SPORTS: The women's basketball team blasted Morgan State 117-48 last night. Page 11.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
VOL.103.NO.76
HURSKDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1993
(USPS 650-640)
NEWS:864-4810
Student Senate lacks members to vote on bills
Kansan staff writer
By Donella Heame Kansan staff writer
Student senators left last night's meeting saying they were ashamed to be members of Student Senate.
The meeting was adjourned after a roll call revealed that not enough senators were present to vote on the remaining bills.
A count of senators had been taken midway through the meeting to determine whether enough were present to make a vote valid. At that point, 33 senators were present, exactly enough to meet the 50-percent-plus-one requirement.
Several senators then left the meeting, which resulted in the decision to adioum the meeting.
Senators who remained said they did not know why the other senators left or why so few were present at the beginning of the meeting.
The student groups whose bills were not heard left the meeting feeling cheated. The events they had planned might never take place because they will not be able to secure reservations without confirmation that they will have money to pay for the events.
John Shoemaker, student body president, said he was outraged.
"I am incensed that senators did not show up to do their duty as members of this body," he said.
Shoemaker said that because so few Senators were present he planned to veto a resolution passed early in the meeting that opposed the proposed trafficway near Haskell Indian Nations University.
"I don't feel we had enough people to make a fair decision on the bill." he said.
Chander Jayaraman, Liberal Arts and Sciences senator, said he encouraged KU students to show their disappointment in senators who did not show up.
"I encourage all students to go to the Senate office and find the name of their representatives," he said. "Everyone should tell their senators how they feel about those who did not show up to do the job they were elected to do."
LesBiGaysOK was one of the student groups whose bill was not heard. The bill requested money to pay speakers for LesBiGay Awareness Week.
"There will be no LesBiGay week," said Alan Pierce, nontraditional student senator and member of LesBiGaysOK.
Jessica Bobker, freshman senator and member of SUA, said that because SUA's bill to bring Dr. Ruth Westheimer to campus was not heard, the event might have to be canceled. Westheimer was to speak before Spring Break about safe sex.
"SUA has to know if they have the money so they can tell Dr. Ruth," she said.
If SUA cannot get the money, it will be unable to reserve a date with Westheimer.
William Alix/ KANSAN
It's a time for toys
Eric Braddy, Lawrence junior, looks over the latest board games at Fun and Games, 816 Massachusetts St. The store has toys for children and adults ages 3 to 90. See story, page 10.
Bids for Hoch exceed budget by $3 million
By Brian James Kansan staff writer
KU architects and contractors will go back to the drawing table in the next few weeks to try and find cost-cutting measures to rebuild Hoch Auditorium.
All bids submitted Tuesday by eight Midwest contractors exceeded the $15 million Hoch reconstruction budget that had been approved last year by the Kansas Legislature.
Hoch Auditorium, built in 1928, was gutted by fire after it was struck by lightning June 15, 1991.
The estimated cost to rebuild Hoch had grown in the last year to $18 million, including architect's fees and interior furnishings, said Jack Shippman, director of purchases for the state. Shipman's office received the contract bids.
The lowest construction bid, submitted by a Wichita firm, was $18.3 million. The highest bid, submitted by a Topeka firm, was $20.9 million, Shipman said.
"We will meet with contractors and see where the original estimate was lacking," said Allen Wiechert, University architect. "We'll have to examine options for reducing the scope of the project."
When Wiechert unveiled the plans for a new Hoch Auditorium last February, they called for three large lecture halls, four classrooms and a library. More than 2,000 students could attend classes in Hoch when it was completed, according to the original plans.
Although much of the design probably would not change much, Shipman said one possible way to cut costs would be to scale down the architect's original plan. Reducing the size of the library or the classrooms are options, he said.
"It isn't something that we can just say, 'OK, we'll take out this and remove that and that will be three million dollars worth of cuts,'" Shipman said. "You have to look at the project and decide what would be best for the building in its entirety."
One other cost-cutting measure, Shipman said, was to change the building materials without letting the safety of the new Hoch suffer.
Funding to rebuild Hoch was appropriated by the Kansas Legislature from the $185 million in federal funds received by the state for shortfalls in federal payments in previous years.
