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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2014
PAGE 9A
CAMPUS
Graduate students' hours cut, health care to stay
CODY KUIPER news@kansan.com
The University responded last week to a petition from graduate students asking that their on-campus work hours not be reduced to help comply with health care reform. The issue originated in March with a rumor that an email that circulated among the University administration proposing that the number of weekly hours students can work on campus be reduced from 30 to 20.
In a separate email from the University Office of the Provost to graduate students, Vice Provost for Administration and Finance Diane Goddard issued a statement saying they were working to create more opportunities for the students to have their input heard on the subject, such as forums and focus groups. Goddard also thanked the students for the nearly 450 signatures last month in the email.
Pantaleon Florez, the graduate affairs director for Student Senate and a master's student in the School of Education, helped lead the charge on the issue and drafted the petition along with graduate students in the English department. He said he's been satisfied with the way the administration has handled the issue thus far.
"I'm really proud of the administration for creating a system at the University where students can actually have a certain level of involvement that can be impactful, for hearing our concerns, taking them seriously and trying to
get us involved so everyone benefits going forward," Florez said.
The proposed 20 hour policy would be a way for the University to comply with the new law that requires employers to provide health insurance for employees who work 30 or more hours per week.
The response from the Office of the Provost also indicated that graduate students would still be offered health insurance even if their hours were to be reduced. Undergraduate students wouldn't be affected by the policy.
"We're halfway to where we want to be right now, so I'm happy with the response, but it's not over."
PANTALEON FLOREZ
Student Senate
But for some graduate students like Florez, the issue is not just about health care, it's about take-home pay. Florez said he cleared the poverty line by $500 in 2013 working 30 hours a week. While graduate students having health insurance is a positive step, the fundamental issue still hasn't been addressed, he said.
options, like increasing hourly wages, that can increase our standard of living."
"We're halfway to where we want to be right now, so I'm happy with the response, but it's not over," Florez said. "We need to commit to conversations, we need to make sure that we're going to be able to keep those hours or that there will be some other
Angela Murphy, a Ph.D. student in the English department from Springfield, Mo., works two jobs for the University, as do many other graduate students. They would have to give up one of them in accordance with a new policy. Murphy works 20 hours per week as a graduate teaching assistant in the English department and works 10 extra hours at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, as well.
"It's really important for people to know that we've been crunching a lot of the numbers and that's been a lot of the focus, but one part of the picture that hasn't been foregrounded as much to the public is that we do love our second jobs and we love having the opportunity to diversify our experience," Murphy said.
Following the response from the University, Murphy said she doesn't expect the issue to fall to the wayside going forward, and that she hopes to take advantage of any opportunity to have her voice heard.
"The University said in the email sent out that they are interested in having an open dialogue and having forums and focus groups and all that," she said. "So I plan to be in attendance at all the events they have, because if they're interested in an open dialogue, I'm interested in engaging."
— Edited Blair Sheade
CRIME
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Emergency responders gather at the high school campus of the Franklin Regional High School, where several people were stabbed on Wednesday in Murrysville, Pa., near Pittsburgh. The suspect, a male student, was taken into custody and questioned.
20 hurt in Pa. high school stabbing spree
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MURRYSVILLE, Pa. Flailing away with two knives, a 16-year-old boy with a "blank expression" stabbed and slashed 19 students and a police officer in the crowded halls of his suburban Pittsburgh high school Wednesday before an assistant principal tackled him.
At least five students were critically wounded.
The rampage set off a screaming stampede, left blood on the floor and walls, and brought teachers rushing to help the victims.
The motive is under investigation.
Police didn't immediately release the name of the suspect, who was taken into custody and treated for a minor hand wound.
The attack unfolded just minutes before the start
of classes at 1,200-student Franklin Regional High School, in an upper-middle-class area 15 miles east of Pittsburgh. It was over in a matter of minutes.
Witnesses said the boy with the knives at first tackled a freshman and stabbed him in the belly, then got up and ran wildly down the hall, slashing other students.
Nate Moore, 15, said he saw the first attack and was going to try to break it up when the boy got up and slashed his face.
"It was really fast. It felt like he hit me with a wet rag because I felt the blood splash on my face. It spurred up on my forehead," he said.
The attacker "had the same expression on his face that he has every day, which was the freakiest part," Moore said. "He wasn't saying anything. He didn't have any anger on
his face. It was just a blank expression."
Doctors said they expect all the victims to survive, despite large and deep abdominal puncture wounds in some cases. The wounded police officer — who was regularly assigned to the campus — was treated and released.
Authorities credited an assistant principal with subduing the assailant. Students identified the educator as Sam King and told local news organizations that they saw him tackle the boy after the youngster stabbed the campus officer.
Public safety and school officials said an emergency plan worked as well as could be expected.
"We haven't lost a life and I think that's what we have to keep in mind," said county public safety spokesman Dan Stevens.