SPORTS: Four Kansas women take first on the last day of the Kansas Relays. Page 11.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
KANSAS STATE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
TOPEKA KS 66612
VOL.102.NO.140
ADVERTISING:864-4358
MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1993
(USPS 650-640)
Campus leaders pleased with verdict in King case
NEWS:864-4810
Location of trial, make-up of jury factors in outcome
The conviction of two police officers in the Rodney King civil rights case has met with favorable reactions on campus.
By Jess DeHaven Kansan staff writer
The federal convictions of Los Angeles police Sgt. Stacey Koon and Officer Lawrence Powell were the result of the second trial in connection with the beating of motorist King
in March 1991.
James Baucm president of Black Student Union, said the guilty verdicts were only half the victory.
"I felt the verdict was fine, but I won't be satisfied until they are sentenced," Baucom said. "I really feel they should serve a minimum of three to five years before probation, because as far as I'm concerned, they almost killed him."
Baucom said he was not upset that two officers involved in the incident were not convicted, but he did think they should share some of the blame.
know if I think they should do time in prison, but they shouldn't get off totally free."
"I feel they had a moral responsibility in that situation, but I can see that they may have felt they couldn't stop what was going on," he said. "I don't
Lori-Lin Robinson, president of Asian American Student Union, also said she thought the verdict was just.
"I believe this trial was really a fair test of the officers, and I think the verdict was correct," she said.
Baucom and Robinson both said they thought that the location of the trial and the makeup of the jury condemned them in the outcome of the second trial.
"I thought the first trial was biased because they moved it to Simi Valley where a lot of retired officers live," Baucom said. "It seems to me they have a fear of Black people there."
Robinson said the difference between the two juries was an important factor.
"Having people of color on this jury really helped because it gave a mix of perspectives," she said. "Also I think they couldn't know how they couldn't let everyone off."
The first jury was comprised of 10 whites, one Asian American and one Hispanic. The second jury included nine whites, two African Americans and one Hispanic.
Reginald Robinson, associate professor of law, said he thought the types of evidence presented at the court contributed to the different outcomes.
"In the first trial the jury really had
only the videotape to go on," he said. "In this last trial, there was a lot more testimony, including that of King himself, and that really seemed to affect the jury."
Reginald Robinson said he thought the efforts of the prosecutors also helped to win the convictions.
"When you look at it, it's a lot harder to convict someone of intentionally violating someone else's civil rights as was the situation in this case," he said. "In the first case, all that really had to be proved was that the officers used excessive force on King."
"In the end, the prosecutors made a better case. They didn't rely on the tape only, and that worked in their favor."
"Having people
of color on this jury really helped because it gave it a
mix of
Professor censured
Lorri-Lin Robinson
President of Asian American Student Union
perspectives."
Lori-Lin Robinson
Public reprimand charges academic misconduct against HOPE award winner
By Ben Grove
Kansan staffwrite
By Ben Grove
The professor who won the 1992 HOPE award — a teaching honor awarded each year by KU seniors — has been reprimanded for academic misconduct by the University
Ted Johnson, professor of French and Italian, was censured in the April 2 issue of the Oread, a weekly faculty publication.
A censure is a public notice of reprimand.
Chancellor Gene Budig decided that public concern was appropriate after a faculty committee found a grievance filed by Jan Kozma, professor of French and Italian, to be valid.
Kozma filed the Faculty Code of Conduct grievance after Johnson released information concerning a promotion she received last year. Johnson challenged Kozma's promotion to full professor and disclosed the vote on her promotion along with several of Kozma's unpublished articles.
Kozma declined to comment on the nature of her conflict with Johnson and would not offer further details about the grievance.
"The whole idea is to unveil these papers for the faculty so that they canjurage them for themselves and not to force my opinion on them," Johnson said. "The University is a place of open inquiry. It is a public forum."
Johnson said that promotions were based on professors' written works. He said that he chose to make Kozma's papers public because he believed such information should be open to public scrutiny when a professor was being considered for a promotion.
"I won't compromise my dignity by sparring in public," she said.
The faculty committee that conducted the hearing on Kozma's complaint ruled that Johnson's actions had warranted a one-year, unpaid leave. But Budig decided that the public censure was appropriate.
Budig could not be reached for comment yesterday.
John Davidson, professor of physics and astronomy, and head of the faculty committee, declined to explain why the
Johnson's attorney confirmed that Kozma was considering a civil lawsuit against Johnson.
Johnson said that he was frustrated that he could not speak more openly about the grievance.
"I'm an extremely open person and this current state of affairs runs directly contrary to the notion of a public university," Johnson said.
