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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2005
Gay rights
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the right of students to be free from harassment or discrimination based on sex, race, color, national origin, religion or sexual orientation.
The Senators debated whether the organization should take a stance on gay marriage. Some senators felt Senate is not in a position to tell the student body what to do.
Sterner and others disagreed.
"We are elected to represent students," Sterner said. "It is very important that we protect their rights all the time."
Now, Senate will spend the time before the April 5 election advocating for gay rights and educating students on the amendment, Sterner said. Katie Wolff, Student Legislative Awareness Board director, said SLAB would be campaigning on Wescoe Beach on issues on the April 5 ballot after spring break.
"We just want to make sure that all students are informed on everything," Wolff said. "Sometimes the wording of things can be very tricky, and we want to make things as simple as possible for students."
A copy of the resolution will be sent to local newspapers, but Serner said the resolution was not designed to be sent to legislators.
"The legislators already voted on this amendment," Sterner said. "It is more important now that voters in the upcoming election be informed on the issue."
— Edited by Lisa Coble-Krings
Health
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"Some won't be happy about the increase, but there's a majority who are willing to pay more for better care," he said.
While Hoelting said a fee increase was necessary. She said some representatives wanted to raise the fee by as much as 60 percent. Instead, she proposed to increase the fee a little, make some changes and then evaluate what needed to be done and whether more money was needed. These aren't the first changes being made to student health services.
Knoll met with student representatives and began implementing changes from their suggestions. Problems addressed included making sure a nurse practitioner was always on duty, streamlining billing and insurance claims and starting a survey campaign to evaluate care.
Jury convicts Kansas State professor
CRIME
Mike Yoder/ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Juror Ted Kihm, left, is greeted by Danny Ross, center, and his wife. Judi, right, after jurors found Tom E. Murray guilty of the murder of their daughter, Carmin Ross yesterday in Douglas County District Court.
Edited by Lori Bettes
BY CARL MANNING THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAWRENCE — Kansas State University professor Thomas E. Murray was convicted yesterday of killing his former wife, in what the victim's family called a bittersweet victory.
Murray, 48, an English professor at Kansas State in Manhattan, was convicted of first-degree murder in the Nov. 13, 2003, death of Carmin D. Ross, 40. Her beaten and stabbed body was found on the living room floor of her two-story farmhouse north of Lawrence.
When the verdict was read, Murray, wearing a sweater and slacks, showed no obvious emotion. He was quickly led
out the courtroom by a deputy and looked straight ahead as he passed by seated family members. Two hours after the verdict, Kansas State announced his firing.
Douglas County District Judge Robert Fairchild said Murray will be sentenced in 45 days after a pre-sentence investigation. He faces life in prison with a possibility of parole in 25 years.
After the verdict, Ross' family members sat in silence for several seconds. Her grandmother, Malta Ross, began sobbing softly, and then other family members started crying. Ross' fiance, Larry Lima, grabbed the shoulder of Ross' father, Danny Ross, who was sitting in front of him.
"We are so thankful the jury
took its time. I think they did a wonderful job. As a family, we're relieved, but it won't bring our daughter back," Danny Ross told reporters.
"It will give us our granddaughter, which we will raise," he said. The girl, who was 4 at the time of the murder, has been with her grandparents in Indiana since Murray was arrested last year.
Prosecutors said Murray killed Ross partly because he was afraid of losing custody of the girl because Ross was planning to marry Lima and move to California. Murray and Ross shared custody of her after their 18-year marriage ended and were mediating custody issues at the time of Ross' death.
Unaccessible
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Buildings are required to meet ADA compliance and provide things such as accessible parking, ramps and entrances.
White's students took measurements at Spooner Hall, Bailey Hall, Lippincott Hall, Dyche Hall, Blake Hall and Strong Hall.
While most buildings at the University comply with ADA regulations, White said that many of the older buildings could use some improvements.
Door pressure
This set-up tests how much force it takes to open a door. The fishing scale measures the force through the leather strap attached to door handles. Accessibility for exterior doors is defined as opening with under eight pounds of force. Interior doors should take five pounds or less of force.
White's goal was for students to see ADA standards and how the University measures up.
Cameron Monken/KANSAN
"The idea is to make them more aware," he said. "Some of these people could end up being architects or service providers."
Students used a compliance kit, which included a modified fish scale to measure the amount of force needed to open a door, a 25-foot tape measure and White's patented ADA accessibility stick. The stick measures ramp height and width, and the heights and widths bathroom stalls, drinking fountains and hallways.
Building entrances, access to goods and services, access to restrooms and other accessible measures were examined.
The guide asks certain questions about accessibility or asks them to measure for accessibility, and the students either check the "yes" box or the "no" box. There is also a list of possible solutions if the students check "no."
Nam Nguyen, a Wichita junior in White's class, has worked with people with mental disabilities since he was younger. This was the first time he has worked with mobility disabilities.
White assigned Nguyen's group to measure Bailey. The group found that the building had the most violations with six.
Some of the big problems with Bailey were a lack of Braille lettering on signs and no space for loading and unloading a wheelchair in accessible spaces, he said. There is only one accessible entrance behind the building, and sections of the building were only accessible by stairs, he said.
Bailey failed to meet compliance with accessible restrooms and accessible drinking fountains, according to the report.
Student's voiced their surprise about results in a class discussion. One of the biggest surprises came when one of the power-assisted doors was locked. Strong and Lippincott were the next worst with four violations.
Strong did not have accessible parking spaces close to an
accessible entrance, doors were too heavy to open and there were no audible elevator buttons. Lippincott had awkward heavy doors, no audible elevator buttons and lacked Braille lettering on doors.
Dyche and Spooner followed with two violations each, which included heavy doors and poorly placed accessible parking. Blake was the only hall that was compliant with all of the tests.
The information gathered from White's class will be given to Design and Construction Management and used to make accessibility improvements on campus.
"KU has a long way to go, but they have a really active architectural committee," White said. "They really try to meet the needs of people."
— Edited by Kendall Dix
Everyone's Irish...
Nicoletta Niosi/KANSAN
Tashe Campbell and Ryan Pearson, Johnson County Community College students, watch the Saint Patrick's Day parade yesterday in downtown Lawrence with their dog, Tyke. Tyke was dyed green for the holiday.
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