Under cover
Details page 6
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday October 14,1987 Vol.98,No.38
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
(USPS 650-640)
MARGIN OF EXCELLENCE
SECOND OF A FOUR- PART SERIES
Low pay and insufficient research support at KU have prompted some faculty to go elsewhere. Left behind are support staff, pessimistic about their salaries, and students, concerned about the future of their education.
Some faculty leery of Regents plan
By JENNIFER ROWLAND Staff writer
J ill Quadagno found it hard to leave KU this fall after teaching sociology here for 10 years.
Facts about faculty at KU
She had friends and ties in Lawrence and might have stayed had she not been frustrated with working conditions.
"In the long run it was a hard decision to make," she said.
Last year, faculty leaving KU had an average of 15 years' experience. Faculty members hired to replace them last year had an average of five years' experience.
Quadagno, a former sociology professor at KU and one of 35 faculty to resign from KU in the past year, accepted a research support endowment in social work and sociology professor at Florida State University — an opportunity she called irresistible.
Average KU faculty salaries are 7.9% below peer schools' average.
Classloads for KU faculty are 9%
above peer schools' average.
Of all persons offered faculty positions at Kansas Board of Regents schools, 25% refused. Reasons cited most often: ■ Geographic location ■ Inadequate salaries
Source: Legislative Post Audit Committee
At KU, lack of money for expenses such as extra photocopying, coupled with teaching larger classes with fewer faculty, had taken their toll on Quadagno.
"The more productive people are the ones who are penalized the most," she said.
"I think what propelled me on the job market in the first place was that I felt an erosion of resources to faculty," she said.
"When you go on the job market, you begin to see some really attractive alternatives."
Quadagno had been offered positions at other universities but remained at KU until job offers
began trickling in last fall.
But, Quadagno said, "This year I thought, 'Why not? What do I have to lose?'
The Margin of Excellence plan proposed by the state Board of Regents didn't affect her decision to leave. But if it had been proposed before she had received offers, she might have changed
her mind, she said.
Many KU faculty members say they support Margin of Excellence. But few say they think it was proved by the Kansas Legislature.
Faculty are leery of the proposal, because they have been disap
Margin of Excellence supported despite threat of higher tuition
By BRAD ADDINGTON Staff writer
See FACULTY, p. 9, col. 1
niversity of Kansas students and faculty have different
and faculty have different views on Margin of Excellence, a plan for solving University financial problems in part through increased cost to students.
Graduate student tuition is the undergraduate rate plus a differential, or certain amount more. That differential already is scheduled to double to $120 next year
Robert Antonio, professor of sociology, said he increases signi cant increase in graduate tuition could be detrimental to the University.
Under the plan, resident undergraduates at the University would pay about $85 more a semester in tuition by fall 1990. Non-resident undergraduates would pay about $95 more by then.
But members of the Associated Students of Kansas' Higher Education Rescue Operation — or HERO — are working to pass the property which they say is vital for the future of education at the University.
"The beauty of Margin of Excellence is that tuition increases will be targeted to areas that need investment," said Martin Aaron, KU campus director of ASK. "Otherwise, our tuition increases are just more of the same old thing."
If approved, Margin of Excellence would raise KU faculty salaries to 100 percent of the average of peer institutions in three years. KU's budget would be raised to 95 percent of the
average of peer institutions.
The money would come from three places. The state's general fund would account for 68 percent, and about 14 percent would come from University of Kansas Medical Center revenue. Student tuition increases would account for 18 percent.
Jason Krakow, student body president, said he agreed with most aspects of the Margin of Excellence proposal.
However, he said he also supported ASK's recommendation that 10 percent of tuition was allocated for student financial aid.
Donovan Moore, Haven senior,
said the Regents should ask for
even more support from the Kansas
Legislature than they do in
TOMORROW
See STUDENTS, p. 9, col. 3
Public universities rely on private contributions from alumni and others to help pay the bills. Also on campus are Margin of Excellence forum at KU.
Friday: Chancellor Gene A. Budig says KU will lose its best teachers if Margin of Excellence fails. What do the legislators say?
Number of blacks hired not enough, administrators say
By MICHAEL HORAK
Staff writer
University of Kansas administrators are unhappy with the low number of black faculty hired to teach on campus, but they blame the problem on low pay and few applicants instead of discrimination.
And KU is doing better than other state Board of Regents schools in hiring black faculty, administrators said recently.
"In the state, KU is probably the best of the worst," said James Turner, director of KU's affirmative action program. "No one is doing as well as I think they could; however, KU is probably looking better than any other institution in the state."
Although the official count of black faculty will not be taken until the end of October, Turner estimates that 22 blacks now teach at KU. Last year, 1.9 percent, or 25 out of 1,261, faculty and librarians were black.
Turner said that KU had averaged between 20 and 25 black professors during the last four years.
The low number of black faculty can be partially attributed to the lack of resources and that in some curriculum areas, there are few blacks qualified to teach.
"If you look at a department like electrical engineering, it is not that they are refusing to go out to recruit black faculty, but there are not black applicants available in that area." Turner said.
he said private industry lured many qualified blacks away from academia by offering them better pay.
Turner said the recent problems Kansas State University had has in recruiting black teachers were similar to those facing KU.
K-State officials came under fire from black organizations earlier this year for having only three blacks on its faculty payroll.
