FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2002
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
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Pill
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vides Plan B, but one gynecologist said advance prescriptions violated policy.
"If this is a time for someone to use emergency contraception, it's a time to counsel them about other forms of contraception," said Henry Buck, Jr., director of gynecology at Watkins.
Watkins patients pay $20 for each morning-after pill, which is administered one at a time. That fee includes a pregnancy test to avoid giving the pill to someone already carrying a child, Buck said.
Planned Parenthood charges $19 per pill. Wilmot said she assumed that some women were already using Plan B as a regular form of contraceptive, but the pill's "benign" nature allowed them to do so safely.
"It may disrupt the normal menstruation cycle, which is inconvenient, but it's harmless as far as medical implications go," she said. "I don't care as long as you don't get pregnant if you don't want to be."
Some students remain skeptical of getting the drug without a prescription, saying it provides an excuse to have unprotected sex.
Michelle Castor, Overland Park junior, said she thought pharmacies should sell Plan B without a prescription only to victims of rape or molestation.
"Otherwise, I would think that a lot more people would misuse it," she said.
Although Planned Parenthood has Plan B on hand, registered patients can call an after-hours line to get an emergency prescription. Wilmot said some pharmacists interjected their own values and sometimes refused to fill the prescriptions.
"If this is a time for someone to use emergency contraception, it's a time to counsel them about other forms of contraception."
Henry Buck, Jr. director of gynecology
"We had a problem the other day when a pharmacist wouldn't refill someone's prescription because of his own values." Wilmot said.
She did not release the pharmacist's name, but said WalMart had also banned the morning-after pill from distribution in its stores.
Employees at the Lawrence Wal-Mart confirmed that the chain does not carry plan B.
For the FDA to consider changing the drug's status to over-the-counter, Plan B makers must complete a label comprehension study to prove that women know how to use the drug without direct supervision of a doctor, said Christine Parker, public information specialist for the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA.
"It's safer than aspirin — women know how to use it," Lind said.
Three versions of emergency birth control exist: The first generation, called yupe, started in 1960 when doctors cut up packets of birth control pills and gave patients a higher-than-normal dosage. A second generation of specialized pills include Preven and Plan B. Makers of Plan B said Preven was similar to yupe because it contained estrogen like birth control pills, which stimulates feelings of nausea.
Edited by Matt Norton
Find it at www.kansan.com
Regents approve new deal for GTA's
By Molly Gise mgise@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
The new salaries will be rewarded retroactively when the GTAs started teaching in August, said Lynn Bretz, director of University Relations.
The Board of Regents approved a new three-year contract for graduate teaching assistants at the University of Kansas yesterday.
The decision marks a victory for members of the Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition, said Robert Vodicka, lead negotiator for the coalition. The contract culminates the work of dozens of people, he said.
The two groups came to a tentative agreement in July. The contract establishes minimum salaries for GTAs. This year, a GTA would earn at least $8,000. That amount increases to $9,000.
GTAC and the University negotiated for more than two years about the contract. Disagreement about GTA salaries halted talks in December.
"It's been a big effort, and that's why we're able to win what we've won," Vodicka said. "When we work together, we can get it."
next year and to $10,000 for the 2004-2005 school year.
Tuition money earmarked for university improvements will pay for the salary increase. This year's tuition increase makes the new salaries possible, Bretz said.
Fair wages will improve working conditions for GTAs, said Robert Callahan, an organizer with the American Federation of Teachers, GTAC's national affiliation. Callahan spent the last two weeks training and working with GTAC members.
"Teachers teach best when they have protection from overwork,when they have a reasonable amount of financial security and when they really,as well,have a level of control over their own jobs and are afforded the respect that goes along with such control," Callahan said.
"We all owe students a thanks for this," Bretz said.
Favorable teaching conditions will improve the learning conditions for undergraduate students, Vodicka said. The everyday implication of the contract will be seen in the classroom, he said.
"We really do believe it's going to be good for all undergraduates," Vodicka said.
GTAC's accomplishment is a message to other Regents schools in Kansas about the merits of unions as a way to have a strong voice with administration, Vodicka said.
"If graduate employees want to improve their working conditions on those campuses, the best way is to form a union," he said. "We're an example of why."
Interest at KU in the union appears to be growing. GTAC has signed more members since the semester began, Vodicka said.
"The word is out," Vodicka said. "Maybe not perfectly to every single graduate employee. But the word is out."
—Edited by Matt Norton
GTAC gets national help
By Molly Gise mgise@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
For the last two weeks, the Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition at the University of Kansas got a helping hand from its national organization.
Rob Callahan, an organizer with the American Federation of Teachers, has been working with GTAC since last Monday to help train organizers in the union and speak with potential members.
Having national support has been a good experience for GTAC's members, said Robert Vodicka, lead negotiator for the union.
"People who have been working with him have been energized by it." Vodicka said.
Edited by Matt Gehrke and Andy Samuelson
Fraternity robbed while members at formal
By Michelle Burhenn
mburhenn@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Two rooms in Kappa Sigma fraternity were broken into last weekend while most of the members were attending the fraternity's formal at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.
Three fraternity members reported the theft from Kappa Sigma fraternity, 1045 Emery Road, Saturday night. Stolen items valued at $2,871, Sgt. Mike Pattrick of Lawrence Police Department said.
John Jennings, fraternity president and Wichita junior, said four more members found things missing, and the total loss of the house would equal about $3,600.
Patrick said police were investigating how someone entered
the fraternity. Police did not find any evidence of forced entry.
Jennings said the fraternity house members used a four-digit pass code to enter the building from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.Members and some of their friends knew the pass code, and it was possible that one of the doors was open, Jennings said.
Jennings and four other members didn't attend the formal and stayed in the fraternity house. He said three of the members invited friends over and their friends may have invited friends whom members didn't know.
"I was fine with it," Jennings said. "I told them to keep it down-stairs, but obviously that didn't happen."
Jennings said he estimated 20 to 30 people were in the house at the time.
Items were taken from a room on the second floor, the kitchen, and a suite in the basement. Most of the things taken were electronic and entertainment items, including 128 compact discs, a DVD player, a cell phone, a Sony six-disc CD changer, six DVDs, a Playstation 2 and five games were also stolen, Patrick said.
Patrick said nothing was damaged in the rooms, but Rob Della-Moretta, Leavenworth junior, said when he came home from the formal he could tell someone had been through his personal belongings. Della-Moretta's roommate was asleep in his room while the neighboring room was ransacked, he said.
"When we got back you could just tell something had happened," said Della-Moretta. "They pulled out a bunch of cords
"When we got back you could just tell something had happened,"
Rob Della-Moretta Leavenworth Junior
from the entertainment center."
Della-Moretta said he hoped the fraternity would increase security. In the past, fraternity pledges had to lock up the house at midnight as part of their duties, Jennings said. He said pledges might have to do that again to step up security measures.
"We'll probably also start another rule about having guests when most of the fraternity members aren't here," Jennings said. "But that'll be really hard to enforce."
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