WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1. 1995
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
NEWS 864-4810
SECTION A VOL.102,NO.52
FEATURES
KU's Western Civilization program is in its 50th year of showing students the basics of government and society. Page 10A
CAMPUS
Finding love on the 'Net
Vivarin developed a home page on the Internet to test people's "date-ability." Page 7A
NATION
Several areas of Colin Powell's life could become issues if he runs for president. Page 9A
Powell's rivals find weak spots
WORLD
Canada must heal rift
Leaders want to patch relations with Quebec, but separatists promise another secession attempt. Page 9A
WEATHER
DRIZZLE
High 55° Low 40°
ADVERTISING 864-4358
Weather: Page 2A.
INDEX
National News...9A
World News...9A
Features...10A
Scoreboard...2B
Horoscopes...4B
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.
Tom Leininger/KANSAN
Who takes blame for tuition mistake?
Rainy weather forced Faraz Farakhi, Teheran, Iran, freshman, to use her umbrella early Monday afternoon as she walked down Jayhawk Bouleard. A misty fetted onto campus yesterday, and drizzle and light rain is expected today.
(USPS 650-640)
Play misty for me
Some resident assistants suspect possible cover-up
Phillip Brownlee Kansan staff writer
The Department of Student Housing is in the midst of a cover-up, some KU students charge.
The University's resident assistants received a letter two weeks ago from Jonathan Long, assistant director of student housing, informing them that they would not be eligible for in-state tuition after this academic year, even though earlier he had told them that they would qualify.
Besides being upset with the reversal, some students now say the mistake wasn't Long's fault.
"It has come to my attention that the information that I provided to all of you regarding the tuition benefit afforded to staff at the 40 percent rate or higher was incorrect," he wrote.
"I don't think it was his call," said Stacey.
The students believe Long was only passing on information he had been given by his superiors. He was an administrative middle man, they contend, yet he was blamed for the mix-up.
Rood, Augusta junior and Hashinger Hall RA. "That decision came from above."
"I have a feeling he took this fall for somebody else," said Art Yudelson, Los Angeles graduate student.
However, Kenneth Stoner, director of student housing, denied the allegation.
"There's no hidden agenda or conspiracy," he said. "Jon just made a misstatement."
Last spring, the University eliminated its policy of allowing out-of-state students employed at a 40 percent rate or higher to receive in-state tuition.
Stoner said that Long simply misinterpreted how University policy would be applied to student housing employees.
Because some RAs were hired before this change, they were allowed to receive the benefit for this year.
The mistake occurred when Long misunderstood how this policy would affect RAs
who stayed on staff for multiple years, Stoner said.
Because RAs sign new contracts before their current contracts expire, Long said that he thought the RAs would receive instate tuition as long as they were employed by student housing. Stoner said.
"Jon misunderstood what grandfathering means," he said. "I'm sorry he made a mist statement."
Long refused to say whether any of his superiors told him that RAs would continue to receive in-state tuition.
"I'm going to leave any comments to Dr. Stoner," he said.
Students are drawing their own conclusions.
"Jon Long didn't have the authority to make that decision," Yudelson said.
Stevie Case, Association of University Residence Halls president, said she thought the mistake likely was due to miscommunication between the University and the housing department.
"My theory would be that throughout the summer it was never clear how this would work," she said.
Trick-or-treaters collect for homeless
By Hannah Naughton
Andv Rullestand / KANSAN
Kansan staff writer
The KU students, dressed as a clown, a cow and a dinosaur, weren't trying to pass as big children in an attempt to get free candy. They were students from St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center trick-or-treating for toiletries for the homeless.
Last night, the front doors opened, and people holding baskets of candy gave surprised and puzzled looks to three college students in costumes.
"I think people are aware that the homeless need food, but they are not aware about the need for these things, which are expensive," said Ken Parsley, Montreal junior, who dressed as a dinosaur.
Students from the St. Lawrence Catholic Center spent Halloween trick-or-treating, but not for candy. Sara Dawghty, Albequerque, N.M., freshman, and Kathleen Wherry, Olathe junior, accept toilet paper during a "necessity drive" last night.
Parsley and his cow and clown comrades went from door-to-door. Instead of Milky Ways and Smarties, people filled their bags with toilet paper, tooth brushes, soap and shammoo.
Erin Emneiking, Haiwatha freshman, who dressed as a cow, said the Human Services Committee at the center had developed the idea to collect necessities other than food and clothes for the homeless. About 25 people participated in the first-time drive and went to six different areas in Lawrence. They collected about 20 plastic grocery bags of supplies.
