THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
VOL. 101, NO. 84
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 1992
(USPS 650-640)
NEWS:864-4810
Justin Knupo/KANSAN
Concentrate ... and shoot
Not. the average outdoor sport, a game of foosball provides afternoon entertainment for Dan Sabatello, Arlington Heights, Ill., senior, and Jinmy Powers (background), Leawood junior. The two moved the foosball table out of their house and played with several of their friends in front of their house on Tennessee Street yesterday afternoon. The weather provided outdoor enthusiasts with sunny skies and temperatures in the middle 50s
Stephan indicted on perjury counts
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kansas Attorney General Bob Stephan was indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday on two counts of perjury in a breach of contract case involving a former clerk in his office.
In a brief statement released in Topeka, Stephan said he was innocent and referred all questions to his attorney.
Stephan was not in the Kansas City, Kan., courtroom as a federal grand jury charged him with two counts of perjury and one count of conspiracy to commit perjury. Robert Storey, a former Topeka state legislator, was also indicted on one count of perjury and one count of conspiracy to commit perjury.
U. S. District Judge G. Thomas Van Bebber did not set bond, accepting a recommendation from prosecutors that Stephan's promise to appear was sufficient.
Stephan and Storey are charged with conspiring to lie while under oath during depositions in 1986 and 1987 and in court testimony in 1988.
Terms of a settlement in a sexual harassment case with Marcia Tomson Stingley were supposed to be confidential, but they were revealed at a Stephan news conference in 1985 when Stephan was struggling to organize a campaign for governor.
Stephan, 59, is charged with falsely testifying that he did not know the settlement agreement required him to keep the details confidential nor that
one of the terms included the payment of $24,000 to Stingley.
The perjury count against Storey, 57, accuses him of lying under oath in federal court on Nov. 4, 1988. The charge accuses him of falsely testifying that he was not aware of a confidentiality clause in the settlement agreement between Stephan and Stingley.
After the news conference in 1985, after a $2.9 million sellout of *Sarah* and *Sarah* *Sarhan*
Stephan would not be automatically excluded from the office of attorney general if he was convicted of the felony charge but could face proceedings that would strip him of his law license and make him ineligible for the office.
Abortion lobbying begins
House bill motivates KU students to act
By Svala Jonsdottir
Kansan staff writer
KU Pro-Choice Coalition members are lobbying the Kansas Legislature in support of an abortion bill introduced in the House on Monday.
The bill would guarantee a woman's right to abortion as long as the fetus could not survive outside the womb. It would ban most late-term abortions and would require girls under 16 to receive counseling before they could get an abortion.
Amber Almanza, KU Pro-Choice Coalition member, said she had called Lawrence representatives and asked them to support the bill.
KU students to act
Burke.
"I also called the president of the Senate, Bud Burke," Almanzaa said, "because we were afraid that when the bill came to his desk, he would pigeonhole it and prevent it from getting a hearing."
Other members of the coalition also have called their representatives in support of the bill, she said.
Beth Powers, KU Pro-Choice Coalition member, said she also had called
If the Supreme Court overrules Roe vs. Wade, each state will have to enact its own abortion law.
Powers, Topea graduate student, said her group was concerned that the Senate was not as receptive to prochoice legislation as the House.
She said that she did not know whether State Sen. Burke, R-Leawood, supported the bill.
"As this is an election year, he might want to sit on it and not deal with this difficult issue when he and his fellow senators are facing a re-election," Powers said.
The KU Pro-Choice Coalition is a member of the Kansas for Choice Alliance, a statewide pro-choice group. The KU group is also staying in touch with pro-choice lobbyists in Topeka, she said.
"We are planning to set aside at least one day a month for students to go to Topeka to lobby as a group." she said.
Burke said he had received a few
things from the judge, and he
would not introduce the bill.
"My position is that if a majority of the Senate wants to discuss any bill on abortion, I am certainly not going to stand in their way," he said.
Last year, Burke told anti-abortion group that he did not think abortion should be legal.
that nas changed now that Roe vs. Wade could be overturned by the Supreme Court he said.
"We don't really have to make any decision now," he said. "I think there is a long way to go until this bill passes the House."
The abortion measure could leave the House committee as early as next week and be voted on in the next vote. The Senate shouldate Rep. Sandy Praser, R-Lawrence.
The bill is likely to be approved in the House, but there is some concern about how it will fare in the Senate, Praeger said.
Patricia Trausch, president of KU Students for Life, said that the group had not formally discussed the abortion measure, but that individual members were considering lobbying against the bill.
Although the restrictions of late-term abortion and the required counseling for minors introduced in the bill are a step in the right direction, she said she was opposed to the measure in its current form.
"I would like to see a bill that would make Kansas a pro-life state, one that would ban abortion on demand," Trausch said.
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
Second professor leaves University
QUALIFIED ADMISSIONS
By Ranjit Arab
Kansan staff writer
A second professor in two days has announced his departure from the University of Kansas, in part because of his dissatisfaction with the Kansas Legislature.
Donald Robertson, professor of microbiology, said he has accepted a position as head of bacteriology and microbiology at the University of Idaho. He will begin Fall 1992.
Robertson's announcement came one day after Michael Gaines, professor of biology, announced that he had accepted a position at the University of Miami in Florida.
Both professors have taught at KU for 22 years.
