Hiring freeze means Old Glory at times goes unattended
By Paul Eakins Special to the Kansan
High over campus, the American flag flies at the top of Fraser Hall. Often, the flag stays up at night and during thunderstorms — whipped by wind and rain.
The hiring freeze at the University of Kansas has left the custodial staffs at many buildings shorthanded. At Fraser, that means old glory and the KU flag are not always attended, said Theresa Laing, custodial worker. Sometimes, Laing said, the flags do not fly at all.
"With our staff the size it is, it would be
With our sall the si ludicrous to raise and lower (the flags) every day," Laing said.
Laing said that Fraser should have five daytime custodians during the week. But due to the hiring freeze, there are only four. Of those four, Laing said, only she and another employee are physically capable of getting up to the flag towers.
Raising and lowering the flags is not as simple as riding an elevator up to the flag tower. After taking an elevator to the 7th floor, Laing must climb the rest of the way. First, she walks up a flight of stairs to a
"The first couple of times I went up to change flags, my legs hurt by the time I got to the top of the stairs," Laing said.
Laing tries to get the flags taken care of when she first arrives at work, she said. However, it continues to be a hassle with such a small staff.
Laing doesn't mind taking care of the flags, she said, but it cuts into her other work. It takes 20 to 25 minutes for one person to raise or lower the flags. When classrooms on several floors are in need of cleaning, Laing doesn't want to take the time to deal with the flags, she said.
"Putting up the flag puts you and everyone else further behind," Laing said.
Laing navigates around the equipment, slips by the large air duct running the length of the room, and past the boxes of rolled-up papers containing blueprints to all campus buildings. She reaches the first flight of spiral stairs and ascends. When she gets to the top, it's on to the second flight. Finally, she reaches the top level of the tower, where she can see the flagpole sticking out through a hole in the roof, and she can feel the wind blowing through the metal slats of the windows.
"When I'm up there I think,'I could have gotten this and this done, but instead I'm up here messing with these stupid flags'," Laing said.
"Sometimes the lines get tangled and we have to call facilities operations to send someone over to untangle the lines," she said.
The flags can cause even more problems when complications occur, Laing said.
or gallium
large room which houses the elevator controls and other mechanisms for the building. The machines emit a constant typewriter-like clicking which is caused by people pressing elevator buttons. Each click is the press of a button, Laing said.
A rule of flag etiquette, which Laing said is not always followed, is that the American flag should be raised before
March 1996 The Hill
Theresa Laing
Fraser Hall custodial worker
other banners, such as the University flag.
The flags at Fraser have flown for many years. Beginning in 1915,flags were flown from the top of old Fraser until it was razed in 1965.The tradition continued
"Sometimes we have problems coordinating the two towers because the American flag may get stuck. Then, it doesn't always go up first," Laing said.
The flags have to be taken down on windy days because high winds can damage them.
when new Fraser was built in 1967. The KU flag first appeared at the top of Fraser on Dec.6,1939.
Building Supervisor Virginia Boyd said that the staff used to raise and lower the flags everyday.
"If you can hear the flags popping in the wind from down on the ground," Laing said. "It's time to take them down."
However, Alan Fisher, American Legion post-commander, said an allweather flag can be flown on a windy day.
Laing said that when it gets that windy, it's a race to take down the flags before they rip.
It is against flag etiquette to fly a flag when it is likely to get ripped, Laing said.
"Years ago, the procedure was that if a storm came up, you brought the flag down. It was considered a fragile thing," Fisher said. "Now, the thought is that this is a tough old country and the flag should be tough too."
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