Campus/Area
University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, January 30, 1990
3
Blowin' in the wind
Keith Thorpe/KANSAN
Elicia Hill, Dayton, Ohio, graduate student, uses the courtyard behind Murphy Hall as a practice area.
Tax protesters appeal in long lines at court
By Kathryn Lancaster
Yesterday began the first day of the second round of appeals for taxpayers protecting home reappraisals.
Kansan staff writer
Fourteen people went through hearings at the Douglas County Courthouse, said Patty Jaimes, county clerk.
"When you're retired, working part-time for low pay and earning Social Security, it can get pretty tight," Ramsever said.
County Courthouse, said Patty Sajdies, county clerk.
Fred Ramsay, Lawrence resident and former KU employee, said the value on his home had increased more than $12,000. If the value on his home does not decrease, his property taxes will increase more than $250 from his 1987 taxes.
After an initial appeal is dismissed, a taxpayer protesting increased valuations has 30 days to file a second appeal. That appeal can be filed either with the National Taxation Office in Topeka, said Nancy Hampen, county treasurer.
Among some taxpayers are working on the second round of appeals, more than 1,200 initial appeals have yet to be heard in Douglas County, said August Dettbarn Jr., deputy county appraiser.
By Jan. 16, about 1,800 people, or less than one-tenth of county residents paying property taxes, had registered protests.
The county appraisal's office has five full-time appraisers hearing appeals, Dettbarn said. The appraisers hear about 50 appeals a day and are expected to continue hearings through April.
The largest increases in property value occurred in older Lawrence neighborhoods, Dettbarn said. Values increased the most for structures built before the last reapraisal effort during the 1960s.
Areas of the city most affected by the increase in property taxes are the downtown business district, the north and east Lawrence neighborhoods and the Old West Lawrence neighborhood, Dettbarn said. Newer development areas have not seen a great jump in their market values.
Jaimes said she expected fewer than 900 people to go through second-round protests.
Bill would add 'foreign' language
The most recent deadline for filing tax protests was Jan. 16. If taxpayers paid only half of their property tax, they will have a second opportunity to protest when paying the second half in June, Hempen said.
By Rod Griffin Kansan staff writer
TOPEKA — A bill in the Kansas House of Representatives would for the first time allow students to receive foreign language credit for learning to hear with their eyes and speak with their hands.
The bill, introduced by State Rep. Nancy Brown, R-Stanley, would allow accredited schools and state universities to teach American Sign Language to students for foreign language credit.
Marty Hammond, representative for the Board of Regents, said the decision to give foreign language courses would be left up to the schools.
People who are deaf were present at a hearing of the House Education Committee to urge adoption of the bill.
"I think this bill sends a message to the deaf people in the state that they are a cultural group and that their language is recognized," said Gerry Buckley, director of the Galludet
Sign language could become a new communications credit
'I would be proud to know that you accept the language as our language.'
- Ken Clark
Kansas Association for the Deaf
Center at Johnson County Community College.
Galludet, based in Washington, D.C., is the only university for the deaf in the United States.
Buckley said sign language was gaining recognition throughout the country.
"Did you notice that on Sesame Street in the morning they have a deaf person?" Buckley asked. "You can watch them signing."
Ken Clark, a representative of the Kansas Association for the Deaf, said approving the bill would be like turning up a light with a dimmer switch.
Clark, through an interpreter, said that by approving the bill, interaction between people who hear and those who are deaf would become possible. He said the increased contact would provide a better understanding of deaf culture.
"With your approval of American Sign Language as a language, you fully turn on the light." he said.
The only reservation about the bill was expressed by State Rep. Bill Reardon, D—Kansas City. He said he was concerned that it would be difficult to find certified instructors to teach the courses.
Buckley said the pool of teachers
"Right now the certification process is still in its infancy," he said.
Buckley assured the committee that the certification procedures would develop to meet the needs of schools.
David Rosenthal, executive director of the Kansas Committee for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired, said American Sign Language differed from any other form of sign language in the world.
He argued that it therefore qualified as a foreign language.
With graceful gestures, Clark urged the committee to accept American Sign Language as the language of the deaf.
"I would be proud to know that you accept the language as our language," he said.
Computer will hasten transfer of credit hours
New students still should plan ahead for switch to KU
By Pam Solinner
Kansan staff writer
However, the exact time saved by this system is still uncertain, said Norma Henley, head of credential evaluations in the office.
The Office of Admissions has installed a new computer system that should speed up the transfer of credits that students have earned at other colleges and universities.
She said transferring credits depended on when the student was admitted to the University of Kansas and the length of time it took for the transcript to arrive at the office.
Henley said that for the last 24 years she had worked in a small cubicle at the back of the admissions room, where she earned credits from other schools to KU.
