OPINION
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED DAILY SINCE 1912
CRAIG LANG, Editor
SUSANNA LOOF, Managing editor
KIMHERLY CRABTREE, Editorial editor
TOM EBLEN, General manager, news adviser
MARK OZIMEK, Business manager
DENNIS HAUPT, Retail sales manager
JUSTIN KNUPP, Technology coordinator
JA STEINER, Sales and marketing adviser
Thursday, February 27, 1997
Jeff MacNelly / CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Editorials
University community should support GTAs in Day of Action
At noon today in front of the Kansas Union, graduate teaching assistants at the University of Kansas will join graduate teachers at 22 campuses across the country in the National Day of Action.
We all should attend the National Day of Action to recognize the valuable work done by KU GTAs.
The struggle for KU graduate teachers to win a fair contract is an issue that affects the entire academic community. The National Day of Action is the first ever coordinated event linking graduate employee unions across the country. The day will show that graduate teachers are an organized and powerful national force. The day will also place GTAC's struggles for fair working conditions at KU in the context of a national outcry about working conditions faced by graduate teachers across the nation.
"It's important for GTAs to KU to realize we're not alone," said Laura Senio, GTAC Coalition co-president. "We have the same basic concerns as graduate teachers everywhere."
The KU administration must realize that
KU GTAs face the same struggles as graduate instructors at other schools.
the struggle for fair working conditions for graduate teachers is national, and that KU cannot dismiss its GTAs as powerless.
When KU GTAs unionized two years ago, they joined a wave of unionizing campuses. GTAC is now one of 12 legally recognized graduate student unions in the United States. Organizing drives are underway on at least eight other campuses, as graduate teachers everywhere see that collective action is their only hope in demanding fair working conditions.
In the last year graduate teachers have organized strikes on four University of California campuses and at Yale University. These strikes, along with the National Day of Action, call attention not just to graduate teachers' issues, but to higher education issues in general. Universities are hiring more
part-time and temporary faculty, who often face the same poor working conditions as graduate teachers, including low pay and no benefits.
For part-time and temporary faculty and graduate teachers,unionization is the only way to ensure fair working conditions for themselves.
At KU, GTAs teach 30 percent of all credit hours. Clearly it's in the best interest of undergraduates, and the university dedicated to educating them, for graduate teachers to work with fair conditions. Now, graduate students who teach have no health care, no guaranteed tuition waiver and no guaranteed cost-of-living wage increase.
KU's Student Senate recognized the valuable work done by graduate teachers when it recently passed a resolution to support a fair contract for KU's GTAs. The entire KU community should join Student Senate in recognizing GTAs as a valuable part of the university community and support them in the National Day of Action rally.
LAURA WEXLER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
New parking garage plan isn't perfect
Campus parking problems are almost as traditional at the University as basketball. So we should thankfully embrace the plans for a new parking garage on campus, right? Not so fast.
There is no question that something needs to be done about accessibility and availability of campus parking. And the proposed multilevel garage north of the Kansas Union sounds like something that would solve the problem for students, faculty and visitors on the north end of campus, eventually adding about 2,000 new parking spaces.
However, building a garage that size and that close to the most popular visitor spots on campus would require that beautiful old buildings, one dating to 1915, will be demolished, and the scenic view from the north end of campus would be ruined.
The view facing the Kansas Union
A garage that wouldn't block the view could be built behind the Union.
from Jayhawk Boulevard is one of the nicest on campus. The Campanile, Memorial Stadium and the surrounding hills are all visible from that spot. However, a parking garage north of the Union would block this view and give us another concrete building to look at.
Instead of defacing the north end of campus, why not put the garage on top of the existing lot behind the Kansas Union? Thomas Waechter, planning coordinator for design and construction management, said that this had been considered, but that putting a new parking facility on top of the existing lot would cause two
problems: It would not give "top-of-the hill access," and it would not provide fullest benefits in terms of space.
But putting the new garage on top of the existing lot still would put visitors within walking distance of campus attractions. And since the garage would be downhill from Jayhawk Boulevard, it is unlikely to be a significant barrier to the view from Jayhawk Boulevard.
Concerns such as this are important to solving the parking problem. The public is invited to share opinions on this issue at 7 tonight in the Jayhawk Room of the Kansas Union.
