CAMPUS / AREA
University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, April 29, 1992
3
Philip Meiring/KANSAN
That's a stretch
Terri Vick, Tonganoxie sophomore, rehearses her piece "Campanile" as her environmental choreography instructor, Joan Stone, watches. Vick is one of six dance students who will perform original works at outdoor campus locations tomorrow. The performances will begin at 2:30 p.m. in front of Fraser Hall, move to the Campanile and end in front of Wescoe Hall.
Templin diners hear testimony of racism
By Erik Bauer
Kansan staff writer
As Melanie Rogers, left, Omaha, Neb., sophomore, and Lisa Hullman, right, Pratt sophomore, finish their dinner at Templin Hall cafeteria, Frank Williams, Kansas City, Kan., junior, speaks about racism at KU.
Residents who ate dinner at Templin Hall last night heard testimony and opinions about racism from two concerned KU students.
Frank Williams, Kansas City, Kan., junior, and Curtis Jones, Kansas City, Mo., sophomore, addressed residents in a cafeteria they said was racially segregated.
Williams, who spoke for a half-hour, rearranged some tables to bring students closer together. He also asked residents to shake hands with people around them.
"You sit here, and you take a lot of stuff and you hear a lot of stuff and you say, 'There's nothing I can do to do anything against racism. But I'm here to tell you that you're wrong,' he said. "And if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem."
Williams said racism and discrimination were not limited to African Americans and other nonwhite ethnic groups. Anyone who was different often was discriminated against, including people who were overweight.
Kristen Petty/KANSAN
"Racism is a plague that has plagued this country for about 400 years," he said.
Many people hear jokes about racism from Eddie Murphy, Sam Kinison or other comedians, Williams 84.
"I'm here to tell you that those things are not jokes," he said. "Something about living here, you learn about these things. You learn about being an African American."
Williams said he could not believe that the difference in the amount of melanin in the skin had caused so much racism.
"The people around the equator have more melanin in their skin," he said. "We have more melanin in our skin because it protects us from the sun." In fact, melanin is also a protective factor that they had no use for melanin so they got lighter skin."
Williams said that racism and the system that per-
petuated it had to be stopped and that the situation woul-
d never be allowed to persist.
"This world will not be run by white people," he said. "It will be run by people of color and white people."
Jones, who spoke after Williams, said that the University was not racially diverse enough and that racism came from all directions.
"It comes from black people to white people," he said. "It comes from Native Americans to white people and vice versa."
Jones said he was not speaking to the audience only as an African-American man.
"I'm trying to talk to you as a man for all people," he said.
Jones said he thought that the KU administration had made some improvements and that the proposed multicultural center was one.
Nanci Cooper, El Dorado freshman, said she noticed that students in the cafeteria usually sat with people of the same racial background.
"I think that it's an important thing to talk about, especially around here because you see a lot of it," she said.
Signs of gang activity in Lawrence already apparent, officials say
By Andy Taylor
Kansan staff writer
Evidence of street gangs in Lawrence should warn local residents to be wary of unusual activity in their neighborhoods, local officials said last night.
Three speakers, representing Lawrence schools, law enforcement and the city itself, spoke to about 30 people at the Lawrence City Library last night about keeping gangs out of Douglas County. The Douglas County Republican Women sponsored the discussion.
Ted Juneau, an assistant principal at Lawrence High School, said that although hard-core gangs were evident in large metropolitan cities, gang-related activity also was apparent in Lawrence.
He said he had seen students carrying weapons at the high school, students wearing gang clothing, or "colors," and high school-age students carrying communication devices such as walkie-talkies and pagers.
"When we talk about gangs in Lawrence, you have to walk a fine line," he said. "Obviously, we know it a problem in Kansas City and Topeka. And we are seeing evidence of gang activity in Lawrence. Any problem of gangs in a part of Lawrence is a problem in all of Lawrence."
Tom Wilkerson, assistant director of parks and recreation, said "wannabee" gang members were the most prevalent in the community.
Wilkerson said gang activity had influenced area crime.
"In Lawrence we do not have the hard-core gangs," he said. "We have 'wannabees,' those wanting to receive attention that they are not receiving in their own homes."
"The police have reported our fifth drive-by shooting in Lawrence," he said. "The most pronounced evidence was the raid of a crack house in January in the 200 block of Illinois."
The speakers said they could not speculate whether those incidents were gang-related, but they did say that small communities such as Lawrence had the potential to become a base for gang activity.
Jerry Wells, Douglas County district attorney, said inner-city gangs usually expanded into smaller, suburban communities.
"The gangs have not been out in the open as they would be in Chicago or Los Angeles," he said. "But they are here. There has been drug activity associated with gangs that has occurred in this city. There have been robberies and burglaries that may have had people associated with gangs in them."
Wells also said Lawrence was attractive to gangs because it lacked ghetto areas.
"We do not have a geographically identified ghetto area," he said. "But the paradox is that everywhere is fair game."
The speakers said that Lawrence residents should watch for unusual activity in their neighborhoods, such as excessive traffic by one house or excessive mail and parcel delivery to one house.
Kathy Bruner, a Lawrence resident with two children attending Lawrence public schools, was one of the audience members. She said she was definitely worried about the status of gangs in the area.
"I'm attached to the schools here," she said. "And I have seen what has happened. There are definite in-roads for the gangs to enter the schools."
Survey gauges attitudes about sexual orientation
By Jenny Martin
Kansan staff writer
A survey measuring campus attitudes toward sexual orientation was sent out last week to a random sample of 5,000 members of the KU community, including students, faculty and staff.
The Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Concerns Study Committee developed the survey. The administration appointed the committee in January 1991 to study how people of different sexual orientations were treated on campus.
Dennis Saleebee, professor of social welfare and head of the committee, said the survey was developed to help the committee learn what attitudes existed on the KU campus toward sexual orientation.
He said the committee was looking at how sexual orientation affected quality of life for students, faculty and staff on campus.
"This survey is to give people the opportunity to express themselves one way or the other about how they see conditions of sexual orientation." Saleebey said.
He said the committee sponsored several public forums in the past year in which they learned that many gay, lesbian and bisexual people at the University had experienced a variety of harassments and discriminatory acts.
"It is a serious problem for a number
or members of this community, and many people suffer," Saleebey said.
He said the committee looked at what a number of other schools had done with respect to issues of sexual orientation.
The committee will incorporate the survey results and recommendations into a final report that they will give to the administration this fall.
Patrick Dilley, Lawrence graduate student, said he hoped for a high survey return rate because the committee thought community input was important.
The computer-generated survey was mailed to 5,000 anonymous and randomly selected people, including 2,750 students and 2,250 staff and faculty members and graduate teaching assistants.
Dilley said the committee would like to have the surveys returned by Friday so that it could review and interpret the data as soon as possible.
Our mission was to look into gay, lesbian and bisexual issues on campus and make recommendations for specific changes and implementation of these changes," he said. "The results of the survey will inform us on the final recommendations we will make to the vice chancellors."
In an effort to assess campus attitudes, the committee studied policies from other universities and met with people on campus to discuss their experiences. Dilley said.