4A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2007
STUDENT SENATE PLATFORMS
Weighing the important issues
Candidates from the three Student Senate coalitions announce their platforms in anticipation of the April 11 and 12 elections. Costs, safety and technology rank high for the prospective leaders.
Students' Rights
Jhnathan Wilson, Paola sophmore and presidential candidate for Students' Rights, and his running mate Caitlin Ballard, Overland Park junior, focused their platform issues on lowering the cost of education for students.
DECREASED TUITION
The coaition wants to decrease differential and out-of-state tuition. Wilson said a steady increase in tuition and the University's spending of tuition were reasons why tuition should decrease.
"It seems like some of the money is misallocated." Wilson said.
TEXTBOOKS
Wilson and Ballard researched the possibility of implementing a textbook rental option at campus bookstores.
"The rental service could save students between $600 and $800 a year, depending on their course of study." Wilson said.
Wilson plans to meet with administrators at the University bookstores and Jayhawk Bookstore to
discuss the issue.
ROLL ON
"Roll on" proposes to give students the opportunity to roll over any unused meals from their meal plans into Beak'em Bucks.
"Most students don't use up all of their allotted meals from their purchased meal plans," Wilson said. "This gives students the chance to use what they paid for."
Wilson and Ballard want to let students roll over meals to the next semester, but put a cap on how many meals can be rolled over.
Although some of the issues may seem a bit progressive, Students' Rights will work to make them a reality. Wilson said.
"We've made a lot of progress so far," he said. "We're figuring out what needs to be done and then take action."
United Students
Hannah Love, Dodge City junior and presidential candidate for United Students, and running mate Ray Wittlinger, Olate the junior, use input
from students and administrators to develop platforms.
United Students addresses issues that are important to students on a daily basis, Wittlinger said.
ENHANCED CAMPUS SAFETY
The enhanced campus safety platform is United Students' commitment to making the University one of the safest in the nation. The platform calls for the most comprehensive safety plan the University has seen in a long time, Love and Wittlinger said.
"We're looking at all aspects of safety," Love said.
One issue United Students hopes to address in their plan is their concern that the Blue Light emergency phone system on campus is ineffective, Love said.
The finalized platform will likely address United Students's concern that students are forced to park farther away.
CONVENIENT STUDENT LIFE AND STUDENT SERVICES
United Students' platform for student life and student services
calls for better accessibility when searching for groups and services
Many groups and aids for students exist but are often overlooked and unexplored. Love said.
Love said the platform would address all groups and services from parking to the career center.
Through their platform, Love and Wittinger hope to expand and promote groups and services through efforts such as public relations.
INCREASE AND UPGRADE
TECHNLOGY
United Students thinks that classrooms must be equipped with updated technology to better prepare students for the future.
The platform would update technology that is currently in classrooms along with places students frequently visit.
"it's time to sit down and make this a reality," Wittlinger said.
United Students continues to strengthen and develop additional platforms.
"The conversations with students and administrators is the most important part of the process." Love
said.
Wittling said the conversations would continue.
Delta Force
"We're excited about the ideas and want to meet with more students,"Wittling said.
Ryan Rowan, Kansas City, Mo., junior and presidential candidate for Delta Force, along with John Cross, Kansas City, Mo., junior and vice presidential candidate, released a platform focused on students' safety.
"Releasing platforms isn't a light subject for Delta Force," Cross said.
THE BLUE LIGHT SYSTEM
An important issue for the Delta Force campaign is the safety of students.
After considerable research, including work with the Lawrence Police Department, Delta Force uncovered a serious issue in student safety off-campus, particularly between Ninth and 13th streets between Iowa and Massachusetts streets.
According to statistics from the Lawrence police, Delta Force determined there were 15 rapes and forced acts of fondling, 359 assaults, 18 robberies, three kidnappings and one murder in the area last year.
To address these dangers, Delta Force proposes to expand the Blue Light system to off-campus areas of high crime.
The Blue Light system is an emergency phone system that allows students to immediately place a call to police. The system has already been successful on campus, Cross said.
"We have been working on this issue for several months and have support from city officials as well as the KU police department," Cross said.
Delta Force plans to release more platform issues once it finishes researching the details.
Kansan staff writer Ashlee Kieler can be contacted at akieler@kansan.com.
Edited by Jyl Unruh
》 LEGISLATURE
Passed bill defines murdering pregnant women as double homicide
BY JOE HUNT
A bill, passed 94-28 by the Kansas House of Representatives on Monday, identifies a fetus as a person, making crimes against the fetus punishable by law. The bill does not apply to abortions.
If the bill passes the Senate and is
approved by the governor, murdering a pregnant woman in Kansas would result in two murder charges one for the mother and one for the fetus.
Under the bill, the fetus is considered a person after conception.
Rep. Terrie Huntington (R-Mission Hills) supported the idea of the bill but voted against it because
she disagued with its definition of a fetus as a person.
"A group of cells three days old would be a person." Huntington said. "The definition is not consistent with everyone's beliefs."
Rep. Steven Brunk (R-Bel Aire) voted for the bill. He said that the definition was scientific and had nothing to do with religious beliefs.
"We have all these different names for a human person through the stages of its life, but it starts at the point the egg is fertilized." Brunk said. "It is a being that is human in stages of development."
worded to exempt abortions.
Brunk said that opponents of the bill thought that it could affect a woman's right to have an abortion, even though the bill was specifically
Rachel Geurian, Hutchinson freshman, said that she thought the bill was a good idea, even though she did not agree with its definition of a person.
"I don't think it has any cognitive ability," Geurian said of the fetus. "But I do think it would be good for the mother and child."
The bill is called Alexa's Law. Brunk said it was named after the unborn child of a 14-year-old who was murdered last June.
Kansan staff writer Joe Hunt can be contacted at jhunt@kansan. com.
- Edited by Lisa Tilson
Find out more about the University of Kansas Army ROTC's Summer Leader's Training Course! Contact Major Ted Culbertson at 785-864-1113 or email tculbert@ku.edu.