Landlords and tenants need better communications
Bv JOHN McANULTY
Staff Reporter
The landlord had promised them a clean apartment by the time they moved in for the 1976 fall
But when they arrived at their new home, Bill, Dave and Greg, three University of Kansas students, found that a thin layer of dust coated all the rooms. Masking tape, spread with a thin cost of saint, covered large holes in the walls, and placed them on other insects had found a bone in the cupboards.
Although they were disgusted, the students decided to make the best of it and set out to clean up the mess. Finding an apartment had been difficult in the first place.
STUDENTS WHO live in campus housing may think this is a myth. But it may bring to mind memories of similar experiences for students who rent homes.
Bill, Dave and Greg have lived in their apartment about six months. The bugs are still around except on the days, about once every two months, when the temperature is between 35 and 40 degrees covered the masking tape with pictures and posters.
THEY'VE ALSO had to get used to the dirty hallways and sidewalks that their landlord has failed to clean up. Last fall the grass in the yard was about a foot high before the landlord it mowed.
They say their apartment is comfortable because they've been used to it.
Bill said he and his roommates assumed it was the landlord's responsibility to take care of such items.
The trusting nature of students may be the major cause of such problems, Judy Kroger, director of the Consumer Affirmation Association in Lawrence, said at a landlord-tenant seminar in Lawrence this
Kroeger said students should read contracts or leases carefully before signing them, and listed housing features that students should look for before renting an apartment or house to save money.
SOME POINTS Kröger suggested to check
it down.
Is it clean?
Does it have a musty or moldy smell?
Does the water in the kitchen and bathroom flow freely?
Does the toilet flush properly?
Does it have a musty or moldy smell?
Is there an adequate fire escape?
Does it have storm windows?
Is the water hot?
Do it have some SIM windows?
Do the outside entrances have strong locks?
Are there traces of bugs or rodents?
Is there at least one electrical outlet in each room?
Is the wiring safe?
Who is responsible for yard work and minor maintenance?
KROGER SAID a written agreement with both the landlord and s tenant's signatures would be the best way to ensure that doos about problems. If there is no listing of a landlord's capabilities in a lease, an agreement listing those capabilities must be signed by both parties within five days after the first month's rent is paid, she said.
If either party betrays a contract or written agreement, several channels of action are
The Residential Landlord-Tenant Act protects both parties in many situations. The consumer protection branch of the Kansas attorney general's office has called for new tenant rights. The office doesn't have the authority
to handle specific cases but can direct a tenant or landlord to the proper agency.
ONE AGENCY available is the Consumer Affairs Association, which will make suggestions on the actions to take in a specific case, according to Kroeger. A formal complaint can be filled out, and the association will contact the accused party to inform him of the complaint.
Kroeger said communication between a landlord and tenant was generally the best solution.
Another agency to contact in Lawrence is the Minimum Structures office of the Built Inspections Division. Department houses in Lawrence must meet minimum quality standards, and the department has the authority to inspect.
The court will also handle cases in which a security deposit wasn't returned to the tenant.
IN MORE serious cases, the tenant or landlord can go to a magistrate court.
But courts and legal proceedings may be a burden to most KU students
William Lemesay, a member of the Landfords of Lawrence Association said that cooperation between a tenant and landlord is the best way to insure a peaceful tenant-landlord relationship.
"All the problems that landlords have rise from one out of 20 tenants and vice versa," he said. "Because of that one tenant or landlord we have all rentariates, a need for deposits and advanced rent."
THE MAJOR complaints that landlords have about tenants, Lemesany said, are failure to pay rent, give a 30-day notice before vacating and clean the premises properly before vacating. Another common problem is noisy and incorporate tenants who have unusual lifetimes or who own pets.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
"There aren't those wild parties they used to have
at all hours of the night any more," she said.
One landlord said the conduct of her student tenants had improved a great deal during the last few months.
KANSAN
The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas
Vol.87, No.79
Monday, January 31, 1977
KC moonlighter a weekend jazzer
See story page five
Students list pros, cons of whistle
Bv BETH GREENWALD
Staff Reporter
The piercing whistle that for 64 years has signaled the end of classes has been silent for a week, and many University of Kansas students have to approve of the experiment in silence.
Of 50 students randomly questioned on Friday in the Kansas Union lobby and Wescos fourth floor, 43 said they wanted the whistle back.
Long-winded teachers and the absence of clocks in most classrooms were the two reasons most often given in favor of the whistle's return.
NANCY MEDLEN, Lawrence freshman, echoing a common sentiment, said, "I prefer the whistle even though it was loud. I want to hear it. And we have to tell them what time it is."
Tom Edell, Smith Center sophomore,
said he hated the whistle's absence.
"Teachers never stop on time so I'm late for the next class," he said. "The next teacher feels he can hold us that much longer. It's a spiraling effect."
