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Kansan Staff
NEWS MANAGEMENT
Editor-in-chief Lara Korte
Managing editor Christian Hardy
KANSAN.COM/NEWS | MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2017
Digital operations editor Matt Clough
Social media editor Emily Johanek
Associate social media editor Emily Juszczyk
ADVERTISING MANAGEMENT
Business manager Tucker Paine
Sales manager Mitch Tamblyn
SECTION EDITORS
News editor
Chandler Boese
Associate news editor McKenna Harford
Sports editor Amie Just
Associate sports editor Skylar Rolstad
Arts & culture editor Omar Sanchez
Opinion editor
Vince Munoz
Visuels editor & design chief Roxy Townsend
Photo editor Missy Minear
Copy chiefs Candice Tarver Brendan Dzwierzynski Ashley Hocking
ADVISERS
Editorial adviser
Gerri Berendzen
Chief financial officer Jon Schlitt
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many students during the academic year except fall break, spring break and exams. It is published weekly during the summer session excluding holidays. Annual subscriptions by mail are $250 plus tax. Send address changes to The University Daily Kansas, 2015A 1LA Human Development Center, 1000
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Union future unsure after referendum fails
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▶ DARBY VANHOUTAN
@darbyvanhoutan
With an evident lack of support from the student
body to fund renovations to the Kansas Union, the building's fate is now in limbo.
After a majority of voters rejected the Union referendum that would have added new student fees to pay for renovations like plumbing and bathrooms, as well as expansions on several floors, Union director David Mucci said they are now back to the drawing board.
The Union referendum that was proposing a $50 per semester increase in student fees was voted down early this week. Baxter Schenanze/KANSAN
The referendum, which was posed to students on April 13 and 14 during Student Senate elections, asked if they supported a $50 student fee to fund renovations to the Union. This fee would have been charged to each student, every semester for the next 30 years starting in 2019.
Baxter Schanze/KANSAN was voted down early this week.
The Elections Commission released unofficial results during a hearing for an appeal filed by Redo Your U, which was ultimately dismissed on April 17. According to the commission, 56.68 percent of respondents said no, 32.6 percent answered yes, and 10.71 percent abstained.
"We're disappointed," Mucci said. "It's a lot of work and effort, but it was also a good endeavor. We learned a lot from the discussion and will take that back and use that for general improvements in the operation or new approaches because it was a good conversation with the campus community."
According to Mucci, the Union has "stressed all its options" for funding the $45 million project and doesn't know what they will do moving forward. Once the official results are certified by the Elections Commission, Union executives will go back to their Memorial Corporation Board and brainstorm either a new way to approach the student body through referenda or seek other options, he said.
Collin Cox, who is the executive outreach director of Redo Your U, the student group that campaigned for and supported the referendum, said supporters are disappointed but not defeated. He said he doesn't credit the referendum loss to a lack of trying from within, but rather a lack of support from the campus as well as groups like Student Senate not taking positive stances publicly.
"It's unfortunate because we were really looking forward to all the opportunities it would provide to students but in the end it didn't work
out," Cox said. "I think the negative portrayal of the project, through many mediums, definitely set us back a lot."
Student group KU Against Rising Tuition (KUART) was one of the groups opposing the referendum. According to KUART co-founder Lev Comolli, the group felt the $45 million being paid by students was unnecessary because only some of the requested money was for necessary renovations.
More than this, Comolli said the campaign the Union and Redo Your U led was misleading and not providing voters with all the facts. During elections week, the group counteracted chalking and advertisements from
Redo Your U with bright colored chalking right next to it saying "Vote no!"
"I think the negative portrayal of the project, through many mediums definitely set us back a lot."
Collin Cox Redo Your U Executive outreach director
Comolli said he hopes the Union learned from the loss and hopes KUART can be involved in plans going forward.
"We want to try to bring
our different ideas to the table, especially regarding our counter plan, to the Union directors to make a more inclusive and holistic study." Comolli said. "That way we don't see another referendum pass next year which will essentially be the same thing."
Mucci said there are no set plans for another referendum in the future. Instead, he said, the Union is focused on managing the building's ongoing deterioration. This includes things such as elevators breaking and major issues in the building's plumbing among many others, Mucci said.
"Clearly it's just going to be more problematic going forward," Mucei said.
GTA FROM PAGE 1
"What I've heard is humanities do not get as paid as much as the GTAs in the sciences and the STEM fields," Oleniacz said. "But maybe I'm really just good at budgeting, but I'm pretty comfortable. I'm still modestly living as a student, obviously. But I'm OK."
Graduate students have the opportunity to purchase a parking permit just like undergraduate students and University staff. They receive no preference or assistance in getting one, according to Oleniacz.
For perks, GTAs do not have many, other than insurance offered by the University.
2000 Dole Human Development Center 1000 Sunnyside Avenue Lawrence, Kan., 66045
"Iinsurance is definitely important," she said. "Because most graduate students, we're over 25 so we're no longer on our parents' insurance policies. So to be employed by the University and by extension the state, and then having the insurance subsidy, is really important. A lot of GTAs and graduate students have families, so the insurance is
Murphy said the insurance at the University is not the best.
important."
"The coverage isn't great," she said.
Health insurance, wages the employment process and other aspects are negotiated every two years by the GTA Union, said President David Cooper, who is in the PhD department of sociology.
In addition, Murphy said she thinks Dean of Graduate Studies Michael Roberts and the staff work their hardest to help graduate students, but they can't do much to combat the issues she sees affecting grad students.
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"Our role is to be like the negotiating unit for GTAs to the University," he said.
Last May, the union negotiated a new contract for the GTAs, earning returning doctoral students a $1,500 raise.
"Graduate studies, especially since Dean Michael Roberts took over ... they're trying, but they have a limited amount of resources," Murphy said.
Roberts and graduate
studies policy coordinator Amber Roberts Graham both said GTAs are an important aspect of the University.
"They are a part of the overall mission of the University," Roberts said.
Oleniacz said that she thinks the University could provide better training for GTAs, especially when it comes to sexual assault, active shooter training and other social issues within the classroom.
Murphy said she thinks in addition to more pay, the University could implement more support and resources for graduate students, such as free printing and self-care tools.
In addition to maintaining self-care, juggling socializing and teaching, studying can be difficult, but Marissa Wiley, a GTA in communication studies, said that organization is key.
"We are under an immense amount of pressure," she said.
"You have to have a planner that works for you, whether that's virtual or whether that's an actual
hard copy, you have to be organized," Wiley said.
Wiley said that setting aside ample amount of time for research, teaching and socializing is also important.
Sleep, for Wiley, is important, even though other graduate students may not feel the same.
"It's not just you," she said. "We are all dealing with the pressure that you are feeling. We are terrible at talking about it and we are terrible at supporting each other but there are people here for you and you just have to tap into who those people are because once you find them, it completely changes your experience from the inside out."
"You have to figure out what works for you," Wiley said. "If I am not sleeping at night, I am not performing during the day...you have to find what works best for you ... it just depends."
Murphy advises graduate students and GTAs to find others to support them during their time at the University.
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