Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1984-02-24

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6th Year No. 139 Good Morning! It's Friday, February 24, 1984 2 Sections 14 Pages 25 Cents
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-- - lr Cathy Walters and her daughters Amy, 4, left, and Missy, 3, A COlUmn lCi play outdoors in the spring- lik- e weather at the Columns on
the University's Francis Quadrangle.
Harassment case over
University official still faces earlier charge
By Chele M Caughron
Missourlan slaM writer
More than a y ear after the Univer-sity
' s Director of Equal Opportunity
was charged with sexual ha-rassment,
he has been cleared,
according to the University
Last fall, the U S. Equal Employ-ment
Opportunity Commission and
the Office for CiviJ Rights ruled that
there was no reason to believe the
charges made against Alton Zanders
by his former assistant, Mary Hofe- re- k,
were true, according to a Un-iversity
press release
The announcement came so late
because there was a 90- da- y wait to
allow the case to go into litigation
and Hoferek chose not to appeal the
ruling, the University said
There could be a legal hitch, how-ever.
Hoferek's former attorney, Kath- enn- e
Gidlow, said Thursday that she
doesn't think Hoferek has received a
right- to- su- e letter yet, which would
begin the 90- da- y litigation period
Gidlow said the Equal Employment
Commission mailed the letter to Ho-ferek's
Columbia address and it was
not forwarded to Hoferek, now as-sistant
director of affirmative action
at the University of Kansas in Law- -
rence The letter was returned to the
commission, Gidlow said
Gidlow receded a copy of the let-ter
in October, but has not been Ho-ferek's
attorney since Jul Gidlow
said neither Hoferek nor her current
attorney has been sent another letter
informing them of Hoferek's right to
sue.
Hoferek could not be reached for
comment
Slightly more than a month after
Zanders fired Hoferek at the end of
her six- mon- th probationary period
on Oct 14. 1982, she filed federal
grievances alleging that Zanders vi-olated
University policies regarding
breach of contract, sex discrimina-tion
and sexual harassment
Zanders would not comment on the
ruling, except for a written
statement released Thursday. " Ob-viously
the false allegations, as well
as the publicity emanating from
them, caused my family and me a
great deal of pain." he said
Despite the University announce-ment.
Zanders still faces similar
charges elsewhere
Hoferek first filed her complaint in
October 1982 with the Umversit's
grievance committee, hoping to re-gain
her job The committee found
her charges unwarranted A rep
resentative of the Universit gnev- anc- e
committee said Zanders fired
her because of unsatisfactory per-formance
Following the University';, re-sponse,
several University employ-ees
requested that Chancellor Bar-bara
Uehling conduct a formal
investigation of the Office of Equal
Opportunity Uehling, however, re-fused,
saying she conducts regular
investigations of all departments
In 1977, an assistant to Zanders
while he was director of the Educa-tional
Opportunity Program at the
State University of New York's Col-lege
of Environmental Science and
Forestry filed sexual harassment
charges' before the New York Divi-sion
of Human Rights Ixis Wilson
alleged that Zanders reduced her
maximum working hours, asked her
to consent to an extra- marit- al
relationship, then reacted violently
to her rebuffs and discriminated
against her on the basis of sex
Marti Ellerman. of SUNY's office
of University Counsel and vice chan-cellor
for legal affairs, has said
Zanders denied all of Wilson's
charges
The case still is pending, but
should be resolved soon
Case builds against limo service
By Pat Lee
Missourian staff writer
JEFFERSON CITY Columbia
officials and the Public Service Com-mission
spent 4Vz hours Thursday
stacking evidence and testimonials,
some shaky and others solid, in an
attempt to strip the current operator
of the Columbia Regional Airport
Limousine service of his license.
The commission is expected to
reach a decision within 30 days on
whether to revoke the operating li-cense
of Clifford Shull, owner of the
only limo service at the airport, one
commissioner said
PSC Assistant General Counsel
Eric Banks, who presented the state
commission's case, said that Shull's
operation is inconvenient, inefficient
and independable. In his case
against Shull, Banks offered several
letters of complaint from private cit-izens
and businessmen, results of a
PSC investigation including an audit
of the company, and the testimony of
city and state officials
Banks first filed a complaint
against Shull Jan 10, after which
Shull was given 30 days to respond
The prehearing was held Feb 9
Although the prosecutor spent
most of the hearing presenting
charges, the atmosphere was not
completely anb.- Sh. u- ll. While most of
the allegations stemmed from spe-cific
incidents, several were general
and lacked extensive documenta-tion.
