UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, September 25, 1996
9A
Cancer hurts job stability
Many patients return to work find pink slips
The Associated Press
GLEN COVE, N.Y. — When Jane Karushkat was recuperating from cancer, she longed for the routine and motivation her job provided. However, she was laid off one week after her first chemotherapy treatment.
Karushchkat — who missed five days' work as a legal secretary after a mastectomy — said she was told: "I can't afford to keep you anymore."
"I couldn't believe what I was hearing," Karushchkat, 45, said. "The voice inside my head was screaming, 'You can't do that! You can't do that!'"
But they do. Employees with cancer are fired or laid off five times as
”
"... there are new medicines that dramatically reduce and often eliminate chemotherapy side effects..."
Ellen Gold, hematologist-oncologist
One in 14 cancer survivors interviewed said they were fired or laid off because of their illness. Of all American workers, only one in 80 was fired or laid off in 1995, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
often as others, according to a survey issued yesterday by Working Women magazine and Amgen, a California company that makes drugs to lessen chemotherapy side effects.
The May telephone survey included interviews with 100 supervisors, 100 co-workers and 500 cancer survivors who worked during treatment.
Eighty-five percent of supervisors said they believed the cancer survivors who worked for them suffered fatigue while undergoing chemotherapy, but only 58 percent of the patients indicated fatigue. Seventy-four percent of the supervisors also cited nausea, yet only 33 percent of the patients claimed that side effect.
"Today a majority of patients are treated as outpatients, and there are new medicines that dramatically reduce and often eliminate chemotherapy side effects like low blood counts, nausea," said Ellen Gold, hematologist-oncologist at Beth Israel Medical Center. "It seems
employers just aren't aware of that yet."
Lani Stewart of Westminster, Colo., was laid off from her purchasing job three years after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Though the company told her she was being let go because of necessary reductions in the work force, Stewart, 42, thinks the self-insured company didn't want to risk future medical bills. Others laid off included a woman whose husband had a brain tumor, a man with diabetes and two breast cancer survivors.
Stewart has filed a lawsuit against her company.
Karushkchat went to the state Human Rights Commission and won a $70,000 judgment against her boss for discrimination. The cancer since he reappeared in her hip bone after a second mastectomy.
Each finding in the survey is subject to a margin of error up to 4.5 percent, depending on the sample size and level of response.
African-American works to be featured on new cable channel
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — The first movie channel devoted to films made by and starring African Americans is moving toward cable with a lineup including Shaft, To Sir With Love and Pulp Fiction.
Among the investors are actor Denzel Washington, from Malcolm X and Crimson Tide, and the company that publishes Ebony and Jet magazines.
The new channel will be called BET Movies/STAR23 and will be a premium service, meaning subscribers will have to navy extra to receive it.
"What we're doing is something that's unique," said Robert Johnson, chairman and chief executive officer of Black Entertainment Television. "We're branding movies that appeal to an audience that has demonstrated a tremendous amount of interest in viewing film entertainment."
The station's backers expect it to reach cable in February, but they don't have commitments yet from cable or satellite operators to carry it. They did not say how much money is being invested in the venture.
The channel will feature movies such as Clockers, by director Spike Lee; Shaft, directed by Gordon Parks and starring Richard Roundtree; and Pulp Fiction, featuring Samuel L. Jackson. It also will offer classics such as To Sir with Love, the 1967 movie starring Sidney Poitier.
the project will be launched by cable's BET and Encore Media Corp., which provides movies via cable and satellite. Encore is controlled by Tele-Communications Inc., the nation's largest cable operator.
Johnson's programming already reaches more than 46 million homes. And BET and Encore representatives said research showed that African Americans watched television 50 percent more than non-African Americans and accounted for 50 percent to 100 percent more movie-going dollars a person.
School suspends 1st grade smoocher
The Associated Press
LEXINGTON, N.C. — These days, a kiss isn't just a kiss — even in the first grade.
A 6-year-old boy who kissed a girl on the cheek was suspended last week on the grounds of sexual harassment.
