The big chill
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Details page 6
Wednesday October 21,1987 Vol.98,No.43
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
(USPS 650-640)
KU official may have violated labor law, group says
By NOEL GERDES
Staff writer
A top KU administrator may have violated a state labor law when she expressed an opinion on faculty unionization, contends a newsletter sent to faculty yesterday by the KU chapter of the National Education Association.
Tom Madden, organizing coordinator for KU-NEA, said he had asked an attorney to review comments about faculty unions made by Judith Ramaley, KU executive vice chancellor, in the Oct. 9 edition of the Oread. The Oread is a weekly employee newspaper published by the Office of University Relations.
Madden said Ramaley might have violated the Kansas Employer-Employee Relations Act when she was quoted in the Oread as saying, "1" don't think unionization will
improve the financial condition of the faculty, which I gather is the primary concern of the organizers, or attract favorable attention to the campus. Unionization doesn't create new dollars for salaries or force legislatures to appropriate more dollars."
The Kansas Employer-Employees Relations Act prohibits employers from dominating, interfering or assisting in the formation, or facilitation administration of any employee organization.
Ramaley said yesterday that the Oread had quoted her correctly and that she had no
The Oread also said Ramaley thought that a faculty union at KU would be divisive and would produce an adversarial relationship with the Board of Regents.
"Our question is whether Dr. Ramaley's comments were within her First Amendment
rights, or whether she went beyond that, trying to influence the outcome of the election," Madden said.
beyond that. — Tom Madden
Our question is whether Dr. Ramaley's comments were within her First Amendment rights, or whether she went beyond that. --- Tom Madden
KU-NEA organizing coordinator
The administration recently released a pamphlet called "Questions and Answers Regarding the Kansas Public Employer-Employees Act: Implications for Faculty Collective Bargaining." Ramaley wrote the introduction to the pamphlet.
One question the pamphlet asked was whether KU administrators could express their opinions about faculty unions.
The answer was: "So long as the members of the administration do not interfere with the rights of faculty members to form, join, and participate in employee organizations, these persons are free to express their opinions concerning the process. Only through a frank discussion of the issues can faculty members make informed judgments about these important matters."
Madden said he probably would hear by Friday from an attorney of the Kansas chapter of the NEA. If the attorney says Ramaley violated the state statute, KU-NEA will file a complaint with the state Public Employees Relations Board. Madden said.
In the newsletter, KU-NEA said, "Faculty
members should note that KU-NEA has never taken an adversarial position toward the Board of Regents or its possible representatives.
"If the KU administration becomes the Board's representative in negotiations with the faculty union, Ramalaye's position could become a serious obstacle to the sort of equal cooperation with the Board that KU-NEA bops to establish."
Ramaley said yesterday that she did not wish to reply to the KU-NEA newsletter.
KU faculty will vote Nov. 17 and 18 whether to form a union represented by KU-NEA, a union represented by the KU chapter of the American Association of University Professors, or no union at all. If none of the three options receives a majority of votes, then faculty members will vote again between the two highest vote-getters.
Replica of court featured at shop
By BEN JOHNSTON
Staff writer
Until recently, many KU students saw the design of the state of Kansas and the red and blue Jayhawks that decorate the court at Allen Field House only when the basketball team played.
But thanks to Derrick Gomez, Topea sophomore, students now have the chance to see the court anytime.
After spending 36 hours between Oct. 11 and Oct. 13 painting a section of the floor of the Downtown Barber Shop, 824 Massachusetts St. Gomez completed a staircase leading to the apotheca of the Allen Field House floor.
Except for three extra Jayhawks and the lines signifying the center court and free throw lines, which are proportionally wider than the real lines, the replica is exactly the same design. Gomez said.
Gomez, a fine arts major, said he had done other art work in high school, including a large crest which now hangs in the library of his high school. He said he had been eager to design the replica of the court because he knew it would be a lasting example of his art work which KU students and Lawrence residents could enjoy.
