2A
The Inside Front
Thursday April 30,1998
News
from campus, the state, the nation and the world
- Crimestoppers issues a crime alert, seeking information about vandals who broke the Smith Hall stained-glass window.
On CAMPUS
In the NATION:
WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright prepares to visit with Chinese officials.
prepares to visit with Chinese officials.
The Supreme Court expresses its frustration with delays of execution of death-row inmates.
In the WORLD:
UNITED NATIONS: Members of the European Union signed a treaty to reduce greenhouse gases.
ZIMBABWE: Students protest the policies of President Robert Mugabe.
CAMPUS
Vandalism at Smith Hall prompts crime alert
The University of Kansas Office of Public Safety issued a crime alert yesterday for information regarding the $1,690-damage to Smith Hall's burning bush stained glass window.
A rock penetrated the outer storm window as well as the stained glass, bending the lead framework, between 7 p.m. April 8 and 8:30 a.m. April 9. The rock landed in the William J. Moore Reading Room.
Anyone with information about the damage can call KU Crimestoppers at 864-8888. The line is open 24 hours, and anonymity is protected. Crime Stoppers and the Friends of the Department of Religious Studies are offering an award up to $500 if information leads to the apprehension of someone involved.
The window was installed by a St. Louis company when Smith was built, during 1966 and 1967.
The statue of the kneeling Moses, which faces the burning bush window, was not added until 1982.
The burning bush scene depicts the University of Kansas seal.
Laura Roddy
Albright lays groundwork for summit with China
NATION
BEJUING — Secretary of State Madeleine Albright glossed over differences on human rights, trade and technology exports yesterday to emphasize a strategic partnership with China and set a mood for President Clinton's upcoming summit. In more than five hours of private negotiations, however, Albright extensively debated U.S. concerns with senior Chinese officials.
She will take her concerns to President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Ronjit today. At a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, Albright said the issues were those that took place between two countries that had a lot in common.
Albright: Working toward summit with China
Having released a string of noted dissidents. China still holds
some 2,000 political prisoners, by U.S. estimate, and the Clinton administration is shifting its strategy to push for wholesale releases, a senior U.S. official said after Albright's three-hour meeting with Tang and a two-hour dinner conversation with Vice Premier Qian Oichen.
On the other hand, Albright found the Chinese sharing U.S. determination to keep the Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons, eager to maintain peace in the oil-rich Persian Gulf and not challenging the huge U.S. military presence in the Pacific, said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Divided Supreme Court criticizes execution delays
WASHINGTON — Citing a powerful and legitimate interest in punishing the guilty, the Supreme Court signaled growing frustration yesterday about delays in executing the nation's more than 3,000 death row inmates
Though the court was deeply divided, the five-justice majority spoke sternly in criticizing the postponement of a California murderer's execution last year. The justices ruled that the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was guilty of a "grave abuse of discretion" when it spared Thomas Thompson's life two days before he was to die.
The appeals court blocked Thompson's execution by recalling, or pulling back, its previous rejection of one in a long line of appeals by the convicted murderer and rapist.
Justice David H. Souter, writing for the four dissenters, said the court was solving a problem that did not exist.
Writing for the highest court yesterday, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said the court had cheated the state and the victims of crime.
"Only with real finality can the victims of crime move forward knowing the moral judgment will be carried out," said Kennedy. He once served on the 9th Circuit court that presides over disputes from nine Western states.
WORLD
European Union members approve pollution treaty
UNITED NATIONS — European Union nations signed an international treaty yesterday to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and called on the United States and developing countries to do the same.
"There were a few other countries which we would have liked to sign with us here today, especially a big one," the European environment commissioner, Ritt Bjerregaard said. "And I hope to see the United States signing as early as possible."
Britain's deputy prime minister, John Prescott, said the signing by the 15 EU members clearly signaled the members' commitment to the objectives the union agreed upon under the resulting environmental benefits.
Japan signed the treaty here Tuesday, becoming the first major industrial nation to do so.
The global warming treaty, approved last December in Kyoto, Japan, would require 38 industrialized nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels between the years 2008 and 2012.
