THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VOL.101.NO.87
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 4,1992
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Studentlobbyingforrapebill
By Gayle Osterberg
Kansan staff writer
Jean Winter is trying to make her ownrules.
The Emporia senior has spent the past two months researching Kansas statutes and writing legislation she hopes will help Kansas rape victims.
Winter has written a proposal that would allow the sexual history of a person accused of rape to be introduced in a rape trial.
In order for Winter's proposal to be introduced, she needs a legislative sponsor. Last week, she spent an afternoon with several legislators, hoping her proposal will be added in a package of four bills dealing with sex crimes.
Three bills currently are being considered by Senate committees, and Sen. Wint Winter Jr., R-Lawrence, is expected to introduce the fourth next week, said Robin Lehman, a legislative assistant to the senator.
Sen. Winter was out of town tveste day and could not be reached for con
ment.
Jean Winter spoken to Sen. Winter last week and said she hoped her proposal would be part of that bill, which would extend the statute of limitations for reporting sexual abuse against a child.
Rape is a very personal issue for Jean Winter, who said she was raped by an acquaintance when she was 15. She decided not to press charges because she did not want to go through a trial, she said.
"It just seems like it's the victim who is dragged through the mud," Winter said.
She said it was several years later before she learned that the man who had raped her also had raped other women.
Winter said she had a lingering guilt about not pressuring charges.
"I felt like I could have prevented him from doing the same thing to someone else," she said.
But as Winter was watching parts of Kennedy Kennedy rape trial in Detroit.
"I was more repelled by the whole thing, but I tried to keep current on what was going on," she said. "Granted, the witness had some credibility problems. But when they had three other credible witnesses who came forward and said he did the same thing, I was appalled."
Smith, who was accused of raping a woman in Palm Beach, Fla., was found
not guilty. The testimony of the women who claimed to also have been raped by Smith was not allowed.
Winter said she wanted to prevent a similar situation from happening in Kansas.
"I decided to make an independent effort to make a change," she said. "HIs just one person's effort to change a law that seems somewhat unfair."
With the help of friends and staff at the KU law school library, Winter looked up statutes relevant to her cause.
She said she found that Kansas law forbids a victim's past sexual history to
Winter, who hopes to attend law school after graduating, wrote her proposal and set an afternoon walking statehouse hallways, explaining her idea to interested legislators. She said she did not tell them about her own experience but planned to do so if it would help the proposal.
be admissible in a rape trial but that there was no mention of the defendant.
"It was amazingly simple," she said. "I think many people have a perceived sense of powerlessness when it comes to government. But if you just open your mouth, they do listen."
Homeless Awareness Week starts
About 50 people hold candles in front of Wescoe Hall to symbolize their awareness of homeless people.
Marmee Dietrich / KANSAN
By Janet Rorholm
Kansan staff writer
A speaker at a candlelight vigil last night in front of Wessoe Hall challenged society to give hope, not handouts, to the homeless.
"Homelessness is not normal," said Mary Meyers, director of for a homeless shelter for men in Kansas City, Kan. "It is the failure of society. Charity is not acceptable. For 10 years, we've been putting on Band-Aids without looking at the source of the infection."
Meyers and State Rep. Betty Jo Charlton, D-Lawrence, spoke to about 50 people at the vigil, which kicked off Homeless Awareness Week at the University of Kansas.
Meyers told those gathered to ask hard questions about why there were homeless people and why there were not enough jobs or affordable housing across the country.
*Lasting change comes from the empowerment of the people saving this is crazy.* "she said.
"It is the duty of the government to become involved because historically the solution to most acute social problems are solved with political solutions," she said.
Charlton said the government needed to get involved and understand the possible solutions. A shelter is not a home, and an income tax cut does nothing for those who have no income, she said.
Charlton said the political system was finally catching up to the rest of society in terms of recognizing and acknowledging the problem of homelessness, even if the system was not doing every thing it could to solve it.
After the speakers finished, students lighted candles that represented knowledge.
Homeless Awareness Week is sponsored by the St. Lawrence
Catholic Center, EcumenicalChristian Ministries, KU Students Against Hunger, Habitat for Humanity and theLawrence/Douglas County Coalition for theHomeless
Russ Testa, Topeka senior and assistant outreach minister for the St. Lawrence Catholic Center, said students were a good target for the awareness week
"Students have a lot of energy and the ability to get involved now and hopefully stay involved for the rest of their lives," he said.
Events will be going on all week to
help bring about awareness of homelessness. Testa said.
A panel discussion titled "Homelessness: In Our Own Backyard" will be at 7:30 tonight at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
A luncheon talk by Capt.
George Windham of the Salvation
Army about the homeless in
Lawrence will be at noon Wednesday
at the Ecumenical Christian
Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave.
A family prayer of help for the homeless will be at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave.
A speech by Janice Grady, a field organizer for the National Coalition for the Homeless, titled "Homeless in America: A Personal Perspective" will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Kansas Room in the Kansas Union.
Videotapes will be shown prior to a discussion with Janice Grady about what individuals can do about the homeless problem at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the library at the St.
Lawrence Catholic Center, 1631 Crescent Road.
Habitat for Humanity will work on its projects Saturday. Sign-up sheets and more information for volunteers will be available in front of Wescoe Hall and the Kansas Union.
A soup kitchen supper will be at 5:15 p.m. Saturday at the St. Lawrence Catholic Center, 1631 Crescent Road. Mary Meyers and men from her shelter in Kansas City, Kan., will speak after the supper.
