Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Feb. 15, 1993, edition 1 / Page 9
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Housekeepers’ debate The problems of the UNC’s lower paid employees are very real. The University is concerned about their salaries, training opportunities that can lead to better jobs and appropriate treatment by supervisors. The Univer sity community should be willing to do its part to help. But campus debate about these important issues must be grounded in fact, not rhetoric. In the Jan. 28 editorial “Sweeping Reform,” The Daily Tar Heel published several inaccurate statements about the pay and training opportunities for UNC housekeepers that cloud these issues. For example, salary figures cited in the editorial are erroneous. The lowest salary in North Carolina’s state pay system is $11,812. No regular, perma nent, full-time employee at UNC has a base salary below $12,403. Those employees (and they are not only housekeepers) who start at a base salary below $14,264 and earn perfor mance ratings of at least “good” are eligible for a special Accelerated Pay Program, which provides regular 5 per cent increases until they reach that level. Those employees who start at $12,403, for example, receive a 5 percent in crease after three months of service, bringing their base salary to $13,023. Six months later, they receive another 5 percent increase to $13,674. After an other six months, their salary reaches $14,264. The Accelerated Pay Program has been continued during the past two years when other state employees received salary increases totalling only $522. The program was funded by state gov ernment during its first year. During the past two years, the University has pro vided the funding at the expense of other programs. Base salary is quite different from total earnings. Most housekeeping em ployees receive more than their base salary. Approximately three-fourths of UNC’s housekeepers receive a 10 per cent “shift differential,” paid to any employee who works more than half of his or her shift outside the hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. In addition, many housekeepers have worked for the University for many Jim Copland In recent weeks, the words of former Student Body President Matt Heyd have kept returning to me: “Student govern ment only exists to help students. If student government isn’t helping stu dents, there is no need for it,at all.” As student body president, I want to stop political infighting and make stu dent government work for the students again. We have an opportunity Tuesday to restore student government’s cred ibility, and we must vote to make it happen. During the past two weeks, my oppo nent has been using the slogan, “Expe rience Matters.” I agree. Experience does matter, and I believe my experi ence would enable me to be the most effective student body president. The following list summarizes my leadership experience at UNC that would be pertinent to the office of stu dent body president: Experience with Legislators ■ Coordinator, Budget Crisis Lob bying ■ Author, University Bill of Rights ■ Member, State Relations Commit tee Service in Executive Branch ■ Administrative Cabinet, Student Body President Matt Heyd ■ Advocacy Cabinet, Student Body Vice President Meredith Rentz ■ Member, Students for Educational Access, Report on Tuition and Fees ■ Treasurer, Students’ Undergradu ate Teaching Awards Selection Com mittee Work with Administrators ■ Chairman, Advisory Board to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sci ences ■ Member, Center for Undergradu ate Excellence Long-Range Planning Committee ■ Chancellor’s Committee on Estab lished Lectures Additional Leadership Experience ■ Carolina Union Activities Board, Chairman, Critical Issues Committee Joe Andrews/Nanci Locklear Thenumber2oo: This is what it means to us. I. SENIOR CLASS 200 YEARS COALITION Providing an excellent chance for interested seniors to play a direct role in the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the University, this committee will serve as an aid in brainstorming joint projects with the Bicentennial Commit tee. The chairman of the Bicentennial Committee has given his support for the proposed involvement with the senior class and welcomes new ideas. There fore, it will be our responsibility as seniors to take leadership roles in see ing that these goals of the Bicentennial Committee are achieved in the spirit of this university. 