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 administrators and supervisors, three Facilities Operations employees have told the Kansan.
At least seven of the 52 employees in the Med Center Facilities Operations department have filed discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Discriminatory judgments against EECO complaints have not been reported in this example, a 1978 complaint 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 at 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 attacked by a white supervisor who walked around the courtyard shop yelling "Nigger, nigerger, niger."
An investigation into his complaint is pending. The three men who were willing to talk to the three officers, 24, Jerry Taylor, 31, and Dennis Burkah, 34, all are three still employed at the Med Center.
Williams, who has worked at the Med Center
with halfflowers and Fischer Johnson
Taylor at a 1977 EECO hearing, which was decided in Taylor's favor.
From the employee's racial discrimination complaints, several allegations have surfaced:
- All three employees said other men with less experience and seniority receive promotions
- Williams, a general maintenance repair technician, also supervised supervisory duties was not paid薪額*
- Burkhard, 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 paused without opening or closing dates for the positions. He added that violence Kansas civil service regulations.
- All three employees said they received progressive reports of safety violations for native species not obligated.
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.
The officials, who asked not to be identified, cited a number of discriminatory practices.
One practice mentioned was the lack of training and educational opportunities for them.
However, Gloria Allen, director of employee education at the med Center, said officials were working to correct the lack of minority educational opportunities there.
Center with discrimination Federal complaint system vexed by backlog
By BRIAN LEVINSON 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 requests, and an in-house system for phases on system-discrimination complaints.
SYSTEMIC-DISCRIMINATION complaints are similar to class-dcrimination law suits. They are complaint filed 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 systemic discrimination." Welch said.
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."
"The EEOC feels the purpose of TITLE VII is best served by pursuing systemic complaints instead of going after complaints one-by-one, as cases with most of our complaints." Welch said.
Welch said the EEGC initiated 62 system-
complaint investigations in fiscal 1980.
Now the EECO is investigating six complaints by employees in Facilities Operations at the Med
Three of the six complaints 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 said that he had been harassed ever since he testified for one of the black men at an EEOC hearing.
ONE REASON for the discrimination program is the all-white administration of Facilities. The staff of the officials, Employee records indicate that the highest-ranking administrators in Facilities
DESPITE THE EEOC'S EFFORTS, Norris williams, one of the best companies said, was a tough test.
Supervisor 1, the lower level, is a working supervisor. A Supervisor 2 performs more administrative duties. There are no black Supervisors. Of 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.
(They education open positions in the Main.
an investigator to his case—eight months after he filed his complaints.
Joe Doherty, director of the EEOC's Kansas City office, said that under federal law he could not comment on the complaints or even judge that a particular complaint had been filed.
However, in a letter to Williams dated Aug. 27, 1890, from Clifford Hill, an EEOC supervisor in Kansas City, Mo., office of the EOE said it "for appropriate processing" within 30 days.
Welch said one possible reason Williams' 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, we moved backlog (cases) around to try to equalize the number of cases each office had," Welch said. "It used to take from two to three years until a complaint was filed until the charge was closed. Now, it is usually a matter of months."
ANOTHER POSSIBLE reason for the delay in See EEDC page 5.
application, they can tell me that a job has been closed and I have no way of knowing."
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
See DISCRIMINATION page 5
The Music, Arts & Entertainment Magazine for College Newspapers
NEIL ZLOZOWER
New KU IDs should arrive by summer
The University of Kansas should have its five student identification card in 15 years by late this spring or early summer, Gly Dyck, director of admissions and records, said yesterday.
Dyck said he easily peeled apart the laminated sample ID card the company sent.
The date is uncertain, Dey said, because KU is still considering bids for the work from various companies.
"Right now, the lowest bidder is Stik, Suk-
Inc., from somewhere in Texas," Dyck said.
He was awarding them the contract if we can verify that the cards are of the quality that they say they are.
"But they told us that the sample card was because it had been run through a laminating machine and not enough," he said. "We're checking it out, but this card is really a good one, we'll go with it."
The last time KU obtained new student IDs was in the fall of 1997. The decision to switch departments after several academic departments asked 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.
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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.
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 LOGO on the current ID will not change, but be smaller on the screen to make room for a phone display. The right-most
"We're not going to force anybody to get a new one," Dyck said. "If they want to keep the plastic IDs, they can. I have around 9,000 IDs that people didn't bother to pick up last year."
"The card will have the same capabilities as a
card in the script that it won't be embossed.
Dyck said."
See IDS page 5
Weather
It will be partly cloudy today, with a high of 68 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.