KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1. 2010 / NEWS
3A
HISTORY
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quit before they can see the cave. Bobby Pulliam, a recent KU graduate who worked at the museum for three years, continued the tradition in July and became the latest to add his signature to the walls of the cave.
"It was actually really cool," Pulliman said. "It's kind of like this mythological place you hear about, because you aren't actually allowed to go back there when you work there. But then after you quit working there, they take you back there and let you sign it."
Synthia Somerhalder, a senior from Burlington and a current employee at the Natural History Museum, said she wouldn't go in the cave until her last day at the museum. She said after she signed her name, she would finally feel like an official worker.
"It's like the crowning achievement of my career." Somerhalder said. "I'll get to join the ranks of the men and women who came before me."
More than 100 signatures have appeared since World War II and Smith said the names made a statement about the type of relationship workers have with the museum.
"It's the theatrics — that tradition that if you're in the theater, you go behind the curtain, and you almost always in any theatre see names, and I think that's almost the closest thing I can liken it to," Smith said. "It's that same type of feel — very much more family than a workplace relationship."
Edited by Dana Meredith
POLICY (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
"This has not been enforced in the past, but this year it will be," read last year's outreach policy. Senators who fail to submit event review sheets are referred to StudEx and face possible suspension.
"The precedent has been to let these things slide by, which is a very slippery slope and can turn outreach into a bit of a toothless dog," said Matt Shaw, last year's communications director.
Upon request of submitted event review sheets from last year, McGonigle said he was unable to locate them. Staff Secretary Diane Rhodes said in an e-mail that the review sheets had been misplaced during the summer or thrown out at the end of the spring semester.
Though Shaw said he received event review sheets for 75 percent of last year's events, some senators said the policy was not strongly enforced.
"A lot of student senators don't go to the events that we fund," Cantwell said. "Without that accountability component I think our senators tend to be a little bit more frivolous."
— Edited by Kelsey Nill
ADMINISTRATION
LEGACY
Tougher admissions might be close
Gray-Little's task force needs the Board of Regents' approval first
BY STEPHEN GRAY
sgray@kansan.com
Big 12 Fall 2009 Acceptance Rates
Admissions standards at the University of Kansas might become stricter for students.
When Gray-Little became chancellor last August, she had several initial goals to improve the University and create a better learning experience for students. Among the most vital of these were the enhancement of the University's scholarly profile and the increase of its low retention and graduation rates. To receive feedback about the best ways to achieve those initiatives, Gray-Little developed a task force last November to recommend new admissions criteria for the University.
"One of the things that I would like to see is that if we can meet our state enrollment goals as a university, that we would be allowed to go above that in our own
Although the Kansas Board of Regents sets the University's admission requirements to maintain a base statewide standard, Gray-Little said she hoped that things would change as a result of the task force's efforts.
overarching goal of student academic success at the University.
admissions," Grav-Little said.
Marlesa Roney, vice provost for student success and chair of the task force, said the aim of the task force was to support the
"For students, the intent is to provide clear information about college readiness," Roney said. "That is, what it takes to be successful in college not only in terms of content knowledge, but overall approach to learning, problem-solving and intellectual curiosity."
At this time, students who graduate from an accredited Kansas high school will be admitted to the University if they meet one of three requirements: finish in the top third of their class, finish a curriculum set by the Regents with a grade point average of 2.0 or score 21 or above on the ACT. The Board of Regents sets these requirements as part of a 1996 qualified admissions policy that ensures a standard at Kansas four-year Regents universities.
By reviewing the University's retention and graduation data, the admissions task force recommended a new automatic admit threshold for first-time freshmen that includes completing the Regents curriculum with a minimum 3.25 GPA, a minimum 25
"More students would want to apply to the University if they felt it was harder to be accepted..."
ACT score and an essay requirement. The task force's rationale was that students with such achievements were retained and
ERNEST SHEPARD Kansas City junior
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graduated at relatively high rates at the University, concluding that these numbers were appropriate automatic benchmarks for admittance.
"Everyday is a struggle," Roark said in the release. She said that on the worst days she still got out of bed and kept appointments for treatments. On better days she said she got through each day by, "thinking I have a purpose."