State Rep. Betty Jo Charlton, D-Lawrence, said it was unlikely that more funding would become available to finance the project.
Wiechert said that KU probably would not ask the Legislature for additional funds.
Shipman said that officials involved in Hoch's reconstruction had hoped to begin construction by April 1994.
Because architects and contractors must examine cost-cutting measures, construction could be delayed more than four to six weeks, Shippan said.
"I'm hoping there are no more hitches," he said.
Male nurses try to break free from job stereotype
By Kathleen Stolle
Kansan staff writer
Just nurse will do.
Call Mark Simmerman a male nurse and watch him flinch.
Simmerman, Mayetta graduate nursing student, is sometimes frustrated by biases and myths about men who are nurses.
"I think the most annoying one is the notion that all male nurses are homosexual," he said. "I'll admit there is a certain number of homosexuals in nursing, but that's not an issue or a problem."
"When you're in class and you're talking about social issues, especially sex, marriage, violence, there occasionally becomes this male-bashing mentality."
What can be a problem is the reverse sex bias that men in nursing encounter, Simmerman said.
Simmerman said.
Male nurses also sometimes discover a bias in their patients.
"Occasionally the woman patient herself would rather have a female provider for nursing care, which is OK," Simmerman said. "But many times that person has a male OB/GYN provider."
Such attitudes may change, however, as the number of male nurses grows.
In 1992, the national average of males in nursing undergraduate programs was 9.5 percent, according to a study by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. KU's School of Nursing has 9 percent male enrollment. Meanwhile, men compose only 6 percent of all nurses in the workforce, according to the 1990 U.S. Census.
"I am hearing from deans that they are seeing more men coming in," said Dan Meziblu, director of public affairs for the
American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Mezibov said he expected changes in the nation's health care to draw more men to nursing.
"The need for health care is growing by leaps and bounds, and nursing is the nation's largest health care profession." Mezibov said. "So I think these are people who are recognizing that, and they're getting into the largest health care field when the need is great and at a time when the jobs are out there."
The KU School of Nursing receives three to four times as many applicants as it can accept, said Eleanor Sullivan, dean of nursing.
In turn, the school does not do any recruiting, she said. However, it is campaigning to promote the image of the profession itself, she said.
"One of the misconceptions is that the nurse is the handmaiden of the physician," she said. "Nursing itself is a separate and distinct profession."
Nursing student Todd Clayman, Overland Park senior, said he enjoyed nursing because of the holistic nature of the profession.
"You're not just at the bedside, holding a patient's hand," he said. "It's a highly skilled and technical career."
Clayman, who said he is sometimes mistaken for a doctor because of the white lab coat he wears when working at the KU Medical Center, said male nurses can possess the same characteristics as female nurses.
"Sometimes people think females might be a better care-giver," he said. "That's not necessarily the case."
1. Source: University of Kansas School of Nursing
2. Source: American Association of Colleges of Nursing
3. Source: American Academy of Pediatrics
John Paul Fogel/KANSAN
Michael Young, director of the honors program and professor of philosophy, has learned a lesson about life while dealing with death.
Knowledge of Life
Section Two.
DESPERATELY SEEKING DEANS:
By David Stewart and Kathieen Stole Kansan staff writers
Four of the University's 12 professional schools are searching for new academic deans. The schools of education and pharmacy have acting deans temporarily filling vacancies left by Ed Meyen and Howard Mossberg, respectively. Both received promotions into
higher administration at KU in 1992. A finalist for each position may be selected before classes resume next semester.
As four KU professional schools continue their search for new administrators, students are making their needs known.
Earlier this fall, both Max Lucas, dean of architecture and urban design, and Robert Jerry, dean of law, announced plans to step down next summer. Searches for those positions now are underway.
By July 1, 1994, each of these schools could have a new leader.
The sign read "Esther for Dean."
But Esther Cordle, an administrative assistant in the School of Architecture and Urban Design, was not in the running.
The anonymous campaign sign, posted on the school's dean search information board last month, was a harmless — but perhaps telling — gag.
It clearly reflected the students' affection for the woman who knows them by
name
and keeps their
lives and lives in line
name
But it also revealed something deeper: Students wouldn't mind a little nurturing and guidance from their new dean.
See DEANS,Page 7.