CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, October 22, 1993
The high cost of living Student housing rate increases for 1994-05, approved yesterday by the Residential Programs Advisory Board, averaged 3.1 percent.
3
Micah Laaker/KANSAN
Source: KU Department of Student Housing
Residence hall rates to increase
By Brian James
Kansan staffwriter
The Residential Programs Advisory Board approved yesterday student housing rate increases for the 1994-95 school year.
Among the approved rates was a 3.2 percent increase in residence hall room and board rates. Residents living with a roommate would pay $3384, a $104 increase from 1993-94 rates.
Most of the increases were close to 3 percent.
The largest housing rate increase was 6.3 percent for Sunflower Duplex Apartments, and the smallest was 2 percent for Miller and Watkins scholarship halls.
Ken Stoner, director of student housing, said the rate increases were small compared to past years.
Rate increases for residence halls in the past 10 years have been as high as 15 percent. The average increase has been about five percent.
"We did not have a lot of extra costs this year so rate increases stayed fairly consistent with the Consumer Price Index," he said.
The board bases its rates on the index, which generally reflects inflation rates and reflects increases in total costs. Stoner said.
The approved rate increases will be presented to the Board of Regents in November for approval.
The rate increases will keep student
housing rates less than its peer institutions and competitive with other Big Eight universities. KU ranks fourth in the Big Eight for student housing rates. Stoner said.
The rate increases generally were smaller this year because occupancy had stayed consistent with last year, Stoner said.
When the number of residents dropped 329, or 9 percent, from 1991 to 1992, rates went up nearly 13 percent in 1992-93.
The average rate increase of 3.1 percent did not seem to bother members of the board.
"I think it was fair," yield Yolaanda Womack, Kansas City, Kan., senior and president of Jayhawk Towers Tenant Association. "The increase for Jayhawk Towers is only $48, so I think it's reasonable."
Two of the five representatives abstained from voting on the rate increase proposal.
Carmen San Martin, Wichita senior and president of the All Scholarship Hall Council, and Jamie Cutburth, Hillsboro, Ore., senior and president of Association of University Residence Halls, said they could not vote on the proposal until members of their council approved the rate increases.
Play canceled after director injured
By Dan England and Carlos Tejada
Kenan staff writers
This was supposed to be Antonio Shepherd's big day.
The former KU student was supposed to be present when his play about college race relations, "Color Doesn't Matter," was-performed tonight at the Lied Center to its largest audience yet.
But Shepherd, who wrote, produced and directed the play, was involved in a head-on collision Saturday morning in Kansas City, Kan. He is in serious condition at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Shepherd lost one eye, is in danger of losing another and has a punctured lung and broken limbs, said Jan Demby, Lawrence graduate and friend of Shepherd.
"He's lucky to be alive." Demby said.
The play was canceled last night, said Terry Bell, president of the Black Student Union. The decision was for the best.
"The other performers and the people involved didn't feel assured about the play," he said, "Everything started to fall apart."
Members of the production, many of whom are KU graduates, said Shepherd would have enjoyed playing to a large crowd at his old school.
Bell said Shepherd's accident would keep the play from sending its full message.
"They didn't feel they would be able to present the play the way Antonio would have liked it," he said.
"It would have been a very big night for Antonio," said Dana Abner, Kansas City, Kan., resident and KU graduate, who plays the lead part in tonight's play. "Although this has been the third time we performed the play, this would have been the biggest house we played."
Abner said Shepherd had been optimistic about the performance at KU.
"He felt it was racially mixed, and that a lot of people would be coming in, and the play would get its message across," she said.
The play was performed in Kansas City, Mo., and Topeka earlier this year. It is about a college freshman named Aretha Sherell who discovers both her African-American history and existing racism while at college. Abner said
"Color shouldn't matter, but in history, it did begin to matter." she said.
But Abner said the play had taken on additional significance since Shepherd's accident.
"It's made us much more into our work and made us more focused because now we're putting it on for Antonio," she said.
The play will continue because the message of the play needs to be spread, said Byron Porter, Shepherd's cousin and director in his absence.
"It engages a reality that most people agree on, that racism is not inherent and that most people learn it," said Porter, who plays a professor in the production. "It really meant a lot to him. It's so heartbreaking to see him hurt like this."
Bell said the play would have sent an important message to the KU campus.
"It all ties in to a bigger picture," he said. "I would hope this play could reach out to all minorities and all of the college campus."
Bell said words often disguise the true feelings of people both on campus and in society.
The play would send Antonio's message to the KU campus.
"I hope people learn that even though they say 'color doesn't matter,' as long as there's racism it does matter," he said.
William Alix / KANSAN
Making a point about drunken driving
KU police officer A.J. Augusto explains an alcohol test to tricycle-race participant Jennifer Vaughan, Kearney, Mo., senior. Yesterday's event was sponsored by GAMMA — Greeks Advocating Mature Management of Alcohol — to demonstrate the effect of alcohol on motor skills. Participants drank a beer between each 50-yard lap and were submitted to an alcohol test at regular intervals.
CAMPUS BRIEFS
Arrest of two men yields more than 1,000 hits of LSD
Lawrence police confiscated more than 1,000 hits of LSD and arrested two men in a park near Lawrence High School on Wednesday.
A woman who was in the park told police that she saw the two men and that they appeared to be "engaged in drug activity," said Sgt. Rick Nickell of Lawrence police.