The PSC Transportation Enforce-ment
Division conducted an investi-gation
of the luno service March 31,
1983, after receiving complaints of
inadequate service. Enforcement In-vestigator
Bill Phillips said he no-ticed
Shull did not show up for seve-ral
flights on three days March 31,
May 12 and June 2 of last year.
But Phillips' report caused some
confusion He said the investigation
wasn't conducted under documented
guidelines. And he didn't investigate
why Shull had failed to show up for
the flights
When testimony focused on why
Shull was having problems meeting
all the flights, the luno operator
claimed he had been misled by state
officials
Shull said he had misunderstood
the requirements of the tariff to op-erate
a limousine. He said he always
had assumed he was required to
meet every flight
ShuU's attorney, William Mays,
said his client's authorization to op-erate
the limo service only states
that Shull must meet every flight
that he agrees to meet Like every
limo service, Shull is required to
submit a working time schedule to
See SHULL, Page 10A
Bills would make drivers pay for their accidents
y Mike Coit
tate capital bureau
JEFFERSON CITY For two weeks last
anuary, Shirley Borggren had to catch
des with friends or take cabs to work be- Etu- se
of a traffic accident she says was not
er fault.
Her car had been heavily damaged in a
affic accident with a pickup truck in Neva-- a.
The driver of the truck was uninsured,
orggren's own insurance paid the $ 1,300 re- a- ir
bills, but it wouldn't cover a rental car.
jid Borggren said she could not afford the
500 to rentacar.
" I would have lost my job if I couldn't
ave found rides or some other transporta- o- n
to work because I couldn't afford to rent
car," Borggren said.
Repairs to her car were covered by unin- ure- d
motorist protection a provision
tate law requires in all auto insurance. But
DCaDKTf
the provision doesn't cover car rentals.
Borggren works at the Nevada Habilita- tio- n
Center during the day, and at a restau-rant
at night She received a $ 20 raise last
July, her first pay increase in three years,
and she says she simply can't afford to be on
the road with uninsured motorists.
" We carried insurance because we have to
look out for ourselves," said Borggren's
daughter, Denise, who was driving the car at
the tune of the accident " Everyone should
have auto insurance and it isn't fair other-wise."
Many state lawmakers have heard the an-ger
voiced by the Borggrens and others,
prompting legislation to require drivers
prove they can pay for an accident before a
license is issued.
There are three bills under consideration
in the House Insurance Committee, and two
in the Senate Insurance Committee which
propose mandatory auto insurance for all
Missouri motorists.
This week, the Senate Insurance Commi-ttee
approved one of those bills and sent it to
the full Senate. Sponsored by Sen. Harold
Caskey, D- Butl- er, it would require all state
motorists to be covered by liability insur-ance,
or a certificate of self-- insurance.
Liability policies cover property damage
and medical costs incurred by passengers in-volved
in an accident in which they weren't
at fault.
Such coverage is the minimum necessary,
according to Greg Hill, a State Farm Insur-ance
Co. agent in Columbia.
Under current state law, however, a mo-torist
isn't required to have insurance, and if
an uninsured motorist is at fault in an acci-dent,
according to Hill, he usually doesn't
pay for the damages.
" In my experience either the driver who
isn't at fault has collision coverage so that
their insurance company pays for the dam-ages,
or they're stuck," Hill said.
Caskey said that roughly 20 percent to 30
percent of Missouri motorists are uninsured
Although his bill wouldn't get all of these
drivers off the road, he predicted the risk of
being caught will get most to comply.
" The bill takes a similar approach to Ari-zona
laws in that 100 percent compliance
with mandatory liability coverage will result
when a person applies for car registration
since they will be required to show proof of
insurance coverage," Caskey said
" Motorists who are registered will have a
10 percent chance of being caught by the
state motor vehicle division if they receive a
traffic ticket and a 100 percent chance if in-volved
in an accident"
A first offense would result in a $ 100 fine
and a 30- da- y suspension of both driver's li-cense
and vehicle registration A second of-fense
within three years would mean a $ 500
fine and loss of license and registration for
six months, and a third offense within three
years would result in a $ 750 fine and loss of
license and registration for one year.
The difficulty with such legislation,
according to Hill, is that a fine line exists be-tween
the state's responsibility to low-- and
fixed- incom- e citizens who can't afford cover-age,
and its responsibility to insured motor-ists.
