So, I know what you’re thinking. How can I get the information from a six hour meeting without having to go attend it? Simple! Take a glance at my reporter’s notebook. This week: Kansas Board of Regents Admissions Task Force meeting in Wichita.Although the majority of officials from the six state universities had at least a few positive things to say about the qualified admissions standards used in Kansas, the majority had quite a few criticisms.Especially critical of the current set of admissions standards was Kansas University Provost Richard Lariviere. While many complimented the current set of standard’s ability to give almost anyone in Kansas access to a post-secondary education, Lariviere pegged the set as too lenient.Lariviere: _We’re not serving the students as well as we could. It allows high school kids to coast in their junior and senior year. If you have the math skills to calculate that you cannot get below a 2.0 GPA, you’re in. The motive to take AP history, AP English, AP calculus… it simply isn’t there. Our competitors – UCLA and Berkley – are looking at performance in a student’s senior year… Bright students say that because university admission in Kansas is not a feather in anyone’s cap, they apply at university’s with a higher standard._Lariviere went on to advocate a system that didn’t simply look at grades and test scores, but rather one that looked at a student as a whole. If a student had poor grades, but teachers pointed out that he was the oldest of six kids from a dysfunctional family where he took care of his siblings and didn’t have access to test preparation, Lariviere said the student’s personality was more important than his academics.Andy Tompkins, dean of the College of Education for Pittsburg State University and a task force member, offered some defense of the current standards. Tompkins, who originally helped hammer out the current standards, said he felt taxpayers should have access to the universities they pay for.”I love this high-touch idea,” he said. “I’m just saying, how will I know if I have a shot at being admitted to KU?”The Legislature: A Lumbering Giant? Briefly touched on, but still of particular interest was the idea that admissions standards at Regents universities should be handled by the regents, not by the Kansas Legislature. Again, Lariviere spearheaded the conversation: _The Legislature cannot respond quickly, nimbly. It can’t respond in the same way that the Board of Regents can to address specific needs … I wonder which of you who are in the business world would be comfortable stating today the criteria you want to have for people you will hire in 2018._Regent and task force chairman Gary Sherrer told me during a brief break in the discussion that it was much too early in the game to say whether or not the Regents would push for the right to make admissions decisions. However, he said it was something that would “certainly be considered.”