When the officer went to the park and approached the two men, they spilt up. The officer stopped both men, questioned them and found what appeared to be LSD in their possession.
One man had 1,197 hits of LSD when he was arrested, according to police reports. He was charged with possession of LSD with the intent to sell.
The other man had 10 hits of LSD and was charged with possession, the report said. The report valued the 1,207 hits at $6,035, making each worth $5.
Nickell said that it was one of the largest drug arrests in Lawrence and that it was unusual for a patrol officer to make this kind of arrest without the assistance of the drug squad.
Entrepreneurship will be topic of business seminar
The University of Kansas Small Business Development Center is hosting the KU Youth Entrepreneurship Seminar from 8:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. tomorrow at the Lawrence Holiday Inn Holidome, 200 McDonald Drive. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m.
Brioles compiled by Kansan staff writers Scott J. Anderson and Kathleen Stole.
A panel of local entrepreneurs, including KU senior Bennett Griffin, will talk about their keys to success in computer software, mortgage financing, casting agency and other independent endeavors.
The seminar is open to anyone under the age of 30. A $20 registration fee includes lunch and materials.
One workshop will address how to start a small business.
Funds for STD research too low to meet needs
Conservative views toward sex may hold up increased grants
By Liz Kilinger
Kansan staff writer
In early October, Congress legislated $91 million in funding for the 1993-1994 non-AIDS sexually transmitted disease programs of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Peggy Clarke, executive director of the American Social Health Association, said STD program funding had remained at almost the same level since 1991, an amount which Clarke said was too low to meet current needs.
"The decision is contrary to sound public health," Clarke said. "We know we can identify, treat and cure so many of these diseases. Without additional funding, these diseases will continue to skyrocket."
Clarke said that 56 million people have incurable viral infections, and millions more have bacterial STD infections, which can be diagnosed and cured.
Financing disease control
Although estimated costs for Sexually Transmitted Diseases' prevention and treatment have gone up significantly in the last two decades, financing through grants has risen very slowly. The estimated costs are more than $15 billion.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Clarke said $5 billion a year was spent on only three STDs: chlamydia, gonorrhea and herpes. While Clarke praised Congress for authorizing $8.75 million for a new infertility prevention program focused on chlamydia screening and treatment, she said funding for STD care and prevention needed to be increased by about 48 percent.
Micah Laaker/KANSAN
Clarke said conservative views toward sex may be a factor in what she considered less than adequate funding.
"I think it's that people don't want to think about it and pretend it happens to other people," Clarksaid. "We have to rec
ognize people are becoming infected at alarming rates."
Kay Kent, director of the Lawrence/Douglas County Health Department, said a tight budget and lack of knowledge of STDs, caused the lack of funding. Kent said STD programs are not the only health care programs without much money.
Kent also said some national health care organizations were recommending increasing the amount of money allocated for preventive health care of such afflictions as STDs. Kent said three percent of every health care dollar was currently spent on preventative health programs and the other 97 percent was used for acute illnesses and long-term care.
Henry Buck, American College Health Association chair of HPV and other STDs, said funding wasn't necessarily a question of a conservative view toward sexual issues and sexually transmitted diseases.
"There's only so much money to go around," said Buck, who is also a gynecologist at Watkins Memorial Health Center. "Congress kept the same funding, that's something. I'm sure there are very complicated reasons that they did what they did."
Army offers advancement opportunities for women
By Kathleen Stolie
Kansan staff writer
Women in the U.S. Army can march to the top of the ranks once they establish credibility, two women officers said at a discussion last night.
Capt. Jane Harris and Maj. L. Michele Janosik led the discussion on women in the Army at an open forum in the Military Science Building. Sponsored by the KU Army ROTC Jayhawk Battalion, the forum drew about 15 students, most of whom are cadets in the battalion.
Janosik, who has worked as a nurse in Army hospitals in the United States, Germany and Korea, said that hard work was the key to earning respect and combating sexual harassment.
"It's like any other job," she said. "You have to establish your credibility."
Harris, who taught high school for eight years, said she thought that women were more likely to find leadership positions in the military than in the civilian world.
"I do think that the military is more open, more equal, as far as opportunities for advancement," she said.
Both women agreed that ability should be the factor that
determines whether women enter combat situations. However, they and a few of the women cadets conceded that physical limitations were a reality.
Deborah Daulton, Salina sophomore, said, "There are situations like carrying a 170-pound man on a litter for the next four miles. That's something that women aren't capable of. We've got to face our physical limitations."
"As a whole, I don't feel that women possess the same remorseless, killer instinct required in combat," he said.
Richard Wellman, Wichita sophomore, expressed doubt about women's abilities to be aggressive in combat.
Wellman later said that he would feel comfortable fighting alongside a female comrade in combat.
Nicoll said, "I think the pendulum has swung. Maybe it's swung too far."
After the forum, Capt. Clay Barker, instructor of Army ROTC, said he thought that both men and women cadets
Army ROTC cadet Richard Wellman, Wichita sophomore, said women may lack the "killer instinct" in front-line combat at an open forum last night at the Military Science Building. Dondi Dix, Leavenworth freshman, also was on the panel.
had benefited by meeting the officers. The women officers are positive role models who help develop the cadets' attitudes, he said.
Kari Vanhooof, Enumclaw, Wash., senior who suggested the idea for the panel, agreed.
"I think perceptions are changing, and I think stuff like this helps," she said.