Memories of home
Displays of cultural books, photographs and crafts sparked memories of home for groups of international students who participated Friday in the 41st Annual Festival of Nations.
See story. Page 3.
Spring cleaning
Dan Carver / KANSAN
Brian Qualls, 15-year-old Lawrence resident, reaches for a piece of plastic foam in Clinton Lake. The Clinton Lake Cleanup Committee sponsored the 10th annual lake cleanup on Saturday to help get the lake and surrounding area ready for the summer season.
Haskell may be accredited by 1994
By Frank McCleary
Kansan staff writer
Haskell Indian Junior College will take another step this week toward becoming a four-year college by the end of the decade.
Haskell officials have proposed developing a four-and-a-half year education program that could begin Fall 1994, and later adding other four-year programs, possibly business administration.
North Central Association, an accrediting body for colleges and universities, will review Haskell's education program proposal this week. It will look at course outlines and descriptions to get an idea of how the program would meet American-Indian
student needs. The NCA should issue its response in about a month.
Ham $\pm$ Combest, education assistant to the college's president, said that the teacher education program was a top priority at Haskell. She said there was a lack of American-Indian teachers in schools around the nation, particularly on American-Indian reservations. Combest also said the Haskell administration hoped to increase the size of the student body.
"We would like to increase enrollment to 2,000 by the year 2000," she said.
Haskell's enrollment is about 900 this semester.
Combest said she hoped the NCA would
give Haskell the opportunity to grant baccalaureate degrees in other programs, not just education.
The Office of Indian Education Program, part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington D.C., has already approved Haskell's plan, Combesm said. If the NCA approves the plan, the final step would be to gain approval from the Kansas State Board of Education. The board would evaluate Haskell's proposal this fall and issue its report at the beginning of 1994.
The program's future depends on whether or not the program is accredited, said Gaye Leia King, head of the department of teacher education at Haskell. It is
not accredited, students will not be allowed to teach in anstate.
King said a goal for the program was to graduate 30 students by Fall 1996. After the students graduated, they would either student teach or hold an internship to receive their certification.
Two full-time instructors will be hired this year to work on program development and teach education classes. According to the plan, seven full-time instructors would be required by Fall 1995, and students would need to meet certain requirements in order to be accepted into the program. The first class, at the sophomore level, will be offered this fall.
Graduation mural to hang in Wescoe Food Court
By James J. Reece Kansas staff writer
Kansan staff writer
An advertisement billboard the size of a Winnebago's profile lies flat on the floor in room 406 of the Art and Design Building.
Parker said he first would glue the paper billboard to four sections of canvas, mounted on wooden frames. Then, with a series of acrylic paints and washes, he will create a marial celebrating the theme of the transition
But soon it will hang as a mural in Wescow Food Court — after Trey Parker turns it into a tribute to change and change.
"When I take reproductions and paint on them, I create my own meaning," said Parker, Lawrence graduate teaching assistant in fine arts. "We all construct our own meaning for everything that happens. It kind of revolves around that. It's about what you are, what you believe in."
from the college world to the real world.
He hopes to be finished with the painting by May 5.
The billboard reads: "Thinking Plants? Think Plantland."
"That's what it says," Parker said. "But that's not the title of the piece."
He said he was uncertain of its title, but he said the mural's theme would be purposely ambiguous.
"It allows for more dialogue with the viewer." he said.
He said he hoped anyone looking at the mural would notice a figure walking into it and a "la, la, la" — parts of the words on the billboard he plans to highlight. The design also contains plants and several figures wearing graduation caps.
Parker said most of the work on the mural would be done in the Art and Design Building, and that
the last two or three days of painting would be done in Wescoe, where the mural will hang on the east interior wall, next to the clock.
He will have help from six fine arts students in painting the mural.
Paul Kotz / KANSAN
Trey Parker, Lawrence graduate teaching assistant, examines the billboard on which he will paint a mural for Wesco Food Court. Parker uses previously painted billboards as the base for his murals.
Parker was selected to paint the mural through a competition sponsored by the Kansas University Art Student League, which awarded him a budget of almost $1,000 to do the job. His idea was chosen from ideas submitted by architecture, design and fine arts students in January.
The KUASL selection committee included Stan Herd, a Lawrence artist, Roger Shimomura, professor of art, and Charles Eldredge, professor of history of art.
"We ended up with a lot of ideas we thought might work," Herd said. "But Trey — we were just
impressed with his work."
Herd said that the committee considered each idea based on how it would transfer to a larger scale, and that Parker had experience in painting on a large scale.
He also was impressed by Parker's use of advertising billboards, he said.
"He seemed pretty inventive," Herd said.