Both KU and K-State would like to hire more black faculty, but because of ant-discrimination laws, blacks were denied the job. More高质量 whites, Turner said.
"We are not allowed to purposely identify minorities for positions, but at the same time we are expected to follow affirmative action and more hire minorities," he said. "It is Catch-22."
KU Executive Vice Chancellor Judith Ramaley said that the process of increasing black faculty at KU would be slow, but that it would occur. She said she would be working on policies this fall that would attract more minorities to KU.
"I am deeply committed to recruiting more minority faculty," Ramley said. "We have had problems. I have seen the numbers. We seem to be learning faster than we can keep them here.
"We need to look for minority
In the state, KU is probably the best of the worst. No one is doing as well as I think they could; however, KU is probably looking better than any other institution in the state.'
- James Turner director of KU's affirmative action program
applicants during the search process instead of screening only the candidates who happen to apply."
Vernell Spearman, director of minority affairs, said that her department would continue to make contacts at other universities to get the word out that KU is a good institution for blacks.
"The key is not to be discouraged and continue the concentrated effort," she said.
Del Brinkman, vice chancellor for academic affairs, said his office was looking at several plans aimed at making KU marketable to not just blacks, but to all minorities. One option being offered is between minority applicants and faculty to discuss Lawrence's cultural diversity.
"I think we are in a better position to attract minority faculty than some areas of the state." Brinkman said.
Brikman said that tight budgets for the last few years had limited the University in hiring new people. He said that additional money would allow KU to begin hiring for new positions again.
"When you are able to expand the faculty base and add positions, you are in a much better position to add to faculty diversity," he said.
Turner said he had been pleased by the commitment the KU administration had shown toward increasing the number of black faculty.
"Every department, every office on this campus is responsive for hiring personnel, and somebody in each of those offices and divisions has to provide that commitment to hiring blacks," he said.
"KU must continue the commitment." he said.
Give a hoot Animal Care Unit nurses iniured wildlife to health
By JENNIFER ROWLAND
Staff writer
A brown barred owl batted its round brown eyes and clicked its yellow beak as Nancy Schwarting, supervisor of health and technical services for the Animal Care Unit, held its legs for an antibiotics shot
The bird escaped a loose hold, though, and flew across the newly mounted floor in Malott Hall.
The reathered creature was found hanging from a tree with the hook through a broken wing, an injury Schwarting said often didn't heal.
"He had a fishhook through his wing." Schwarting said.
"We're excited about him," she said about the owl's recovery. "The success rate on birds with broken wings is fairly low."
release a bird cage. a taffy-colored barn owl stood at the back of its cage, spreading its wings to increase its size and scare off make-believe predators.
"You can release a three-legged mammal you can't catch bird that can't fly."
These animals are part of the Wildcare Wildlife Rehabilitation Program, an 8-year-old non-profit organization consisting of 12 full-time and about 15 part-time animal care volunteers.
Injured, caged animals fill a room in Maloti until they are well enough to return to their native habitat.
Christy Kennedy, Wildcare director, said the Malott facility had already treated more than 400 animals this year.
The number of animals in the
facility at any given time varies from five to 30.
"They all seem to come at great waves at a time," Kennedy said.
The program gets animals from text residents from the Kansas Department of Wildlife Reserves.
The facility's current guest-list includes a baby opossum, a barred owl, a barn owl and a red tail hawk.
"That really increases our workload, and what's more, the natural mother is far the better parent," she said.
Schwartzing said that in the spring, 180 animals were brought to the unit within a two week period, taxing the animals for creating the need for more volunteers.
For example, someone might mistake a nesting bird for one that had a broken wing, she said.
Schwarting said "One of our big problems is putting things in a place that didn't need to.
"When a lot of animals are pass the critical stage, we're going to try to either move them to an outside unit or make sure they take care of." Schwartzing said.
An outdoor facility located outside Lawrence provides rehabilitation space for larger animals such as asian elephants and giraffes as flight space for recovering birds.
"A couple of us about lost our sanity," she said.
"Any wild animal does a hundred times better outside," she said. "They've got a lot more room to exercise."
The outdoor facility is also used for See ANIMALS, p. 6, col. 1
Face to face
Steve Lencioni, Deerfield, Ill., sophomore, works on a design project, seemingly oblivious to the face upon the wall. Lencioni was at Marvin Hall late Sunday evening.
Housing officials propose fee hike
Staff writer
KU students will have to pay more to live in residence halls during the 1988-89 academic year if a proposal by the office of student housing goes into effect.
By BEN JOHNSTON
the office has proposed a 4.9 percent increase in next year's housing fees for residents of seven of the eight KU residence halls, Ken Stoner, director of student housing, said at a general assembly meeting of the Association of University Residence Halls last night.
Stoner said the proposed increase was 5.3 percent for Hashinger Hall. The increase would be greater for Hashinger because Hashinger is more expensive to operate, he said.
If the proposal is approved, the cost of living in the other seven halls for an academic year would go from $2,136 to $2,240, and the cost of living at Hashinger would go from $2,224 to $2,344.
See HOUSING, p. 6, col. 4
Correction
Because of a reporter's error, the starting date of the Kansas lottery was reported incorrectly in yesterday's Kansan. Ticket sales will begin Nov. 12.