DREARY
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
Vol.86 No.102
The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas
Monday, March 8. 1976
Ovation greets Dichter finale at piano recital
See page 3
Staff Photo by JAY KORLZER
Piano pointers
Misha Dichter, internationally known pianist and a visiting artist in residence for the University of Kansas School of Fine Arts.
conducted his third masters class last Saturday in Swartbout Recital Hall. Paying close attention is David Wehli, Richmond,
Ed center plans expected
Preliminary architectural plans for a proposed 71,000-square-foot continuing education center at the University of Colorado's College of Architecture Chancellor Archie R. Dokks this morning for a $15 million grant.
The Division of Continuing Education was awarded an $86,400 federal grant last year for a demonstration center. The plans for the center were approved Friday by a 22 member facilities advisory committee, appointed by Del Shankel, executive vice chancellor.
If approved by the Chancellor, the plans will be submitted to the Board of Regents for approval. An architect will then be chosen to draw up a schematic plan of the center, which will be submitted for final approval to the federal government.
Dykes said he hadn't seen the plans, so didn't know whether he would accept them or not. He said he wouldn't have time today to talk, but I would approve or relect them within the week.
The proposed $8 million center will be primarily funded by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Land, staff and equipment expenses will be provided by the University.
ONE OF THREE in the nation, the center would be a prototype for "a new generation of continuing education," Howard Walker, continuing education, said yesterday.
Plans for the center are to make it flexible enough to accommodate seven of the nine units in continuing education, Walker said. The government's aim, is to fund a prototypic center, not a traditional one, he said.
The center would have, for example, a raised floor with removable panels above
the traditional concrete floor and movable interior walls, Walker said.
"The floor panels might be 30-inch square pieces of steel plate, and one side might have carpeting and a receptacle for a phone or floor plug." Walker said.
The floor panels could be interchanged, he said, because the utility outlets will be between the raised floor and the traditional floor.
WALKER SAID the center was to be a center with areas for conferences and institutes.
"We will develop programs in this center to be used all over the state." he said.
Continuing education provides credit and noncredit courses, conferences and institutes, courses by independent study and various other educational events and
programs for off-campus students across the state.
The plans for the facility call for the center to be built so that the roof would support solar energy equipment, a helicopter port, additional parking or a boat ramp for satellite signals. Walker said. One, or both, of these structures, would be built.
north of the Kansas Union for the center; Continuing education units are now housed in three temporary buildings east of the headquarters; the basement of Bailey Hall, a former post office on 7th and New York Streets; and the National Bank on 8th and Massachusetts.
THE CHANCELLOR has designated land
with the following cities:
Walker said construction might begin in 1979 if the plans were approved.
Ruling causes dismissal of 11 Med Center lawsuits
By BILL SNIFFEN
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Saturday that governmental immunity statutes were constitutional and, consequently, knocked about $22 million of the $28 million in malpractice suits against the KU Medical Center.
Lee Dunn, legal counsel for the Med Center, said yesterday 11 of the 14 lawsuits against the Med Center would be dismissed. The lawsuits between $22 million and $23 million, he said.
"It would appear that (the decision) would render us uninformed to lawsuits," he said.
The ruling doesn't exempt the individual physicians named as codefenders in 12 of the lawsuit, Dunn said. The ruling only states that governmental agencies, such as the Med Center, can't be sued for negligence.
The court, in a reversal of its original June 1758 ruling, declared that plaintiffs in a case against Wichita State University were guilty of negligence. That case involved a 1970 fatal chartered-plane crash in which some football team officials and fans were killed.
The court, in a 4-3 decision, ruled that governmental immunity, as defined in statutes 46-901 and 46-902, was constitutional.
DAVID W. ROBINSON, acting executive vice chancellor for the Med Center, said he wished to thank the team.
He said, "I think the trend in this country has been to be permissible liberal in filing as much as possible."
"A lot of people were waiting to see what would happen, to see if they would bring lawsuits against the University. And I think now they won't."