The fact that the University is finally doing something about parking is a great start. But while more convenient parking is a necessity, must it be done at the price of compromising the most visited part of a beautiful campus?
NEWS EDITORS
KANSAN STAFF
KAREN CHANDLER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
LATINA SULIVAN . . . Associate Editorial
KRISTIE BLASH . . . News
NOVELDA SOMMERS . . . News
LESLEY TAYLOR . . . News
AMANDA TRAUGHBER . . . News
TARA TRENARY . . . News
DAVID TESKA . . . Online
SPENCER DUNCAN . . . Sports
GINA THORNBURG . . . Associate Sports
BADLEY BROOBS . . . Campus
LINDEY HENRY . . . Campus
DAVE BRETENSTEIN . . Features
PAM DISIMMAN . . Photo
TYLER WIRKEN . . Photo
BRYAN VOLK. . . Design
ANDY ROHRBACK . . Graphics
ANDREA ALBRIGHT . . Wire
LZ MUSSER . . Special sections
AERICA VEAZEY . . News clerk
ADVERTISING MANAGERS
ADVERTISING MANAGERS
HEATHER VALLER ... Assistant retail
JULIE PEDLAR ... Campus
DANA CENTENO ... Regional
ANNETTE HOVER ... National
BRIAN PAGEL ... Marketing
SARAH SCHERWINSKI ... Internet
DARCI MCLAIN ... Production
DENA PISCOTTE ... Production
ALLISON PIERCE ... Special sections
SARA ROSE ... Creative
DANA LAUVETZ ... Public relations
BRIAN LEFEVRE ... Classified
RACHEL RUBIN ... Assistant classified
BRIDGET COLLYER ... Zone
JULIE DEWITT ... Zone
CHRIS HAGHRIAN ... Zone
LZ HESS ... Zone
ANTHONY MIGLIAZCO ... Zone
MARIA CRIST ... Senior account executive
Letters: Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and hometown if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
How to submit letters and guest columns
Guest columns: Should be double-spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run.
All letter and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Kimberly Crabtree (opinion@kansan.com) or LaTina Sullivan (islullvan@kansan.com) at 864-4810.
Column
Idols should be held to the same standards
It takes a strong man to stand up to a god.
It takes a strong man to stand up to a god. Everyone knows we Americans treat celebrities like deities to be fussed over, kneeled before and generally butt-kissed.
I remember as a child being nervous around my neighbor's dog simply because the little mutt looked like Spuds MacKenzie. We all get starstruck in the presence of fame.
Regular folks seem to have the attitude that anyone who appears on TV has earned more respect and courtesy than the rest of us.
A few years ago, I worked part time at a movie theater
---
in Boulder, Colo. Not exactly the type of venue that drew renowned personalities. But one night I was tearing tickets for Forrest Gump, and Colorado football coach Bill McCartney walked into the theater lobby. He was the Boulder equivalent of Roy Williams. Not exactly a household name outside his little dominion, yet within the town's confines, you couldn't call anyone else "Coach," because the title belonged solely to him.
The man wasn't a hero to me personally, but I was nonetheless intimidated by his presence. Like all people of stature, he carried himself with obvious confidence and dignity, pretending to be oblivious to people behind him whispering to their friends, "Hey, I think that's Coach Mac."
Boulder loved Coach Mac because he brought a national championship to Colorado in 1991. He was also the controversial leader of the Promise Keepers, a huge group of religious men who filled stadiums preaching moral responsibility.
I watched the charismatic, pious gentleman walk to the front of the lengthy line and directly toward me. I straightened my bow tie Then I was mortified to be wearing the theater's stupid red bow tie while meeting the legend. I considered taking my vest off really fast, but it was too late. He was right in front of me.
Suddenly, I realized that he was strolling right past me. He wasn't even going to stop. Desperate to have some sort of exchange I could boast about later, I said, "Excuse me. May I see your ticket please?"
He was lying, and we both knew it. There was no way Bill McCartney could have come through my stupid little line unnoticed. He was trying to sneak into the movies like a 7-year-old kid. Yet, he was counting on me thinking, "Hey this is Bill McCartney, I may as well let him in."
