KU survives scare
The University Daily
74-69 victory over Nebraska sends 'Hawks to Kansas City. See story on page 11.
KANSAN
Cloudy, warmer High, 50. Low, 30. Details on page 3.
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas.
Vol. 95, No. 109 (USPS 650-640)
Wednesday, March 6, 1985
Med Center losing transplant surgeon
By GREG LARSON Staff Reporter
Home is where the heart is for Thomas J. Bixler II.
So Bixier, chief of the heart transplant team at the University of Kansas Medical Center, plans to leave the Med Center on July 1 to take a job at a hospital his father helped establish, The Tallahassee, Pla Bixier, 37, has performed six heart transplants at the Med Center.
Officials at Tallahassee Memorial Regional Medical Center have asked Bixler to become chairman of the organ transplant program at the hospital.
Med Center officials announced yesterday that A. Michael Borkon, cardiothoracic surgeon at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, would replace Bixler as chairman of the department of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery.
D. Kay Clawson, executive vice chancellor for the College of Health Sciences, said of Bixler's leaving, "I couldn't believe that he built the program (at the Med Center)."
"HE DIDN'T WANT more money — he didn't want more of anything. He just wanted to return to his home and the hospital that his father helped start."
Bixler said, "Tallahassee is my hometown and that is the only reason I'm leaving. In the Florida job, I can establish a new program with a large number of patients.
"The University has supported the transplant program well. The most important element is the patient."
Borkan is a transplant surgeon on one of the busiest transplant teams in the world."
"I feel we can establish a high quality transplant program. With accumulation of the right staff, it can be the best in the world."
Borkon, Bixler's replacement, said, "I'm flattered by the appointment. I will continue to put the Med Center in the forefront of heart transplants.
CLAWSON SAID BORKON, 34, was selected because he had helped start the heart transplant program at the Med Center and because he could perform heart-lung
Neither the Med Center nor Bixler performs heart-lung transplants.
Borkon said two or three surgeons from Japan Housus would accompany him to the Med Center.
Only Julian Hurt, chief resident of cardiac surgery, will leave the Med Center transplant staff to go to Tallahassee, Bixler said.
The reason for bringing the surgeons was to provide a broad background for Med Surg.
Borkon is a graduate of Case Western Reserve College in Cleveland, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He received his graduate training at Johns Hopkins University in 1982 and served as the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institute of Health.
Bixler arrived at the Med Center in 1981 from John Hopkins University. He has performed six heart transplants at the Med Center and has been chairman of the department of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery for two years.
Pentagon gets tough on military suppliers
Bv United Press International
He also said the Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation.
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger yesterday suspended payments of overhead and administrative expenses to General Dynamics Corp. as part of a Pentagon get-tough policy toward large military contractors.
Bills for such expenses as travel, entertainment and other non-defense items run about $35 million a month from General Dynamics, the nation's biggest military contractor. Pentagon spokesman Michael Burch said.
Weinberger's surprise announcement to a gathering of the American Legion followed an incomplete Pentagon audit of the giant firm and a hearing last week by a House subcommittee. At the hearing, company
Chairman David Lewis was accused of stock manipulation and millions of dollars in mischarges to taxpayers.
Weinberger said some of the General Dynamics expenses disclosed at the House panel hearing might be valuable some other way, as evidence being investigated by the Justice Department.
REP. JOHN DINGELL, D-Mich., whose Energy and Commerce subcommittee held the hearings Thursday into alleged abuses by General Dynamics, said he was glad Weinberger had awakened from a prolonged period of rest and taken action.
"I am hopeful this awakening will lead to a more careful monitoring of the expenses of his agency and I want to commend him for the success, if belated, first step," Dinchell said.
General Dynamics, the biggest defense
See DEFENSE, p. 5, col. 1
After a brief cold snap, weather in Lawrence is again becoming springlike. Even James Woods Green yesterday belied his stony expression by grasping a balloon as he stood at his usual spot outside Lippincott Hall.
Similar suit still pending for professor
By J. STROHMAIER and RICK ZAPOROWSKI Staff Reporters
A professor of political science who filed a lawsuit against KU officials last week filed a similar suit six years ago, a clerk for the U.S. District Court in Topeka said yesterday.
On Feb 28, Anil Wilmer filed an $8 million lawsuit in the Kansas City, Kan., office of the U.S. District Court against Chancellor Gene A. Budig and 13 other faculty and staff members, making it the second suit she has filed for alleged violations of civil rights.
Willner would not comment Monday on her recent suit. She was unavailable for com-
pany.
In April 1979, Willner, along with Myra Hinman, associate professor of English, filed a suit against the University and five other faculty and staff members for alleged "damages and injunctive relief for employment discrimination on the basis of sex," the clerk said.
BOTH OF WILLNER'S suits allege she was discriminated against in the areas of salary, merit salary evaluations, workload and the granting of leaves for research.
In the suit filed last week, Willner asked for $3 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. The 1979 suit did not specify a specific amount of money for the settlement.
Hinman said that in November 1982, her suit with Willner had been separated by the judge, forcing each plaintiff to pursue her own case. Hinman her case had had a pre-trial hearing but had not been assigned a trial date.
The clerk, who asked not to be identified,
said Willner's 1979 suit also had not been assigned a trial date. He said a trial date for
See LAWSUIT. p. 5. col. 1
Panel objects to Farrakhan visit
By JULIE MANGAN
Staff Reporter
An attempt to block Student Senate financing of the planned appearance on campus of Louis Farrakhan, controversial Black Separatist leader, was approved last night by the Senate Minority Affairs Committee.
committee and would not initiate any action even if approved by the full Senate.
