8A • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2003
Submitted Photo
Bob Shelton, ombudsman and associate professor of religious studies, will retire from position of ombudsman this summer after 18 years of servic. Shelton said he wanted to teach religious studies full time and be able to do more research.
Ombudsman leaves position after many years of service
University mediator problem solver informer plans to teach full time
By Kellie Weiss
kweiss@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
After 18 years of service as ombudsman at the University of Kansas, Bob Shelton will leave the position in July.
The ombudsman handles complaints, provides information and serves as a consultant to the entire University and Lawrence community. The ombudsman has a unique role because people can come to him with problems on an informal level and talk things through instead of immediately having to file a formal complaint, said Shelton, associate professor of religious studies.
"This is a safe place for people to talk about whatever they need to talk about because it is confidential and private," Shelton said.
The word ombudsman, according to the KU ombudsman's Web site, is a word of Swedish origin and refers to a "person who has an ear to the public." Although the ombudsman mediates problems and offers solutions, he does not have the authority to take disciplinary action, reverse decisions or circumvent existing University rules and procedures, according to the definition of the ombudsman's duties from the office of the provost.
Shelton, 68, said working as an ombudsman was like being a coach because people called the ombudsman to simply find out what steps they needed to take and where they needed to go to resolve their problems.
Providing students with information and guidance within the sometimes intimidating and confusing bureaucracy of the University is an important function of the ombudsman, he said.
Shelton has worked at the University for about 35 years. He won a Kemper Fellowship and the Wallie and Marie Steeples faculty award in 2000.
"I have really enjoyed seeing all kinds of ways that people work here to go out of their way to help each other and students. You really get a sense of who wants to help and change."
Bob Shelton
University ombudsman
He became interested in taking the job as ombudsman 18 years ago because he said he had always been interested in helping people resolve conflicts.
"Something that has always been an interest of mine is how people work with conflict," Sheton said. "My field is social ethics and I saw it as an application of how people manage conflict that is consistent with their values and also enhances the values of the institution."
Working as ombudsman was very demanding time and energywise. Shelton said but there were also things he enjoyed about the job.
"I have really enjoyed seeing all kinds of ways that people work here to go out of their way to help each other and students." Shelton said. "You really get a sense of who wants to help and change."
Shelton isn't retiring. He said he wanted to teach full time, do research and planned to take a sabbatical next spring.
Molly Mulloy, office administrator for University Governance, said that Shelton had helped students and faculty with complaints but also helped the University's administration run more efficiently.
"He has resolved many complaints before it gets to the judicial board," Mulloy said. "He helps all parties involved and diffuses the problems before they reach the formal complaint stage."
The University Governance is reviewing applications to fill the position of ombudsman in July. The committee will select three candidates and present them to the provost to make the
Ombudsman Annual Report July 1,2000 - June 30,2001
Noteworthy issues identified by Ombudsman Shelton in reviewing contacts:
Significant increase in contacts by unclassified staff regarding employment issues
Major decrease in contacts by unclassified staff
Consultations with both students and instructors regarding grade appeals and academic misconduct
An attempt for more active education on sexual harassment and assault through emergence of the Campus Coalition for Men
Summary of contacts
Student concerns with instructor:
undergraduate - 19
graduate - 5
Instructor/staff concerns with Chair/Assistant/Associate/ Dean or Colleague: faculty - 17 staff - 1
Employment issues and staff conflicts:
  unclassified/faculty - 22
  classified - 7
  other - 1
Issues with student grades or course management:
undergraduate - 23
graduate - 3
Source: Annual Report of University
Ombudsman from
The University of Kansas
TOTAL CONTACTS 334 (includes first contacts that do not involve any follow-up contacts)
final selection. Al Lata, chair of the University Governance Senate Executive Committee, said the applicants must be KU faculty with at least six years of full-time service, have comprehensive knowledge of University organization and procedures, have previous experience in grievance matters and have a rudimentary knowledge of law.
Student
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
never thought about how he made decisions that would affect the individual students."
— Edited by Erin Chapman
Afterward she met with Mary Burg, the chancellor's executive assistant, to plan the upcoming week at the chancellor's Monday morning meeting.
At 11:15 a.m. Knoll, an architecture major, visited various construction sites on campus with Warren Corman, University architect. One of the more than
"We got to go inside and compare what it looks like now to what it will look like when finished," she said.
