Wednesday, August 17, 2005
For 35 years, a comprehensive information service known as KU Info has had all the answers. According to the service’s records, the staff responded to nearly 700 calls per day, providing information about academics, campus events, fitness, the weather, snow days, medical services, computers and technology, sports, community events, maps, schedules, enrollment, local religious services and anything else you might have wanted to know. Most calls were answered quickly; All calls were given an honest effort.
Last year, however, University administrators deemed this service inappropriate and elected to make some drastic changes. In the future, only questions directly pertaining to academics will be answered. To handle this significantly reduced number of calls, the University intends to employ a larger, less-trained staff who will have to divide its time between answering KU Info calls and performing other duties in their respective departments. Training a new staff who has only a cursory knowledge of the campus will create a need to transfer most calls to other departments, which will frustrate students and waste their time. These changes will eliminate the efficient, inexpensive and dependable service KU Info offered for 35 years. KU Info has not been upgraded; It has been hijacked.
KU Info’s staff consisted of 12 carefully selected, highly-motivated students, whose job was to sit by a phone and wait for callers to ask a question. Before answering calls, however, incoming staff members went through three weeks of intensive training and rigorous spot-checking by senior staff members. This effective service was run with only two phones, two computers and minimal office space for reference materials. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Students and alumni had a service they could count on to provide accurate information at any time, about any subject, for a nominal cost to the University.
Implementing this watered-down version of KU Info will be expensive. There wasn’t a cheaper staff than 12 student employees. The University recently paid an Oregon design firm to create a new University logo. For the cost of our new logo, the University could have funded KU Info for two academic years. Considering the emphasis the University places on image, it is surprisingly willing to let one of its most beloved programs and traditions fall by the wayside.
KU Info is older than Baby Jay. It is older than KJHK and was born the same year as Student Senate. It has been around longer than most students have been alive and longer than most administrative staff members have been employed here. KU Info is even older than Anschutz Library, the building that now houses it. This is not some fleeting organization — this is KU history.
When former KU Info staff members confronted University officials last year concerning future changes to the service, one administrator said, “Things change. Get used to it.”
But things shouldn’t have to change if they work. KU Info has been here long enough to become an integral part of the campus and the community, and has remained virtually unchanged throughout three decades. It is recognized by KU alumni throughout the world as a trusted institution and a point of pride. When it comes to KU Info, the University does not have the students’ best interests in mind.
Our world is becoming less personal and more bureaucratic every day. KU Info represented the highest standard of service and was staffed by friendly, dedicated students who were as excited about helping you as callers were about being helped. KU Info has been saving your grades, your relationships, your sanity and your pride for 35 years. And it’s done it with a smile.
And now, after decades of proudly assisting the campus and community, we’re asking for your help. We want to answer your calls again — all of them. If you see the “Save KU Info” petitions available on Wescoe Beach, in Mrs. E’s, at the Student Recreation Fitness Center, downtown businesses, or online at http://www.petitiononline.com/kuinfo/petition.html, please sign them and let the administration know that you want the real KU Info back.
Ashley is a Halstead senior in political science and international relations. Tucker is a Overland Park senior in political science and English. Both work for KU Info.
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