The committee voted 7-1, with one abstention, to send a non-binding resolution to the Senate asking that Senate funds not be used for Farrakhan's proposed visit March 24.
The resolution is the opinion of the
Senators may vote tonight on a bill to allocate $3,600 for the appearance of Farrakhan and $900 for the appearances of Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young and Emmanuel Cleaver, Kansas City, Mo., city councilman, on March 18.
The appearances of Young and Cleaver also are being financed by donations from private groups such as the Adolph Coors Co. and Student Union Activities.
In order to stop Senate funds from being used for the speeches, senators would have to reject the bill.
During the 2½ hours of debate last night,
supporters and opponents of the proposed
Senate allocation for Farrakhan's speech addressed the committee.
"He offends me as a human being," Mark Wallman, president of Hillel, a Jewish campus organization, said of Farrakhan, who thought of what he stands for offends me.
But Dennis Highberger, Liberal Arts and Sciences senator, said students should have the opportunity to hear Farrakhan in person. If the Senate had control of funds for special speakers, he said, one no more controversial than a bowl of oatmeal could speak on campus.
Farrakhan's planned appearance is part of the Black Student Union Lecture Series, being held in conjunction with Alpha Week.
Owens bounces back invests in new career
By MIKE GREEN Staff Reporter
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ted Owens rode his players' shoulders off the court at Lloyd Noble Center on March 8, 1983, second after he scored in the first half, the nationally ranked Oklahoma Sooners.
Two weeks later, Owens had ridden the fortunes of college basketball coaching to their depths. He was out of a job after being fired by Athletic Director Monte Johnson.
"AN EXPERIENCE in athletics is one of the best preparations there is for life on the outside world." Owens said last month. "No matter what happens, you pick yourself up and go on."
For Owens, the memories of that March two years ago are still painful. But he's started his life over — in an office, not on a basketball court.
Johnson cited the cyclical nature of Owens' record during the past decade as the main reason for the dismissal. Owens had served 348,382 during 10 seasons at the University of Kansas.
Owens, 55, has embarked on a new course in life. In July, he began working as an investment broker with Drexel Burnham and Lambert Inc. in Kansas City, Mo. By all appearances, he has been successful in his new career.
The words might sound like a coaching cliche, but they mean a great deal to Owens and many others.
OWEN'S SPEAKS WITH an easy draw that reveals his Oklahoma roots. Always quick with a smile and a joke, he projects a warmth that puts a visitor at ease.
From behind a desk in his small but elegant office, Owens takes calls from clients and keeps an eye on the latest stock market information coming over a video display
Besides the job change, Owens and his
wife, Michelle, have moved to new home in Lenexa. For Owens, leaving Lawrence meant leaving his home of the past 24 years.
He had become an assistant coach at KU in 1960 and assumed the top spot in 1964. During the next 19 years, Owens roamed the KU sidelines, usually grasping a rolled-up program and wearing a look of intense concentration.
Although Owens could become animated during the heat of a game, he never indulged in flamboyant behavior such as chewing on towels or throwing chairs.
HISLIST OF achievements at KU is lengthy. He guided the Jayhawks to eight 20-win seasons. Owens' teams won the Big Eight Conference regular season championship six times, and he took teams to the NCAA Tournament's Association tournament seven times.
Owens' 1971 and 1974 teams advanced to the NCAA-final four. He coached such Jayhawk standouts as Jo White, Dave Balsch, Bad Sullaward and Worthy Valentine.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ted Owens has made the adjustment from watching his players' moves in Allen Field House to watch stock market data roll across his video display tec
Strong rebounding and excellent defense were traits that Owens' teams consistently displayed, according to Sam Miranda, who was an assistant to Owens for 13 years.
Miranda said another of Owens' attributes was his ability to get the most out of his training.
minal. The former head basketball coach has worked since July as an investment broker — a job that he said recently was just as demanding at times as coaching.
"He was able to get his players to play hard in practice as well as in games, which is hard to do," said Miranda, who now works for a travel agency in Lawrence.
ROGER MORNINGSTAR, who started at forward on the 1974 and 1975 teams, recalled that Owens was "thorough with his X's and O's."
"If you messed up in practice, you were called to his office and shown on a blackboard exactly what you did wrong." Mr. Culverstar, who works in Denver for Converse Intec.
Although Owens was tough in practice,
Morningstar said, he was a friend to players off the court.
"He was just a really nice guy," he said. "We used to call him 'Smiling Ted.' He was always shaking hands."
Radio announcer Hedrick, who covered KU basketball as the "Voice of the Jayhawks" from 1960 to 1967 and again from 1975 to 1984, also remembered Owens for his kindness toward players. He remembered a game in December 1975, when former KU forward Donnie Von Moore suffered a colapsed lung.
YET, OWEN'S decency off the court and his many successes on it didn't prevent him from being attacked by critics when his teams hit some down years during the late 90s.
During the 1976-77 season, some students wore "Gong Owens" T-shirts to the games. Owens said he tried not to let the criticism bother him.
"Ted helped to take care of him and saw that he got back on his feet." Hedrick said.
"You can't function as a coach if you get wrapped up in what people think," he said. "But you need to be an instructor."
doesn't want to be loved and who doesn't want to walk on the court to cheers.
"From a coach's standpoint, you're going to be at the focal point people's emotions. This is an important part of them."
DESPITE THE criticism and the mounting pressure to win, Owens said he never seriously considered leaving Alabama through the University of Oklahoma, University of Texas.
"It was special here," he said. "I liked being a part of it."
See OWENS, p. 5, col. 4