University Daily Kansan / Friday, April 3, 1987
7
Student alumni organization links past with future
By JERRI NIEBAUM
Staff writer
KU students no longer have to graduate to become active in the University of Kansas Alumni Association.
The Student Alumni Association,
started and sponsored by the Alumni
Loren Taylor, director of membership development for the older association, said the new one would give students an appreciation for their alma mater that many wouldn't otherwise get until about five years after graduation.
"We're trying to instil that loyalty into them while they're still here on campus," Taylor said.
Last summer, Taylor hired Judy Ruedlinger as membership development coordinator and put her in charge of building the student group.
Ruedlinger said she thought the group would form an important link between students and alumni.
"There are many students who have never been in the building," she said.
In the fall, Ruedlinger found members for the association by sending letters to deans and professors across campus. She asked for names of students who excelled academically and were involved in outside activities.
The deans and professors responded with the names of 60 students, who became charter members of the association.
Lenny Geist, McPherson junior, is the Executive Council's business manager.
From the 60 charter members came six seniors who now serve on the Senior Executive Advisory Council and are officers as officers on the Executive Council.
"No one in my family has ever done anything like that," he said. "Neither of my parents went to college."
Geist said he thought the association would help teach students about what alumni members have to offer
who learns to memorize a law or rule.
"A lot of students don't have any idea what they do or what it means to be an alum." he said.
Among other things, the Alumni Association keeps people informed about where their classmates are, who they can contact if they want to return to campus for events or activities and how the University is ranking academically and athletically. The association has 37,000 members, and addresses and phone numbers for 170,000 alumni.
Geist said that KU had been the only Big Eight school without a student alumni group.
"Even Wichita State and Fort Hays State have them." he said.
Megan Stroup, Murray, Ky., freshman, said her parents were members of the Alumni Association, and she would also be the student group would help tie together
the past and the present
"The older alumni sort of feel like there's no bond," she said. "They're not even involved with KU anymore."
'We're trying to instill that loyalty into them while they're still here on campus.'
Loren Taylor director of membership development
The students will co-sponsor several Alumni Association events, including the senior breakfast on the morning of graduation at the chancellor's house. They also will sponsor a senior
open house on April 22 in front of the Adams Alumni Center. The event is a hamburger cookout that the Alumni Association has sponsored since the center opened four years ago.
To raise money for projects and conferences, the students are selling $17 sweatshirts that say "Kansas Alumni" with a Javhawk on them.
Members will attend conferences at many of the approximately 70 cities in which KU has alumni chapters. In February, several members attended a Wichita meeting at which they met and talked with Chancellor Gene A. Budig.
Stroup said the group had provided her with an opportunity to meet people from many different sides of campus.
Eddie Watson, Arkansas City senior, is a member of the Senior Executive Advisory Council.
"I was one of the few minority students to get involved," he said, adding that he planned to act as a
messenger to minority students.
Other members of the Senior Executive Advisory Council are; Lisa Ashner, Kansas City, Kan, law student; Bob Brada, Hutchinson senior; Duncan Calhoun, Lincoln, Neb., senior; Julie Collingwood, Wichita senior; and K. K. Neilsen, Sioux City, Iowa, senior.
President of the Executive Council is Todd Becker, Morton Grove, Ill., junior; and vice president is Diane Filipowski, Birmingham, Ala., junior. Corresponding secretary is Walt Niedner, Overland Park junior; and recording secretary is Jackie Lewis, Lawrence sophomore.
Publicity will be managed by Kurt Messersmith. Wichita sophomore and special projects will be coordinated by Megan Hughes, Lawrence sophomore. Joe Low, Cape Girardeau, Mo., sophomore; and Carla Brown, Overland Park freshman, will represent their classes.
State constitution may need overhaul
Staff writer
By CHRISTOPHER HINES Staff writer
Questions about how the state should govern its higher education system prompted a Kansas Senate committee Wednesday to study the possibility of amending the state constitution.
"All the education bills now going through the Legislature still do not clearly define the state's role in governing higher education," said State Sen. Joseph Harder, R-Moundridge, chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
"Universities have expanded their programs and resources, and the state hasn't kept up."
making them decide."
Harder's committee postponed deciding on a bill approved by the House that would transfer control of Kansas' 19 community colleges and Washburn University of Topeka from the state Board of Education to the Board of Regents.
"The House bill will be a major change, and I don't think we're prepared to make that kind of choice," he said. "We're throwing the responsibility to the Regents and
Harder recommended that the Senate postpone considering the bill and instead hire a private consultant to study the issue this summer.
Harder recommended that the private consultant work under the supervision of a legislative steering committee.
The study would involve reviewing the education articles in the state constitution and could result in the drafting of an amendment for voter approval.
Charles J. Carlsen, president of Johnson County Community College, said yesterday that he supported Harder's proposed study and that the information before it gave control of the community colleges to the Regents.
Carlsen said that community colleges depended on local financial support and that the House plan could result in a loss of local control.
The Regents also would play a role in deciding entrance requirements for high school students to all postsecondary education institutions in Kansas.
Without God,it's a vicious circle.
Under the House bill, the Regents would plan and coordinate all state public higher education. They would be responsible for approving new courses and programs at the schools, along with easing transfer of credits from one Regent's institution to another.
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