Dunn said the ruling wouldn't affect three of the 14 malpractice suits against the Med Center because those suits involved incidents that occurred before the 1970 passage of the immunity statutes or were based on grounds other than negligence.
CHARLES FISHER JR., a Topaeker lawyer whose firm handles several plaintiffs in the case against the judge in court's ruling might not make any difference. None of his clients had named the wrong person.
Fisher said it was often difficult to
Local astronomers focus on stars
Both breeds of astronomers can be found at Lindley Hall on any clear Friday night, gazing at stars during the University of Kansas observatory's weekly open house.
The Astronomy Associates of Lawrence
(AAL), a group of KU students and area residents, live in house from 8:30
daily nights, at the AAL building.
Staff Writer
Things have changed a lot since Galileo
crate lumps on both ends of a lead tube
and this has led to some interesting
thoughts.
Professional astronomers now use Galileo's brainchild to plot orbits, search for comets and seek out distant stars - while larger number of amateurs prefer to just
Depending on the weather, between 20 and 50 people climb the narrow stairway to the observatory, according to Dave Tholen, Hays junior and AAL president.
"It seems to me people have fascination for the moon," Thiele said. "A full moon season."
The observatory complex consists of a two-room wooden hut, three large domed telescopes and concrete mounts for five telescopes, all perched on Lindley's roof.
Other visitors are interested in seeing particular planets, star clusters or nebulaes.
By JERRY SEIB
"The bulk of the people, though, want to just see what we show them."
The largest parts of the observatory structure, and the ones most noticeable from the ground, are the dome.
The largest of these is the 27-inch refracting telescope, built by William Pitt, which, Tholen said, is the largest in the state.
Ober sahr die telescope, built in 1939,
See OBSERVATORY page 3
Tholen said the telescope, built in 1939.
determine who was at fault in a malpractice case. A doctor could give the proper order, or he could not.
And, Durn said, because 47 states had ruled that governmental immunity is unconstitutional, the best he was hoping for was a retrospective ruling, which would have animated suits filed before a certain date. It moving some of the Med Center suits.
WHEN THE COURT first heard the case in June 1975, the decision was 8-5 against Mr. McCarthy. But after three months, he won.
"The decision of the majority . . . renders the doctrine of governmental immunity no less anachronistic," he said. "It merely decides the legislature has constitutionally imposed this ancient creature of inequity."
Both Robinson and Dunn said they were pleased by the court's ruling.
By JIM BATES
Reviewer
He said he was completely surprised by the court's "total reversal."
In the dissent, which occupied 29 pages of the 60-page decision, Chief Justice Harold R. Fazer called governmental immunity a "despotic mantle," and an "irrational statutory scheme which causes serious inequality for persons in Kansas."
Un-Bicentennial parts highlight Rock Chalk
If last weekend's Rock Chalk had only two or three hours long, it would have been a better option.
Even though it was more than four hours long (more than four and a half including Saturday's award ceremony) it was still very much enjoyable. We had two Rock Clubs. We also won a excellent
The biggest problem with this year's show was that it is almost impossible for a human being to be exposed to much red, white and blue and still survive. It was like watching six or seven consecutive Dallas Cowboy halftime shows, capped by a
review
frightening final song called "200 Years and Still a Baby," which featured lyrics like "China's been around 5,000 years . . . the British aren't quite sure the kisses that they do belong to the score the Swiss are 700 and the Romans aren't no more."
the first time in three years I was in almost complete unanimity with the judges.
Echhhh!
IF SOMEONE WANTED to, he could mention that song, or the extremely large number of horrendous puns and one-liners, the technical screw-ups by both the lights and curtain crews, the in-between acts or the award show manner of the encores, all made up of a simple rock called Rock Chalk was a real waste of time. But the impression would be a false one.
Rock Chalk was not a waste of time. The production numbers were amazingly welldone. The dancing was quick and sharp and the music was lively. The production number, done by the Delta Upsilon fraternity and the PBI Beta Phi sorority, was especially good. It was a sort of disco affair, complete with bumping and dancing from Uncle Sam, played by Scott Beefer.
