2 • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2002
COMMUNITY TRADITION
Lawrence gears up for sidewalk sale
By Lauren Beatty Kansan staff writer
Bargain-hunters should tie on some comfy shoes and get ready to exercise their wallets because the annual downtown Lawrence sidewalk sale starts this week.
Melodie Christal, co-director of Downtown Lawrence, Inc., said the sidewalk sale was an annual event on Massachusetts Street where merchants offered big savings to customers. The sale takes place all day Thursday.
This year marks the 31st anniversary of the sale, Christal said. The sale continued every year for the same reason it started, she said.
"Merchants needed to get rid of stuff and summer tends to be slower because KU is not in session."Christal said.
Christal said Massachusetts Street would be flooded with 20,000 to 25,000 people Thursday, which was typical in previous years.
Joe Flannery, president of Weaver's Department Store, 901 Massachusetts
... Massachusetts street would be flooded with 20,000 to 25,000 people Thursday which was typical in previous years.
St., said his store had participated in the sidewalk sale since its beginning.
Flannery said besides summer clearance clothes and shoes, back to school items like sheets and towels would be on sale at Weaver's.
Rachel Moses, Great Bend junior, said she had never been to the sidewalk sale, but would go this year.
"I want to get some good deals," she said.
Shoppers will be greeted with a hot sunny day. The National Weather Service predicts Thursday to be clear with a high temperature of 92 degrees.
Contact Beatty at Ibeatty@kansan.com. This story was edited by Jason Royer.
By Lauren Beatty
Kansan staff writer
GTAC, University reach agreement
After nearly two years of tumultuous negotiations, 900 graduate teaching assistants at the University of Kansas will get a new salary contract.
University officials proposed the salary plan yesterday to the Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition, said Lynn Bretz, director of University Relations. After about an hour and half of discussion, GTAC tentatively accepted the proposal.
The proposal calls for a GTA base salary that would start at $8,000 the first year, and then increase to $9,000 the second year and $10,000 the third year. Previously, there was no minimum salary for GTAs. In addition, the University proposed a 10 percent yearly increase to the salary pool. Bretz said.
Bretz said the University paid roughly $10 million for GTA's salaries now. She said the new contract would mean roughly an extra $1 million would be going toward the salaries. By the end of year three, about $13 million would be allocated for GTA salaries.
She said the exact dollar amount of the increase for next year wouldn't be known until the University was done hiring GTAs for the fall semester.
Robert Vodicka, negotiator for the coalition, said the new contract would likely give each GTA an increase in salary,
but was not an across-the-board raise.
"It doesn't work the same for all people," he said. "It puts in place a minimum salary for the first time and additional money is given to departments for merit increases."
The 200 members of the coalition and the Board of Regents will likely ratify the proposal in September, Vodicka said.
The two sides had been unable to reach a compromise for 22 months about GTA salaries. Bretz said the University could make the proposal only once the tuition increase had been finalized. When the tuition increase was approved by the Board of Regents in June, the University was eager to settle the dispute.
Vodicka credits the agreement to the hard work of GTAC.
"We're the only group getting a raise," he said. "Unions can be powerful."
Amy Cummins, graduate teaching assistant in English and graduate senator, said the proposal was a step in the right direction and would be a building block for the future.
"The quality of instruction that GTAs provide is very high," she said. "We play an integral part in an undergraduates education."
Contact Beatty at lbeatty@kansan.com. This story was edited by Jason Royer.