University Daily Kansan / Monday, March 30, 1992
CAMPUS/AREA
3
Defense cuts may affect Lawrence units
By Andy Taylor Kansan staff writer
Orlando Taylor wants to build a career with the U.S. Army Reserves.
But if the Department of Defense has its way, Taylor, a member of the 317th Supply and Service Battalion in LawREN, and more than 240 personnel in Army Reserve personnel could lose their jobs.
Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney announced plans last week to trim military spending by axing more than 140,000 guard and reserve positions for fiscal year 1993.
On the Pentagon's hit list are Lawrence's Company B and E of the 2nd Batallion, 137th Mechanized Infantry Division of the Kansas
National Guard, 200 Iowa St. The Army Reserve's 311th Supply and Service Battalion, 21st and Iowa streets, also is on the list for elimination. The 312th Band, another Lawrence reserve group, was not listed in the department's latest proposal.
Taylor, St. Louis senior, said he did not see a need to cut Lawrence military jobs.
"We need all those units," the E-4 specialist said. "And it's going to be hard to find open slots in other units."
Taylor, who had been in the reserveunit for a year and a half, said careless budget spending necessitated the cuts.
More than 50 KU students from both of the local National Guard and Army Reserve units could be affected by the proposal. Congress
still must debate and reach a compromise on the dejmartment's request.
Evan Williams, a legislative assistant for U.S. Rep. Jim Slattery, D-Kan., whose district includes Lawrence, said the proposed cutbacks would be forwarded to Capitol Hill. The House Armed Services Committee would debate the proposal and pass it to the full House for approval. The proposal might not reach the house floor until November.
Williams said Slattery wanted to prioritize the defense budget and cutbacks.
"He does not believe in paying for weapons or troops if they aren't needed," he said. "It is too soon to see if Cheney's cuts are justified."
Williams also said Slattery did not want a defense nonposal based on partisan politics.
"Slattery will examine cuts if they are based on military reasons instead of pork-barrel politics," he said.
Kat Gleason, a representative for the 89th Army Reserve Command in Wichita, said if Congress approved the cuts, the Lawrence reservoirs would have options.
"The first goal would be to put them in a different unit," she said. "If not, we will put their military status on hold until there are openings in other units. Or they can get out of their contract and quit the reserves."
Sgt. Ken Rawlings of the local National Guard unit said he foresaw a political battle over the National Guard and Army Reserve units.
"It has to be approved first by Congress," he
said. "And I'm sure that they will up a fight. Locally it means a loss of revenge for the city."
Rawlings said if the cuts were enacted, the department could move another National Guard unit into Lawrence. The local Guard units specialize in missile transportation.
"I don't know what kind of unit would move in here, but I think we would get on because of it."
Rawlings said many of the Guard unit members would be given information at their monthly drill this weekend.
"A lot of them don't know anything about it," he said.
Job market difficult for new lawyers Rejection greets job hopeful
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
By Janet Rorholm
Kansan staff writer
Gavin Fritton sent out more than 100 résumés across Kansas when he graduated from law school in May 1991. It was not long before he had the standard rejection line memorized: "Thank you, but we are not hiring at this point in time."
"It was a very painful several months." he said.
Six months after graduation, Fritton, with the help of a friend, found a job at a law firm.
"A lot of it is being at the right place at the right time," he said. "It takes a lot of patience and you have to stick with it, but it is easy to give up."
Fritton's situation is not unlike that of other graduates from the KU School of Law.
Firms are laying off people or beginning hiring freezes, Fritton said. They also are receiving less business from corporations that are feeling the effects of the recession. Corporations also may be relying more on inhouse counsel rather than paying a law firm.
Large law firms around the country which employ many lawyers are merging and consequently reducing their size, said Nancy Slonim, director of media service public relations of the American Bar Association in Chicago.
If the economy does not improve, third-year law students could experience an even tighter market than 1991 graduates did.
According to American Bar Association statistics, 39,852 law students will graduate from 176 ABA-approved schools in 1992.
This will add to the 777,119 lawyers already licensed to practice in the United States, according to the ABA's Dec. 1991 figures, Slonim said. About 70 percent of those people are in private practice.
Slomim said that if lawyers looked into areas of law other than private practice, they might have an easier time finding a job.
"There is a trend in international practice as nations develop and become open to international commerce, which entails law issues," she said.
Bankruptcy and environmental law are expanding, too. Slonim said.
