VOL.101,NO.133
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
I THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
WEDNESDAY.APRIL15,1992
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Tails lands Vision in last Senate seat
Stephen McBurney, Vision candidate, second from left, and Renee Rosen, Unless candidate, right, await the outcome of a coin flip to decide a fine arts Student Senate seat.
Complaints may be moot after coin flip
By Jay Williams
Kansan staff writer
The result of the coin flip could render most official complaints saying the polling booth at the Kansas Union closed five minutes early, although Student Senate Elections Commission members say the poll did close early.
Vision yesterday completed its domination of the 1992 Student Senate elections by winning the coin flip to break the tie in the fine arts Senate race.
A result of tails gave Stephen McBurney, Vision fine arts candidate, the Student Senate seat. McBurney and Renee Rosen, Unless fine arts candidate, had tied with 70 votes each after the ballots were counted last week.
McBurney said he was happy the ordeal was completed. If he would have lost the coin flip, his only hope would have been with the women who filed complaints.
"Now that I have won, it shouldn't be an issue," he said. "But I still think it wasn't fair that they didn't get to vote."
Rosen said she was not disappointed because the coin flip was out of her control.
She said that if she would have won the flip, the elections commission might have conducted an election between the two candidates based on the complaints filed.
"If they did close early, who knows who would have come in to vote?" she said.
Two fine arts students filed complaints Monday stating that the Union polls closed five minutes early, preventing them from voting and affecting the outcome of the election.
Chris Thomas, elections commissioner, said the status of the complaints depended on whether the two women who filed the complaints wished to pursue them further.
Kelli Zuel, member of the elections commission, said she learned Monday that Union polls did close early Thursday.
She said poor communication between herself and the election workers at the Union led to the mistake.
"I told them to start cleaning up at 4:25, and they thought I meant close the rolls." Zuel said.
She said that the incident was unfortunate and that the elections commission would try to instruct poll workers better in the future.
Ruth Stoner, also a commission member, said this was the first reported incident of polls closing early during an election.
The two students who filed complaints said they would not pursue the
incident further.
Becky Harrin, Prairie Village freshman, said she and her roommate were told it was too late to date, although it was about 4:25 p.m. The polls were scheduled to close at 4:30 p.m.
"I hope that everybody knew what happened," Harris said. "I just don't want it to happen again."
She said she and her roommate would have voted for McBurney in the election.
Christina Gangi, Wilmington, Del., junior, said she was voting at the time election workers told Harrin it was too late to vote.
Gangi said she filed a complaint to let people know what happened.
"I'm not going to make a big deal out of it," she said. "But if anybody were to ask, I would tell them what happened."
Yesterday's victory gave Vision 52 Senate seats out of 64 available in the election, completing one of the most dominant victories in Senate election history.
Kristen Petty / KANSAN
Staci Sill, left, Jefferson City, Mo., freshman, offers her competitor, Marnie Dodson, encouragement as the Amarillo, Texas, sophomore dons the Baby Jay
Rock Chalk Mascot
uniform. Dodson, a fourth-generation KU student,
was one of eight mascot contestants selected from
a field of about 15 at the tryouts yesterday.
Olathe teacher to discuss Kennedy's assassination
By Greg Farmer Kansan staff writer
When shots killed President John F Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, Casey Quinlan was 13 years old.
"I was playing sports, like most kids my age, and I wasn't very interested in government," said Quinlan, now a U.S. history teacher at Olathe South High School. "But when John Kennedy was killed, everyone, regardless of age, cared."
Quinlan said he spent hours watching the television news and trying to understand what had happened.
"I, like most everyone else at the time, accepted that Lee Harvey Oswald had killed the president," he said. "I wasn't yet old enough to question."
But for the last 23 years, Quinlan has researched the Kennedy assassination, and he no longer thinks that Oswald killed Kennedy.
"Oswald was not the trigger man," Quinlan said. "The evidence reviewed by the Warren Commission just does not support Oswald as the assassin. He may have been involved, but he was not the assassin."
Quinlan will lecture and answer questions about the Kennedy assassination at 7tonight at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
EdAusin, vice president of KU's sophomore class, said tickets for the speech are purchased for $3 in front of Wescos Hall. The Board of Class Officers is sponsoring Quinian's lecture.
"I am convinced that there was a conspiracy to kill Kennedy and then a conspiracy to cover it up," he said. "I believe I can prove both conspiracies. That's what I focus on in my lectures, and then I present new information."
Quinlan would not say whether he knew who pulled the trigger or triggers.
"That's the report that attempts to prove that Oswald acted alone in killing the president," he said. "The report seemed to be pretty definite, but I went to the 26-volume report that included all the evidence heard by the Warren Commission."
Quinlan began his research by reading the condensed version of the Warren Commission Report.
Quinlan said he had read about half
of the 26 volumes.
"What I see is a bunch of evidence that says Oswald wasn't even where the Warren Commission concluded he shot from," he said. "The Warren Commission heard the evidence, but they concluded what they wanted to conclude."
Quinlan has been in Dallas five times in the last two years.
