CAMPUS / AREA
University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, April 1. 1992
3
Class-withdrawal deadline is today
By Ranjit Arab
Kansan staff writer
While students throughout the University are searching for courses to enroll in for next fall, the deadline for withdrawing from this semester's classes is today.
Joe Van Zand, director of the advising support center, said students withdrawing from courses in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences had until 5 p.m. today in order to receive a "W" — for withdrawal — on their transcripts.
Deadlines for withdrawing from professional school classes vary.
Withdrawal cards can be filled out in 15! Strong Hall.
Van Zandt said that although a "W" was not desirable, it was more preferable than a failing grade. A grade point average is the grade point average or total hours.
Students with one or two "W's on their transcripts should not be worried, he said.
However, he said students with two or three "W's a semester ran the risk of being dismissed as lazy by future employers.
"Almost all students will have an occasion in which a 'W' would not be a stigma, " Van Zandt said.
"Then you are looking at a student who is not taking his studies seriously." he said.
Van Zandt said that today was the end of the second five-week period of the semester in which students in it would receive a 'W* for with-drawing.
In the first five-week period each semester, students in every school are allowed to drop courses without a mark on their transcripts.
After 5 p.m. today, the third five-week period will officially begin. Students then must file a petition to drop a course, Van Zandt said.
The petition would be reviewed by an academic standards subcommittee. The subcommittee is comprised of three faculty members and two students.
Van Zandt said the subcommittee followed strict guidelines in allowing students to withdraw late. He said that the subcommittee received between 300 to 400 petitions a year and that 16 per cent of those petitions were rejected.
"The rule of thumb is that some things fairly major has to have transpired for the student," he said.
After 5 p.m. today, students wishing to withdraw must provide written evidence that they are not able to complete the class. Evidence includes written notes from physicians or funeral noticees of family members. The student must also valid enough reason for petitioning for withdrawal, he said.
"The committee generally feels that a student has other feedback, such as homework, by the end of the second five weeks which would indicate whether they understand the material or not," he said.
"At that point, what was easy at 5 p.m. becomes very hard at 5:01 p.m." he said.
Van Zandt said students should realize that the petitioning process was much more difficult that the withdrawal process.
Jeff Lindsey, Florence, Colo., freshman, said that although he knew he would withdraw from his Calculus 115 class after he failed the March 19 midterm, he waited to drop it.
"I wanted to stay in the class to soak up as much knowledge as possible," Lindsey said. "I have learned a lot for when I take the class next year, even after bombing the midterm."
Brown may visit KU tomorrow
pus at that time as previously expected.
If Brown comes Thursday night, he will speak at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansasas Union. All said.
Members of KU Young Democrats still are waiting to get final word about whether presidential candidate Jerry Brown will speak on the KU campus.
All said if that Brown's campaign headquarters did not make a commitment today, he would not be able to make further arrangements.
He said Brown's schedule had been tightened by opponent Bill Clinton's proposal to meet for several more debates before the New York primary, which also is on Tuesday.
Sands files harassment claim
Matt All, the organization's newly-elected president, said last night that the latest news from Brown's headquarters in California was that the presidential hopeful will be on campus at 8 p.m. tomorrow.
Kansan staff report
By Jerry Schmidt
Kansan staff writer
Incident at Dillons racially motivated running back says
Former Kansas running back Tony Sands filed a complaint last night with Lawrence police after he said he was harassed at a Lawrence grocery store, according to police and Sands.
Sands said he thought an employee at Dillons, 1015 W. 23rd St., insuainted he was shoplifting because he was African American.
Sands said he was shopping yesterday at the store when he noticed a store employee watching him. He was shopping with his son and cousin.
While his son and cousin went to another part of the store, Sands said he went to an aisle to get cereal for his son. There, he said, the store employee began straightening boxes of cereal that seemingly did not need straightening so he could get a closer look at him.
All said he had submitted an application to reserve the area in front of Wescoe Hall for noon Friday but that Brown probably would not be on camping with his son and cousin.
Sands was carrying a briefcase, which he said possibly prompted the employee to be suspicious. He said he asked the employee if he was following him, and the employee replied, "Should be?"
Another employee approached Sands, he said, but Sands did not speak with him. Sands never was accused outright of shoplifting, he said.
Lawrence police arrived at the store while Sands was there and asked him to step outside. he said, Sands said he
had nothing to say to police and left the store without further questioning by police.
Dillons employees declined to comment
Sands later to Lawrence police and filed a complaint, said Officer David Axman. The offense listed on the report was "harassment," Axman said.
about the incident. Ron Good, manager of the store, said he was present at the time of the incident but also declined comment.
Tony Sands
Axman would not comment further
about the incident or about whether Lawrence police were dispatched to the Dillons store.
"They followed me because I'm a Black man and I had a briefcase," he said. "I'm being racially picked on. It is outlandish. I've never had trouble in this town in all the time that I've been here."
Officer Ernest Gwin of Lawrence police said a report on the incident would be available today.
Sands said he thought the incident was racially motivated.
Sands, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., was the Big Eight Conference's Offensive Player of the Year in 1991 and is the all-time leading rusher in Kansas football history. He broke two NCAA records last fall when he ran for 396 yards on 58 carries in Kansas' 53-29 season-ending victory against Missouri.
