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April 21, 1999
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Vol. 109 • No. 135
Sports today
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Will the Kansas baseball team's woes finally end today against Rockhurst?
SEE PAGE 1B
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Election complaints could be invalidated
(USPS 650-640)
Hearings might have to be open to public
By Nadia Mustafa
nmustafa@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The elections commission's decisions Monday about Student Senate campaign complaints could be invalidated if a complaint is filed to the state attorney general before April 29.
The commission's hearing board conducted a closed hearing Monday and on previous occasions earlier this semester upon advice from Karen Dutcher, associate KU general counsel. But, the attorney general's office thinks that the hearings should have
been open to the public.
According to Steven Phillips, assistant attorney general, the Kansas Open Meetings and Records Acts prohibits secret meetings by boards and commissions such as the elections commission. The board could decide to move to a closed session, he said, but it would not be allowed to take any binding action during the secret session.
Phillips said the commission was subject to the act because it was created by Senate and funded by student fees.
The board has ruled on at least four major complaints during closed sessions this semester. Decisions made prior to Monday cannot be voided because more than 10 days have passed since the rulings.
Rose Marino, associate KU general counsel, said the board qualified for an exception within the open records act that allowed
closed sessions for quasi-judicial bodies.
However, the definition of "quasi-judicial" is in dispute.
Ted Frederickson, lawyer and professor of journalism, said the board did not classify as quasi-judicial because it was political and
not judevine like the university of Kansas' parking board or judicial board. He said quasi-judicial implied that the board heard cases only affecting individuals. But, he said, the board ruled on conduct during
general elections, which applied to the student body as a whole.
"It's a fig leaf they're hiding behind," Frederickson said. "It ought to be open to any student who wants to go watch. A political proc
ess ought to be open."
Richard Levy, professor of law, said a quasi-judicial function was the deliberation of facts and legal outcomes in respect to an individual or a few individuals.
"I'm fairly confident that the actual deliberation has to be a thing that can be done in a closed session," he said.
But, Mark Johnson, a lawyer who specializes in media-related matters and access to courts and public proceedings, said he didn't think the board would qualify as a quasi-judicial body.
"It seems at first blush that the meetings of this sort of student activity supported by student funds — unless the deliberations of the commission fall within one of the narrow exceptions — would have to be open," said Johnson, who practices law in Kansas City, Mo.
Regardless of the varying interpretations of "quasi-judicial," Phillips said the attorney general's interpretation was that the exception for quasi-judicial functions only applied to discussion among members of the board and not to binding decisions. He said that voting on complaints had to be public.
Dutcher said when she advised the commission to conduct closed hearings, she was concerned with the 1974 Family Education Rights to Privacy Act, also known as the Buckley Amendment, which denies federal funds to any institution that violates students' privacy by releasing student records without their permission.
Students assault Colorado school
KU students from area shocked at violence
Columbine High School students swarm to embrace a classmate who ran from the school after being barricaded there for more than four hours after the shooting spree began. Up to 25 people may have been killed yesterday when two young men opened fire at the suburban Denver high school. The suspects, junior's at the school, were found dead in the library. KRT photo
By Katie Burford
kburford@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Two students in black trench coats swept through their suburban Littleton, Colo., high school with guns and explosives in a horrifying suicide attack yesterday that may have left 25 people dead. Several students said the killers were gunning for minorities and athletes.
It was the bloodiest in a string of school shootings that have rocked U.S. communities during the past few years.
"One of them opened his cape and had a shotgun. Finally, I started figuring out these guys shot to kill, for no reason," said student Nick Claus. "When he looked at me, the guy's eyes were just dead."
Randy Olsen, Littleton, Colo., Junior said he never would have thought such a violent act would take place at his old high school.
"It's just a peaceful, quite suburban school," he said.
The gunmen — both juniors at Columbine High School in the Denver suburb — were found dead in the school library with self-inflicted gunshot wounds and what appeared to be bombs around their bodies, sheriff's spokesman Steve Davis said.
"It appears to be a suicide mission," Sherif John Stone said.
Students said the gunmen, whose names were not released, apparently belonged to a clique of outcasts called the "Trench Coat Mafia." Members of the group wore long black coats, boasted of owning guns and disliked Blacks, Hispanics and football players.
Davis said that the motive for the attack was unknown and that school officials had had no reports of trouble from the students.
