TODAY'S WEATHER: Mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and a high of 64. SPORTS: Kansas prepares to meet Wake Forest.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TALK TO US: Contact
Kursten Phelps or Leita
Schultes at (785) 864-4810
or editor@kansan.com
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
TUESDAY DECEMBER 4,2001
WWW.KANSAN.COM
ISSUE 66 VOLUME 112
Negotiations end with no agreement. GTAC says
By Eve Lamborn Kansan staff writer
After 14 months of contract negotiations, the University of Kansas and the Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition finally agreed on something yesterday — they are at an impasse
The two sides met one more time to make a final decision on the status of their contract talks after the KU administration requested an impasse two weeks ago. This meeting gave the coalition a chance to respond to the University's request. The groups decided to end their face-to-face bargaining.
The next step is for the Public Employees Review Board of the state of Kansas to provide a mediator to try and reconcile the dispute and find common ground.
Todd Cohen, assistant director of University Relations, said the two sides did agree yesterday on new conditions regarding graduate teaching assistant appointments. The new rules allow a student to be enrolled in one credit hour and remain a GTA, which helps students who are working on their doctoral dissertations and doing outside research. The old provisions had a six credit minimum for GTAs
But the groups did not agree on salaries and benefits.
Cohen said the state budget shortfall, which the governor said could be $225 million dollars, made the coalition's salary proposals unreasonable.
Robert Vodicka, chairman of the coalition negotiation committee, said he was frustrated with the University's proposals.
"The fiscal climate is not good," he said.
proposals. "We're disappointed in the Chan cellor and his administration for not making working conditions and learning conditions a higher budget priority," said the humanities and western civilization GTA.
About 20 GTAs came to the meeting yesterday and attempted to sit in on the talks until they were asked to leave by the University.
Amy Cummins, coalition president, said the University threatened to stop talks then and there if the GTAs not on the negotiating team didn't leave. She said the GTAs had followed the rules of the talks, but they complied with the University.
"We wanted to make sure they had received our counter proposals and gave them attention," she said. "They were looking for any excuse not to negotiate."
Lynn Bretz, interim director for University Relations, said the ground rules for negotiations said that each side could have only a few observers. She said the University was within its rights to ask some coalition members to leave.
"Having an excess of 20 people was not conducive to negotiations," she said.
The University offered a minimum base salary of $7,000 that would increase by $1,400 over the next two years of a GTA's term. The University also offered to seek the same merit salary increases for GTAs as it does for faculty members and subsidize GTA insurance at the same level as it does other KU employees.
other KU employees. GTAs and faculty members both earn about 88 percent of the average salaries of KU's peer universities. The KU administration said it wanted to close this gap and was seeking the money to do so.
GTAs will remain under the contract until a new one is negotiated.
Fee hike finds little favor
Law students voice concern during presentaton
By Paul Smith Kansan staff writer
A tuition increase next fall may force Zak King to quit law school so he can continue to afford caring for his 1-year-old son.
"I hope the tuition increase doesn't go through," said King, a Hays first-year law student. "It means increasing my work hours, which means decreasing my studies."
Contact Lamborn at 864-4810
He chose the University of Kansas for the low tuition rate, and now the University has offered six tuition increase proposals that could raise the cost
But an increase between 15 and 62 percent may hit next fall, although it is still undetermined whether any increase will affect only incoming freshmen or all students.
between 61 and 123 percent within four years.
"I would be in favor of the new students taking the hit," King said. "They would know the cost coming in."
Three tuition increase scenarios were drafted in accordance with a request from the Board of Regents to consider tuition increase options. Each scenario includes two proposals for the increase to apply to only freshmen or all students.
The first scenario would increase in-state tuition to $173.75 per credit hour by 2006.
Within the same time period, the second scenario would bring tuition to $153.75 per credit hour, and the third scenario would bring it to $125.75 per credit hour.
Currently the in-state tuition rate per credit hour is $77.75.
April.
Provost David Shulenburger started presentations last week to inform students, faculty and administrators at each school about the University's tuition increase strategies. King was in the audience yesterday at Shulenburger's law school presentation.
Non-resident students would pay the same dollar amount for any increase that the Regents approve for in-state students in April.
Administrators contend that the University has low tuition
SEE TUITION PAGE 3A
Remaining presentations of proposal
**Today:** School of Engineering, 3 to 4:15 p.m.
at 3139 Wescoe Hall; University Council, 4:30
to 6 p.m. at 3139 Wescoe Hall.
Tomorrow: School of Business, 3 to 4:30 p.m.
at 427 Summerfield Hall
Thursday: Presidents Roundtable, 2:30 to 3:45 p.m. at the Jayhawk Room in Kansas Union; School of Fine Arts, 4 to 5:30 p.m. at 110 Budig Hall.
■ Monday: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, 4:15 to 6 p.m. at 110 Budig Hall.
Tuesday: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, 3 to 4:15 p.m. at 3139 Wescow; School of Pharmacy, 4:30 to 6 p.m. at 3139 Wescow.
Wednesday, Dec. 12: School of Social
Welfare. 4:30 to p.m. at 110 Budig.
