Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Ann Premer, Editor Jamie Holman, Business manager Gerry Doyle, Managing editor Sara Cropper, Retail sales manager Angie Kuhn, Managing editor Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser Justin Knapp, Technology coordinator
Thursday, February 25, 1999
Seth Jones / KANSAN
Editorial
Faculty salaries need attention from student lobbyists, legislators
Quality education at any level is heavily determined by the quality of the faculty. This especially is true at a research university. Recruiting and retaining qualified staff members is necessary to maintain a high level of education.
Unfortunately, the University of Kansas, and other Regents schools, is having trouble meeting this goal. Every year, about 3 percent of the University's faculty is lost because other institutions offer a higher salary. Most times, retention only occurs because professors who would leave already have attained tenure or have a specific University loyalty.
This year, the biggest complaint came from the communication studies department. With its faculty deficit, classes were overcrowded to the point
The Legislature's reduction in a proposed faculty pay increase is short-sighted.
that seniors had trouble enrolling in courses required for graduation.
The retention difficulty comes because faculty members at the University make only 88.2 percent of their peers' salary. With higher tuition costs every year, students face a particularly damaging situation: paying more for a decreasing quality of education. This does not say that remaining teachers are bad educators, but crowded classrooms and poor recruitment in filling retirement spots makes their job more difficult.
It is for these reasons our student lobbists recently made a trip to Topeka to ask for a 7.6 percent faculty salary increase. Not only is the increase necessary to maintain competitiveness with KU's peer institutions but also to recruit quality incoming staff. Unfortunately, the governor cut the request to just 3.5 percent, and Monday the Appropriations Committee made additional cuts to leave increases below 2 percent.
Tomorrow, the Student Legislative Awareness Board and other KU representatives will try once again to lobby for our faculty. KU Lobby Days was created to help bring students' issues to the attention of state legislators. With the increasing need for higher faculty salaries, legislators need to be convinced that this is a necessary step in preserving our educational quality.
Tara Kellv for the editorial board
Feedback
Monday snow warranted class cancellations
I would like to express my feelings about the University's decision to hold classes despite the inclement weather on Monday. Although the roads were at least accessible before 11:30 a.m., the continuing snow accumulation made travel to campus a nightmare after noon. For roughly 30 percent of the student population that relies on the bus system, travel came to a halt at about noon.
Many roads leading to and from campus were shut down by police and city workers, including 9th and Engel and 15th and Iowa. Still, the administration of this University did not take appropriate steps to ensure the safety of its students.
Let's review: the Lawrence Bus Co. a private entity, made a judgement call
that the roads were too dangerous to risk the injury of its drivers and riders. These are professional drivers. They were out on the roads while the Chancellor sat warm in his office. This is the same bureaucracy which encourages students to use the bus system rather than drive to campus. Even worse, the police and the city closed roads which a student would use to drive to campus. If a group of people who make their living from driving have decided to avoid the roads, why should students be attempting to navigate them?
If the logic used by the bus company and the city was to help reduce accidents, to limit property damage and especially to increase safety, why does that logic fall on deaf ears at the administrative level of this campus? My opinion is that this administration
is highly elitist. That is, if you don't have access to a car, a parking pass or a reserved parking space on Jayhawk Boulevard, you don't count. Students and teachers who commute from outside the Lawrence area are out of luck.
The decision not to close classes after 12:30 — when the buses stopped running, pointed to an administration that cares more for its record of uninterrupted semesters than it does for its students and faculty. Perhaps next time this administration makes such a poor judgement call, it will show its concern for the students by handing out free hot cocoa on the street. Or better yet, by offering rides home to students stranded on campus.
But I won't hold my breath.
Kansan staff
Stephanie Payne Overland Park senior
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Broaden your mind: Today's quote
How to submit letters and guest columns
"We often would be sorry if our wishes were gratified." —Aesop
Letters: Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and home-town if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
Guest columns: Should be double-
spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run.
All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Staufer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Ryan Koerner or Jeremy Doherty at 864-4924.
If you have general questions or comments,
e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com)
or call 864-4924.
I have no doubt that a lot of movie stars are sleeping more restfully these days. Gene Sikora, half of movie reviewing
Perspective
Former Kansan critic gives Siskel 'thumbs up'
Gene Siskel, half of movie-reviewing duo Siskel and Ebert, died Saturday at a
Chicago hospital at the age of 53. Last May, he underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor, but his partner, Roger Ebert disclosed that Siskel still had been in pain in recent weeks.
Siskel's death brought an abrupt end to a three-decade career devoted to a topic dear to his heart and to mine: movies.
Jeremy Doherty
opinion@kansan.com
Through his years at the Chicago Tribune and as co-host of a highly
rated and nationally syndicated review program, Gene Siskel spared the bad movies no mercy and gave the few good ones their due.
And he did it consistently, in words that were witty, insightful and optimistic.
Along with Ebert, Siskel adapted the art of movie reviewing from its lofty roots at The New York and The New York Times and made it palatable to the average movie-goer.
He cut his teeth in the field at a time when Hollywood was breaking the rules, allowing wild kids such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Martin Scorsese to run with the keys to the city. It was during this time that he and Ebert — not to mention their thumbs — first sat across from each other in a public television studio, gripping and arguing about the latest releases.
It was an exciting time. I envy his good fortune to have been alive and working at such a moment. The key movies of the era - Taxi Driver, Star Wars, The Godfather - were movies about social upheaval, revolution and craftsmanship. In recent years, it was not uncommon to hear Siskel speak of the 1970s as the last golden era in American cinema.
