thought graduate students did not file because they could win a seat with a write-in campaign.
"BUT I WAS surprised that all the seats were filled this year," she said. "Even with a liberal policy of write-in votes, we've always had a real hard time filling seats."
Steve Shedd, Overland Park graduate student and a former graduate student senator, said that he filed and ran for his seat, but that interest in the Senate even among those students who were write-in winners.
"There's no interest at all," he said. "If you try it, you'll see why people don't like it. We need to have a
At least one of the three write-in winners not from the department of geology had specific reasons for their selection.
KELVIN KNAUF. Scott City graduate student.
said he ran for Senate because he thought the Masters of Public Administration program, of which he is a member, should have a representative in student government.
"I think every graduate program should have a representative in Senate," he said. "I convinced MPA that I should be their representative. I would consider them my constituency, really."
The other two non-geology department write-in Student Senate winners are from the department of Environmental Science.
If apathy can be cited as a reason for only one graduate student filing for a senate seat, the 21 graduate students from the department of geology at Yale University Student Senate this year may disproof that notion.
SALTER SAID the group was interested in seeing if the Student Senate had the power to implement a new curriculum.
"We have a lot of things we're working for," he said. "Mainly, we want to see if student government here at Kansas actually works. We want to see if any students can be made through student government."
"If we can get anything accomplished, then it'll just show that the University has a little puppet in the Student Senate and will not allow it to change anything."
Eclipse to bring dusk in morning on Monday
By RON BAIN Staff Reporter
The false dusk will be caused by an eclipse of the sun, a spectacle that has frightened and fascinated mankind for thousands of years. The total eclipse will be about 80 percent visible from Lawrence at 10:36 a.m. on Monday.
For a short time Monday morning, it will seem like evening in Lawrence: the skies will darken noticeably, the temples will swell, the shaded shadows will fall across the ground.
The moon will begin to move in front of the sun at 9:22 Monday morning, according to Don Bord, professor of astronomy. About noon, after covering 83 percent of the sun, the moon will move away from the sun.
The eclipse will be the last total solar eclipse visible from the continental United States until 2017.
Telescopes will be set up on the KU campus so that the public will be able to view the eclipse, said Chris Brungardt, presides of the Astronomy Associates of KU.
THE TELESCOPES, which will project an image of the eclipse onto a screen, will be in front of the Kansas Union, Wesco Hall and the Daisy Hill residence halls between 9:30 and 11:30 on Monday morning.
They will leave tonight on a trip sponsored by the Astronomy Associates to Brandon, Manitoba, where the eclipse amount of time, Bord said.
Eight or nine KU faculty members and students will be in Canada Monday morning to watch the eclipse from a place where it will be totally visible.
Looking directly at a solar eclipse could result in permanent eye damage.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
See ECLIPSE back page
KANSAN
Vol. 89, No.101
The University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
Berman opposes reappraisal bill
By GENE LINN Staff Reporter
TOPEKA-Kanada Kasess passed a bill yesterday that State Sen. Arnold Berman, D-Lawrence, said could have "improve economic implications for all Canadians."
One taxpayer who would be affected if the bill were to become law is the Kansas State University.
The bill, which passed 28-11, mandates a reasonaion of property for tax purposes.
Land owned by the Endowment Association that is subject to property taxation has a book value of about $11 million and an application to the Endowment's application report issued June 30, 1978.
Todd Seymour, president of the Endowment Association, said last night that $15 million would be needed.
"The book value is the acquisition value of the land," he said. "The market value is what the land would be worth if we sold it now, and would be higher."
THE SENATE BILL calls for the reassessment of land at its market value.
The Endowment Association uses income from various investments to finance
scholarships and loans for the University of Kansas and KU students.
One of the loans the association made last year provided $1.8 million for the renovation
"The reappraisal bill could cause a massive shift of 25 to 40 percent in the property tax burden to ordinary property owners away from utility companies," Berman said Wednesday when the bill was debated in the Senate.
Douglas County could be particularly hard hit because of the large KP1 plant, which is located in
However, State Sen. Ron Hein, R-Topke,
called Berman's staff "political
staff."
