sunny day
Tomorrow's weather
Kansan
Mostly sunny with a high of 65 and a low of 47.
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Jayplay: It takes dedication and hard work to keep a band together. SEE PAGE 1B
THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2000
Inside: The softball team lost a doubleheader last night against Southwest Missouri State.
SEE PAGE 8A
(4USPS 650-640) • VOL. 110 NO. 136
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Plan focuses on campus atmosphere
The revised KU campus plan calls for makeovers for Memorial Drive and Jayhawk Boulevard and creating a mid-hill route. The plan calls for 30 percent of campus to remain green space so the it isn't overbuilt. Contributed art
New works center on landscaping
When you return to the University of Kansas 20 years from now to watch a 70-year-old Roy Williams get his 900th win as coach of the Jayhawks, will you recognize the campus?
By Ryan Devlin
writer @kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
"There is a certain institutional image that people think of when they think about this campus," Waechter said. "That image is older than all of us. It's our job to ensure that image is preserved."
This is just one of several questions Tom Waechter, Planning and Program Coordinator, and Greg Wade, Landscape Architect for the Office of Design and Construction Management must answer when devising new building and landscape projects at the University.
Just this year, Design and Construction Management completed a follow-up study to Campus and Landscape Master Plans, which were developed in 1995. The plans outlined 20 construction and improvement projects totaling $155.7 million. Among the projects detailed in the
plans were the new parking garage north of the Kansas Union, renovations to Templin Hall and Memorial Stadium, and renovations and an addition to Joseph R. Pearson Hall.
Waechter said most of the projects from the 1995 plan have been or are nearly completed.
Treater said that other than preliminary discussions to add on to Anschutz Library and Summerfield Hall, no new building projects were in the works. He said main campus was nearing its capacity in terms of available building space. The office is now focusing on implementing new landscaping projects, such as a makeover of Memorial Drive and Jayhawk Boulevard, and creating a mid-hill route, he said.
The mid-hill route would create a walkway, complete with benches and open pedestrian areas, that would stretch from Murphy Hall to Watson Library, Wade said.
Wade said the plan for Memorial Drive would move parking spaces from the north to the south of the drive, creating space for a walkway overlooking Marvin Grove and Potter Lake. He said the Jayhawk Boulevard project would focus on improvements to pedestrian walkways. He said the plan included new bus stops, crosswalks and information
kiosks.
Waechter and Wade said once the plans were fully developed they would be sent to the chancellor for approval.
Both Waechter and Wade said Design and Construction Management was committed to maintaining 30 percent of the space on main campus as designated
green space.
"We could always go denser and build more, but in doing so you compromise the image of the campus by creating a more urban-type setting." Waechter said. "We want you to come back to campus in 20 years as an alumnus and be able to recognize where you are."
UNION FIRE IGNITES MEMORIES
30th anniversary of blaze sparks remembrance
By Sara Shepherd
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
A few of the details are foggy, but Steve Haynes, who attended the University of Kansas during the spring of 1970, still remembers watching the Kansas Union burn — 30 years ago today.
"It was probably different from any other fire I've ever been at," said Haynes, who was a Kansan reporter at the time.
According to an article in the next day's Lawrence Journal World, a Union employee checked the Pine Room at 10:25 p.m. April 20, 1970, and everything was fine. But five minutes later, someone smelled smoke. By 10:40 p.m. orange flames billowed from the building and a disastrous fire was under a wav.
The Kansan reported about 2,000 people witnessed the blaze. Several pitched in to help by clearing the building of furniture, balancing fire hoses, and bringing coffee and doughnuts to weary fire fighters.
Haynes said the majority of the flames were in the upper stories of the main part of the building. Firefighters tried to control the fire.
"They were putting so much water on it that water was just cascading down the stairs," Haynes said. "There were hoses everywhere."
Haynes agreed. He said that from where he was inside the building, most of the bystanders were helping. He said the firemen seemed grateful for the assistance.
"For Lawrence, it was a really big fire — they had their hands full," he said. "They weren't turning anybody down."
Firefighters brought the blaze under control around 2 a.m. the next morning.
Students, faculty and other passersby help the fire fighters by balancing a fire hose. The blaze was witnessed by more than 2,000 people, and many volunteered to help move furniture and bring coffee and doughnuts to the firefighters. Photos courtesy of University Archives.
Lawrence fire chief Fred Sanders thought the fire was set, according to an article in the next day's Kansan. Sanders said a witness reported a definite explosion when the fire started, which blew plaster off the ceiling and tore off the door of an elevator.
According to a Journal World article, Chancellor Lawrence Chalmers, who was attending meetings in Washington when the blaze broke out, linked the fire to three others that broke out on campus earlier in the week. He suspected the fires were the work of a pyromaniac.
The May 16 issue of the Kansas Alumni newsletter said a criminal investigation was being conducted in connection with the fire, which was officially ruled as arson by state fire inspectors.
Haynes said protests were common at the time, with the Vietnam War and racial tension. Most protests did not result in damages, but there were some reports of students setting fire to buildings.
According to a June 26 Kansas News Bureau report, the official loss from the fire was set at $1,029,099.19, by an agreement between the Memorial Corporation and the insurers. The figure included damage to the structure, its
However, Haynes said there were some students who just didn't like anything having to do with the University at the time.