11. STUDENT RESOURCE NET WORK In light of past years, seniors have voiced “JOBS” as their primary con cern. After talking with Marcia Harris of University Career Services, we then Laurie Charest Guest Columnist years and receive longevity payments based on a percentage of their salary and their length of service. In 1992, only seven housekeepers who worked for the University for the entire year earned less than $13,000. The median income for housekeepers working during that period was $14,967. Thirty-six housekeepers earned more than SIB,OOO last year. Despite those facts and figures, the University is by no means satisfied with the salaries these employees receive under the state pay system. According to the Daily Tar Heel’s editorial, “UNC administrators also should begin work to train the house keepers for higher-paying jobs within the University. Among UNC employ ees, only the housekeepers face sub stantial barriers before education and training.” The University already has begun training housekeepers and other em ployees for higher-paying jobs on cam pus.. Our work-based educational pro gram, which provides literacy training leading to a General Equivalency Di ploma (G.E.D.), has quadrupled in size this fiscal year. Our new Basic Clerical Skills Pro gram, offered in conjunction with Durham Technical Institute, provides opportunities for employ ees with a high school diploma or equivalency diploma an opportunity to learn skills that will qualify them for other University jobs. There are 47 employees enrolled in this program, 40 of whom are housekeep ers. A member of the training and devel opment staff attended group meetings of housekeepers to explain the program, answer questions and encourage par ticipation. The same special recruitment efforts were made for the work-based education programs. In addition, there are a range of other training opportunities available through the University. I emphatically deny that the admissions process for these pro- PLATFORMS OF STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT CANDIDATES ■ Carolina Union Board of Direc tors, Long-Range Planning Committee ■ Editor and Co-editor of two cam pus publications ■ Student Congress Representative, 1991-92, Finance Committee, Task Force oh Student Fees ■ Campus Y Big Buddy Program ■ Emerging Leaders Program I have a vision for the office of stu dent body president. I want to restore our national prominence in academ ics and rebuild our University com munity. Specifically, my platform addresses tuition increases, tenure policy, race relations, campus safety and the envi ronment. While anyone can talk about issues, I have been working on each of these for some time. I fought tuition increases as Budget Crisis Lobbying coordinator and fought for tenure reform as chairman of the Advisory Board to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. I served as a coordinator of Rape Awareness Week and as co-sponsor for a lecture by Imamu Baraka. In high school, I started recycling and conservation programs. I am committed to each of these issues, and I will continue to make things hap pen. If elected, I will immediately begin work. ■ By Thursday, I will assemble a diverse group of five to 10 students, who will not be members of my admin istration, to handle my transition. We will structure the executive branch and prepare to make hundreds of appoint ments. In the first week after the election, I plan the following course of action: ■ To deal with tuition increases, I will meet with official UNC-system lobbyist D. G. Martin and create strate gies to reduce the proposed increases and to expand student financial aid allo cations. ■ I will meet with Board of Trustees chairman Robert Strickland to discuss PLATFORMS OF SENIOR CLASS PRESIDENT/VICE PRESIDENT CANDIDATES realized that students, especially seniors, have information about job and intern ship opportunities and can share it with other students in a computerized data base. This sharing would in no way take the competitive edge away from job/ internship-seeking students because all information used would only be taken from past experiences. 111. GRADUATE PROGRAM OPEN-HOUSE Many college graduates are going to graduate school in increasing numbers. A graduate program open-house would provide information to seniors concern ing graduate study. This opportunity would allow interested seniors to come and talk with representatives from more than 70 University graduate depart ments. Here, seniors will receive first hand information and expertise from UNC grads themselves. IV. SENIOR VOLUNTEERS PROGRAM Even those seniors academically OPINION should focus on facts grams is more difficult for housekeep ers than for other employees. It is inac curate to say, as the editorial claims, that the University ignores its responsi bilities and fails to provide job-growth opportunities for its lowest-paid em ployees. But training our current employees for higher-paying jobs will not solve all the problems. The jobs that our lower paid employees do for the University today are vital jobs —and they will need to be performed in the future. We will continue employing housekeepers, groundskeepers and clerks. We must find an approach that better reflects the value that should be placed on these jobs. Finally, the editorial states that “UNC officials train supervisors mainly in the fields of discipline, while areas of hu man relations are left out of the pro cess.” Our primary supervisory training program, “Supervisory Resources” runs 40 hours, only one of which is devoted