Though most accounts suggest that their personal relationship was less than cozy, Siskel and Ebert sparked a movement of sorts. The phrase "two thumbs up" became the closest thing to a seal of approval. When they got tired of jabbering about the latest big-budget Hollywood production, the two critics alerted viewers to independent films and foreign imports — films that might otherwise have languished at inner-city art houses.
Because of that, there was a tendency for Siskel's detractors to label him an elitist. A glance at the movies he loved throughout
But the record speaks of another critic, one who harbored guilty pleasures and shared them with his audience. In 1992, the Saturday Night Live comedy Wayne's World and the Steven Seagal flick Under Siege graced his 10 Best of the Year list. In 1990, Dances With Wolves swept the Oscars, but Siskel couldn't get enough of Bruce Willis' bone-crushing theatrics in Die Hard 2, which ranked higher on his year-end list. Last year, he campaigned long and hard for a Best Actress nomination for Demi Moore's performance in G.I.Jane.
his career — My Dinner with Andre, The Ice Storm, The Last Emperor, among others — seems to bear that out. To many viewers (and certainly many movie stars), Siskel came across as stuffy, negative and disagreeable, never hesitating to roast the latest Hollywood action movie. John Carpenter's 1988 science fiction film They Live even contains a memorable sequence in which Siskel and Ebert are exposed as faceless aliens bent on brainwashing the public.
I remember an interview with Siskel from a few years back when he said that Saturday Night Fever should be the movie shown on a continuous loop in heaven. Ebert had picked Citizen Kane. Famously, Siskel purchased John Travolta's trademark disco outfit and later sold it at an auction for $145,000.
Siskel's complaints about Hollywood are echoed by many of his colleagues. He wondered aloud why studios poured millions of dollars into special effects but no effort into intelligent scripts. It pained him to see the likes of Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler enjoying box-office glory, while more deserving stars toiled in obscurity.
Last month, in compiling his year-end report, Siskel excitedly spoke of the advances made in special effects technology and how they would impact the production of movies.
"Indeed, as we move toward a cinematic centenary, what we shall see is truly, more than ever, limited only by the imagination of a filmmaker," he wrote. "Most limits are off now."
For Siskel, it was never a case of "This movie sucks." It was, "This movie didn't work, and here's what they should have done to make it better." He looked ahead, challenging artists to push themselves into uncharted terrain. In that, he fulfilled his duty to his readers and to the art form he loved.
Goodbye, Gene. I'll save you the aisle seat.
Doherty is an Olathe senior in journalism.
He was the *Kansan* movie critic during 1998.
In case of skills failure prepare to resort to plan B
Well, well, it seems that graduation is beginning to get a little close, and I'm suddenly realizing that I
Apparently, I'm expected to pay those loans back, too.
I also am beginning to notice that I haven't quite picked up what would be considered "marketable skills" during the last four years. I guess an accurate memorization of the vast array of Billy Joel's musical compositions doesn't automatically qualify you for much of anything.
me when such momentous occasions loom near. A quick check of my savings account shows that the luxury penthouse suite will probably have to wait, as well as those golf clubs, the new TV, an oil change and any dental work.
Since I appear to be little short on the resume builders, I guess I'll just have to hope that my life experiences will somehow translate into income-making assets.
will need to get some kind of job in order survive in the world outside of this collegiate learning environment.
This whole graduation bit seemed a lot easier after high school when all I had to do was go away to college and let a structured government entity run things for a while.
Most employers seem to want somebody who is detail oriented, and I would like to point out that I can effectively distinguish between the flavor, viscosity and coloration of almost all of the world's finer bourbons.
H.G.
Miller
opinion@kansan.com
An ability to budget funds should be well received by a prospective employer. This is a skill honed to perfection by any poor college student who wants to enjoy simple pleasures like eating, as well as purchasing necessities such as smooth jazz CDs. I believe that the 73 cents left in my checking account at the end of each month shows just how thoroughly my money works for me.
Oh well, I suppose it's always a good idea to take an account of one's
While I may have taken a few liberties
I also am aware of the other options out there. Should some executive have a young daughter who is perhaps seeking a beau, I would be more than willing to worm my way into middle management by marrying her. I saw it in a movie once, so I'm sure that it will work.
with my class schedule during the last couple of years. I think that my attendance record should stand up well under any employer's scrutiny. Just remember, it's all about perspective. The percentage of days I show up for class is phenomenal if you compare them to, say, somebody who doesn't attend the University of Kansas. Yeah, just see how many times that person showed up to my classes, and I look like the Iron Man.
Big smile. I'll be sure to practice that look that says, "I don't necessarily need this job, but it is the only thing between sustenance and hocking this suit for a few loaves of bread."
Of course, I can't rest on my laurels alone. Once I'm in the door, I assume I will need more than my glowing personality and collection of obscene yet oddly humorous limericks to get by. I am fully prepared to act like I care about whatever job I may be offered.
"Yes, sir, I believe your company can provide me with the true calling I've always searched for in life. Namely, a calling that will enable me to eat something other than a pasta product every once in a while."
Additionally, if there happen to be any women out there majoring in engineering, pharmacy, law or anything else that would actually lead to a lucrative career. I understand the amount of time needed to succeed at these jobs. The stress involved in starting outside relationships is just another unneeded obstacle, and I'm willing to help. I have no qualms about being a kept man.
Should all of my preparation still fail to land me a meaningful place in society's social structure, I suppose I can do what any other truly enlightened individual would do and become a grad student.
We'll see what the loan committee thinks about that, eh?
Miller is a Hutchinson senior in English.