Monday, March 10, 2008
Cleaning up Potter Lake is Connect’s third initiative for Student Senate elections in April.
England Porter, Independence junior, said Potter Lake was a focal point of the University of Kansas and has been getting water and fertilizer run-off from the campus for years.
Porter, an environmental studies major who is heading a task force to run the clean-up effort, joined the Connect coalition specifically because of the initiative.
She said the group hadn’t talked to University officials yet because the task force was in its initial stages.
Porter said the unnatural nutrients running into the lake made it grow excessive algae, which was not good for the lake. She wants to fix the problems.
“It is a way to have a sustainable presence on campus,” she said.
Porter said the task force would first look at what students valued about the lake and what they wanted to fix. She said the group would then look at sustainable landscaping around the lake. The group will consider planting native plants around the lake to prevent erosion and laying pathways that water can soak through.
Porter said the group would try to pay for the project with money from the Student Senate Reserve Account, because it often had money left over at the end of the year. In order to take money out of the Reserve Account, Connect must have the idea approved by Student Senate.
Porter said Connect might also look for funding from alumni.
John Kenny, Leavenworth senior and environmental engineering major, is also a Connect member who is heading the task force.
He said the lake was considered polluted by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. He said two aspects that need improvement are the water quality and general area around the lake.
“Potter Lake is an icon on campus,” Kenny said.
Kenny said he and Porter announced the task force at Sunday’s Connect meeting. He said the group would be open to any student who was interested.
Kenny said the group would meet with University professors this week to discuss methods to clean up the lake. He said the task force wanted to have changes to the lake designed by the end of this semester. He said the Kansas Biological Survey also supported the initiative and would help with the task force if Connect needed it.
Austin Kelly, Lawrence junior and Connect’s presidential candidate, said one of Connect’s goals was renewal, and fixing Potter Lake was just that.
“The lake has been too low a priority for too long,” Kelly said.
Kelly, who currently serves as student body treasurer, said that in the 1950s, Potter Lake was a gathering spot for students. He said Connect wanted to make the lake a gathering spot again and make it the best it could be.
Students interested in joining the task force can visit Connect’s table on Wescoe Beach.
— Edited by Jessica Sain-Baird
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Comments
Connect wants to revamp Potter Lake
Good job to whomever from Kansan.com linked the WiKUpedia article on Potter Lake. Here are some other articles of interest: The Potter's Lake Project http://www.connectku.com/wiki/index.php/The_Potter%27s_Lake_Project
ConnectKU's 3 Initiatives: http://www.connectku.com/wiki/index.php/Connect_initiatives
Connect wants to revamp Potter Lake
I suppose I may be biased but it seems to me that unifying the student body around a community improvement project is healthy for the campus and goes beyond simply voting for a bunch of student politicians and waiting ten months before seeing them again while they bathe in glory at their mythological pool-to-be.
Maybe you can do both. Because the extent of United Students' plan is to essentially have their presidential candidate, Adam McGonigle (sp?), chat up the administrators at the Department of Athletics why don't I just put my support and my student fees behind an organization actively committed to the community so long as they agree to pay McGonigle a small fee during the school year so that he may continue to make conversation with Athletics. This way we all get what we want. The students will get a community project that won't cost $20 million dollars, maybe get a pool and McGonigle can get rid of all the political free-riders in his coalition and take all the credit for the pool that he built with his mouth.
Editors: This is not a personal attack. This is political free speech that reflects the opinions of many on campus.
United Students: Go ahead and report this post. You know you're going to do it instinctually anyway.
Connect wants to revamp Potter Lake
Maybe after they clean up the lake they could heat it too? Then people could swim in it, like a pool! They could put in a high dive and water slide and a tire on a rope. And maybe they could build a sandy beach there, so we could have something real instead of Wescoe Beach!
What the heck, spend the whole Reserve Fund on it, it would truly benefit all students!!!!!
Connect wants to revamp Potter Lake
Yes, because such a project would cost the entire Reserve Fund and no matter who gets elected in to Senate they would all be crazy enough to approve such a project if it did.
Connect wants to revamp Potter Lake
Thank goodness for the Finance Committee.
Connect wants to revamp Potter Lake
Leehauitu:
Dude, you're the second person on kansan.com who loves to consistently bash Adam McGonigle. From what you and kccheifs say, you would think he is Satan himself.
Honestly, it's hard to take anything you guys say seriously when it seems your only intent is to tear down someone you probably don't even know.
Get a life.
Connect wants to revamp Potter Lake
What if they do know him?
Connect wants to revamp Potter Lake
Then they should have a little class and talk issues - not attack character.
Connect wants to revamp Potter Lake
Thanks, Adam. I'll be talking to you shortly, don't worry.
Connect wants to revamp Potter Lake
Oh, by the way, issues are important. But any swindler can have issues that are related to by the student body.
This once-a-year guise of student political civility has made liars of us all.
Connect wants to revamp Potter Lake
I think this discussion takes the issue beyond what it really is... The Potter's Lake Project is for anyone interested in making Potter's lake a more appealing to students and to maintain its place as a deep KU Tradition... who do we blame for letting Potter's get to the state it is in now? It doesn't matter. Connect is apparently working to mobilize students to fix it all up.
Connect wants to revamp Potter Lake
I can see myself getting behind Connect regarding the Google Campus initiative but I'm not a great proponent of the Potter's Lake Project. Sounds almost like a leftover platform issue from a Delta Force campaign. It seems to me that the Potter's Lake Project is as infantile in its planning as United Student's brand new mythological aquatic center, has nearly the same amount of hot air behind it with slightly more utilitarian value.
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