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Lasting impression
Tattoo studio hopes to make indelible mark on Lawrence. See story on page 3.
The University Daily
KANSAN
Cloudy, windy High, 80s. Low, 60. Details on page 3.
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas.
Vol. 95, No. 135 (USPS 650-640)
Violence, turmoil of '70s remembered
By PEGGY HELSEL Staff Reporter
The year was 1970. Protests, demonstrations and violence rocked America's college campuses.
Friday, April 19, 1985
Abbie Hoffman made headlines as the national Party, commonly known as the Yankees.
Hoffman proclaimed the University of Kansas to be "a drag" after his speech on campus failed to incite many of the 7,000 students in attendance.
Adults eyed the nation's youth suspiciously. Youths responded with long hair, miniskirts and loud protests against "the establishment."
The same week, several hundred students gathered for a protest, but it was the promise of a "nude" in Atter Lake that drew most attention. The patterned seal the crowd dispersed papered pages.
But the following week, violence erupted on the campus.
ON APRIL 20, 15 years ago tomorrow,
someone walked into a third floor men's
restroom in the Kansas Union at about 10:30
p.m. and set a fire.
Lawrence firefighters turned in force to battle the fire. More than 100 student volunteers helped the firefighters by hauling hoses on the smoke-filled stairways.
The fire spread rapidly, and raged for two hours in the ton two floors of the Union.
Student volunteers also rescued more than $20,000 worth of irreplaceable art from thefters.
After the smoke cleared, the damage was assessed. The Pine Room and the English Room on the sixth floor were destroyed, and the Ballroom roof had caved in. Water and smoke damaged whatever the fire did not reach.
State fire inspectors declared the fire the work of an inspector.
ONE YEAR AND $2 million later, the building was restored. But the arsonist was
Jovan Weismiller, who was a student in 1970 and now works at the service center of Robinson Gymnasium, said, "Everyone thought it was some sort of radical action. It wasn't something radicals would have thought of burning. That's where they made all their plans."
fire marshal's office, said yesterday that although there were suspects, no one was ever charged with the crime.
"If the radicals had tried it, they would have tossed a firebomb against the front door. That would have fizzled. It might have charred the door."
George Rogge, chief inspector of the state
FIREOMBOS WERE HOMEMADE incendiary devices, often no more than a bottle of gasoline and a wick.
Chancellor Laurence E. Chalmers said the fire probably had been started by a pyromaniac, not a campus radical.
But for three nights after the fire. Gov. Robert Docking placed Lawrence under curfew at the request of city officials. Anyone on the streets after dark was arrested.
During those three days, firefighters kept busy with dozens of calls of attempted arson and false alarms. Fires were set in the building, Strong Hall and Jawhaker Towers.
Extra highway patrolmen and national guardsmen came to Lawrence to police the city. Weismiller said the city resembled a war zone.
He lived in an apartment near the Union and had a bird's-eye view of the surrounding
Flames rage from the windows and roof of the Kansas Union. The fire, which was set by an arsonist, occurred 15 years ago tomorrow.
"DURING THE CURFEW, we would stand on our balcony and watch," Weismiller said. "People would spot the police and yell, 'police car at 14th and Tennessee.' And someone would yell back, 'we got 'em spotted.'"
"It was like a war," he said.
The curfew was a dangerous time for students and the authorities. Police and firefighters were a constant target for sniper fire.
Lt. Don Dalquest of the Lawrence police
See FIRE, p. 5, col. 1
Benefits lacking for GTAs, director says
released by the chancellor, bears out the fact that KU is not competitive with other peer institutions in our graduate student program," Parris said.
Ierry said the Regents had requested a three-year phase in of a 100 percent fee waiver, with a 75 percent waiver requested in 1986 and a 50 percent waiver in 1987 and 100 percent waiver in 1988.
75 percent. All graduate teaching assistants at the Board of Rogers schools will benefit from a Master's degree in Education.
By NANCY HANEY
Parris said the average annual salary for GTAs at KU was $5,394. The average annual
Staff Reporter
The Regents schools are the six state universities and the Kansas Technical Institute in Salina.
a tuition fee waiver gives GTAs a discount on their tuitions and would affect about 750 GTAs at the University of Kansas.
instead of lobbying for a bigger salary increase or more GTA positions.
Rosham Parris, executive director of the Graduate Student Council, said the group lobbed this year for a 100 percent fee waiver
THE BIGGER FEE waiver enhances our ability to attract the top graduate students in
Parris said that 1½ years ago, Anchancellor
court Blenk had appointed a task force to
celebrate the program.
The group's study recently was completed, and Parris said the findings showed that the graduate program at KU needed improvements.
The Kansas Legislature's approval of a higher tuition fee waiver for graduate teaching assistants is a step in the right direction, but GTAs need other benefits to bring the program up to national standards. The Governor the Graduate Student Council said yesterday.
Last week, the Legislature approved an increase in the fee waiver from 60 percent to
"I understand that the interim study,
See GTA, p. 5, col. 2
Renovation of schol hall $70,000 short
By MICHELLE T. JOHNSON Staff Reporter
About $70,000 stands between Battenfeld Hall and the addition and renovation work it was supposed to receive by this fall.
Wilson said he met with Battiefen residents Wednesday night to tell them the
J. J. Wilson, housing director, said yesterday that the housing office received bids Tuesday for the proposed construction at the 1297 Iowa St subway station. 1297 Iowa St submitted a low bid of $269.600.
But only $200,000 is available for the project, Wilson said. The money comes from a trust fund at the Kansas University Endowment Association.
