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University Daily Kansan / Monday, March 2, 1992
Activism highlighted at seminar KU Women's studies celebrates anniversary
By Shelly Solon Kansan staff writer
The women's studies department celebrated its 20th anniversary this weekend with speeches and workshops that stressed the history of women's studies at KU and highlighted women's activism today.
About 100 people registered for the women's conference Saturday at the Kansas Union.
Charlene Muehlenhard, director of women's studies, said that the department sponsored lectures and various programs in the past, but that the activities were expanded because of the anniversary.
After the workshops, six women led a panel discussion about current concerns and women's issues on campus. About 40 people attended the discussion.
Connie Burk, member of Students Against Violence Against Womyn, said women's groups tried to be active in their work instead of always being reactive.
thing, she said.
She said it was difficult to plan celebrations or fun activities centering on women's issues when crisis situations often occurred.
"We try to be proactive, but so many things have happened where we are always reacting to something," she said.
The development of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Program in Strong Hall is one active project women's groups have worked on in the past few years.
Kristin Lange, member of Women's Student Union and student body vice president, said she looked for systematic ways that women activists could make changes.
"I want to see other women active in Student Senate," she said. "Women can make changes and work within the system."
Students and professors discussed concerns of women that have existed since the beginning of the program.
Some of the issues discussed at the workshops were gender issues of minority women, feminist backlash, education, sex-role stereotyping and the lesbian community.
Sharon Danoff-Burg, member of Students Against Violence Against Womyn, said during a workshop that a recent column in the Kansan and similar incidents that expressed hateful attitudes toward feminists showed that people were taking notice of feminist activity.
The column mocked women's groups.
"If you're threatening the status quo and people are reacting, you're doing a good job as a feminist," she said.
Department of Interior rejects gambling compact
The Kickapoo Indian Nation's quest to bring casino gambling to its reservoir suffered a setback Friday when the Department of the Interior rejected a proposed gambling compact.
From Kansan staff and wire reports
Gov. Joan Finney lobbed in Washington in favor of the compact, which would have allowed the tribe to open a casino on its reservation 50 miles northwest of Lawrence. The compact would have allowed the tribe to operate black-jack, poker, craps, roulette, baccarat, keno, wheel of fortune, sports betting and electronic slot machines.
Edd Brown, assistant secretary of the interior, rejected the compact because of a technicality, said Thomas Garrett, a representative of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Under the compact, the state of Kansas would have been reimbursed for the cost of monitoring the gambling during the first year of the casino's operations. In addition, the state would have received between 1 and 2 percent of the tribe's gambling revenues for the next four years.
Garrett said the state could make more money than allowed by federal law.
"It was felt that, in essence, the state would be making a profit clear and above the cost of monitoring this compact," he said.
Garrett said that Brown did not consider recent debate between Finney and Attorney General Bob Stephan about whether Finney had the authority to negotiate the compact on behalf of
the state.
Finney signed the compact with the tribe in January and later went to Washing-
tou to urge federal officials to approve it under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
But Stephan has challenged in the Kansas Supreme Court the governor's authority to negotiate unilaterally with the tribe.
Friday, Finney said she would continue to support the compact despite Stephan's efforts and the rejection of the compact by the federal government.
"I'm disappointed because I think this compact is in the best interest of the Indian nation and also the state," she said. "We'll just have to see what our options are. We'll review the decision by the secretary of the interior, and we'll determine what our next step should be."
Kickapoorepresentative Steve Cadue could not be reached for comment.
Bill McCormick, the governor's chief of federal and state affairs, negotiated the compact with the tribe and said he thought the technical problem could be solved during negotiations with the tribe's representatives.
Brick sales to benefit playground
3y Michelle Betts
Kansanstaffwriter
For $35 or $40. Lawrence residents can buy their own piece of a planned playground designed to be accessible to all children.
The Lawrence St. Patrick's Day Parade committee is selling red bricks that will line the sidewalks of the Ryan Gray Playground For All Children, which is expected to cost about $300,000 and open later this year.
People can engrave messages or names on the bricks, which cost $35 each for one line of print or $40 each for two lines.
The playground will be constructed north of Hillcrest Elementary School. 1045 Hilton Drive.
Gene Shaughnessy, head of the Lawrence St. Patrick's Day Parade committee, said the committee had chosen the playground as its charity for the second year in a row.
He said the parade committee, along with the playground's steering committee, had sold more than 50 bricks in the past two weeks.
"I hope we can surround the playground with these bricks," Shaughnessy said. "It is a way for the community to show that they made this a reality."
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The parade committee also sponsored a miniature golf tournament and plans to have an auction this month. The proceeds from the fundraisers will go toward the construction of the playground.
The playground will be in the shape of a basketball because of Gray's love for Kansas basketball. He was the unofficial mascot of the 1988 team that won the national championship.
Jody Anderson, the head of the steering committee, said the brick project gave the community a chance to buy their own niece of the playground.
Gray, who was born with a brain tumor, died in 1990 at age 17. Gray developed a friendship with the team and then-Kansas coach Larry Brown, who was his neighbor.
The playground will have equipment accessible to children with disabilities or children who use wheelchairs, including a platform swing that can hold a wheelchair, she said.
The playground committee has raised $125,000 in pledges at this time and hopes to raise another $75,000 to begin the first phase of construction in late May or early June. Anderson said.
Save Our (Team) Spirit!
A wise-cracking young woman once said, "A basketball is round, but who cares? The *Pub* is 'round the corner!'
She had an attitude problem. But we changed that with a little positive reinforcement. We took her to a KU basketball game. Now she camps outside of Allen Field House every night before every home game. She found the true meaning of team spirit at that KU game, and she hasn't been the same since.
Because KU has the best, most volatile tradition of basketball in the country, it was no surprise when she quit hanging out at the Pub during the home games. Not only did she gain
new insight into the word victory, but team spirit boiled in her heart for the first time, as she read her complimentary Jayhawk Basketball Poster Series
men were behind the uniforms and who the opponents were that KU fans were so fired up, ready and willing to watch (as they lost to the best team in the country).
Collection poste that described for her what she'd been wondering the whole season: Who the
Of course she had heard that MU and KU were rivals ever since the civil war, but she had no idea what the rest of the teams were all about. Now she is learning.
The Poster Series is her instructor. She's coming along just fine. Fans say she'll be a true, blue KU
basketball guru in no time.
Keep supporting our team and waving those posters, but don't lose 'em, abuse 'em, or even bruise 'em.
uncontrollable urges to land your posters, kamikaze style on the floor of Allen Field House. Without everyone's support, the posters would have been lost, not only from your hands, but from the hands of everyone in future home games.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
BY THE WAY, KU fans,
thanks for con-
vince you most
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