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Volume 128 Issue 18
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Kansan.com | The student voice since 1904
Faculty concerned about vague social media policy
MCKENNA HARFORD
@McKennaHarford
The University Senate is working to address University employees' questions concerning the Kansas Board of Regents' social media policy. The Senates is drafting a proposal for a procedure for what would happen if a faculty or staff member was reported for improper use of social media.
A major concern is the possible effects the policy could have on employees because of the vague language used in the policy.
“[The policy] makes faculty and staff more cautious about how they use social media in general because it's vague, so there could be self-censorship going on,” said Jonathan Mayhew, president of the University Senate. “The language creates a sense of uncertainty because it
needs to be interpreted."
needs to be interpreted. Michael Walker, a graduate student representative in Student Senate, said the policy endangers the ability of the University to be a place of free-flowing conversation.
"One of the many roles of academia is to have potentially unpleasant discourse going on, and this policy means that we can't do that," Walker said.
The vague language has also created a lot of questions and misunderstandings. Breeze Richardson, the director of communications for the Kansas Board of Regents, said the policy does not apply to scholarly activity or student employees, including GTAs.
"We deliberately excluded all students and student employees."Richardson said.
It also does not apply to faculty and staff when they are speaking as a private citizen.
"[The policy] is not about monitoring every correspondence on every kind of social media of faculty and staff for some violation," Richardson said. "It's for when something happens and there is a need for clarity about what is permitted and what isn't."
"The language creates a sense of uncertainty because it needs to be interpreted."
JONATHAN MAYHEW President of the University Senate
Richardson said the policy actually clarifies existing Supreme Court rulings that give employers the ability to discipline employees for speech that isn't in the interest of the
employer.
"Changing [the policy] or taking it away isn't going to take away the validity of the employer to discipline based on speech," Richardson said.
Mayhew questioned whether the policy was even necessary because existing policies already prohibit many actions that would be considered improper, like sharing confidential information or inciting violence.
"The policy arose out of a tweet by journalism professor David Guth that was so controversial that the Board of Regents felt they needed to act on it, but now that the passions have died down from that incident, do we really need a social media policy at all?" Mayhew said.
Another concern is that the policy will damage the University's ability to recruit faculty
and staff members.
it does damage to the ability to recruit faculty even if it's never used," Mayhew said.
Walker said because of this, students are hurt by the policy as well.
"The policy indirectly influences us because the University is only as good as the faculty we keep and attract," Walker said.
The University Senate procedure should help alleviate these issues by creating a due process. Mayhew said.
"We are trying to introduce safeguards into the procedure so that someone cannot be disciplined or fired immediately for an infraction of the policy, so some due process safeguards would occur before that happened," Mayhew said.
The current draft of the procedure is a set of steps that starts with the Office of the Provost deciding whether
there was improper use, which could be reported by anyone.
Then the case would move to a three-person committee, which would decide if the case was valid. Then a five-person panel would decide the validity of the case and make a recommendation to the chancellor. Finally the chancellor decides what discipline, if any, should be taken.
The details of the policy, like who will decide the committee members for each step and what language should be used, are being discussed with administration and the Office of General Counsel.
"I don't think anyone really wants [the procedure] to be used on a daily basis or even ever." Mayhew said.
The Board of Regents will review the policy in May 2015.
Edited by Miranda Davis
Student group looks into Koch funding influence at the University
Students for a Sustainable Future, a campus organization, have been looking into Charles and David Koch's influence on the University.
The Koch brothers have donated $1.4 million to the University's School of Business since 2001 and the student group has spent the last year looking into any contracts the University may have signed when it agreed to the donation. The group's main focus is creating transparency when it comes to any donations that may come with restrictions.
The students have filed a Kansas Open Records Act request through the Office of the Provost that asks for all correspondence with the Koch brothers — but the University says the records request will cost the students $1,800 according to an OpEd letter published in the Lawrence Journal-World written by Schuyler Kraus, president of Students for a Sustainable Future.
In response, the students began fundraising. They have received $1,350 so far, with the first thousand being donated by the Kansas chapter of the American Association of University Professors, Kraus said. The group has a live petition at un-kochKU.com where people can donate.
"There should be transparency, this is a public institution that's existing for the common good." Kraus said.
