University of South Carolina Libraries
vol. lxvii. no. 62 University of South Carolina, Columbia, 8.C. Thursday, august 12, 3976 Mil HM IP IMIIWIH . HHMIWMWMir llllllll Ill !!! Ill 11 111111IIIII III IIIW if ? Bookstore i By Wayne T. Brooks "1 Two weeks ago two part-time student sol employes and one full-time employe of the i Campus Bookstore were fired. The an students were given four days notice. The Fii full-time employe, Marguerite Fox, was Op given one day's notice. All three employes worked in the Book ve Corner, the paperback section of the an Campus Bookstore, managed by Winifred g?> \{;rx 4 -i.-J A ? i*me. jiuc iwu siuuenis, Merry bateman t*a 9 and Charles Roberts, were told they were dis dismissed because of economic reasons. 1 Bateman and Roberts went to Om- se< budsman Skip Hardin, who spoke with Ben ab Swabson, manager of the Campus Ro Bookstore. Swanson would not give Hardin of any reason for the termination of Bateman wo and Roberts. mi "Students are unclassified. Therefore 1 they can be terminated without prior sp< notice. This is a university regulation," J Hardin explained. Under this regulation, va an employer does not have to give a reason dis ) for dismissal. au Hardin said that when he asked King we about the dismissal, she said nothing. gi\ Bjmmm m\ firings spai 'hey (Swanson and King) were conlidated on the issue," Hardin said. \s a manager, Swanson may hire or fire yone he wants to, according to Douglas tzgeraid, assistant to Vice President of aerations Harold Brunton. rhe Ombudsman is empowered to instigate complaints of students, faculty d staff, Hardin said. But Swanson would re no specific reasons for dismissing teman and Roberts, only that he was ISatisfipH with tVioir "in"!' TT aval VilVIl TfUl I\. Fox, who also worked in the paperback :tion of the bookstore, spoke with Hardin out the dismissal of Bateman and berts. Hardin said Fox spoke favorably the students, saying they were good rkers and did not deserve to be ternated. Fox was dismissed the same day she oke with Hardin. Swanson left yesterday for a week's cation. When asked about the imissals, King said she did not have the < thority to say why Bateman and Roberts re released from work. She said she had ; ren them no reasons for their dismissal. mm rk confrovt But later when she was asked if she had told them they were fired for economic reasons, she said. "Yes wnnnmin , _ ?, i vaouilO were involved." Charles Roberts, a USC student, had worked part-time at Campus Bookstore since last November. He worked in the Book Corner under King checking in books. On the Monday of the week he was dismissed from work, he was informed by King that he would no longer be able to work there after the end of the week. Bateman, who had worked under King in the Rook fftrnpr (nr- oKrx..? ~ >ui cmAiui d year, was fired at the same time as Roberts. King, she said, informed that they were being released because of economic reasons. "I suspect that personality conflicts were involved instead," Bateman added. Hardin, Bateman said, asked Swanson to talk to her and Rnhortc e... ?i, uui owciiiauii refused. Hardin noted that he gave Swanson the option of telling Bateman and Roberts why there were fired, or to not tell them. Swanson chose not to tell them. "I per i) itumtimiiaiiiv^ mm irsy fairly,'" Hardin said. Hardin added that he would work with Swanson and M. D. Tavenner of Personnel to have all student positions coordinated, to try to draw up grievance procedures and to create job descriptions where possible. Julie Cox, a former employe of the Campus Bookstore, worked for six mon ins, irom July 1973 to January 1974. as a temporary full-time employe in the paperback section without assistance. She had applied for a permanent position that would be made available, and was interviewed for the job prior to Swanson's appointment as manager. Told that she was "not qualified" Cox was offered a job as a cashier, but refused and was fired."I was supposed to get the job Mrs. King eventually got," Cox said. Cox later filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Commission in May 1974 on discrimination charges, but the EOC did not find any discrimination.