Tomorrow's wea**
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Kansan
Sunny and dry
Tuesday
September 30, 1997
Section:
A
Vol. 108 - No.29
Did you know the Computer Center has only had the furnace on for 15 minutes in the last 21 years? Find out more in Campus Bytes!
Campus Bytes!
SEE PAGE 8A
Sports today
The football team used its week off to work on their defense and prepare to meet Oklahoma this Saturday.
SEE PAGE 1B
Contact the Kansan
WWW.KANSAN.COM
News: (785) 864-4810
Advertising: (785) 864-4358
Fax: (785) 864-5261
Opinion e-mail: opinion@kansan.com
Sports e-mail: sports@kansan.com
Advertising e-mail: onlineads@kansan.com
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
USPS 630-640
GTAs vote on contract today
Many concerned agreement will fail
By Mike Perryman
Kansan staff writer
About 50 percent of the 170 GTA union members are expected to vote in the Pine Room of the Kansas Union. The contract seeks to end two years of negotiations between the union and the University. KU negotiators presented the contract to the GTAs in June.
If the contract is approved it could still be a month, a year or two years before GTAs see any of the benefits mentioned in the contract, Richard Buck, chair of the GTA negotiating committee, said.
Buck said the contract would be the first GTA contract ever achieved through collective bargaining, if approved.
"It is not a slam dunk contract, but we are in a situation now where we need to put down our weapons and start some kind of working relationship with the University." Buck said.
A lot of GTAs don't seem to want a working relationship with the University, he said.
Kip Curtis, teaching assistant in history, said the only way GTAs could possibly vote yes on the contract was if they had an unfathomably naive faith in the institution
If they just take the time, any GTA could read through the contract and see what it states, he said.
"The best vote is an informed vote," he said. "GTAs can't walk in with assumptions on what the contract says. They must walk in and vote with the knowledge of its contents."
Buck agreed that members should make an informed decision, but said it was time
Voter info
Voting Location: Pine Room in the Kansas Union Voting time: Today, 2:40 p.m.
to approve the contract and move on.
"If we continue to fight and fight in this area without taking a step forward, eventually there will be nothing left to fight for." he said.
David Young, chair of the GTA grievance committee, said that a month ago, the grievance committee urged GTAs to vote for the contract. However, he did not know one person who said they would vote in favor of the contract.
The GTA steering committee agreed with reservation that they would support the contract, Helen Sheuemaker, secretary of the GTA coalition, said.
"The GTAs face a tough choice because this is the best the University could come up," she said. "The contract offers only a fundamental basis for compensation of
GTAs."
Sheumaker said health care was one of the main issues and could still be out of reach for GTAs.
"It is embarrassing to us, and it should be embarrassing to the University that there is this huge teaching force that cannot afford health care," she said.
If the contract is approved, the University will ask the Kansas Legislature to fund the GTAs' health care. If the University does not receive money from the Legislature, then the Health Care Commission would declare that the University must come up with a certain amount of money on its own to cover the premiums, Buck said.
Buck estimates that the University would have to pay 75 percent of the GTA health care premium to make health care affordable for GTAs.
"Other major universities that compete with KU have reasonable health care plans," he said. "If KU wants to remain competitive with these other schools, they need to be reasonable as well."
Having a good time at camp
Lake Forest, Ill., freshman Carolyn Grevers, a member of the KU swimming team, laughs while at the Sixth Annual Camp Jayhawk at Anshutz Sports Pavilion. The camp was a benefit for less fortunate children of the Kansas City, Lawrence and Tapoea areas. Photo by Dan Elavay/KANSAN
Victim's parents warn of rape dangers
Bv Mary Corcoran
mcorcoran@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
On a quest to inform college students about date rape, Rohypnol and sexual predator laws, Gene and Peggy Schmidt spoke to University of Kansas pharmaceutical students yesterday about the death of their daughter.
Stephanie Schmidt was a 19-year-old student at Pittsburgh State University in 1993 when she was raped and murdered by one of her co-workers. The co-worker, Don Gideon, had joined Schmidt and a group of her friends at a party.
More than 60 people gathered in a classroom in Mallott Hall to hear about the rape and murder of Stephanie Schmidt.
"I think a lot of people still think that crime happens to other people, but there are no boundaries for these guys," Peggy Schmidt said. "You need to use common sense. It can happen to anyone."
When Schmidt decided to leave the party early, Gideon offered her a ride home. She was never seen alive again.
The Schmidtis told the group of the circumstances surrounding their daughter's death. Gene Schmidt spoke of the legal precedents he helped set after his daughter's death.
Gideon had raped and sexually assaulted
The Schmids also have helped to add three other laws to Kansas statutes and change one policy. On June 23 of this year, the United States Supreme Court upheld the Stephanie Schmidt Sexual Predator Law, which had been struck down in Kansas a year before.
women before he killed Schmidt. Gene Schmidt said one of the reasons he had pressed for a legally required public record of sexual predators was to help people be aware of who is out there.
"I found the speech very moving." Brooke Pointer, Pleasanton senior, said. "I already knew most of the information they presented, but it was nice to hear the personal side from her parents."
To show the more personal side of their presentation, Peggy Schmidt discussed her daughter's life while playing a video with pictures of Stephanie.
"I thought it was an effective presentation. It was very well reasoned," Jeff Aube, professor of medicinal chemistry, said. "Some of these things can be overdone, but this was not overly preachy or pragmatic."