Besides Best Production Number, the other awards were also well deserved. For
BEST SCRIPT AWARD went to the Phi
Gamma Delta fraternity and the Alpha Chi
Omega sorority. Their show, "Goodbye
Silents, Goodbye or Who Filled in the
Great Depression," had more plot than any of
the other productions and actually made an
attempt at avoiding the usual pattern of
pun-pun-local joke-pun that most Rock Chall
productions follow. The show, which
had been filmed on a sound, was also the only production without
red, white and blue costumes and a
revolutionary setting.
Best Actor and Best Actress also went to more un-Biocontrol characters in a film.
Best Actress went to Janet Ferree of the Chi Omegas for her portrayal of Stars N. Strips, a Revolutionary War USO girl. She was a big fan and I doubt that she won by a wide margin.
There is no way she won by the margin that Best Actor Patterson, of the Alpha KappaLambda fraternity, did. As the two brothers in a room he was probably a sentimental crowd favorite. He was perfectly nasty. However, it might be fair if he would share his trophy with his two comical Grinchlings, Barb Whitaker and Carol Ann Buckley, who were also the subjects of whoever managed to successfully mimic Dr. Suess in writing the Grinch's line.
THE ALPHA GAMMA Delta socorro and Alpha KappaLambda fraternity also won production award and I can't help but think that the helpers who made the difference. But their show, "The Grinch Connection or They Were Outstanding?" was really outstanding otherwise, too.
The Best Costumes category resulted in a tie between the Delta Upsilon-PI Beta Phi production and the Alpha Gamma Delta-Akla Kappa Lambda production.
I shudder to think how much money and time most of the groups put in on their sets
And with a better theme, who knows how far it could go?
Students sav marijuana use is accepted, widespread
(Editor's note: This is the first in a four-part series examining aspects of marijuana use by the authors.)
By BRUCESPENCE
y BRUCE SPE
Staff Writer
Jack Ford tried it. His mother said she probably would try it if it she was in her youth again, just out of curiosity. Miss America 1768, most people's idea of goodness and integrity, says she tried. And it worked for some of the youngest girls. The three-mile territorial limit of the Eastern Seaboard to partake of it. He was unimpressed.
What's the big attraction?
It is hardly a new era of closest marijuana smokers who suddenly are surfacing, but if recent statistics are any indication, the ranks of those who are swelling the rapidly controversial hemp plant are swelling daily.
Mariuana
The use of marijuana has long been a controversial and intensely emotional issue, Opponents of the use of "grass" offer theories of the detrimental effects of marijuana, ranging from harmful physical effects to a contention that the use of marijuana leads to the use of "hard" drugs.
PROPONENTS ARGUE that marijuana is actually less harmful than alcohol because, they say, there is no medical evidence of aftereffects such as cirrhosis of the liver or eventual brain damage. There is no logic in laws that allow the use of alcohol but still permit its sale. slap prison terms on offenders of marijuana law
Congress appears to back up that contention. In July 1967 an estimated 10 million Americans had tried marijuana at least once. A study presented to Congress in May 1975 in the third annual Marijuana Conference indicated that more than seven Americans, 12 years of age or older had at least smoked marijuana.
Although these two main factions—both quite vocal—can't agree about the usefulness of marijuana, few would contest the generally active use of marijuana in America is spreading—especially in Africa.
ALTHOUGH MORE definitive data on a nationwide sample of the general population will not be available until later this spring, indications are that more changes changed appreciably since that third annual report.
The best current data available to the U.S.
Singing is a natural high. I just don't know whether I could reach that by smoking.
A follow-up study in 10 of a nationwide sample of high school senior boys whose drug use was first detected in the 2000s.
In 1969, 20 per cent of the study group had experimented with marijuana. By 1974, more than 60 per cent had used it. The breakdown of the report was: ever used, 62 per cent; any use in previous years, 38 per cent; any use sometime in previous year, 21 per cent; and daily use sometime in previous year, 9.4 per cent.
number of nonusers who have used marijuana since then.