Ozone hole above U.S. is expected, NASAsavs
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The highest levels of ozone-destroying chemicals ever measured have been found in the skies above the Northern Hemisphere, making it likely an ozone hole will develop this winter over parts of the United States, Canada and Europe, NASA scientists said yesterday.
"Everybody should be alarmed about this," said Michael Kurylo, manager of the upper atmosphere research program at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "We're seeing conditions primed for ozone destruction. It's in a far worse way than we thought."
Kurlyo said aircraft and satellite instruments had measured levels of chlorine monoxide, a man-made chemi-lution, and carbon dioxide, the highest levels ever recorded.
The levels are high enough, he said, to destroy ozone at the rate of 1 percent to 2 percent a day for brief, late-winter periods. In ideal weather, the northern ozone layer may be depleted by 30 percent to 40 percent, he said.
Kurley so said that the areas of depleted ozone found by NASA satellites extended as far south as New England and France during parts of January.
"We're not concerned with just remote areas now," he said. "What we're dreading with extends overpopulations in the Northern Hemisphere."
Ozone in the upper atmosphere shields the Earth from the destructive effects of ultraviolet radiation. Excess exposure to UV rays is known to cause skin cancer and cataracts. The natural radiation also can damage plants and ocean plankton.
Atmospheric molecules of chlorine monoxide and bromine monoxide react with sunlight to cause a thinning of the ozone layer. By measuring the levels of these chemicals, scientists can predict the level of ozone destruction.
African studies gains popularity
By Ranjit Arab
Kansan staff writer
When Deo Tajua first started teaching modern African history three years ago, about 30 students were enrolled in the class.
A jubilea to turn away 61 students. His class is one of the 24 undergraduate classes offered by the department of African and African-American studies. In the past few years, interest in African and African-American studies has increased—among both Black and white students.
This semester, 101 students tried to enroll.
But while trying to accommodate students, the department is facing a widespread problem at the University — a tight budget.
GTA Deo Taiuba teaches a filled modern African history class.
Tajuba had to turn away 31 students.
Arthur Drayton, head of the department of African and African-American studies, said the department needed more counselors to meet increased student interest.
"We are a growing department," he said. "There is no question about that. From that point of view, we can use more instructors."
Drayton said the department suffered from a shortage of supplies and
limited classroom space. He said that with Hoch Auditorium out of use, it was difficult to find lecture halls for all the courses. As a result, many students 'are turned away from school.'
"I if I had made, I would be getting films made in Africa," Tajuba said. "I would also divide the class into two sections so we could hold discussions. But because of lack of funding, we cannot do that."
enrolling in the classes, Dylan said.
Tajuba agreed that the department lacked the money to keep up with the growing student interest.
Many students are interested in the courses because they fulfil a non-Western qualification.
However, Tajuba said he had noticed a growing interest among students to
enrolling in the classes, Drayton said.
"Africa is the second largest continent in the world," he said.
Tajuba said that although many Black students took the courses to learn about their heritage, African history should be important to all students.
"Thirteen percent of Kansas wheat is consumed in Africa," Tauba said. "Therefore, Kansans should want to know what Africa is all about."
Gretchen Muir, Lawrence senior,
said the course helped to dispel many of
the myths and stereotypes associated
with Africa.
"Americans have no knowledge of anything outside their country," she said. "In this world, you need to be aware of other cultures. You just can not be isolated."
Sewit Negash, Shawnee junior, said
U. S. students should be introduced to African history at a younger age.
"This is the first opportunity they get to learn about Africa, since it is not taught in the high schools," Negash said.
Drayton said interest in African and African-American classes was not limited to Black students.
"If it has any academic validity, it has to be a program for everybody," he said. "It would be wrong for the University to exclude African history whether it had black students or not."
Venezuelan rebels try to oust president
The Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela — Rebel soldiers tried to oust the troubled, elected government of President Carlos Andres Perez early today, cutting off roads to the capital and trying to seize the country's second-largest city.
Heavy machine-gun fire and mortar fire was heard around the Perez's residence and the Presidential Palace when the attempt began shortly after midnight. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Perez appeared on national television shortly after the shooting began and said loyal troops had defeated a coup attempt by forces led by a paratrooper regiment.
An Associated Press reporter heard heavy gunfire, lasting about 1 1/2 hours, around the presidential residence in the western La Carli neighborhood. Then shooting was sporadic.
But rebel troops cut off the two main roads into Caracas, and troops of undetermined allegiances took over the international airport.
Three hours after the attempt began, sporadic shooting was heard in the capital, and the presidential residence and government palace appeared to be held by loyalist troops.
But the attempt clearly had not been quelled and Perez? whereabouts were not known. There was no word from whoever was leading the rebels.
In Maracajo, the country's second-largest city and oil capital, rebels surrounded the gubernatorial palace, where officers located 350 miles west of Caracas.
The past few days had been characterized by indirect warnings from the military that Venezuela was facing threats from inside and abroad.
Venezuela has had a democratically elected government since 1958, the longest of any South American country. But the nation of 19.3 million, one of Latin America's richest, recently has been wracked by a wave of protests.
Perez appeared on the commercial TV network, Venevision, three times early today. He said units from the "Jose Leonardo Callejas" paratrooper regiment were leading the revolt. The regiment is based in Maracay, about 70 miles west of Caracas, site of one of the country's most important army and air bases.
Coup troops appeared to be wearing armbands with the colors of the Venezuelan flag.
Two large television stations in Caracas were surrounded by soldiers of unknown loyalty and both were transmitting regular programming.