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The University Daily Kansan
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Friday, April 20, 2001
Sports: Olympians participating in the Kansas Relays have been a tradition for years.
See page 1B
Inside: The American Indian Big 12 Student Conference is on campus this weekend.
(USPS 650-640) • VOL.111 NO.129
SEE PAGE 3A
For comments, contact Lori O'Toole or Mindie Miller at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Graves revives technology fee
Regents universities receive $9.37 million to ease budget woes
By Cássio Furtado
writer@kansan.com
Kanson staff writer
Gov. Bill Graves eased the University's budget pains yesterday by amending his original recommendations with a $9.37 million addition to state university budgets, and students may have played a role in his decision.
The amended budget will give the six Board of Regents universities a total of $5.5 million more to pay utility bills and $3.87 million to restore the instructional technology fee which Graves originally had planned to eliminate.
The technology fee was first added to the
state budget three years ago. Students paid $1 for every credit hour, and the state paid the University $2 more for each credit hour. Last year, the University received $1.8 million in revenue from the fee.
Jessica Bankston, legislative director for Student Senate, said she was shocked and thrilled by Graves' amendments.
Bankston said she thought students had influenced his decision by lobbying two days, sending letters and e-mails, and meeting with legislators.
"It's the best way possible to close my term as legislative director," she said.
Bankston also praised the work of the University's lobbyists, Marlin Rein, University director of governmental affairs and budget, and Jon Josserand, the chancellor's assistant for governmental relations.
"Our work complements their work," she said.
Don Brown, the governor's communications director, said the governor annually made adjustments to his original budget
AMENDED BUDGET
What happened: Gov. Bill Graves amended his original budget recommendations for the state and added a total of $9.37 million for the six Board of Regents universities.
What it means: The money would allow the instructional technology fee, which gives $2 to every $1 paid by University of Kansas students per credit hour, to be maintained. Without Graves' amendment, the three-year-old fee would have been eliminated.
What's next: The governor's amendments to the budget will be forwarded to the Kansas Legislature for consideration.
recommendations at this time of the year.
He also said that student input was a factor in the governor's decision to reinstate the instructional technology fee.
Brown said Graves had recognized the reality of the universities in light of increased natural gas prices and recommended the additional money for utilities.
As a result of Graves' original budget recommendations in January, KU administrators announced in February that all schools, departments, academic units and administrative offices would have their budgets cut by less than 1 percent - 0.57 percent - in fiscal year 2001, causing a loss of positions and a halt on hiring faculty and staff.
For fiscal year 2002, the cut would be closer to 1 percent 0.98 percent, which amounts to almost $2 million.
Ben Walker, student body president, said he was surprised and vindicated by the governor's decision to restore the instructional technology fee.
The governor's amendments will now be forwarded to the Kansas Legislature for a vote.
"In a small way, students influenced the governor," Walker said.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway and Provost David Shulenburger could not be reached for comment.
— Edited by Courtney Craigmile
Bankston marches on Loss difficult for candidate but it won't slow her down
By Brooke Hesler writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Jessica Bankston is bouncing back despite a disappointing loss in last week's Student Senate elections.
Bankston, who ran unsuccessfully for student body president, said she's putting the election behind her looking toward the future, and that future involves Senate. She plans to run for a holdover senator seat — an appointed position intended to provide continuity in Senate — next Wednesday, but the uncertainty of whether she would win the position was unsettling.
it's extremely hard." Bankston said.
"People keep coming up to me and asking what I'm going to be doing next year."
On Wednesday, the Senate University Affairs Committee elected Bankston to sit on the KU Athletics Corporation, a position she held this year. While Bankston said she still wanted to continue her work on Senate, she said she was looking forward to spending more time with her family and friends — especially her sisters, one of whom was getting married and the other recovering from an illness.
"A lot of people were neglected while we were campaigning," Bankston said. "Now I get to take more time to be with them. They deserve it."
Bankston said she would still work toward the issues her coalition,VOICE,campaigned on.The coalition wanted to
See BANKSTON on page 5A
Yellow stars raise Holocaust awareness
KU Hillel encourages people to remember concentration camps
By Danny Phillips writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Melanie Weiser wears a yellow star on her chest with the word "Treblinka" written in black pen.
