INSIDE
THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
SPORTS KU tennis wins second tournament of the season The University Daily Kansan
vol. 137 // iss. 17 Thurs., Oct. 18, 2018
Retailers prepare for last-minute Halloween scramble New orchestra director moves from Sydney and finds home at KU
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SEE TENNIS • PAGE 7 Read more at kansan.com
KU faces up to $300 million in repairs NICOLE ASBURY @NicoleAsbury
It’s the Tuesday morning before fall break, and students in Murphy Hall’s music library are sitting beneath a water-stained ceiling. All of them stay fixated on their books and computers, barely glancing at the large plastic sheet encompassing one of the shelves tucked away in the corner. After all, this is the eighth week in a row they’ve dealt with this kind of thing. While some books on the shelf are relying on a layer of plastic to protect them, others have been entirely relocated. The culprit? A leaky roof that has yet to be fixed. Murphy Hall isn’t the only place where students have casually adapted to unaddressed repairs. Maintenance costs on buildings throughout campus have been deferred through the University budget for years, but those buildings are now in desperate need of new air conditioners, piping and plumbing systems. As the University works to pay off debt from new buildings in the Central District and handle a $20 million reduction in its base operating budget, it’s also struggling to maintain existing buildings — like Murphy Hall and Green Hall — which currently need up to an estimated $300 million in repairs. While faculty say the backlog of repairs has resulted in potentially unsafe and antiquated working conditions, Interim Provost Carl Lejuez said the situation is not abnormal
Sarah Wright/KANSAN Murphy Hall has been experiencing a leaky roof since early this semester. for a university. “At the same time, it really doesn’t matter what’s happening elsewhere when issues with facilities have the potential to negatively impact the learning environment for our students and the important research being conducted on our campus,” Lejuez said in an email to the Kansan. “These are simply issues that deserve our attention now.” The exact total of deferred maintenance depends on perspective. Lejuez said the lowest number is an estimated $100 million, and is composed of the bare minimum just to keep buildings safe. The Requirement Forecast Report, which provides an itemized list of deferred maintenance only up to 90 percent of the building’s
assessed value, totals to about $200 million in repairs. Lejuez said the $300 million he cites gets the buildings on campus to the level he feels faculty and students deserve — but it doesn’t include cosmetic work, like painting or carpeting. “I’ve often said in the town halls that we can quibble over the right number, but at the moment even the lowest numbers (e.g., $100M) are so astronomically high that regardless of what estimate is right, we need to start focusing our energy and resources on deferred maintenance because it will take considerable resources and time to make progress even if the lowest estimates are correct,” Lejuez said. The University reports
its deferred maintenance to the Kansas Board of Regents each year, according to University spokesperson Erinn Barcomb-Peterson. Typically, the state will give KU an average of $9.4 million annually, but this year, KBOR allocated $11.2 million to help with deferred maintenance issues on campus, Barcomb-Peterson said. Even after the state funding boost, the University allocated an estimated $10.6 million to fixing maintenance this year, according to a document obtained by the Kansan. From boiler replacements in the Visitor Center to electrical improvements in Fraser Hall, the University is working on a number of projects around campus. But the $11.2 million isn’t enough to cover the
over 500 schools nationwide. While Kansas was given a low score statewide, the University of Kansas was ranked the highest public university governed by the Kansas Board of Regents, scoring a 2.25, putting them above the national average of 2.0. The University fell within the middle ground among other institutions in the state in terms of representation equity of black students and gender equity, earning a C on a letter-grade scale, but fell short in black graduation rate, earning only a D. However, the University’s A grade in their black student to black faculty ratio is what gave them the highest ranking in the state, with a ratio of 11 to 1. “There is a high potential that this ratio of black students to black faculty contributes to KU’s black student graduation rate, though KU’s black student graduation rate is
far below many peer institutions in the Big 12 and the AAU according to the USC study,” said Trey Duran, Student Senate Director of Diversity and Inclusion. Office of Multicultural Affairs Director Precious Porras said she believes that there are two major reasons why the University may not be able to retain black students. One reason is financial struggles, whether that be major or minor financial issues, such as being unable to pay for a parking ticket, which in turn postpones the student’s enrollment. While there are resources like Undergraduate Studies Completion Grants — which can help seniors who must complete their studies that year — financial struggles are the main hurdle that prohibits students from completing their studies. However, the University does offer an array of retention programs for students. “We have a wealth of
resources that are open to students, with a focus on low-income and first generation students,” Porras said. “When looking at the intersections of these, some of those students also happen to be students of color.” These retention programs include the Adidas Leadership Scholars program and the Multicultural Scholars Program, both of which aid students in their educational endeavors, and ultimately guide students towards the overall goal of graduating. Porras said a sense of not belonging at the University is another major reason they may not be able to retain students as well. “Students who feel like they don’t belong on campus won’t find their niche, and sometimes won’t stay,” Porras said. “Being a predominantly white institution, it can be difficult for students of color to transition from being in an environment where they may
estimated $39 million to $52 million of building deterioration that accumulates each year across the Lawrence and Edwards campuses — especially when inflation only increases those costs. At this point, the University is starting to run into emergency after emergency, according to Kirk McClure, the faculty senate president. “That’s not planned reinvestment — that’s band aids upon emergencies,” McClure said. “It’s too bad, and not a good way to run a major facility like the University.” In Snow Hall, for example, the air-conditioning is constantly in disrepair, according to McClure. In his opinion, the University should have dealt with existing problems before
investing in new buildings like the Integrated Science Building and Capitol Federal Hall. “It’s a rare circumstance where you want to build a new building when you have inadequately maintained an old building,” McClure said. “That rare circumstance is when you want to destroy an old building, if it’s not fully operational. That’s not what we’re doing here.” As University administration works to get the budget back on track, Lejuez said he hopes to allocate a portion of the base budget toward reducing the estimated $300 million in needed repairs in the new budget model to be developed by the end of this academic year. Barcomb-Peterson said the University is working on producing a funding plan for infrastructure — which KBOR does not take into account — and seeking out cost-effective repairs. “We are conducting repairs and maintenance in ways that reduce operational costs and energy usage for greater savings in the long run,” Barcomb-Peterson said. While Lejuez said it would be ideal to fix these issues now, his focus is currently on carrying the University through a cumbersome $20 million budget cut. “Thus, it will take us some time to be investing to the extent I would like, but we have to start somewhere and remain consistently focused on increasing our commitment until we bring our facilities to the level that our people deserve,” he said.
Kansas, Missouri struggle in graduating black students LUCY PETERSON @PetersonxLucy Kansas and its next door neighbor Missouri are among the worst states in graduating African American students from higher institutions, according to a recent study conducted by University of Southern California professors. Shaun R. Harper and Isaiah Simmons of USC used a unique Equity Index Score, which was developed by USC’s Race and Equity Center, to evaluate the data. The report was graded on a 4.0 GPA scale, awarding states a grade based on in-state institutions’ ability to retain and graduate students of color. Kansas was given a score of 1.61, while Missouri gained a 1.68 score, which are among some of the lowest scores in the nation. Researchers used data such as the ratio of black students to black faculty, and graduation rates of black students to conduct their research of
Illustration by Huntyr Schwegman/KANSAN have been the majority or where their cultural beliefs were upheld to an environment where they are suddenly a minority, and they don’t see their culture being directly represented anymore.” Ultimately, it is a continuous struggle for universities to retain students of color and make sure they are integrated
effectively into their community. “Increasing graduation rates of black students at the University of Kansas will be no simple endeavor,” Duran said. “There is little cause for celebration when the graduation rate for black students at KU is still below 50 percent.”