Margaret Cortese, Omaha junior, said,
The whistle we make up in the morning.
It is a time of mourning.
Many students miss the whistle because they used it as a watch. When the whistle blew, they knew they had 10 minutes to get to class.
STUDENTS ALSO considered the whistle a part of University tradition and atmendance.
Those who favored the absence of the whistle said they thought it was an objection.
University faculty members interviewed were more apathetic than students about the question. They were also questioned, nine said they didn't care whether the whistle blew. They said the lack of a whistle hadn't made their students late or made the teachers themselves run past.
ALBERT BIGGS, professor of electrical engineering, said he never noticed the whistle because students had always told him when class was over.
"If you go two minutes over they start throwing rocks at you," he said.
Albert Cook, associate professor of English, said noise in the hall and students walking into his class now signaled the end of class.
Staff photo by JAY KOELZER
Several teachers said they now were forced to pay more attention to their watchful
Options suggested in place of the whistle included a bell that made a less shrinking noise.
This cheerleader had to look up to KU basketball players Saturday night if she wanted to follow the action. She is 3-year-old Angela Williams, daughter of Michael Williams, Lansing senior, and she kept her pompom ready at Allen Field House to help the team. The Jayhawks beat Colorado. 79-70. The game story is on page six.
Among giants
New board will oversee events committee's rules
By SANDY DECHANT
Staff Reporter
A committee of three Student Senate and four administration members was created Saturday to try to solve the controversy over the University's priority of the University Events Committee.
The compromise committee, formed by Del Shankler, executive vice chancellor, will serve as an intermediary in the approval of events committee guidelines.
Carly Smith, events committee chairman, said that her committee was composed of staff members to make formal guidelines on how to treat requests. The guidelines also will outline the composition and authority of the committee, which now oversees the scheduling process.
ASTHE GUIDELINES are revised by the events committee, they will be submitted to the new committee for approval, Shankel said. If approved by that committee, the guidelines will be submitted to StudEx and SenEx for approval. Chancellor Archie Dykes will have the final say on the guidelines' adoption.
The development of the compromise committee is a result of a Dec. 14 veto by the Senate to override the agreement that would have put the events committee under the Senate's jurisdiction. The proposal required a student majority on the Senate to override a permanent Senate overnight subcommittee.
STEVE LEBEN, Senate communications chairman, has questioned the committee's make-up of 14 faculty and administration members and nine students. Senate Rules and Regulations say a majority of the events committee should be students.
A resolution by Leben had the Senate Rights, Privileges and Responsibilities Committee study the events committee. The rights committee then drew up and passed the proposal that the Senate passed and Shankel vetoed.
The problem as to who has jurisdiction over the committee appears to be that they have jurisdiction at Saturday's.
Mike Davis, University general counsel,
said that although provisions for the events
had been filed, the committee had not
DAVIS' FINDINGS don't affect the events committee because, according to Smith, it has always functioned as an administrative committee.
Tedde Tasheff, student body president, said she thought provisions for the events committee were included under the Senate Policy Committee to student members to the committee.
Rules and Regulations, the events committee was an administrative committee.
She said that under the University Senate Code, KU was responsible for "campus-wide activities and events." The University Senate supersedes the Student Senate rules.
The committee members are Vickie Thomas, administrative assistant to the University Council; Steve McMurry, rights committee chairman; Donald Alderson, acting vice chancellor for student affairs; Shankel; Davis; Leben; and Tasheff.
Smith said she didn't know when the revised events committee guidelines would be submitted to the new committee for amoovel.
Library funding uses explained
Space—the final frontier
By KATHY GANNON
This is the voyage of Watson Library—to explore new areas, to seek out shelving space for the hundreds of thousands of books and documents that make up the library's problem of overcrowding.
The funds from this proposal, if approved by the Kansas Legislature, will pay for new shelves, painting and lighting, Jim Ranz, of the Madera area, where a probability not too be usable until July.
Exploration is concentrating on the unfinished east sub-basement of Watson. The Kansas Board of Regents has recently approved a $380,000 proposal to use the
SOME NEW STACKS also would be provided for research Research Library
This area has been misused more than
The east end-basement, which Ranz said could accommodate more than 380,000 books, is filled with miscellaneous articles—boxes of books, broken chairs and shelving an old library.
Ranz said the excess library furniture and outmoded equipment had accumulated for 15 years.
used," he said. "The first obvious step to take is to use the space we have."
The University administration gave Watson a $3,000 grant earlier this month to clear out the area. Students, under the supervision of the library staff, have been hired to clean and sort through unwanted material.
RANZ SAID outmolded equipment and
duplicate books would be discarded. Many
of the books stored in boxes and shelved in
the library are those that have been
donated to the library.
