• New admissions standards P. 2 • ‘A Beautiful Lie’ P. 3 • Boston’s number retired P. 6 ON THE
The students’ voice since 1901 • Vol. 110 No. 14 • Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011 • Emporia State University
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Regents’ universities learn of funding fate S mantha J ones jones@esubulletin.com K enzie T empleton news@esubulletin.com When newly inaugurated Governor Sam Brownback released his Kansas budget proposal for 2011, all six public Universities in the state were able to relax a bit. Four of the six Regent schools were granted additional funding with the exceptions of Fort Hays State,
which received a cut, and Emporia State, whose funding was neither increased nor decreased. “You might consider it somewhat of a victory in a sense that we didn’t gain any ground, but we didn’t lose any ground either, (since) there were no additional cuts, but no additional aid,” said Jonathan Rivers senior secondary education major and president of the Associated Student Government.
Many people feared that education would be one of the first areas from which money would be cut in hopes of balancing the state budget. However, according to a memo that was released by the Kansas Board of Regents last Thursday, Brownback made “no change to the Board’s submitted SGF budgeted expenditures of $756.7 million.” But money had to be taken from some programs in the state educa-
tional department – Fort Hays lost $200,000 in funding. Most Kansas universities came out a bit better. Kansas University was granted over $2 million for expansion of its pharmaceutical department, Kansas State was given over $165,000 for its Salina-based aeronautical program, Pittsburg State received almost $2,000 for its readiness program and Wichita State received over $3,500 for its
FundingChanges Changes Funding ESU:None None ESU: FHSU:--$200,000 $200,000 FHSU: KU:++$2 $2million million KU: KSU:++$165,000 $165,000 KSU: PSU: + $2,000 PSU: + $2,000 WSU:++$3,500 $3,500 WSU:
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In the Running ESU sophomore files for City Commission
Printing Services cut in effort to save money C harlie H eptas heptas@esubulletin.com For Bill Noblitt, director of marketing and media, closing printing services in Cremer Hall offers an opportunity to save money for the university and to aid outside printing companies. “We’re going to be closing the print shop at the end of the fiscal year… then we’re going to have a university copy center in Visser Hall available to faculty and students,” Noblitt said. The print shop has been losing money over the years, and Noblitt said that updating the shop would require a large investment that would not pay out. The press will remain open through June 12 so students will have the rest of the semester to continue to use the press. “One of the things that ends up in the budget for printing services is the materials, and those are going to be supplies that we won’t have to be ordering anymore… inventory control is so difficult sometimes that that becomes money spent,” said Gwen Larson, assistant director of media relations. The new copy center aims to save money but the saving will not be certain until it is in effect. Noblitt said he hopes that moving from
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Faculty Senate tables bill over administrators’ evaluations K enzie T empleton news@esubulletin.com
Christian Keisler, sophomore communications major, has decided to run for City Commission in April’s election. Erica Cassella/The Bulletin.
K enzie T empleton news@esubulletin.com When his high school government class jokingly suggested that he run for Emporia City Commission, the political wheels began to turn in now sophomore communications major Christian Keisler’s head. “Our teacher came in and was talking about how many people voted… in the 2007 election, it was right below 1,300, and that kind of shocked me,” Keisler
said. Although the notion that Keisler himself run for City Commission was initially seen as a joke, he began to further research the idea, and in December, he officially filed with the city to run. Keisler said one of the main motivators for his candidacy is how few people actually vote. He is also concerned with Emporia’s economy and dividing revenue evenly. “We need to grow as a population, as an economy, we need more jobs, (and)
ESU students need a place to stay. We need fairness between everyone, between our mainstreet organization…. to (stop) trying to make one area more specific than another,” Keisler said. Keisler believes that even though ESU is viewed as a “pit-stop university,” it is one of Emporia’s biggest assets and more industry, like shopping, needs to be developed downtown to cater to college students. “We need more students here (and)
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KBOR’s Scherrer meets with ESU student leaders C harlie H eptas heptas@esubulletin.com
For Laura Bosiljevac, sophomore political science major and legislative director of Associated Student Government, having Gary Sherrer, chairman of the Kansas Board of Regents and an ESU alum, on campus to speak to members of Associated Student Government and other student leaders yesterday was very important. “He has had experience in leadership and is very supportive of ESU, so it was great for students to have an opportunity to interact with him,” Bosiljevac said. Students from various leadership roles around campus were given the opportunity to sit down and have lunch with Sherrer and ask him questions about things related to ESU and its improvements in addition to his various stances on leadership. Sherrer said he was impressed by student governments and their ability to be relentless about issues and that they re- Gary Scherrer, Kansas Regents member, listens to students concerns about the university during an open lunch hosted Tuesday at the Skyline Lounge Tuesday in ally could be catalysts for change. See Scherrer...Page 2 Memorial Union. Erica Cassella/The Bulletin.
WEEKLY
Q&A
How do you feel about the clean up of snow and ice on the ESU Campus? “It took a while for the roads to be cleared. There was some trouble with the hills but the sidewalks have been okay. Shane Touslee, freshman athletic training major
“The sidewalks have been pretty clear. There are some icy spots but mostly pretty good.” Tabetha Schoenfeld, senior zoology major
A proposed bill aimed to further establish the procedure for administrator evaluations had its second hearing at the Faculty Senate meeting Tuesday in Visser Hall. If passed, the bill would deem such evaluations as confidential personnel documents that are not open to the public. “The policy is kind of vague…one of the things it says is that participants of a survey… that any participants have the potential to see it, but you don’t know who the participants are because it’s a survey and it’s anonymous,” said Joella Mehrhof, president of the Faculty Senate. Rob Catlett, faculty senator and member of the American Association of University Professors, proposed an amendment to the bill that would provide an opportunity for the evaluated administrator to include a response explaining any potential criticism, along with the continuation for faculty to be able to view the evaluations. “The full bill either intentionally or unintentionally strips that out,” Catlett said. Under the current policy, faculty members who participate in the evaluations may have a chance to see the results, but the records are not fully open to the public. They are also currently stored in the president’s office. The proposed bill states that its purpose is to “protect the privacy rights of the evaluated administrator, the evaluation results will be considered confidential personnel records.” Mehrhof said there was no mandate for the bill, but that “it’s just time to update the procedures for administrator evaluations.” Mike Merriam, counsel for the Kansas Press Association, said that the evaluations cannot be considered personnel records. “If it was required by the college constitution or state law, I suppose it could be, but the facts as I understand them are that the Faculty Senate just does this voluntarily without any requirement, so it’s not a personnel record,” Merriam said. Those included in administrator evaluations are the university president, provost and any vice president or dean. Catlett said that those who are evaluated often find comments that are “uncomfortable” and may not be eager to have such comments open to the public. “We need to find ways to preserve shared governance and whatever transparency we can,” Catlett said. Mehrhof said the Faculty Senate ran out of time, so the bill and the amendment were tabled and will be up for discussion at the next meeting at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 1 in Visser Hall 330.