Many of the students who attended were members of Kappa Epsilon, a professional group promoting women in pharmacy.
Even the men in the audience enjoyed the Schmids's speech.
Gene Schmidt speaks to a group of pharmacy students about the rape and murder of his 19-year-old daughter Stephanie. Schmidt also handed out information about the drug Rohypnal, which is often used to disorient women in date rapes, during his presentation last night. Photo by Roger Nomer/KANSAN
Sand and salt storage facility must be finished before first snow
Crews race time, weather for new building project
By Marc Sheforgen Special to the Kansan
Special to the Kansan
Unless construction of a new sand and salt storage facility is completed soon, the University may have to scramble to make campus roads and sidewalks safe when the first snow hits.
Facilities Operations workers began construction on a new sand and salt storage facility last week, but delays have the department worried about winter's approach.
The University's old facility for storing sand and salt, used to treat icy streets in the winter, was condemned after a fire five years ago. It was located on Sunnyside Avenue behind the Facilities Operations physical plant.
Workers began to clear land Sept. 10 and hope to pour concrete soon for the storage unit, be located on West Campus just south of the Construction Landscape Facility.
Larry Rawlings, assistant director of construction of the new storage area, emphasized the urgency of getting the project under way.
"We want to get rolling on this pretty quick Last year, snow hit us really early," he said.
Rawlings said that delays were due to the special way that the building would be constructed. Because salt will be stored in the facility, there is the threat of corrosion of the concrete in the building. To prevent this, steel is needed to surround the concrete. There has been a six week delay in receiving the needed materials.
He said construction would cost the University roughly $20,000 to $25,000.
Bob Porter, associate director of plant maintenance, estimated that construction of the 30-by-40, 22-foot-tall structure would take about a month. He hopes to be finished by mid-November. If not, weather could become a factor.
"We'd better get it done." he said.
Since the old facility was condemned, the Facilities Operations department has been buying winter road chemicals from the city of Lawrence on an as-needed basis. However, after last winter, the city discontinued the arrangement.
"It's tough enough for Lawrence to anticipate how much sand and salt they'll need for their purposes," Rawlings said. "It makes it very difficult if they also have to anticipate for our needs."
Porter said that a new storage area was necessary because sand and salt would freeze if they were stored outside.
But delays in getting the special building supplies have the Facilities Operations department anxious. Although Lawrence typically gets most of its snow in January and February, the weather is unpredictable.
Activist leaders pitch ideas for more space in Union bullpen
Reorganization necessary to accommodate groups
By Gwen Olson
golson@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
After years of problems with space and resources, student organizations at the University of Kansas are seeking solutions.
"I think the space problem is one that is easily identified, but we want to look into everything," Jason Fitzell, Olathe senior and president of Delta Force, said. "We want to find out what is best going to benefit student organizations."
Members of Delta Force, an activist campus organization, are meeting with University administrators to find ways to expand office space and improve accessibility to computers, fax machines and copiers for the more than 300 student organizations.
Student organizations occupy office space in the Organizations and Leadership Development Center, 400 Kansas Union, in the area called the bullpen.
Fitzell said the limited space had caused some groups, such as the Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition, to move to off-campus offices.
Delta Force will hold an informal meeting to discuss support for student organization space at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Centennial Room of the Kansas Union.
For more information, contact Delta Force at 842-8569, or via e-mail at deltaforce@ukans.edu
Kip Curtis, GTAC member, said that having an off-campus office had affected the coalition.
She also said groups had problems using the three computers in the Student Senate office.
"GTAC is renting a room in the Canterbury House, and it is pretty close to campus, but it is an extra cost to them," he said.
"It puts us outside of the core that is established by organizations at the Union," he said. "It has an alienating factor for groups because if you don't have a presence it's almost as if you don't exist."
Emily Heath, Oskalooa senior and codirector for the Center for Community Outreach, said that the space in the bullpen did not support the needs of all the University's student organizations.
"Right now there are nine cubicles and 10 offices," she said. "We really need to make common space with phones and computers."
"There is a priority list that allows Senate Executive staff, then student senators and then organizations to use the computers, so very seldom do our coordinators get to use the computers." Heath said.
The Senate's computers are reserved for Senate-funded groups. Groups not funded by Senate are forced to use off-campus resources, which may cost the groups more. Heath said.
Amnesty International member Matt Bachand, Yorktown, Va. senior, and student senator, said he would like to see more space for groups in the Union.
"We have a locker for Amnesty, and it seems the locker really limits the size of the organization," he said. "I'm not advocating that any group lose space, but if the bullpen could be redesigned with a work space area, that would help."
Bachand, Fizell and Heath met several weeks ago with Ann Eversole, associate dean of students, and Danny Kaiser, director of O & L, to discuss the future of the center.
One idea from the students was to expand the O & L office into a parking garage that has been proposed to be built north of the Kansas Union.
"I thought it sounded like a creative idea, but it needs to be discussed with the planning folks." Eversole said. "But it is something interesting to be explored."
Kaiser said that space in the bullpen was assigned by committee and the idea of redesigning the existing space would be examined.
"In order to get what they're talking about, something else would have to go, but I don't think anyone would disagree that there is a need for more space," he said.
Fizell said he would work with administrators and organizations to give groups more resources.
"I think we haven't decided exactly how we are going to do this, but we really want to operate at all levels within the administration, within Student Senate and within the student organizations," he said.
4