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The University Daily Kansan
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Sports: Michigan State cruised past Florida 89- 76 last night, winning its second National Championship.
SEE PAGE 1B
(USPS 650-640) * VOL. 110 NO. 125
TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2000
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Students eager for Starr lecture
Speech topic still remains undisclosed
By Ryan Devlin
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Kenneth Starr, former independent counsel, will deliver the annual Vickers lecture at 7:30 tonight at the Lied Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Starr resigned as independent counsel last October. His five-year, $40 million investigation of President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky led to the first presidential impeachment in 134 years.
Todd Cohen, assistant director of University Relations, said Starr had not yet disclosed the subject of his lecture.
Tom Sarowski, dean of the School of Business, which sponsors the lecture series, said Starr was selected from a pool of 50 prospective speakers. He said Starr was high on the students' lists of candidates.
"He's a figure that polarizes public opinion."
Starr: Has not disclosed the subject of tonight's lecture
Sarowski said. "We're fortunate to have a strong intellectual environment, which allows us to bring in a speaker of this caliber to discuss with and learn from."
Prior to serving as independent counsel, Starr served as Solicitor General of the United States from 1989 to 1993. From 1983 to 1989, he was U.S. Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. From 1981 to 1983, he served as Counselor to U.S. Attorney General William French Smith.
Starl lives in McLean, Va., with his wife, Alice, and their three children. He is on leave from the law firm of Kirkland and Ellis and is working on a book about the U.S. Supreme Court. He also is an adjunct professor at the New York University School of Law.
Sarowski said he expected a full house for tonight's lecture because of Starr's controversial image.
Jesse Summers, Iola senior, said he wanted to hear what Starr's views were concerning the future of the office of independent counsel.
"I'd be interested to hear what he
thinks would happen the next time a sitting president is accused of impropriety." Summers said. "In the aftermath of the Clinton and Nixon administrations, I wonder to what degree the office of independent prosecutor has helped or hurt the public's image of the presidency."
Sarowski said the lecture was of interest to both Starr's supporters and detractors.
"It will allow us to see the events of the last five years though Starr's eyes and whether the public and the press fairly or unfairly described his activities," Sarowski said.
The Vickers lecture series was founded in 1969 by the Vickers family of Wichita through a gift to the KU Endowment Association to honor J.A. Vickers, a pioneer of the oil industry in Kansas. It was established to bring prominent citizens to the University to discuss vital issues concerning democracy and free enterprise.
Fine art
Genevive Pelot, Lawrence freshman, pauses to examine a vase at a recently opened exhibit on display at the Art
and Design Building. Artist Christopher Obert, Lawrence graduate student, made the pottery pieces by
hand and fired them in a 24-foot kiln. His vases are part of a larger display
showcasing the work of fine arts graduate students. The show will continue until Friday.
Photo by Jamie Roper/KANSAN
Senate hopefuls stress prioritizing online enrollment
By Erinn R. Barcomb
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
When the University of Kansas is able to implement online enrollment, the only waiting involved might be because of a slow server.
In the meantime, United Students has included a push for online enrollment in its platform, which includes a petition to Chancellor Robert Hemenway that received about 750 signatures yesterday.
The University should know by early May when that day will come, said Richard Morrell, University registrar.
"It's ridiculous that we're enrolling like it's the Stone Age," said Ben Walker. United Students presidential candidate.
Walker said online enrollment could be accomplished by forming a student advisory board that would meet with the registrar's office and by pushing Hemenway to put more financial and human resources into the project.
He said that the University was using the program for admissions recruitment.
A test version of the program has been used by five universities with only a few bugs. Morrell said.
"We've got an analysis team that has been working several hours each week to determine how we can best get Web enrollment in as fast as we can," Morrell said.
The program used at the University will allow students to enroll from computers but probably not from their telephones.
"What we've learned from other universities is that the students don't use the phone when online enrollment is available." Morrell said.
Walker said he thought the convenience of online enrollment would outweigh the one-on-one attention students got while enrolling at Strong Hall.
"You could still pick up the phone and ask for help." Walker said.
Marlon Marshall, United Students vice presidential candidate, and Walker said they did not think the University had seen online enrollment as a priority in the past.
Ben Burton, Delta Force presidential candidate, said he thought the University was taking the appropriate measures to get online enrollment up and going.
Because most students want online enrollment, Burton said he thought it was a nonissue.
"Almost all students like it, and they're using it as a political tool," Burton said. "I would hope new problems could addressed."
