The University Daily
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
KANSAN
Thursday, February 10, 1983 Vol.93,No.95 USPS 650-640
Panel votes to freeze benefits for jobless
By JEFF TAYLOR Staff Reporter
TOPEKA — In an effort to prevent the state's unemployment fund from going broke, the Kansas House Committee on Labor and Industry yesterday unanimously endorsed a bill that would freeze unemployment benefits and increase employer payments to the fund.
The proposal will be debated on the House floor today.
Committee Chairman Arthur Douville, R Overland Park, said the bill was a response to Gov. John Carlin's concern about keeping the unemployment fund solvent.
CARLIN, IN his January legislative address, projected that the unemployment fund would be depleted by September unless the Legislature took action to prevent it.
The committee's plan calls for a freeze on the maximum benefits for an unemployed person
State Rep. Dorothy Nichols, R-Ottawa, a committee member, said the freeze on unemployment benefits would save the state about $20 million.
But she said it might make life even more difficult for the unemployed.
"it's kind of like being between a rock and a hard place," she said. "There's not anyone who likes it."
Employers would have to pay an additional 20 percent surcharge on what they already contributed to the unemployment fund, Nichols said.
SHE SAID THAT increase was estimated to bring $27 million into the unemployment fund.
Employers now pay unemployment benefits to the state based on mock employee salaries of $6,000, instead of the actual amount paid to each employee. That taxing salary will be raised to $7,000, which should generate nearly $10.5 million for the unemployment fund, Nichols said.
The maximum amount that can be paid to unemployed workers is $163 a week. Douville said, although most unemployed people are paid an average of $123 a week.
The maximum weekly benefit was scheduled to be raised to $175 next July, but the bill would prevent the increase.
The committee proposed that its plan should continue into 1985.
Patti Hackney, assistant director for the Topeka office of the Public Assistance Coalition
of Kansas, said a freeze on unemployment benefits would put even more stress on low-income families.
AS THE AMOUNT of money available to poor people dwindles, they become more hopeless, she said. Also, people who have been unemployed for a long time or who simply do not have money tend to cut back on the food they buy, she said.
buy, she said.
Her office in Topeka sits above a soup kitchen,
she said, and the number of hungry people who line up at the kitchen has doubled.
up at the kitchen has shown Douville said the state needed to determine what kinds of training programs it could provide and how those programs would be financed.
HE SAID ONE of the problems behind a prolonged period of unemployment was that workers had been replaced by machines on assembly-type jobs.
The proposed freeze on benefits would be discontinued if the unemployment fund reaches a balance of $100 million or more by December 1983. Douville said.
assess whether "Some of those jobs are never going to be back again," he said. "In addition to taking care of the unemployed, we need to develop programs for retraining them."
1983, Douville said.
But he said a $100 million balance would not be enough to prevent the fund from again being depleted to a dangerously low mark. He said the fund balance should be $200 million before the plan was dropped.
Deville said that in past years in Kansas, some industries with low unemployment had paid more into the unemployment fund than high-unemployment industries.
AS A RESULT, low-unemployment industries had been subsidizing benefits paid to laid-off workers.
The state refers to employers as negative balance accounts if their payments to the unemployment fund are less than the benefits that their laid-off workers receive, he said.
included in the committee's program was a provision that would allow the Department of Human Resources to impose additional charges on employers if the unemployment fund dropped below $35 million.
DOUVILLE SAID the secretary of the department also would impose additional surcharges on employers if the amount paid out from the state unemployment fund suddenly increased.
A thousand pictures can be seen in the reflections of some windows. These Images were captured behind the Kansas Union.
Malott Hall hit hard by budget cuts
Bv JOEL THORNTON
Staff Reporter
Certain chemicals and supplies have become endangered species in Malott Hall because of budget reductions in the chemistry and biology departments, professors in those departments said yesterday.
