WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8,1995
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS 864-4810
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
ADVERTISING 864-4358
SECTION A VOL.102.NO.56
TODAY KANSAN
(USPS 650-640)
FEATURES
The BALD and the beautiful
The Kansan searches for students who voluntarily get all their hair cut. Page 10A
SPORTS
Kansas coach nets new job
Women's assistant tennis coach Kilmeny Waterman is Wyoming's new head coach. Page 1B
NATION
AIDS drugs under consideration
The FDA is looking at a new class of medicines which would allow doctors to give the virus a "one-two punch."
Page 8A
WORLD
Sailor pleads guilty to rape
A U.S. Navy soldier confessed to raping a 12-year-old girl yesterday in Okinawa, Japan. Page 9A
WEATHER CLOUDY AND MILD
High 47° Low 25°
Weather: Page 2A.
INDEX
National News...8A
World News...9A
Features...10A
Scoreboard...2B
Horoscopes...6B
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.
Senate plans bus system bail-out
Bills could create new campus fee
Members of Student Senate's transportation board have seen the light at the end of the tunnel for KU
on Wheels.
The campus transportation system is facing a potential $60,000 deficit by the end of May if no financial changes are made.
Last night, the board decided to pursue the combination of requesting a loan from Senate's reserve account and creating a new campus fee to help finance the system.
The trends that led to financial problems were increasing operational costs, farther-reaching routes, decreasing bus pass sales and, until last year, stagnant Senate subsidies, according to the board's October
report from David Hardy, transportation board adviser
To avoid operating in the red and restore the system's $120,000 reserve account. $160,000 is needed.
Bob Grunzinger, St. Louis senior and Senate treasurer, presented the board with four options:
V
Cutting 2,200 hours of bus service from December to May, which would allow campus transportation to break even, ignoring the reserve account.
- Increasing bus pass prices from $60 to $65 a semester, which could decrease demand and not
increase revenues.
Asking for a $160,000 loan from Senate's reserve account in the form of legislation, $120,000 of which would be repaid during the next four years.
- Creating a new transportation fee of $15.
The first three options are shortterm solutions. Combining the loan and the restricted fee would provide both immediate relief and security for the future, Grunzinger said.
"It's very difficult for this board to do any long-term planning when every two years we have to go
Ken Martin, Eden Prairie, Minn. senior and board member, said he thought the decision was being made too hastily and wanted to table the bill until next spring.
before Senate for funding," he said.
Despite Martin's concern, the board voted to ask Senate for a loan and to create a new campus fee.
"I think we need to think long-term about our goals before we ask for a restricted fee," he said.
Both options will go to Senate as bills. The details of the bills and the timeframe in which they will be presented are undetermined.
Holding up under pressure
Andy Rullestad / KANSAN
Balsa wood bridges came falling down yesterday in the Kansas Union Ballroom thanks to Mike Kinsch and his bridge crushing machine. Kinsch, an instrument designer for the engineering school, used his machine to test the strength of bridges designed by area high school students during the Ninth Annual High School Design Competition and Scholastic Tournament.
Bridge building comes to KU
High school students tackle construction task
David Teska
Special to the Kansan
When Mike Kinsch saw the bridge, he had one question — what it would take to destroy it.
"We just break them," he said, standing amidst the debris of fallen bridges.
Kinsch, an instrument maker in the civil engineering department; Tim Wissmann, St. Louis senior; and Randy King, Wichita senior, built and operated the instrument used to test bridges at the Ninth Annual High School Design Competition and Scholastic Tournament, held at the Ballroom in the Kansas Union. Steady pressure was applied to each bridge until it started to yield.
A large group of students and teachers stood and watched each bridge get tested. Some slowly collapsed and broke as more pressure was applied; others seemed almost to explode when slight pressure was applied.
Kinsch said a bridge failed when it stopped taking a load.
"Ours didn't break — it just fell apart," said Ben Mugidge, Lawrence High School senior, after his bridge crushed into a pile of balsa wood.
The students were given exact specifications to use in designing their bridges and could use only balsa wood and Elmer's glue. The bridges had to be 26 inches long,4 to 6 inches tall,3 to 5 inches wide and could weigh no more than 16 ounces. Each bridge had to withstand a minimum of 25 pounds of pressure to qualify. Within these limits, students created a variety of bridge designs.
The competition benefits both the high school students and the School of Engineering, said Thomas Mulinazzi, associate dean of engineering.
About 400 students from 26 Kansas and Missouri high schools participated in the engineering competition, which also included an academic competition. Students took tests in mathematics, chemistry and physics.
"Its the students who drive the contest," said Ken Kramme, chemistry and physics teacher from Oak Park High
"It promotes the study of engineering and promotes engineering in general," Mulinazzi said.
School in Kansas City, Mo. The students find creative ways to build around the rules, he said.
One of his students, Melissa Wilson, Oak Park High junior, said she felt that specifications were needed for the contest.
