Lawrence Journal-World 08-16-11

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L A W R E N C E

JOURNAL-WORLD

®

75 CENTS

LJWorld.com

TUESDAY • AUGUST 16 • 2011

KU efficiency study identifies cost-saving potential By Andy Hyland ahyland@ljworld.com

Gray-Little

Vitter

Some sun

High: 87

An ongoing efficiency study at Kansas University has identified 12 areas of potential improvement. Since April, KU has been working with Huron Consulting to come up with ways to make the university’s administrative functions more

efficient and effective. “Change is always difficult, but if we realize the gains that are possible, we will strengthen this university for the future and allow us to excel in our mission of educating leaders, building healthy communities and making discoveries that change the world,” said KU Chancellor Bernadette GrayLittle in a message to faculty and staff.

The 12 areas of opportunity, listed with a corresponding minimum amount of potential cost savings, revenue reallocations or new revenue, are: ● Administrative support at KU Medical Center, $280,000. ● Budgeting process at the Lawrence and Edwards campuses, $4.7 million.

● Campus construction on all campuses, $2.9 million. ● Creation of service centers at the Lawrence and Edwards campuses, $1.3 million. ● Enrollment management at the Lawrence and Edwards campuses, $8.6 million.

Please see EFFICIENCY, page 2A

County targeting past-due taxes

Coming Monday to a university near you...

Low: 73

Today’s forecast, page 12A

INSIDE

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Law firm hired to help collect delinquent payments By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com

Former Jayhawks hit the aisles Former KU basketball players Cole Aldrich, above, and Tyrel Reed went backto-school shopping on Monday, helping local grade-schoolers prepare for classes. Page 1B

QUOTABLE

While helping starving people, you are also feeding the power groups that make a business out of the disaster. You’re saving people’s lives today so they can die tomorrow.” — Consultant Joakim Gundel, on international aid efforts in Somalia. Much of the famine relief for Somalian refugees has been stolen and is being sold openly in markets. Page 9A

COMING WEDNESDAY

SCHOOLS

We’ll fill you in on a few things you need to know as the new school year gets under way in the Lawrence district.

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INDEX Business Classified Comics Deaths Events listings Horoscope Movies Opinion Poll Puzzles Sports Television Vol.153/No.228

6B 5B-12B 11A 2A 12A, 2B 11B 5A 10A 2A 11B 1B-4B 5A, 2B, 11B 24 pages

Energy smart: The Journal-World makes the most of renewable resources. www.b-e-f.org

Kevin Anderson/Journal-World Photo

EMPLOYEE CELESTE WRAY PULLS PRE-ORDERED TEXTBOOKS Monday as the Kansas Union Bookstore gets ready for the fall semester at Kansas University, which starts Monday.

A few changes are in store as classes commence at KU By Andy Hyland ahyland@ljworld.com

ONLINE: See the video at LJWorld.com

After years of Kansas University classes beginning on Thursdays, the first day of classes for the fall semester will be on Monday. KU’s residence halls open on Friday. Jennifer Wamelink, associate director for student housing, said the time to watch for increased traffic near Corbin Hall, 420 W. 11th St., is on Wednesday, when residence and scholarship halls open for women registered for sorority recruitment. Gertrude Sellards Pearson Hall will be closed this year for renovations, she said. Hawk Week, which features a series of welcometo-campus events for students, will get into full swing on Friday, Wamelink said, and related activities will largely move to the first week of classes. Traditions Night, when new Jayhawks flock to Memorial Stadium to learn how to wave the wheat and

a host of other KU traditions, will be on Saturday night. Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little will speak at the university’s opening convocation on Sunday night. Several key KU departments, including admissions, financial aid and the University Advising Center, will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday to accommodate new students. The academic calendar changed for several reasons, said George Bittlingmayer, a distinguished professor of business who chaired a university governance committee that looked at the calendar changes. The changes were possible after approval from the Kansas Board of Regents to lower the number of instructional days in the calendar from 150 to 146. “We got the semester down to the same length as a lot of other schools,” he said. That means no more Thursday and Friday classes hanging out by themselves in the beginning of