He stopped and looked deep into my eyes, trying to make sure I knew just whom I was challenging. A smug smile took over his face. I just stared back — careful not to let on I was a football fan — until my question was answered.
He barked, "I've already been through here. I already showed you my ticket."
But all I could
think was the fact that, as a CU student , I'd paid to attend every football game for four years. And I'd waited in freezing lines overnight for the privilege of doing so. Nobody pulled any strings for me.
Our eyes were locked. Hundreds of people in line were fascinated by our exchange. McCartney's smile disappeared, replaced by an immediate look of pleading panic. His thoughts were so transparent. He was thinking, "Please, just let me. In don't embarrass me in front of all these people. I'm down on my knees begging you. I won the national championship, for pete's sake! You're going to make the man who beat Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl cough up a lousy $5.50? How dare you!"
I realized the absurdity of the situation. Thanks to my crappy minimum wage job, I now had power over one of the most influential men in Colorado. A couple of minutes before I had been cleaning pop-flavored vomit from the bathroom floor. But now I could really humiliate Coach Mac if I wanted. It was a magnificent
moment when I saw a thick bead of sweat run down McCarteney's left temple. Then I did something I've regretted ever since.
I let him by.
Without a word, I nodded solemnly and he quickly scurried past me in obvious relief, disappearing into the second theater on the right to be charmed by Tom Hanks' dim-witted philosophies for the next two hours.
a celebrity's life is no doubt a succession of these sort of scenes. But why shouldn't a famous person have to pay for a ticket? Because he'd paid his dues on the football field?
next word:
I continued tearing tickets, but I was numb. I became furious with myself for giving in to the
The irony slapped me in the
But if Jimmy Buffett ever tries to use me to get a free drink or something, I'm going to tell him to drag his sorry butt back to Margaritaville.
I wish I had been firm enough in my one opportunity to help close that gap. Doing so begins by treating all people the same. Give a person respect because he earns it, not because you saw him on ESPN. Show a star a little courtesy if he treats you like a human being.
Melissa Dehner/KAN$AN
The irony slapped me in the face. The man probably had more money in his wallet that night than I had in my bank account. He made more money than anyone on campus, yet he was getting free stuff everywhere he went — simply because he was Bill McCartney. I had my opportunity to bring him down to earth, and I blew it.
In the line of life, the Bill McCartneys are cutting in front of us. Then they're not paying their admission, because people like me continue to allow such discourteous behavior. The ever-widening gap in society between the haves and have-nots has become a gaping hole.
Jeff Ruby is a Wichita graduate student in journalism.
Letter
University Council vote protects mediocrity
Well, that explains it. The peculiar noise that I heard at the University Council meeting on Feb. 13 was the sound of the sphincters of faculty Council members snapping shut as students started to talk about evaluation forms and the sort of questions that they would like to see on them. We are all sensitive to the possibility of criticism, but the reaction of faculty to the idea that those who pay thousands of dollars each year to this institution — and therefore to its faculty — should have a say in the evaluation of the performance of those same faculty is clearly utterly abhorrent. Hence the gut reaction.
But wait a minute. Who are these persons on the other side of the lectern whose input and opinion faculty so uniformly mistrust? Over here in the
The problems with the gut
So why is it not possible to sit down with our students and work out an evaluation form for faculty that is relevant to both parties — those whose job it is to serve up the knowledge and those who choose to come here to consume it and pay handsomely for the privilege? But let this not be done by some group of carefully selected faculty and compliant students who will yield up an already-agreed document. Is this university not in the business of open and objective exploration? Perhaps we could even entrust the students to organize such a committee?
School of Engineering, they are future engineers and our future colleagues. It is no different in the School of Business or the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. These students represent the future of our professions and the future of our universities.
reaction of faculty in this question is that it leads to the protection of the mediocre and those of marginal competence. I can think of no better reminder to faculty that they are in need of a performance review than a failure of students to enroll in their classes. Shopping around? Why not? We have to trust those who pay the money to exercise their critical powers and go to the courses that they see as most attractive, just as we now trust their judgment in choosing majors. After all, as the TV ad says, it's their money.
My advice to students is, "Pursue the question of meaningful evaluation of faculty, because the long-term benefits to the establishment of a vibrant institution are great. Don't let 'em snowya."
Nector M. Clark
Associate professor
mechanical engineerina