University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, October 31, 1989
Campus/Area
3
KU shows slight decrease in minority faculty in 1989
Officials seek ways to recruit Black educators
By Cory S. Anderson
Kansan staff writer
The fall semester's 6 percent increase in minority student enrollment at the University of Kansas has not been mirrored by an increase in minority faculty.
The University has 98 minority faculty members in tenure track positions, one less than last fall. The small decrease results from the replacement of several departing faculty members.
Tenure track positions are lecturer, instructor, assistant professor, manager or other position.
minority groups including Asian Americans, Hispanics and American Indians showed the same kind of gain-loss pattern.
For example, the University lost two Black associate professors and two Black assistant professors but gained two Black professors and one Black lecturer, according to statistics released by the Office of Institutional Research and Planning. Other
"We need to do some different kinds of thinking in terms of recruitment and maintenance," said Sadye Logan, chairman of the Black Faculty and Staff Council. "It's a combination of things and also it's a type of thing where there can't be a one time effort."
Logan said the number of Black faculty members at the University today was poor in comparison to the number in the early 1970s.
increase minority faculty is a direct hire program. According to the Office of Affirmative Action, there were five minorities hired through that program this fall.
"The numbers have increasingly eroded during the years," Logan said. "There's not a University-wide commitment. There may be a few people who are totally committed, but it's not a total commitment from the top to the bottom."
"The direct hire program in effect allows University departments to simplify normal recruitment procedures in order to attract and hire well qualified minorities," said James Turner, director of the Office of Affirmative Action.
"There are several strategies that need to be in place and this is one of them," Logan said. "There need to be special recruitment efforts coming from the administration level."
Logan said the direct hire program was just one step that needed to be taken.
But, she said, the direct hire program is sometimes subject to negative publicity.
Hiring of minority teachers at KU remains about the same in a comparison with last
"It's a useful way of bringing in
One University program used to
1989
Black Asian American Hispanic Native American
5 26 5 0
9 14 2 1
8 16 4 0
2 1 1 0
2 2 0 0
-2 No Change +1 -1
Blacks and other minority faculty as long as it is not seen as a second-class program,” Logan said. “It loses its credibility and purpose when it is in that way.”
Susan YoungerKANSAN
finding minority faculty was the decreasing pool of minority applicants, especially Blacks. Nationally, he said, fewer Blacks are going to college, which drastically reduces the number applying for jobs. This is
Turner said one of the problems in
reflected in the University's decline in Blair's enrollment by 33 students
Watkins' measles plan put on hold for spring
Ardra Tippett, St. Louis senior, said the number of minority faculty members reflected badly on the University.
By Melanie Matthes Kansan staff writer
Students threatened with having their Spring 1990 enrollment placed on hold until they provide the University with proof of a measles vaccination can breathe easier — at least until Fall 1990 enrollment rolls around.
Ray Walters, associate director of Student Health Services, said 1,196 students still had not provided proof of the vaccination.
Although Watkins Memorial Health Center officials had planned to place these students' Spring enrollments on hold, implementation of the plan will be delayed until next semester, said Charles Yockey, Watkins chief of staff.
"The holds won't be on their enrollment cards," he said. "They have been erased on paper, but they are still on the computer. They will be enforced next semester."
Yockey said students born before 1958 did not have to show proof of vaccination and also were mistakenly included in the listing of students with enrollment holds.
One reason for the delay was the inclusion of Regents Center and University of Kansas Medical Center students in the number of students whose enrollments are on hold, Yockey said.
The unexpected difficulty in creating a computer program to keep track of students who had not been
vaccinated is another reason for the delay, Yockey said.
The computer program was not completed until after Labor Day and, at that time, the list of 3,172 unvaccinated students included students who lived outside Lawrence and who were born before 1958.
There were 1,810 students whose names appeared on the final list of students whose enrollments would be placed on hold, Yockey said. About 500 of these students, living in residence halls, were mailed letters in October telling them that their Spring enrollment would be placed on hold.
The remaining students did not receive letters because the office of admissions had to have the enrollment cards printed on the same day that the list was completed, he said.
He said that under the new policy, new and transfer students automatically would have their enrollments placed on hold. Students will be taken off the hold list by providing proof of vaccination on a health history form distributed by Watkins.
Diane Hendry, supervisor of the radiology department, said that since the letters were mailed, 418 students had come to Watkins for vaccinations, and 111 had called with questions about a vaccination.
