Wednesday inside
Come one, come all
Students are welcome to talk, hang out
and do homework at the Office of Multicultural Affairs. The family-style atmosphere breeds conversation and friendship. PAGE 3A
Airport design
An airport to be built in Waraw, Poland will be the work
of a KU professor of architecture and urban planning. Fourteen students also are involved in the design. PAGE 5A
Kansan Bracket Breakdown
East Rutherford
In preparation of the NCAA tournament, The Kansan's Ryan Greene picks apart the East Rutherford Region and predicts the first round winners. PAGE 1B
Game of the week
Keep Shooting faced off with the Pharmacy
Girls in the intramural playoffs. The
Pharmacy Girls put up a good fight, but Keep Shooting advanced with a final score of 45-21. The team will play in the intramural championship tonight. PAGE 6B
Weather Today
5832
mostly sunny
Two-day forecast tomorrow friday 6037 6839 partly cloudy clouds
Talk to us
Tell us your news.
Contact Michelle Rombeck or Andrew Vaupel at 864-4810 or editor@kensan.com
index
Briefs 2A
Opinion 4A
Sports 1B
Sports brief 2B
Horoscopes 6A
Comic 6A
KANSAN
March 17,2004
IN ITS 100TH YEAR AS THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Vol.114 Issue No.115
By Andy Marso
amarso@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Senate to decide fate of safety fee
Projects in jeopardy
Student Senate will discuss the future of the campus safety fee tonight. A number of safety projects will be in jeopardy unless Senate votes to renew the fee.
It was started 10 years ago amidst concerns that the University of Kansas' administration wasn't providing enough lighting on campus. It included a "sunset" provision that would cause the fee to expire this year after all the proposed lighting projects had been finished.
Shannon Bell, Campus Safety Advisory Board chairwoman and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences senator, said that the fee should be renewed because there was more work to be done and that, in retrospect, the sunset provision shouldn't have been included.
"I can see how it was a good idea at the time, but the campus has developed over the past 10 years and it needs more lighting," she said.
the fee is $2 per student per semester and generates about $85,000 a year, depending on enrollment. The Office of the Provost matches that amount. It was scheduled to go before Senate's Fee Review subcommittee in April. Ryan Faulconer, the subcommittee chairman, learned last week that the safety fee would expire unless the Board of Regents received a proposal for its renewal before March 31.
Faulconer, the Finance Committee Chairman, said he thought the subcommittee had until the end of the year to review the fee because the Board of Regents had approved a fee for the new Multicultural Resource Center last May.
Bell said the board had identified five large-scale safety projects it wanted to complete in the near future. It wouldn't be able to complete them if the fee expired this year. The projects are expected to cost about $195,000.
CAMPUS SAFETY PROJECTS
The campus safety fee will expire this year unless Student Senate votes to extend it tonight. Here are projects that have been planned, but will not be complete without the fee:
SEE SAFETY ON PAGE 5A
Lighting on the portion of Oread Avenue north of the Mississippi Street Parking Garage.
Lighting on Petfish Drive near the Dole Human Development Center.
- Completing the unfinished sidewalk and lighting from the southeast corner of the Hilltop Child Development Center to the Burge Union.
- More lighting around the Student Fitness Recreation Center.
- Completing two pathways used by students — both begin on 19th Street, proceed through Stauffer Place Apartments and connect with a loop near Hiltop Child Development Center.
Source: Campus Safety Advisory Board
Reward offered for arson info
By Dave Nobles
dnables@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The Kansas Arson Task Force is following more than 140 leads in the investigation of 15 linked fires.
The task force issued a reward of up to $10,000 Monday for information leading to an arrest and conviction for the series of fires in the Johnson County and Lawrence areas.
Fifteen recent fires have been labeled suspicious, three of which were in Lawrence, including one at the University of Kansas.
The task force is providing $5,000 of the reward, while the city of Olathe is donating $4,000 and the Arson hotline is giving $1,000.
University of Kuwait Captain Schuyler Bailey of the KU Public Safety Office said the University was working hard on the case.
