From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Oct. 22, 1974:

Kansas University was facing shortages in funds, supplies, and space, Chancellor Archie Dykes and Executive Vice Chancellor Del Shankel told student leaders at an open forum at the Kansas Union. However, students could effect KU’s future by their participation in the legislative process, they were told. “Last year we were successful in getting most of the funding we needed because of the students’ work with the legislature,” Dykes told the group. “It’s one thing for Dr. Shankel or me to tell the legislators that we need this or that. It’s quite another when a student in the legislator’s district tells him there is inadequate teaching or insufficient library hours…. Student leadership made the difference in our ability to appropriate money.” The university was facing sweeping inflation which had raised operating expenses 15 percent, Shankel noted. The cost of computer cards and paper had risen 100 percent, while library journals had increased in price by 20 to 25 percent for the previous two or three years in a row. Another example Shankel gave was the rise in the price of noble augur, a chemical used to solidify liquids in order to grow bacteria. A year-old catalog showed a price of $18.10 a pound; a six-month-old catalog showed $23.75 a pound, and the current price was $35 a pound. “An academic institution is particularly susceptible to inflation,” Dykes said. “We face shortages in almost every area.”