More than a green thumb
Mounting dried plant specimens is all in a day's work for LeeAnn Bennett, Leavenworth senior. Bennett, who works in the R.L. McGregor Herbarium on West Campus, gathers the dried flowers, weeds and mosses collected by botany students.
KU professors try to expand American-Indian studies
By Mark Martin
Special to the Kansan
Students at the University of California-Berkleyface a year-long waiting list to get into American-Indian Studies classes. The department, which offers classes ranging from American Indian law to American Indians in cinema, gives seven or eight degrees a year.
At KU, several classes in American Indian topics are offered in everything from anthropology to English literature, but students must organize several courses themselves to receive a major. Many think an expanded department is needed.
"I always have people asking me what there is at KU, and if there are classes available," said Caverly Smith, Chinne, Ariz. junior and past president of the Native American Students Association. "Right now, there
aren'tenough."
Now several KU professors are trying to change that. An informal, self-organized committee hopes to consolidate current classes in American Indian subjects, and to expand the program possibly to offer degrees in the future.
The group met with James Musskens, dean of the liberal arts and sciences, yesterday to discuss their ideas.
Bud Hirsch, professor in English, said, "The dean was very positive. The next step in expanding the program is to meet with Haskell Indian Junior College representatives to see how they can help us."
Muyskens said that each university would have to evaluate its own resources.
*With so many Native Americans in the Midwest, and with Haskell here in town, KU has a great opportunity to do
a lot with a program," he said.
"We had overwhelming response to the survey," said Al Johnson, professor of anthropology. Johnson prepared the questionnaire. "There were 58 responses from people either already incorporating Native-American subjects into classes and research or wanting to start."
The group plans to meet with KU faculty who are currently teaching or researching American-Indian topics. A recent faculty questionnaire circulated by the group showed interest in expanding the current program.
Rita Napier, professor of history and another member of the group, stressed the importance of more American-Indian studies at KU.
There are 150 American Indians enrolled at KU this semester. This is less than 1 percent of the entire KU student body.
"It's an important topic, whether there's a major offered or not," she said. "More classes dealing with Native Americans would create more understanding, something which is
"I think a lot of Native-American students look at whether or not a university has a program," Smith said. "Whether or not they want to get the major, they feel like there would be more support at a university with a degree program."
The Board of Regents, because of shrinking budgets, has declared a hold on starting any new programs at KU. But Johnson said that little money would be necessary to expand the program.
"There's really enough currently going on in various departments," he said. "We would just need a director, or someone to consolidate classes under one program."
Students can combat struggles of Indian life
By Shelly Solon
Kansan staff writer
Although many American-Indian college students in Lawrence leave behind problems often associated with American-Indian community life, services in Lawrence help them deal with the problems they continue to struggle with.
a national survey printed last week
the American Medical Association identified high suicide rates, feelings of hopelessness and alcohol abuse as prevalent problems among American-Indian youths from nonurban areas and reservations.
vices available to combat them.
David Skeeter, president of Native-American Students Association at KU, said American Indians at universities were removed from reservation life and to some extent, did not face the problems of reservation life.
Charlene Johnson executive director of the Lawrence Indian Center
"To get this far, one must have gone through a great deal to make it to college," Skeeter said. "They probably go on to go through thannon-Indian students."
In a survey of more than 13,000 American-Indian and native-Alaskan seventh- through 12th-graders, the results showed that in four American-Indian, hova had, the
Skeeter said that he did not know of any KU students with problems cited in the study but that he was not surprised about the results of the survey.
caught intoxicated, you go through counseling at the chemical abuse clinic at Haskell. The second time, you're evicted from your residence hall, and the third time you get suspended from the school."
KU'S 204 American-Indian students make up 0.8 percent of the student population.
Caverly Smith, member of the Native-American Students Association and resident assistant at Powhatan Hall at Haskell Indian Junior College, said he personally witnessed problems such as suicide and alcoholism at the Navajo reservation in Arizona, where he used to live.
He said Haskell focused on helping students deal with alcohol use.
"They started the 'zero-tolerance' policy in February and have counselors available 24-hours a day to assist students," Smith said. "There are negative consequences for breaking policy.
"The first time you're caught with alcohol beverages or substances or
drinking problem by the end of high school, while 11 percent of the youths reported extreme hopelessness.
It stated that 11 percent of American-Indian teenagers knew someone who had committed suicide and that 17 percent attempted suicide.
Kay Tousharakis,service unit director at the Haskell Indian Health Center, said that one to two suicides usually occurred in a school year but that she was not aware of any suicides in the past four semesters.
However, Tsouhalarakis said American-Indian youths experienced death and tragedy at younger ages than the average Lawrence youth who was not an American Indian.
"If you look at deaths in the Lawrence community, most of the people are elderly and some even are in their 80s and 90s," she said. "An 18-year-old who grew up in Lawrence probably does not contend with death very often, but Indian youths have death around them much more often."
In a three-year period beginning in 1989, four American-Indian men from Lawrence were killed, according to police reports. Two were killed in hit-and-run accidents, and two were found drowned in the Kansas River.
Charlene Johnson, executive director of the Lawrence Indian Center, said social agencies and services available for American-Indian students in Lawrence helped defeat the feelings of hopelessness the survey mentioned.
"It would be naïve to say that these students do not carry stigmas." Johnson said. "If they had problems like chemical dependency at the reservation, that will obviously carry over to here. The problems are not solved just by being here."