"I doubt that anybody on either side was real happy to see the Union burning," he said.
"They were putting so much water on it that water was just cascading down the stairs. There were hoses everywhere."
Steve Haynes
1970 University of Kansas student
With an estimated $1.6 million worth of damage, April 1970 tallied the most damage caused by fires in Lawrence in a single month since Quantrill's Raid in 1863, according to another Journal World article.
contents, art objects, business interruptions and miscellaneous clean-up expenses.
A firefighter climbs a ladder attached to a fire truck in an attempt to combat the Kansas Union blaze from a higher location. The Union sustained an estimated $1.6 million worth of damage in the 1970 fire, according to a Kansas News Bureau report. This was the most damage done to Lawrence in a single month since Quantrill's raid in 1863. Photos courtesy of University Archives
United Students to pay $1,250 for paper theft
By Erin R. Barcomb
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
United Students was fined $1,250 by the elections commission hearing board last night based on complaints that the coalition was responsible for the theft of 9,000 copies of the University Daily Kansan last Tuesday. An article in that day's Kansan contained allegations of impropriety against Ben Walker, the coalition's candidate for president.
Both Delta Force and Students first coa-
tions filed complaints because of the incident. Walker said the ruling and the arbitrary assigning of fines was ridiculous.
"You cannot make Marlon and myself responsible for the actions of four people," Walker said.
Michael Cain, Lawrence law student and a member of the hearing board, said the decision was based on the fact that, according to the elections commission's rules, Drew Thompson and R.J. Woodring, the United Students senatorial candidates who confessed to the theft, were still technically part of the coalition because they did not resign ten days prior to the election. Moreover, Cain said that Walker's own testimony demonstrated that Thompson and Woodring played important roles in the coalition.
The intent of the fines is not to financecau burden Walker and Marshall, Cain said. He hoped the coalition members would help out with the fines.
Ben Burton, presidential candidate for Delta Force, said he had some satisfaction in the outcome. But Burton said fines had been ineffective in the past.
The responsibility of paying the fines rest on Walker and running mate Marlon Marshall's shoulders, Walker said, and he didn't know where the money would come from.
"This sends the message that you can buy your way out," Burton said. "The bigger question is, can you buy your way into office?"
Cain said he was discussing payment plans with Walker and that he wanted the student body to know that the rulings did not hold Walker responsible, but the coalition as a whole.
Furthermore, Thompson and Woodring were fired $500 each. Jameson Jones and Lindsay Gaston, coalition supporters who also came forward, were sanctioned so that they could not participate in future elections.
Representatives from Delta Force and Students First alleged that Walker did not do enough to prevent the theft from happening because United Students members had joked about it the night before.
Walker testified that he became furious at any mention of stealing the newspapers and coalition members corroborated the story.
Jessica Bankston, United Students Nunemaker senator, said Walker reacted unfavorably when she and another member joked about throwing the Kansan in Potter Lake, even though Bankston was not involved in the theft.
Walker was questioned as to why he didn't release the name of Jameson Jones when Jones was the only person allegedly involved who hadn't come forward and Walker knew who the fourth person was.
Walker said he didn't know Jones' reasons for not coming forward and wanted to show respect. He also addressed a rumor that the fourth person was a fall-guy for someone else.
"if you look on that (security) tape, I bet I know who you'll see," Walker said.
Walker said he planned to file an appeal to the board this morning, but Cain said he didn't foresee any problems with certifying the results of the election.
Other campaign fines include an additional fine of $25 to United Students for miscellaneous violations and a $10 fine to Students First for unofficial tables in residence halls. The commission dismissed Walker's slander complaint against Delta Force that was based on comments by Ben Burton.
Pets turn Sigma Nu fraternity into real-life animal house
Bv Katrina Hull
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Crocodile, python, piranha. Oh,
my!
Kansan staff writer
All reside in the Sigma Nu house. A dog, some lizards, a hermit crab, a missing snake and two rabbits complete the zoo at 1501 Sigma Nu Place.
mal house, but the animals don't own the house — at least not yet.
The Sigma Nu house is an ani-
Mike Dunham, Overland Park freshman, has owned his piranha, Dameon, for about a week. The piranha, a sharp-toothed fish known to attack and destroy other living animals, has to deal with larger goldfish in his tank.
"The goldfish were picking on the piranha," Dunham said. "I had
to remove them from the tank."
But after Dameon grows, the goldfish will return to the tank as piranha dinner.
Animals in the house fall victim to the food chain. At least that's what Josh Dupy, Springfield, Mo., freshman, said came to his mind when Elvis, his California king snake, was missing.
"We were destroyed," Dupv said.
"I thought someone fed my snake to a bigger snake."
That bigger snake would be the foot-and-a-half, mice-eating python owned by Chris Jablonski, Wichita junior. Neither Jablonski or his snake were available for comment.
However, Dupy recently found a skin that his snake had shed in the basement — evidence that Elvis
Elvis isn't the only reptile in the house who beat the food chain.
lives.
See EXOTIC on page 3A
"We've had several Elvis sightings." Dupy said.
Brandon Winter, Leawood sophomore, said he risked his fingers to save a little, bright green lizard from becoming crocodile food.
"The goldfish were picking on the piranha, I had to remove them from the tank."
Mike Dunham Overland Park freshman