VOL.101.NO.105
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1992
(USPS 650-640)
United at church
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African Americans bring power of religion to KU
Christine McFartand/KANSAN
Janine Colter, of the St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church, leads Jeffrey Colter, 5 (front), Jermella Newman, 6, Dominic Ross, 7, Maurio Perry, 8, and LaTasha Hall, 10, in the traditional hymn "Glory, Glory Hallelujah."
By Jay Williams
Kansan staff writer
The little white church sits next to the railroad tracks.
The 126-year-old wooden building shakes when a train passes by, but the congregation does not notice.
Instead, the worshipers at St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church, at Seventh and Maple streets, continue with their service. They listen to Pastor Sylvia Harris speak about the importance of responsibility, and then they unite their voices in song.
As at St. James, faith and unity are important concepts, traditionally held in church services.
The Rev. Andrew Smith of the First Regular Missionary Baptist Church, 1648 Vermont St., said the strong bonds of faith and unity originated in the era of slavery when worship was forbidden.
"The strength of the unity is because of the religion, he said. "Hundreds of years ago, black people forced their knees for praying in the fields."
Smith said being denied the oppor-
tunity to work made the resolve to wish
him well.
"When worship day rolled around, the worshipers put on their finest clothes," he said. "The Black church became the center for all social and cultural endeavors of a Black man."
Today, much of the churches' unity revolves around children and family.
Harris said that every fourth Sunday at her church, young children took an active role in the service. The children sit in the front of the church, read from the Bible and sing songs. Their involvement has two purposes.
"Not only is it a vehicle to train the children but also to make them part of the total worship," she said.
The Rev. William Dulin, head of the Black Ministers Fellowship, said youth programs were an important part of services at his church.
"The whole church is family-oriented." he said.
The Rev. Leo Barbee of the Victory Baptist Church, said many college students worshiped at Victory Baptist to continue the worship that began at home.
Barbee said the church encouraged student participation through its surrogate program, where an adult member of the church acts as the student's surrogate parent.
"The idea is to help them feel wel come," he said.
Barbee said the program,which started 16 years ago, was a success.
"The parents of the students have been grateful to have somebody interested in taking care of their child's spiritual needs," he said. "It has been a real blessing with us and the students."
Cinzia Byrd, Kansas City, Kan., junior, who is a member of the Victory Baptist Church,said that she did not attend any services in Lawrence her freshman year because she could not find a church like the one she attended in Kansas City.
Although it is not like her church at home, she definitely feels at home at her church in Lawrence, she said.
She started to attend church in Lawrence as a sophomore because she thought it was an important part
"Once I was learning about Christianity, there was no way I could turn away from it," she said
of her upbringing.
EPA says pollution, racial link is unclear
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Is the culprit environmental racism or just poverty? The Environmental Protection Agency is grappling over whether minorities are being unfairly victimized by pollution, and whether the agency should offer them special protection.
A long-awaited report by an EPA task force said yesterday that although there was a clear cause for concern about the exposure of many minorities to pollution, its effect on the health of minorities was less clear.
The report did not single out race as a deciding factor and suggested that more often the issue may be one of poverty. Although it said that closer attention should be given to environmental equity, the study maintained that the agency's risk-assessment procedures were not in themselves biased against certain income or racial groups.
Nevertheless, the task force urged the EPA to pay closer attention to environmental equity in writing and enforcing pollution-control regulations. It also called for more studies to determine a clearer link, if there is one, between pollution and race.
The report said a community that was surrounded by multiple sources of air pollution, waste treatment facilities and landfills and had lead-based paint in the residences was clearly a community that faced higher than average potential environmental risks.
EPA Administrator William Reilly had asked for the task force study amid growing concern among mainstream civil rights organizations about the relationship of race and pollution.
But the findings were not likely to be embraced by civil rights leaders, nor by minority activists who for years have accused the EPA of ignoring the plight of blacks, Hispanics and American Indians who often live near toxic waste sites or breath the country's most polluted air.
"There is, in fact, massive environmental inequity based upon racial discrimination in environmental policy making at the federal, regional, state and local levels," said Benjamin Chavis, executive director of the United Church of Christ's Commission for Racial Justice.
He said there was little in the EPA report that showed a change in attitude, saying it did not address the multiple effects of environmental racism on people of color communities throughout the United States.
