Collegio Online

Issue date: 11/1/07 Section: Front Page

Dick Hedges and Donna Shank, representatives from the Kansas Board of Regents, respond to questions from students during their PSU visit on Monday, Oct. 29.

During their visit to Pittsburg State University on Monday, Oct. 29, two Kansas Board of Regents members held a student question and answer session in which they fielded questions about safety, enrollment growth and more.
Thirty minutes were set aside for the meeting, but it could have been longer, as some students were left hanging when time was called. Regardless, the board weighed in on a variety of issues.

Security

"Security issues that spawned from the events on Pittsburg State's campus nearly three months ago have raised awareness of the other universities in regards to the necessity of it," said Dick Hedges, one of the Regents speakers. "It is an issue that is gaining more and more attention from us, but security is mainly an issue that each university is best fit to handle for themselves."
It had been reported earlier that if a university needed funds to back such programs it would need to be taken in front of the Regents council rather than at a state level.
"Universities are coming up with different plans to rework their security measures, with text messaging systems and other ideas, but to what extents they are pursuing those are still open," said Donna Shank, who represented the Regents along with Hedges. "In regards to the incident here, it was handled very quickly and efficiently by the students involved, which is where that security should start."
Shank continued by saying that it was a tricky process to find a happy medium when it comes to security.
"To have an overwhelming security presence is almost a reverse treatment. It comes to the issue of privacy vs. safety at that point," said Shank. "We will continue to provide whatever guidance we can to ensure that each university takes the correct measures."

Conservation

Shank said that there has been movement in the area of campus conservation in terms of solar and wind power and secondary energy subsidiaries.
"There has been a lot of momentum in the energy fronts, but it's been limited to an individualist style on campuses across the state," said Shank. "Efficiency in terms of energy is a proposition that is undertaken typically on a student level, but at the state level there is not much movement."

Continued...

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