The housing office has 30 days from Tuesday the bid date, to accept or reject the bid.
THE PROJECT INCLUDES building a four-room addition to the hall and a walkway to connect the addition to the hall. The hall had no construction since its opening in 1940
Wilson said the housing office, the office of student affairs and the Endowment Association were in the process of deciding what to do next about the Battenfeld project.
"We are not giving up on the thing," Wilson said.
"If that was necessary, then obviously we cannot get that bid available and ready for delivery."
ERIC ROTH, BATTENFELD president,
said many of the residents were upset by
the news because they were looking forward to
the additional space.
An alternative to scraping the project might be scaling it down.
Battenthole residents already had chosen their rooms for next school year under the assumption that the addition would be built. They might have the project, in some form, might be saved.
Roth said construction was supposed to have started several weeks after a bid had been accepted. That way, he said, construction could be finished by fall.
ROB SOUTHALL, PRAIRIE Village sophomore and Battferd field resident, said he and other residents were discouraged by the status of the project.
Southall said that if the addition were built, only three residents would share each study room. Currently, he said, most study rooms are shared by four men. All 48 Battenfeld residents sleep in a sleeping dorm on the third floor.
The Endowment Association owns the property on which Battenfeld stands, said Martin Henry, Endowment Association vice president for property. He said the Endowment Association was working with the University to determine the status of the project.
John Lechliter/KANSAN
Five-year-olds from Hilltop Child Development Center move to higher ground at Memorial Stadium to watch the Kansas Relays. Sheila Sons, who was watching the children yesterday, said the children had taken a vote before deciding to move higher.
Blood drive won't test for AIDS
By PAULA SCHUMACHER
Staff Reporter
A new blood test to detect AIDS won't be used during a campus blood drive next week, an official at American Red Cross regional blood center in Wichita said yesterday.
The test will not be used at the drive because Red Cross workers won't be ready to use it, said Sophie Smith, laboratory supervisor at the Wichita center.
The blood test determines whether blood contains antibodies found in blood of AIDS victims. AIDS, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, is an infliction in which the body's immune system becomes unable to resist disease.
The test was developed to help protect people receiving blood transfusions from contracting AIDS. The test was approved in March by the Food and Drug Administration.
The campus blood drive, sponsored by the
cannellinelle Association and the Interfraternity Council, will take place Wednesday day through April 26 at the Kansas Union. Students will be to campus since the late 1940s. Smith said
SMITH SAID THE RED Cross hoped to collect 300 pints of blood a day during the
Joanna Byers, executive director of the Lawrence Red Cross, said the Red Cross didn't want people in AIDS high-risk groups to donate blood during the campus drive. High-risk groups include homosexual men, intravenous drug users and hemophilias.
At the drive, Byers said, workers will distribute pamphlets telling people whether they've been vaccinated.
Several questions related to AIDS have been added to the medical history questionnaire that will be used at the drive. Beyers said. The questions deal with AIDS symp-
The Red Cross blood bank in Wiebli
already is working with the test kits, Smith said. Laboratory technicians are learning to use the test.
She said the Red Cross probably would need the next month's test would be used statewide for all blood tests.
A few test kits arrived in Wichita last month, Smith said. But most of the test kits went to San Francisco, Chicago, New York airport, where the need for them is greater.
Some medical experts have questioned the value of the test since it shows only that blood may be contaminated by AIDS. It can't prove that blood is contaminated or that the donor has AIDS.
In Kansas, seven cases of AIDS have been reported since 1982, said Donald Schwarz, manager of the venereal disease control program at the Kansas Department of Health. All of the cases have been diagnosed at the University of Kansas Medical Center, he said.
Reagan tries compromise to revive Contra financing
By United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Reagan, facing the prospect of a sharp foreign policy defeat, gave ground yesterday and accepted a plan to limit aid to Contra rebels in Nicaragua to assure that the money not be used for guns and bullets.
The White House signaled its agreement late in the day to a proposal, crafted by Senate Republican leaders, that eliminates a key element of Reagan's initial proposal—the conversion of $14 million in humanitarian aid into military assistance for the rebels if peace talks falter between the Contras and the Sandinista government of Nicaragua.
Under the deal, Congress would provide the $14 million, but would bar the use of any funds for military assistance. White House officials said. As a face-saving concession to
See AID, p. 5, col. 3
Nicaragua has already rejected the idea of talks with the Contras, and critics have argued Reagan's first proposal simply wrapped the temporary mantle of "peace plan" around his intention to use the money for military aid.
Reagan, the language also would reafirm support for his peace efforts in the region, the officials said.
House leaders late in the day agreed to a plan to allow the House, after the expected rejection of Reagan's initial proposal, to vote on a Democratic alternative and then on the new plan embraced by the administration
WITH SHOWDOWN VOTES set for tuesday in the Senate and House. Republican congressional leaders secured for a comeback in the midterms, increasingly nonexposed as a defeat for Reagan
Kansan Board picks top staff for summer, fall
The Kansas Board yesterday selected Jecravens, Emporia senior, as summer editor and Brett McCabe, Salina junior, as summer business manager.
The board, the newspaper's governing body, also selected Rob Karwath, Daveport Iowa, junior, as fall editor and writer. For the NC, Bebon, janor, as fall business manager.
Applications for the news and business staffs for summer and fall now are being accepted. The applications are available in the Kansas business office, 119 Stauffer-Fink; the Student Senate office, B105 of the Kansas Union, and the student organizations and activities office, room 403 of the Union.
Completed applications are due at 5 p.m today in 200 Stauffer-Flint.