MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Renovated Jaybowl ready for business
By Nathan Dayani Kansan staff writer
John Nowak/Kansan
Luis Londado. Wichita senior, touches up edges along the wall in the Jaybowl. KU administrators are hopeful that the Jaybowl will be open before the first day of classes.
The jaybowl only needs a few finishing touches before it opens its doors to bowling classes at the semester's start and to the general public Sept. 3.
Bowling lovers at the University of Kansas will not have to wait much longer for some new lanes.
"We need to do a lot of clean-up, but the pin setters are ready to go; the lanes are ready to go," said Mike Fine, recreation coordinator for the Kansas and Burge unions. "If we had to, we could bowl today."
The Jaybowl, located on the first floor of the Kansas Union, has been under construction since last September. A few features from the previous Jaybowl remain, including the scoring computers and paintings of the evolution of the Jayhawk.
Almost every other aspect of the Jaybowl underwent significant renovation. John Tran, Overland Park junior, has helped with the facility's construction. He said the Jaybowl came a long way in the past few months.
"We did a lot of work on it, so it looks a lot of different now." Tran said. "It's a night and day difference."
In addition to major aesthetic changes, the Jaybowl has new bowling balls, ball returns and Brunswick Pro Anvil lanes. However, bowlers might have to adjust to the new surface.
"There's going to be a little bit of a learning curve for us as we figure out the conditions." Fine said. "The lanes will play different from wood. They
tend to be a surface with less friction than wood."
Fine said the lanes should help generate more power than the Jaybow's former wood surface. He also said the lanes have a second set of markers that should help increase bowlers' scores.
The Hawks' Nest, adjacent to the Iawbowl, will also open Sept. 3. The
Hawk's Nest will serve as a restaurant, coffee bar and performance area. The Jaybowl will also have three coin-operated pool tables and several video games, including the ever-popular Golden Tee.
and Coherent will charge $1.75 per game for students with a KUID to bowl, and $2 for others. Shoe rental will cost $1.
Zack Lerner, Prairie Village senior,
frequented the Jaybowl before it
closed almost a year ago.
"It's close. You can go in between classes if you want to get a break," he said. "And it's cheap."
Contact Dayani at rdayani@kansan.com. This story was edited by
Nicole Roche and Christina Neff.
Fire damages apartment; no one injured
Homeowner Jan Tucker looks on at the damage which recently ravaged her property at 1132 Tennessee. "My heart was racing when I was driving here and I was so glad that no one was hurt," said Tucker.
John Nowak/Kansan
ByMichelle Burhenn
Kansan staff writer
Venetian blinds and the blades of a ceiling fan hung in a melted mess after an apartment fine early Friday morning.
The fire was reported about 1:15 a.m. Friday at 1132 Tennessee St. Mark Bradford, deputy chief at Lawrence-Douglas County Fire and Medical, said no one was injured in the fire.
The fire was contained in about an hour. Damage was confined to the southeast corner of the converted two-story apartment, but smoke and heat caused damage throughout the building. Homeowner Jan Tucker said rain also caused damage because of holes in the roof. Damage was estimated at $30,000.
Tucker said four people occupied the house she had renovated in 1997. No one was home at the time of the fire, and smoke alarms were sounding when firefighters arrived at 1:20 a.m.
bradford said Lawrence-Douglas County Fire and Medical said an unattended card started the fire.
Tucker said the fire started in the studio apartment of Portia Riggins, a Lawrence resident. A one-bedroom apartment rented by another Lawrence resident suffered only smoke damage.
Debris continued to fall in the two-bedroom second floor apartment that Erica Shamrock, Glenview, Ill., senior, and Kim Juarez, Lenexa senior, moved into in late July.
Their living room, bathroom and one bedroom were destroyed, and Juarez said few of their belongings survived the fire. She and her roommate planned to find a new apartment soon.
"We obviously can't just live with friends until they get the cleaned up." Juarez said. "We need a place to live."