to the disciplinary process. And that time is spent insuring that supervisors understand the corrective, not punitive, nature of proper discipline. Other areas of human resources re ceive considerably more emphasis. Another program, “Interaction Manage significant issues like tenure policy, the black cultural center, the board’s anti discrimination policy and the 1995-97 budget request. ■ To address the black cultural cen ter issue, I will meet with the Black Cultural Center Advisory Board, Uni versity Provost Dick McCormick and Buildings and Grounds Committee chairman John Sanders and emphasize my commitment to the Wilson site for the Black Cultural Center. In addition, I will explore funding options for the Black Cultural Center with Vice Chan cellor of Development Arch Allen and also Matt Kupec of the development office. ■ I will meet with the chairmen of the curriculum in African and Afro- American studies to plan the movement of these programs toward departmental status. ■ I will discuss the University house keepers’ situation with local attorney Alan McSurely and develop relevant legislation with North Carolina. Rep. Anne Barnes. ■ To improve campus safety, I will work with Rape Action Project co-chair men, the Students Against Frightening Encounters Escort (SAFE) director, and Kathleen Benzaquin of the Rape Aware ness Committee. ■ To begin working on a campus ecology, I will meet with the co-chair men of the Student Environmental Ac tion Coalition and Recycling Director Charles Button. Please go out tomorrow and vote. The approaching year is a very impor tant one, and we need strong, ethical leadership to address our campus prob lems. Action. Visibility. Credibility. That’s what I promise as student body presi dent. I am confident in my experience, my vision for the office and my commit ment to the University. I will get things done and make student government help students again. qualified for jobs do not often have the volunteer experience many employers and graduate schools desire in their applicants. There is great potential to work with Campus Y’s Volunteer Ac tion Committee and the Volunteer Cen ter of the United Way to place seniors in community agencies of their choice and interest. Despite the success of both of these groups in the past, there still exists a need for more volunteers espe cially in light of the state budget cuts and decreased agency funding. V. WEEKLY DTH INSERT We need to publicize information concerning job interview times and lo cations, Bicentennial events, internship and job application deadlines, career and graduate symposiums, Senior Week events and other pertinent material. Therefore, a weekly Daily Tar Heel insert would be a centralized medium to relay this information. Just what we need -a separate insert just for SE NIORS! ment,” concentrates on helping super visors develop interaction and commu nication skills. Chancellor Paul Hardin continually advocates higher salaries for all of the University’s lowest-paid employees. Hardin has committed funds to estab lish a supervisor training program, to enhance literary efforts and, in addi tion, to provide educational assistance opportunities for employees. Orange County’s legislative delegation has been steadfast in its support of our lower paid employees. Yet, there are many roadblocks ahead. If the information that is discussed pub licly is not factual, like that appearing in the DTH editorial, it can easily discredit and damage the cause for which we are all working. Thus, as the editorial points out, just as it is “a matter of human dignity and basic morality that administrators and lawmakers pick up their brooms and sweep away the barriers to dignified service,” it is also a matter of basic nfbrality that we identify those barriers correctly and factually. Laurie Charest is associate vice chan cellor for human resources at the Uni versity. I^^IRACISM &EX\SrA r\^lf®^ o/v,OPHO3,A nWm) BIGOTRY Jennifer Lloyd Talk to my roommates. Ask them who students call when they need some thing done at this University. They won’t even hesitate in their response. I have notebooks full of messages from the past two years: arII, -‘- (1) The Student Environmental Ac tion Coalition needs money for recy cling bins and for voter transportation on Election Day; (2) Student Legal Services’ budget was shortchanged $30,000; (3) the Yackety Yack needs SIOO,OOO to avoid a lawsuit; (4) the Sailing Club needs to repair its boats; (5) the Student Bar Association needs more than S4OOO for a symposium on the Hamlet fire; (6) the Rape Awareness Committee, the Carolina Union Board of Directors, The DTH Board of Directors, the Black Student Movement, Student Congress, Dean Birdsall’s Advisory Committee to the College of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate and Professional Student Federation are all meeting next Wednes day and need you to attend; (7) Vice Chancellor Boulton needs a report next Monday on all the referenda students have passed in the past eight