High quality education could become scarce if similar reductions are made next year, the professors said.
another year of budget cuts like this, it'll be disastrous."
ROBERT COBB. executive vice chancellor, said areas such as biology and chemistry were especially hurt by Gov. John Carlin's 4.3 percent operating expense budget reduction at Regents universities in July, because those subjects relied heavily on supplies for laboratories and experiments.
"It's quite an inconvenience to be scouting around for this stuff," Jack Rose, director of the chemistry laboratory, said. "If we have
James Akagi, chairman of the microbiology department, said the supply reductions had cut down students' laboratory and class participation, which he said could hurt their careers.
Microbiology is like a professional school because students can enter the job market with a
bachelor's degree, he said. But the supply reductions have cut down on the number of experiments students can perform, Akagi said.
"This may eventually catch up with them in a new job," he said.
AKAGI SAID microbiology's supply budget was reduced to about $45,000, a $35,000 drop from its original allocation.
or original instruction. Cobb said that the University had reduced its operating expenses to avoid laying off faculty and classified employees.
and classified data. He said he knew that the reductions were especially hard on departments that had large sumly budgets.
See CHEMICAL page.
Math, science studies lagging, official says
Weather
By SALLY JOY OMUNDSON Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
"I want every United States citizen to be aware that many other industrialized countries are providing a more intense, rigorous curriculum for their students," Bell said in a keynote speech at a conference sponsored by the National Institute of Education.
IN THE SOVIET Union, students are required to study science for five years and chemistry for four. Bell said.
The United States must rearrange its educational priorities to emphasize math and science or face sinking to the status of a second-rate power, Terrel Bell, U.S. secretary of education, said yesterday in Washington.
By comparison, fewer than 20 percent of U.S. high school graduates have studied physics for even one year, he said, and fewer than 40 percent have studied chemistry for a year.
In Japan, rigorous science and math courses have been compulsory since after World War II, he said.
Lawrence Sherr, professor of business and mathematics, said, "There's no question that preparation of math, science and English is very poor."
p000:
But Carl Knox, superintendent of the Law.
He said the students were required to take one year of science and two years of math before graduation.
rence Unified School District, said Lawrence High School students who could be going to college were usually adequately prepared in those areas.
graduation.
IT WOULD BE wrong, he said, to require students to take math and science every year. Some students do not want to make a career of math or science, he said, and other areas of study are just as important.
Robert Taylor, assistant superintendent for curriculum of the school district, said, "I resent
See EDUCATION page 5
Clark Bricker, professor of chemistry, demonstrates chemistry magic to his audience at the University Forum. Bricker spoke about different methods of teaching and ways to make students more interested, and about the workings of the human brain.
Prof proves point with chemical skill
Today will be mostly cloudy with a chance of drizzle or freezing drizzle. The high will be 35 to 40. Winds will be from the northwest at 10 to 15 mph.
By JIM BOLE Staff Reporter
Recent research of the human mind, he said, has shown that students must be exposed to analytical reasoning before they reach puberty to become proficient problem solvers by the time they reach college age.
they reach college age:
"In my opinion, teaching will have to change because our students have changed," the four-time winner of the HOPE teaching award told about 50 people attending the University Forum.
Tennight will be partly cloudy. The low will be around 20.
More college students are unable to do simple word problems because computers and television sometimes eliminate the need for analytical thinking among young people, Clark Bricker, professor of chemistry, said yesterday.
Because math relationships, language and analytical reasoning are acquired by the mind before the mid-teens, teachers, especially in junior and senior high school, need to gear their courses to give students the opportunity to learn those skills, he said.
Tomorrow will be partly cloudy with the high around 40.
their teaching.
Modern technology, such as microcomputers,
calculators and television, has eroded young,
developing minds, and teachers from high school
to college must use these devices carefully, he
said.
BRICKER SAID teachers should be aware of how the mind worked and should put fun into their teaching.
