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Weather
Weather
Today: Rain with a high of 41 and low of 37
Tomorrow: Rain with a high of 39 and low of 28
The University Daily Kansan
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Thursday, March 15, 2001
Sports: New bill may limit fans' abusive treatment of referees. See page 6A
Inside: Tax abatements for prospective Lawrence businesses spark controversy.
See page 3A
For comments, contact Lori O'Toole or Mindie Miller at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
Parking costs to increase
Parking department ends five-year freeze
WWW.KANSAN.COM
By Amanda Beglin
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
University parking permit prices are rising and so is the opposition from students, including J.D. Jenkins, student senator.
The parking department will increase all parking permit prices this fall, including a $15 increase for residence hall parking from $75 to $90. Event parking will increase from $6 to $10. The cost of most permits to park in the garages next to Allen Fieldhouse and the Kansas Union will increase by $50.
The increase in prices will end a five-year price freeze instituted by Chancellor Robert Hemenway and will add a projected $456,800 to the department's earnings next year.
But Jenkins, liberal arts and sciences senator, said some of the price increases were
unfair to students who were trapped by necessity.
"We have no choice but to buy a parking pass," Jenkins said. "Tuition, housing and student fees are increasing next year too, so this is just tacking on an extra fee."
"He wanted people to see that when you pay more, you get more," she said.
But Donna Hultine, assistant director of parking, wanted students and faculty to understand that the new permit prices weren't created to hassle students.
Hultine said permit prices had been unchanged since 1997, when Hemenay made a commitment to freeze permit prices for five-year periods and would provide 2,000 additional campus parking spots.
"There's really no method to how we choose what we increase," Hultine said. "It's a matter of how many faculty, staff and student permits are sold. There's a different percentage increase for each permit next year."
Hultine said she understood some students' objections to the jump in permit prices.
Increasing permit prices in increments every year would be easier for students instead of the huge jump after five years, she said. Although the increase may seem extreme now, she said most students attended the University for four or five years with a constant permit price.
But this doesn't satisfy Jenkins, who said he thought the price increase for residence hall parking could have been avoided with a little recalculating.
Jenkins said that by adding a dollar to the new event parking price of $10, the residence hall prices would be considerably lower.
Hultine said increased permit prices were a necessary and eventual step in maintaining the parking department, which has to maintain at all times about 1 percent of an $11 million bond used to build the parking garage next to the Kansas Union.
"We put all our revenue from permits, meters and events toward it," Hultine said. "And the garages don't pay for themselves." — Edited by Melissa Cookey
Parking fee increase
The Parking Department will increase all parking permit prices this fall.
Surface lots current after increase
Blue/campus $150 $180
Blue $110 $135
Red $95 $115
Yellow $75 $90
Res. Hall $75 $90
Park and Ride $45 $50
Garages
Blue/campus $155 $215
Blue $115 $175
Red $100 $150
Yellow $80 $140
Event parking $6 $10
Kyle Ramsey/KANSAN
Senate committee to explore options for sports teams
By Brooke Hesler
By Brooke Hesler
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff write
"The University is not returning the commitment we made to them," Kelly said.
Rob Kelly, a member of the University of Kansas men's swimming team, received a round of applause last night when he addressed Student Senate.
The Naperville, Ill., senior was upset because of the recent cuts to the men's tennis and swimming and diving teams caused by a budget crisis in the Athletics Department. He asked Senate for its support last night, and he got it.
Senate passed a bill establishing a fee review committee to look into the issue.
According to the bill, the money would go to KUAC's overall
More Information
For details about the constituency bill approved last night.
See kansas.com
operating budget, and not directly to women's and non-revenue generating sports, like men's tennis and swimming and diving.
Senate also passed a resolution supporting reinstitution of the sports.
Kelly said he was angered that the University hadn't done more to save the sports. He said the teams were working to cut their own budgets and were taking steps to raise money.
"We're going to seek out corporate sponsors as our next step," Kelly said.
The resolution also encourages the Athletics Department not to cut the sports, and suggests the department explore other avenues of raising money for the teams.
Copies of the resolution will be sent to Bob Frederick, athletics director, Pat Warren, assistant athletics director, and Chancellor Robert Hemenway.
- Edited by Jacob Roddy
A silky science
Research takes flight
Interest in insects spurs study of moths and their reproduction
By Laurie Harrison Special to the Kansan
Catherine Loudon is studying the world's only domesticated insect the commercial silk moth
Commercial silk moths are distinctive because they only mate when they're adults, and adulthood only lasts a few days.
"If the males don't find a mate quickly, they drop dead before passing on their genes." said Loudon, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. "For these guys, the clock is seriously ticking."