The sheriff said 25 people, students and teachers, may have been killed. By early evening, officers had yet to remove any bodies because of the danger of explosives and the need to preserve evidence. FBI agents
Senate working to represent all students
See SCHOOL on page 6A
By Jamie Knodel
iknodel@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Leaders say they are not partial to particular groups
Even though the University of Kansas has had greek-affiliated leaders for at least the past five years, Student Senate leaders said they were working to serve students as members of the University rather than as members of particular living groups.
Senators said that although during elections it may have seemed as though some coalitions had attempted to target greek or anti-greek sentiment, within Senate sessions that topic rarely surfaced.
"Very seldom do greek issues come up
In recent years, Yoder said that rather than targeting members of Greek organizations, coalitions could be categorized as groups that appealed to mainstream University pride votes.
within Senate sessions," said Kevin Yoder, student body president.
"Coalitions don't target affiliation, they target attitudes," Yoder said.
Roughly 50 percent of senators are Greek-affiliated Yoder said. But the Greek population only makes up 20 to 22 percent of
said Danny Kaiser, director of Organizations and Leadership.
Holly Krebs, holdover senator, said that in the past three years, student representation in Senate had improved.
coalition was created three years ago, members made it a priority to get students involved in Senate who were not traditionally interested so that they might help create a more diverse body of government.
Krebs said that when the Delta Force
"Once a coalition starts that trend,
in courtship ever over, and the pool of candidates becomes more diverse," Krebs said. Krebs said Senate was still a Greek-dominated system but that representation for the entire student body had improved.
all coalitions even out, and the pool of candidates becomes more diverse," Krebs said.
8 of 10 from a diverse group of senators to come up with the best solution for
the eleme campus, she said.
Dede Seibel, student body vice president.
See STUDENTS on page 2A
Regents propose hike in tuition to aid libraries
Bv Kristi Reimer
By Kristi Reimer knreimer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
In the face of soaring costs of books, journals and information services, the University of Kansas and other Regents schools are considering raising tuition by $1 per credit hour to boost their libraries' flagging purchasing power.
At last week's Board of Regents meeting, Kansas State University made a pitch to raise its tuition beyond the yearly inflationary increase and use the additional funds for its library. Other universities thought the proposal made so much sense that they suggested making it Regentswide and asking the state to match the increase.
"Every library in the country has been
canceling journals and buying fewer books," said David Shulenburger, provost of the University of Kansas. "We're part of a national phenomenon."
The legislature normally budgets a halfpercent increase in library funding every year, Shulenburger said, but the rate of inflation for library materials has been running at 10 percent per year for more than 20 years.
The library fee would be in addition to the 2.5 percent inflationary hike for 2000-2001 tuition that the Board of Regents will consider at its May meeting. Because the increase would be added to tuition and not student fees, it would not require student approval.
See $1 on page 5A
TV cameramen film piles of transcripts from testimonies by President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. The picture, taken by 1988 KU graduate Wilfredo Lee, was part of a photo spread with 20 pictures and won the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. Associated Press photograph
KU journalism graduate shares 1999 Pulitzer Prize
By Chris Hopkins chopkins@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Valerie Holt, an administrative assistant with the headquarters of the AP photo division, said that she called the winners to inform them and that Lee was in denial.
KU graduate Wilfredo Lee was one of 15 Associated Press photographers to win a 1999 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. Lee graduated with a journalism degree in 1988.
"He did not believe me," she said. "He just wouldn't believe me."
"He was a fine photographer," he said. "He obviously was in the right place at the right time, but you have to do more than that."
Holt said Lee didn't even think his photo had run with the prize-winning piece, a collection of photos about the Clinton impeachment hearings.
Lee said that he moved the month after he shot the photo and was taken by surprise by the award.
"I had transferred from Washington to Miami, so I didn't expect to be anywhere near it," he said.
Lee's picture, one of 20 in the prizewinning photo spread, showed four TV cameramen taking shots of piles of transcripts from testimony by President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.
Tom Eblen, general manager of The University Daily Kansan, which Lee worked for while at the University, said that Lee deserved the award.
Boyen said that without Lee's technical expertise and talent, the photo wouldn't have been the same.
Wally Emerson taught advanced photography classes at the KU School of Journalism when Lee was at the University. Emerson said he had enjoyed teaching Lee.
"He was a very interesting student to have, and I was glad to know him," he said. "He had a good eye."
Pulitzer Prize winners also receive a cash award, but Lee said the number of winners in his category dulled his excitement for that.
"We have to split it 15 ways," he said.
"We'll probably end up with $1.50."
Each winner actually will get about $333 of the $5,000 prize.
The AP also won the spot news category for its photographs of the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
- Edited by Allan Davis