Robertson said the state's lack of dedication to higher education was a major factor in his leaving. He said he was attracted to Idaho because its state legislature demonstrated a greater commitment to higher education than Kansas.
"Even with half of the population of Kansas, they have set the priority and are very much behind their state institutions." he said.
Robertson said the lack of support was an ongoing struggle in Kansas.
"There are a lot of faculty here concerned about the future because they do not see the priority for higher education by the governor or the Legislature," he said.
"I have nothing but very good feelings for the University," he said. "But the University has been put in a difficult situation more than once by the Legislature and the governor."
Like Gaines, Robertson said more faculty members could leave KU in the near future.
In response to comments made Tuesday by Gaines, a Finney representative defended the governor's stance on higher education.
Open policy may die in 1992
Ann Cook, special assistant to Finney, said Gaines' statement that Finney was the "anti-higher education" governor were unfounded.
"Perhaps the professor has confused legislative action with the governor's commitment to higher education." Cook said. "Gov. Finney has consistently supported higher education."
Muyksen said the search to replace the two professors would not formally begin until next fall. However, the University is recruiting several candidates for other open positions. The recruiting should offset the recent departures, he said.
She said Finney had campaigned on a pledge to finance the third and final year of the Margin of Excellence. However, the Legislature would not accept the proposal, she said.
The Margin was the Board of Regents plan to bring the total financing of its seven institutions to 95 percent of their peer schools and to bring faculty salaries to 100 percent of their peers. The Legislature financed the first two years but not the third.
James Muyskens, dean of liberal arts and sciences, said the discontinuation of the Margin of Excellence made it more difficult to keep faculty at KU.
Money was needed to enhance both equipment and salaries, but because the program was discontinued, that money was not as available. he said.
Del Shankel, interim executive vice chancellor, said the unrest was not limited to the science departments.
Editor's note: This is a first of a two part series focusing on qualified admissions at Board of Regents universities. Today's story addresses the issue as it stands in the Legislature. In part two tomorrow, educators express their views on the controversial subject.
TOPEKA — Debate about qualified admissions is becoming a yearly ritual at the Statehouse. But this session could see the end of eight years of deliberation.
By Greg Farmer Kansan staff writer
Proponents of qualified admissions said money could be used to improve programs rather than be wasted on remedial courses that cater to unprepared students.
Menbers of the State Senate Education Committee, who soon will consider a qualified admissions bill that was introduced last session, agreed that one thing was certain — the issue will breed controversy.
Lawmakers said new legislation could create a stronger foundation for the public education system that would make qualified admissions less elitist.
Kansas' current open admissions policy allows any graduate of a Kansas high school to attend a Board of Regents university. Legislators have considered enacting qualified admissions standards at Regents schools since 1984.
The history of qualified admissions
But no legislation has been passed because some lawmakers, including minority members and those from rural areas, said some students did not have the opportunity to meet requirements set by qualified admissions.
The Regents have supported qualified admissions and have influenced
Killed in the House Education Committee.
Qualified admissions bills have been introduced in every session except one since 1984. The pr gexer made it to the State Senate floor.
Recommended for approval by the House Appropriations Committee. The proposal addresses the floor of the house 64-59.
No bill was proposed.
Killed in the House Education Committee.
Never acted on in the State Senate Education Committee.
1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992
Killed in the House Education Committee. Also killed in the Committee of Inappropriate Committees.
Killed in the House Education Committee.
Awailing action in the State Senate Education Committee. State Sen. Joseph Harder, R-Moundridge, said hearings on the bill would be scheduled.
some legislators to adopt their view.
"We're spending substantial sums on remedial education for students arriving at the university unprepared," said State Sen. Richard Rock, D-Akansas City. "This is a waste of their funds and effort, and a waste of state funds."
Rock, who previously opposed qualified admissions, was one of two senators who said last week that he had changed his position. State Sen. Frank Gaines, D-Augusta, also said he now would support qualified admissions.
Gaines, who had been an outspoken critic of qualified admissions, said cost estimates from the Regents had
Aimee Brainard, Daily Kansan
high school graduating class. Local legislative opinion is divided
Complete a pre-college curriculum determined by the Regents, with a minimum 2.0 grade point average.
Achieve a score of at least 23 points on the ACT.
State Sen. Joseph Harder, R-Moundridge, heads the Education Committee. He said that he would like to see some action on the bill this session and that he had planned to schedule hearings on the subject.
Under the proposed Senate bill, the high school class of 1995 would be required to meet at least one of the following standards in order to be admitted to a Regents university:
Local legislative opinion is divided.
State Rep. Betty Jo Charlain, D-
Lawrence, said qualified admissions
should not be a key issue this session.
Rank in the top one-third of the high school graduating class.
convinced him that the open admissions policy was not cost effective.
"The issue is controversial in the House anyhow," she said. "For the board to bring it up year after year and to use its time and political capital on it, is a big mistake. It antagonizes some of the House members."
Charlton said she did not see how qualified admissions would improve the quality of higher education in the state.
"An equal educational opportunity for each child in the state is the big issue," she said. "Qualified admissions pales besided."
Charilton said she did not think the need for remedial classes would be reduced by qualified admissions.
Remedial classes would be needed for students who did not succeed in specific areas, she said. For example, some people might excel
See Policy, Page 6