"I think I am really pleased with it because it was a successful attempt," Gomez said. "Hopefully after I leave KU and on, it will stay here. In time, probably half the people in Lawrence are going to come in here and take a look at it."
John Amyx, owner of the barber shop that opened Aug. 11, said his shop, which has numerous sports pictures and moments, emphasized sports, particularly KU basketball. He said they were decided he decided to have the waiting area in the back of the shoe painted like the court.
"We had the autographed picture of the Final Four team," Amyx said. "We wanted to see what else we could do."
Derrick Gomez, Topeka sophomore, is the creator of a repika of the Allen Field House basketball court, on the floor of the Downtown Barber Shop, 824 Massachusetts St. Gomez painted the court last week.
Amys said he mentioned his idea to Gomez's roommate, John Schulte, Topeka sophomore, and within a week Gomez came to the shop and told him he wanted to paint the floor.
Gomez said he began working on the design in late September after he went to the field house to look at the real thing. He reproduced the colors and symbols of the court by blending colored pencils and looking at a picture of the court he got from a maintenance worker.
Gomez said he then made an 8½-inch by 4½-inch scale painting of the court. He then presented the painting to Amyx, who had wanted Gomez to do the painting to show this city to do the relica. Gomez said.
Amyx said that after he looked at the painting he decided to let Gomez do the job. He said he was not disappointed.
"It came out better than I
"A lot of people just really enjoy it," he said. "They wouldn't want in their bathroom floor or bedroom." They are surprised how large it is."
thought it would." Amvy said.
Gomez said he had to lie on the floor to draw the symbols and used several brushes to paint the letters used about three quarts of latex paper.
"It was very primitive the way I painted it." Gomez said.
The replica also contains a
group of old designs of the Jayhawk, Gomez said. The Jayhawk designs used in 1912, 1929, 1941 and the present design, which has been used since 1946, were included in the replica.
"I went to the library and looked up the old designs," Gomez said. "John was looking for something something, something that has its own flavor."
Gomez said he did the replica for free, but Amyx paid for the paint.
Dow Jones rises 102 points after Monday's crash
The Associated Press
NEW YORK - The Dow Jones industrial average bounced back about 102 points yesterday, but its biggest point rise ever erased only one-fifth of the previous day's Depression-sized market crash.
The Tokyo and London stock exchanges posted their biggest losses ever yesterday. Worldwide, stocks held over $1 trillion in a 24-hour period.
See related stories
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones by more than 5-2 in heavy, panicky trading in the New York Stock Exchange.
The Dow Jones average of 30 industrial stocks rose 102.27 points to 1,841.01, a one-day record, after having fallen a record 508 points on Monday, according to a preliminary reading.
The volume of trading, which is a good measure of the market's confusion, soared to 603.8 million shares,
sion below Monday's record-shat
sion.
"There is still a certain amount of sensitivity and nervousness in the market", said John Phelan, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.
Investors floundered between optimism over a big drop in interest rates and pessimism over the chance of an economic downturn by the stock market's plunge itself.
The evaporation of paper wealth threatened to undermine the confidence of consumers, leading to reduced spending and higher saving. Those virtues, if overdone, could wipe out the demand for goods and services that keeps the economy growing.
"If people retrench enough, it would mean we'd have a disastrous Christmas season and we'd have a recession," said David Levy, a part-
See MARKET, p. 9, col. 1
Crash hits profs
Staff writer
Faculty may lose retirement gains
By JULIE McMAHON
Some KU professors' retirement investments in stocks were hurt by the Wall Street crash Monday, but professors who are retiring immediately will feel the loss most, officials from Lincoln National Pension Co. said yesterday at a workshop on retirement investments.
The officials told a group of faculty members at the Burge Union Conference room that the 30 to 50 percent gains that their retirement investments had made over the years were worth the investment. The company officials also said that if the market went up again, the investors could get their money back.
