Monday, May 8.2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 3
Stores brace for buyback
Students to hawk books for dollars
By Wanisa Chulindra
writer@kanson.com
Kanson staff writer
As University of Kansas students finish their classes, many will lug their textbooks to bookstores, hoping to exchange them for crisp dollar bills.
Nicholas Beckmann, Smith Center junior, said he looked forward to the experience.
"I paid $500 for books this semester," he said. "I'm hoping for a big payback."
Keith Kielman, textbook manager at the Jayhawk Bookstore, 1420 Crescent Road, said book buyback was all about supply and demand.
"Supply and demand seem to be dirty words in our capitalist society," Kielman said.
Each department turns in a list of books it plans on using for the summer and fall semesters. The summer semester list was due March 20, and the fall semester list was due April 20.
However, 50 to 70 percent of professors and faculty don't turn in the necessary lists until book buyback begins. Kielman said. That leaves bookstores second guessing, thus
sometimes shortchanging students. He said that on Friday alone, he had entered 25 faculty requests into the computer system.
Jack Porter, chairman of the department of mathematics, said that instructors teaching junior- or senior-level classes might need more time.
Another problem students may encounter is not being able to sell back their books because of new editions. Bill Getz, KU Bookstore textbook manager, said that companies generally changed editions about every two and a half years. But he said more and more departments preferred using editions for longer periods.
Porter said that changing textbooks was not a decision the department made lightly; it forms a committee to make that decision. He said it was not uncommon for the department to change textbooks after two or three years; however, if instructors thought the textbook wasn't meeting department goals.
"When we change textbooks, we usually have particular goals in mind." Porter said.
Contrary to popular belief, new books and used books are bought back at 50 percent of their original values, though the condition of the books is a factor. Getz said.
"We seldom get as many used books
BUYBACK LOCATIONS
■ Kansas Union Bookstore: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Saturday and noon to 3 p.m.
Sunday
burg Union Bookstore: 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Friday; 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday
Wescoe Beach: 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. during day of finals
saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and
1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday
University Book Shop, 1116 W.
23rd St.: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Monday through Friday,
Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and
McColum Hall basement: 9 a.m to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday
■ Jayhawk Bookstore, 1420
Crescent Road: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Monday through Thursday, 8
a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to
5 p.m. Saturday and noon to
4 p.m. Sunday
Not all students cash in on their textbooks.
as we need," he said.
Jamie Zerbe, Council Grove sophomore, keeps the ones that are for her major and borrows the others from friends. She said it saved her money.
Parking on Oread could be spared
The University of Kansas wants to leave some parking spots on Oread Avenue and Mississippi Street untouched instead of removing them to make way for the new parking garage near the Kansas Union.
Rodger Oroke, director of general services for the University, said that as the July 31 completion date for the garage drew closer, the University realized it would not need the city to remove all the parking it had originally requested.
He said the original request had been made without having a feel for how the project would play out.
The original request was for the city to remove all parking on the west side of Oread, from 12th Street to Baumgartner Drive. Oroke said the University now plans to leave the seven or eight spots between 12th Street and the entry to the garage.
By John Audlehelm
"We can allow more parking without any impediment to our
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Spared parking spaces
garage area," Oroke said. "We think we've made reasonable accommodations that make sense."
As for Mississippi Street, the University is officially sticking with its original request to remove all parking on the east side.
Oroke said this was necessary to make room for a new left-turn lane into the garage and to ensure that firefighters could reach the fire hydrant on the west side of Mississippi.
But Oroke said the University would be willing to consider leave-
Student considers settlement after grievance dispute
ing a spot between the stairs on Mississippi just north of the garage and KU's property line, which is just north of that.
By Jim O'Malley
"One car is important if that's the space you're looking for," he said.
The City Commission will discuss the new requests at tomorrow night's meeting.
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
City manager Mike Wildgen said if the commission agreed with the request, it might become law in two to three weeks.
Wilden said given the short distances at issue, the City Commission might not have much choice but to agree.
Brett Dicus, Overland Park sophomore and resident of the apartment complex at 12th and Oread streets, said he was glad the parking might not be removed.
Erich Bublitz was upset when he learned he was the subject of an investigation by a University committee set up to prevent workplace violence on campus.
Dicus said when the parking had been temporarily removed for construction trucks, he had tried to park in the lot behind his complex.
The Lawrence senior had complained in March 1999 to Tom Sarowski, dean of business, about a dispute he was having with Kay Nelson, then an assistant professor of business. He filed a formal grievance against Nelson in May 1999. As their dispute developed, Nelson came to believe that Bublitz was emotionally unstable and was a threat to her safety.
"I park there all the time," he said. "That's prime parking."
"That lot was really full," he said. "We were short about five spots, basically."
The University eventually decided that Bublitz wasn't a threat and that Nelson should apologize. But no one is happy about the resolution, and the conflict has left scars on the business school.