"You have to have some specifications, or you'd have bridges two feet tall," she said. She said her bridge took about 25 hours to build.
Some bridges, like one submitted by Leavenworth High School, survived the test. That bridge withstood 180 kilograms of pressure and still didn't break.
"That balsa wood is pretty impressive stuff," said Kinsch.
He should know — he, Wissmann and King stress-tested more than 120 bridges.
The competition winners were divided into small and large school categories. From large schools, 1st place went to Leavenworth High School, 2nd place to Oak Park High School and 3rd place went to Blue Valley Northwest High School. In the small-school category, 1st place went to Pleasant Ridge High School, 2nd place to Van Horn High School and 3rd place to Central Heights High School.
This hurts: $3 million cut from budget
Top administrators present tentative budget to SenEx
By Josh Yancey Kansan staff writer
KU administrators yesterday tentatively produced the tool with which they will tighten the University's budget belt by $3 million next year.
Ed Meyen, executive vice chancellor; David Shulenburger, vice chancellor for academic affairs; and Dick Mann, director of administration, presented the University Senate Executive Committee with the draft plan.
"The screws have been turned a bit tighter," Shulen-burger said. "This clearly hurts."
Total cuts for the 1996-97 academic year are $3,000,021. According to the plan, about $1.7 million would be cut from academic affairs; $290,366 fr
research, graduate studies and public service; $84,102 from student affairs; $816,103 from administrative affairs; $51,734 from the chancellor's office; and $62,630 from the executive vice chancellor's office.
"This has been engineered so students feel it least," Shulenburger said. "We give up flexibility, which can mean more work for fewer people."
The University was forced to reduce its budget when the Kansas Legislature cut funding and when a deficit occurred in research grants and operating expenses.
As a result of the cuts, unclassified faculty and staff raises were withheld for six months.
Tentative Tightening
A University-wide hiring freeze, in effect until June 1996, has prevented vacated spots from being filled, especially at the classified level. As a result, 64 vacant positions also will not be filled.
KU administrators have a plan for budget cuts.
However, no employees will be laid off. Meeen stressed.
budget cuts.
WHO IT AFFECTS:
Academic affairs
$1.7 million
Research, graduate studies and public service
$290,366
Student affairs
$84,102
Administrative affairs
$816,103
Chancellor's office
$51,734
Executive vice chancellor's office
$62,630
Such vacancies mean that non-critical campus maintenance could be postponed occasionally. Mann said.
The administrators were concerned that a cyclical pattern of budget reductions would negatively affect the University's enrollment and reputation as a topnotch institution. They didn't want the legislature to think that the University had easily adapted to the changes or that the cuts could continue each year.
"We start at a university funded at 80 percent of its peers, where we pay our faculty 89 percent of their peers." Shulenburger said.
The already financially strapped University should not resort to raising tuition to make up for the budget cuts, the administrators said.
"We don't want tuition raised to a point where students don't come here," Shulenburger said.
'Joke'alarms lead to danger for students and firemen
By Phillip Brownlee
Kansan staff writer
Yet every year, students in residence halls pull false fire alarms just to be funny.
Fires aren't funny.
"Some people think it's a big joke," said Fred McElhenie, associate director of student housing.
But the so-called joke can have serious consequences — especially for those who pull them.
Last school year, the Lawrence Fire Department responded to 28 false alarms at KU residence halls. So far this year, four falses alarms
have been sounded.
Whenever a residence hall fire alarm is sounded, all occupants must evacuate the building, whether it is a false alarm or if it is day or night.
"It's a drag, because people have to go to work or to class in the morning," said Ulvive Emirzade, Nicia, North Cyprus, graduate student and McColum Hall resident assistant. "It's worst in winter when you have to get out of bed, and it's freezing outside."
Besides the hassle, McElhenie said, repeated false alarms can make students apathetic and
cause them to stop paying attention to the alarms.
Another danger of false alarms is the risk to fire and police personnel and to local drivers.
"They get lulled into a sense of false security." he said.
A large percentage of fire personnel deaths are from traffic accidents, said Rich Barr, Lawrence fire marshall.
"Whenever they are sent out, we run a risk for our personnel and citizens." he said.
In addition, false alarms also put the city of Lawrence at risk.
When the Lawrence Fire Department responds to an alarm at a KU residence hall, it reduces its available personnel to less than half. If another alarm would sound, the department may have a longer response time getting to the fire.
The city code penalty is a fine of between $100 and $200 and/or a 180-day jail term. The state statute carries a maximum fine of
"If we respond to a fire alarm on Engel Road, it removes resources from the west side." Barr said.
Sounding a false fire alarm is a misdemeanor and a violation of both the Lawrence city code and state statute.
$500.
"I file charges for both violations." Barr said.
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McElhenie said he didn't know the number of students who had been prosecuted for false alarms but said the culprits were often caught.
X
"We have had fairly good success in the past with people calling Crime Stoppers," he said.
"They might think it's funny, but there are a lot of risks associated," he said. "It's a costly thing to do."