Her duties as chancellor ended at a noon meeting with Hemenway,where the two discussed the morning's activities.
20 sites they viewed was the new Dole Institute near the Lied Center.
"People may not think of him as a nice person because he's such a powerful person, but he was very nice," she said.
Hemenway CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
Normally the day would end
"He was very attentive and concerned with the lesson," Moseley said, "He was one of my better students with a very inquisitive look."
Chancellorfor a Day started in 1999 when Lambda Sigma Sophomore Honor Society decided to raise money for the Jubilee Café. The society asked
the chancellor for permission to sell raffle tickets to benefit the cafe that would grant a student the opportunity to act as chancellor for a day. The society discontinued the program in 2001, but Student Senate picked it up again this fall and made it free to enter during the Student Senate Legislative Awareness Board voter registration campaign.
Mary Burg, executive assistant to the chancellor, said the chancellor agreed to participate for a
then, but Knoll decided to attend her two remaining classes before heading home.
"I had to go to my physics class because I have a test on Friday," she said. "I trusted him to take notes in my art history class, but it was important for me to go to physics."
After the experience, Knoll said she doubted she would pursue a career as a chancellor.
"It's a challenging line of work. I'm worn out after just one day." she said.
Edited by Lindsay Hanson
worthy cause and for relief from his daily duties.
The ability for the chancellor to leave his demanding role for even half a day was a good break for Hemenway, Burg said.
"At midnight at Dillons if the chancellor is buying a six-pack of Diet Coke he is still the chancellor." Burg said. "It's great for him to be able to take off the chancellor's hat."
Edited by Lindsay Hanson
Jobs
CONTINUEDFROM PAGE 1A
was usually to blame when people did not receive their free knives. He said in many cases the fault was with the employees themselves but not always.
"I won't lie to you. There's circumstances where we've messed up," he said. "But that's human error."
Armstrong said Vector Marketing might have had problems paying Maike because she moved shortly after leaving the company. But Maike said she merely moved across the hall in the same apartment complex. Armstrong said a similar situation could be resolved by speaking to a manager.
"The company is really good about taking care of its people," he said.
Reps are required to pay a $144 deposit for their knives, Armstrong said, so the rep doesn't "run off with them." He said the knives were worth $473.
Currently there are three Vector Marketing locations in the Kansas City area and one in Topeka, Armstrong said.
Maike said the pay problems weren't her only concern with Vector Marketing.
Andy Samuelson/Kansan Photo Illustration
"I had to beg people I knew to hear demonstrations," she said. "You lose so much dignity that way."
She said the canned speech made her feel uncomfortable, especially when the script called for her to bend the knife and say, "Hear that ping? It's a B sharp — because it's always going to be sharp."
Erin Maike, Alma junior, shreds an advertisement for a job through Vector Marketing that promised a $17.25 an hour pay scale, but didn't say what the profession was. Maike was lured by the money but soon found out that selling knives was madding and quit after just two weeks. "It's kind of like selling your soul to the devil," Maike said of her time selling knifes. "Yeah, I did get a pair of good knives, but I even had to pay for those. Then all your family hates you because you have to pedal the stupid knives to them."
Anderson said he had never experienced problems with Vector Marketing in the year he has worked there. He said he
still does appointments in his spare time for the company.
Ranked fifth out of 30 for sales. Anderson said he had the ability to determine what knives people might be interested in. He said he had purchased knives from the company because they were such good quality.
"They sell you on what
you're selling," he said.
Maike agreed that the knives were good quality. They were so sharp, she said, that she often accidentally nicked herself while doing demonstrations.
"The product's awesome," Maike said, "but the company's kind of shady."
- Edited by Erin Chapman
Nation is feeling gasoline price hike
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Prices for heating oil and gasoline are soaring and likely to keep rising as energy markets cope with a colder than expected winter, the loss of Venezuela's production and worries about war with Iraq.
A deep freeze in the Northeast caused heating oil prices to spike by 20 percent last week. The Energy Department, citing low stocks — as well as higher natural gas prices, said heating bills could be 50 percent higher this year than last winter.
Consumers are getting hit at
the gasoline pumps as well.
Nationally, gasoline prices increased for the ninth straight week to an average of $1.61 a gallon for regular grades, 51 cents a gallon higher than a year ago, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.
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