THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Tomorrow's weather
Kansan
Blustery and very cool with a 50 percent chance for rain. Partial clearing in late afternoon.
Monday
September 20,1999
Section:
A
Vol. 110 • No. 23
Online today
Need an excuse to procrastinate? Find entertainment without leaving the house.
http://www.kansan.com/arts
Sports today
The Kansas football team suffered a 51-17 loss at the hands of the Colorado Buffaloes Saturday in its first conference game of the season.
SEE PAGE 1B
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Contact the Kansan
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
News: (785) 864-4810
Advertising: (785) 864-4358
Fax: (785) 864-0391
Opinion e-mail: opinion@kansan.com
Sports e-mail: sports@kansan.com
Editor e-mail: editor@kansan.com
Jewish holy day celebrated
Susan Shafer-Landau, executive director of KU Hillel, left, and Lois Schneider, president of the board of directors of the Lawrence Jewish Community Center hold scrolls of the Torah, while Dawn Mollenkopf, graduate student, and Jeff Winerock, professor of music, lead the Kol Nidre prayer at the Kansas Union Ballroom to mark the beginning of Yom Kippur last night. Photo by Christina Neff/KANSAN
By Lesley Simmons
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
By Lesley Simmons
(USPS 650-640)
Jewish students, faculty and staff at the University of Kansas began to fast yesterday at sundown and will not break fast until an hour after sundown today.
They are celebrating Yom Kippur — the day of atonement.
Eric Allison. New Orleans sophomore, helped organize the service. Allison said that other campuses had student-led services, but that this is the first time KU students have led a service.
Jewish students will lead a Yom Kippur service today at 10 a.m. at the upstairs sanctuary of the Lawrence Jewish Community Center, 917 Highland Dr., which is one block east of Iowa Street.
Jewish students have chosen a mixture of traditional and contemporary writings, in Hebrew and English, and they will take turns leading the service. They have compiled a prayer book, so that students can follow along in the readings and recitations.
Allison said he had enjoyed studentled services in high school when he was a member of North American Federation of Temple Youth. He said the service would give students a chance to get involved.
The Kol Nidre service last night at the three-fourths-full Kansas Union Ballroom gave people a chance to reflect on the past year and ask God for forgiveness of wrongdoing. This is the culmination of a time of asking for forgiveness. In the past week,
See YOM KIPPUR on page 3A
Faculty pay under review in equity flap
By Clay McCusliter writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
University of Kansas administration will study equity in pay for University faculty during the next two months.
The study was approved last Wednesday by the Council of University CEOs at the Board of Regents' first meeting of the semester. Chancellor Robert Hemenway is part of the Council, which includes the leaders of the six universities directly controlled by the Regents.
the administration of the other five state universities Kansas state, Imperia State State State State State
Mary Burg, executive assistant to the chancelor, said that the equity study was not unusual.
also will conduct studies and report back to the Council of CEOs by Dec. 1.
for, said that he needs "Every year we make adjustments of this sort." Burg said. "This is an issue that the University looks at carefully every year at salary time,"
Burg said the study would be supervised through the office of provost David Shulenburger. The Council of Chief Academic Officers, on which Shulenburger serves, made the original recommendation for the equity studies in the Regents schools.
"This is not the first time we've looked at these issues, nor will it be the last time," Burg said. "This is something we review regularly."
Buddy Gray, president of the Council of Faculty Senate Presidents and K-State history professor, told the Regents Thursday that faculty at the six universities planned their own equity studies.
Gray said the faculty studies could include unclassified staff and look at the resources allocated to women and minorities at the Universities.
"At KU the faculty executive committee has not established a task force to collect information for a gender equity study," said Mary Hawkins, president of the KU faculty senate. "I know of no definite plans to do so at this stage."
At the present time, however, the University of Kansas has not planned a faculty study.
"We have not moved into that stage of study," she said. "The means of doing that has not been determined as yet, certainly not at KU."
Hawkins said K-State had already started such a task force.
Hawkins said the faculty senate was interested in helping with the administrative study and open to conducting further equity research.
administration for Katherine Rose-Mockry, director of the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center, said she was glad the University was studying the subject
openly. We want to work in collaboration with the Administration in this process," she said.
She said she had heard concerns from some female faculty members about equal pay and treatment.
"It's really important for the campus to see if women faculty are being treated equitably," she said. "It's wonderful that it's being taken seriously."
—Edited By Mike Loader
Wet and wild
Brian Buselt, Wichita senior, and Norah Bielat, Chicago sophomore, "slip and slide" behind Ellsworth Hall. The residence hall organized the event to promote hall unity. About 400 people attended the barbecue and the water games afterward Saturday. Photo by Carrie Julian/KANSAN
Nomination of new SLAB coordinator raises doubts
By Chris Borniger
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A recent appointment to the Student Legislative Awareness Board has the KU Young Democrats crying foul.