Business school rattled
"Eirich and Kay certainly had significant disagreements," said Jim Heintz, professor of business. "Gradually she got more concerned about Erich. She was expressing fears for her safety."
Bubbitz learned in September 1999 that the KU Threat Assessment Team, a University committee set up to prevent workplace violence on campus, was looking into Nelson's concerns about Bubbitz. Bubbitz said Nelson's fears were unfounded.
"I've never touched a gun in my life except for a BB gun at scout camp," he said.
Several weeks later, the Threat Assessment Team concluded that none of the incidents reported by Nelson demonstrated a physical threat.
Bublitz said he first learned Nelson was criticizing him in an e-mail that referred to "the Erich problem" that was inadvertently sent to him in February 1999.
The dispute began because of something Bublitz saw when he was working in Nelson's husband's office
Erich Bubltz said the apology was inadequate.
— a form that suggested to Bublitz that Nelson was interested in leaving Kansas for the University of Wisconsin. Bublitz told his father, Bruce Bublitz, associate dean of business.
Nelson's lawyer, Stephen Cavanaan, said in a 1999 letter to Bublitz's lawyer that Nelson considered it an invasion of privacy for Erich Bublitz to read the document and tell his father. He wrote that Nelson considered Erich Bublitz emotionally unstable and dangerous.
Erich Bublitz said Nelson had no reason to tell anyone he was emotionally stable and dangerous. He said he suffered from chronic depression and attention deficit disorder and had told Nelson about it before the dispute began. Erich Bublitz said Nelson took the information and used it against him.
The business' school faculty grievance committee ruled in October 1999 that Nelson had violated Bublitz's rights.
"Some things that were said about Mr. Bublitz ought not to have been said," the committee wrote.
"I apologize if I in any way acted in an unprofessional manner toward you," Nelson wrote in response. "I should not have attempted to address your behavior."
The committee recommended that Nelson apologize.
Nelson declined to comment and referred all questions to Cavanaugh.
Sarowski said he had tried to resolve the dispute through the proper procedures.
"I always encouraged Erich to file a grievance," he said. "I didn't expect to be named in the grievance."
He said he thought the University had given unwarranted credibility to Nelson's statements about him when it allowed her to teach her fall 1999 courses through the Internet from Utah.
Erich Bublitz said he felt the business school hadn't been neutral in his dispute with Nelson. That's why he also named Sarowski in his grievance.
Sarowski was cleared. By the time the grievance process was over, Erich Bublitz had run up $16,000 in attorney fees. His lawyer, Greer Lang, tried to negotiate a settlement with the University. Eventually the University offered to pay $7,000 if Bublitz would agree not to talk about the incident. Lang said.
Erich Bubltz said he rejected the offer because he felt it was more important to talk about it.
Rose Marino, associate general counsel, said she had no comment on the negotiations.
The incident has left scars in the business school.
Sarowski is retiring, and Bruce Bublitz has agreed to become dean of the business school at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Nelson is now an assistant professor of accounting at the University of Utah.
Bruce Bublitz said the University had not protected his son's rights.
"It's not how a great university is supposed to act," he said. "Whether faculty screw each other is one thing, but students should be protected. I'm not sure even a corporation would sink to this level."
Dispute inflated by e-mail
In March, before Erich Bublitz, Lawrence senior, filed his grievance against Kay Nelson, former assistant professor of business, and Tom Sarowski, dean of business, he sent a letter to Provost David Shulenburger complaining about Nelson. Around the same time, Sarowski told Bublitz's father, Bruce Bublitz, that his term as associate dean would not be renewed.
Bublitz said he feared his father's nonrenewal as associate dean was the result of his dispute with Nelson.
"I didn't fire Dr. Bubitz.",
Sarowski said. "I informed him in March that his term would end in June. It was not a nasty kind of firing situation. There was a letter of complaint delivered to my office the day after I visited with Dr. Bubitz."
The dispute widened when an e-mail sent by Sarowski to Bruce Bublitz in January was sent on to other business school faculty. In the e-mail, Sarowki said that the only thing the faculty was good at was bitching and that they were whiny jerks,
"I'm starting to find them all distasteful," he said.
Sarowski said the situation was unfortunate.
"I saw this as a sort of an executive privilege kind of document sent to two higher-level executives," he said. "I didn't sent it to the faculty. It is awfully embarrassing. I apologize to all of our faculty. I've learned my lesson."
Sarowski, who is retiring, said one lesson he learned was that it was too easy to hit the send button after composing a heated e-mail.
Jim O'Malley
dissatisfied with the University's handling of the dispute. He said she thought the business school couldn't be impartial because Bublitz's father was associate dean.
Provost David Shulenberger said he thought the grievance process was fair.
Bublist plans to finish his degree at the University in December.
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