THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VOL.101.NO.132
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
TUESDAY, APRIL 14,1992
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Steve Kunitz, left, Chesterfield, Mo., sophomore, Steve Aaronson, Flossmoor, III., freshman, and Mark Erman, Omaha, Neb., sophomore, study in boxes
Students focus on homeless
Volunteers spend time in boxes to raise money and awareness
By Shelly Solon Kansan staff writer
Scott Orlinsky, Evanston, Ill., freshman, will be spending as much time as he can in a box during the next three days.
With no books, no headphones — nothing, Orlinsky is spending his free hours raising money for the homeless in Lawrence. He began at 1:20 p.m. yesterday and sat in the box until 3:30. He said he would return after class.
"Obviously, it's different than how homeless people live because we can go back to our dorm or back to our house," he said.
He said the longer he and other students lived outside in boxes, the closer they would come to understanding how being homeless felt.
Even if it rains, Orlinsky said he planned to stay.
Orlinsky is one of the students participating in the Campaign to Fight Homelessness, which began yesterday and will end
Thursday. This is the second year that Alpha Epsilon Pi has sponsored the event.
The fraternity has set up a donation table near the intersection of Jayhawk Boulevard and Sunflower Road. The money raised will go the Lawrence Salvation Army.
Corey Zirlin, Northbrook, III., junior and co-coordinator of the campaign, said that last year the fraternity raised about $2,000.
This year's goal is $4,000, he said.
"Last year, we solely focused on getting support from fraternites and sororites," Zirlin said. "We have not abandoned that but we wanted to have more people involved. We've given out information and fliers, but we're also counting on word of mouth around campus."
He said that next year the fraternity would try to involve other organizations like KU Students Against Hunger and Black Men of Today.
Mike Gomberg, Des Plaines, Ill, senior and co-coordinator, said that this year the fraternity was focusing on community
groups and local churches.
"After all, it's not a problem on campus, it's a community problem," he said. "There are not many homeless people near campus. These people are downfront on Massachusetts Street or under the bridge. It's just not something many people on campus see."
Gomberg said the fraternity also went to residence halls and other living groups for support.
The campaign to fight homelessness began last year when a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi realized that homelessness was a problem in Lawrence and decided that he wanted to do something about it, Gomberg said.
Last year, about 300 people participated in the campaign.
Capt. George Windham of the Lawrence Salvation Army Emergency Shelter said that there were 250 to 400 homeless people in Lawrence. The emergency shelter, 946 New Hampshire St., houses about 35 people a night.
The Salvation Army Safehouse, which used to provide housing for people for up to 90 days, closed down last year because of financial problems. Windham said.
Jeff Bleich, Arlington Heights. Ill., junior, said the fraternity also wanted to help keep the emergency shelter open.
Today, there were only six boxes out in front of Watson Library.
He said that about 15 percent of the people on campus had contributed in some way to the campaign.
The fraternity has about 50 boxes that can be used during the campaign, Bleich said. He said he expected the fraternity to set up more during the week.
Although Alpha Epsilon Pi is sponsoring the event, Bleich said only six people from the house would be living in the boxes.
"We've gone to all the houses on campus and many of them will have people come out," he said. "They usually help us out that way and many houses give anywhere from $50 to $100 for the campaign."
KU corks graduation celebrations
Police plan to enforce drinking policy on Hill
By Andy Taylor
Kansan staff writer
Because of a new city ordinance and KU's prohibition policy, drinking or possessing beer or alcohol is forbidden on the KU campus.
KU seniors planning on walking down Campanile Hill at the May 17th Commencement may find less pomp and more circumstance if they drink beer or alcohol at the ceremony.
While seniors and family members traditionally celebrate with champagne or beer at graduation, KU officials said they would try to control the amount of drinking.
David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs, said people who attended past graduates had expressed concern about rowdy revelers taking the ceremonial walk down the Hill.
"There have been efforts for a number of years to control consumption at Commencement," he said. "There have been complaints from people who were offended by the behavior of some people."
Ambler also said the city ordinance was used to make University policy and city laws consistent and comprehensive.
The city ordinance, approved in March by the Lawrence City Commission, prohibits the consumption and possession of 3.2 beer and alcohol in public places, except in designated areas.
The ordinance was requested by KU officials who said they wanted to control drinking at post-basketball game parties along Jayhawk Boulevard and on Campanile Hill during Saturday football games.
Lt. John Mullens, KU police representative, said the department would inform people of drinking policies before they got to the Hill or Memorial Stadium.
"Generally what we will do, as we have in the past, is approach people with alcohol or beer before they hit campus," he said. "We'll go through the normal procedures by asking them to dispose of the beverage. We'll issue a citation as a last resort."
Mullens said the number of events May 17 usually kept people from drinking too much beer or alcohol.
*With the breakfasts, hooding ceremonies, luncheons and early afternoon Commencement, people usually are*
*offered a variety of options.
Julie Bahr, senior class president from Leawood, said that although the prohibition would lessen the flow of alcohol, the ceremony would be taken more seriously.
"From what I've heard, our Commencement is wilder than at other universities," she said. "I think this will let graduation be a more serious time. But I think the University is doing this for public relations. They thought that past graduations had been out of control, so they had to do something about it."
Flood waters recede below Chicago Loop
City workers use rocks, mattresses to plug hole in river's retaining wall
The Associated Press
CHICAGO — Downtown Chicago virtually shut down yesterday when a river's retaining wall ruptured, sending water cascading into a turn-of-the-century tunnel system deep beneath the city's business district.