"There is more concern for preventing legal problems since 1988 in pollution or environmental issues," she said.
Criminal law prosecution used to be avoided because the higher-paying jobs were not in government, but that has now changed. Slonim said.
Jerry Wells, Douglas County district attorney, said that openings in criminal law and prosecution were easier to find because crime was increasing nationwide.
Although Douglas County currently is not short of criminal prosecutors, Wells said he would like more graduates to apply to the county.
Despite problems with an abundance of lawyers, students still are trying to get into law school.
Blake Dudley, St. Louis senior, said he always had wanted to do legal work. He said he thought that the job market would improve by the time he finished law school.
Christine McFartand / KANSAN
Singing the blues
Dry ice bomb explosion is still unsolved
The Kansas City Blues Society honored Provine "Little" Hatch, at right, blues singer and harmonica master, with an Outstanding Lifetime Achievement award. The 70-year-old held his first compact disc release party on Friday at the Grand Emporium in Kansas City, Mo. He participated with five other players in the Texas Harmonica Rumble in December, where he recorded live his first two U.S. releases, "So Tired" and "Can't You See What You Are Doing To Me."
Kansanstaffreport
Lt. David Affalter, Lawrence police
officer said he did not know
how the bomb was made
A dryice bomb exploded in a stairwell at Naismith Hall, 1800 Naismith Drive, early Saturday morning. No one was injured. Lawrence police reported.
Police have not arrested anyone in connection with the bomb explosion, but the incident is still under investigation, according to Lawrence police reports.
Doug Burris, a resident assistant at Naismith, said that he heard the bomb detonate and reported it to the police.
The bomb exploded in the fifth floor south stairwell at 1:55 a.m. Residents on the fifth floor later said the bomb was as loud as a gunshot.
Shira Fogel, Chesterfield. M, freshman, said she was standing outside her door, which is the door closest to the stairwell, when the bomb went off.
Brett Fox was standing in the middle of the hall when the bomb detonated.
"Every door vibrated," said Fox, Chesterfield, Mo., freshman. "It's scary to know someone in this building can make something that loud."
He said the bomb left pieces of plastic scattered on the floor of the stairwell.
SenEx votes on grievance procedures
Members of University governance continue efforts to clarify. simplify rules
By Jenny Martin
Kansan staff writer
Efforts to make KU's grievance procedures crystal clear continue. The University Senate Executive Committee on Friday night approved adding two new sub-sections to the University Senate Rules and Regulations. It rejected a recommended change to the University Senate Code.
Robert Friauf, who heads the University Council Committee on Organizations and Administration, presented the recommendations to the members of SenEx.
Friauf said yesterday that the committee reviewed recommendations included in the final report by the Task Force on Grievance Procedures, which was formed three years ago.
The provisions recommended are trying to make the procedures more uniform within the code and make it clear that they should apply to most hearings in the University," he said.
"When trying to rewrite the Senate Code you want to make it as clear as possible, so that for someone who reads it 10 years later, it is still easily understandable."
Robert Frauf
Head of Organizations and Administration committe
The two new sections SenEx approved will complement University procedures for conflict resolution.
The first section defines:
- what happens if any of the parties involved in the complaint refuses or fails to participate in the proceedings
**reasons that could qualify a grievance complaint for dismissal**
how an appeal of a dismissal of a complaint would be conducted
SenEx sent back for further clarification by the committee a section within the University Senate Code on the guarantee of due process for anyone involved in a grievance.
SenEx was concerned that, as written, the due-process rules appeared all-encompassing, when they actually are not. Members said they wanted a statement added to
"When trying to rewrite the Senate Code you want to make it as clear as possible, so that for someone who reads it 10 years later, it is still easily understandable," he said.
Friauf said that the committee would consider the SenEx recommendations at its meeting on April 9. The recommendationsthen will return to SenEx for approval, and the entire package of recommendations will be presented to University Council.
Order of Omega Greek Honor Society is now taking applications for Spring Initiation. Applications are available at the O.A.C. Office 400 Kansas Union. Any questions call Sarah at 749-5674
That committee is a hearing body for a limited category of faculty allegations, such as tenure rights or academic freedom. No students sit on the committee, which has separate hearing procedures. Friedau said that as the Senate Code stood, it allowed for an area of confusion in the application of the Code.
the section excluding the Faculty Senate Committee on Tenure and Related Problems from these procedures.