Tomorrow's weather
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
COMFORTABLE Warm and partly cloudy tomorrow.
Tuesday
Kansan
HIGH LOW
75 47
On campus today
Unseasonably warm weather has led many to get out their summer clothes and head outside.
SEE PAGE 6A
Section:
A
Vol. 110 • No. 58
Sports today
The kansas women's basketball team opens its exhibition season tonight at Allen Fieldhouse against a Lithuanian team.
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GOING FOR GOLD
Students lose out when professors find more cash, benefits elsewhere
STORY BY AMANDA KASCHUBE ·ILLUSTRATION BY KYLE RAMSEY
Ben Leimkuhier has taught math at the University of Kansas for nine years, but this semester will be his last. He's moving to England to teach at a university that offers him more opportunities — and more money.
(USPS 650-640)
It isn't just for money because no one really leaves just for more money," he said. "But the lack of reasonable increases in salaries and the constant cut of salaries is demoralizing. At colleges all over the world, almost everyone at my stage is making more money than me."
But it is the money, University officials say. Whether it's salaries, teaching assistants or new equipment, the University is losing out to other schools that can better provide for their faculty members.
And it's getting worse. In a state where the average nine-month university teaching salary is $58,060, and where only a handful of people in some Western counties may earn that much in a whole year, a professor's salary looks pretty darn good.
"The simple fact is as we construct a budget, we look at all the functions of the state government," said Kansas Rep. Melvin Neufeld (R-Ingalls). "It's not to say they don't deserve a pay increase, but we have to look at the whole picture. We have limited resources. We have to pick and choose."
University officials are crusading for salary increase, but without more money from the state legislature, their cries are in vain.
This year the legislature picked tax cuts, and the governor chose to institute budget cuts across the board, leaving promises of better funding for salaries in
the next legislative session.
Neufeld agreed that the University shouldn't have to lower its quality of education, but KU administrators argue that Kansas can't continue to be competitive without higher professor salaries.
In a recent survey by the Pope Center for Higher Education, the professors at the University were ranked 73rd out of 80 universities in salaries for professors and associate professors, a fact that makes many administrators down right angry.
"Tutition at KU is a real bargain, but lower tuition equals less money into the University to support the operating expenses. It's great for students, but in the long run, it hurts the University," said Sally Frost Mason, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. "The bottom line, though, is that we have a hard time competing with similar colleges."
Encancellor Robert Hemenway says the University offers professors a good place to teach and interact with students. For some professors, however, that isn't enough to keep them here.
See KANSAS on page 5A
Forgery robs victims of money, credit rating
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
By Katie Hollar
When Maureen Perry dropped her purse at a party, she didn't think the accident would cost her more than $100. The Eden Prairie, Minn., freshman scooped up her belongings when she returned from the bathroom. She thought she got everything.
She didn't.
Perry discovered her checks had been stolen when she received a phone call from a Dillons employee a few days later, she said.
Someone had tried to write one of Perry's checks for $30 more than the grocery total and ran off when the manager was called. The Dillons
employee asked Perry why she ran and if she wanted the check back.
"I told them it wasn't me," Perry said. "I called the cops and filed a police report."
Perry said a messy ordeal ensued. She lost a lot of money, both in check-canceling fees and in checks that had been forged and cleared.
"It's kind of an expensive lesson," she said.
Forgery is a common crime in Lawrence, robbing victims of both money and good credit. And while the victim pays a high price, the perpetrator faces few consequences.
"We get at least several forgery reports every day," said Sgt. George Wheeler of the Lawrence Police Department.
Wheeler said the real prob.
item with forgery was the permanent damage to the victim's credit.
"You need to guard you checkbook like you would your money," he said. "Not only can they take your money, they can ruin your credit."
"You need to guard your
He said forgery was not limited to checks. It could occur with credit cards and ATM cards, too.
Tricia Boyd, personal banking officer at Mercantile Bank, said in many cases, a victim's money could be returned.
"If we've paid the checks and all of the proper paperwork is filled out, then the customer would be reimbursed," Boyd said. "If the checks are
returned, the individual has to deal with either the merchant
tion agency."
tion agency." The crime has a special significance for KU students, Wheeler said. "I know KU uses a check card system," he said. "And since there's so any people that
stuff in a communal living situation, you should be doubly cautious."
Under Kansas law, forgery is classified as a nonperson felony. But the penalties are minimum.
Wheeler said that under current sentencing guidelines, the usual punishment was presumptive probation. In addition, the forger would be ordered to pay a fine and restitution, he said.
scott Poettker, St. Peters, Mo., junior and recent forgery victim, said he thought the punishment was fair.
"I think there maybe should be some sort of community service," he said. "There should be reparations."
More than $500 worth of checks were forged on Poettker's account. Though his money has been refunded, the situation still irks him.
