UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, April 25, 1995
5A
Caring, articulate student honored
Senators recognize their outstanding peer of the year
By Ian Ritter
Kansan staff writer
Erika Oliver, Overland Park senior and winner of the Outstanding Student Senator of the year award, is modest about her new achievement.
"I didn't really think about it," she said. The award from her peers in the Senate confirms her as the best senator of the year.
Matt Flickner / KANGAN
Erika Oliver, Overland Park senior, takes an order to a customer at Quinton's Bar and Deli. Oliver, who was named the Outstanding Student Senator, works at Quinton's to put herself through school.
"Erika's not concerned with awards because she doesn't do things for recognition," said Julie Harris, Mission Hills senior. "She does things because she cares."
Harris and Oliver ran with the United Students coalition in this semester's Senate elections. They both won off-campus senator seats.
"Erika headed up our off-campus campaign," said Kim Cocks, who was elected student president and ran with United Students. "She worked very diligently to make sure we had posters all over the community."
Cocks also said that Oliver was a prime motivator at coalition meetings and was effective at door-to-door campaigning.
"She's very on the ball; she's proactive; she speaks her mind," Cocks said.
Speaking her mind, Oliver admits, is something she has never
had trouble with.
"Either you can accer; things the way they are or you can try to change them," Oliver said. "There are very few people who will stand up for what they believe in, and I will."
In Senate, Oliver has been standing up for what she believes in for 3/12 years. As a freshman, she joined the finance committee because she didn't agree with how the organization was conducting its financing procedures.
In fact, she still has problems with some of the committees in Senate.
"Committees need to be more active, and they need to be respected a little bit more." Oliver said.
She said that committees that plan
events for most students, as the arts and events committee and the multi-cultural affairs committee, should work harder to coordinate programs.
"Senate shouldn't just be about funding things," she said, adding that it should place a higher emphasis on programming.
But Senate has done some good this semester, Oliver said. She was happy with the opening of the Multicultural Center this semester and results of the Senate elections.
"I think there is going to be a really good working, strong group of senators this year," she said. "It's time for Senate to stop being the bad guys."
Tracing her background in politics, Oliver credited the fact that she went to four different high schools and has been involved in sports for years. She was the novice women's captain on the
women's crew team until she had to quit before spring break because of her Senate responsibilities. But she still holds down a job as a waitress at Quinton's Bar and Deli, 615 Massachusetts St.
"When you move around, you really meet people." Oliver said.
She also was involved in student council in middle school and high school.
"I guess I've always been involved," Olivers said.
State senate to vote on raises for GTAs
Kansan staff report
The Senate Ways and Means Committee on Monday approved a motion that would keep GTA compensation at its current level.
State Sen. Gus Bogina, R-
Graduate teaching assistants at Regents institutions may not receive any pay raises next year.
Shawnee, chairman of the committee, said the decision was based on information brought to his attention during the GTA union elections at KU.
During the union campaign, KU administrators argued against forming a union by saying that the salaries of KU GTAs are at 101 percent of their peers, compared with
KU's faculty salaries, which are at 89 percent.
Bogina said that he had not thought of making that comparison but that it made a strong argument for giving GTAs no raises.
The money should be applied instead to raising faculty salaries to a more competitive level, he said.
Normally, GTAs would have
received a 3.5 percent raise, the same amount as the faculty.
But Bogina said that financing for GTAs — salary, tuition waiver and fringe benefits — should remain at $8.2 million, the same as last year.
The motion will go to the entire Senate for approval today.
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