Back on track
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Details, page 2
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Tuesday
March 31, 1987
Vol. 97, No. 122
(USPS 650-640)
Crossing will get traffic signal light
Ry PAUL BELDEN
Staff writer
The railroad crossing where four KU students were killed Friday will get a traffic signal, as will three other crossings in Douglas County, the Douglas County public works director said yesterday.
"They will have signals, and they will have railroad grading done on them," said the director, Frank Hempin. "I would think that because of the publicity surrounding the accident, the railroad will expedite things, but that's just my personal opinion."
He said the Kansas Department of Transportation already had plans to review the safety of the four crossings when the accident occurred.
Robert Cutter, coordinating engineer for the department's bureau of design, said that on Dec. 9 the department ranked the danger to automobile traffic of all state railroad crossings without signal lights.
Bill may give KU additional funds
Ellen Ellick, Union Pacific spokesman, said the crossing was probably about as dangerous as other crossings without signal lights.
Factors considered in ranking a crossing are the amount of automobile and train traffic, the number of tracks, the number of accidents, the angle of the road to the tracks and the visibility at the crossing.
The crossing where the students were killed was ranked 2,164 of the state's 8,827 crossings. Hempin said no accident had occurred there in the two years in which the county had kept statistics for that crossing.
Cutter said the ranking was part of a department plan begun in the mid-70s to improve railroad crossings. The federal government pays 90 percent of the plan's cost, and the counties pay 10 percent.
See CROSSING, p. 6, col. 3
Bv IOHN BUZBEE
State Sen. Wint Winter Jr., R-Lawrence, said the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a 2.5 percent pay raise for the next school year for KU faculty and student state workers.
Also yesterday, the full state Senate tentatively approved a fee release for KU that would return to the University 75 percent of the money it requested to handle unexpected enrollment increases.
The raises and changes in the way KU gets state money are part of the Board of Regents financing bill for fiscal year 1988, which begins July 1. The House already passed the bill
"We were able to improve on what the House did in all critical areas," Winter said.
Staff writer
Regents universities now get state money based on enrollment predictions updated every three years. The bill would change that to one year.
TOPEKA — The University of Kansas would be able to get more state money faster in coming years under a bill approved yesterday by a Senate committee, a state legislator said.
Currently, enrollment must increase by at least 2 percent before universities receive extra money. Another change would lower that to 0.5 percent, Winter said. The University often has an enrollment increase but not one large enough to qualify for extra money.
"KU was getting nibbled to death," Winter said.
The changes, which could be worth a lot of money to the University, are the most important part of the financing bill for KU, he said.
"It is a very significant change for KU." Winter said.
KU wouldn't need to seek a fee release again, he said, because the changes would take effect in fiscal year 1989, and part of the Regents bill for fiscal year 1988 already includes another $635,612 fee release.
strong commitment to the fee release," he said. "We've forged the fortress around our position."
"We've reaffirmed our very,very
The fee release would return to KU $93,143 of the estimated $2.7 million in extra tuition money generated by its huge enrollment increase in the fall. The House had approved a fee release of $635,612.
Winter said pushing for the full Regents request of $1.2 million could be a political mistake because it could cause a backlash in the future.
"You have to make decisions that are right, not only for the short term but for the long term," he said.
State Rep. John Solbach, D-Lawrence, said the compromise fee release probably would be at least 65 percent of the Regents request and might be the 75 percent approved by the Senate. The House had narrowly
defeated a 75 percent fee release.
He said if the senators in the conference committee stuck by their guns on the 75 percent release, it had a good chance.
Then, he said, if the conference committee came back with a 75 percent fee release, there probably would enough support in the House to pass it.
The faculty and student pay increase approved by the Senate committee would take effect in the last half of the year, so it would amount to only 1.25 percent for the year. The House had approved a 1.5 percent raise over six months.
Solbach said supporters of the 2.5 percent raise included an odd alliance of House Democrats and the Republican leadership supported by Biden.
"If the governor is not willing to concede that cuts are necessary, certainly I don't think that I should," he said.
Proposal may raise tuition
By ROGER COREY
Staff writer
Tuition for non-resident graduate and undergraduate KU students will increase by about 15 percent and 12 percent in the 1988 fall semester if the Board of Regents approves a new fee proposal.
The proposal was developed by the Regents Special Committee on Tuition to raise money for salary increases and operating expenses at the six state universities.
The proposal also would raise resident graduate students' fees from $595 to $655. Undergraduate tuition remains the same at $353 a semester.
Marvin Burris, Regents associate director for budget, said fees for non-resident graduate students would increase from $1,680 in fall 1987 to $1,935 in fall 1988. Tuition for non-resident undergraduates would increase from $1,620 to $1,815.
Burris said the tuition increase would provide the state with needed
"There are 12,000 graduate students in the Regents system," Burris said. "If each one pays $100, that's an extra $1.2 million for the state."
The committee's proposal will be discussed by the Regents at their April meeting. Final action on the proposal will be taken at the Regents May meeting.
"I think the Regents will approve the proposal," Burris said. "It's a significant step toward generating additional tuition money."
David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs, said one reason for the tuition increase was to raise the University to the average level of state financing of its peer institutions.
