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Friday, December 9, 1977
University Daily Kansan
Editorial Focus: 1977 in Review
A glance forward
On these pages, the Kansan takes a look at the top world, national, state and campus stories in 1977. Attempts to rank the leading stories of any period are difficult and always subject to second-guessing, but they are valuable. Only by making sense of the news that has passed can we hope to sort out this morning's headlines.
The end of the year is a time to look forward as well as backward, however. Considering the events on the University of Kansas campus in April 2015 would be the top priorities in the year to come:
- Improve Watson Library. It seems obvious that the University's most glaring weakness is its library system. Administrators have a formidable job ahead of them; ignoring the needs of libraries is a bad practice. The university made library improvement its top goal in forming the budget to be considered next spring by the Kansas Legislature.
MORE vociferous lobbying is in order. Administrators were successful in acquiring large pay raises for themselves and the faculty the last three years, and perhaps it will have similar success in improving KU's library.
*Eliminate the apathy that surrounds the Student Senate. Meetings have been canceled.*
left unattended this semester because of student senators' lack of interest in their duties. Senate leaders should take steps to arouse interest, and senators themselves should take seriously the powers they have received. Steve Leben, student body president, has taken steps to make the Senate a more professional, accountable organization, and he and other leaders now must rouse grassroots participation.
- Initiate a computerized pre-enrollment system.
- Support a graduate student fee waiver. The University should support measures that will stop the draining away of its best potential graduate students.
- Name an executive vice chancellor for the KU Medical Center who can somehow improve its tarnished image. There may or may not be a person equal to such a monumental task.
- In addition, because it is near Christmas,
it is appropriate to do a little frivolous,
with songs and laughter.
- to find out why there are so many people using so many parking tickets that are so crowded.
- to stop professors who flagrantly violate university policy by scheduling mandatory finals
Mideast leads foreign, domestic stories
By MARY MITCHELL,
RICK PADDEN and
KATH FEN SCHOEDER
International events, especially the quest for a peaceful settlement of the problems in the MidEast, dominated the for- ture of the day.
Even at home, where the top concern was the new Carter business, the firm developed over the new Panama Canal treaties, and congressmen investigated the bank fraud businessman had bribed House
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANAKAN
Library woes worsen
Rv DAN BOWERMAN
JOHN MUELLER
Flaws in the University of Kansas library system surfaced throughout the fall, dominating campus news as 1977's top story.
Reports indicated that Watson Library had become a fire hazard and lacked sufficient funds for such basic needs as a bookcataloging system. Other library news focused on problems in Spencer Research Library, the Art Museum and various branch libraries.
Tied for the third position was the release of FBI documents concerning the
Iranian students were embroiled in controversy during the spring, when charges and counter-charges arose from allegations that the Iranian secret police (SAVAK) had agents on the KU campus. One Iranian student was named by his host group as a SAVAK agent and reportedly beaten another Iranian student near Porter Lake.
ALTHOUGH KUAC scaled down its original $2 million promotional aid student protests, ticket prices for students will still rise by 50 cents a game, faculty tickets by 75 cents and public tickets by $1. The increase will cause student season tickets to rise to $3. The ticket surchase story was voted out the year’s campus news stories.
The University of Kansas Athletic Corporation (KUAC) also was in campus news during 1977, particularly when Clyde Walker, KU athletic director, proposed a surcharge on tickets to finance major renovations of Memorial Stadium.
A University investigation into the beating resulted in administrative action, although details of the punishment were not public. The Iranian story was Voled No. 3.
Senate members and officials resigned, and some senators were forced out because of poor attendance at Senate meetings. Mr. Dunley, a former Nunley, stepped down from his various Senate posts, including Sports Committee chairman, after he was accused of having a conflict of interest by being a member of the Senate. Senators paid in interns in the KU athletic department.
New Green Hall was not open for classes at the beginning of the fall semester as they are usually closed.
Honoraries, especially those that were all-male, received publicity when some of them were killed.
agency's alleged infiltration of leftist camp organizations during the late 1960s and
SEVERAL PROBLEMS plagued the new School of Law building during spring and summer. In addition to financial difficulties encountered by some of those involved in its construction, the construction itself slowed progress on the building.
Inspections, which ranked No. 5 for the campus news year, were made of KU scholarship halls, fraternities, residence halls and other campus buildings. At Hoch Auditorium, a number of fire code violations were discovered.
Following the disclosure of alleged racial prejudice in Greek membership practices, fraternity and sorority members participated in a University investigation designed to correct any prejudicial policies that were discovered.
THE DOCUMENTS related to the agency's COINTELPRO program, designed to surreptitiously gather information on university students. Students from that era recalled that they had worried more about the possibility of a strike than about J. Edgar Hover's agents.
The inquiry, which resulted in recommendations for improving future membership policies, was ranked as the sixth campus story.
The state fire code was in the news often when state fire inspectors trained their eyes on violations in KU buildings. The inspections came a little more than a year after a fire that killed five students in a university at Baker University in Badwin City.
