THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
INSIDE
ARTS
One man is dead after an early morning shooting Wednesday p. 2
Indie singer-songwriter Julien Baker to perform at
Hillier brothers’ transition to America made easier by one another p. 8
the Granada The University Daily Kansan
vol. 136 // iss. 23 Thurs., Apr. 5, 2018
SEE INDIE-FOLK • PAGE 4
Students to vote on readership program
Andrew Rosenthal/KANSAN Student Body President Mady Womack is leaving funding for the Collegeiate Leadership Program up to students, who can vote on Aprill 11 and 12.
SYDNEY HOOVER @sydhoover17
With Finance Committee in disagreement, Student Senate has given students at the University the opportunity to vote on whether or not to keep the student readership fee in the coming year. The vote will take place April 11 and 12 during Senate elections. The Collegiate Readership Program provides more than 70 newspaper kiosks across campus where students can pick up copies of the New York Times, USA Today, the Lawrence-Journal World and the Kansas City Star
for free. Though the the Kansan reported in November 2016 that 1,745 newspapers are dsitributed on average each day on campus, Senate leaders are split on whether or not the continuation of the fee would be practical. “The service has run out of money, and it will require a fee increase to keep it. During deliberations on whether or not to grant the fee that increase, Fee Review was also divided on how to proceed,” Finance Committee Chair Chance Maginness said in an email to the Kansan. “So instead of having 14 people make
a decision, Student Body President Mady Womack suggested that we send it out for the student body to make the final decision.” If students vote to maintain the service, an additional $2.50 would be added to the annual student fee. The student fee was already raised $25.20 for the coming school year, the largest fee increase since 2009. At present, the fee is set at $0.00 and the money in the fund has been redistributed, Maginness said, but this would change depending on the student body’s vote, as a fee increase would be required
to sustain the program. The fee had come up for debate in March 2017 as well, but Finance Committee voted to continue the program due to a reserve of funds that had already been accumulated to sustain the program. Overtime, money had been saved up from the fee created to establish the readership program, creating a self-sustaining fund and no need to continue requiring a fee of students for the program. “I think the committee felt that they wanted to continue the program. I think that they share, you know, their beliefs for why
it’s important, so the committee chose to keep it. But that’s not to say that there wasn’t disagreement and significant debate about whether or not to keep the program,” said Student Body President Mady Womack. As of this year, the reserve can no longer sustain the program, requiring the additional $2.50 fee. All student fees are reviewed yearly by the Fee Review Committee. According to Newspaper Readership Board Chair Stuart Bennett, if the referendum were to fail and the fee is voted out, the program would “cease to ex-
ist,” and would likely lead to removal of kiosks and exiting with USA Today partners. However, Bennett believes the program is “worthy of a student fee” to sustain its current program. “I find the Newspaper Readership Program to be an exceptionally beneficial service to students on campus. It provides daily print news to students almost anywhere they may go on campus. Personally, I was introduced to this program last year as a freshman and enjoyed the paper nearly every morning or afternoon,” Bennett said.
Provost leaving KU to become Louisville president
EMILY WELLBORN @EmWellborn
Provost Neeli Bendapudi will be leaving the University of Kansas to become the president of the University of Louisville. The Courier Journal reported Tuesday that Louisville’s Board of Trustees appointed Bendapudi in a “special meeting” Tuesday. She will be Louisville’s first female president. She was introduced as president at 1:30 p.m. EST via livestream. “My mother and father actually taught for two years at the University of Louisville, Kentucky,” she said during the livestream. During the livestream,
Bendapudi also said her start date was set as Tuesday, May 15, which is the week after finals week at the University of Kansas. Bendapudi has been the provost of the University since 2016 after being formerly the dean of the School of Business. She was the first female dean of the school. Chancellor Douglas Girod put out a statement regarding Bendapudi’s new position. “While this is a loss for KU, I am delighted for Neeli, who has served our university with passion for the past seven years and will undoubtedly do great work at Louisville,” Dr. Girod said in the statement. “As friends and colleagues, we can be
happy for her.” Girod wrote that he will be naming an interim provost “in the coming days” and will announce the search for a permanent provost and executive vice chancellor in the upcoming weeks. Provost Neeli Bendapudi put out a statement reflecting on her time at the University and thanking students, faculty and staff for what they have accomplished together during her sixyear tenure. “To the vast network of Jayhawks ... Thank you. Thank you for making our time here more meaningful, more enjoyable, and more memorable,” Bendapudi said in the statement.
Savanna Smith/KANSAN Provost Neeli Bendapudi introduces herself to the 2017-2018 Student Senate on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017, in Alderson Auditorium.