A recent report by the Chancellor's Task Force on Economic Development found that the University was more than $16 million short of the average state financing of its peers.
KU's peer institutions are the universities of Colorado, Iowa, North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Oklahoma and Oregon.
See TUITION, p. 6, col. 5
The 1951-52 Kansas basketball team, which won the NCAA tournament by beating St. John's 80-63, is still the only KU basketball team ever to capture a national championship. See story page 9.
Magic year
Darcy Chang/KANSAN
Above: Jennene Rohr, Topeka junior, plays her 12th-century Celtic harp at a rally for oppressed people at Potter Lake. Rohr said she was there last night to represent the physically handicapped and the religiously oppressed. Left: Lawrence City Commissioner David Longhurst spoke to the group about the importance of speaking out on behalf of oppressed people. The rally was sponsored by Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas as part of Gay and Lesbian Awareness Week.
'Night Watch' vigil opens GALA week
By PAUL SCHRAG
The gentle strains of a 12th-century Celtic harp were heard last night by Potter Lake as about 25 people gathered amid the glow of candles at a vigil for onespread people.
"If we are silent, we are guilty." David Longhurst, Lawrence city commissioner, told the group. "It's only when we take a stand that we fulfill our responsibility."
Staff writer
"We feel it's a moral obligation to make the community aware not only of our fight but also that of our peers," said Cary Leibowitz. GLSOK director.
Robert Shelton, associate professor of religious studies, was the opening speaker.
The "Night Watch" vigil was the opening event of Gay and Lesbian Awareness Week, sponsored by Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas.
He quoted Martin Luther King Jr. as saying that anyone who opposed justice opposed reality.
Jennene Rohr, Topeka junior, who played the harp at the vigil, said she attended as a representative of physically handicapped people and because she sympathized with friends who were GLSOK members. She has been affected by rheumatoid arthritis for more than 20 years.
"The cries of oppressed people are everywhere tonight. The cries are within us." Shelton said, "The thing that sustains us is that reality is on the side of justice."
"I also represent religious free thought," she said. "People should be allowed to worship what they wish without having to hide themselves."
Gloria Brooks, who read a poem at the vigil, said she participated as a supporter of
women's, gay/lesbian and civil rights.
"We should all help each other," she said.
"Oppression doesn't affect only one group. Leibwitz said GALA week had been held annually for at least 10 years as an effort to educate people about homosexual issues. He said it would help dispel myths and stereotypes about homosexuals.
Perhaps the best-known part of GALA week will be Thursday's annual "Wear Blue Jeans If You're Gay Day." Leibowitz said the day was intended to other out that a person's sexual orientation shouldn't be an issue of concern to others.
"It's not to find out who is gay and who isn't gay," he said. "It's to stress that we all fit in together and that there's really no difference between homosexuals and heterosexuals."
Staff writer
By BENJAMIN HALL
Study says student tour is important
Many students who visit the University of Kansas expect to find farms and sunflowers, a student tour guide said yesterday.
The study found that students who chose to enroll at KU were looking for a school with a good academic reputation. The KU office of admissions, University Relations and the office of institutional research and planning compiled the study.
Lisa Karr, St. Louis sophomore, conducts tours for the office of admissions. Her job is vital to the University, because a campus visit is the most important information source for a student choosing a college, according to a study released this month.
A group of students who chose not to attend KU also were interviewed.
"But the most influential part of the whole decision-making process is the campus visit," said Bruce Lindvall, director of admissions.
The study included 72 new students, selected on the basis of their ACT scores and geographic origins, who filled out questionnaires and participated in group discussions.
Students who chose other schools most often said KU lacked an academic program that interested them.
Both groups said that the campus visit was the most important source of information about a school and that academic reputation, range of programs, cost and type of campus were the most important factors.
"We were particularly interested in talking to students from Chicago and St. Louis because KU draws so many students from those areas," Linddall said.
More than 250 new students came from the Chicago area in the fall, and more than 200 came from the St. Louis area.
Karla Carney, University Relations' assistant director for community services, said Chicago students were particularly interested in KU's academic rankings.
"I think it's because Chicago has such a competitive atmosphere," she said. "They're really hungry for that sort of stuff."
The study said, "KU students who visited KU before choosing a college were impressed by the beauty of the campus and the friendliness of the people. This was especially true of the Chicago-area students."
Many St. Louis students were attracted by KU's reciprocal agreement with Missouri, which allows Missouri students to pay in-state tuition to study architecture, Slavic languages and literature, architectural engineering, and Oriental languages and literature.
Lindvall said KU's campus impressed visitors
"People are stunned. People come in here and see one of the most beautiful campuses in
Karr said, "I get a lot of comments on how green it is. It's not the farm and sunflower look that they imagine. It has the all-American campus look."
Karr said she took her tours up the hill past Summerfield Hall.
"Usually they comment on there being a hill in Kansas," she said. "And often they're surprised at how big it is, and they want to know where they're going to walk from Murphy to the Upland."
University Relations, which publishes informational material for the admissions office, tries to slant KU literature toward better-prepared students, Lindwall said.
Carney said, "We try to make our literature appeal to the kinds of students who are likely to be successful here.
"It's a fairly large university, and it's fairly tough. We don't try to mislead people."
New KU brochures will incorporate recommendations from the students surveyed, Carney said.