Workers apparently plugged the breach late yesterday. But power to most of downtown, which was shut off during the day, was expected to remain out for at least another full day while the tunnels were drained, officials said.
Only nine building basements flooded, but thousands of workers in the city's Loop, the heart of downtown, were evacuated at midday. Thousands more at the fringe of the problem were sent home as a precaution. Traffic was snarled and commuters jammed trains and buses in an eerie, early rush hour.
The flooded tunnels, which form a network 40feet below ground throughout downtown and once were used for coal delivery and ash removal, house Commonwealth Edison's electrical transformers. So the company shut power off as a precaution.
"Water and electricity don't mix, and we're doing this for the people's safety," utility representative Margaret Winters said.
No injuries were reported.
City workers threw gravel, rocks, sandbags and mattresses off barges into the Chicago River where the retaining wall ruptured, hoping to plug the funnel-shaped, car-sizable hole. The wall holds the river in its course.
At 8:30 p.m., more than 14 hours after the flooding began, the water level had dropped to about 6 ft.
The cause of the rupture wasn't immediately known. "At this time, we're going to stop the water from flowing. We're not going to get into who is to blame," Mayor Richard Daley said at a news conference.
had gone down about a foot, said Bob Wysocki, a representative for the Department of Streets and Sanitation. "This indicates there isn't any more water coming in right now," he said.
Wysocki said city crews would continue to pile dirt and gravel into the river and hoped to form a dike around what they thought to be the hole's location. Then crews will try to seal the breach permanently.
There was no street flooding, although some buildings pumped water from their basements into the streets.
Daley requested that the entire Loop be evacuated. Among buildings emptied were the Sears Tower — at 110 storeys — and the 80-story Amoco Building.
"This is a very serious problem," he added.
"I'm shutting down. I've got no choice," said John Catanese, who operates two popcorn and sandwich stores downtown.
But there was as much as 30 feet of water in basements and sub-base walls.
In those buildings, workers were sent home before power was turned off, sparing them from walking down many flights of stairs. In some tall buildings, workers had to descend on foot.
Chicago tunnel flooding
The flooding closed the world's main futures and options exchanges — the
Areas and buildings affected
Chicago Board of Trade, Chicago Board Options Exchange and Chicago Mercantile Exchange. As a result, tens of billions of dollars in trades were eliminated, and the day was the second-slowest trading day of the year on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Board of Trade said it wouldn't reopen before Wednesday. The other two exchanges expected to reopen today.
Stores, businesses and the downtown subway system closed, though
the elevated train circling the area continued running. The Chicago Transit Authority offered free bus service out of the Loop, but discouraged people from taking public transit into the area. Traffic lights stopped working, and police were stationed in intersections to unsnarral the resulting gridlock.
The affected area included City Hall, the State of Illinois building and the Cook County building. Inmates were confined to their cells at a federal prison in the area.
Complaints filed about early closure of booth
By Jay Williams Kansan staff writer
Two KU students filed official complaints yesterday saying the Student Senate voting booth at the Kansas Union closed before its scheduled closing time Thursday afternoon.
The students who were not allowed to vote could have affected the race in the fine arts Senate race, in which two candidates tied for a seat. The two students who were allegedly turned away are fine arts students.
The complaints will be investigated by the Student Senate Elections Commission.
Christina Gangi, Wilmington, Del., junior, filed a complaint that said the two workers at the Union told voters that the polls closed at 4:25 p.m. According to the Student Senate Elections Code, polls were to close at 4:30 p.m.
A coin flip is scheduled for 12: 45 p.m. today to determine the winner of the race, and the commission will make a determination before then.
Gangi said that she voted about 4:25 p.m., and that the workers at the booth told her she would be the last person to vote.
"I remember asking him if it was too late to vote," she said. "I'm pretty sure he told me I would be the last person to vote."
"I just assumed it was 4:25 because they were packing up their election stuff and getting ready to leave," she said.
Gangi said she heard the workers say it was too late. The woman asked if the polls closed at 4:30 p.m. and the worker said they closed at 4:25 p.m., Gangi said.
While Gangi voted, she heard one woman approach the booth and ask if two more people could vote, she said.
Becky Harrin, Prairie Village freshman, said she and her roommate, Liz Parker. Leawood freshman, arrived
STUDENT ELECTION
SENATE
at the Union to vote at 4:23 p.m. after taking a bus to the Union.
Harrin and Parker said they would have voted for Stephen McCurney, Vision fine arts candidate. McBurney has written fine arts candidate Regee Rosen.
Harrin said workers at the booth told them the polls closed at 4:25 p.m., so the ballots would be ready for commission members to pick up at 4:30.
"When we were walking out of the Union, I looked at my watch and it said 4:24, so we were there before the time anyway," she said. "We just kept walking because we were upset."
Harrin also filed a complaint yester-
day.
Kelli Zuel, a member of the commission, said that she helped close the poll at the Union and that they did not close until after she arrived at the booth at 4:30 p.m.
Harrin said that nobody was voting when she asked to vote, but Gangi said she heard the conversation between Harrin and the workers.
Ruth Stoner, also a member of the commission, said the commission would investigate the complaints.
The commission will not comment or deny the allegations, she said.
All official complaints will be heard the hearing board, which is composed of members of the elections commission not involved in the complaint-filing process, except for the head of the board, who cannot be a member of the commission, according to the elections code.
The board has until Monday to schedule hearings about the complaints.