Wooden stacks, which shelve some books in the basement, must be replaced because they are too narrow and they break, Ranz said.
Books are adequately shelved in the lower est sub-basement, which is directly under the main entrance.
The shelving was completed in the early 1960s but there weren't enough funds to keep it up.
"Without this new funding, we don't see how we could exist in five years," Ranz
KU libraries receive about 60,000 new volumes annually.
"WE NEED SPACE," Ranz said. "we have about two-thirds of the space we need
now, according to the Regents' standards for libraries."
Available space in the branch libraries in Marvin, Malott, Murphy and Strong Halls has been exhausted. Many of the stored information is older volumes from these library
"We have to guess what books aren't heavily used so that they can be stored," said Robert.
Books stored in boxes are available to students now, he said, but if a student asks for a stored book, it may take a day to locate it.
Ranz said about two-thirds of the new funding would be used to buy stacks. A double-spaced, 3-by-7 foot stack section costs more than $100.
THE REST OF the money will be used to pay for lighting, painting and repair work on safety hazards, such as low heating ducts.
"You need a flashlight to find some books in the basement now." Ranz said.
Watson received a $5,000 grant from the University administration earlier this month for an emergency electrical lighting system for the basement in case of a power failure.
See LIBRARY page eight
Senate committee approves teaching quality report
By MARSHA WOOLERY
Staff Reporter
A subcommittee report on classroom teaching and a petition to study the reliability of student-teacher evaluations were approved by the Student Senate Academic Affairs Committee yesterday.
the subcommittee recommended that the quantity and quality of teaching experience be included in the applications and recommendations of graduate students.
The classroom teaching report, citing recommendations for improving graduate students' teaching, will be sent to the deans of all the schools and vice chancellor's committee on classroom teaching.
Both actions must be approved at Wednesday night's Senate meeting before going into effect.
THE REPORT also suggests that graduate students be interviewed by selection committees, either in person or by telephone, to insure their proficiency in English and to try to discover communication problems that might arise in the classroom.
For the same reason the dort recommended that each department give an exam to its teacher's and assistant's knowledge of technical language. John Olson, committee chairman, said this might take the form of a vocabulary test before the graduate where he lacks the understanding to teach.
SENIOR GRADUATE students would be the best candidates for the committees, because they wouldn't be competing with the hired graduate students, the subcommittee said, and they would have had the most experience in the teaching positions.
- Selection committees should include both undergraduate and graduate students, the report suggests, because undergraduates are most affected by them.*
With the demands and problems of being AE or TAS
Once a graduate student is hired to teach, the report suggests, departments should set up training programs to familiarize them with course materials and objectives.
A central resource center should be started in
addition to the department programs, the subcommittee said, because it is less expensive to buy only one set of general training materials. Also, graduate students would feel more comfortable voicing their complaints to a campus center than to their department, the subcommittee said.
TO HELP WITH classroom problems and to standardize sections, departments should organize weekly meetings for graduate students teaching the same courses, the report says.
A faculty member, selected by a graduate student, should visit and evaluate two of the graduate students' classes during the semester, the report recommends. The timing of the visit should be random, the subcommittee should, but shouldn't try to inform the students before they gain their semester's footing.
The graduate students should be forewarned of reasons for their removal and should be motivated by departmental awards for the best teaching, the report recommends. They also should have the chance to evaluate the departmental and campus training programs.
ANN WARNER, subcommittee chairman, said
the report was mainly an input to the vice-chancellor's new committee on AI and TA teaching
Olson called the report "sane" mainly because its parent study incorporated graduate students and
He said the effect of the report would depend on the concern of department heads, which is generated by the concern they are confronted with by students.
"That's the main thing," Olson said, "If this report can sell the students to be actively engaged."
a correlation is indicated by the comparison, Olson said he thought it would increase student confidence.
He said he also thought it would increase faculty belief in the validity of a feedback program. He estimated that only 10-20 per cent of the faculty was workflow having their evaluations published.
THE STUDY will compare the different sections of large courses, searching for a correlation between student performance on standardized tests and student ratings of teachers.
ANOTHER PART of the suggested study will examine feedback programs at other colleges and universities. The committee looked at some publications last semester including one from the college of computer science. It contained course and teacher evaluations and even a book list for about 60 per cent of their classes.
Olsen said that the University of Kansas would have to spend at least $60,000 to publish a similar booklet this year, which he said would be too expensive.
He said he didn't know whether any of the examinations published exagere any more and he didn't know what to do.
*WE NEED TO TOKY to find whether any other university has a working feedback of long standing students in our department.*
No date provision was recommended by the committee so it is uncertain when the study will be completed.
"We may find out that we might not want to do it," Olson said. "There might not be any correlation, no one may have a good feedback now and it might be too expensive for us to handle."