She said most of these students were vaccinated because they could not provide proof of a previous vaccination or had received a vaccination before they were a year old.
Stacey Gore/KANSAN
Hammer head
Paul Kowalski, Palos Park, MI., sophomore, practices throwing a 16-pound hammer. Kowalski, a member of the Kansas track and field team, was practicing in front of Memorial Stadium yesterday afternoon.
Biology department to develop program in genetics
By Anita Meyer
Kansan staff writer
Undergraduates who want to major in genetics must be content with earning a bachelor's degree in biology with a concentration in one of seven areas.
Soon, however, that will change.
Dean Stetler, head of the genetics program, said a concentration in genetics would soon be added to the biology department.
He said that the genetics major was developed in response to student demand.
"I'd have people call me, especially from out-of-state, asking me if they could major in genetics," he said. "I'd have to tell them no, that they would have to major in something else. I'm sure we lost some students that way."
Stetter said that a graduate genetics program had been in place since the 1970s. The added
Stetler said, because students have little time for specialized genetics courses.
"There was a core requirement of so many classes that students didn't have time to take genetics classes," he said. "We obtained an agreement that waived some of the classes."
Interest in genetics has increased, Stetter became the field has become a focus of public interest.
"If you look at the progress that you've made in the last 10 years in this area, you'll see that we've been able to do a lot of wonderful things," he said. "For example, now we know that there is a gene, that if defective, can cause cystic fibrosis."
The undergraduate program will be added.
Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disorder that causes glands of the exocrine system to produce abnormally thick secretions of mucus. The respiratory system, pancreas and sweat glands are affected. There is no known cure.
if defective, can cause muscular dystrophy," he said. "There are genetic counselors who counsel couples who could have a child with genetic problems."
Stetler said the addition of the genetics concentration probably would decrease enrollment in other concentrations of biology. Other concentrations are biochemistry, biology, environmental health, human biology, systematics and ecology, cell biology and organismal biology.
"Now we've found there is another gene that,
"I think it will draw students away from their current majors in cell biology, in human biology, in molecular biology," he said. "They couldn't major in genetics, so they're doing the next best thing."
George Stewart, associate professor of microbiology, said that he thought the addition of genetics would bring an increase of students to the biology department, but that the department would be able to absorb that increase.
Stetler said he thought one reason why interest had been so great in the genetics category was because a lot of research was being conducted in KU laboratories.
and did genetic research in KU labs. The 25 graduate students majoring in genetics helped those faculty members.
"There has been a decrease in the number of students in biology departments across the country," he said. "I think the genetics concentration will cause an increase, but the increase and decrease should balance out."
He said 25 faculty members taught courses
The addition of the genetics specialization was important, he said, because it fosters interaction between biology programs.
"This helps out students and promotes interaction of faculty," he said. "It brings together departments that, otherwise, are a little isolated."
SenEx wants finals weeks free of events
Groups with student members will need special permission to conduct or participate in events during the final period if the University Council adopts a University Senate Executive Committee recommendation approved yesterday.
By Doug Fishback Kansan staff writer
SenEx adopted with revision a recommendation from the University Senate committee on organization and administration. The recommendation reads, "No University organization with student membership, be it athletic, scholastic, administrative, or other, will schedule or participate in events or meetings during the final examination period ... Exceptions to this rule may be made only with the permission of the Calendar Committee or the University Events Committee as appropriate."
That wording would replace a section of the University Senate rules and regulations that prohibits events with mandatory participation from being scheduled during the finals period. The current section makes exceptions for events over which the University has no control and for those events scheduled on campus on a Saturday evening, such as a basketball game.
SenEx also instructed the committee on organization and administration to draft a proposal regarding examinations scheduled outside regular class hours.
David Dinneen, professor of French and Italian and chairman of the calendar committee, took a recommendation from the committee to SenEx that examinations outside regular class hours be permitted only for multi-section courses and that such examinations must be scheduled between 7 and 10 p.m. on Sundays.
The committee will consider prohibiting such exams or making them contingent upon conditions, such as unanimous student consent.
In other business, SenEx approved of a proposal to move the time of senior commencement from 7 p.m. on a Sunday to 2:30 p.m. on a Sunday.
James Scaly, assistant to the chancellor, said the current commencement led to traffic and lodging problems because it ended too close to dusk.
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