"How do you make orange juice?" he asked. "You soume it, of course."
UNE EXPERIMENT was to create orange juice. He poured water into a Pyrex beaker, added a few clear liquids, and then stirred the mixture. It remained clear.
in his sketches demonstrated to the crowd at the forum, which was sponsored by the Ecumenical Christian Ministries, some of the chemical tricks that have made him popular among students.
He wrapped his hands around the beaker and pretended to squeeze it for a few seconds. And when he removed his hands, the liquid in the beaker had turned orange.
Tenant insists on right to roach-free apartment
Staff Reporter
By WARREN BRIDGES
A resident of Jayhawker Towers said Tuesday that he had gathered 57 cockroaches from his apartment kitchen, put them in a jar and warned the management that if he was not moved to another apartment, he would take the jar to David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs.
His request was granted in less than one hour, he said.
THE RESIDENT, Don Tabor, Shawnee freshman, said he moved from his Tower D apartment to Tower C about six weeks ago.
"The cockroaches were terrible." *tabor* said. "If you began cooking something and went to the bathroom, by the time you got back, there would be roaches crawling in the pan."
be the toilets cranking. The Ambler said that while he was aware of the Towers' past problems with cockroaches, he was unaware of any incident involving Tabor.
unNick Moos, who has been manager of the Towers since January, said Tabor's move to another apartment had nothing to do with his threat.
"He complained so much, we granted his request and moved him," he said.
TOBAR SAID cockroaches had not been the only problem.
"The mold beneath our carpet was so bad, the carpet being collouning," Tabar said.
carpet been rolled up. He said began rolling the housing department and to help clean, house director, that if he were not given a new carpet, he would go to the health department.
Wilson said he did not recall the incident
"If Mr. Tabor had a problem that needed attention, I hope we had it fixed." Wilson said.
Tabor sacked his carpet after According to Moos, Tabor's pest problem was nothing compared to the trouble Tabor had caused the Towers.
partment.
"Tabor had thrown eggs on the kitchen floor.
MOOS SAID that when Tabor moved out of his apartment in Tower D, he had not cleaned it well enough to meet the standards of the housing department.
failed to clean the oven and not cleaned out the refrigerator," he said.
He had made several attempts during the last six weeks to get Tabor to clean the room, he said, but he had refused.
but he had refused.
"We are trying to be very amable about the whole thing." Moas said. "We even paid the $40 charge required to transfer his phone."
Moas said he had then told Fabor that if he failed to clean the room, he would be fined $40. Moas also said he would
tabor again refused to comply.
"The $40 is a type of penalty fee." Moos said.
"If he fails to clean the room, he'll lose $40. We can't make an exception."
MOOS SAID the amount of the fine was an estimate of how much it would cost the housing department to clean the apartment. The fine would be taken out of Tabor's damage deposit
The problem might be solved by tomorrow, Moos said. He planned to meet with Tabor to discuss the penalty. He said he would then decide whether to fine Tabor $40.
Steve Keel, assistant director of the housing department, also said Tabor's threat did not influence the Towers' decision to allow Tabor to switch apartments. The staff was merely trying to accommodate his wishes, he said.
to accommodate "Our first attempt was to eradicate the problem," Keel said. "But he felt the problem was severe enough to warrant his moving out."
KEEL SAID that after Tabor's complaint to the management, he had inspected the apartment.
"I fell there was enough of a problem to warrant some action," Keel said.
warned some action. Koehler added,
At Tabor's request, he offered to release him
from his lease, Keel said. Tabor initially
accepted the offer, but later rejected it because
it would put too much of a burden on his
roommate.
He had offered an arrangement to Tabor that would not place a burden on his roommate, he said, but Tabor did not want to move out of the Towers.
Tabor said he hoped that after others heard of his roach problems, they would think twice before moving into the Towers.
"For more than $400 a month, people shouldn't have to live in a reach pit," Tatler said.