"It really botheres me to know I have checks coming back from 15, 16 places all over town that I never wrote," he said.
- Edited by Chris Hopkins
Students could lose parking on bus route
ay Derek Prater
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff worker
Ordinances before the Lawrence City Commission tonight may force some KU students to find a new place to park.
David Woosley, city traffic engineer, said two possible ordinances could prohibit parking along a street that KU students park on and then catch the KU on Wheels bus.
One ordinance would prohibit parking from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday along the south side of West 22nd St. from Kasold Drive to the east property line of 3205 W. 22nd St. and along the east side of 22nd Court. The other one would prohibit parking at all times along the south side of West 22nd St. east of the east property line of 3205 W. 22nd St. and along the west side of 22nd Court.
Woosley said the ordinances resulted from concerns about the number of students parking there.
"The original request came from residents in the area who said that students were parking there all day long and making it difficult to get through the street," he said.
Charles Hoffman, who has lived at 3205 W. 22nd St. for 11 years, said parked cars clogged up the street and that there wasn't enough room for the KU buses that pass by every 30 minutes and stop at West 22nd St. and Heatherwood Drive.
"I've even been forced up off the road twice by bus drivers that won't yield," he said.
Woosley said one concern was that those parking on the street did not live in the area and were putting an undue burden on the residents who did live there.
Hoffman said he recently counted 14 cars parked along the street, none of which had Douglas County license plates. Hoffman said that led him to believe they were students' cars.
Not only is the congestion a nuisance, but it could be dangerous, he said.
"It's a serious problem with safety," Hoffman said. "If we had a fire, there's no way a fire engine or an ambulance could get in here."
Woosley said the Traffic Safety Commission decided to recommend the parking prohibition after holding a hearing and listening to the concerns of area residents. Hoffman said he was happy with the recommendation for no parking signs.
"I told them, "The quicker you can get them up, then the happier about 14 homes here will be," he said.
If either ordinance passes tonight at the city commission meeting, it would be two to three weeks before the signs would be posted, Woosley said.
Edited by Matt James
Administrative salaries low compared to most Big 12 universities
By Clay McCuistion
By Clay McCullough
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas may compete athletically with other universities in the Big 12, but when it comes to administrative salaries, the Jayhawks are falling behind the pack.
While the disparity may not be as glaring as the low faculty pay, the University came up short when the salaries of eight administrative positions were compared in 11 of the Big 12 schools. The University's average administrative salary was third-to-last, at $142,024. The universities with a lower average pay for the eight positions were Kansas State University and the University of Oklahoma. The highest average pay was at the University of Texas, with $221,544. Deborah Teter, director of the office of
institutional research and planning, said salaries for KU administrators had traditionally been low.
Rascal year 1999 salaries were compared for the positions of chancellor, provost, research officer, general counsel, student affairs officer, the dean of liberal arts and sciences, the dean of business and the dean of law. All Big 12 universities provided salary figures except for Baylor University, which is private, and therefore not required to release such information.
Deborah Teeter, director of the office of
"That's my interpretation in looking at this for literally decades," said Teeter, who has worked at the University collecting statistical information for 25 years. "It's typical."
At the University, Chancellor Robert Hemenway's salary is set by the Kansas Board of Regents. The chancellor decides the provost's salary. The two then set the
salaries of the administrators who work in their respective offices.
"It kind of just follows the organizational chart," said Lindy Eakin, associate provost for support services.
Eakin is in charge of finding extra money in the University budget for newly-hired administrators. He said meager pay made it difficult to attract quality administrators.
"It makes it hard to recruit people if they don't think the resources are going to be there." Eakin said. "I'm on the search committee for a new law dean, and one of the first questions we ask is: 'Can we afford to hire someone?'"
Eakin said public perceptions that administrators were highly paid made raising salaries difficult.
daily, percentage.
The news hasn't been all bad, though.
"We realize the salaries are that low, but nobody really cares about administrators being underpaid," he said. "We're
in the relatively same position as the faculty, percentage-wise."
The news hasn't been an bad, though. The chancellor was given a $19,986 raise this summer by the Board of Regents, which boosted his salary for fiscal year 2000 to $202,428, almost a 10 percent raise. Taking the increase into account, he still lagged behind five of the Big 12 chancellors' '1999 salaries.
Kim Wilcox, executive director of the regents, said the board was doing what it could.
Unfortunately, the regents only have the authority to raise salaries for the presidents and chancellors of universities. Wilcox said.
"The Board of Regents has been quite vocal in recent years in addressing the lack of compensation for all university employees," he said.
- Edited by Mike Loader
Administrative Salaries
Average salaries of five administrative offices in the Big 12 compared with the KU salaries for those positions for the fiscal year 1999:
Average Big 12 Salaries KU Salaries
Administrative Offices
Ellie Hajek /KANSAN