The University Daily
KANSAN
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
Wednesday. April 8, 1981
Vol. 91, No. 128 USPS 650-640
Seven charge Med Center with discrimination
By BRIAN LEVINSON
Staff Reporter
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -Black employees in the Facilities Operations department at the University of Kansas Medical Center have been verbally harassed and denied promotions by their white administrators and supervisors. The university's Operations employees have told the Kansan.
At least seven of the 52 black employees in the Med Center Facilities Operations department have file discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Yet many of the internal grievances and ACES for example are not being addressed. For example, a 178 hospital has yet to be acted on.
KU administrators, however, said that the mere filing of several complaints did not prove that discrimination was actually occurring at the Med Center.
Lawyers advised three of the seven Med Center complainants not to comment on their complaints. One employee, who is no longer employed by the Med Center, could not be reached for comment.
ONE OF THE MEN who would not comment wrote in his complaint that he was verbally harassed by a white supervisor who walked up to the carpentry shop yelling "Nigger, nigger, nigger."
An investigation into his complaint is pending. The three men who were willing to talk to the Kane brothers were Norris Williams, 24, Jerry Taylor, 30, and Jesse Smith. All three are still employed at the Med Center.
Williams, who has worked at the Med Center
Williams, who has worked at the Med Center who has worked there not only years, but black
williams, who has worked at the Med Center who has worked at the Med Center
Burkhart, who has worked at the Med Center for four years, is white. Burkhart alleged that he was a victim of bullying.
Taylor at a 1977 EECO hearing, which was decided in Taylor's favor.
From the employees' racial discrimination complaints, several allegations have surfaced:
- All three employees said other men with less experience and seniority received promotions on base.
- Williams, a general maintenance repair technician. the work was not performed supervisory duties.*
- Burkart, a construction worker, said other men were hand-picked by white supervisors for jobs and promotions without having to apply for them.
- *Taylor, a maintenance carpenter, said that job openings in Facilities Operations were posted without opening or closing dates for the positions. The company said that violates Kansas civil service regulations.
- All three employees said they received negative feedback for the changes for wiring to other employees with post-collision incidents.
ACTING KU CHANCELLOR Del Shankel said the administration had been involved in ensuring that discrimination was not occurring at the Med Center.
Although Shankel said discrimination was not necessarily occurring, several officials at the Med Center confirmed that the allegations were true.
One practice mentioned was the lack of training and educational opportunities for me.
The officials, who asked not to be identified,
cited a number of discriminatory practices.
However, Gloria Allen, director of employee education at the med Center, said officials were working to correct the lack of minority educational opportunities there.
"There are no programs at the Med Center to help minority employees get the qualifications they need to be promoted," Allen said, "(but) we always try to provide information to employees
By BRIAN LEVINSON
Federal complaint system vexed by backlog
Staff Reporter
KANSAS CITY, Kan.-The discrimination complaints filed by Facilities Operations employees at the University of Kansas Medical Center have revealed several problems with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's complaint system.
The EEOC's inability to keep up with its complaint backlog forced it to reorganize in 1977, when it had 100,000 cases, Reginald Welch, public information officer for the EEOC in Washington, D.C., said. The EEOC reduced the backlog to 30,000 cases.
According to Welch, the reorganization included a separate staff to handle only backlog cases, a rapid-charge process to handle more cases, and a system-wide process for the basis on systemic-discrimination complaints.
SYSTEMIC-DISCRIMINATION complaints are similar to class-action law suits. They are complaintiled by different people about the same problem, Welch said.
"The whole purpose of the reorganization was to clear out the backlog and streamline our intake process, so that we could dedicate more time to systemical discrimination." Welch said.
Welch said the EEOC initiated 62 system-complaint investigations in fiscal 1980.
"The EEGC feels the purpose of Title VII is best served by pursuing systemic complaints instead of going after complaints one-by-one, as case with most of our complaints." Welch said.
Now the EECO is investigating six complaints filed by employees in Facilities operations at the MMRH.
Three of the six complainants said they were harassed and were denied promotions by their supervisors for racial reasons. Two of the men are black and the other is white. The white man alleged that he had been harassed ever since he was for one of the black men at an EEOC hearing.
DESPITE THE EEOCS EFFORTS, Norria
williams, one of the three complaintants, said he
would like to have a hearing on his complaint.
Joe Doberty, director of the EEOC's Kansas City office, said that under federal law he could not comment on the complaints or even give a judge that a particular complaint had been filed.
an investigator to his case—eight months after he filed his complaints.
However, in a letter to Williams dated Aug. 27, 1980, from Clifford Hill, an EEOC supervisor in the Kansas City, Mo., office, the EEC said it was "unfortunate" that the EOC "for appropriate processing" within 30 days.
Welch said one possible reason Williams's complaint was just now being assigned to an investigator was that the different district offices had different-sized backlogs.
