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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2005
Doors
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
"There are a lot of rooms, a lot of people going in and out." Picking said. "When the door's closed, that's a real pain."
Lab doors are open all the time in David Brooks' hallway, sometimes including his own, he said.
"I have a common-use lab, so there are always people coming in and out," Brooks, technical director for a biology lab in Malott, said. "My preference would be to keep it closed, but that doesn't always happen."
The doors on the fifth floor of Malott are always closed at 7
"I It's not just fire protection.It's not just health regulations.It's only to protect the students."
Bob Rombach Fire marshall for the University of Kansas
a. m. when Brooks arrives at work, but they often get propped open as the day goes on, he said.
Some labs are used by undergraduate students who don't have keys, making it an inconvenience to leave the door closed all the time, he said.
The business managers in the chemistry and biology departments work closely to monitor the problem with the fire marshal and receive the citations.
"In chemistry, I go around and shut lab doors if they're open," Susan Teague, business manager for the chemistry department said.
Kandi White, business manager for the biology department,
has sent out e-mails to solve the problem. But still lab instructors make rationalizations to keep the doors open.
"They've got lab coats and chemicals, and it's a hindrance to open the door," she said.
**The new policy**
Inspectors usually issue citations in the buildings annually. Haworth was inspected last week, but the results are not yet available. The inspections for Malott are slated to occur sometime later this month.
With the state fire marshal's new policy, an individual inspector is now compelled by law to report all repeat violations to the Kansas state fire marshal, said Larry Laubhan, fire protection specialist with the Kansas state fire marshal.
Violators will receive warning letters after the second consecutive violation, and then will be issued fines the third year. Rombach plans to send out a warning letter for each repeated violation in Malott and Haworth, if he finds them this year and institute fines the year after that.
The chancellor's office would be responsible for paying the fines or could pass along the fines to individual departments, Laubhan said.
The exact amount of the fine for a propped open door would be determined by Laubhan's superiors after the inspector passed the fine along to the state fire marshal, he said, but the fine could go all the way up to $1,000.
On top of that, a policy written in 2000 in conjunction with the provost's office holds those who disobey fire codes criminally liable for anything that might result from those codes being disobeyed, Rombach said.
"It's not just fire protection. It's not just health regulations. It's only to protect the students," he said.
All over campus, people
In a beginning physics lab, you'd have to throw a cigarette at a pile of papers to start a fire. They don't even have computers in there."
Andrew Pirotte Joplin, Mo., junior
wedge fire-rated doors open. but Rombach is choosing to focus on labs in Haworth and Malott. Fire-rated doors include those in some professors' offices and classrooms in Wesco Hall, as well as in every other building on campus.
Rombach said if a door had a closer on the top and a steel plate on the bottom, it was probably fire-rated.
"Malott and Haworth, those are big buildings with a lot of people in them," he said. "They also work with a lot of harmful chemicals."
The age of the buildings also plays a role, he said. Newer buildings, like the new structural biology lab on West Campus, are built with more mechanisms for keeping doors closed.
Fumes wafting through the halls in Haworth and Malott have the potential to make people in the hallways sick if they are exposed to them too long, he said.
Mike Russell, director of environmental health and safety for the University, agrees that open lab doors are a safety hazard, and he doesn't understand why the professors won't close the doors to the labs.
"It's sure not out of ignorance," he said. "It gets addressed, and people get told. It's just a matter of people making it a priority."
To students like Andrew Pirotte, Joplin, Mo., junior, keeping the doors open may not be so bad.
"It's pretty safe," said the microbiology student. "They don't let us mess around too much. Every time there's something dangerous, they monitor us pretty closely."
What students think
Pirote said it depended on the lab. He said labs with open flames were one thing, but some labs didn't pose much of a fire hazard at all.
"In a beginning physics lab, you'd have to throw a cigarette at a pile of papers to start a fire," he said. "They don't even have computers in there."
Travis Grebenick, Omaha, Neb., senior, said the doors should be closed, if there were a legitimate safety concern.
"If it's the difference between saving people's lives, it's worth an extra couple seconds to drop whatever you're carrying and make sure the door is closed behind you," the biology student said.
Adding it up
The fire marshal has offered other options, such as magnets that would automatically close the doors in case of a fire, but she said that was not economically feasible for the department, as the magnets would cost about $1,000 for each door. But that would only solve the fire safety problem, Rombach said, not the environmental and safety issues.
The potential solutions are often expensive and are difficult to achieve,he said.
But the fines could soon start to add up.
For 2004, the University could have faced up to $103,000 in fines from door-related fire code violations, if the current system had been in place then.
