TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1996
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS 864-4810
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
ADVERTISING 864-4358
SECTION A VOL.102, NO.80
(USPS 650-640)
TODAY KANSAN
SPORTS
College basketball commentator Dick Vitale met with Jayhawk fans yesterday. Page 10A
Vitale tells it his way
CAMPUS
Architecture award winners
KU Architecture students win top prizes at a national design competition. Page 5A
NATION
Dole outlines revolution
The Senate majority leader promises change if elected in November. Page 7A
WORLD
Yeltsin's re-election pickle
The Russian leader's decision whether to run will be made known in February. Page 6A
WEATHER
PARTLY CLOUDY
High 48° Low 30°
Weather: Page 2A.
INDEX
Opinion . . . . 4A
Nation/World . . . 6A
Sports. . . . 8A
Dilbert. . . . 8A
Horoscopes . . . 8A
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is free. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents.
Tuition by the hour coming soon
By Colleen McCain Kansan staff writer
KU's flat tuition rate has been likened to an all-you-can-eat salad bar; take as many classes as you wish and pay the same tuition rate. But beginning this summer, students will pay for every course they take.
When students enroll for Summer and Fall 1996, they will be assessed a fee for each credit hour they enroll in. Students currently taking more than six credit hours pay the same tuition rate, regardless of whether they enroll in seven hours or 20 hours.
Rich Morrell, University registrar,
said the new linear tuition payment
plan would make tuition charges
more equitable for students because
they will be getting what they pay for.
With linear tuition, in-state undergraduates will pay $63 per credit
hour, and non-resident undergraduates will pay $265 per credit hour.
The per-hour tuition rates were designed to be revenue neutral, so linear tuition will yield the same tuition income as the flat-rate tuition has.
KU administrators proposed linear tuition to the Board of Regents with the hope that it would deter students from class shopping — enrolling in several classes and then dropping one or more of the classes after attending them for a few days.
"Students really need to understand the impact of class shopping." Morrell said. "If you enroll in classes with the idea that you're going to take the five that you like best, you'll be paying more money."
With linear tuition, students who drop a class during the first 10 days of the semester will receive a 90 percent refund for the hours they drop. Students will receive only a 50 percent refund for classes dropped
between the 11th and 20th days of the semester. And students won't receive any money back for classes dropped after the 20th day of the semester.
"With this plan, students need to decide how many hours they're taking and stick with it," Morrell said.
Grey Montgomery, Senate Executive Committee member and Junction City junior, said he understood the need to deter class shopping, but questioned whether linear tuition was the fairest way to accomplish that.
"Often, students have legitimate reasons for dropping classes, and with this plan, they're being penalized for every class they drop," Montgomery said.
Administrators also should consider implementing a cap in which students would not be assessed additional fees beyond 15 hours,
See TUITION, Page 2.
Comparing Tuition Costs
Andy Rohrback/KANSAN
Minority Affairs meets challenges
Office survives protests and lack of funding
By Susanna Lööf
Kansan staff writer
The Office of Minority Affairs has served the University of Kansas for 25 years, but not without challenges.
During the 1970s, minorities such as Native Americans charged that they were neglected by the office. They claimed the office focused primarily on improving conditions for African-American students.
son, now the administrative associate at the Student Assistance Center, said that no programming had been going on for years, and the office was heavily understaffed.
After fairly calm years during the 1980s, Marshall Jackson took over the Minorities Affairs office as interim director in 1989. But Jack-
Jackson said he got the office back on its feet and restarted some of its programs.
"We were fulfilling the responsibilities of the office, and I felt good about that, but what I didn't like was some major political activities going on," he said.
Jackson said a student organization called Black Men of Today formed after an African-American pizza delivery girl charged that she had been struck and racially slurred during a delivery to the Sigma Alpha Epifasion fraternity on April 1, 1900. The incident raised many protests, and 11 days later about 350 people dem-
constrained in Strong Hall to demand an end to such racism.
Jackson said that change did come,but not because of the demonstrations.
"Most of what they asked for was going to happen anyway," he said.
Jackson said he would have prefired to work within the system.
"The changes have to be institutionalized," he said. "They have to be infused into the very structure of the institution."
When Jackson's position as interim director was over in January 1991, he chose not to apply for the job as a permanent director.
However, Sherwood Thompson did, and he still is the director of the center.
