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University Daily Kansan
Nation/World
Tuesday, Feb. 4, 1986
Findings of drug use may not lead to firing
By Lynn Maree Ross
Staff writer
Reports of drug testing of company employees and prospective employees may have some people upset, but a loophole in employment law may prevent employers from taking action against those who test positive for drug use.
Classification of alcoholics and drug addicts as handicapped could prevent employers from keeping alcoholics or drug users out of the work force.
Elinor Schroeder, professor of law specializing in labor and employment law, said last week that the Employment at Will doctrine gave employers the right to fire an employee or refuse to hire someone without a reason. But she said the doctrine had exceptions.
An employer, she said, can't fire or refuse to hire someone on the basis of race, religious preference, sex or handicap.
A subsection of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 defines a handicapped individual as any person who has a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits one or more life activities; has a record of such impairment; or is regarded as having such an impairment.
Impairments defined as handicaps include drug addiction and
alcoholism, said Mona McCoy, executive director of Independence Inc., 1901 Haskell Ave. Independence Inc., provides transportation and counseling services for the disabled, including alcoholics and drug users.
McCoy said she thought drug testing was an invasion of employee's privacy but employers also had their rights.
"An employer has a right to expect the person they hire to have the qualifications to do the job," she said.
If drug tests are used to screen new employees, McCoy said, the test should be given to everyone.
"Consistency is the watchword," she said.
McCoy said even if a person had a history of substance abuse, that should not be the basis for discrimination, but it frequently was.
The loophole in the employment law may look like a victory for those concerned about drug testing, but it has a twist.
A person filing a complaint of unfair employment practices must prove he is handicapped because of a problem with drugs or alcohol.
Mark Mohler/KANSAN
Schroeder said the courts had to decide how to define an alcohol or drug abuser. Even if someone is an alcoholic or drug user, it may not affect job performance.
Help from my friends
Darrell Riche, Omaha senior, and his wife, Brandy, spend the afternoon photographing Herman, one of Darrell Riche's Sculpture I, SCUL 253, projects. Darrell Riche said he was shooting Herman yesterday for his Photography I,
JOUR 310, class.
Meteorologists are in demand,prof says
Bv Grant W. Butler
Staff writer
More KU students should look into the possibility of careers in broadcast meteorology, a KU professor said Sunday.
"I'm surprised that given the reputation of the school of journalism and the reputation of the department of meteorology that we don't have more students enrolled," said Max Utsler, associate professor of radio-TV.
"There's definitely a job market for television meteorologists. I'm surprised more students don't pursue that option."
"It's one of the most difficult jobs to fill because you have to find someone with the science and journalism backgrounds who can also be a performer," he said.
Utsler said that when he was in the television industry in 1983, it was hard to find qualified meteorologists who also had experience with television performance.
"You're asking someone to wear a lot of dif-
ferent hats."
A student graduating as a trained scientist and a journalist is going to have greater ability to market himself, Usler said.
"For a student who might be considering being a television meteorologist, we have a good program for them here," he said.
Joe Eagleman, professor of meteorology, said there were 12 students studying broadcast meteorology at KU.
"Many of the TV stations are beginning to go with people trained in meteorology as opposed to people without training, so students are beginning to go for that," he said.
Because KU's atmospheric sciences program began in 1982, Eagleman said, many students haven't realized that broadcast meteorology is an option available to them.
A successful television meteorologist needs
more than a knowledge of science, Eagleman said.
"They should be a skilled forecaster, and they ought to have some courses in television performance as well," he said.
Steve Bergstrom, Medicine Lodge senior and a broadcast meteorology student, said he always had been interested in meteorology but the possibility of being a television weatherman was what made him also seek a journalism degree.
"It's tough to get a job without a journalism degree," Bergstrom said. "Because when you start out you usually do the weather only on weekends."
A journalism degree, he said, makes a person more attractive to a television station because he can report news events during the week.
to have his bachelor's degree in journalism by the end of August.
Bergstrom said he earned his bachelor's degree in meteorology in May, and he planned
Terry Bryant, weekend meteorologist for KSNT in Topeka, graduated last December with degrees in meteorology and journalism.
The extra emphasis in journalism gave him a better background to do weather forecasting on television, he said.
People starting out in broadcast meteorology usually had to start in small markets, Bryant said. The medium and large broadcast markets are hard to get into, but after a year of experience, the market is wide open, he said.
"You produce your own weather segment," he said.
A lot of work goes into each broadcast, Brvant said. but the effort is worth it.
"There's a lot of work that goes into preparing those three to four minutes on the newscast," he said. "A lot of people think it's a lot of work, but I like it."
Programs benefited by merger
By Sandra Crider Staff writer
The recent union of a lone department and a professional school will benefit both programs, the school's dean and the department's director said last week.
The School of Pharmacy voted Jan. 28 at a faculty-student meeting to incorporate the department of Health Services Administration.
Howard Mossberg, dean of pharmacy, said, "I'm optimistic that, with some of the services that my office will be able to lend, we will have a symbiotic relationship that will help the program."
The department was established by the Board of Regents about five years ago, Davis said, and is the only program of its kind in the state.
About 50 part-time and full-time graduate students will earn a degree that will enable them to be administrators in hospitals, health maintenance organizations, large clinics, nursing homes and health insurance companies.
The program lasts two years for full-time students. Some classes are taught at the Regents Center in Overland Park to accommodate part-time students who work in the medical profession. Davis said.
Demands for better health care combined with decreasing finances make the role of the administrator increasingly important, he said.
"The field is becoming more like a business dependent on cash cost, yet we have to maintain the accessibility of health care for everyone." Davis said.
He said managers in health services had to deal with moral issues too.
"We are facing the question of whether people should be denied health care just because they are indigent," he said.
Davis said the program prepared students to operate in the volatile, increasingly important field.
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Legal Services for Students
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