Tucker doesn't know when she can begin to fix the damage to the house she has owned since the mid-1970s.
Though Tucker said her Friday
"Even though there is a lot of damage, this could have been a much larger fire." Tucker said. "The fire department did a great job protecting
morning was long and upsetting, she was thankful the fire was not worse
my investment.'
Contact Burhenn at mburhenn@kansan.com. This story was edited by Erin Ohm and Adam Pracht.
By Molly Gise
Kansan staff writer
while most of the University's approximately 900 GTAs make more than $8,000, Vodicka said only about half of them make $10,000. All third-year GTAs will make $10,000 if the approval is approved.
The proposed contract establishes for the first time a minimum salary for GTAs. The base salary for a GTA in the first year of the contract would be $8,000. That amount would increase to $9,000 in the second year and $10,000 in the third year of the contract.
Graduate teaching assistants will vote next week on a proposed three-year contract with the University of Kansas.
"We think it's going to be an important improvement for working conditions for graduate teachers at the University," said Robert Vodicka, graduate teacher in humanities and western civilization and lead negotiator for GTAC. "We have always contended that teaching conditions for the graduate teachers are the learning conditions for the under-graduates."
The Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition and the University came to a tentative agreement July 10 on a salary package. The agreement ends nearly two years of off-and-on negotiations on the contract.
The base salary in the contract is for half-time GTA appointments.
Vodicka said about three-quarters of the University's GTAs work half-time, meaning they teach about two classes and work 20 hours a week. Under the new agreement, salaries would be based on whether a GTA works more or less than half-time. Under the proposal, the University also would increase the merit salary pool for GTA raises by 10 percent each year of the contract. Lynn Bretz, director of University Relations, said the University had never guaranteed the salary pool, which is distributed among departments, for each year of the contract before this proposal. The dean and faculty from each department determine if and by how much to raise GTA salaries.
Salaries were the point of contention during contract talks.
Disagreement about GTA wages brought negotiations to impasse in December. Bretz said the University could not afford to budget more money for GTA salaries until the tuition increase was approved in June by the Board of Regents.
"We were all in agreement this needed to be done," Brets said. "The tuition increase paved the way for it."
Vodicka said the strength of the
coallition, about 200 GTAs, helped push the University to an agreement about salaries. GTAC held demonstrations in past semesters to rally support for fair wages. The salary package accepted by GTAC in July, which totals roughly $3 million over three years, is about 15 times more than the package offered in December. Vodicka said.
"We think there is a cause-and-effect relationship," Vodicka said. "Unions are powerful."
GTAs are the only University employees who will see salary increases this year, Vodicka said.
While working with the union GTAs is "a different kind of process." Bretz said, the availability of money through the tuition increase was the deciding factor in offering the proposed salary package.
Before GTAC and the University can officially shake hands on the contract, the proposal must be approved by the coalition's members, the University, the Board of Regents and the state secretary of administration. GTAC members will vote on the contract Aug. 26, beginning the ratification process. If approved by GTAC, the University will likely submit the proposal to the Regents in time for its September meeting.
"We're very eager for this to be approved," Bretz said.
The contract does guarantee an across-the-board raise for GTAs, Vodicka said, but it will help those who need it most. GTAs in less well-funded departments will benefit most from the contract.
"Hopefully, some of us who are working second jobs won't have to," Vodicka said.
Doug Crawford-Parker, who worked as a GTA in English eight years, balanced teaching classes with two children, a second job as a tutor at the athletics department and his dissertation work. A GTA salary was never enough, he said.
He and his wife would delay fixing the ear or seeing the doctor when money was scarce.
A lot goes into teaching classes. Crawford-Parker said. In addition to showing up to teach class, GTAs must also design a syllabus, write assignments, grade student work and hold office hours.
Despite the workload, Vodicka said GTAs are committed to what they do.
"We're not complaining about it being demanding." Vodicka said. "You do it because you love it and you love teaching it."
Contact Gise at mgise@kansan.com. This story was edited by Amy Schmitz.