Friday, January 26, 2001
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 7
Staff demands equal raises
Cássio Furtado
Kansan staff writer
Unclassified staff and teaching faculty should receive equal raises, members of the Unclassified Professional Staff Association told Provest David Shulenburger yesterday.
Earlier this month, Gov. Bill Graves recommended a 3 percent raise for more than 700 University of Kansas employees.
Graves recommended that faculty at the University get an increase between 6.1 and 6.2 percent, 3 percent more than unclassified staff.
Shulenburger said he had recommended an 8.2 percent raise to both faculty and unclassified staff for the 2002 fiscal year. The governor disagreed.
Last year, discrepancies were similar. Faculty got a 5.9 percent salary increase, while unclassified staff received 2.5 percent.
Unclassified staff include University administrators, program and department directors, researchers and other nonteaching faculty.
This raise is not the one the University or the regents wanted, Shulenburger said.
The difference in raise amounts caused the association to ask Shulenburger to explain the reasoning behind the decision to 120 members at a meeting yesterday in the Kansas Union.
Shulenburger said he thought a couple of factors influenced the governor's decision to not give the raise the University had requested.
Shulenburger said:
The governor wanted to devote more
Graves had limited resources and needed to honor Senate Bill 345.
monev to faculty salaries.
It was difficult to distinguish classified staff throughout Kansas and unclassified here at the University.
Kansas Senate Bill 345, passed in May 1999,
set aside about $26 million to increase salaries
for teaching faculty around the state, not
including unclassified staff.
But the University places the same value in all of its employees, Shulenburer said.
"I couldn't do my work and the University couldn't do its work without you," he said.
Explanations weren't enough for some association members.
"Nobody seems to willing to fight for us." Miller said.
Amy Miller, a groupware consultant at the computer center and unclassified staff member, said she was being left behind.
Sandra Wick, president of the association and associate director of the University Honors Program, said the association wasn't only concerned with the money, but also with feelings. Wick said that many members of the association thought they weren't feeling valued.
"It has become very demoralizing," Wick said.
Marlin Rein, director of governmental affairs and budget for the University, said legislators wouldn't start to look at the budget until the beginning of February.
"The University is working with the legislature on several issues," he said.
Edited by Courtney Craigmile
Lisa Hathhorn and Todd Barrett, Hiawatha sophomores, camp out in Allen Fieldhouse for Kansas-Kansas State basketball tickets. The two, along with eight of their friends, plan to stay there until tickets are handed out for the student section Saturday morning. Photo by Thad Allender/KANSAN
Senators, watchdog group want video game regulations
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Senators and a media watchdog group scolded video game makers yesterday for continuing to market violent games to children, but also credited the industry for getting nearly all its manufacturers to use a voluntary rating system.
After showing clips of video games in which players score by shooting, goring and dismembering life-like computer-generated characters, Sens. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn.; Herb Kohl, D-Wis; and Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said they will introduce a bill next month that would punish companies that market such games to youngsters.
"Practically everybody in the industry still markets inappropriate games to kids, practically every retailer regularly sells these games to kids and practically all parents need to know more about the rating system," Kohl said at a news conference.
At the same time, he said, "Nearly ever game is rated, and the industry's voluntary rating system was recently hailed by the Federal Trade Commission as the best and most informative rating system in the entertainment industry."
David Walsh, president of the National Institute on Media and the Family, credited the video game industry both for rating games and for creating a review board to enforce voluntary industry guidelines on advertising. The industry began using voluntary ratings in 1994.
But Walsh's group, which released its fifth annual report card on video and computer games yesterday, gave retailers a near-failing grade for allowing children younger than 17 to buy video games rated for older players.
The report says FuncoLand and Target were the only two retail chains that consistently enforced policies prohibiting the sales of adult video games to children. Other stores made the same pledge but didn't enforce it, the report said.
"The industry has to follow through on its promise to stop marketing games with age-sensitive content to kids and
educate the public about which games are and are not safe for young people," Walsh said. "Retailers have to begin taking steps to prevent inappropriate games from making it into the hands of young players."
Hal Halpin, president of the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association, said retailers share the same goals as the senators and can meet them without legislation.
"We're all in the same ballpark," Halpin said. "It's just a matter of taking the time to educate and train the people working in the stores and selling the video games."
'The report card and the senators' call for legislation comes three months after a Federal Trade Commission report said the video game, music and movie industries target and excessively market sexually explicit products to children.
"The FTC said they don't have the authority to take action against that." Lieberman said. "Our legislation will be narrowly focused to let them."
Doug Lowenstein, president of the Interactive Digital Software Association representing video game makers, said he believes the legislation will hamper the industry's desire to regulate itself and could violate the First Amendment.
"The bottom line is that we agree that companies need to be very cautious in how they market products intended for mature audiences. And through our own efforts, we've made significant efforts to meet that obligation," he said.
Lowenstein said only 7 percent of the 218 million video games sold in 2000 were rated "M." for mature audiences. Of the 20 best-selling video games last year, only one — *Diablo 2* — had an M rating. Three were rated for teens, and the rest were deemed suitable for all players.