Raises, pay disputes force schism in computer science
Department head explains inequities
y Ranjit Arab
Kansan staff writer
The head of computer science at the University of Kansas defended the department yesterday after a confidential report called for his removal, the removal of a chief combatant and the elimination of the department.
William Bulgren, head of the department, said the conflict between he and Zamir Bavel, professor of computer science, stemmed from salary disputes.
Although Bavel complained about salaries, Bulgren said the professors in the department were some of the highest paid in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
However, Bavel said the problem existed with merit raises, not just salaryfigures.
Bavel, who has been with the department since it began in 1968, said he never received a raise based on merit that was equivalent to the average rate established by the department.
He said he received his only major raise when he considered accepting a position as endowed chair of the company department at Notre Dame University.
"You have to take this out of consideration," Bavel said, "because this was not a merit raise."
recruits higher salaries than existing faculty.
Bulgren said the inequity was inevitable because the department wanted to attract good applicants in a competitive field.
Because salaries in the computer science department are considerably higher than other departments, it is advisable to study the salary adjustment, Bulgreen said.
"There is a lot of demand for computer science graduates across the U.S.," he said. "We are competing against industries. That is not always the case in other departments."
Bavel said the department offered
Because of the discontinuity of the Margin of Excellence program, it is difficult to bring current faculty salaries to competitive market fig- be said.
James Muyskens, dean of liberal arts and sciences, said salary inequities were common in departments throughout the University.
He said he talked to several graduate students in the department and planned to talk with undergraduates.
"I would anticipate that we will be making some crucial decisions this semester that would go into effect next fall." Murskens said.
Muyksens said he had not spoken with Bavel and Bulgen together.
Salary rivalries
Muyksen said no decision had been made about the department's fate.
"We have certainly encouraged that," he said. "Many of the graduate students are eager to get these people together to talk about the situation."
Salary Invales Computer science salaries are higher than other departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Here's how they stack
Associate Professors
Assistant Professors
Source University budget documents
Almeo Brainard,
Daily Kansan
Ailing Kansas health care KU may be held responsible for problem
Editor's note: This is the first of two stories about the shortage of rural health care in Kansas. The Legislature is considering a bill that would require the University of Kansas Medical Center to graduate more family practitioners in Kansas or lose some state financing.
By Gayle Osterberg
Kansan staff writer
The state lacks basic health care in many rural areas, and the question of the University of Kansas Medical Center's responsibility is now being raised.
Family practice fluctuations
Dean Lasseter, a Med Center graduate from Olathe, is the only pediatrician in Atchison, a town of 10,600. He is among those who think the state's shortage of rural primary-care physicians is a problem that extends far beyond the Med Center.
The interest in family practice for University of Kansas Medical Center graduates has varied over the past five years. Lawmakers hope that new legislation will increase the number of family practice students in the state.
"To blame the KU Med Center is to be very short-sighted," he said. "The state of Kansas has a real problem getting doctors in these areas, and it's more than KU encouraging them to go elsewhere."
But lawmakers seem to disagree.
KU Med enrollment total graduate residents family practice residents
1987 744 180 40
1988 722 184 30
1989 703 182 30
1990 737 143 13
1991 710 187 44
"The Med Center is financed by the taxamakers." Ehrlich said. "We want
"If the University had been turning out students and providing incentive, there would be no need for this bill," said State Sen. Roy Ehrlich, R-Hoiseington, head of the Senate Committee on Public Health and Welfare.
Source: Office of Institutional Research and
faming at the KU Med Center
Almee Brainard, Daily Kansan
The academy is a state branch of a
the University to take care of Kansans."
The bill was introduced by the Joint Committee on Health Care Decisions for the 1990s after reviewing recommendations offered by the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians.
The Med Center would be affected by a bill that would require the number of graduates selecting a primary-care residency to increase by 5 percent each year. If the Med Center did not meet the requirement, its funds would be cut by 10 percent for the following year.
national organization that has its headquarters in Kansas City, Mo.
"My main concern was that, not atypically, the Med Center has become much more interested in promoting specialties rather than primary care," said State Rep. Fred Gatin, R-Atwood, a committee member.
D. Kay Clawson, Med Center executive vice chancellor, said the university did not push students into specialty areas.
"The university, I think, encourages them very much to select places to
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