Tomorrow's weather
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Cooler with a chance for morning showers or thunderstorms.
Kansan
Tuesday
September 7,1999
Section:
A
Vol. 110 • No. 14
Never be late to class again. Set your watch to the same time as the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Online today
http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/what.html
Sports today
The University will be busy installing telephones and TVs and cleaning the Memorial Stadium press box getting it ready for Saturday's game.
SEE PAGE 1B
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Study shoots down salary justification
By Nathan Willis writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
(USPS 630-640)
Administrators have long known faculty salaries at the University of Kansas compared poorly with similar schools. Now they know that one argument state legislators have used to justify those low salaries — that Kansas is a cheap place to live — is untrue, at least for Lawrence.
Research performed during the summer by the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy adjusted faculty salaries for the cost of living in each university's community, and the results for University were not good.
Compared with 80 other Research I institutions, the University ranked 73rd in salaries for professors and associate professors and 65th in salaries for assistant professors.
Research Is a designation assigned by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching that includes many of the largest and most prestigious universities in the nation — both public and private. KU is the only one in Kansas.
Provost David Shulenburger said the University was mired in the bottom 20 percent of unadjusted faculty
salary rankings compiled annually by the American Association of University Professors. When the Pope Center factored in cost of living, the University's rankings, unlike those of many universities, did not improve. Shulenburg said he wasn't surprised.
"It's sort of a myth that Lawrence is a cheap place to live," he said. "It often been confused with Kansas in general, which is cheap. Lawrence isn't."
That led to a ranking that, if anything, were worse than the University's ranking for unadjusted salaries, Shulenburger said. The AAUP listed slightly higher salaries for University faculty than the Pope Center did for its adjusted salaries.
"There is nothing positive in here," he said. "It's all negative."
Compared with the other 55 public universities in the study, KU ranked 49th in professors' salaries, 51st in associate professors' salaries and 46th in assistant professors' salaries.
Of the seven Big 12 Conference universities included in study, KU ranked seventh in every category. The adjusted average salary for full professors — $68,000 — was almost $20,000 less than that of the Big 12-leading
See HIGH on page 2A
Faculty Salary Study
Source: Pope Center for Higher Education Policy
Ex-secretary pleads no contest to felony theft
Jerry Little, Douglas County assistant district attorney, sald yesterday that in exchange for the no contest plea, the prosecution lumped the five felony counts into one and added the two misdeanor counts.
Local firm gets Kansas Union job
Constance Coboy, the former Office of Minority Affairs secretary who was charged with five counts of felony theft, plead no contest Friday to one count of felony theft and two counts of misdemeanor theft.
Conboy will probably pay a restitution of $20,000, which is roughly equivalent to the amount stolen, Little said.
District Judge Robert Fairchild scheduled sentencing for 8:30 a.m. Oct.7.
Little said Fairchild would probably sentence Conboy to jail time; but instead of serving it, she would be placed on probation for two years. Requirements for avoiding jail time would include restitution, employment and community service.
John Audleheim
Conboy could not be reached for comment.
Sherwood Thompson, director of minority affairs, said he would not comment.
Proposed view from Mississippi Street
By Michael Terry
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The $4 million Phase III renovation and expansion of the Kansas Union is one step closer to getting started.
Pat Beard, building service manager for the Unions, said that this summer his office interviewed five architectural firms at the Department of Architectural Services in Topeka that had placed bids to create the final design for the project.
"The firm we decided on was Could Evans Associates out of Lawrence who were the designers of the phase II renovation and expansion of the Kansas Union back in 1992," Beard said. "It helped that we had dealt with his firm before and that the committee knew what type of job they could expect from their company."
Tom Waechter, planning coordinator for design and construction management, said that even though an architectural firm had been hired, his office would continue to be involved in the renovation and expansion process until its completion.
"After the planning committee meets and decides what improvements they'll include in the project, then it will be our job to help with the bid process for the contractor who will complete the construction," Waechter said. "Hopefully the whole process goes smoothly, and we're looking for the completion of the whole project by the fall of 2001."
Korb Maxwell, student body president and a member of the planning committee, said the $4 million project would be funded through student fees, which included a $12-persemester fee for four years. The project will be funded through a 10-year bond, he said.
Beard said that some of the major improvements being considered were renovating Jay Bowl, possibly transforming it into an outdoor cafe, and expanding the Student Organization and Leadership Suite's office and cubical space to include additional organizations.
Beard said the next step was to get the planning committee together that was appointed by the Office of the Provost on
Nov. 16 to start deciding on what improvements will be included in the project.
phase of the renovation and expansion project is to make the Union a place where students want to hang out," Beard said. "The Union is self-supporting, and hopefully the improvements the committee decides on will generate a traffic flow in the Union throughout the day and into the night."