If the market stabilizes at a low level, then investors could lose gains permanently, said Mike Stickney, president of the National Pension Fund. Lincoln National Pension Fund.
He said that faculty wouldn't have necessarily lost money, but that gains over the years had been lost.
But he said that in a fluctuating market, gains and losses were only on paper, except for those who needed to convert what was on paper to cash. Retiring professors fit into that category.
Stickney suggested that retirees wait at least 60 days for the market to go back up before they keep their stocks after they retire if they want to, and
sell when market conditions are better.
Five percent of the pay of KU faculty members goes into a fund for their retirement. The state then adds 8 percent of salaries for each faculty member. Faculty members can choose from among several state-approved plans. Lincoln National Pension Co. offers one of those plans.
Stickney partly blamed the crash on people who started speculating this summer when the market was down. Panicked when prices started falling.
"You have to realize, at least in retirement investment, you're in it (for the money)."
The panic reminds many of the crash of 1929, but a KU economics professor said yesterday that the U.S. economy has more safeguards against depressions today than in 1929.
Richard Sheridan, professor of economics who teaches a history of economics class, said safeguards such as Social Security, unemployment compensation and aid to children minimized the chances of unemployment and poverty.
The Federal Reserve has more controls now. In 1929, 10 percent of the money used to buy stocks was in cash and the rest was borrowed from banks. But today, 40 to 50 percent of the money used to buy stocks is in cash, he said.
KU Parking Services plans to buy 476 electronic meters
Staff writer
By JORN E. KAALSTAD
Parking Services originally planned to lease the meters from Duncan Industries, but the company didn't sign that contract because it would have been legally responsible for damages to the meters, said
A contract to deliver and install the electronic meters was given to Duncan Industries of Rolling Meadows, III.
Right now, Parking Services and Duncan Industries are negotiating a contract that would require Parking Services to buy the meters. Parking Services would thereby assume responsibility for all damages, including theft, to the meters, Hultine said.
Donna Hultine, assistant director of Parking Services.
About 200 of the new meters will be installed in yellow-zoned Lot 91 by the end of April.
Ray Moore, chairman of the parking board, said the board put meters there because the lot, which is close to campus, is for visitors.
to have the meters installed at the beginning of the school year, Hultine said. The meters will be installed as soon as Duncan Industries signs the
"I hope they'll be in in about a month, but that might be optimistic," Hutline said.
Parking Services originally hoped
The remaining electronic meters will be used to replace the existing 10-year-old mechanical meters on campus as they wear out, Hultine
Hutline said that Duncan Industries was the only manufacturer that could comply with the specifications of the contract, and he requested. Also, the company was
the only one to present a price offer. she said.
Gene Siemens, sales representative for Duncan Industries Inc., said such electronic meter had an auditing system that could remembr when and how often it was used. When on the meters Can be adjusted.
"These meters are the latest state-of-the-art in parking meters. They're the top of our line," Siemens said.
Hultine said the department decided to buy these meters because they had longer durability, auditing features and low maintenance cost.
The new electronic meters have only five moving parts, whereas the
existing meters have about 50, Hultine said.
"The new battery-driven, and almost maintenance-free, meters will eliminate the cost of maintenance and repair," she said.
Lot 91 will be treated as a yellow-
zoned lot until the meters are
completed.
Parking Services now has one person working full time to repair parking lots.
Thirty-one posts erected to hold 62 meters don't have bumps in front
While Parking Services still is negotiating the meters, the posts they are to be mounted on are being used as costly bumping sticks.
of them to protect them from care
pests and pests have been
bent in all directions
Hultine said the department of facilities operations installed the parking meter posts at the beginning of September.
"The reason why we didn't set up bumpers in front of the posts was that we didn't anticipate the damage." Hultine said.
Facilities operations will straighten out the 31 damaged posts and set up concrete bumpers at each side of them at a cost of about $3,000, Huline said. The cost is about $1,600 for the bumpers and $1,400 for straightening the posts, she said.