years; (8) The Carolina Summer program wants you to speak to rising high school seniors about student government at Chapel Hill; No one has more experience than I do in solving the widespread problems we face as students at this university. My job revolves around the concerns and issues that affect students every day. If elected, I will lead an administration project-oriented in philosophy and ac tion. ACADEIHICS. You deserve to know whetheryour professors are good teach ers before you sign up for each semester’s classes. Asa sophomore, I single-handedly published and produced the Carolina Course Review. Asa stu dent of both Michael Folio and Paul Jason Newton/Melodie Hahn Juniors: The senior class runoff election is Tuesday please make sure to vote, because only you can determine what your senior year should be. Today, just two campaigns remain in the racefor Senior Class President and Vice Presi dent, and we want you to know what makes us different than our opponents in this election. For more than 10 years, we have had a close friendship that has stood the test of time. This friendship carries over into a smooth business relationship that provides for efficiency, creativity and foresight. For more than six months, we have talked with current members of the se nior class to learn of their concerns about graduation. We also have talked with current juniors about how to ease the anxiety that occurs as our senior year approaches. For more than four weeks, we have gone to the administrators that work The Daily Tar Heel/Monday, February 15, 1993 j Answers to intolerance, harassment s on campus are found within students Pogo” was right. A long time ago, there was a popular newspaper comic strip somewhat along the lines of “Doonesbury,” with the same biting social commentary. In the most memorable strip, “Pogo” announced to another strip character, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” Regrettably, “Pogo” continues to be right. In recent months, The DTH has been filled with reports of racial harassment, gender harassment, sexual orientation harassment and date rape. Almost with out exception, such reports are followed by angry demands to know why the chancellor or some other administrator doesn’t simply solve the problem. The chancellor publicly has decreed that such harassing behavior is intoler able. Many agencies across the campus including theBCC, the Campus Y, the housing office, this office and the chancellor’s office are working dili gently to address instances of intoler ance and abusive behavior. 'What we generally receive in response is a lack of cooperation from persons whose be havior is offensive and an accusation from the community that our response to the situation is not sufficient and even might be somewhat suspect. Let me say this as directly as I can. Ferguson, I personally have been af fected by the tenure crisis. We are los ing our best teachers. We need to focus on tangible way s to promote excellent teaching. '■■ Publish another Carolina Course Review, this time on every section of every class. ■ Give students another month to drop a class or declare it Pass/D/Fail. ■ Expand academic minor options. ■ Implement Universitywide tenure policy that affirms excellent teaching. TUITION. I know personally how much a tuition increase matters. Finan cially independent since age 16, schol arships and jobs allow me to attend UNC. For many students, a tuition in crease isn’t just an inconvenience it can have serious effects. ■ We will go to Raleigh before every critical vote, and be sure that every member of the General Assembly knows how much increased tuition will hurt UNC students. If an increase does oc cur, we will do everything possible to alleviate the burden. ■ Wewillbeginimmediatelybytrans- f erring the thousands of dollars in the student government scholarship fund funds that have not been used in years to the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid. ■ln Raleigh, we will fight to set aside a substantial portion of any in crease, and the largest possible per centage of the proposed S3OO million UNC bond referendum to financial aid. CAMPUS SAFETY. As someone who.’s forced to spend a lot of time alone on campus at night, I know that safety must be our constant priority in projects and funding. We will put a security task force to work to address all issues from the 24-hour dormitory lockup to increased education to ex panded services. ■ Use SAFE Escort’s $17,000 sur plus to double late-night service. ■ Utilize Rape Action Project, Rape with the senior class to talk about the feasibility of our programs. From this preparation, we have developed a plat form with goals that are attainable and beneficial for all seniors. We will establish weekend work shop programs in the fall to provide seniors with a head start on resume building, effective interviewing tech niques, alternative career options and requirements for graduate school. We have developed specific pro grams to increase the amount of contact seniors