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Section A · Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, January 20, 1998
Spanish, Portuguese GTAs' offices combine
One workspace holds 60 GTAs,all office hours in two rooms
By Susio Gura
Kansan staff writer
Students looking for their Spanish and Portuguese graduate teaching assistants will have to look a little harder because of the restructuring of the GTAs' offices.
A decision made last fall by the Wescoe Task Force to restructure Wescoe Hall turned separate offices into a large room for 60 Spanish and Portuguese GTAs.
Many of the GTAs are pleased with the new office, but still prefer their own space and desk.
The previous office for Spanish and Portuguese GTAs was in Blake Annex, which will be destroyed this semester.
"The office is very nice, but it's upsetting not having my own office space because I used it everyday last semester," said Omega Burckhardt. Spanish and Portuguese GTA.
The room is not accessible to students because the door is shut with a combination lock.
Two small offices, complete with cubicles, allow GTAs to hold regular office hours. The new offices are shared by all of the Spanish and Portuguese GTAs and are divided into office hours by sign-up times.
GTAs feel that not only are they losing an office, but they are also losing valuable time with their students who can't easily stop in, said Jennifer Cavanaugh, Spanish and Portuguese GTA.
"The space is a terrific addition, but I pre
ferred having office space for my students to drop by all day. It makes it hard for students to find their GTAs." Cavanaugh said.
Ariel Strichartz, Spanish and Portuguese GTA, agreed.
"It is still early so it is hard to tell since students aren't coming in to see us. Our main concern is for our students, and whether or not we will be able to interact with them as well." Strichartz said.
Work is still being done on the large office that presently has computers, four phones and various desk space.
Lockers for the GTAs to house their belongings are not vet available.
"We feel very mobile because we can't leave our stuff anywhere, and there are also no desks for us to put files," Burckhardt said.
William Blue, chairman of the Spanish and Portuguese department, said it was too early to tell how the office space was going to work out.
"All of the furniture hasn't arrived, and we are still purchasing new computers," Blue said. "I have only heard general feedback, but it has been positive."
"We have heard rumors that this is the way all offices might be changed. We hope that they reconsider the idea," said Helen Sheumaker, Western Civilization GTA and GTA grievance committee member. "It is bad enough sharing an office with two other GTAs."
GTAs in other departments are worried that the restructuring of Wescoe may result in handling other GTA space similarly.
Rich Givens, assistant provost, said if the use of the office space worked well they would consider doing other offices this way.
"I haven't seen the office yet or heard any type of reaction," he said.
Flyin' high
Chris Streitberger, Lawrence resident, flies his radio-controlled helicopter at Shenk Recreational Complex, 23rd and Iowa streets. Yesterday, Streitberger flew one of his three helicopters for the first time this year. Photo by Geoff Krieger/KANSAN
Four shot at parade for King
The Associated Press
Police were searching for at least one shooter, who was thought to be black, said Don Kelly, a police spokesman.
BATON ROUGE, La. — Gunshots were fired Monday into a crowd of marchers at a parade honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., killing one person and wounding three young children.
The motive was not known, but race was not believed to be a factor, Kelly said.
"The only thing we know at this point is that a man in an orange-looking shirt came out of the crowd and started shooting," said Charles Armstrong, a police spokesman.
Kelly described the scene immediately after the shooting as mass pandemonium.
A 25-year-old man was shot to death, police said.
A 6-year-old girl was critically wounded with a gunshot wound in the back. Kelly said.
An 11-year-old girl was listed in serious condition with gunshot wounds to the leg and hand, and a 9-year-old boy was listed as stable with a leg wound.
Greek community officers establish priorities during retreat
By Carl Kaminski
Kansan staff writer
During the weekend, the leaders of the greek community had a retreat and shared their visions for the upcoming semester.
The retreat took executive officers of the Interfraternity Council and and the Panhellenic Association to Tall Oaks Conference Center in Linwood, where they learned more about one another and develmore about another item than
oped goals for the upcoming semes
ter, said Lung Huang, Goodland junior and council vice president for public relations.
"We developed ideas of a model greek community and what we can do to get there," said Cory Littlepage, Tulsa, Okla., junior and council president.
The priorities discussed at the retreat included improving relations between the greek community and other University of Kansas organizations.
"We want to work better internally and externally." Huang said. Huang said the council planned to meet with individual chapter leaders in the University's greek community to break down existing barriers.
He said he hoped to change the perception of the council as being above the rest of the community.
and Ann Eversole, associate dean of student life, attended the retreat and offered advice to help meet those goals.
Littlepage said that students at the retreat set personal and group goals. Danny Kaiser, director of the Student Organization and Leadership Development Center
Libby Sigg, Iola junior and Panhellenic Association President, said that one of her goals was to make sure that the IFC and Panhellenic worked together more as one greek community instead of two separate entities.
Huang said they also discussed many of the plans made during the LeaderShape Institute retreat earlier this month.
The LeaderShape retreat, sponsored by the Department of Student Housing, brought together students from many different campus organizations.
Huang said the students attending the conference learned a lot about the barriers between Greek and non-greek students at the University and hoped to take steps toward breaking them down.
He said he hoped to continue working on an exchange program, discussed at the LeaderShape retreat, in which students from greek chapters would spend a day at a residence or scholarship hall and vice-versa.
"We are all really similar in ways we don't know," he said.
Sigg said that she hoped to work closely with the IFC so the two groups could continue to make progress toward meeting their goals and keep tabs on how each other is doing throughout the semester.