When Henley began transferring credits, the walls of her office were lined with handbooks from every university in the country. She con-
'The problem we always get into with transfer problems is when the students don't check things out.'
director of admissions
Bruce Lindvall director of admissions
sulted this library for course descriptions, comparing the transferred course to an equivalent KU course. Equivalent courses are based on course descriptions and prerequisites.
Reviewing courses became easier when the information was transferred to microfiche. Henley simply fitted the thin plastic sheet for one college into the machine and compared the courses.
The new on-line computer system, installed in August 1989, should make the process even faster after all the information is entered. Henley said the computer would allow enrollment to enter every course for every institution in the country.
Not all U.S. universities have been entered, but Henley said she continually updated the computer files, adding courses from different institutions as new transcripts arrived
She said she had entered most courses for state community college.
About 1,500 to 1,900 students transfer to KU each fall, said Bruce Lindvall, director of admissions. Most students transfer from community colleges, but others come from four-year institutions.
Henley said all academic courses from an accredited school, except vocational or technical courses such as typing or shorthand, would transfer to KU. Remedial courses, such as Math 002, are not transferred.
Although all accredited academic courses transfer, some courses may not apply to requirements for a transfer student's major.
One of the biggest misconceptions students have is that grade point averages from other schools will transfer to KU, Lindvall said. The grades are listed on their KU transcripts and are used to determine whether they met requirements in professional schools. But the grades are not calculated into their cumulative GPAs.
"The problem we always get into with transfer problems is when the students don't check things out," Lindvall said.
the counselor explained which classes would transfer and which ones would apply toward her major. Clark said she wasn't told that her community college GPA wouldn't be added to her University GPA.
Nicole Clark, Belleville sophomore, said she spoke with a counselor at Cloud County Community College before deciding to transfer to KU in Fall 1989.
added to her University靴.
"It was kind of a shock because the GPA I worked for so hard in community college doesn't mean anything," Clark said. "It's like you weren't even going to college."
Henley said transfer students should arrange to have their transcripts sent as soon as possible.
Lindvall said students should not have any problems transferring credit to KU if they prepared early.
KU students who want to take classes at their hometown community colleges during the summer could save time and problems by completing a tentative event before the end of May, Lindsay said.
Lindvall said the form was a written guarantee that the course credit would transfer.
Political science cuts spring honors courses Increasing enrollment, lack of faculty cause department to burst at seams
By Carol B. Shiney Kansan staff writer
Because of a faculty shortage and increased enrollment, the political science department for the first time has decided not to offer honors courses this semester.
"We recruit a lot of our best students from honors classes, so I don't think it will diminish the number of majors," he said. "But I will probably go on to pick好学生 diminish the number of good students we recruit."
Loomis said he and other faculty members decided every spring what courses would be offered the following year. He said at least one honors class would be offered, but whether one would be offered in the next
"We're just coming apart at the seams," he said. "There's just no flexibility at all."
Loomis said he was not happy that honors classes were not being offered this semester.
"We're depriving a body of students close-up, daily contact with a very good instructor," he said. "So there's something lost there when we opt to teach a class of 120 persons as opposed to 20."
Brian Robison, Oklahoma City, Oka., sophomore majoring in political science, said the decision not to offer any honors courses affected him adversely because he wanted to take Political Science 151, the honors section of the introduction to comparative politics. He said the course had not been offered in about two years.
"I've had to take a whole semester without political science courses," he said. "It's not nearly
as interesting."
Robison said that the decision was unfortunate and disappointing.
"There's not a whole lot you can do, I guess," he said. "It just seems pretty unfortunate that you can also honate courses in your university."
Sharon Brehm, director of the College Honors Program, said that increasing enrollments had caused problems.
"We've got a heck of a lot of students with a relatively small number of faculty to teach them," she said.
Brehm said that the problem was resources.
"How can you say, 'I'm going to have a professor teach a course of 20 instead of 150,' when you've got more than 150 that want to take the course," she said.
To solve the problem, the University needs to hire more faculty and do something about the large enrollment, she said.
James Muyksens, dean of liberal arts and sciences, said that the college was in the process of submitting a budget to the Office of Student Services, and requested a request to increase the resources of the College Honors Program.
"We're quite confident that we're going to be able to add some resources to that program," he said.
Muyksens said that if the resources of the honors program were increased, the program would be able to offer help to departments such as an additional instructor.
For example, the departmental budget would provide the money for the regular courses, and the finance for the honors section, he said.
Mark Reedy, Topeka sophomore majoring in political science and biology, said that students often take an elective and take when they were freshmen.
"When those classes aren't offered, it throws your planning off," he said.
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