Jonathan Ng and Loren Malone know the school year is short when they have so many things they want to do.

That’s why Kansas University’s student body leaders have hit the ground running this summer, laying the groundwork for Student Senate work beginning this fall.

Ng is Kansas University’s new student body president. Malone is KU’s vice president.

“The power we have is to motivate people to make changes,” Ng said. “This gives us access that we wouldn’t have otherwise.”

Ng (pronounced “Ung”) and Johanna Maska, Student Senate’s legislative director, have been meeting this summer with each member of the Kansas Board of Regents.

“The main purpose of our meetings has been to establish a strong working relationship in the coming year  something Senate seemed to lack last year,” Ng said.

He cited last year’s discussions about tuition increase as an example.

“With tuition, we stressed that an increase was necessary to enhance the quality of education at KU,” he said. “In addition, we stressed that students did not wish to pay an increase as high as the one proposed. We urged the regents to consider alternative ways to lessen the initial financial burden of a tuition increase by possibly extending an increase over a longer period of time.”

Minority issues

Ng, a Leawood senior, won April’s student body elections with running mate Malone, a Senatobia, Miss., senior. Ng, 21, is majoring in Spanish and journalism. Malone, 21, is a pre-med major.

Ng is the first elected Asian-American student body president at Kansas University, and he wants to use his position to help increase ethnic diversity on campus.

“It’s a big deal when you’re dealing with a first of that sort, whether it’s the first woman student body president or the first minority faculty member in an area,” he said. “It raises awareness and inspires people to pursue their interests and lets them know there isn’t a glass ceiling.”

One of their goals is to construct a new Multicultural Resource Center near the Kansas Union  and possibly connected to the north side of the union  where students can learn about other cultures.

“A strong Multicultural Resource Center strengthens minority retention, which in turn strengthens minority recruitment,” Ng said. “The MRC affects all students. It’s not just the minorities.”

The center has been housed in a temporary building west of Malott Hall since its inception in 1995. Ng said the building is too small for the center to expand its services.

Chancellor Robert Hemenway recently committed $500 for a feasibility study for the project, which will discuss cost, space and duties of the center. The leaders also are working with the KU Endowment Association for fund-raising assistance.

“Maybe increasing awareness right now, somebody would come out of the woods and answer our prayers,” he said.

Student Senate funding, student fees and increased tuition money also could be used. And Ng said he plans to work with Endowment Association officials to create a proposal for soliciting someone to donate a large amount toward the project.

Ng said a complete report from the task force should be complete by fall.

More projects

Other goals of the student leaders:

 Create an “Online KU Info” Web site that would include a comprehensive calendar of university events and information on such topics as scholarships and intramurals.

 Opening most campus lots to student parking at 5 p.m. Most lots are closed to students until 7:30 p.m. They also want to create a “KU Parking for Dummies” map to explain where students, faculty, staff and visitors can park.

 Creating a committee to oversee extra tuition money received from students from increases beginning this fall.

“There needs to be an advisory committee made up mostly of students to decide where that money should be spent,” Ng said. “I don’t think this money should be lumped into the budget.”

 Conducting more phone and in-person polling of students to help determine what KU’s priorities should be on student issues.

‘Lines drop’

Ng and Malone represent the KUnited coalition, one of three campus groups that sought the student presidency. The former student body president and vice president, Justin Mills and Kyle Browning, respectively, represented Delta Force.

Ng said Delta Force focuses more on grassroots campaigns and rallies. He said his administration would spend more one-on-one time with administrators and state officials.

“When the elections end, you step into senate and those lines drop,” Malone said. “We’re all students.”