Jackie Prevette said the school overreacted to an innocent peck on the cheek by banishing her son, Johnathan, to a room apart from his classmates.
Jhnathan said that the girl asked him to kiss her and that he was expressing friendship, his mother said.
"Can't you just imagine children skipping down the hall holding hands? Isn't that Norman Rockwell America?" Prevente said.
District representative Jane Martin said the policy is clear: "A 6-year-old kissing another 6-year-old is inappropriate behavior. Unwelcome is unwelcome at any age."
The rules are outlined in a student handbook given to each child at the start of the school year. Parents are asked to sign a form confirming that they explained the do's and don'ts to their children, Martin said.
A teacher who saw the incident reported it to the principal, who decided that the first-grader should
"A 6-year-old kissing another 6 year-old is inappropriate behavior. Unwelcome is unwelcome at any age."
Jane martin
School district representative
be punished. Johnathan missed out on coloring and playing with his friends. He also missed an ice cream party honoring students with good attendance.
Prevette said she could understand a sexual harassment rule directed at older students.
She said she plans to ask the school board to make allowances for children in third grade and below.
"This makes children wonder 'Should I hug somebody?' she said. "It's no wonder we have all these people with behavior problems."
Yeltsin's health prompts election concerns
Russian president not likely to resign removal is unlikely
The Associated Press
MOSCOW — The growing likelihood that Boris Yeltsin may not complete his second term means Russia soon could face another tumultuous election concerning who will lead the vast, chaotic nation into the next century.
The fate of democracy hung in the balance in this past summer's presidential election. Some voters feared
election violence, massive cheating,
even a coup d'etat.
But the election was peaceful, strengthening the country's young democracy. All the likely candidates to replace Yeltsin want to do it through the ballot box.
Most Russians don't want another election so soon.
And despite Yeltsin's need for heart surgery after at least two heart attacks, only death is likely to end his grip on power. The president has ruled out stepping down, and it's unlikely he could be forced to do so. The constitution says the president should step down if incapacitated by sickness, but the wording is
Yeltsin suffered two heart attacks in 1995 but refused to give up power even though he was hospitalized for months. If Yeltsin is incapacitated, top aides who depend on him for their posts are likely to minimize the seriousness of the situation to keep him in power.
vague, and nobody has the authority to determine if the president no longer can function.
If Yeltsin were to die or resign, the constitution says elections must be held within three months, with the prime minister directing an interim government. Russia does not have a vice president.
Elections in the next year could be
Yeltsin won re-election in July despite widespread unpopularity. Many Russians think he has been a shoddy leader who mishandled democratic reform and tolerated corruption. But they reluctantly backed him rather than his Communist rival, Gennady Zyuganov, who advocated a return to the iron control of the Soviet era.
a repeat of this summer's contest, when Yeltsin defeated the Communist candidate and won a second term.
Given the strong anti-Communist vote, the real contest in a new election likely would be about who becomes the main pro-reform candidate.
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Simply come up with a design that fits with this year's theme of "On A Mission" and submit your poster to the RCR office in the OAC by Monday, October 28.
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R V E V U E
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ZUAN 11:45 AM
What is it you want to do with your life?
Answering this question in a disciplined way can assist you in deciding which academic studies to pursue and what to do with your degree.
Eight sessions, Sundays 9 p.m. to 10:50 p.m., starting September 29th at the ECM Center, 1 blk north of Kansas Union
WHEREDOIGOWITHMYLIFE?
pursue and what to do with your degree.
Vocation-Career Seminar
Cost: $18.00-paid only after attending first session & if you're still interested. Fees cover text: What Color Is Your Parachute? 1996 Edition, and related expenses. Instructor: Thad Holcombe, ECM Campus pastor
Please Call 843-4933 for additional information
Into the Streets '96 Tuesday, September 24 through Saturday, September 28 ****
Some people said this was a time without heroes.
Some people said our problems were just too huge.
Some people said wait, or just forget.
But tens of thousands of Americans looked around our communities.
They thought about our country.
And then they acted.
AmeriCorps
Learn how you can get involved.
Thursday, September 26 7:00
English Room, Kansas Union