Of 60 University of Kansas students interviewed at different places on campus over a period of several weeks, 21 said they had never smoked marijuana. And of the 65 per cent of those interviewed who said they had tried marijuana, most indicated that they smoked at least once a week.
Jan (the names of the students aren't their real
ones), who comes from a small town near Lawrence, has been at KU for three years, and she says she has smoked "grass" frequently during those three years.
"TFS NO BIG deal, really," she says. "Most students here accept smoking (marijuana) as part of your lifestyle. The ones who don't smoke usually don't give you a hassle about it. I mean, you see it everywhere you go. I don't think many see anything wrong with it."
Most students were more than happy to talk about marijuana or any other kinds of drugs. Some are simply casual users who indulge in marijuana for social reasons. They smoke when they feel like it and there is a particular reason for picking up a joint rather than the glass of beer. They smoke because they like it.
While some smoke marijuana casually, others can read you off a list of preferred drugs like a prescription.
Bill, a freshman from the Kansas area, says he has smoked marijuana for more than five years, in addition to a variety of other recreational drugs. He grins broadly when you ask what he prefers.
"Some of it (narcotics) is okay," he said. "Coke (cocaine) is really nice—and barbiturates. But I don't like amphetamines or heroin either. Speed's okay."
BUT MOSTLY, HE says, he smokes "pot," as all of his Friends and "just about everybody I know."
The atmosphere of using marjuna. Bill says, "much different from when he first started smoking."
"Things just seem to be more relaxed now," he says, "especially since Vern (Miller, former attorney general) left. I think people accept grass even, the newer generation. With all the medical
evidence showing that grass isn't any more harmful than alcohol, what can they say?"
Bill said that the paranoid that accompanied sessions of smoking marijuana dissipated after a few years, and that he smoked any time he felt like it. He didn't even talk about it now, he saw, but only dealers got trained by police.
'I don't deal, so I don't have to worry,' he says.
"I feel like it, and I don't have something to do, I bit my toe," she says.
STEVE, AN out-of-state junior, recalls when he first started smelling marjana from seven years ago, "it was really宽阔 then. I mean, then we were on a train ride with her, whispered about. If you were driving along with a
If my dad found out, he would probably put me up in a mental institution.
carloud of friends passing a joint, you'd almost cry if you saw a cow. Now, you just don't worry about smoking unless you deal a little. Otherwise you try to be discreet. Then you don't have any hassles." So why did some students begin smoking marijuana in the first place?
"It's a community thing," Debbie said in between
buffs on her cigarette. "Besides, it's a much better
high (or than drinking.) She contorts her face from
her hands, and my memory as she adds, "and
I can't handle hangovers."
She looks like the clean-cut all-American kid. A properly fitted denim skirt blends in perfectly with the sea of denim-bedded students swirling around her as she talks. She well-groomed, and her
That thought makes her cringe.
parents would probably be proud of her. But they don't know she smokes marijuana.
"If my dad found out I did, he would probably put me up in a mental institution." Debbie says. "My family has always been extremely conservative. I don't think they would understand."
SHE SAYS SHE sometimes wonders whether using marijuana is the right thing, especially when others she knows get busted. But she quickly adds that marijuana should be legalized.
"It's stupid to be caught anyway," she says with a smile. She then shrubs as she adds, "If I'm driving around and get stopped, I can always eat it. I think the amount of interest is more concerned with dealers anyway."
She says she thinks use of marijuana is widespread on campus, most noticeably at concerts.
"I can't remember a party when grass wasn't being used," Debbie said. She also sees some hard drugs around, most of which is speed. "The majority of the people I know use it or—have."
A director of a women's residence hall agreed that quite a number of KU students appeared to smoke grass. She was reluctant to talk because of legal issues involved, but admitted that probably more than half of the students in her hall smoked marijuana.
"BY NATURE OF the federal and state laws, they (smokers) are wrong, but they feel they're right because of the ways they think they should live," she says.
She said that smokers of marjuana had created minor problems in the past, but that things seemed better now because those who smoked "seem to be more responsible and lessaws and if they smoke, they don't smoke here."
See MARIJUANA page 5