"The Kennedy assassination is at the heart of contemporary American history," hesaid. "It is interwoven into the fabric of our society. I believe strongly that when Kennedy was killed, a part of the moral fiber of America died with him.
Quinlan said he had read between 400 and 500 books on the Kennedy assassination — six in the last week.
"For instance, I never believed Lyndon Johnson was a player in the assassination. I just never wanted to believe that a president of the United States could play a part in destroying our values. But now I believe he was involved. He was not the trigger man, but he somehow was involved in the planning."
Although promotional materials
Casey Quinlan
published by the Board of Class Officers to Quinlan as an adviser to Oliver Stone for the movie "JFK," Quinlan said he actually was not a Stone advisor but was interviewed last year for a TV program about the movie. He did see the movie six times.
"It doesn't follow perfect chronological order, and that hurts the accuracy a bit," he said. "But the fact that someone finally had the courage to make a movie that asks important, unanswered questions is crucial."
"What is everyone so afraid of? Are we afraid that the truth might lead to the downfall of this nation? If that's the fear, maybe the foundation of our society is weak."
Pacific waters warm U.S.
Weather year off to second mildest start on record
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Thanks in part to warming waters in the Pacific, this year's weather is off to the second mildest start on record, the government reported yesterday.
Temperatures averaged 39.9 degrees across the contiguous states for the January-March period, the National Climatic Data Center said. Only 1921, with an average of 40.2 degrees for those three months, produced a warmer start, according to records dating to 1895.
Chester Ropelowski, of the federal Climate Analysis Center in Camp Spring, Md., attributed the mild conditions in part to the phenomenon known as El Nino, a periodic warming of waters in the eastern Pacific.
"At least the northern tier of Western states tend to be warmer during the El Nino year," Ropelewski said. "And this El Nino episode has been characterized by a broad expanse of warm temperatures over North America."
The first three months have been the
warmest on record in Iowa, Kansas.
Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota,
Oklahoma and South Dakota.
Ropelewski pointed out that the mildness was not universal. "Spring was cold in the East, especially New England," he said, "You'd have a hard time convincing people in New England it was a mild March."
Still, close to one-half, 49.2 percent, of the country has been very warm when compared to the normal, while none of the country has averaged very cold temperatures during the first three months, the center reported.
Richard Heim Jr., of the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., said that the computations were preliminary and could change some what when final figures are in. Several other years are close to the 1992 figures, including 1953, 1986 and 1990, records show.
The December-February winter period was the mildest on record, also partly as a consequence of the El Nino phenomenon. While not fully understood, El Nino adds both warmth and moisture to the air, disrupting normal weather patterns over wide areas.
Meanwhile, meteorologists have been reluctant to relate short-term weather events to widely publicized reports of global warming, saying a warm season or two does not constitute a climate trend.
Men's Student Union gives place to talk about issues, concerns
By Shelly Solon
Kansan staff writer
Some people did not know what to expect when they heard about the formation of a new campus organization called Men's Student Union.
Thomas Gier, founder of the group, sent a newsletter announcing the beginning of the union, which had its first meeting last night. But people who worked there heard about the organization went in with many different preconceptions.
Ger, Leawood senior, said he wanted to form a group in which men could meet and talk about men's issues. Comments made in class by Dennis Dalley, professor of social wet-
fare, persuaded Gier to create an organization for men.
"We want to give any man who wants to the position to talk honestly with other men," he said. "I've been doing this informally for a while. Calling it an organization is a new idea."
The core of the organization is small discussion groups, Gier said.
"This is for simple men who are not especially intelligent or especially sensitive who want to talk about their concerns," Gier said.
He said it a serious group yet was not formal or about political agen-
"We want to give any man who wants to the position to talk honestly with other men."
He said the group was not about backlash toward women's groups or a
Thomas Gier
founder Men's Student Union
vehicle for male dominance. The organization also will focus on ending violence, promoting safe and responsible sexual practices and re-evaluating men's roles.
About 14 people came to the meeting.
Approximately half of them were women.
Dalley, who was asked to be the faculty sponsor of the group, warned against setting a definite agenda and being set on establishing a structured
rganization.
He said the group should start off ust being a small group that talked bout how men struggled with men's sues.
"In the past, men's groups like this aven't worked, but I don't know if hat's because they had no clear purpose or whether men just are not used doing this," Dailey said.
After receiving a letter announcing the first meeting of th group, some people said they were worried about the idea of having a vien's Student Union.
Connie Burk and Sharon Danoff-
Burg, members of Students Against
Violence Against Womyn, and Kristin
Lange, student body vice president, were invited to the meeting.
"We support men educating other men," Burk said. "But we are keenly aware of the backlash afoot. It would be negligent of us not to come here and see what this was about. I think we're glit it turned out as favorably as it did."
Sophia Muse, Cape Gerardeau, Mo,
sophomore, said she had heard Gier
talking about the group since January.
"I've heard a lot of men talking about their dissatisfaction with their present position," Muse said. "They are disatisfied with traditional roles. These things can lead to the destruction of a man as a person."