Kraus said she started looking into the relationship between the University and the Koch brothers when she noticed how much influence they had at other universities and wondered what their relationship was with the University. Once she discovered that the Kochs donated to the University, she started investigating what kind of stipulations, if any, came with the donations.
"This isn't really about the Kochs specifically, they're just an example," Kraus said. "It's the system that needs to change, not necessarily the donors, it's just their influence."
Kraus hopes to eventually create an online database that publishes any restrictions that a donor requests when they donate money to the University so students, parents, faculty and taxpayers can see.
Miranda Davis
JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
Signs made by various student organizations line the sidewalk in front of Watson Library Monday for the Homecoming sign competition. The University's 102nd Homecoming began on Sept. 21, with events running throughout the week. This year's Homecoming theme is "Roll with the 'Hawks."
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
2 PALESTINE AND ISRAEL
A timeline of events
3 FLU SHOTS
4 UNLOCKING POTENTIAL
"It is natural and beneficial for you to experiment in creation," JAKE KAUFMANN
3 FLU SHOTS Watkins Health Center begins administering flu vaccines.
TEACHING TECHNIQUE KU Boxing Club awaits approval for its new outreach program
8 BIG 12 NOTEBOOK Kansas moving up one spot in the Big 12 rankings
9 MORNING BREW
Are women being punished less in professional sports?
Phase two of campus landscaping nearly done
"The long-term goal is to recreate the historic tree canopy around Jayhawk Boulevard,"
DEREK SKILLETT
@derekskillett
Workers have nearly finished landscaping part of Jayhawk Boulevard, returning it to how it looked in the 1950s.
In the 1950s, Jayhawk Boulevard had a different look. Rows of elm trees formed a shady canopy over the boulevard, providing shade for students and visitors walking across campus. People driving down the boulevard in Chevy convertibles could take in the beauty of campus without being blinded by the sun.
KENNEDY BURGESS/KANSAN
Unfortunately, that period came to an abrupt end. By the mid-1970s, Dutch elm disease destroyed most of the trees lining the boulevard. According to the U.S. Forest Service, the disease can kill individual branches and the entire tree in only a few years. The disease is also spread through beetles. Suddenly, the canopy was gone.
On Friday, Sept. 14, steps to recreate that canopy began, as landscapers took to the boulevard to plant elm trees as part of a four-year project to reconstruct and re-beautify the boulevard. The project, which started last year, should be completed in 2016.
said Paul Graves, the deputy director of Design and Construction Management. "If you look at old photos, it was basically an archway over the boulevard that made it nice and shaded over the summer. It's actually going to be better this time. We're planting a number of species to provide biodiversity. If there is a disease or insect invasion, it reduces the risk of a mass die-off."
Graves outlined a timeline for the landscaping portion of the reconstruction project.
"The landscaping was intentionally held off until this part of year when there would be cooler temperatures," Graves said. "The landscaping should be completed by the middle of October."
"As part of the construction on Jayhawk Boulevard, we did purposefully move bus stops slightly to locations that we think would be more workable," Graves said.
However, landscaping has been affecting where buses have been dropping off students on Jayhawk Boulevard.
Some students have found this movement a little inconvenient.
"It has been taking a bit longer to get to my classes," said
Chelsea Ricke, a senior from Wellington.
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OPINION 4
Graves said the cost for the landscaping was about $230,000, which was part of the budget. The landscaping is in Phase Two construction, which includes all of the construction efforts that were completed this summer. He said landscaping improvement is funded through KU Endowment, although some components will be paid for with state
Ricke also said it's annoying to have to duck under the caution tape that is set up around the dirt plots on Jayhawk Boulevard. However, Graves said this tape will only be temporary.
"I think the tape will be up until landscaping crews have completed the planting. The tape is up because it's a visual warning to anyone who is walking along to avoid stepping into the shallow ditches that are there along the sidewalk. We don't want anyone to
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CROSSWORD 6
funds.
With the changes being made to Jayhawk Boulevard, it won't be long before it resembles the canopy it was almost 60 years ago.
trip and get hurt." Graves said. "As soon as there's enough visual plant material there to serve as a flag without having the tape, then the tape will come down."
"In the near-term, we expect that Phase Two will look like Phase One now. If you look at the west end of Jayhawk Boulevard, there were trees planted last year and shrubs planted last year and those have filled in fairly well since they were planted," Graves said.
— Edited by Rob Pyatt
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SUDOKU 6
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