"You don't want the chancellor to get that letter," Rombach said.
Hyland is a campus editor for the Kansan. Edited by Laura Francoviglia
Alberto Pellaschiar/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A mourner prepares to spend the night along Via della Conciliazione towards Saint Peter's Square, in background, waiting to enter the Basilica where the body of the Pope lies in state at the Vatican today. Italy appealed to pilgrims to stay away from central Rome yesterday, saying it was already saturated with millions of faithful desperate to see Pope John Paul II's body ahead of tomorrow's funeral.
Police step in to quell crowd
BY VICTOR L. SIMPSON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
VATICAN CITY — After electronic highway signs and cell phone text messages failed to stanch the flow of pilgrims, police stepped in yesterday to turn back mourners hoping to join the 24-hour line to view the body of Pope John Paul II, on a day that brought almost 1 million people to the Vatican.
Using a special entrance for VIPs, President Bush viewed the body with his wife, Laura, along with his father, former President Clinton and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, shortly after the U.S. delegation reached Rome.
The crowd control problems developed hours after the College of Cardinals set April 18 as the start of its conclave in the Sistine Chapel to choose a successor to John Paul.
Seeking to clear the basilica by this evening so the Vatican could prepare for John Paul's funeral the following day, police announced they were closing the line at 10 p.m. Text messages were sent over Italian cellular phone lines.
It took more than an hour after the deadline to set up the barricades and establish the cutoff point.
The men of Phi Delta Theta hosted their annual Robert Huffman Basketball Tournament on April 1st-3rd.
KU fraternities and sororities fielded at total of 18 teams over the weekend All monies raised will be donated to the ALS Association/Keith Worthington Chapter.
Phi Delta Theta would like to extend their thanks to the following sponsors for their support in making this tourney such a success:
Weaver s, The Mad Hatter, Jayhawk Cafe Bullwinkle's, Carlson Products, and Newcomer & Sons.
International Students, Faculty and Staff:
TAX HELP Free Tax Workshops Coming Soon!
Friday, April 8th,1-4 Monday,April 11th,9-12 Tuesday,April 12th,11-2 in the Budig PC Lab
Presented by:
LSS LEGAL SERVICES FOR STUDENTS
If you are unable to attend, passwords for the free tax software will be available at the LSS office.
Jayhawk Bookstore
...at the top of Naismith Hill
voted Best Bookstore by KU Students
1420 Crescent Rd.
ALL YOU CAN CARRY
"SALE BOOKS" $19.95
- Close out KU Gifts and Apparel Items
Up to 50-70% off More savings inside, too
Art, Design and School Supplies
The University of Kansas FRIends Of the THEatre and the Department of Theatre & Film
present a benefit featuring Mandy Patinkin, KU Alumnus and Tony Award-winning performer (Evita, 1979) Other memorable performances include Inigo Montoya, "You killed my father, prepare to die!" (The Princess Bride, 1887) and the "singing" Dr. Jeffrey Geiger (Chicago Hope, 1994)
a conversation with Mandy Patinkin
8:00 pm Saturday, April 9,2005 Crafton-Preyer Theatre
Proceeds will help fund sound assistance equipment and a scholarship for a film student
For tickets call 785-864-3982. Online tickets: www.kutheatre.com. Public $40, all students $20.
CORPORATE SPONSORS (as of March 1,2003) Capitol Federal Savings
Coca-Cola *J*. Hammond McNish
True Blue $ ^{®} $ for over 100 years
Coca-Cola • J. Hammond McNish
Kizer-Cummings Jewelers • Intrust Bank
Red Design, Inc. • Lawrence Journal-World
McDonald's of Lawrence • US Bank • Johnway Breakfast Rotary
Sahatini Architects • Robert W.Baud & Company, Inc. • Jim & Allison Vance Moore
Dave & Gunda Hiebert • American Express Financial Advisor, Peggy Johnson
Lance & Molly Snyder • Doug & Kathy Gaumer • Steve & Kurt Bruner • Janet Riley
JOURNAL-WORLD
Television Credits: *Dead Like Me* (2003-04) - Rube
Chicago Hope (1994) - Dr. Jeffrey Geiger, Emmy Award, 1998
Film Credits: *Dick Tracy* (1980) - 88 Keys
The Princess Bride (1957) - Inigo Montoya
Yentl (1983) - Avigrid
Stage Credits: Dress Casual
The Secret Garden (1891) - Archibald Craven
Sunday in the Park with George (1894) - George
Evita (1976) - Che Guevara, Tony Award, 1879
Other film credits: Pilfero (2001), Allen Nation (1988),
Daniel (1983), Ragtime (1981)
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