Owl Society, the junior men's honorary,
soon repeated Sachem's decision. Two Owl
resigned in protest. The groups lost
their positions and were unable to
comply with Title IX regulations forbidding
discrimination on the basis of sex.
The question of sex discrimination as
practiced by the two groups, as well as Sigma
Gamma Beta women's music honoury,
was the No. 8 story.
Hopes for ending the dissension between Israel and the Arab countries and the Palestinian rose when Egyptian President Anwar Sadat last month made a historic trip to Israel—the first ever made by an Arab leader since it was founded in 1948.
membership criteria. The senior men's honorary, Sachem Circum of Micron Delta Kappa, under under fire when it voted in favor of the creation of not allowing women as members.
members in an attempt to influence U.S. policy toward South Korea.
KUGEL'S POSITION at the Med Center was his third administrative job in seven years. David Waxman became the acting director of a permanent replacement continues. Waxman was the fourth person to hold the top Med Center administrative position in little more than two years. An organization was the No. 9 campus news story.
THE CONTROVERSY in the Mideast has focused on who would rule and occupy the West Bank of the Jordan River, termination of a state of war and recognition of Palestinian states says that Arab states have not recognized its right to exist.
Voted the No. 10 story of the year were reports of apathy in the Student Senate and conflict with Steve Leben, student body president. Some of Leben's opponents, in turn, accused Lieber of being heducted in the executive coilings he had defeated in the executive oaths, said he tried to do too much himself.
Robert Kugel executive vice chancellor for the KU Medical Center, resigned in the fall. His resignation came amid charges of low morale at the Med Center.
Japan did not fare as well. When hijackers captured a Japanese government paid them a ransom of $6 million. The plane landed in Algeria, whose government refused to return the hijackers.
International terrorism and hijacking were the No. 2 news story. In the Netherlands, South Moluccan seized more than 150 hostages, in an effort to get the Dutch government to accede to the demands. Dutch marines rescued most of the hostages.
THE HIJACKING of a Luthanja tseta to Somalia ended on a different note when the West German government carried out a bombing that killed the mando group to rescue the 86 passengers. That hijacking was connected with the earlier kidnapping of German industryman Hans von Klammer, who eventually was slam by the Baader-Meinhof gang—a group
The No. 3 story was the Carter presidency. Carter's downtown style was apparent after his introduction, square in shape. He met the "people" trips to three small U.S. towns and the institution of a system called "Dial-a-President," in which people from all over the country call to talk with him directly.
One of Carter's first official acts was to pardon Vietnam conquerors. Congress are still debating his key programs: energy-saving legislation, income tax reform and new Social Security system.
THE CONTINUING conflict between blacks and whites in South Africa and Rhodesia was the No. 4 story. Repressive acts against blacks and their allies have been Nations to enact an arms embargo against South Africa. Despite this action and the inquest into the death of black leader Steven Bike, Prime Minister John Verster and his apartements recently won reelection.
In Rhodesia, Prime Minister Ian Smith said he would consider a one-man, one-vote majority rule in hopes of ending the five-year guerrilla warfare that has plagued his country.
The No. 5 story was debate on the Panama Canal treaties, which would relinquish U.S. control of the canal to the Panamanian government. In the treaty, the Panama in a 2-40% majority to ratify the treaties, but resistance still runs high in the United States.
The Senate will not vote on the issue until next year.
The sixth-leading story was the scandal involving Korean businessman TongSun Park, who is suspected of buying favors from several congressmen.
The resignation of Bert Lance was No. 8. Lance, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, stepped down amid congressional investigations against his personal financial affair on his personal financial affairs.
ROUNDING OUT the top 10 stories were Carter's emphasis on human rights and negotiations on the SALT talks.
One of the oldest winters in U.S. history was the No. 7 story. Snow fell as far south as West Palm Beach, Fla.; in Buffalo, N.Y., the city was paralyzed by 128 inches of snow.
Other stories were:
over three Washington buildings and held 132 hostages for a 38-hour period.
- Farmers threatened a national food production strike in December unless their de-
ministration of 100-percent parity are enacted.
- A drought in the West and the Southwest withered corn cattle water holes, kindled for 400 brush fires in California and caused reduction of crop for about 30 million Americans.
- The Supreme Court considered the Allan Bakke case—the first case heard on so-called "reverse discrimination."
- Singer Anita Bryant launched a successful campaign to repeal a Dade County, Fla. ordinance that protected Bryant's rights of homosexuals. Bryant herself her cruse to the nation.
- The collision of two Boeing 747 jets on the ground in the Canary Islands killed more than 500 people and was the worst aviation disaster in history.
- HANAFI MUSLIMS took
- Nine million people in New York City and its northern suburbs were cast into darkness during a power blackout. Hundreds of fires were started and thousands of stores were looted
- David Berkowitz, the alleged Son of Sam murderer, accused of killing six persons and injuring seven others, was capable of extinguishing a large extensive manhunt and widespread publicity.