Shu- le- y Borggren, however, considers the
issue in more defined terms
" A welfare recipient . . can't honestly
say that they can't afford insurance due to I
their fixed income," Borggren said. " Be-cause
many such people are young and can
probably find some employment to pay for
their insurance if they need to drive that
badly"
( Jehling says campus cut costs;
31son paints a different picture
y Teresa Moran
Hasourlan staff writer
Just hours before University Pres- le- nt
James Olson outlined the
light of the University system for
le Columbia Rotary Club Thursday,
hanceOor Barbara Uehling found
ome brighter news to talk about.
The Columbia campus has been
ble to stretch its $ 130 million budget
j make the University $ 20 million
lore efficient this fiscal year than it
? as in 1979, Uehling said at her
wnthly press conference. Cost- cut- i- ng
measures, raising and rechan- eun- g
funds as well as cutting fac- It- y
positions have helped make the
fclumbia campus more efficient in
lie last five years, she said.
Olson painted a different picture
jr the Rotary Club. He told the
roup that system- wid- e, the Univer- lt- y
has 75 percent less buying power
ianithadfnl980.
" I'm supnsed we've been able to
eep afloat this long," he said.
During the past four years student
ees have been increased by 55 per--
cent maintenance work and equip-ment
needs have been pushed aside,
and faculty have been dismissed, Ol-son
said.
" Unless the situation is corrected,
our best people will leave. Not all,
but enough to seriously endanger
quality," he added.
Olson, who will retire in July, ex-pressed
fear about declining enroll-ment
In 1990, there will be 24 per-cent
fewer 18- year--
olds than in 1979.
Fewer students combined with in-creasing
competition from other
state institutions could create a se-rious
problem, he said.
Though projections show a drop in
enrollment every year, the ratio of
students to faculty has increased,
University officials said. They said
some money was saved by cutting 70
ranked faculty positions and adding
23 unranked instructors between
1979 and 1982. By eliminating high- sala- ry
positions and hiring some un-ranked
instructors for less money,
the campus has become more effi-cient
saving about $ 7.2 million.
However, the decrease in faculty,
has increased the remaining faculty
workload by 15 percent The un-ranked
instructors have absorbed 11
percent more of the workload. While
the result has been an increased ra-tio
of students to faculty, Uehling
said at her press conference that fur-ther
increases could be made with-out
hurting the education quality.
The campus has saved about $ 6 5
million annually by following an en-ergy
management program. It has
cut energy usage by one- thi- rd since
1970.
The new campus mail service,
simplified bill- payin- g system and
trash- haulin- g and janitorial con-tracts
have saved the University
$ 250,000. The merging of depart-ments
in administrative services
and elimination of 16 positions also
has freed an additional $ 250,000.
In addition, $ 857,000 from special
administrative accounts has been re- chann- eled
to a fund for the Ellis Li-brary
expansion plan and the medi-cal
school addition that includes a
Health Sciences Library.
Campus auxiliary operations pre- -
M
1
HbSs "" 3EvMBtAf IISHh iLLLr rikrB
Barbara Uehling James Olson
We are more efficient We lost buying power
viously supported by UMC have
freed $ 1.65 million by covering all or
some- o- f their administrative costs to
save money. Now, the University
Hospital, Brady Commons and the
residence halls are financially self- supporti- ng.
Uehling has said that although the
Columbia campus is more efficient
than in past years, the need remains
to cut programs. The University sys-tem
must raise about $ 40 million to
meet objectives set by the Long
Range Planning and Steering Com-mittee.
By Oct. 15, all four campuses
must have program reviews com-pleted
and turned m to the Board of
Curators. The curators will then de-cide
which programs should be cut,
maintained, reduced or enhanced.
There is also the possibility of rid-ding
the campus of duplicative pro-grams
by merging departments,
Uehling said.
Doctors consider
freeze on fees
Chicago Sun Times
CHICAGO America's physi-cians
were asked by the Chicago- base- d
American Medical Associa-tion
Thursday to freeze their fees,
possibly for up to a year, to help
the economic recovery
The California Medical Asso-ciation
last week called for an
across- the- boar- d, one- ye- ar freeze
on fees. Last year, the Texas
Medical Association and the Med-ical
Association of Georgia took
similar actons.
Dr. Robert C. Hamilton, incom-ing
president of the Illinois State
Medical Society, said his group
will consider the idea at its an-nual
meeting in April.
Hamilton, a sports medicine
specialist, sees the " unilateral
freeze" as an opportunity for phy-sicians
to lead hospitals and other
providers in cutting the nation's
health- car- e bills, which now ex-ceed
$ 300 billion a year.
But, he said, a freeze of physi-cian
fees would have only a slight
effect, because they constitute
only 20 percent of total medical
costs.