have with Carolina alumni. Donald Beeson of the University’s General Alumni Association is support ive of our goal to expand the Alumni Career Reception Program to include an additional site in Richmond, Vir ginia. We realize that all seniors are not ready to enter the corporate world upon graduation. Because this is true, we want to provide our classmates with alternative career option information Frederic Schroedeij Guest Columnist When abusive behavior occurs on this campus, it is not my fault, not is it the fault of the chancellor, nor the president of the student body, nor the director of housing, nor any other person in an official capacity. “Pogo” was correct then, and he is even more correct now. WE are all a part of the problem. WHO is the “we?” Every man and woman on this campus qualifies. Student or staff; gay or straight; black or white; male or female; we all are a part of the problem. Together, we can be the solution. Our campus is but a small part of a nation that seems almost paralyzed on the issue of “difference.” If we are not careful, that intolerance for each other might become our national undoing. What can YOU do about the problem of intolerance? Simple. Confront it where you are. When someone in your suite diminishes another person because of that person’s race, approach them, and let them know that you don’t accept such intolerance from your friends. When someone in your organization jokes about date rape, tell them that you don’t think it is funny. When someone in your apartment makes a disparaging remark about a neighbor ’ s background, don’t let it just go unchallenged. Will you lose some friends? Will some people get very quiet when you enter a room? Yes, probably. But is it the right thing to do? Yes, definitely. I started by telling you that no one person can accept blame for all the racism, sexism and homophobia on this campus. What I and other staff mem bers of this office and the Division of Student Affairs ARE willing to do is, to support you and work with you as you join in this difficult but essential task. No one person in this community can make all that is wrong go away. If only it were that simple! But all of us work ing together can change the very face of a community and perhaps a nation. Frederic W. Schroeder Jr. is the dean of students. Awareness Committee and the Campus Y to co-sponsor educational forums such as the Rape-Free Zone. U Distribute on-campus parking permits based on need, not on who you know. RACE RELATIONS. The free standing black cultural center will take us one step further in affirming pur awareness of each other’s cultures. Ul timately, though, no committee, no amount of money, no department, no building can end injustice on our cam pus. It is up to each of us personally to rid ourselves of ignorance by taking multicultural classes, attending multicultural programs and utilizing our existing multicultural center die Frank Porter Graham Student Union. ■ Fight for acceptable salaries, edu cational opportunities and better work ing conditions for UNC’s housekeep ers ■ Increase Executive Branch fund ing for Upward Bound, Summer Bridges and Pre-O ■ Will lead effort to create a private endowment for the needed professor ships that can elevate the African and Afro-American studies curriculum to departmental status ENVIRONMENT. The environ mental experts in SE AC can contribute directly into the student government decision-making process. We must uti lize their expertise and fund their initia tives. I will take care of the paperwork and the budget process. SEAC’s time is better spent educating our campus. ■ Ensure that the University uses only recycled paper and products. ■ Develop Carolina Voter to regis ter all UNC students to vote during C TOPS My experience as speaker will be invaluable in securing funding from congress to accomplish these projects. It’s time to elect a president with a plan, someone who has the experience and the expertise to execute their ideas for the benefit of the student body. on opportunities such as the Peace Corps, Teach for America and research or military possibilities. We also will work to give seniors priority in athletic ticket distribution fbr more than just the last basketball game of the season. We spoke with Carolina Athletic Association President-elect Daniel Thornton, and it seems to be an attain able goal. Even two or three “senibr priority” games would be a benefit all bf us could look forward to receiving in our fourth year at UNC. We were the only senior class candi dates to endorse the Senior Class Pub licity Fund referendum in our platform, and we actively have campaigned for its approval by students whenever we have campaigned for ourselves Because it was voted in last week in the general election, many of our pro grams would have enough funding to be ready for seniors to take advantage of by next September. 9
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Feb. 15, 1993, edition 1
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