Barbara Romzek, interim vice provost for academic affairs and task force member, said the essay admission requirement would help the University get a better understanding of the engagement and intent of a student.
"Through the essay, we'll get a sense of how mature the student is in terms of an ability to be self-directed and to have a focus," she said. "It isn't that they need to have any one particular focus, but it will work as a reflection of a student's intellectual readiness for school and what it is they are hoping to get out of college."
In addition, the task force also suggested a review threshold of a minimum 2.0 GPA completion of the Kansas Regents Curriculum, as well as evidence of academic achievement and commitment through good grades and academic maturity in the essay. If a prospective student does not meet the automatic admit threshold, a comprehensive admission review will focus on those factors
Roark planned to make nanomaterials the focus of her graduate research while also promoting research for Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma. She wanted more people to know about the Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Research Foundation, whose website is www.accrf.org.
and come to decisions on a case-by-case student basis.
The recurrence was her third. In the May news release, Roark said that it was her most difficult one.
The task force believes that an increased number of qualified and diverse applicants, as well as increased retention and graduation rates are the likely result of any raise in the admission standards. Even the academic stature of the University would improve.
In fall 2009, the University accepted 92 percent of its applicants, the highest rate among Big 12 schools. Ernest Shepard, a junior from Kansas City and task force member, said that raising admission standards would only help improve the University's academic profile and retention and graduation rates.
"More students would want to apply to the University if they felt it was harder to be accepted instead of being a fallback school," Shepard said.
"Admission standards are often associated with the prestige of an institution, with common thought being that the harder it is to get in, the more prestigious and the better the academic quality", Roney said. "While I believe KU's academic quality is already exceptional, the lower admissions
phone call he received from Roark when she returned from Houston this past spring. Although she had just learned the cancer had recurred, Roark told McEnroe that she would make up an exam the next morning.
standards can imply otherwise. Higher standards might be more enticing."
William Woods, professor of geography and Roark's adviser said in the release, "She was the meaning of life to me and I don't want to think of the world without her."
Even though the Board of Regents makes the final call on any decision, a change in admission standards is closer to becoming a reality. With last year's law allowing the Kansas Board of Regents to determine admission standards for Kansas' state universities rather than the Kansas Legislature, universities are now allowed to implement different admissions standards after a four-year phase-in period, pending Regents approval.
While raising admissions standards is one of the major steps in raising the University's low retention and graduation rates, there are still many other ways to better prepare students and facilitate learning at the college academic level.
"An ability to select the students who have a better than average chance of success here is important, but the experience that we offer students once they are on campus is just as big a part of it," Romzek said.
NATIONAL
Edited by Emily McCoy
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Obama announces Iraq troop withdrawal plan
Edited by Alex Tretbar
FORT BLISS, Texas — Hours before addressing the nation, President Barack Obama told U.S. troops just back from Iraq that his speech outlining the withdrawal of combat forces "is not going to be a victory lap" nor a cause for celebration.
"There's still a lot of work that we've got to do to make sure that Iraq is an effective partner with us," Obama said on Tuesday of his decision to end the nation's combat mission in a war he once strongly opposed.
"The main message I have tonight, and the main message I have to you, is congratulations on a job well done," Obama said.
He also noted that there remained "a tough fight ahead in Afghanistan ... A tough slog."
Before his visit, Obama telephoned former President George W. Bush, who ordered U.S. troops to invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein in March 2003. Aides described the phone call from Air Force One as brief and declined to reveal what was said.
Also, Iraq is still torn with violence, and rival political factions have yet to form a government more than six months after national elections.
Ending the combat mission fulfills Obama's campaign promise to bring the war to a close. However a force of roughly 50,000 U.S. troops remains in a training and backup role. All forces are scheduled to be withdrawn by the end of 2011.
"He did think it was important to reach out to President Bush, as he has done on occasion," Denis McDonough, chief of staff for Obama's National Security Council, told The Associated Press.
Obama spoke at a dining hall on
this Army base in El Paso, Texas, which has been central to the war effort. The soldiers were among troops who recently returned from
He thanked them for their sacrifice.
Iraq. "Welcome home," Obama said to shouts of "hooah."
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