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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Cloudy and temperatures begin to get cooler
Kansan
Wednesday March 10,1999
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Sports today
Kansas Basketball players Eric Chenowith and Lynn Pride were selected to the Honorable Mention All-America Team.
SEE PAGE 3B
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
1996 KU graduate murdered close to her NYC apartment
(USPS 650-640)
By Sarah Hale
shale@kansan.com
Kansan campus editor
Professors and friends mourned the death of Amy Watkins yesterday, a former KU student who was murdered near her New York apartment Monday night.
Watkins, a 26-year-old 1996 KU graduate, was stabbed in the back about 9:45 p.m. on her way to a grocery store in Brooklyn, said Det. Robert Samuel of the New York Police Department.
Watkins was found on the sidewalk about one block from her apartment with a kitchen knife sticking out of her back, Samuel said. She died about an hour later at Brooklyn Jewish Hospital.
Samuel said an unknown person approached Watkins from behind and stabbed her. He said robbery had been the motive and property was missing from Watkins.
Watkins graduated with a bachelor's degree in social welfare from the University and was attending the
Hunter College School of Social Work in New York.
Alice Lieberman, a KU associate professor of social welfare, said that Watkins was a remarkable person and student. She said she taught Watkins in class and had written a letter of reference to Hunter College.
"Amy was everybody's friend," Lieberman said. "She was big enough and good enough to embrace the world. New York was a place for her to make a mark as an activist."
Lieberman said Watkins often sat in the middle of the classroom so that she could talk with everybody.
"That was so symbolic to me," she said. "Amy spanned the boundaries as a friend."
Abbe Bassin, Watkins' friend of about six years, said they met while taking classes at the University.
"We met at school and instantly became friends," said Bassin, who also graduated in 1996. "We lived near each other on Kentucky Street, and she'd drag me jogging."
Bassin, who volunteered with Watkins in the Israeli Army in 1995, said
she last saw her about two weeks ago.
"We slept at a friend's apartment and had a spa night," Bassin said. "We did facials, relaxed in the Jacuzetti and went jogging in Central Park in the morning. And then we said goodbye."
Bassin said Watkins was devoted to women's issues and was working with oppressed communities for her field work.
"Amy had an incredible spirit inside and out," Bassin said. "She was smart, had a great sense of humor and a natural ability for social work."
Watkins moved to Lawrence in 1990 from Topeka where she attended high school. Tom Hutton, director of University Relations, said she had lived in Lewis Hall and was not involved in any organizations.
Bassin said Watkins worked at Sunflower Outdoor and Bike Shop, 844 Massachusetts St., in college, and she
"She loved Lawrence — she really did," Bassin said. "She was not a typical New Yorker. As soon as people met her, they'd say, 'You're not from around here.'"
visited Lawrence and her friends last summer.
Det. Samuel said that New York police still were investigating the homicide and that they did not have any suspects.
He said that Crimesetter vans combed the neighborhood last night and that police were offering $1,000 rewards leading to any information.
Samuel said Watkins' neighborhood, Prospect Heights, was generally a nice area of town. He said crime rates had been decreasing steadily.
Watkins is survived by her mother, Margaret, of St. Louis; her father, Larry, of New York, who was a former Western Civilization instructor at the University; and one brother.
Her family could not be reached for comment.
Funeral arrangements have not been finalized because of the investigation. Bassin said a service probably would be offered in New York on Friday morning before she is buried in St. Louis.
Edited by Steph Brewer
Amy Wattins, a 1996 KU graduate, stands with two children she worked with at a New York outreach center. Watkins, who received a degree in social welfare, was murdered near her Brooklyn apartment Monday night. She was 26 years old. Photo courtesy of New Settlement Apartments of New York.
