Union entrance opens after delay UNION from page 1 up front when students are selling books, she said. “The store has not had a face lift since 1985,” she said. “(Renovations) will make a very big difference in the way the store looks and the way the I store shops.” The copy center, now located in the bookstore, will move up to first floor. By Jan. 11, a new convenience store with frozen food, a microwave, expand ed snack choices and T-shirts will be open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., Schroeder said. acnroeder said employees ol the ; convenience store will be able to get I items from the bookstore for students I after it has closed. Swanson said that before Jan. 11, the west half of the basement will have a television lounge, billiard room and arcade game room. Before Christmas break, weather permitting, the east half of Memorial Plaza should be open, he said. Students who use the west entrance, covered by red awnings, to access the s- uniontwill have to wait until early next f semester to use a ne\y west entrance, which will be about 25'feet south of the existing entrance. A new glass tower, similar to the glass-enclosed stairway in the Stadium Drive Parking Garage, will be con structed about 25 feet from the existing west entrance. After a wheelchair ramp is built, the existing west-entrances will be demol ished and two laige windows placed in their place, he said Early second semester will bring the opening of the new 24-hour computer lab, with 28 computers. Swanson said the opening of the second-floor area with meeting rooms and a 250-seat auditorium is contingent upon adequate operation of the fire alarm system and completion of the rotunda. But the new second-floor Student Involvement center, with its storefront entrance, opened last week, Swanson said. The office can be accessed through the south stairs and elevator. Swanson said the end of construc tion is getting very close after numerous scheduling delays, asbestos removal and bad weather. Although excited, Swanson said he had one regret. “I just regret that we don’t have it open serving the community like we'*-, planned.” UCLA tries to avert strikes ■ Graduate teaching assistants demand recognition as employees for collective bargaining. Daily Bruin University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles (U-Wire) - Upcoming student-employee strikes throughout the University of California system may affect undergraduate stud ies, causing discussion sections, grades and finals to be altered or canceled because of lack of teaching assistants and readers. The unions have announced that until the University of California rec ognizes them and is willing to bargain with them, they are prepared to strike. “We are not trying to strike our undergraduates’ education,” said Connie Razza, an organizer for the Student Association of Graduate Employees/United Auto Workers, the graduate student union at UCLA. “We are striking only our labor.” Sources at various campuses have hinted that the strike could begin the week following Thanksgiving. The university has stated that it will do everything within its power to ensure that undergraduate studies do not suffer. “Every attempt will be made to preserve the instructional goals and not to have this impact on undergraduate students,” said Jim Turner, assistant vice-chancellor of the graduate divi sion. In order to deal with less help from their teaching assistants, professors may have to reconsider how they will give exams. “One possibility, for example, would be instead of the essay-type examinations ... to switch back to a multiple-choice exam that can.be machine-graded,” said Robin Fisher, associate dean of the graduate divisioa However, some professors have said that in social sciences or humani ties courses, multiple-choice examina tions cannot replace essay examina tions. “The final exam is an important component of the course grade, and I couldn’t imagine doing multiple choice,” said Professor Robert Gurval, who teaches a class of more than 200 students. “The faculty member will have to take over the responsibility of grading the examinations.” The university has also considered the possibility of hiring replacement workers. “We still have to do our utmost to meet what our commitments basically are. If that involved replacement work ers, that would be one possibility,” Fisher said. The unions are demanding that the university recognize them as valid rep resentatives of academic student employees in collective bargaining. “We’ve given the administration five months to sit down and talk with us about recognition... and the adminis tration not only hasn’t recognized the union but has refused to even talk to the union,” Razza said. » The university argues that the union shouldn’t be recognized because teaching assistants are primarily stu dents, not employees. “Teaching assistants occupy a unique role and... collective bargaining would be harmful to the quality of graduate education,” Turner said Others argue that regardless of what the circumstances are, any group of employees should have the right to organize. “I think that if theTAs want aunion they should have it,” said Katherine King, a professor of classics. This strike will be different from previous strikes - the most recent being in fall 1996-because it will be funded by the larger United Auto Workers union, which is associated with the UC student employee unions. Unlike prior strikes, participants will now be com pensated up to $ 150 a week from UAW strike funds, Razza said. “We’ve planned it to be more dis ruptive because the less disruptive strikes didn’t work,” Razza said. “The duration of the strike will certainly be longer than the strikes that we’ve tried before.” \ ^■NH| | ALL Expenses Paid INCLUDING . ^ PERSONAL BII^L ! ^ I Must ptgssess Stmm * ;f ]l v $ensfe&f^um$ '^ : Call toll free 1-888-874-6101 VPlease leave area code and number. y % " — Senator to head marketing committee By Veronica Daehn Staff writer An RHA senator was elected Sunday to head the Advertising and Marketing Committee, though the committee’s responsibilities have yet to be deter and executive board members have yet to determine the committee’s exact focus. RHA executive board members said they think it should coordinate public relations and advertising among the halls. “I’m really interested in doing this committee, and I think it needs to start now,” Dorn said. Senator Dave Bums said Dom did well during the Review and Recommendations Committee interview. “We drilled her” Bums said, “and I thinkshe’ll do 'a great job.” ... In other RHA news: ■ The Social Committee was given permission to spend more than 40 percent of its budget on Casino Night, Dec. 3. Senator Shauna Morris said Casino Night will be open to all residence halls and will be the largest Social Committee eveht of the semester. The event will be held Dec. 3 from 8 p.m. to mid night in the Abel Residence Hall-ballroom. “Last year Casino Night went really well,” said Josh Cowan, RHA senator. “It was probably one of the best things RHA did, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to use their own money.” The senate had to vote on whether die committee