Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Delta Force, Students’ Rights and United Students will vie for top spots in the Student Senate elections, but how realistic are their campaign goals?
Each coalition created platforms that it thinks can change the University of Kansas. The presidential and vice presidential nominees were asked to present what they felt was their most important platform issue.
BLUE LIGHTS
Delta Force focused its platforms on safety. The most important platform issue involves the expansion of the Blue Light System on campus.
pullquote
Students’ Rights most important platform affects all students at the University.
- Johnathan Wilson, Paola sophomore
“We will expand the Blue Light system to several off-campus locations including the neighborhoods between Ninth and 13th Street and Iowa and Massachusetts,” said John Cross, Kansas City, Mo., junior, and presidential candidate.
Cross cited Lawrence police statistics as having 15 rapes and sexual assaults, 359 combined assaults, 18 robberies, three kidnappings, and one murder in these neighborhoods during 2006.
Cross said the platform was realistic because the money used for the Blue Light System is allocated from Senate.
“It is our responsibility to improve student life at KU, and now one of the greatest detriments to student life is crime,” Cross said.
TEXTBOOK RENTAL
The creation of a textbook rental program is Students’ Rights goal when reaching office.
“Students’ Rights most important platform affects all students at the University,” said Johnathan Wilson, Paola sophomore, and presidential candidate.
Their plan, modeled after Northwest Missouri State University’s rental program, allows students to pay a flat fee each semester for their books. The textbooks are returned to the University at the end of each semester.
Tim Norris, KU Memorial Union bookstore director, said the idea of a textbook rental program would be interesting to investigate. He said a lot of issues would need to be discussed, like start-up costs and academic freedom issues for teachers.
“It would obviously work better in lower-level courses, but higher-level courses, the teachers like to specify the books used,” Norris said.
Wilson said the benefits of the program were endless — most importantly, bringing money back to students.
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
United Students most important platform issue deals with academic freedom.
The platform calls for the institution of a dead week before finals and an ‘A’ guarantee for credit/no credit.
The idea of a dead week would guarantee that students would not have a test the week before finals.
“Currently a student can have a test on Thursday and a final on Monday,” said Ray Wittlinger, Olathe junior and vice presidential candidate.
Todd Cohen, director of University Relations, said students would have to make a case to the faculty governance for why this should happen. The governance is open to hear any changes to the policy, Cohen said.
An “A” guarantee for students opting to take credit/no credit means a student who earns an “A” keeps the grade.
“By allowing them to receive the ‘A’ they are being rewarded,” Wittlinger said.
Rich Hale, associate professor of aerospace engineering and University Senate president, said for this to be a reality, students would have to draft a recommendation for policy change to University Senate.
“It would be interesting to see what the rest of the student body thinks,” Hale said.
Kansan staff writer Ashlee Kieler can be contacted at akieler@kansan.com.
— Edited by Stacey Couch
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