"When the EEOC reorganized in 1977, move backlog (cases) around to try to equalize the number of cases each office had," Walel said. "It used to take from two to three years from the time a complaint was filed until the case was closed. Now, it is usually a matter of months."
ANOTHER POSSIBLE reason for the delay in
see EED page 5.
as to where they could get help in studying for the GED (graduate equivalency diploma). Now, we are looking into offering a basic studies program and a GED class for all employees."
There are two levels of supervisors in the department: Supervisor 1 and Supervisor 2. A
ONE REASON for the discrimination problems is the all-white administration of Facilities Operations, according to the officials. Employee records indicate that the seven highest-ranking administrators in Facilities are white, as are the majority of supervisors.
Supervisor 1, the lower level, is a working supervisor. A Supervisor 2 performs more administrative duties. There are no black Supervisors in the Supervisor 1 in eight areas, only five are black.
Another reason the officials mentioned for the existence of discriminatory practices was that equal employment opportunity and state civil service laws were not enforced.
application, they can tell me that a job has been closed and I have no way of knowing."
"They advertise open positions in the Maintainer (a Facilities Operations newsletter), but don't list any opening or closing dates for applications," Taylor said. "So, when I turn in an
THE POSTING OF OPENING AND CLOSING dates for open civil service positions is required by Kansas personnel regulations. The regulation states that "the director (of a department) shall prescribe the period during which applications will be accepted."
Since the EEOC complaints were filed, the job posting problems have been corrected and the employee education department has started a class for managers. The class is designed to help
Tuition funds used as loans students say
See DISCRIMINATION page 5
By BRAD STERTZ Staff Reporter
Some students preparing to enter the University of Kansas College of Health Sciences freely admit that they plan to take the state's scholarships money and run.
These students said yesterday that they had never intended to follow through with a commitment to practice medicine in underserved areas of Kansas in exchange for tuition credit. The scholarship was set up by the Legislature to bolster the State's doctor supply.
It has been that attitude, many legislators say, that has caused considerable concern in the State Department.
What these students would prefer to do, they say, is repay the scholarship at 10 percent interest over 10 years and thus turn it into a low-interest loan.
IN A MEETING early this morning, a House Ways and Means subcommittee was expected to put the finishing touches on a plan to revise the scholarships. The bill would raise the punitive interest rate, reduce the number of scholarships available and change the criterion for areas where scholarship participants are required to practice.
The subcommittee's work was essentially to combine the effects of a bill sponsored by State Rep. Robert Vancrum with those of one sponsored by State Sen. Mike Johnston.
"The crux of the bill and the issue is that this is not a loan, but a scholarship," Vancrum said yesterday. "If the students don't want to follow it, they will be punished or not use the scholarship at all."
By doing this, the subcommittee felt it would be easier to get the changes through the Legislature, Vancurm said, since Johnston's bill had already been through the Senate.
Final action by the committee on the bill is expected to come tomorrow at the earliest. Vancrum said it was possible that the bill would not reach the full Ways and Means Committee until the Legislature returned for its veto session in May.
IN VANCRUM'S original bill, punishment took the form of a stipulation that all of the scholarship money had to be repaid within a year after graduation at 18 percent interest.
Vancrum said that the subcommittee did not want to follow that. Instead, he said, the subcommittee wanted to limit the number of payments by 10 percent and the payback penalty to 14 percent over 10 years.
Now the scholarships are available to almost any medical student who is willing to abide by them.
Applications for summer and fall 1981 Kansan editor and business manager are available at the office of student affairs in 214 Strong Hall, at the Student Senate office in 105 Strong Hall, and in 105 Fint Hall. Completed applications are due at 5 p.m. on April 12 in 105 Fint.
s of either the practice of the See SCHOLARSHIP page 5
Applications available
Tom Gleason (left) and Barkley Clark (right), city commission candidates, wait for election totals with some uncertainty to who would win
the race. Clark and Gleason behind winner Nancy Shontz. Shontz won the race with 6,644 votes, while Clark and Gleason had 5,706 and 5,446 votes.
Shontz, Clark, Gleason claim victories
By DALE WETZEL
Staff Reporter
First it was second. Then it was third. Then it was second again.
CLIARK HAD JUST left the City Commission's regular Tuesday night meeting, and had come to the Douglas County courthouse to check the final vote totals. And, despite reassurances from a radio reporter that he had indeed come in second, Clark remained mildly perturbed.
However, when the confusion subsided, Clark found that he had finished second behind Nancy Shontz, and was therefore assured of a four-year term. He would then serve a third-place finisher, will serve a two-year term.
City Commissioner Barkley Clark, surrounded by the press in the swirl of the county clerk's office, didn't know what place he had taken in yesterday's City Commission election.
Never in doubt, however, was who would place first. Shontz, a former president of the League of Women Voters and a regular attender of Commission meetings, crushed with 6,044 votes and a victory margin similar to the one she posted in the March 11 Commission primary.
