thursday, december 11, 1975
daily nebraskan
v.v.
Dream come true helps handicapped visit Sheldon
By Betsie Ammons
A four-year dream was realized for
Grace Ames with construction of a ramp
for handicapped and elderly people at the
south entrance to Sheldon Memorial Art
Gallery.
Mrs. Ames, a 94 year-old former
member of the Nebraska Art Assoc., said
her interest in a ramp began four years ago
when she had difficulty climbing the steps
at Sheldon with her walker.
She said when she was told there were
no funds for construction of a ramp, she
offered to pay for it. UNL constructed and
financed the ramp this year.
"I had given up entirely," Mrs. Ames
said. "1 was surprised when they did it."
Mrs. Ames said her son and daughter
came to her home on a recent Saturday
and "said they had something for me to
see." Mrs. Ames previewed a new exhibit
at Sheldon and was the first person to use
the ramp.
Before construction of the ramp,
disabled and elderly persons had access to
the gallery by a stone slope next to the
front steps, according to a Sheldon
employee.
Mrs. Ames said the slope was dangerous
because there were no railings.
The new ramp is concrete with copper
railings on each side, Duane Burham,
chief design engineer at the UNL Physical
Plant, said. It is electrically heated with
outdoor thermostats to keep ice off in
winter.
Burham said building the ramp was a
"complex little project" because it is
suspended over an existing-air intake shoot.
Plans for the ramp began about a year
and a half ago, Burham said, and it was
completed the first week in December. '
He estimated the cost at between $5,000
and $7,000.
Economist: less often expected of women
Women are often paid lower starting sal
aries than men holding the same position
because employers generally expect low
productivity from them, according to
James Cook, Economics Dept. chairman at
Illinois State University.
Cook, who spoke Wednesday night to
a UNL economics honorary, said that the
Equal Opportunity Employment Commis
sion emphasizes seniority and length of ser
vice as measures of productivity in deter
mining an individual's salary, tie said this is
in accordance with the Equal Pay Act of
1963, which states that mere should be
equal pay for equal work.
"The Equal Pay Act also allows pay dif
ferentials for differential productivity. In
other words, if I produce more than you
do, then I can get paid more," Cook said
"A problem lies in trying to determine
a fair evaluation of one's productivity, or
how much he or she is worth," he added.
Cook suggested implementing affirma
tive action salary programs designed to
eliminate any inequities in the pay struc
ture, hiring, firing or fringe benefits of a
business.
The UNL Home Economics and Agricul
ture Departments had recently used this
program in determining their faculty salar
ies. Cook said that when the female faculty
members' wages were raised to equal that
of male faculty members in comparable po-.
sitions, the evaluating ' committees also
neglected to raise the pay of male faculty
to the level of their female coworkers. The
men brought suit for discrimination
last August in the 8 th circuit Court of Ap-
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Cook said that a rating system for male
and female employes needs to be designed
that would take all variable factors into
account in order to justly evaluate an
employe's wages.
"If you use one set of criteria for fe
males, it must be equally implemented for
males," Cook said.
"The main reason female educators are
expected to have lower future productivity
is that many begin families and leave their
profession permanently," Cook said. Cook
. said their lower starting pay is not discrim
inatory, but a measure which is done to
achieve maximum economic efficiency
within a pay structure.
Jane Anderson, director of education
at Sheldon, said the ramp is used "quite
a bit." In addition to helping elderly and
handicapped people, it is also used as a
loading dock,ihe said.
She said people from the Madonna
Home for the Aged visit Sheldon two to
three times a year. People from the home
have commented on how much easier the
ramp will make their visits, she said. Many
elderly people on the Nebraska Art Assoc.
also visit Sheldon, she added.
"We're hoping that as people learn the
ramp is there, they'll come more often,"
Anderson said.
Band nearing
donation goal
. The University of Nebraska Foundation
has collected $30,271 in its fund raising
drive to send the UNL Marching Band to
the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., according
to Genny Bok, NU Foundation
bookkeeper.
Bok said the drive ends Friday.
"It looks like we're going to go over,"
she said.
The May Broadcasting Company,
owners of KMA Radio in Shenandoah,
Iowa and KMTV in Omaha, contributed
$ 1 ,000 Wednesday, Bok said.
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