Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Campaigns are in full swing for Student Senate coalitions as they prepare for the April 15 and 16 elections. The Kansan will be running a three-day series explaining the issues each coalition plans to run on.
United Students
United Students, the incumbent coalition, nominated Mason Heilman, Lawrence junior, and May Davis, Clay Center junior, to run as president and vice president. They said their platform issues were ones that were feasible and practical.
“We are about implementing practical measures that improve students’ experiences of KU,” Heilman said. “We don’t want to propose something that we know can’t be done. What we want to do are things that will save students money, give them more freedom in their choices.”
Create a class “shopping week” with 100 percent tuition refund
If students choose to drop a course, they receive a 90 percent refund during the first week of classes and a 50 percent refund after the first week. United Students said they wanted to give students a full refund for courses dropped during the first week of classes. After the first week, the tuition refund scale would be gradual.
Extend the textbook refund deadline
KU Bookstores currently gives students a full refund for textbooks returned within 30 days, but students are able to drop classes for up to two months. United Students would like to allow students to return unused textbooks for a full refund for the full period they are able to drop classes. It would also like to allow students to return prepackaged books that have been opened for a partial refund.
Protecting and increasing student voice in KU decision-making
- Increase student representation on University governance committees from 20 to 30 percent
- Recommend all University governance committees meet after 5 p.m. to accommodate students’ class schedules
- Facilitate board orientations each spring for new members and all interested KU students to explain what each committee has done, what it will do and how it operates
- Create a “suggestion box” on the main KU Web site that poses questions for students and faculty to respond to. Responses would be sorted and sent to the appropriate governing board for revision.
Use increased student voice to achieve other platform goals such as:
- Reviewing the +/- grading system
- Saving Stop Day
- Lowering the price of a yellow parking permit
Three-allowance policy for the Ambler Student Recreation Fitness Center
Students are not allowed to enter the Ambler Fitness Recreation Center without their KUID. United Students said a system change that would cost about $50,000 would be able to access online photo identification so recreation center staff could admit students without their KUIDs. United Students said it wanted students to be able to access the recreation center without their ID up to three times per semester.
United Students suggested closing the recreation center between the end of the spring semester and the beginning of the summer session. It said the savings could be used to finance the system change.
Lower all-sports combo price and increase student seats for big games
United Students said it wanted to eliminate winter break games from inclusion in the All-Sports Combo Pass and in return lower the overall price of the pass by $15. It said many students went out of town for the break and were not able to take advantage of those tickets. It would also like to make tickets to those games easily accessible to recent alumni and available to students for $5.
Multicultural Literacy Certification
United Students said it wanted to create a Multicultural Literacy certification that would appear on student transcripts, indicating they had completed a curriculum in multiculturalism. It said it hoped the certification would encourage more students to take part in cultural programming.
Financial Planning Center
Heilman and Davis said they planned to help foster financial literacy on campus by creating a financial planning center in the Kansas Union. Business students would volunteer to work and provide free financial advice to their peers. The center would help students with taxes, loans, rent contracts and financial aid applications.
A commitment to sustainability
- Place recycling bins in central locations for students to use as drop-off points. The bins would circulate around campus on a schedule so students would know when and where they could take their recyclables.
- Phase out unnecessary inter-campus mail. United Students said it would like to see departments on campus use more e-mail and eliminate excess mailing.
- A greater use of native plants in campus landscaping. Heilman said plants that are better suited to the area required less maintenance, returned year after year and would add a historical aesthetic to campus.
- Increase student, faculty and staff education regarding energy saving and environmentally friendly practices.
- Work with the campus Coke contract to provide reusable mugs to incoming freshmen.
- Harness kinetic energy from the Ambler Recreation Center for use as an energy source.
- Use inter-residence hall, scholarship hall, student organization and Greek house competitions to encourage energy saving.
United Students said it would like to see various departments take responsibility for funding various projects.
Maintain and seek further guaranteed energy savings
The University currently pays Chevron Energy Solutions to determine energy saving opportunities and to train faculty and staff to be more energy conscious. United Students said it would like the company to expand its training to students. United Students said it planned to work with corporations to ensure the entire KU community was aware of and actively engaged in efforts to minimize energy consumption.
Increase City of Lawrence partnerships
United Students said it wanted to strengthen existing relationships with city officials to maintain a student voice in city decision making.
For more information about United Students’ platform issues, visit its Web site, www.unitedstudents09.com. Check with the Kansan throughout the week for information about Students of Liberty and Envision.
