Tomorrow's weather
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Kansan
Thursday February 11, 1999
Dry and partly cloudy
Online today
Tired of the Oscars? See how the independent films did at the Sundance film festival.
A
Sports today
Vol. 109·No.92
http://www.sundancechannel.com/
The men's basketball team falls to Nebraska for the second time this season, as the Jayhawks lose at home.
SEE PAGE 1B
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Fall break proposal nears vote
Calendar proposal adds intersession
By Kristi Reimer
Kansan staff writer
(USPS 650-640)
Full fall could come one step closer to reality this afternoon when University Council considers a proposal to change the academic calendar.
The Calendar Committee's latest effort to modify the yearly schedule contains a two-day break in mid-October and a two-week interession from Jan. 1.
When the council meets this afternoon in Blake Hall, it could vote to adopt and forward the proposal to Provost David Shulenburger and Chancellor Robert Hemenway for approval.
The new calendar would shorten finals week from six days to five days and finalexam periods from three hours to 21/2 hours.
"We're doing this because it responds
to expressed needs," said Carol Holstead, Calendar Committee member and associate professor of journalism. "Students need a mental break in the middle of the semester."
Jennifer Lindsay, Midland, Mich. graduate student, agreed.
"I think it's a great idea." Lindsay said. "I had it as an undergraduate at a private liberal arts school. The longest stretch is between the beginning of the year and Thanksgiving. Students need a chance to flake off for a little bit."
Holstead said the committee was proud of the proposed calendar's symmetry and order. But she emphasized that it was not a ploy to gain more free time.
"No matter what we do here, we are not getting more time off," Holstead said. "We are getting different time off."
She said the changes, especially the shorter finals periods and five-day finals week, might produce domino-effect problems in different schools and departments.
"But it's not as though what is done can't be undone," Holstead said. "We
need to try this and see if the things we gain are worth the tradeoff."
If the University Council passes the calendar changes, the proposal will go to the provost and the chancellor for approval. Holstead said she thought the administration supported the plan.
The Board of Regents also must approve the calendar changes, which will set academic dates for Fall 2001 through Spring 2004. Holstead said if the proposal was well-accepted, the committee might push to begin the plan during fall 2000.
Bob Basow, University Council president, said the plan illustrated the University's decision-making process at its best.
This proposal is the latest in a series of attempts to change the academic calendar.
"It is a perfect example of how students, faculty, administration and staff can work together over an extended period to examine a complicated issue," Basow said.
The council passed a calendar plan containing a fall break last spring, but the administration sent it back to the Calendar Committee. Shulenburger requested a two-week intersession after Jan.1 so students could take study abroad trips or short classes.
PROPOSAL
- Fall break: Thursday and Friday on Oct. 13 and 14 or Oct. 20 and 21
- Semester length: 75 days
Stop Day: Friday after the last day of classes
■ Finals week: Monday through Friday
■ Final-exam period: 2/12 hours
Last fall, the Calendar Committee voted down a plan with a fall break and intersession because it would have caused a conflict between Memorial Day weekend and commencement in some years.
This proposal, although maintaining 150 days of classes and meeting all Board of Regents requirements, allows for fall break and intersession and keeps graduation before the holiday.
Students are hosts of radio sex show
Jenny Schierbaum, who uses the pseudonym "Aly", (top) and Reann Scharenbern, who calls herself "Gina", (bottom) are the hosts of the radio show "Simply Sex". The show can be heard Monday nights from 4 to 5 on KJHK. Photo by Gus Koffler/KANSAN
Simply Sex answers intimate questions every Monday
By Ezra Sykes
Kansan staff writer
Gina and Alv want to talk about sex
Jenny Schierbaum, who goes by the pseudonym "Aly" on the show, said the idea for the program was created during a phone call.
And anything from using a bread wrapper as a condom to cheating lovers is acceptable.
"I was talking to this guy, and he said that I had an awesome voice and should be on the radio," said Schierbaum, Chariton, Iowa, sophomore. "I told him if there was anything I would want to talk about, it would be sex."
The pair are the hosts of the show Simply Sex, a KJHK radio program that provides an open format for the discussion of sexual matters. They started the show at the beginning of this semester.
After getting information about applying for a show on KJHK, Schierbaum recruited her roommate, Lawrence sophomore Raeann Scharenberg, who calls herself "Gina" to be a co-host on the show, and the two filled out an application just minutes before it was due.