For thousands of years, researchers have studied the commercial silk moth, also known as the silk worm, whose silk is actually hardened saliva spun while making its cocoon.
Catherine Loudon, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, inspects a luna moth. The moth is a close relative of the commercial silk worm moth that Loudon studies in her Haworth Hall laboratory. Her research suggests air flow affects the mating habits of the moths. Photo by Thad Allender/KANSAN
Loudon's research, funded by a five-year National Science Foundation grant, is focusing on a never-before-studied aspect of the moth — how the moths' antennae process air flow generated by flapping their wings.
She said she is interested in how air flow affects insects because of their vital role in the existence of life on earth.
"Insects are so diverse and important to our planet," Loudon said. "We're completely dependent on actions of insects for our survival."
Insects are also much more capable than humans to detect chemicals in the environment. Their heightened sense of chemical detection was another reason Loudon said she studied insects.
Insects pollinate crops, help with decomposition and eat other insects that are harmful, she said.
But she said that some insects have caused human sickness and massive crop destruction.
Loudon found that air flow is crucial to males mating and to the survival of the species. If males don't keep air flowing to their antennae, they don't find females with which to mate.
Once moths emerge from their cocoons and into adulthood, their sole purpose in life is to mate.
The female moth gives off a sex pheromone, a chemical marking her readiness for mating. A male moth's antennae detect the pheromone, but without directions to the female, the male can't find her.
She said the males must seek out the females because females wait for the males to come to them to mate. Females stand still
The male receives those directions in the air he pulls into his antennae by flapping his wings.
when they are actively releasing pheromone.
"The constant air flow is absolutely essential for these guys to find her." Loudon said.
For one of her experiments, Loudon prevented some male moths from flapping their wings while leaving other males with the ability to flap.
"The one that is able to flap always gets the girl." Loudon said.
Jun Zhang, Beijing graduate student, has worked with Loudon for almost four years. He said that she helped him with English when he arrived in the U.S. and was not completely fluent in the language.
"She's a caring professor." Zhang said.
"She always works with you. If I have any problem, I can just walk in and ask her."
- Edited by Jason McKeen
KU diversity falls behind state average
By Danny Phillips
writer@kansan.com
Kansan stuff writer
The University of Kansas is a mirror of the ethnic distribution of the state — but it's the kind of mirror one would find in a carnival funnel.
The percentage of African Americans on campus during the past 10 years has remained as stagnant as the state figures, while the percentage of Hispanics at the University has increased, but at a much slower rate than Kansas numbers.
According to Census 2000 figures, the number of Hispanics of all races in Kansas almost doubled in the past decade, from 3.6 percent to 7 percent. At the University, Hispanics made up 1.6 percent of the student population in 1990, while today that percentage has only crept up to 2.3 percent.
Anissa Vitale, Hispanic American Leadership Organization treasurer, said the current percentage of Hispanics at the University didn't even hold water to the national percentage, which stands at 13 percent.
"KU still has a lot of work to do," the Shawnee senior said. "We're constantly trying to grow as the University grows."
But while the number of Asian Americans in Kansas has increased by 47 percent in the past 10 years, the University has only seen a 1 percent increase.
The one minority group that has a higher percentage at the University than the state as a whole is Asian Americans. They make up 3 percent of the campus, while statewide they represent 1.7 percent of the population.
Asian American Student Union president Hubert Chen said while increasing the number of Asians at the University wasn't really a necessity, it was always a good thing to see improvement.
In 1990, African Americans comprised 5.7 percent of the statewide population, and that percentage hasn't budged in the past 10 years. The same is true for the campus population, which has only increased by 0.2 percent.
When it comes to the University, Tanisha R. Jones, Wichita senior, said the reason there hadn't been a significant increase in Black enrollment was because the University had done very little in the way of recruitment or retention.
"In the past 10 years, there should have been some growth," she said.
Edited by Brandy Straw
African American 1990 2000
Kansas 5.7% 5.7%
KU 2.4% 2.6%
Minority comparisons
2000 Census results compared to University enrollment figures;
Hispanic 1990 2000
Kansas 3.6% 7%
KU 1.6% 2.3%
Asian American 1990 2000
Kansas 1.3% 1.7%
KU 2% 3%
Snoozing as spring nears
- Percentages represent the entire populations of Kansas and the University of Kansas.
Source: Associated Press and the Office of Institutional Research and Planning
Kvle Ramsev/KANSAN
Sara Jordan, Emporia freshman, takes a break from her homework near Wescoe Hall. Yesterday afternoon's warm weather is not expected to last. Today's high is only 41 degrees, and forecasters are predicting snow for St. Patrick's Day weekend. Photo by Joshua Richards/KANSAN
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