— — Edited by Susan Melgren
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Comments
Campus elections 2009: United Students
Where is a story about Tutu Lee's coalition, Free State? Apparently he is running for president to get his girlfriend back. They have a You Tube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTHeuSC8JLQ (video is NSFW - language and gun firing among other things)
Campus elections 2009: United Students
Wasn't Stop Day already declared 'saved' by University Senate?
Campus elections 2009: United Students
"Harness kinetic energy from the Ambler Recreation Center for use as an energy source." -- JJ was right. Not their idea and it's obvious because they don't know enough to explain it past just a simple bullet point of one sentence fragment.
"Use inter-residence hall, scholarship hall, student organization and Greek house competitions to encourage energy saving." -- I thought we already do this? Maybe I'm thinking of something else... (not thinking of Recycle-mania).
"Multicultural Literacy Certification" -- How is this any different than a GAP certificate, beside perhaps being more specific?
Reducing the cost of sports tickets: the much better swimming pool.
Campus elections 2009: United Students
Ill ponder this as I lay out by the completed pool.
Campus elections 2009: United Students
Looks like a pretty solid (and cheap) platform.
Campus elections 2009: United Students
A platform for a recession. I like it. Most of it.
Campus elections 2009: United Students
Envision...stop day decision was post-poned for until next year. SenEx hashed out a calendar to pass until their was deeper discussion on Stop Day in regards to changing the definition of classes from days to the amount of minutes per class.
Oh and Jessica...United Students has a graduate student who went to Florida where they do the same thing in regards to recycling energy from treadmills and ellipticals. That is where the idea stemmed from. That's the only one I can debate you on as I'm not running with United Students...I would be happy to find out if their platforms overlap with current programs or cannot happen.
Campus elections 2009: United Students
Okay, so US came up with the same basic idea that Envision has, but just haven't actually come up with a way to do it. Sounds like it wouldn't end up getting accomplished.
Actually, I think I might ask someone in US how the Multicultural Literacy Certificate is any different...
And as for the ticket price: I wasn't suggesting it can't happen. It's like the swimming pool in the way that it's appealing to students, but not terribly significant. Will it benefit students? Yes. Does it sound like high school StuCo? Also yes. I'll admit it's a "sexy idea," but the priorities of our potential leaders need to be re-evaluated if they're writing 2 paragraphs about this and only a bullet about something that could save the university (and students) energy and money.
Campus elections 2009: United Students
As a J-school student, you only have so much room to write an article, so of course the writer will not put a detailed account for each issue. If you would like a detailed account of each platform issue, I'll be more than happy to get you one. But Jessica, welcome to the world of politics. Look at Obama...more help for the middle class. No detailed account there. Look at McCain..cut taxes. People only have so much time to read and care, especially college students who lead busy and hectic lives. You have to get your main points across. If it intrigues them, then they'll ask for more details. If not they move along even if the details are there.
Campus elections 2009: United Students
This isn't U.S. politics. This is our university.. our home. Why should we use the same standards of US politics for KU? This process can and should be a lot more personal.
Campus elections 2009: United Students
Yes it is our home...but politics is politics. We can hope for an increase in student participation in student government, but unfortunately students have their busy lives. It should be more personal but it's not and will likely not be. You have to look at the statistics. Young people have the lowest turnout out of any age group in national, state and local elections. The numbers say that the smaller scale the election, the lower the turnout. I wish students were more interested in the hundred and so dollars that they pay, but the fact of the matter is, most don't. Maybe the economic times will make students look at everything in a different light...we can only hope.
Campus elections 2009: United Students
by the hundred and so dollars we pay, did you really mean to type a little over $800 dollars? also, maybe students don't vote b/c senate is corrupt...that is all there is to it, why I like Envision's idea of defining a "gift" ...or maybe students don't vote b/c they are laying out by the new pool United Students promised us this year...o wait, that was already in the plan for the 3rd phase of the rec center
Campus elections 2009: United Students
Senate is corrupt? This party, having changed names over the course of the years, has done more for the University than any other party on campus.
Rec Center Watkins Health Center Wireless Internet on campus Bus System (now its free) MRC Blue Light System Safebus Saferide and more...
Students don't vote because they're busy. Have you ever campaigned before? Many ignore you and don't want to talk because they're busy with their own lives.
Do you think the majority of students care about student senate over their daily lives? Unfortunately not. That's why we have a 20% turnout.
Campus elections 2009: United Students
Okay maybe past senate was not, but the current one might be. What of those issues as US done? I can name other coalitions with all of those ideas. Now senate has become too partisan to actually accomplish anything except for start dumb fights that in April that bring us 5 steps back when we have only walked 3 steps forward on ideas all year.
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