"I really think that they just wanted a sex show," Scharenberg said. "They didn't know us from Adam."
Gaum. Sex is a matter of utter importance for Schierbaum,
who recently helped hand out 200 condoms around Wescoe Hall to promote the show.
Another caller admitted to having sex with his girlfriend while listening to the previous week's show.
And one caller said that his wife were pressuring him into becoming a homosexual and that he wanted to prove to them that he could do it, Scharenberg said.
After three shows, the co-hosts have covered a lot of territory.
One caller was concerned with a rash that appeared after using a lambskin condom that his father had given him.
And Schierbaum isn't apprehensive about talking. "It's fun to talk about sex and say, 'Hey, when was it?"
"It worries me. I'm paranoid. Sex is something that everyone should be talking about, and people in college aren't," she said. "It's my cause."
Scharenberg said that although she felt some of the calls could be hoaxes, they still could be useful to listeners.
"I have to take each call as being serious," Schierbaum said. "But sometimes after the show I'm like, 'Was that guy for real?'
Although the show has a humorous air to it, the cohosts said they *c*'dn't want callers to feel uncomfortable.
See KJHK on page 2A
What you might hear. . .
Caller; Yeah, I was just calling about the condom debate. You know what's really good is the, uh, blue kind.
Gina: Blueberry-fla
Caller:
Yeah, those are really
red, is that good?
Caller: Well, I just saw them on the floor.
good. And there's also a red kind. I think it's just like a strawberry flavor.
careful if they're in the restroom. Are they like in a vending machine in the bathroom?
Gina & Aly: Really?
Gina: Where do you get those at?
Caller: I'm not particular or anything.
Aly: Maybe
Caller: Oh, uh, I usually get them there at the Quickie Mart right there on Ninth.
you should be particular. You just need to be sure that it has an expiration date on it, and that it's effective because the novelty condoms are great to buy and great fun to use, but they're not always safe.
Aly: Maybe
Aly: You might be
Heather Fields, Angle Kunn and Richard Bachman*KANSAN*
Study finds women earn less than men at universities
Kansan staff writer
By Chris Hopkins
Provost David Schulenburger said that the University was working to correct pay differences between male and female professors.
A study released Feb. 2 by the American Association of University Professors said that women still were underpaid and under-represented in US colleges and universities.
As of Fall 1997, University of Kansas faculty was less than one-third women. As of the 1999 fiscal year, female professors' salaries were $7,000 less on average than their male counterparts.
Schulenburger said that female professors were actually paid more money than male professors per the number of years they have spent at their current position.
Female professors have been in their current positions an average of six years less than male professors.
The study said experience was one reason why there was a lack of female professors. Because the majority of women entered university teaching relatively recently, few have reached the rank of professor yet.
In 1997, male full professors at KU outnumbered the total number of female faculty. There were seven male professors for every one female professor at the University.
Nationally, the rate was closer to five to one. Ernst Benjamin, director of research for the AAUP and author of the study, said this was a national trend for women in academics
"They tend to be relegated to the less prestigious and less remunerative jobs," he said.
Schulenburger said the schools of law, business and engineering paid the most. However, those schools had lower proportions of women than the remainder of the University.
Six percent of the faculty members of the School of Engineering are female, while women make up nearly a third of the School of Education.
Ingrained societal problems were the main causes of the differences. Benjamin said.
"Working with culture is a hard slow way to solve anything, but it's something we have to do," he said.
The study also said that women tended to be promoted more slowly than men and receive tenure more infrequently.
Ellen Sward, professor of law and member of the KU Faculty Women's Group Steering Committee, said that while the University granted tenure to women at the same rate as it granted tenure to men, the University lost women before tenure at almost twice the rate of men.
"We're finding that women are running into problems ranging from neglect to, in rare cases, hostility," she said.
KU Faculty Women's Group formed last semester. The group has been working with Schulenburger to solve some salary and promotion problems.
Elizabeth Topp, associate professor of pharmaceutical chemistry and member of the steering committee, said the goal of the committee was to be a liaison between female faculty members and the administration.
Topp said she wanted to help the group because she was the first woman to work in her department at KU.
"I want to make sure that other women around campus have someone to listen to them," she said.