U N I V E R S I T Y D A I L Y K A N S A N
Tuesday, December 10, 1996
3A
SLAB to lobby the Legislature on behalf of University issues
By Spencer Duncan Kansan staff writer
Ashleigh de la Torre is counting the days until she joins the lobbyists' ranks and enters the political back rooms to grease politicians' hands.
Well, she may not be greasing hands or entering back rooms, but she is definitely a lobbyist.
"The Legislature starts soon, and we're going to be talking to legislators and lobbying," said de la Torre, Topeka senior.
As director of the KU Student Legislative Awareness Board, de la Torre has been preparing to lobby the Kansas Legislature, which opens the 1997 session in January. She will spend time in Topeka lobbying on behalf of the University and its students.
"We have put a lot of hard work in," de la Torre said. "I am pleased with how things have gone, but there is still work to do."
For de la Torre, and for Student Senate, which monitors her office, this year has been a new beginning.
Senate restructured the board last year and created de la Torre's job. De la Torre is the group's first legislative director since its beginning three years ago.
Ward Cook, Mission Hills sophomore and Nunemaker senator, is serving a second Senate term. He said it was necessary to appoint a legislative director.
"Originally, there were co-directors of SLAB, but they seemed to be taking on too much," Cook said. "There was a SLAB committee not being used enough. Under the restructuring, the co-chairs were gone and Ashleigh's position was created. Now the committee is used more, and there is a clear structure."
De la Torre said she liked the new system. Since beginning her job this past summer, she has begun coordinating lobbying efforts.
"When I took this position, I
wanted to put together a regents-wide lobbying effort between the six schools," de la Torre said. "I have met with the other legislative directors, and we have put together some ideas."
The regents schools are working on a comprehensive agenda that focuses on 10 issues important to the universities. In February, the six Regents schools will send the issues to the Kansas Legislature.
"They are ideas that we all agree need worked on by the state," de la Torre said. "Our hope is that if we go as a unified front, then we will be paid attention to."
With one semester left before her term ends, de la Torre is looking forward to fighting for students at the state capitol.
As for greasing those palms,
don't expect it from de la Torre.
"Well, we are there to ensure that the students are not ignored," de la Torre said. "We are going to fight hard for that to be accomplished."
Issues
Ten issues the Regents schools lobbying boards will take to the Kansas Legislature in 1997;
4. Improving campus safety
5. Increasing faculty salaries
1. Acquiring $12 million for technology upgrades
6. Decreasing the bureaucracy surrounding the grant application process
2. Maintaining qualified admissions
3. Pushing the state to pay for at least 80 percent of institutions' costs
7. Ensuring replacement money for universities' funds if property taxes decrease
8. Increasing state scholarship grants
9. Coming up with a long-term solution to improving technology
10. Creating a state-sponsored college-savings plan
Students crowd into computer centers
Final papers, projects keep labs congested with lines
By Neal Shulenburger
Kansan staff writer
Students trying to get on the information superhighway ran into a traffic jam yesterday.
Would be computer users across campus waited as long as 30 minutes before they had access to a machine.
Rick Gostautas, Paola senior and customer service employee at the Computer Center, said that the end of the semester was the reason for the wait.
"It gets like this at this time every year," Gostautas said. "There's a lot of teachers who want papers written and projects done before finals. Sometimes all of them seem to be due on the same day."
Duncan Salisbury-Jones, Birmingham,
England, junior, said that he had been waiting in the Computer Center's Macintosh lab for 10 minutes.
"I've got a paper to write, right now, and I'll take anything with a word processor on it — Mac or IBM," he said. "It shouldn't take this long."
Barbara Jones, reference librarian, said that Watson had been unusually busy as well.
"It was pretty busy here this afternoon. We had some people standing around waiting for the workstations," she said. "And there were some really long lines at the Clark Lab down the hall."
Masami Reas, Tokyo junior, said that she had been waiting for a computer to open up in Watson Library's Clark Computer Lab for about 30 minutes.
"I just want to use WordPerfect to type up a paper," she said. "I never use the Computer Center or anywhere else, but there usually isn't this much of a wait here."
Despite the addition of five new IBM-compatible computers last week, Gostau-
tas said that the Computer Center wasn't equipped to handle the load.
"I think we don't have enough computer resources on campus to handle a day like this," he said. "But it should calm down quite a bit when finals start."
William Crowe, Vice Chancellor of Information Services, said that the University of Kansas needed more computers to be available to students.
"We need to do a much better job dealing with normal demand," Crowe said. "It's even harder on days like this dealing with peak demand."
Crowe said that students would see at least some relief next school year when Budig Hall opens. The hall will house a new micro computing laboratory with more than 125 networked computers that will be available for students.
"It won't be ready in time to help anyone this year, and it won't get rid of the problem," Crowe said. "But hopefully it will help make it more manageable next year."
Gerff Krieder/KANSAN
James Vequist, the new director of Budig Hall, stands in the soon-to-be completed building. He comes to the University of Kansas from Fort Hays State University.
Attraction to media leads high-tech director to KU
From joining the eighth-grade audiovisual club to designing high-tech classrooms at Fort Hays State University, James Vequist has always had an affinity for media.
Now Vequist, who was hired last month as director of Budig Hall, will apply his knowledge to the University of Kansas. As director, he will oversee faculty training and technology implementation in the building's three lecture halls.
Vequist will work with projectors, screens and computers worth more than $1 million.
"KU didn't spare any expenses," he said. "They went with some of the nicest projection facilities available."
The central 1,000-seat auditorium and two 500-seat lecture halls in Budig Hall will be wired for CD-ROM, Internet access, cable television and satellite down-link, Vequist said. The building, which will open next fall, will be one of the premier teaching environments in the Midwest.
"Any type of medium that is out there today, we're going to be able to project it in that room," he said. "I don't know of any facility as nice as this, as far as large classrooms are concerned."
Vestigius was hired in early November from Fort Hays State, where he designed and
"I don't know of any facility as nice as this."
James Vequist
Speaking of Budig Hall
directed mediated classrooms similar to those in Budig Hall. Before working at Fort Hays State, he received a degree in electronics from Pittsburg State University and a degree in communications from Fort Hays State.
Veuquit will admit that he initially became attracted to media as a member of his junior-high audio-visual club.
"I thought, "That sounds cool; I'll sign up for that," he said, laughing. "I still have my eighth-grade certificate."
Richard Givens, assistant provost, said the search committee chose Vequist because of his experience and his reputation in Kansas.
"He had over 25 years of experience at Fort Hays," Givens said. "He worked his way up, and he was looking for more of a challenge. So far, I think he's found it."
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