"It's really neat for you guys to come out tonight," said Joan Ferris, Lawrence resident, who donated a basket filled with travel shampoos, soaps and conditioners collected from hotels. "It's a nice idea because there are so many people who need help."
"I think it's easier to go up and approach people on Halloween because they are expecting people," Ennaked said. "We are letting people become more aware of that
Jenny Bagby, outreach minister at the center, said the committee had advertised in the Lawrence Journal World about the drive so people could be prepared for it.
specific need. I'm a little disappointed that not very many people knew about it."
"I wish I'd seen something about it in the paper so I could give more," said Suzanne Rice, Lawrence resident. "I think it's very helpful."
Soap and toilet paper were the most common donations.
Rice said she would drop toiletries off at one of the three dropsoff the center set up at Dillons because she didn't have the supplies that night.
The collected items will be taken to the Salvation Army, 1818 Massachusetts St., the Community Drop-In Center, 1245 Connecticut St, and the Penn House, 1038 Pennsylvania St. Bkgay by the drop-off boxes will be picked up tomorrow by students from the center and taken to those locations.
Lawrence residents were caught off guard by the unique trick-or-treaters, but that didn't keep them from donating what they had, said Leighanna Engelken, Seneca freshman.
Halloween was a special time to collect toiletries because people were more aware of homeless people's needs during holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, Parsley said.
"Everyone knows people collect things," Ennkein said. "Actually seeing people go out and collect makes it more of a reality than a concept."
Direct lending's future uncertain in Congress
Loan program may not reach KU students
By Josh Yancey
Kansan staff writer
Sen. Nancy Kassebaum offered the amendment last month in an attempt to lessen proposed cuts to the federal student loan program.
The University of Kansas' future as a direct-lending financial aid institution is becoming cloudy.
The Labor and Human Resources Committee had approved a plan that would have cut almost $11 billion from student loan programs, but Republicans cut $6 billion in other areas to reduce the damage to loan programs.
An amendment to the Senate budget reconciliation bill making its way through the U.S. Congress would cap financing for the financial aid program.
One of the cuts was a proposed 20 percent cap on the direct lending program, a program that KU financial aid
officials had planned to use.
Direct lending is a loan program that makes the U.S. Department of Education the administrator of loans to Universities. Other banks and loan institutions are eliminated. In other programs, in which banks administer the loans, a student's loan can be bought and sold to other banks throughout its lifetime. This can increase the likelihood of default and students' confusion as to whom they are making payments.
What is it?
In direct lending, the loan never changes hands, and the funds are more immediately available to universities.
Direct Lending
A program that makes the U.S. Department of Education the loan administrator to universities, eliminating other loan institutions
Effect on students?
Kassebaum, however, questioned the program's viability and necessity.
However, according to Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, the program won't make loans more affordable and will increase the national debt.
It can decrease confusion about who the lender is.
Kassebaum said the program would increase the national debt by as much as $40 billion a year and would make the Department of Education the nation's third-largest consumer lender. She said that the Department of Education had not proven that it could account for all the money it had loaned and that an independent audit report had reported serious problems in reconciling direct loan accounts.
"Direct lending does not affect student eligibility for federal student loans," Kassbaum said in a prepared statement. "They do not make financial aid more affordable or accessible."
"It would be foolish to jump into this at full force," Bacon said. "We need to examine what works better."
Joel Bacon, press secretary for Kassebaum, said the 20 percent cap would help the program be further examined.
Diane Del Buono, director of student financial aid, said she hoped the University would be able to decide for itself whether it would use direct lending. She was pessimistic about the possibility, however.
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"Direct lending does not affect student eligibility for federal student loans."
Nancy Kassocaum U.S. senator
"There is a lot of complexity in the present process," she said. "The first question we often ask students during fee payment is 'Who is your lender?' and the students usually don't know.
"Direct lending simplifies that," she said. "If there's a problem, we can take care of it."
Del Buono said all Big Eight schools except KU and the University of Oklahoma used direct lending.
Sue O'Flaherty, director of student financial aid at the University of Colorado, said direct lending was one of the best things to happen to CU's financial aid program.
"It has been absolutely superb," she said. "I would probably leave the profession if we lost this."
O'Flaherty said the volume of phone calls from confused students had decreased by 58 percent since the enactment of direct lending. She said the number of students who defaulted on their loans also had decreased.
"I can look out in our lobby and see a tree or any dents who need help," she said. "That's a great sight."
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