CAMPUS/AREA UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, February 29, 1996
3A
Legal Services assists tenants
Students find help battling landlords
By Scott MacWilliams Kansan staff writer
The notice says to vacate the apartment in one week, and no reason is given.
KU students who find themselves in this or a similar situation can get help.
"We have three attorneys and five legal interns to help 25,000-plus students, so the first step is to make an appointment," said Braxton Copley, attorney with Legal Services for Students in the Burge Union.
"As long as the adversary is, in fact, the landlord and not a KU student, we can represent a student involved in a landlord/tenant dispute in court," Copley said.
Copley said the first step was to review the law pertaining to landlord/tenant disputes with the student and discuss the options available. One option is writing a demand letter.
"Small Claims Court is also an option, and it has the advantage of having your case heard more quickly." Copley said.
Copley said one important thing to keep in mind was that Legal Services could not represent students against each other or against the University because it would be a conflict of interest.
Jo Hardesty, director of Legal Services for Students, said the service saw about 3,000 cases a year, and landlord/tenant disputes made up about 20 percent of its caseload.
"It's easily the single largest category," Hardesty said. "Most of those are disputes over security deposits."
Students considering signing a rental contract need to be aware of several important factors. Roommate selection is especially important because most leases hold each tenant responsible for the full amount of the rent. If a roommate
leaves, the remaining tenants are responsible for the remaining rent.
"Very few places have separate contracts," Hardesty said.
Landlord promises to make repairs or improvements should be written into the rental agreement. Verbal promises to fix broken plumbing or leaking roofs are not always enforceable, Hardesty said.
"A landlord has 14 days to 'inmitate a good faith effort' to make repairs, but that doesn't mean much," Hardesty said. "That might mean just taking bids on a repair job."
Hardesty said if no effort was made by the landlord, the lease could be terminated in 30 days.
Hardesty said that the landlord/tenant laws were written first in 1975 and that they tended to favor the landlord. Hardesty also said there were primarily two types of landlords.
"We have the big complexes and then the mom-and-pop landlords." Hardesty said. "Some of the mom-and-pop operations don't comply with the landlord tenant act."
Is this a joke?
Brian Hott / KANBAN
In Viking garb, Ed Goodman fights for the preservation of crustacean life. Goodman, an improvisal comic with The Hypothetical Seven, used the bogus protest to advertise the sketch comedy group's show at 8 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday at the Lawrence Arts Center. Ninth and Vermont streets.
Concert posters are just plain Phishy
By Nicole Kennedy Kansan staff writer
Phish will not be playing at Day on the Hill.
Fliers posted across campus are advertising the group as the headline act for the annual spring concert, but Su Morrell, Student Union Activities adviser, said the filers were wrong.
SUA members haven't decided officially which bands they will ask to perform at the concert in May. That
decision can't be made until SUA receives final approval for the event from University administration.
However, Andy Nix, manager of Copy Co, 23rd and Naismith streets, said he thought the filers might have been made in the store.
Morrell said she had no idea who had made the fliers or why they had done it.
He said some of the fliers had tiny lines across the bottom of the page.
often made similar lines on copies.
He said one of Cody Co's machines
"I guess I'm just miffed at who would do that," Morrell said. "I'm shocked that they would use our logo like that and then spend money to print those."
Leslie Taylor, live music coordinator for SUA, said she was sure the filers weren't made in the SUA office.
Morrell said the SUA logo used on the flier probably was downloaded from the group's home page on the Internet.
"We even checked our paper supply and that color paper is fully stocked in our office, so there's no way it could have come out of here," Taylor said.
The flier was terra green.
Morrell said students were calling the SUA office all day yesterday asking if Phish was coming.
"It's not funny because it's causing a lot of calls," Morrell said. "It's really causing great concern by people who have been mislead."
Senate to hold mock election
National primary will help gauge student concerns
By Nicole Kennedy Kansan staff writer
Student Senate voted last night to finance a National Student Primary on campus March 6.
"The primary is important because we're trying to show presidential candidates what issues young people care about," said David Stevens, Student Legislative Awareness Board coordinator.
The Senate voted to give SLAB $300 to run an advertising campaign encouraging students to vote in the primary.
Todd Moore, off-campus senator, said he opposed the bill because he felt the group did not need $300 to run a get-out-and-vote campaign.
Only a handful of senators voted against the bill.
Senate also approved a bill last night granting $375 to the student organization, Students
Against Violence Against Women.
In other action, Senate:
"Student Senate really is concerned about the fact that so many women on this campus have been raped or are potential victims of rape," said Amy Tumbull, social welfare senator and the bill's sponsor. "The whole concept of Take Back the Night is that it is one night of the year when women can be safe and demand that they have a safe space every day of the year."
Approved a bill to grant $307 to the Jubilee Cafe, a student organization that serves meals to needy people in Lawrence
Approved a bill to grant $240 to the Multicultural Affairs Committee to produce a calendar of events
Approved a bill to grant $700 to the Center for Community Outreach to finance Literacy Awareness Week and Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week
Approved a bill to grant $307 to the Bioethics Club to sponsor speeches on bioethics and contemporary ethics
Debate remains about separate history month
By Susanna Löof
Kansan staff writer
Julius Williams, who helped organize the events, said he was very satisfied with the month.
Today is the last day of African- American History Month. At the University of Kansas, the month has been celebrated with a multitude of activities and events.
"We had a strong combination of departments and offices participating in the celebration of the month," said Williams, assistant director of the Office of Minority Affairs. "We had an excellent turnout."
"I am opposed to Black History Month because I think Black history should be American history," she said during her presentation. "There's one month for Black history and eight months for White history in school. That doesn't make sense. They should be together."
But not everyone agrees that there should be an African-American History Month. Jane Elliott, who presented a speech on racism at the Lied Center Sunday, does not like African-American History Month.
Williams does not agree with Elliott and other opponents of African-American History Month who argue that the month compartmentalizes African-American history.
"Until African-American history is included and accepted and respected, we will need African-American History Month," he said.
Jessica Keith, Kansas City, Kan. junior and president of the Black Student Union, also thinks that African-American History Month is needed.
"This month educates people," she said. "People can no longer say they don't know about African-American history."
Keith said the month was valuable even though it was the shortest month of the year.
"I wish it would be done all year, but even if it is just a month that we really focus, look at and recognize our achievements, it's good," she said.
But the month was not educational for all KU students.
Allison McCracken, Chicago junior, said she did not know that February was African-American History Month. Neither did Ching Kai Ng, Sepang, Malaysia senior.
Jordan McKee, Overland Park senior, did know about African-American History Month. He said he thought the month was a good occurrence but he did not attend any of the events.
"It's important for any cultural group to take pride in their heritage," he said.