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Thursday, November 9.1972
University Daily Kansan
Voice of Male Telephone Operator Startles Callers, Causes Hang-Ups
By MALCOLM TURNER Kansan Staff Writer
Usually when someone dials the operator, he or she expects to hear a pleasant feminine voice say, "Operator. May I help you?"
While Lawrence callers may still expect the usual response, they might be surprised because the voice is masculine instead of feminine.
The male operator for Lawrence is Randy Wiles, Lawrence sophomore. Wiles said that he applied for the job in July because it was the only one available to him at that time.
The 22-year-old ex-Marine said the job was difficult for him at first because he had to adjust to being the only male operator among nearly 60 women.
In July of this year, the Bell system in Lawrence hired its first male operator. Although this is new to Lawrence, it is not new to Southern Western Bell Telephone Co. Of the 1,800 operators that Bell employs in Texas, only 25% of male operators are employed in Topeka.
"I was really shy at first but they grew to accept me." Wiles said.
Wiles said that when he was on duty, people responded with skepticism when he was off duty.
"Even to this day, 50 per cent or every other caller is shocked," he said, "and almost 30 per cent of the callers hang up if they think they have the wrong number."
Wiles said that people just did not know how to react when he answered the phone. Among the more frequent comments are "I had them," or "What is this, men's lib" had them."
Wiles recalled one time when a woman caller even asked him to her house for a drink after work, but he said he refused the invitation.
Wiles described his job as "all business and very tedious," but he said that he has made a great progress.
Mud Creek Proposition IsScheduled
A public hearing concerning the controversial Mud Creek channelization plan is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. tonight at Grant School, RFD 3.
The project was proposed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1969. It calls for 4.7 miles of stream channelization and 3.4 miles of levee on the south bank of Mud Creek, which enters the Kansas River about 3.2 miles east of the downtown Lawrence bridge.
Opponents of the project include the Lawrence Sierra Club, the Audubon Society and the Douglas County Coon Hunters Association.
The project is designed to provide flood protection for North Lawrence. Concern over the disastrous effects of a 1951 flood led corps to begin work on the project in 1969.
The city will pay 72 per cent of that amount and the remaining 28 per cent will come from residents of the drainage district.
Opponents of the project content that alternatives to channelization are less expensive and already acquired 78 acres of land as right-of-way for the corps' plan at a cost of $128,000.
Nonchannelization plans require purchase of more right of way and flooding options, an alternative plan proposed would cost $3,068,500. The corps' plan would cost $3,151,800.
The corps has promised to develop other city-owned land along the Kansas River as pavement.
Senate Acts On Changes In '70 Code
The University Senate will meet at 3:30 p.m. today in the University Theatre in Murphy Hall to discuss the proposed amendments to the 1970 Senate Code.
A quorum of 216, or 20 per cent of the 1.077 members, must be present to transact business, Richard von Ende, acting executive secretary, said.
The University Senate is composed of the Student Senate; the Faculty Senate; the Student Senate.
ments were app-
lied to the University Council and the Faculty Council after five sessions. The revisions include separate governance of KU into similar but separate bodies, one at Lawrence and one at the KU Medical Center; a mail ballot for the all-University Senate, the Faculty Senate of the Lawrence campus, and the University Senate of the Lawrence campus; guaranteed graduate student representation in the University Council granting more power to the University and granting membership in the Faculty Council some nontenured faculty members and some unclassified University personnel.
Beverly Kiosow, chief operator of the Lawrence central office, said that they hired Wiles solely on the basis of his qualifications.
"I don't know that anything actually made me hire him. I evaluated his qualifications along with the qualifications of several female applicants." she said.
Kiosew said that she had interviewed only six or seven men this year and Wiles was the only one.
"He has an excellent tone of service with the customers," she said. "He has received
more commendations in the short time he has been employed than the average operator would receive over a period of five years."
Kiosk attributed this to Wiles' courteous attitude and eagerness to be helpful
Virgine Mitchell, group chief operator in Lawrence, said the integration of male telephone operators into the Bell system was not a one-way street.
Many women, she said, have been integrated into positions that men have tradi-
tions.
Emily Taylor Named to Post On Committee
Emily Taylor, dean of women, has been selected to serve on the State Department's Selection Board for the officers of the Foreign Service.
Caryl Smith, assistant dean of women, said Taylor was the only citizen representative. The remaining members are six officials of the State Department. Smith said that Taylor would be a part of the committee that reviewed recommendations for the promotion of foreign officers.
The committee will review each officer's folder being considered for promotion and decide whether the officer deserves the promotion. The committee will also review any committee anywhere from four to six weeks.
in past years. The board which will meet in Washington, D.C. is expected to complete the selection by Christmas, however, Smith said.
Smith said she thought Tayler's selection to the committee might be due largely to her active participation in the Affirmative Action program for Women, and politics. In the 1972 presidential election campaign, Taylor was on the National Advisory Committee to the Committee to Re-Elect the President, Smith said.
"In the past, there has been considerable pressure on this particular committee to get female representation," Smith said. "It is hard for the female to advance through the ranks if there is no female representation on the selection board."
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