Welfare, 4:30 to 6 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 14: Office of Student Affairs staff, 1 to 3:15 p.m. at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
TO EARN A LIVING, DOUGLAS COUNTY BONDSMEN PUT THEIR TRUST IN ACCUSED CRIMINALS AND TOGETHER THE TWO OPERATE
borrowed time
STORY BY COURTNEY CRAIGMILE PHOTOS BY CHRIS BURKET
Michelle Hattimer leaned back in the bleachers and watched her son run onto the baseball diamond, her long red nails brushing curly bangs off her moist forehead. It was the last game Luke, her 17-year-old son, would play this season and the only one she'd been able to attend all summer.
Dudelyn, her red Nokia cell phone rang. It was a collect call from someone whose name she did not recognize and she debated whether to
answer. She was in Oskaloosa, and she
knew whoever was on the other end of the phone was calling from the Douglas County IaI.
Oh well, she thought to herself, this could be the big one, the million dollar bond that would let her retire before 50. She took the call.
She took the call.
On the other end of the line was a woman who was at the jail with her son, arrested on charges of felony theft. It would take a $30,000 bond to bail him out.
The woman's mother in-law was on her way to the jail with $3,000 in hand to pay Hattimer. The mother-in-law was ready to put up her house as collateral in the court that her grandson jumped bail
"I'll be right there," Hattimer told the woman, climbing in her black Pontiac Grand Am and driving quickly to
Lawrence. The three women met in the lobby of the jail and in little more than an hour, the man was free and Hattimer was driving home with a check for $1,350. her share of the $3,000 bonding fee charged by her company, ABC Bonding
Hattimer is one of 25 bondsmen licensed in Douglas County who make their living lending money to the least trustworthy class of borrowers - accused criminals so they can be released from jail pending trial.
lectic schedules
Bonding is a bit like insurance. In return for a fee paid up front, bondsmen guarantee that their clients will show in court on an appointed date or they must pay the full bail set by the judge. The judge determines how much bail is required for a defendant. Factors such as ties to the community, job status and criminal history factor into the amount of bail.
Bondsmen like Hattimer are on call 24 hours a day, have no office other than a cell phone and a car and many are workaholics. They sacrifice sleep and family life to post bonds at all hours of the day. When their clients fail to show up in court, bondsmen also put on the hat of a bounty hunter, forced to track down the suspects so the entire amount of the bond isn't forfeited.
Unless the accused criminal jumps bond, the only money that changes hands is the fee the bondsman charges a client. If the criminal skips town, the bondsman is required to pay courts the full amount of the bail or bring the criminal back to jail.
the average bondsman in northeastern Kansas posts about 30 bonds a week. Each takes about an hour to write. Kansas law mandates that bondsmen charge a fee equal to 10 percent of the face value of each bond.
"It's a job with a sizeable income, but also lots of downfalls and lots of headaches," said Hattimer, who was
earning a six-figure income after being in the business only two years. Previously, she was a dealer a Harrah's Casino and a hair stylist.
"People go 'Oh, yeah, you can make a lot of money.' You can, but there no routine in your life," Hattimer said.
She quit at Harrah's and cuts hair once a week. But bonding comes first.
"All my clients know that if I'm supposed to cut your hair, and I get a call, especially for a big one, I'm taking the bond," she said. "You can get your hair cut later."
Sam Fields, a bondman with AJ's Bonding and Applejacks Bonding, has been in the business since 1994. He started with Applejacks Bonding and acquired AJ's Bonding in 1998 when the previous owner died.
"I don't know that I'd call it fun, but I decided I wanted to do it one day, so I just did," Fields said.
He said he purchased AJ's to buy goodwill and satisfied clients.
"People associate good things with a name. When I bought AJ's, I essentially bought all his clients who were happy with his service." Fields said.
SEE BAILJUMPERS PAGE 64
Recognition has a price tag in honor societies
By Eve Lamborn Kansan staff writer
The newest members of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society walked across the stage in Woodruff Auditorium Sunday afternoon and received a pin signifying their membership, but they paid a $41 initiation fee for the honor.
The top 5 percent of seniors and the top 10 percent of graduate students are invited to join Phi Kappa Phi, which includes students from all academic disciplines. David Darwin, scholarships
and awards coordinator for the University of Kansas chapter of Phi Kappa Phi, said about 300 seniors and graduate students were invited to join this year.
Several honor societies induct KU students who have good academic records. In most cases, becoming a member requires a fee in addition to good grades. That discourages some KU students from joining.
Of those 300,92 students became new members by paying the initiation fee which entitled them to a pin, certificate and journal subscription.
Darwin, distinguished professor of civil and environmental engineering, said he joined the society while a senior at Cornell University. He later became a lifetime member, which required that he pay an additional one-time fee of about $200.
"I like it because I get to interact with people from all the schools," he said. "These are the best and the brightest."
He said the purpose of the organization was to honor outstanding students, but the group also offered fellowships for members.
"It's really meant to distinguish students and honor excellence in all disciplines," he said.
Katie Howle, Leawood senior, said she joined Phi Kappa Phi this year because she felt honored to be invited into the organization. She said she would probably also become a lifetime member, and she said she did not mind paying the membership fees.
"I'd like to further educational opportunities for future generations," she said. "It's expected that you give money so that
INSIDETODAY
SEE SOCIETIES PAGE 3A
COMING IN TOMORROW'S KANSAN
WORLD NEWS ... 2A
HOROSCOPES ... 5A
WEATHER ... 8A
CROSSWORD ... 8A
DIVORCE: How parents who split up affect college students and their relationships.
MEN'S BASKETBALL: Will the Jayhawks redeem themselves against Wake Forest?
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents. Subscriptions can be purchased at 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
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