European Union states would reduce them by 8 percent, the United States by 7 percent and Japan by 6 percent. Some would face smaller reductions, and a few would not be obligated for now.
Developing countries, including major greenhouse gas emitters such as China and India, are asked to set voluntary reduction targets.
The U.S. Senate, which must approve the treaty, has called on President Clinton not to sign and Congress not to ratify the agreement unless pollution restrictions are extended to developing countries.
Students in Zimbabwe protest country's leader
HARARE, Zimbabwe — To the cheers of onlookers, thousands of students took to the streets yesterday to call for an end to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's 18 years in power.
The protest was the biggest yet against 74-year-old Mugabe, the nation's only leader since independence in 1980. The students marched from their campus to downtown Harare after a High Court judge ordered police to allow the protest. Last week, police prevented students from leaving the campus.
"Mugabe, you are irrelevant. Go and rest, old man," read one banner. About 5,000 students chanted "Mugabe, he must go!" in the local Shona language.
Mugabe, who led the transition from the white minority-dominated state of Rhodesia to Zimbabwe in 1980, has faced mounting opposition in recent months over the nation's growing economic problems.
Yesterday's march brought downtown Harare to a standstill for more than two hours. Office workers waved from their windows, onlookers cheered and drivers honked their horns in support. There were no reports of violence.
Few protests have been allowed to reach the city center and onlookers have been fearful of showing support in the past.
But in recent weeks, there has been spontaneous support for the students, said the Rev. Sebastian Bakare, a university chaplain and human rights monitor.
Six people died in food riots in January after prices soared by more than 30 percent.
The Associated Press
Computers move from geek to chic
Continued from page 1A
lems. Simons said people who knew how to work with computers were in such great demand that some companies were paying signing bonuses to the people recruited to work in computer fields.
"They're laughing all the way to the bank," Simons said.
Geeks on Wheels has turned the pejorative term "geek," often used in the past to describe people who enjoy working with computers, into a positive symbol.
"It's a lighthearted way of saying we'll roll smart guys and gals to your house to fix the problems." Simons said.
Simons said that being a geek was no longer a bad thing because possessing computer knowledge was desirable.
Several University students also said recreational computing did not have a stigma.
Barr said that she did not use computers for activities such as surfing the Internet but that her friends and family did.
Eric Ebeling, St. Charles, Mo., sophomore said he used the Internet for fun about once a week while on campus.
"I don't use it a lot for homework or school." Ebeling said.
Ebeling said he did not think that people who used computers for fun were frowned upon. He said several of his friends had their own Web pages.
Not everyone agrees that computers have become as accepted in America as apple pie.
Spencer Reiss, senior editor at Wired magazine, said computers had penetrated only about 40 percent of American households. He said computers still had a long way to go before being accepted as widely as televisions, which penetrate more than 90 percent of American homes.
There are a lot of people who care about what is trendy. Reiss said,
what is really worse?
He said, however, that the perception about using computers had changed during the past few years.
"It's cooler than it was," Reiss said. "It's not a gibbery thing any more."
ET CETERA
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Today IN HISTORY
1933: Singer Willie Nelson is born.
Cinger
1789: George Washington is inaugurated Presi-
tory of the United States
1803: The Louisiana Purchase doubles the size of the United States.
1812: Louisiana is admitted to the Union, becoming the 18th state.
1945: Adolf Hitler commits suicide along with his wife, Eva Braun.
1980: Terrorists seize the Iranian Embassy in London
1939: NBC and RCA demonstrate television in public for the first time at the New York World's Fair.
The window of a Wichita resident's vehicle was bro ken between 1:30 and 5:25 a.m. on Monday in Llat 112 near Oliver Hall, the KU Public Safety Office said. The damage was estimated at $200.
ON THE RECORD
CORRECTION
A Leawood resident's license plate was taken between 11:30 p.m. April 17 and 1:15 p.m. April 23 from a vehicle in Lot 105 southwest of McCallum Hall, the KU Public Safety Office said. The plate was valued at $28.
An article on page 2A of yesterday's Kansan incorrectly reported that four vehicles in the Olivier Hall parking lot were burglarized early Sunday morning. The vehicles were burglarized early Monday morning.
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