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THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 2010
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 121
ROTTENTOMATOES
Fruit or vegetable, it's all about fair pay
According to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, one farmworker must pick about 12,000 7-ounce tomatoes to earn minimum wage for a 10-hour workday. This is what 12,000 tomatoes would look like.
Students and tomato harvesters unite for better wages, working conditions
BY ROSHNI OOMMEN roommen@kansan.com
The members of Lawrence Fair Food, like many groups on campus this time of year, have a table on Wesco Beach. But they're not asking for your vote — they're asking for your support.
They're quick to stress that they're not a charity group. They are fighting not for, but with, people who they say are cheated out of livable wages: the tomato-pickers in Irmokalee, Fla.
Lawrence Fair Food members (left to right) Iliana Krehbiel, Brock Rovenstine, Aaron Stables, Nate Henricks, Jenn Hunt, and Kasabi Chinong prepare for tonight's Latin American Festival at the ECM. The event is free and begins at 6 p.m.
"The things we're doing are the things that are being done all around the United States," Birdie said. "We really are working in solidarity with the CIW. We're doing whatever they're doing."
Lawrence Fair Food is a group of students and members of the Lawrence community. It's part of a larger, nationwide organization known as the Student/Farmworker Alliance, or SFA, which works in partnership with the CIW.
Spencer Walsh/KANSAN
"We're not helping them," said Parendi Birdie, a freshman from Lawrence. "It's not charity. It's solidarity."
Immokalee is home to a large number of Hispanic, Haitian and Mayan Indian immigrants working as low-wage harvesters in the region, which produces a large portion of the country's tomatoes. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, or CIW, fights to improve the harvesters' working conditions.
According to the CIW, workers receive around 45 cents for every 32-pound bucket of tomatoes they pick. On average, they pick 61 buckets of tomatoes a day, earning an average daily wage of $27. To make minimum wage, the workers would have to pick 2.5 tons of tomatoes per day for a 10-hour workday. That would mean picking 32 pounds of tomatoes every two minutes for 10 hours.
the largest grocers in the nation, which owns retailers such as Dillons. For this campaign, the SFA and CIW are presenting a list of requests to the company, including paying farmworkers a penny more per pound of tomatoes harvested. The last time the wage
Lawrence Fair Food is joining the SFA and CIW in a campaign against Kroger, one of
SEE WORKERS ON PAGE 3A
per bucket for farmworkers was significantly changed was in 1978. According to the CIW, if the wage rate changed with inflation, workers would be earning 92 cents per bucket.
ADMINISTRATION
Budget cuts threaten CLAS
BY ERIN BROWN
ebrown@kansan.com
When Cameron Bryant stepped into his Math 121 class in January, he noticed there were more students than desks.
"It was a pretty big class," said Bryant, a freshman from Baldwin City. "There weren't enough seats for everyone."
This is Bryant's second go-round in Math 121, and although he said several students dropped the course this semester, the initial class was bigger than the one he took last fall.
In the past 15 months, $37.3 million was cut from the University's budget. Because of this, the University has eliminated 200 positions, including 55 faculty positions. With 75 fewer course sections being offered, class sizes have increased.
"Students are seeing the effects of the state budget cuts when they go to enroll and when they go to class," Deputy Director of University Communications Jack Martin said in an e-mail.
For instance, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences cut seven English 101 sections and did not open three Chemistry 184 lab sections that were scheduled last fall. That created long waiting lists for students who needed to enroll.
Rob Weaver, associate dean of CLAS, said that although the College ultimately was able to accommodate almost everyone, as many as 60 students were on a wait list for the Chemistry 184 lab section.
"There were some uncomfortable times for students waiting to get into class," he said.
An increase in demand and the inability to open more sections has also resulted in larger class sizes for several Math 121 and Math 122 sections, Weaver said. For example, the department prefers to keep calculus courses at 35 students or fewer, but last fall several sections had as many as 42 students.
For graduate teaching assistants
LAWRENCE
SEE BUDGET ON PAGE 3A
City contends with more potholes
BY ALEESE KOPF
akopf@kansan.com
A car drops into a pothole filled with rain Wednesday at 15th Street and Crestline Drive. Winter storms have caused more moths in Lawrence, and the city has spent $115,000 on repair this year.
It's half past 10 on a rainy Tuesday night. Ashley Byrd, who is driving only a few blocks away from her home, hears the pop of her tire and feels her car go out of balance.
Byrd, a senior from Memphis, was driving near 24th and Alabama streets over spring break when the familiar potholes finally got the best of her.
"I was really upset," Byrd said. "I probably did yell 'Oh shit' quite honestly."
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
SEE REPAIRS ON PAGE 3A
BY ELLIOT METZ emetz@kansan.com
The University has begun an independent review of the Athletics Ticket Office and the Williams Educational Fund, the fundraising branch of the department.
University investigates possibility of illegal sales involving the Ticket Office
"Concerns have been raised about these areas," Athletics Director Lew Perkins said in a press release. "Due to the nature of these concerns, and to protect KU's reputation, we think a
review is very appropriate. Kansas Athletics pledges total cooperation with this review."
Other media outlets have reported that a federal investigation is underway concerning the possibility of illegal sales of men's basketball tickets.
index
"We have asked outside entities to conduct a thorough and exhaustive review," Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said. "I anticipate that this will include a comprehensive audit of both offices. I am confident that Lew, if and when appropriate, will take
swift action on the basis of the outcome of those reviews"
The investigation comes two weeks after Perkins put Rodney Jones, associate director of the Williams Educational Fund, on administrative leave. Jones was a box office manager before his position with the Williams Educational Fund.
Associate Athletics Director Jim Marchiony said the department had no further comment at this time.
Classifieds...3B
Crossword...4A
Horoscopes...4A
— Edited by Ashley Montgomery
ATHLETICS
Opinion... 5A
Sports... 1B
Sudoku... 4A
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2010 The University Daily Kansan
10,000 students haven't filled out state census
Enrollment holds have been placed on students' accounts until they have completed the Kansas Census. CAMPUS | 6A
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