Collision course
A 1990 Subaru stands crunched on Naismith Drive. A KU student driving in a 1992 BMW while making a delivery for an area restaurant collided with the Subaru, which was exiting the Oliver Hall parking lot at 1:15 p.m. yesterday. The driver of the Subaru was transported to Lawrence Memorial Hospital for evaluation. Photo by Magnus Andersson/KANSAN
Professors to tour Kansas in May
Trek offers opportunity to see less-traveled areas
By Chris Hopkins
chopkins@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Forty University of Kansas professors seeking to learn more about their surroundings will go on the Wheat State Whirlwind Tour this May.
erm Spiridiglhozi, assistant dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Janet Payne, assistant tour director, and Nini Negash Case, tour productions, presented faculty members who applied to go on the tour with loaves of bread decorated with wheat and sunflowers yesterday.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway started the program three years ago. He based it on a similar program from his previous university, the University of Kentucky.
"The faculty gets a chance to see Kansas, to meet the people of Kansas, to see the places their students come from," he said.
The tour will start May 24 and continue until May 28. During that period, it will visit Independence, Wichita, Dodge City, Garden City, Colby, Goodland, Hays and Sedan, which Payne described as a typical Kansas town.
Hemenway said the previous two trips had spurred interesting research and projects by professors from different departments who met on the trip.
"You don't always get to talk to people in other disciplines than your own," Hemenway said.
Deborah "Misty" Gerner, associate professor of political science and government, beams as she receives a loaf of sunflower bread, which is her "ticket" to attend the Wheat State Whirlwind Tour. Gerner, along with 39 other professors will take the May 24-28 tour through Kansas, visiting historic spots and learning about the economy, geography and anthropology of the state. Representatives from the Chacellor's office delivered the leaves to professors at the Lawrence, Edwards, Medical Center and Wichita campuses yesterday. Photo by Matt J. Dauaherty/KANSAN
All of these benefits help professors when they return to the classroom, he said. By providing these sorts of opportunities to help the faculty, Hemenway said the administration was demonstrating it's commitment.
Payne said the trip would avoid using Interstate 70, keeping away from places that most people already have seen.
"We want to show that we put our money where our mouth is, that we support teaching," he said.
"You have to get pretty far out of the way to get to some of the places that we're going to go," she said.
some of the places that we go on the trip with his
Paul Atchley, who will go on the trip with his
wife Ruth Ann, said all he had ever seen of Kansas before coming to the University this year was the interstate. He is originally from California, and his wife is from Ohio. They are both assistant professors of psychology.
Atchley said he was very excited about the trip but hadn't looked at much of the itinerary.
"I have no idea what to expect from this, so I'm going to in go with no preconceptions," he said.
Edited by Duane Wagler
Student lobbyists to discuss University issues with legislators
By Nadia Mustafa
By Nadia Mustata
nmustafa@kansan.com
Kansen staff writer
Kansan staff writer
Students will be lobbying state legislators in Topeka today for the second time this semester.
This time, Student Legislative Awareness Board members, student senators and other students will discuss only KU-related issues such as funding for child care, lower tuition, financial aid, faculty salary
increases and a state-sponsored college savings plan.
Korb Maxwell, SLAB legislative director, said that SLAB originally had planned on 100 students participating but that only about 20 would be attending because many students had midterms this week.
"it's hard to get students in the capitol because they're busy with their first job of being students," he said.
But, Maxwell said, student lobbies will attend about 25 appointments with key legislators. He said they would hand out Jayhawk lapel pins and notecovers outlining important issues to each legislator's office.
"We'll focus on the important players and meet with all the rank and file," Maxwell said.
Kevin Yoder, student body president and SLAB chief lobbyist, said students would attempt a hard sell through a direct and persuasive approach.
"But we'll also have a soft, subliminal sell with the laplel pins," he said. "We'll end up
Maxwell said that the University of Kansas had the highest cost-fee ratio
Students will lobby for $54,913 in funding for a new child care center, which will be completed in the fall 2001.
on a full-court press focused on KU."
maxwell said child care funding was an important issue because Governor Bill Graves did not include it in his budget. He said if the state did not fund the new child care center, students might have to foot the bill with a $1 increase in student fees.
among Board of Regents' universities and that KU students paid for more than 40 percent of the cost of their educations.
Students will ask the legislature to avoid raising tuition as a means of funding higher education. Students will lobby the legislature to decrease the amount students pay to 25 percent.
Students also will lobby for a $2 million increase in financial aid through
See LEGISLATORS on page 2A