THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
Athletes, coaches advocate awareness
University sports teams are using their publicity to push the fight against cancer. Many teams have held events to raise awareness for cancer and healthy living. Teams include men's and women's basketball, softball and volleyball.
FULL STORY PAGE 3A
RESEARCH
The Center of Latin American Studies has received funding to support exploratory graduate research in Latin America, Spain and Portugal.
Center receives grants for exploration
Grant recipients come from a wide variety of academic disciplines and have the freedom to pursue virtually any topic of research with policy implications for the countries in which students conduct their research.
FULL STORY PAGE 3A
Historic house demolition imminent
》 DEVELOPMENT
From rugby to sex to presidential prestige, the house at 1142 Indiana st. has a lot of history within its walls. Lynn Zollner, administrator to the Lawrence historic resources commission, expects the city will knock it down sometime this spring.
FULL STORY PAGE 8A
weather
25 16
Classifieds...4A
Crossword...6A
Horoscopes...6A
Opinion...7A
Sports...1B
Sudoku...6A
3312
Snow to Wintry Mix
— weather.com
37 28 Mostly Cloudy
index
STUDENT SENATE
All contents, unless stated otherwise
© 2008 The University Daily Kansan
Janiece Richard, student athletics advisory committee senator, and Alex Earles, student rights committee associate senator, present an artist's redoring of the new KU rowing boat house scheduled to break ground on March 7. Richard voiced her concern Wednesday night at the Senate Students Rights Committee meeting about a proposed student fee cut that would cut funding to non-revenue sports. Accomodations, like the boathouse, for non-revenue sports depend on the current student fees.
Fee continues amid controversy
Senate votes to continue $80-a-year charge to subsidize KU athletics budget
BY BRENNA HAWLEY
bhawley@kansan.com
The Student Senate finance committee voted down a resolution to eliminate the Women's and Non-Revenue Intercollegiate Sports Fee. Students have voted to pay $80 a year for this fee, which goes to the Athletics Department.
In spring 2006, students voted to raise the fee from $20 to $40 a semester, which gave the department $1.9 million a year in student money. Fifteen dollars of the $20 increase was allocated to help build a new boathouse for the rowing team.
Eleven members of the committee voted to pass the bill and six voted it down, but two-thirds of senators have to vote yes to pass a resolution.
Lennea Carty, Andover senior and junior/senior CLAS senator, wrote the bill to lower required campus fees for students who cannot afford them. She said she had heard people complaining about the fee, but when no one wrote a bill to eliminate it, she decided to write one herself.
"I don't care if it polarizes Student Senate," Carty said. "If it's the right thing to do I'll do it."
She said after she talked to a friend who couldn't afford the increases, she decided to do the only thing she could to help: write legislation to lower fees.
Carly said she also wrote the bill because it violated a Senate regulation by funding e
"Eighty dollars is a heating bill in winter and that's three new pairs of shoes depending on where you shop," Carty said.
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Brian Hardouin, Broomfield, Colo., law senator, and Lennea Cardy, junior/senior CLAS senator, argue in favor of cutting the student fee for non-revenue sports. Cardy argued the fee was unfair to students who could not afford it
group that was not open to all KU students. Senate created a subcommittee last year to discuss how the fee should be used.
Carty said she did not visit the committee or talk to the department before writing the legislation.
"Accountability has always been an issue with this fee," said Brian Hardouin, Broomfield, Colo., law senator.
She said it also violated a Senate regulation because it funded a third party. The department is a non-profit organization separate from the University.
Sean Lester, associate athletics director, said eliminating the fee that generates $1.9 million a year would directly affect not only users of the boathouse but also the athletics department in general.
"It would affect them in 1.9 million different ways," Lester said.
Brandon Macneill, another associate athletics director, said athletics director Lew Perkins pledged to keep student passes pass prices the same as long as Senate supplied the student fee. He said the University has the second-lowest sports pass price in the Big 12 at $150.
Lester said the department's budget was transparent as it listed all payments for the boathouse. He said the department had so far paid $1.3 million of the $1.8 million cost of the boathouse.
Hailee Jones, Burden senior and member of the rowing team, said the boathouse facility before the fee was introduced was nothing more than a chain-link fence. She said the University was one of two Division I schools in the country with a rowing program without a boathouse.
She said when the microburst hit Lawrence in March 2006, some of their $40,000 boats were damaged. Rowers also didn't have a locker room, a place to have team meetings and experienced safety problems.
"I've gone to school here for almost six years, and the department is the most unresponsive organization on campus to student needs." Foss said.
Eric Foss, Overland Park law senator, said the fee should be removed because the department was not concerned about students.
Carty said she felt her legislation had become a coalition bill where a whole coalition was opposing it. She said she felt some people were intimidated by the department and were reluctant to stand up to it.
"Athletics is so close to the pulse of this University, it's considered untouchable," Carty said.
Joanne Bauer, Leawood freshman and associate finance student senator, said she was originally a sponsor of bill but removed her name because she wanted to hear more debate about the bill.
"We don't want to alienate athletics because they help a lot of students." Bauer said...
Jordan Williams, Coffeyville junior and Queers and Allies senator, was also originally a sponsor of the bill but removed his name. He said he went to talk to Ray Wittlinger, student body vice president, and Adam McGonigle, student executive committee chair and current United Students presidential candidate, for advice about the legislation. He said McGonigle was adamant about making sure he could vote however he wanted to. He said Wittlinger brought up some good points about the legislation but did not imply how to vote.
She said she was not confronted to remove her name from the legislation and would probably have supported the bill if it had made it to full Senate.
Wittlinger said he had worked to make sure all senators were informed about the bill and that coalitions didn't influence how senators voted.
"I don't want to hurt my coalition," Williams said, who is a member of United Students.
Williams said he felt the fee was disproportionate compared to other fees, but also did not want to alienate athletes, who are a great asset to the voting constituency.
McGonigle said he had not told people how to vote and was happy to be a member of a coalition where people have their own brains.
He added that he did not support the bill because it was extreme.
"We could sit back, do nothing and pretend like nothing's wrong, or completely cut the fee," McGonigle said. "I think the right decision is somewhere in between there."
Tom Cox, Shawnee senior and holdover senator, was originally a sponsor on the bill but removed his name because he also felt the bill was one extreme fee option. He said he would rather find a compromise than remove the entire fee.
"Extremes force facilitated discussions." Cox said.
老朴
—Edited by Nick Mangiaracina
4. 5.