Maxwell said that he expected the planning committee to meet in the near future.
"The whole point of the third
The Memorial Union Cooperation, which runs the Kansas and Burge Unions, would meet Saturday and would set a date for the design committee to begin meeting, Maxwell said.
"The designing committee is a very representative group that is made-up of various students, faculty and staff." Maxwell said. "The selection of this group was designed to get a cross section of the University, and hopefully capture the interests of the University."
Workshops to illuminate KU library system
- Edited by Matt James
By Amanda Kaschube
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The vast array of resources at the KU libraries can leave many students' heads spinning.
But, with the Watson library's workshop series this semester, students, faculty and staff can learn how accessible the libraries actually are.
In 1993, the libraries began to organize a workshop series solely for faculty members. But soon the librarians realized that staff and students also needed workshops. Watson reference librarian Cindy Pierard
LIBRARY WORKSHOPS
Electronic Resources in Music, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Clark Lab
KU's New Online Catalog, 9-10 a.m., Clark
Lab in Watson Library
Tuesday:
Music in the New Catalog, 9:30-10:30 a.m.
Clark Lab
Wednesday:
said.
"We wanted to reach out to more people and support the University," she said. "Our primary clientele is the University
Finding Information on the Web, 1-3 p.m.
Clark Lab
KU's New Online Catalog, 6-7 p.m., Regents Center Library, Edwards Campus
Searching Library Databases 1, 1-2:30 p.m.
Clark Lab
Enrollment for the workshops is free, and Pierard said interested individuals should register a week in advance.
community."
"We would like for people to take advantage of the new capabilities," said John
"The number one reason we ask people to preregister is because of space constraints," she said. "It also helps the presenters plan out the workshops."
One of the most popular workshops this semester will feature the University of Kansas' new online catalog. During the summer, the libraries finalized the catalog, which will allow individuals to view the libraries' collections, check if they owe fines, and renew books from their personal computers.
See LIBRARY on page 3A
Tutorguru.com could help those who need aides
By Todd Halstead
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Tutorguru, www.tutorguru.com, is a not-for-profit Web site created by Danny Brock, St. Joseph senior, and Josh Millstein, Baldwin City senior. The site was launched Aug. 19 and provides an online forum for students in need of assistance with classes.
"They'll no longer be forced to find personal tutors from billboards where the selection is limited," Brock, who tutors calculus, said. "We have a forum where they can go without walking all over campus comparing tutors."
The site, which Brock and Millstein took most of the summer to construct, was conceived of by Millstein after he noticed the abundance of fliers advertising tutoring on campus.
"I would see filers everywhere, and I thought it would be easier if there was one place where you could go to find a tutor." he said.
"Students should be aware of it," Howard, who tutors English, Latin and Greek said. "Everybody has access to the Internet. Any student who is having trouble in any subject should check it out."
Tutors can create a profile in the database free of charge, detailing their qualifications, hourly rates and available times. Students can then access these profiles and decide which tutors are best suited to assist them in their studies.
"They can go on it and, in a matter of minutes, know that they have the best, most qualified tutor on campus with the best hourly rate," Brock said.
So far, there are 12 tutors for the site, and four students have listed profiles.
Throughout the year, tutors and students can update their profiles or delete them if they no longer want to be on the site.
If students discover there are no tutors available to help them, they can create their own profiles, which are searchable by tutors.
"It provides a one-stop kind of place where you can find out all the information you need to find a tutor." Millstein said. "It simplifies the process of finding a tutor."
If a tutor creates a profile compatible with that of a student, the student will be contacted about the match via e-mail.
By creating profiles on Tutorguru, some tutors said they have found that the ubiquitous flier is now an obsolete tool for advertising their services.
Robert Howard, Springfield, ill., graduate student in English, said advertising through fliers limited tutoring to students who had access to campus.
"I believe once it starts picking up that there will be a lot of advantages to online advertising for tutors and students," Badlev said.
Tim Badley, math tutor and KU graduate, said the Web site was a good opportunity for tutors and students to advertise online.
Howard said the site provided a private environment for students to acquire tutors for help.
"Students are a little bit conscientious about seeking out tutors. They don't want anybody else to know that they are seeing a tutor," Howard said. "This makes it private because students can just e-mail me."
Millstein said the site, in its current form, was how he and Brock had envisioned it, but that they would update it in the future.
"Right now it's how we wanted it, but eventually we want to add chat rooms," he said.
The chat rooms would make the site more interactive by providing the tools tutors needed to instruct students online, such as a screen serving as a chalkboard for math equations.
"I believe it's really a great Web site and I would like to see the whole campus get involved," Badley said. "It will become a great resource."
—Edited by Ronnie Wachter