Maroon

              THE MAROON VOL. 86, NO. 6 WWW.LOYOLAMAROON.COM FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2008 WFF workers lunch underground in closet with cleaning supplies By JEAN-PAUL ARGUELLO CONTRIBUTING WRITER Imagine eating lunch every day in a janitorial closet. That is exactly what employees of WFF Services have been doing since July 2008. Employees of WFF Services, the custodial sub-contractor for Loyola University, once had a break room of their own in the basement of the Dunna Center. Since July 2008, though, the Danna Center custodial staff had been taking their breaks in Danna Center room 14 E — the room that is cluttered with a carpet shampooer. floor waxer, cleaning supplies and chemicals along with a table, chairs, two mini refrigerators and a microwave. Chris Cameron, director of the Office of Co-Curricular Programs, said there is no real break room for custodial staff and the room was never intended as one. One Danna Center custodian said that he wouldn't take a break next to the chemical that he works with. "It makes no sense." "That specific room has only ever been an equipment room," Cameron said. "There isn't a dedicated area in this building where WFF staff would break to, so (they) essentially, just like students, faculty and staff are utilizing the building." Ann Moss, plant operations manager and manager for the WFF Services contract, said, "(The Danna Center break room) was an unofficial area that became used as a break room ... we welcome WFF employees to come to Mercy Hall to take their breaks." "For real, that's the break room they gave us," the anonymous Danna Center WFF worker said. The employee went on to say Robert Sides, operations manager for WFF Services, told the workers the janitorial closet was their break room. "Well, (Robert Sides is) trying to change it up now. First, we had the Loyola grapples with faculty salary inequity issues By STEVE HEATH ' NEWS EDITOR Loyola is currently seeking methods to diagnose and fix salary inequities among faculty and staff. In a Sept. 24 e-mail to faculty and staff the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., university president, said the University Budget Committee will be asked to develop a financial plan to address any inequities found by investigations within the Provost's Council, the Standing Committee of Academic Planning and the individual colleges. An ad hoc subcommittee of SCAP, the University Strategic Faculty Salary System, has found that annual faculty raise pools have not kept up with national inflation in three of the last five academic years. In the last five years combined the Consumer Price Index has grown 18.1 percent while the faculty raise pool has risen 12.6 percent. The report said that for some newer faculty increases in health care insurance alone have equaled their annual raises. Salary compression occurs when the salary structure does not account for years of service or professional maturity, resulting in first-year employees with earnings proportionately higher than those on staff for several years. In the report from the SCAP subcommittee found in the College of Humanities and Natural Sciences, "the longer an assistant professor has been at Loyola, the lower her or his salary is." In the college staff salaries have actually become inverted to result in first-year faculty with larger or equal salaries than those hired up to five year's before. Compression is often unavoidable, especially when a university or firm is trying to make departmental changes or recruit a particular faculty type. To compete with market pricings an institution is inclined to offer high salaries to new employees while former employees pays remain stagnant.Recently, three highly regarded members of the College of Humanities and Natural Sciences, Maureen Shuh from biology, Andy Knight from chemistry and Steve Scariano from mathematics decided to resign, leaving tenured positions at Loyola for higher pay elsewhere. "Such a loss in one year is unprecedented in my 20 years here," chemistry professor Lynne Koplitz, a member of SCAP's subcommittee, said. Vice Provost George Capowich has begun studies to verify if compression is a university-wide issue. Steve Heath can be reached at scheath@loyno.edu. IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL TOM MACON/ THE MAROON Mexico native Sarah Azpeitia, political science sophomore, prepares traditional drinks at the Country Fair's Mexico table, Friday, Oct. 17. The fair highlighted cultures from all around the world, and free food and cultural experiences were plentiful. Read the story online at http://www.loyolamaroon.com. Area sees increase in sexual assaults By JESSICA ERWIN STAFF WRITER Over the past four weeks, there have been three sexual assaults in the university area. There were also two additional incidents that were reported to University Police Sept. 17 and Sept. 28. On Sept. 17 at 3:48 p.m., University Police gathered information regarding an aggravated rape that was reported to have occurred on North Road near the Freret Street Garage. The second incident was a reported sexual assault of a Loyola student by an acquaintance. That student, however, asked that University Police not investigate the incident, which was reported to have occurred Sept. 28 between midnight and 12:30 a.m. in one of the main campus residence halls. University Police Chief Patrick Bailey said the "student has asked (University Police) to be as confidential as possible." He declined to give any details regarding the report. There are two kinds of sexual assault that have been reported in the university area this semester. According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, stranger rape is when a "perpetrator rapidly and brutally assaults the victim" without having known the victim before. RAINN says acquaintance rape "involves coercive sexual activities Unknown caller phones threatens to Crescent City Radio DJ s By: GARRETT CLELAND CONTRIBUTING WRITER At 12:45 a.m. on Oct. 15, an unknown caller made a threatened several students at Loyola's Crescent City Radio. The studio crew — which included Greg Hopkins, philosophy freshman, Andrew Poland, political science sophomore, Emile Debarbieris, biology freshman, Courtney Roosevelt, criminal justice freshman, and Huntleigh Gilbard, political science freshman — was conversing as Roosevelt and Debarbieris played a trivia game. The crew was taking phone calls through the tenure of the game, but the mood became awkward almost as soon as the caller, who identified himself as 'Horace,' started speaking. 'Horace' started off by saying that he was masturbating and watching porn, then he blurted his threat out, making a reference to a gun and stating that he will "rain down the fire" as soon as the students walked out of the station. Gilbard asked who he was threatening and 'Horace' responded with, "All of you." Poland, the station president, then picked up the phone and continued to speak to 'Horace,' who then hung up. Poland then called Loyola University Police Department and locked the doors. Gilbard described the callers voice as deep with a southern drawl. He also mentioned that he cursed and sounded like he was drunk or on drugs. Soon after they were called, the police arrived at the see WFF, page 12 see RAPE, page 3 see THREAT, page 3 A LOYOLA TRADITION SINCE 1923 • 'FOR A GREATER LOYOLA" Looking for more than just trick-or-treat- nra N this Halloween? Find out more events. Ij^ul sMI MAROON DIRECTORY: CALENDAR, page 2 | EDITORIAL, page 10 | LIFE & TIMES, page 6 | SPORTS, page 4 | NEWS TIPS: 865 3535 CORRECTION: The Oct. 10 issue of the Maroon incorrectly stated that students pay for the recycling program with their own money. The Vice Provost of Academic Affairs, Residential Life, the Twomey Print Shop, Barbara Ewell, the Monroe Library, University Ministry and the Loyola University Community Action Program donated to help start the recycling program. We regret this mistake.