Happening this week on campus ● 8 a.m. today: Jayhawker Towers apartments open. ● 8 a.m. Wednesday: Residence and scholarship halls open for women registered with sorority recruitment. ● 8 a.m. Friday: Residence and scholarship

the semester, and a slightly longer winter break, which is good for study abroad programs and international students, he said. The committee also discussed removing fall break, Bittlingmayer said. “Some suggested we have the whole Thanksgiving week off and no fall break,” he said. Eventually the committee decided to leave it in at the insistence of students. But fall break will move to Monday and Tuesday this year, Oct. 10-11, to provide a better balance between classes that meet Mondays, Wednesdays and Fri-

halls open for all students. ● 8 p.m. Saturday: Traditions Night at Memorial Stadium. ● 7 p.m. Sunday: Opening Convocation at Lied Center. ● Monday: First day of classes. days and classes that meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Bittlingmayer said. When fall break was on a Thursday and Friday, he said, and with students off on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday already for Thanksgiving, classes with Friday lab sections were negatively affected, he said. “I feel good. I think that we did the right thing,” he said. “It’s a little strange, I think, though, for people who are used to starting class on a Thursday.” — Higher education reporter Andy Hyland can be reached at 832-6388. Follow him at Twitter.com/LJW_KU.

That boat or ATV sitting in the garage soon may become a little less fun, especially if you haven’t paid the property taxes on it. The Douglas County Treasurer’s Office is launching a program this month to collect unpaid personal property taxes. Douglas County Treasurer Paula Gilchrist said her office has hired a Tonganoxie-based law firm specializing in helping governments collect on past-due tax accounts. “It won’t be your typical harassing, nasty type of phone calls and letters from a collec- Douglas County tion agency,” Treasurer Paula Gilchrist said. Gilchrist says “But we do need 2,071 personal to try to collect property tax these taxes.” Gilchrist said bills are past the department due. The taxes has 2,071 per- total $2.6 sonal property million. tax bills past due. The taxes total $2.6 million, although that amount has accrued over several years. Representatives with the Kelly Law Office soon will be sending letters to individuals and businesses that have past-due taxes. Gilchrist said it has been several years — since before she started as treasurer in 2005 — that the county has employed outside attorneys to help collect tax debt. Only taxes that are past due for personal property — items such as boats, recreational vehicles, mobile homes and some business equipment — will be part of the collection program. Traditional real estate taxes on homes and property are governed by separate state laws. The attorneys will have several options available. The law firm will have the authority to set up Please see TAXES, page 2A

KU Medical Center wins $6 million grant for its elite Alzheimer’s program By Karrey Britt kbritt@ljworld.com

Kansas University Medical Center officials announced Monday that the center has been awarded a five-year, $6 million grant for its Alzheimer’s program by the National Institutes on Health. KU’s program is now among an elite group of 29 institutions that have been recognized as an Alzheimer’s Disease Center by NIH’s National Institute on Aging. Dr. Russell Swerdlow, director of the KU Alzheimer’s Disease Center, said the grant will go toward

researching Alzheimer’s, a disease that affects 5.4 million people, and an additional 14.9 million caregivers. “It’s a major health problem and it destroys Swerdlow lives,” Swerdlow said. “It doesn’t just affect the life of the person who has it. It affects their spouse or their children.” Swerdlow said between 40 and 50 percent of people ages 85 and older have the disease.

“As the population ages and people live longer, more and more people have to live with Alzheimer’s disease either because they have it or they know someone else who has it, and people want a solution,” he said. With the grant, KU will be able to enroll more people in studies. Researchers follow people with Alzheimer’s disease, people who are showing symptoms, and people

who don’t have any problems with memory loss. He said KU scientists are working to develop better treatments and ultimately find a cure. “This disease — it changes the mind and no one wants to see their mind change,” he said. “People don’t like to see their perception of the world change.” Swerdlow said the more research that they do and they more indepth they look, they are finding the first symptoms showing up at earlier ages. “It’s a disease that may take Please see MEDICAL, page 2A


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