The Young Democrats sent a letter to Korb Maxwell, student body president, protesting the appointment of Tim Burger, Lenexa senior, as issues research coordinator. The letter alleged that Burger's appointment "seriously undermines SLAB's ability to maintain its non-partisan appearance."
Burger is also vice chairman of KU College Republicans and opinion editor of the Kansas Review, a student conservative newspaper. He said the Young Democrats' allegation of a conflict of interest didn't apply.
"Obviously, I think it's unfounded," Burger said. "I see my role on SLAB as totally separate. I'm working not on my own agenda, but on SLAB's."
As issues research coordinator, Burger is responsible for presenting to Student Senate an agenda of campus, local and state issues for SLAB to pursue and for organizing research on issues on which SLAB is charged to lobby.
Jack Martin, president of Young Democrats, said Burger's highly visible position in College Republicans called into question his ability to remain non-partisan.
"SLAB should represent all students regardless of political views," he said. "We're concerned this appointment would jeopardize that."
Senate approved Burger's appointment Wednesday night. Erin Simpson, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences senator and SLAB
issues research coordinator last year, was the only one to vote against the appointment.
"There's definitely the potential for partisan action to be made through SLAB," she said. "This has the look of impropriety, and that's dangerous."
Simpson said SLAB had in the past strived to maintain non-partisanship. Last year, SLAB declined the Young Democrats' offer to
h e l p w
with a
v ote r
registrati
t i o n
drive in
order to
a v oi d
t h e
appearance
of
favoring
o n e
political
party or
another.
Burger: will be responsible for presenting SLAB agenda to Senate.
Maxwell, who was SLAB's legislative director last year, said he appointed Burger because he was an outsider to Senate. Burger's affiliation with the Republican Party, he said, was less of a concern than any affiliation with a Senate coalition.
"This is not something that goes along Republican and Democrat lines," he said. "In my three years with SLAB, it's never been a problem, and I don't think it'll be one now. I think he'll do a wonderful job."
Burger said he did not plan to step down from his position.
"Let's go beyond this," he said. "When someone is appointed to a position like this, it's normal to question that. But it's time to start working. I don't think this should ever have been an issue."
—Edited by Brad Hallier
Watch this space: new technophile toy hits Lawrence
By Clare McLellan
The result of a merger between Motorola and Timex, Beepwear is the first company to combine a pager and wrist watch into one product. The Beepwear pager watch is a fully functional pager in the form of a watch that does more than just tell time.
Special to the Kansan
Students looking for the latest electron ic toy and want to cut down on their communications clutter have a new option: Beepwear.
"The technology is absolutely amazing. They're always coming out with something new and something different," said Jonathan Starlin, Office Depot employee. Office Depot is one of the main carriers of Beepwear and is the only store in Lawrence that sells the watch. He said the store just received this model about a month ago.
The watch can store up to 16 alphanumeric pages or e-mail messages.
receives free news, sports and weather updates and operates with FLEXtime, a system that automatically sets and keeps the correct time, even in different time zones through satellite positioning. The watch can also store up to 150 names and phone numbers and will schedule eight different alarms. The watch is lightweight and no larger than an average sport watch.
Juan Heath, Lawrence senior and University Daily Kansan online editor, recently purchased a Beepwear watch and said he was pleased with it.
"I've had a paper for about three years, but this is something I really wanted because of the extra features. It's lightweight, and you don't have to worry about it falling off," he
said. "There's a toy factor, too; it's a gadget."
Paging services cost $16.95 a month, which consumers can pay in quarterly, semi-annual or annual installments. Convenience, Starlin said, is a big advantage of this product.
"The watch is good for any who could use a lighter load," he said. "The fewer machines you have to carry around, the better, and having a beeper, watch and cell phone can be kind of a mess."
Starlin said so far.
most st of the watches customers were business people. But students who carry pagers and wear watches might save money by purchasing Beepwear. And the chance of the pager falling off a person's wrist is less than a pager slipping off a belt
Photo by Matt Daugherty / KANSAN
or out of a pocket, he said. Chris Milligan,
Chris Milligan, Overland Park junior and pager owner, agreed. "Wearing a pager in your belt is not that convenient, and it would be kind of nice to have one on your wrist where it won't all off." he said
SkyTel, a nationwide telecommunications company, provides the paging service for Beepwear. Beepwear.com is currently offering $30 of free service for ordering the product on-line. Office Depot sells the watch for $129.99.
+
Although Milligan said that price did not seem outrageous, he would like to see if it might drop.
—Edited by Jennifer Roush