Sam MacRoberts, Students First presidential candidate, said that Senate had nothing to do with enrollment.
"We've looked into online enrollment, and to be frank, it's being taken care of," MacRoberts said. "The University is working on it, and it will be implemented regardless of what United Students is doing on it."
Luke Atkinson, presidential candidate for the Resume Builders, and Tyler O'Neal, independent presidential candidate, could not be reached for comment.
Discrimination suit to go to trial today
By Jim O'Malley
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A former assistant professor of art history's civil rights lawsuit against the University of Kansas is scheduled to go to trial today in federal court in Kansas City, Kan.
Marie Aquilino was denied tenure in 1998 and filed suit against the University in United States District Court last June. She claimed gender discrimination based on allegations that male professors with equal or lesser qualifications were granted tenure.
er qualifications. Aquillino also alleged that the University retaliated against her by refusing to grant her an unpaid ad hoc appointment to the graduate faculty that would have let her continue to work with graduate students. She alleged that ad hoc appointments routinely were granted to untenured faculty and that the art history department's decision to deny her the appointment was almost unprecedented.
Federal civil rights laws prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who oppose employment discrimination.
Aquilino said that the federal court had dismissed her discrimination claim but set the retaliation claim for
trial. She said in February that she might appeal the dismissal of her discrimination claim.
She is seeking an injunction forbidding the University from engaging in employment discrimination, an order granting her an ad hoc appointment to the graduate faculty of the department of art history and an unspecified amount of damages and attorney fees.
The tenure denial had severe personal repercussions and a dramatic effect on future employment prospects, Aquilino said.
Aquilino's lawyers represented Cynthia Annett, former assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and Ray Pierotti, associate professor in that department, in their employment discrimination lawsuit against the University and their department chairman, Thomas Taylor. That suit ended in a verdict for the defendants after a three-week trial.
She said she did not expect Chancellor Robert Hemenway to be called as a witness, but that Provost David Shulenburger and Sally Frost Mason, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, were expected to be called.
Officials in the University's General Counsel's office said they couldn't comment about ongoing litigation.
New cable rate plan benefits students
Bv John Audlehelm
By John Adelehble
writer @kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
With
Sunflower
With Sunflower Cablevision's new rate plan, students living in student housing are getting more for their money.
Saturday marked the date for Sunflower Cablevision's new rates. The 64-channel basic option went from costing $24.95 to $29.95 for most residential subscribers. But those who live in student housing are getting the new plan for the same money.
The cable company also began offering a limited basic option — 27 channels for $19.95. However, students living in student housing do not have this option.
Dana Gore, marketing director at Sunflower Cablevision, 721 Wakarua Drive, said students in residence halls, scholarship halls and University apartments would not be affected by the rate change.
Static now plays on cable channel 35, once the site of MTV. Confusion erupted Saturday when Sunflower Cablevision — as part of its new basic cable program — shook up channel numbers, forcing subscribers to reprogram their television sets and relearn the numbers for their favorite stations. Photo illustration by Chad Cummings/KANSAN
"They have a bulk price," she said. "Students are getting a good deal."
Gore said students were getting more channels because Sunflower had added 15 channels before the rate change.
Ken Stoner, director of student housing, said the
Stoner said part of getting a bulk-rate deal was about negotiating services such as buying and installing the wiring, which the University did. He also said other factors, such as the lack of summer usage, entered into the equation.
University paid about $130,000 a month for its bulk-rate cable. He said the amount was set by contract and was not affected by the recent rate change, and that translated to a rate of about $4.50 to $4.75 a month per outlet — but those rates could not be compared to Sunflower's regular rates.
The current contract is valid through next school year. Gore said that there would be rate increases after that, but students would still get a good deal.
Even though they may be getting a good deal, some students would like the limited basic option to be available.
"Half of them are junk channels," he said. "If I had my way, the only channels I would pay for would be HBO, BET, TBS and a couple of the news channels."
Wesley Johnson, Guernsey, Wyo., freshman and Ellsworth Hall resident, said students should be able to decide what they pay for.
But Sarah Reding, marketing
assistant at Sunflower Cablevision, said cable in student housing was an all-or-nothing deal — students must either all get the basic option or the limited basic option.
Johnson said the Saturdaynight changeover deleted some channels on his TV because the channels were assigned
new numbers.
"We had to go back and reprogram our TV," he said.
As for the rest of Lawrence, houses installed with cable will receive the 64-channel basic option unless the residents notify Sunflower Cablevision that they want the limited basic option with 27 channels.