WEDNESDAY, JAN. 30, 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 3A
Living wages touted in Lawrence
AARON SHOWALTER/KANSAN
Mike Horowitz, graduate teaching assistant, lectures to students in his Spanish 104 class. Horowitz is also a leader of the Kaw Valley Living Wage Alliance.
By Mike Gilligan Kansan staff writer
Mark Horowitz saw the effects of poverty while doing fieldwork in Mexico and as a labor organizer in Denver.
Now, he is one of the leaders of a group trying to eliminate poverty by increasing wages in Lawrence.
"Seeing poverty first-hand has really opened my eyes to the human effects of globalization," said Horowitz, who is working on his doctorate in sociology and is a teaching assistant in the Spanish department.
Horowitz is one of the leaders of the Kaw Valley Living Wage Alliance, which argues that companies that receive tax breaks should pay their employees a living wage.
"In Lawrence we are proposing that the living wage should be 30 percent above the federal family poverty line for a family of three plus benefits," Horowitz said. "That comes out to $9.14 an hour."
Horowitz studied sociology and Spanish as an undergraduate at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., and said he has always been dedicated to issues of social justice.
This interest included doing fieldwork last year in a shanty town called Reynosa along the U.S.-Mexican border. Horowitz interviewed Mexican factory workers about the conditions and wages they were earning.
"It was a very poor community," he said. "The conditions were the same as in a Third World country."
In 1996, Horowitz also worked as a labor organizer for a group of mostly Mexican workers in Denver, Colo.
He said there is evidence that
wages in Lawrence are lower than in other college towns.
"Poverty is a problem nationwide," Horowitz said. "The Alliance wants to make sure that no workers will be living in poverty."
The Kaw Valley Living Wage Alliance, which started about a year and a half ago, is one of many living wage alliances that have formed across the country.
to pay a living wage if it receives tax breaks, employs 10 or more people and exports a certain amount of goods, Horowitz said.
Under a typical living wage proposal, a business would have
"This does not affect your local restaurants and retail stores," he said. "It usually applies to warehouses and bigger businesses."
According to the Kaw Valley Living Wage Alliance Web site, living wage campaigns have succeeded in 60 cities throughout the country.
Some cities where the campaigns have been successful have included city workers and contractors in the group of people who receive a living wage.
"We use the 30 percent above the federal poverty line, which is a common approach," Horowitz said.
Kaw Valley Living Wage Alliance meets once a month in the Lawrence Public Library.
"There are about a dozen people who come to the meetings regularly." Horowitz said. "Twenty-six organizations in town have endorsed us, including churches and small businesses."
Kyle Browning, senate senate vice president and Overland Park senior, is a member of Kaw Valley Living Wage Alliance and said the ultimate goal is to pass a city ordinance. In September, Student Senate passed a resolution supporting a living wage in Lawrence, he said.
"It's an issue of economic justice," Browning said. "I don't want to live in a city where they subsidize poverty."
The idea of a living wage is not without its opponents.
Marty Kennedy, city commissioner and owner of Kennedy Glass, 750 New Jersey St., is one of three commissioners who opposed the amendment presented by the Alliance in November.
"One of my problems with the amendment is, how do you tell a business person what they will pay an employee?" he said. "You pay employees to the skill level they achieve."
For more information about the Kaw Valley Living Wages Alliance, contact Mark Horowitz at 979-7472. www.kawliving-wage.org.
Contact Gilligan at mgiligan@kansan.com. This story was edited by Andy Gassaway.
Required class offers chance to broaden views
Kansan staff writer
Bv Leah Shaffer
"I took it because I had to." said Desch, Topeka senior in psychology.
For Ryan Desch, the only reason to take humanities and western civilization classes is to fulfill a degree requirement.
He's not the only one. About 1,800 KU students enroll in humanities and western civilization classes each semester. In only four months, students read works by Homer, Descartes, Aristotle and other famous authors. Students take it to fulfill their schools' requirements. Two western civilization classes are required by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and by some of the University's professional schools.
James Woolefel, director of the department of humanities and western civilization, said reactions similar to Desch's were common.
He said KU students often had
a delayed reaction when it came to appreciating western civilization courses. Woelfel said most only realized how valuable the courses were after graduation.
"I imagine a lot of them wonder why they need to take it," Woelfel said.
Dave Dewar, an instructor of humanities and western civilization, said that students were given an advantage by having to take the course.
"We live in a western culture, and it's important to learn the foundations from which we live," he said. "There's a history to those ideas, and it's important students understand that."
But some students disagree with the readings the mandatory courses require.
David Woirhaye, Overland Park senior, is now enrolled in western civilization II. He said the course was worth the effort of reading almost one book per week, but thought many of the readings for the class weren't well-selected.
"We live in a Western culture and it's important to learn the foundations from which we live. There's a history to those ideas and it's important students understand that."
Dave Dewar professor of humanities and western civilization
Woelfel said the selection of the books for both western civilization I and II was an open process within the humanities and western civilization department involving students, faculty and graduate teaching assistants. Two undergraduates, he said, can
"At times, there are required texts I don't think belong there," Woirhay said.
join the curriculum and advising committee if nominated by their instructors. Woelfel said the department's curriculum and advising committee met last semester and received input from students. The committee will meet again in three or four years, he said.
Jon Gertken, a KU graduate, served on the committee as an undergraduate after being nominated by his instructor. Gertken said he didn't use the opportunity to change the required texts. Instead, he thought the courses should be more rigorous and have more discussion sessions rather than big lectures.
"I think it would be best to try to engage students more," Gertken said. "These are the sort of things that make you a more educated person in society."
Contact Shaffer at lshaffer@kansan.com. This story was edited by Cassio Furtado.
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