On the Net: National Institute on Media and the Family: http://www.mediafamiliy.org
Interactive Entertainment Merchants
Association: http://www.theiema.com
Interactive Digital Software
Association: http://www.idsa.com
Find the lost at campus sites
By Amanda Beglin
writer@kanson.com
Kansan staff writer
You forget a Spanish book underneath your desk. You rush across campus in 10 minutes to your next class, only to realize you left your purse in the dining area of the Kansas Union. You misplace your cell phone. KUID, bus pass or jacket.
Don't panic. Though the campus provides countless places for lost items to hide, there are 29 safe places on campus where possessions may be held.
Budig Hall, for example, has a lost and found in room 125 and a phone number to contact a staff member: 864-9849.
Items found anywhere in the Kansas Union can be turned in and claired at the candy counter on the fourth floor.
KU on Wheels, 410 Kansas Union, also has a lost and found for items left on its buses.
Sgt. Troy Mailen, KU Public Safety Office, said the lost and found at the public safety office, 302 Carruth-O'Leary Hall, served as temporary housing for the majority of unclaimed lost items.
"We're basically the hub," Mailed said.
"If people haven't claimed items at other lost and founds within a couple weeks, we usually get them."
Mailen said keys, wallets, cell phones and KUIDs were the items most often turned in and claimed.
When items are logged at the safety
office, a sometimes lengthy process ensues. First, officers check police records to see if the item was reported stolen by the Public Safety Office or Lawrence Police Department.
Items are then stored in lockers with card stubs that describe the item. If no one has claimed them within six months, they are donated to the Salvation Army.
Mailen said even cash was donated if not claimed.
"We've got $20 right now, and I took $311 to the Salyva Army in July," he said.
Bicycles unclaimed after six months are donated to bike shops in Lawrence and may be stripped for parts if they aren't in fair condition.
Keys are sent to area lock shops to be recut and reused, and credit cards are destroyed. Malen said.
Mailen said the safety office might decrease the holding time from six months to three because the current lengthy time period wasn't necessary.
"We have bedding from residence halls right now that we've had for months," Mailen said. "We get things like this every semester, and no one ever claims them."
Mailen said Lawrence police cooperated with the Public Safety Office when campus-related items were found off campus.
"They'll hold some things and try to contact people," Mailen said. "We give them University phone directories every semester."
CAMPUS LOST AND FOUND
The following buildings have lost and founds:
KU Public Safety Office
302 Carruth-O'Leary Hall
864-5900
177 Allen Field House
112 Bailey Hall
125 Budig Hall
425 Fraser Hall
202 Green Hall
120 Lindley Hall
2010 Malott Hall
206 Marvin Hall
446 Murphy Hall
405 Snow Hall
200 Stauffer-Flint Hall
123 Strong Hall
203 Summerfield Hall
4069 Wescoe Hall
Burge Union
KU on Wheels, 410 Kansas Union
Candy counter, Kansas Union
Circulation desk, Watson Library
Engineering library, Learned Hall
Source: KU Info
The KU Public Safety Office lost and found is open from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
For more information about campus lost and found locations, contact KU Info at 864-3506.
— Edited by Melissa Cooley
The Associated Press
New Georgia flag falls flat in looks
ATLANTA — Politically, Georgia's proposed new flag is being praised as a great compromise. Aesthetically, though, experts say it is a visual train wreck — a jumble of stars, banners, circles, words, numbers and other flags.
"My first impression is, this is just about the worst state flag," said Whitney Smith, director of the Flag Research Center in Winchester, Mass. "This is an example for the How Not to Design a Flag class. This is what you put on the board to get everyone to understand."
The flag was designed by Cecil Alexander, an 82-year-old Atlanta architect whose grandfather fought for the Confederacy.
To be fair, his assignment was daunting: Draw up a flag that satisfies Georgians who have fought bitterly for decades over the Confederate emblem's dominant place on the state banner.
Alexander told The Atlanta Journal- Constitution he wanted to show past flags in historical context and look to the future.
The dominant feature is the state seal, which bears, an arch, a soldier, a band of small circles, the date 1776, the state's name and a motto: "Wisdom, justice, moderation."
Below is a stripe of five other flags, including the one featuring the Confederate emblem that started the debate and the phrases "Georgia's history" and "In God we trust."
Georgia lawmakers, already scrambling to avoid dividing the state more deeply over the flag, might have more to worry about than losing a flag beauty contest: Their compromise might violate federal law.
A code for displaying the American flag, passed by Congress in 1976 specifies that the Stars and Stripes must be displayed on the left as viewers see it. On the Georgia proposal, the American flag sits on the right.
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Kansas Men's Tennis
Sat., Jan. 27
12:00 pm
Louisville
8:00 pm
Arkansas-Little Rock
Sun., Jan. 28
1:00 pm vs Middle Tennessee State
1:00 pm
Alvamar Racquet Club 4120 Clinton Parkway
Free Admission!