CAMPUS/AREA UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, November 5,1996
3A
Voter apathy continues
Some won't cast their ballots today
By Liz Musser
Kansan staff writer
Election day involves only one decision for Cary Hayes — the decision to not vote.
"I would vote in a second if I saw a candidate that I felt understood the common person," said the Wichita sophomore. "But they are all part of the elite and are controlled by money."
MTV may have spent the last year singing out its "Choose or Lose" mantra to the American youth, but if this election shapes up like years past, Hayes will be only one of many students who don't vote.
Ken Collier, assistant professor of political science, said that data from the '92 election showed a 45 percent turnout for people ages 18 to 21.
Collier said changing trends in education had contributed to the low number of young voters.
"It used to be that high school educated you to be a good citizen, but today they teach cynicism," Collier said. "Instead of learning to be a good citizen, kids learn that the government should be better."
Hayes said that cynicism factored into his decision to not vote.
"All the candidates are crooked. They say stuff just to get elected, so it doesn't really matter who you vote for," he said.
Burdett Loomis, professor of political science, said college students had always been in an age bracket with small voter turnout and that it wasn't anything to worry about.
"The incentives to vote are considerably less for young people," he said. "The whole notion of voting because it is a good idea seems dopey."
Loomis said that he did not want to discourage students from voting, but that it was only worth the effort if the student was well informed about the candidates.
Both Collier and Loomis agreed that logistical difficulties, such as obtaining an absentee ballot, could keep students from voting.
This was the case for Molly Meschke, Garden City junior.
Meschke said she didn't feel guilty about not voting because she didn't think that one vote made a difference.
"I'm not from Douglas County, so I would have had to deal with an absentee ballot," she said. "I just never got around to it."
"I don't feel like one vote really matters, but if all the college-aged people that don't vote decided to vote, it would make a big difference."
Ashleigh de la Torre, legislative director for the Student Legislative Awareness Board, said the biggest problem with student apathy was that it perpetuated a never-ending cycle.
"We don't vote because the legislators don't care about us, and the legislators don't care about us because we don't vote," she said.
Med Center approves clinic plans
Facility promises training for professors, students
By Ashleigh Roberts Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas Medical Center may soon be offering one-stop shopping for all specialty care procedures in Johnson County.
Preliminary plans for an outpatient care clinic in Shawnee were unanimously approved Friday at the Adams Alumni Center by the hospital's governance council. Donald Hagen, executive vice chancellor of the Med Center, said plans for the legal and financial structure of the clinic would be forwarded to the Board of Regents on Nov. 14.
The clinic was developed as a joint venture between the Med Center and KU Physicians Inc., a group of KU medical doctors formed Oct. 11.
Hagen said that the clinic would be equally
owned by the doctors and the hospital.
The clinic is part of a master plan that will help the Med Center keep up with the changes of modern medicine.
"In today's world of management care, you need a unified voice to be heard," Hagen said. "This is a modern move for the future. We will be able to train our professors to work in the new world of ambulatory care as well as providing training and experience to our students."
The clinic would be located near Interstate 435 at the old Cedar Ridge Hospital, 7405 Renner Road in Shawnee, a psychiatric institution that closed in 1993. KU Physicians Inc. purchased the $9,000-square-foot building for about $2.5 million. Demolition would start later this fall, and the clinic should be open by early 1998, Hagen said.
The location was excellent because it allowed for Med Center expansion and an opportunity to bring new patients to the hospital, he said.
"It is located at the convalesce of a major
Hagen said the location and the facility were so good that the project would be independently financed and no state or taxpayer money would be used.
traffic intersection, and it is a new construction area," Hagen said. "There will be a lot of new families without any major health care facility in the area."
"The whole hospital is funded by patient care money. The clinic wouldn't be any different," he said.
If the clinic is approved by the Regents, a limited liability company would be formed to manage the joint venture. The approximated cost for the clinic renovations is $13 million.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway expressed his support of the clinic and the direction of the Med Center.
"The medical center is one of the best in the country for primary care physician training," he said. "The clinic is something that has really been in planning for a long time and will help continue one of the most successful parts of this University."
Clinton likely to get gay vote
By Nicholas C. Cheralambous
Kansan staff writer
Gay, lesbian and bisexual voters weren't happy with President Clinton's broken promise on gays in the military and his signing of the Defense of Marriage Act, but that won't stop them from voting for him today.
"You could say that Clinton's the only choice we have," said Mike Silverman, Omaha, Neb., graduate student, "But in spite of his many faults, he has been the best president in history for civil rights for all Americans, including gays and lesbians."
The 1992 presidential elections marked the first time that a presidential candidate openly courted the gay, lesbian and bisexual vote, and it raised expectations that Clinton's term would bring landmark gay rights legislation. Silverman said.
That didn't happen, but Clinton's Supreme Court appointees, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Stephen Breyer, provided crucial votes against Colorado's anti-gay Amendment 2, and he was the first president to appoint 100 open gays and lesbians to senior administrative positions.
Lawrence resident Rhonda Colson said she hoped a second Clinton term, when he would not be seeking re-election, would bring legislation eliminating employment discrimination.
"Without a job, you don't have anything." Colson said. "I know we have real issues that are important to us, and I think they are important to him."
The 1996 Democratic Party platform pledges support for
the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
"Change doesn't happen all at once."
Brownlee said "It happens step by step."
A Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
Tim Brownlee, treasurer for the Freedom Coalition, a local human rights organization, said that gay and lesbian voters felt betrayed by Clinton's first term but that he didn't deserve it.
The Freedom Coalition successfully lobbed for an employment non-discrimination ordinance in Lawrence, which was passed last year. This year, the coalition has produced 1,500 voter guides for the 1996 national state and local elections.
Andy Dunlap, Lawrence graduate student, said he would vote grudgingly for Clinton. The president made it clear that he no longer needed to court gays and lesbians for votes when he signed the Defense of Marriage Act, Dunlap said. He would like to see that legislation overturned.
"I'm not holding my breath, but I know that's not going to happen under Bob Dole."
The University of Kansas Police Department showed a marked increase in calls on Halloween. Shown below are the number of calls that resulted in an officer being dispatched.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 30
6 calls
THURSDAY, OCT. 31
Trick-or-trouble
13 calls
FRIDAY, NOV. 1
7 calls
Andy Rohrback / KANSAN
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Are your photos better than this?
Entries due by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5.
The next issue runs Tuesday, Nov. 19.
For more information contact Amy McVey, Special Sections Editor at 864-4810.
The Hill, a monthly magazine published by The University Daily Kansan, is dedicating a section of each issue to KU's artistically inclined. All students interested in publishing artwork photographs, poetry or comic strips on the pages of one of the country's best college newspapers should submit an entry. Chosen entries will appear in the Fall 1996 issues of The Hill.
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GET CONNECTED TO KU!
The Office of New Student Orientation will be accepting applications for the position.of.
Orientation Assistant
Interested candidates are strongly encouraged to attend one of the following Information Sessions:
Wednesday, November 13. 7:00 p.m.
Pine Room, Kansas union
Thursday, November 21. 7:00 p.m.
Pioneer Room, Burge Union
Monday, November 25 · 11:00 a.m-1:00 p.m.
Jayhawk Walk, Kansas Union
Application and job information will be available Nov. 11th at 45 Strong Hall
* Deadline is Friday, December 6, 1996 *