"WHAT YOU'RE saying would look good in newspaper, but actually the bill would not."
The bill requires that all real property be reassessed by county reappraisers and the state Director of Property Valuation before 1984, at a cost about $7.8 million. The Legislature would decide in the 1964 session to adopt new appraisals to catenate property taxes.
Real property includes personal property but excludes property owned by utilities
because it is already assessed by the state Director of Property Valuation.
Real property in many places in the state, including Douglas County, has not been assessed since 1964, and property values have risen since then.
Property taxes are calculated by multiplying a set fraction, determined by the local government, times the assessed value of real property.
Berman said because only real property would be reraised and probably would be given a higher assessed value, utilities would pay a smaller share of local property.
The legislative research department figured that rural property owners would have paid 70 percent more in property taxes in 1977 if a reappraisal had been done then, State Jack Steineger, D-Kansas City, said.
Berman offered an amendment to the bill that he said would prevent such a shift in the budget.
Urban residential property taxes would have increased 48 percent, he said.
After about an hour of debate, Berman's proposed amendment was defeated 18-17.
HEIN SAID that there would be some shift in the burden of property taxes to home owners, but that utilities would have to pass on the cost of consumers in the form of reduced utility rates.
"If a utility company saves $100,000, the Kansas Corporation Commission can deny the company the right to keep the money," he said.
"Why not reduce costs for consumers instead of reducing property taxes?" he
sterman said, "I presume the utilities would ask for permission to keep the additional money in the form of an increased rate of return."
State Rep. Gerald Simpson, R-Salina, that legislators in 1984 would not allow the reequalitarian to cause a large shift in the property tax burden to home owners.
"THE LEGISLATORS won't want to antagonize 70 percent of the people in their city."
But Berman said he did not want to take that chance.
"I don't want to go down this road until the shift in the burden of property takes is taken"
Council endorses pre-enrollment
Bv.JOHN LOGAN
Staff Renorter
Some student members of the Council said that the current enrolment system in Allen Field House was satisfactory and that computer enrollment would limit student choices.
Despite questions about the necessity for a new system, the University Council yesterday endorsed a proposed computerized pre-enrolment system for the University of Kansas.
The 9.0- vote on the resolution to endorse the system came after 45 minutes of discussion with Richard Mann, director of University Information Systems and chairman of the committee that prepared the proposal for the system.
The proposal had been presented to the University Senate executive committee two weeks ago by Del Shankel, executive vice chancellor Shankel asked for SenKa's advice. The senate voted to have the Bll Council make the recommendation.
The resolution called on the administration to work toward implementing the pre-enrollment system at KU. The resolution also asked that the administration consider charging a registration fee to cover the cost of installing the
THE REPORT said between $60,000 and $108,000 would be needed to establish the system, depending on whether the report was an internal report or a public one.
One Senxe member said if the equipment was leased for approximately $10,000 a year, the registration fee would be $450. Other members said it
Discussion on the proposed pre-enrollment plan centered on whether the computer system was superior to the computer of another school.
Mann said the pre-enrollment system proposed for KU is used at the University of Iowa. Mann told the Council that the system was working well but that he was not sure KU needed a pre-enrollment system.
"OTHER BIG schools say they would not do without pre-
Several student members of the Council also said they doubled KU needed pre-enrolment. The students said the proposed system would limit student control over enrolment.
Under the proposed enrollment system, students would enroll for the next semester a month before finals begin. Students would submit a list of the courses they needed and take the classes. The computer would then make out the schedule.
ONE OF THE student members, Tom Werth, Wichita senior, said students would not be able to change their classes during enrolment and their chances of getting the classes they wanted would not be increased.
enrollment," Mann said. "But after looking at enrolment here, I am less convinced that pre-enrolment is absolutely
Limber legs
I think on my classes rather than on a computer. "We're
decisions on my classes rather than on a computer." Worth
going to look at.
Karen Deshazo. Kansas City, Kan., junior, stretches her legs after taking a few laps on the Allen Field House track last night.
Staff photo by BILL FRAKES