Three years ago, the Dallas freshman visited the sites of five concentration camps from the Holocaust, including Treblinka in Poland, a camp the Nazis had obliterated before they left.
"It's why I'm doing this now," said Weiser, a member of the KU Hillel board, as she sat at a booth yesterday afternoon in the Kansas Union lobby during Holocaust Remembrance Day. "It's very important for me to raise awareness."
As a result, there were no records or graves left behind of the people who were killed.
Heather Kartin, left, Atlanta junior, and Melanie Weiser, Dallas freshman, explain the various ways to construct a Star of David to represent a particular victim of the Holocaust. KU Hillel sponsored a booth yesterday in the Kansas Union to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive. Photo by J. E. Wilson/KANSAN
On her right were memorial candles. On her left were lists of names of people who were killed at the hands of the Nazis.
Over the course of the afternoon, as interested parties approached the booth, some
of those names made their way onto pieces of different colored paper cut into stars and triangles — the same system the Nazis used to identify concentration camp members.
targeted groups, also had their own colors. Eric Allison, president of KU Hillel, had a yellow star pinned to his shirt with a boy's name, Moses Alba, written on it. The boy was only 12 years old when he died.
The most famous symbol is the yellow star, reserved for Jews, but homosexuals, socialists and immigrants, as well as other
"The more you'll remember it, the better off you'll be," said Allison, New Orleans junior. "We're trying to stop the pendulum from swinging back."
He said that by remembering the 11 million people who died during the Holocaust was the best way to avoid repeating it.
Weiser was able to compile the partial list of names by researching the Internet and contacting the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
People who wanted to wear a symbol yesterday were able to choose which name they wanted, and they were encouraged to tell anyone who asked what it was for.
"The Holocaust is so important to me," said Weiser. "I just jumped at the opportunity."
Edited by Mariana Ornellas
Low figures at meeting delay policy on retakes
By Cassio Furtado
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The fate of the University of Kansas' proposed course retake policy has been delayed until May.
University Senate — which includes about 1,400 faculty members, staff members, student senators and University administrators — failed to have a quorum at yesterday's meeting at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
One-fifth of the Senate needed to have been present, but only about 20 professors and 50 student senators attended the meeting. The senators booed when Tim Shaftel, professor of business and opponent of the proposed policy, requested that Senate's president, Jim Carothers, decide if enough members were present to vote on the policy.
Two weeks ago, 115 members of Senate signed a petition opposing
If Shaftel hadn't asked for Carothers' judgment, Senate could have voted on the policy yesterday. Carothers declared that the meeting didn't have a quorum and soon adjourned the meeting.
the new rules.
The petition forced the introduction of mail ballots, without which the proposal could have been automatically passed to Provost Dav i d Shulenburger for final approval.
"University Senate is not a democratic body in any way."
After members receive the mail ballots, they will have 10 days to return their votes.
J. D. Jenkins College of Liberal Arts and Sciences senator
University governance
now has 10 days to mail ballots to all University Senate members so they can vote on the proposal.
The proposed course retake policy would allow students to retake courses without the original grades — if they were D's or F's — being figured into their grade point averages. However, if a student earned an A, B or C and opted to retake a course, an average of the new and old grade would factor into the GPA.
Marlon Marshall, student body vice president, said students felt unimportant to the University because of the delay in deciding the policy's fate.
The proposal, which the University Senate Executive Committee approved, was also approved by University Council on March 8.
"I'm upset and disappointed at what happened," said Marshall, St. Louis junior.
He said students were underrepresented because only 80 out of almost 25,000 students were members of the University Senate, while its membership included 1,300 faculty members.
"This is unfair to students," Marshall said.
J. D. Jenkins, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences senator, said the issue wasn't intended to pit students against faculty. The Shawnee senior said many faculty members favored the proposed policy, but Jenkins admitted the disparities Marshall pointed out.
"University Senate is not a democratic body in any way," he said, adding that most University bodies had at least 20 percent student representation.
The 80 student members of the Senate account for 5.7 percent student representation.
— Edited by Loita Schultes
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