SEE ARSON ON PAGE 5A
Bars, city organize holiday activities
By Dave Nobles
dnobles@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Brilliant!
A day where Lawrence can transform into a green-drenched party to celebrate the heritage of Ireland?
Today, for the 17th year, Lawrence will hold a St. Patrick's Day parade to celebrate the holiday.
The parade will start at 1 p.m. in South Park and meander down Massachusetts Street.
The parade committee has received close to 70 entries with more than 1,400 participants scheduled to march, co-chair Gene Shaughnessy said.
All funds raised by the parade committee will be donated to the Crown Casting Club, an organization for children.
dren.
The total donation this year is more than $35,000, a far cry from the $1,000 donation the committee made its first year.
SEE HOLIDAY ON PAGE 5A
Enrollment numbers strain budgets
By Ron Knox
rknox@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Rising enrollment numbers could make it more difficult for students to enroll in necessary courses.
Since KU administration announced earlier this month that enrollment had reached an all-time high, faculty and staff in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences have scrambled to find resources.
High enrollment has forced some departments within the college, such as communication studies, to add sections or teachers, but the funds aren't sufficient to compensate for the additional students.
Enrollment problems forced Heather O'Brien, a communications studies major, to stay in a school a fifth year because she couldn't get into classes she needed to graduate.
Robert Rowland, chairman of communication studies said the department tried to accommodate students like O'Brien.
"At this rate, it seems like I'll never graduate," the Dallas senior said.
But there are 15 major students per faculty member, which makes makes managing class sizes difficult, Rowland said.
"We work exceptionally hard at getting graduating seniors their classes," he said.
"I would place the blame at the feet of the Legislature because they don't seem to be interested in funding education at any level."
David Dewar
Associate chairman of the department of Humanities and Western Civilization
The department has expanded both section times and class sizes to try to compensate for the excess of students. Rowland said.
"We've stretched as far as we can in both directions," Rowland said. "The balance has been difficult, but we're doing OK."
The college has provided as much assistance as it could, Rowland said, including additional fund that allowed the department to hire a new professor last year.
The college asked the provost office for an additional $200,000 last week to help with budget problems, said Lindy Eakin. vice-provost.
The provosts provided CLAS with $250,000 last fall.
But that additional support isn't enough, said David Dewar, associate chairman of the department of Humanities and Western Civilization.
GROWING STUDENT BODY
Enrollment has grown since last spring, putting a strain on some College of Liberal Arts and Sciences departments. More students mean a need for more class sections and professors, which cost money.
- Spring enrollment: 27,772 (new record)
- Previous enrollment: 27,569 (Spring 1993)
- Enrollment last spring: 27,463
Source: Office of University Relations
Dewar said that because of inadequate state funding, faculty levels in his department have remained stable while the number of students has risen.
The University, a state-funded institution, suffers when economic problems in the state cause budget cuts.
"I would place the blame at the feet of the Legislature, because they don't seem to be interested in funding education at any level." Dewar said.
he said. Larger class sizes don't work, Dewar said. It's hard enough for students to participate in smaller classes, let alone larger, more intimidating environments, he said.
Freshman and sophomores, retained at a higher rate over the last five years, provide much of the additional tuition money the provosts office allocates within the University, Eakin said.
Three years of budget cuts, plus possible cuts this year, have strapped departments for funding. Without funding, both the department and students face few options, he said.
And students who choose to take required Western Civilization courses in smaller classes at community colleges don't receive the same quality of education, he said.
"There aren't any easy solutions," Dewar said.
Kim Wilcox, dean of the college, said CLAS received a portion of any extra tuition money to help provide additional sections or professors. Wilcox said that as of now, he hadn't targeted any specific sections to add.
.
Dewer said the Humanities and Western Civilization department suffered from the same enrollment problems as many departments on campus, so taking extra tuition money wouldn't help the University.
"It's literally a situation where we rob Peter to pay Paul. It doesn't help anybody." Dewar said.
The weight of the money problem should not rest solely on student's shoulders, he said.
"I'm no advocate for increased tuition," Dewar said. "Successful universities isn't about tuition. It's about responsible taxpayers."
Edited by Abby Mills
3.
1