KU Endowment s offices on West Campus in Lawrence are pictured April 16, 2021.
In the fundraising world, there is nothing quite like a check without strings.
Think of a check that doesn’t come with any instructions on a particular building it should construct, a specific academic field it should support, or even a desire to see more wins on the football field. It is simply a check to be used for whatever is needed or maybe simply wanted – at the moment.
In the field of higher education, such checks are a lot like a free lunch much desired but seldom received. The latest numbers at KU Endowment drive home that point. In the fiscal year that ended in June, KU Endowment received $124.2 million in contributions and grants that contained some sort of donor restriction. The organization received $820,000 in contributions free of restrictions.
Alabama native married at 17 wants to change Kansas teen bride law
Updated Feb 24, 2021;
Lauren Van Wagoner married her boyfriend when she was just 17.
Growing up in a religiously conservative home in small-town Alabama, Van Wagoner and her boyfriend came under pressure to wed after both families found out they’d had sex. They were Mormons and feared being ostracized.
The decision permanently altered the course of Van Wagoner’s life. Suddenly saddled with the responsibilities of adulthood, she had four children before divorcing 12 years later.
Kansas is among the dozens of states that continue to allow people under 18 to marry. Marriages of 15-year-olds are allowed with a judge’s permission while 16-and-17 year-olds can wed with various combinations of parental and judicial permission. Alabama requires those between the ages of 16-18 to have parental consent to wed.
photo by: Screenshot of OneKU s Defend KU virtual town hall
Over 200 people attended a virtual town hall on Feb. 4 put on by a group of University of Kansas faculty members who object to a new Kansas Board of Regents policy that would eliminate tenure protections.
A group of University of Kansas faculty hosted a virtual town hall Thursday night to discuss a recent Kansas Board of Regents policy that one faculty member said would be “the beginning of the end of tenure” in higher education.
The group, called OneKU, is composed of faculty who consider themselves promoters and defenders of quality public higher education and advocates for KU’s mission as a research institution dedicated to the creation of knowledge for the public good. The group’s event, which was called “Defend KU,” gathered over 200 attendees on Zoom.
University of Kansas faculty group decries dismissal policy sfgate.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sfgate.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Strong Hall on the University of Kansas campus is shown on Sept. 13, 2018.
Updated at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday
The University of Kansas will put together a framework for a new Kansas Board of Regents policy that would give university CEOs more power to dismiss, suspend or terminate employees, even those with tenure, according to a statement from Provost Barbara Bichelmeyer.
Bichelmeyer said in a video message Tuesday that while KU was reserving the option of using the policy, she hoped that it would not have to.
Tenure has long been viewed in the academic community as a way to ensure professors’ academic freedom by preventing dismissal except for the most extraordinary reasons.