University Daily Kansan / Friday, March 20, 1992
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Kristen Petty/KANSAN
Moot point
Arguing for the petitioner in the 1992 Moot Court Competition, Steve Moss, right, Lawrence first-year law student, pleads his client's case in front of Hon. Mary Beck Briscoe and Hon. Abner Mikva. Both judges were guest panelists for the annual competition at Green Hall yesterday afternoon.
Symposium addresses inequality
By Janet Rorholm
Kanean staff writer
More than 35 years after the landmark desegregation case Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education, U.S. schools still struggle with how to establish racial equality in classrooms.
Law professors and lawyers gathered at the KU School of Law yesterday for a symposium titled, "America's Education Policy for the 21st Century: A Race Between Learning and Catastrophe." The Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy sponsored the program, which continues today.
Participants discussed the problem of racial imbalance that faces U.S. public schools.
Rachel Moran, professor of law at the University of California at Berkeley, said a desegregation plan was necessary to incorporate the increase of Hispanics into school districts. Moran is working on a case study of a lawsuit in the Denver schools involving desegregation and bilingual education.
In October, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case, Freeman vs. Pitts, which could have an effect on school districts nationwide. The court is expected to expand upon an earlier decision that said local authorities could be freed of federal court supervision if they desegregated to a feasible extent.
The case has dangerous possibilities, said Marilyn Yarbrough, who used to teach at the KU School of Law and now fills the William J. Maier, Jr. chair of law at West Virginia University.
"My fear is that schools have no obligation to maintain equality once the order has been lifted," Yarbrough said.
The problem facing schools today is that without hard effort, they revert to segregated schools within a matter of years, she said.
Yarbrough said that inner-city schools that were populated mainly by minority students did not provide the
same quality of education that predominantly white schools did.
"Minorities have had unequal access to jobs and education for centuries," she said. "We have to step in somewhere and maybe it is easier to do it in the education system, but if we don't receive better education, they will not get better jobs and they will not get the money to send children to better schools."
Lino Graglia, professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law, said the main reason the nation's schools had problems with was because of the poor handling of desegregation cases.
The Kansas City magnet school system, which gives students a choice of where they want to attend school, was agreed upon as a good plan to deal with desegregation and to improve the quality of education. Each magnet school has a specialty in a certain area and a committee controls the placement of students to ensure a racial balance. The cost, however, is prohibitive for many districts.
Dow Corning might exit breast implant business
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Dow Corning Corp. the leading maker of silicone-gel breast implants, reportedly is getting out of the troubled business for good.
Critics say leaking implants cause cancer and other immune-system diseases, but a link has not been proven.
Dow Corning, which has $250 million in liability insurance, faces hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits filed by women who blame the implants for various health problems.
Dow Corning stopped making and selling the implants Jan. 6 after the Food and Drug Administration asked for a moratorium because of health concerns. But the company did not announce whether it would exit the market permanently.
Dow Corning Chairman Keith McKennon was scheduled to hold a news conference in Washington today.
In December, the company was ordered to pay $7 million to a California woman who also accused Dow Corning of covering up studies that found adverse reactions in implant patients. Dow Corning is appealing that verdict.
A company representative would not comment on newspaper and broadcast reports about the reported exit, which also said Dow Corning would set aside $10 million for research into the health effects of devices already implanted in an estimated one million American women.
CNN, NBC and The New York Times said Dow Corning would in some instances pay women who wanted their implants removed but could not afford the operation. The Times reported yesterday that Dow Corning agreed to offer women $1,200 toward such operations.
Dow Corning previously required women to agree not to sue the company in exchange for the financial help. But The Times, citing unidentified sources, said Dow Corning would drop that requirement.
The manufacturer might pay for removal of silicon-gel breasts for those who can't afford operation.
The company and other breast implant manufacturers as well as many plastic surgeons say the implants are safe.
Dow Corning's departure would leave two manufacturers in the market. The Mentor Corp. and McGhan Medical Corp., both of Santa Barbara, Calif., make saline-filled and silicone gel-filled implants.
Dow Corning controls about 30 percent of the national implant market. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. quit the business last fall, and last week Bioplasty Inc. said it also would stop making gel implants.
Dow Corning said last month it might quit the business, after a panel advised the FDA to limit sharply the use of implants. The FDA is expected to issue its final decision by April 20.
The Midland, Mich., company is a joint venture of Dow Chemical Corp. and Corning Inc. It already has closed
Implant removal
Purpose: Remove old implant and the fibrous capsule that grows around it.
Method: Surgeon makes an incision on underside of breast and removes implant. Replacement implant can be inserted through the same incision.
down its implant factories in Arlington, Tenn., and Hemlock, Mich., laying off and reassigning about 100 workers.
Sales of silicone-gel breast implants account for only 1 percent of Dow Corning's annual sales of $1.84 billion.
On behalf of the 1992 Senior Class and the Senior Advisory Board, we would like to congratulate the 1992 recipients of the CLASS Award.
(Citation for Leadership and Achievement in Student Services)
Jim Henry Associate Director for University Placement Center
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Jeff Wineber Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs
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