- Gary Mark Gilmore, convicted murderer, was executed in the first capital execution since 1967, after several suicide attempts and announcements to the press that he had the right to be convicted.
- Americans faced a fuel shortage and Carter's energy conservation package created such debate that a Senate filibuster ensued—the first since 1964.
The signed year-in-review columns were written by members of an editorial and interpretive writing class in the School of Journalism. The rankings of the year's most important stories in each category were determined by class vote.
KC flood, Pearson retirement provide biggest regional stories
Bv LYNN KIRKMAN
ROSS McILVAIN
Many of the year's top Kansas and regional stories were political, but the biggest story was a natural disaster, the Kansas City flood.
In the early morning of Sept. 13, torrents tore through parts of Kansas City, Mo., leaving thousands homeless and matted at $40 million in the worst flooding of the last quarter century. An estimated total of 3,000 people were temporarily homeless amid the wreckage of schools, schools and hospitals.
The second-ranked story of 1977 was James Pearson's announcement that he would not seek re-election to the U.S. Senate when his current term expired in 1978. He would instead seek to win candidate candidates for the Senate seat. Republicans thought that Gov. Robert Bennett might decide to run for the office, but Bennett announced Nov. 28 that he would, instead, run for a second term. But the governor Larry Winn, said Oct. 31 that he would not run for the Senate
BILL ROY, a former U.S. congressman who narrowly lost to Sen. Bob Dole in 1974, is considered to be the top Democrat contender. An announcement from Roy is expected
Others mentioned as possible candidates included KU Chancellor Archie Dykes, who said he would not run, and Ralph Reed, a candidate who has made no announcement yet.
the third-ranked story involved the political future of Curt Skieler, Kansas attorney general. in mid-Memberber, a Wichita television station released photographs of Schneider and an unidentified young woman leaving a Joplin, Mo., motel. schneider was a formerly prosperous and cheerful that the woman was a family friend, but rumors put great pressure on him as the Democratic front-runner in the gubernatorial race.
On the advice of Norbert Drilling of Hays,
former Democratic Party Chair, Mike
Woodward has unofficially said
A PROPOSED nationwide farm strike and its implications for Kansas was the fourth-ranked story of the year. The American Agriculture Movement has called for the strike to begin Dec. 14, and Kansas farmers have generally supported the pro-
Schneider tentatively withdrew his name from consideration as a candidate. In recent weeks, however, he has indicated that he will be fired if he maintains that he will, after all, run for the office.
The Kansas City Royals, who again stumped in the fall in their perennial quest for a playoff berth, played a big role in the year. Royalmanna seized the area as fans supported the home team. As in 1976, the Royals advanced the league play-offs, only to lose to the New York Yankees in the playoffs.
A POSSIBLE shortage of water in western Kansas was the seventh-ranked story of 1977. While Kansas farmers suffered the problems of low rainfall, a report issued by the KU Institute for Social and Environmental Studies indicated that the western part of the state experienced about 2000. Water tables in the area have dropped dramatically over the past few years, and farming in that region is impossible without proper irrigation.
The ninth biggest story was the sale of the Kansas City Star to Capital City Communities.
The eighth-ranked story focused on problems in the office of the state architect. Buildings on Board of Regents' university campuses, including KU, and in Topeka showed defects that prompted an investigation by the Hutch Ware Commission, resulting in the controversy in the resignation of Lewis Krueger, state architect.
The six-ranked story involved the trials of AI Goldstein and James Buckley, charged with mailing a letter to Buckley and Buckley, publishers of Smut and Screw magazines, were tried twice in Kansas. The first trial, in Wichita, ended in a miracle that Kansan Agency resulted in a hung jury.
marked the end of the Star as a family- and embove-owned newspaper.
ALTHOUGH Capital Cities officials said the sale would cause no immediate changes in the staff of the paper, W. W. Baker announced his resignation as editor on Nov. 3. Baker had been on the staff for more than 30 years and had been editor for the last 10 years before announcing he about the future of the Star and its sister paper, the Kansas City Times.
The No. 10 story was the race for governor in 1978. Gov. Bennett has announced that he will be a candidate for re-election. A number of Democrats have indicated interest in opposing Bennett, including State Sen. Bert Chaney of Hutchinson; House Speaker John Lalonde of Omaha; attorney attorney general and now Sedwick county district attorney; and Schneider.
OTHER BIG state and regional stories included:
- The Wolf Creek power plant under construction at Burlington and the future energy needs of Kansas;
* The resignation of Kansas Chief Justice Hodget Fatzter and the appointment of Kay McDermott to woman justice on the state supreme court;
- The initiation of a court-ordered busing plan to achieve integration in the Kansas Census Bureau.
- The teachers strike in Kansas City, Mo.;
* The announced retirement plans of U.S.
Rep. Joe Skubitz and speculation on candidate for representative from the fifth district.
*The proposal of a Prairie National Park to be created in the Flint Hills region of Kana-*
*ne.*
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