Thompson said he considered the opening of the Multicultural Resource Center last semester as a highlight of his time as director. The opening enabled the office to focus more on recruitment and retention of minority students, because the center will take over many of the cultural programs that the Office of Minority Affairs used to organize. Thompson said.
Thompson said he viewed his five years in the office as very rewarding, because he had seen
minority students overcome the challenges they faced and become successful.
But even though Thompson is pleased with the office and his staff, he is disappointed with the University.
"We're going to have to get more staff and more resources," he said. "We're stretched to the limit."
The Office of Minority Affairs is a unit of the Department of Student Life. James Kitchen, dean of student life, said that due to the Universitywide hiring freeze, no expansion of the office staff would be possible in the near future.
Surprises planned for anniversary
Working for Unity
Minority services have been a part of the University of Kansas for nearly 30 years. Though their goals have remained the same, the nature and names of these services have changed over time:
By Susanna Löof
Kansan staff writer
Parts of the celebrations began last semester, and the next planned event will be a panel discussion with former directors of the office and University faculty.
A secret keynote speaker and a name change are some of the surprises planned to celebrate the 25-year anniversary of the Office of Minority Affairs.
Many of the events are not yet carved in stone, said Gloria Flores, associate director of the office.
The panel discussion will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 1 at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
Sherwood Thompson, director of the office, was secretive about who would speak at celebration event in March.
Another event planned for the celebrations is a photo exhibition about the office's history, Flores said. The exhibition will be displayed outside 145 Strong Hall, where the office is located, and also in a display window in the
"It will be a very dynamic speaker," he said, but declined to reveal the speaker's name.
Kansas Union.
Andy Rohrback/KANSAN
The celebration will culminate in April with a program about the future of the office, Thompson said.
As a part of the anniversary, research about the office's name also will be released. This research eventually will lead to a name change for the office, Thompson said.
When Thompson started as director five years ago, several students told him they wanted a new name for the office, because they thought the word minority was denigrating.
But Thompson said he did not want to change the well-established name without being sure that the new name would fit the office better. And after five years
of research, he still does not know what the new name will be.
"A lot of people think you can just take any name," he said. "But it doesn't work that way."
Thompson said the new name had to be easily recognized by other universities and university organizations. In addition, it must reflect the structural changes that are being made in the office.
Rise in cafeteria prices helps teach basic economics
Darcv Coles / KANSAN
Leann Keefe, Whitewater, Wis., graduate student, makes a purchase at Wesco Terrace from cashier Karen Haas. Prices at the cafeteria have increased since winter break.
Some KU students question reasons for hiking costs of favorite items By Adam Ward Kansan staff writer
Prices have gone up at the cafeterias in the Kansas Union and Wescoe Terrace, as well as in campus vending machines.
Students who plan on eating at the University this semester should bring more cash.
"Everything's gone up from tuition to books, so why not the cost of food, too," said Chris Stodgell, Lawrence graduate student.
Some students were more critical of the cafeterias policies.
"I've noticed an increase in 20-ounce Coca-Cola contour bottles from 75 cents to $1," said Amy Griggs, Prairie Village senior. "But it wouldn't be so bad if there was a valid reason for it."
Some on the other side of the cash register say valid reasons exist for increasing prices.
A 25 to 50 percent increase in the price of paper goods and an increase in coffee prices necessitated a 2 to 3
percent increase on selected prices, said Jay Glatz, the director of food services for the Kansas Union and Burge Union.
"I'm not sure if an end is in sight for the rising costs of paper and plastic items," he said.
Glatz also said that a 1 percent sales tax increase in Lawrence last January also had increased prices, since taxes were figured into the marked prices at the Union.
The Union Square, the main cafeteria, has a volume of about $800,000 a year, he said.
Mark Lohrenz, the manager of Union Square, said he had not noticed price increases affecting the cafeteria's amount of business.
"We did raise prices over winter break," said Denise Svagli, the supervisor of Wescoe Terrace. "With the largest increase being 15 cents on dell sandwiches."
Wesco Terrace has experienced a decline in volume over the last two years. Bob Derby, the manager of KU Concessions, attributes the volume decrease to a decline in enrollment.
Last semester, prices in Wescoe were lowered to try and generate a larger volume of sales and increase profits. But this semester prices are being increased on certain items, Derby said.