VOTERS HAD to select three candidates from a five-candidate field. Nancy Hambleton, a former mayor, and Bob Schumm, an incumbent governor, received 5,041 and 4,871 votes, respectively.
Clark, a KU law professor, and Gleason, a local attorney, ran neck-and-neck throughout the day. Clark eventually finished ahead by 60 votes, 5.706 to 5.846.
"I've never seen so many different totals before," he said. "I've never seen it so confluent."
The new commissioners, plus the incumbent Clark, will be seated at next Tuesday's Commission meeting. At the meeting, the commissioners elect a new mayor to replace the outgoing Ed Carter. Carter decided early in the race not to run for re-election.
A wide smile creased Shontz's face as she talked about her victory.
"I'm very proud," she said. "I think I was riding something of a crest. The positions that I
took on issues appeared to strike a chord among a lot of the voters.
See related story page 3
"I happened to be at the right place at the right time."
"The redevelopment of the downtown is, of course, a critical issue," she said. "The underdeveloped state of public transportation in Lawrence is another. There are a lot of people in town that either can't walk or don't have cars, which should be able to move freely about the city."
SHONTZ THEN outlined the issues that she said were especially important to her as she
"I emphasized in my newspaper ads the fact that our public transportation system here in Lawrence isn't too good." Gleason said. "You can't plan for a future of one person, one car."
Gleason agreed.
GLEASON ALSO said that newspaper advertisements critical of him, placed by the Lawrence Homebuilders Association, would not affect his decisions on the Commission.
"We've got to consider every issue on its merits, not on the reputation of the person who advocates or opposes it," he said. "I think we're going to do that."
"Right now, I'm not mad at anybody."
Shontz, another target of ads by the homeowners and the Lawrence's Central Labor Council, is also a candidate.
"I'm going to try to forget that they said what
they said," she remarked. "And I hope you quo
me that."
"I'm not going to try to abolish private home ownership."
CLARK, who was visibly nervous last night as he took his regular Commission chair, greeted with relief the news of his second-place finish. He had been late for the meeting's 7 p.m. start, which earned him a tongue-in-cheek scolding from Carter.
"I am awfully glad it's over," Clark said. "It's been a long and exhausting campaign."
Bob Schumm, the other commissioner up for re-election, had exuded confidence as he took his Commission seat. He took the news of his loss calmly, smiling as he reached over to congratulate Clark. Schumm left quickly when the meeting ended.
Only Marci Francisco and Don Binns, who have two years left to serve on their Commission terms, were not up for re-election. Yet Francisco openly displayed joy at the election results, as she dispensed congratulatory hugs and effusive praise to all the winning candidates.
"I like Tom and Nancy very much," he said. "I had Tom as a student when he was going to the
"I was hoping that the people that were labeled in the same way I was labeled would come out okay," she said, referring to Gleason and Shontz. "I believe they are members" on several occasions during the campaign.
Clark said he was looking forward to working with the two new commissioners.
"I'm pleased to see the community demon-
strated some trust in us," Francisco said.
See ELECTION page 9
New KU IDs should arrive by summer
The University of Kansas should have its fifth student identification card in 15 years by late this spring or early summer, Gil Dyck, director of admissions and records, said yesterday.
The date is uncertain, Dyck said, because KU is still considering bids for the work from various companies.
Dyck said he easily peeled apart the laminated sample ID card the company sent.
"Right now, the lowest bidder is Sik, Strip, Inc., from somewhere in Texas," Dyck said. "We will be awarding them the contract if we get the cards are of the quality that they say they are."
"But they told us that the sample card did that because it had been run through a laminating machine that was not hot enough," he said. "It was quite cold, so this card is really a good one, we'll go with it."
THE LOGO on the current ID will not change, but will be smaller on the new card to make room for a new logo.
"We're not going to force anybody to get a new one," Dyck said. "If you want to keep the plastic IDs, they can. I have around 9,000 IDs that people didn't bother to pick up last year."
Regardless of when the new cards arrive, they will cost $1.50, and $5 for each replacement, Dyck said. Purchasing new cards will be optional for students.
The last time KU obtained new student IDs was in the fall of 1979. The decision to switch again was made after several academic cycles and Dyck's office for cards with pictures, he said.
"Last spring, we had several of the larger departments request that we go back to picture IDs because they were having problems controlling their larger exams," he said.
THE NEW CARD would differ from KU's current "credit card" model because it would be laminated and carry the student's picture, Dyck said.
"The card will have the capabilities as a old card, except that it won't be embroiled. Dycor will have the capabilities."
It will be partly cloudy today, with a high of 66 and winds from the northwest at 10 to 20 mph, according to the KU Weather Service.
Skies will clear tonight, with a low of 40 and light and variable winds.
Tomorrow's high will be around 70, under partly cloudy skies.