Kansan gives Student Senate grade report
As Student Senate president Hannah Love and vice president Ray Wittlinger’s term expires, their work on Student Senate is reviewed
Kansan Student Senate reporter Brenna Hawley graded the outgoing Student Senate administration on their platforms from the past year.
By Brenna Hawley (Contact)
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
Editor’s note: The new Student Senate administration took office last week with promises and platforms. But outgoing president Hannah Love, Dodge City senior, and vice president Ray Wittlinger, Olathe senior, worked all year to complete their platforms from last year’s elections. Kansan Student Senate reporter Brenna Hawley graded the United Senate duo on their progress.
Deadweek at KU: Poor
United Students’ platform said the group wanted a whole week at the end of each semester where tests would not be given to allow students to prepare for finals. Wittlinger said a proposal had been presented to the calendar committee, which plans the calendar several years in advance. He said the committee was receptive to the idea.
Love said she had many meetings with Provost Richard Lariviere, and she said there would eventually be a deadweek at the University but not for a few years. She did not specifically say what year the deadweek would start.
University Relations had not heard of a change to the calendar.
Mark Pacey, Manhattan graduate student and a member of the calendar committee, said the committee had seen many calendar change proposals but hadn’t passed any.
A Guarantee with Credit/No credit: Poor
This platform would have allowed students who earned an A in a class they were taking credit/no credit to keep the A and have it marked on their transcript.
Love said a senator wrote a bill for this platform but that it did not pass through the necessary two University Senate committees to allow senators to vote on it in full Senate.
Tom Cox, Shawnee senior and a Senate Executive Committee representative for Student Senate, said he remembered this proposal being discussed in SenEx. He said he didn’t remember it being sent to committees.
University Career Center onto Jayhawk Boulevard: Poor
The University Career Center is on the first floor of the Burge Union, and United Students’ platforms wanted to move it to Jayhawk Boulevard to increase its accessibility.
As of this semester, the center had not moved onto Jayhawk Boulevard. Wittlinger said this was a long-term project and they had to wait on results from a space study to see what was available on the road.
David Gaston, director of the University Career Center, said he had initial meetings with senators but nothing was happening right now. He said he didn’t know how long the moving process would take.
Satellite Parking office in Kansas Union: Poor
This platform stated the parking office near the Burge Union was inconvenient for students and the construction of the Multicultural Resource Center would open office space for a more convenient parking office.
Donna Hultine, director of Parking and Transit, said the Parking Department had a space in the Kansas Union picked out and a new office designed. Then the department launched the online application for paying parking tickets and the number of students visiting the office dropped.
“We couldn’t really justify adding the extra space,” Hultine said.
24-hour parking at the recreation fitness center: Good
Hultine said the Parking Commission, which votes on all changes in Parking & Transit, approved a plan that allowed students with a Park & Ride or housing pass to park in the front row of the recreation center on an experimental basis. She said the recreation center monitored the spots and reported that they never gave out more than 10 permits per week. She said the spots were either empty or filled with cars with yellow passes that were ticketed.
“It was a nice idea to make the recreation center accessible, but it went a little too far to hold spots,” Hultine said.
The entire row of reserved spots has since been returned to yellow parking spots. Now people who want to park at the recreation center with a housing or Park & Ride pass can still park in the yellow lot but don’t have the first row reserved.
Renovate Jayhawk Central Information Shack: Moderate
United Students’ platform said the Jayhawk Central Information Shack, which is in front of Stauffer-Flint Hall, was under-utilized.
Senate passed a bill on Wednesday, April 2, to provide $16,000 to renovate the shack in conjunction with the University Daily Kansan and the Provost’s Office.
While this was a United Students platform, Andy Haverkamp, Hoyt freshman and member of opposite coalition ConnectKU, wrote the bill during election time. Haverkamp said it took two days to contact all necessary people to put together legislation.
Improved night transportation: Moderate
United Students said many people had to park far away from their homes and walk late at night to get back.
Wittlinger said the bus system had improved its routes at nighttime.
The Night Campus Express route is being cut from the KU on Wheels services but the SafeBus routes will continue to run.
Install crosswalk on West Campus Road: Moderate
Lennea Carty, Andover senior and chair of the Campus Safety Advisory Board, said the board had been working on installing a crosswalk for a while. She said problems with installing a crosswalk were an issue with the city of Lawrence because the city didn’t want a crosswalk on a curve and a hill.
Wittlinger said he hoped the next Senate administration would continue to work toward a crosswalk.
Maintain blue phone technology: Good
Wittlinger said campus safety was a concern for the coalition and the blue phones helped keep students safe on campus at night. Carty said the board did not want to add more blue phones but she did not support removing any.
Restructure campus safety advisory board: Good
This platform wanted to add more positions for female representatives on the Campus Safety Advisory Board.
Wittlinger said he wrote a bill, that passed through Senate, to add representatives from the Panhellenic Council, the scholarship halls and the residence halls.
Microsoft campus initiative: Moderate
The United Students platform said the University of Texas had a similar project where every student had access to expensive Microsoft software for a $5 fee.
Love said there was a deal with the KU Bookstore where Microsoft software was available for a discount, but the program wasn’t to the extent of Texas’.
Update technology in classrooms: Moderate
This platform said United Students wanted to update technology in classrooms on campus, including installing overheads, projectors and computers.
Love said she learned through talking with administrators that students just needed to let KU officials know that students wanted more technology available in classrooms.
“The administration didn’t realize there was such a huge desire for that,” Love said.
Permanent recycling drop-off center: Moderate
United Students wanted to install permanent recycling bins at the Park & Ride parking lots.
Love said that by the schedule given to her, they should have been installed already. Neither Facilities Operations or Parking & Transit knew if the bins had been installed yet.
Promote Adams Challenge Course: Good
The platform said many students didn’t know about the Adams Challenge Course, which is a ropes course near Clinton Lake.
Love said the coalition had talked with many different student groups promoting the course and also had made sure brochures about the course were available.
— Edited by Sasha Roe
Discussion
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I never got the Bluelight platform. They were running on not doing anything to them? And they report that they succesfully... did nothing?
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