SPORTS: The Kansas men's basketball team, which defeated Kansas State on Saturday, will play at Iowa State tonight, Page 7.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
VOL. 102, NO. 105
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1993
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NEWS: 864-4810
Former city candidate endorses student
A former candidate in the Lawrence City Commission race said last night that she was endorsing a KU student in the March 2 primary election.
Dolly Gasser, with withdrew from the race soon after the candidate filing date in January, said she chose to endorse Chander Jayaraman because she thought he could make a valuable contribution to the city commission.
"I feel Chander is very serious and dedicated," Gasser said. "He wants to win the election, and he wants to do a good job."
Gasser said that she thought it was important for students to be represented in local
government. She said one reason she endorsed Jayaraman was because she thought he could motivate students to get involved in the coming election.
"Students make up about 40 percent of our community," she said. "It's important for them to get involved because what the city commission does affects them."
David Turner, Lawrence senior and Jayaraman's campaign treasurer, said the
endorsement was important for getting the nonstudent vote.
Jayaraman said the endorsement would help bring the community together for the election.
"We have been focusing on the student vote up to this point," Turner said. "This might make people in the community sit up and take notice. It might help people realize that students can play an important part in Lawrence politics."
"We don't want this to be students on one side and the rest of the community on the other," he said. "We want to bring everyone together. Dolly's support will help us get the support we need from outside the KU campus."
Gasser said she decided to endorse
Jayaraman instead of another candidate, Jolene Anderson, because she thought Anderson already had enough support to advance past the primary election.
Since three candidates eventually win win election, she thought it was important to support another candidate who shares her ideas on some of the issues, she said.
"A lot of the other candidates have business ties and know important people in the community," Gasser said. "Chander does not have some of those advantages. I think I can help in some of those areas."
Gasser said she had several business ties in downtown Lawrence that she hoped would help get Jayaraman's message to the community.
Irene Lanier / KANSAN
Dolly Gasser, left, a former candidate for city commission, speaks in support of Chander Jayaraman, a KU student running in the election. Gasser endorsed Jayaraman at a fundraising event last night at the Eldridge hotel.
Mysterious symptoms afflict senior Lightheadedness started after Marvin Hall leak
By Ben Grove Kensan staff writer
After a chemical leak Feb. 10, Devan Case,
Lawrence senior, left Marvin Hall joining hundreds
of KU students who were evacuating five buildings
on campus.
Several hours later, Case and three other students who were exposed to the leak were treated at Watkins Memorial Health Center.
But Case's symptoms were worse than those of the other students who had complained of burning eyes and scratchy throats. And unlike the other students, Case's symptoms have not gone away.
"I feel lightheaded, and the room starts to move around," Case said. "If remain standing, I pass out."
Case said he had experienced those symptoms four times since the leak, most recently in the Kansas Union on Friday. He was taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital and was released soon after.
But health and poison control officials said it was extremely unlikely that exposure to a Mercaptan compound — the chemical officials said was probably leaked on Feb. 10 — would cause someone to be sick more than a week later.
"We're pretty sure it was Mercaptan, but I doubt if we'll ever documented it was documented." Dan
And Mike Russell, KU environmental health safety officer who investigated the leak, said he doubted a chemical other than Mercaptan was leaked.
we'll ever know what it was exactly," Russell said. Mercaptan is a chemical that is added to natural gas to give it an odor.
Charles Yockey, Watkins' chief of staff who has been treated Case, said that he doubted the leak had caused Case's symptoms but that he could not totally discount the possibility.
He said he did not know why Case's symptoms began soon after the leak.
"There is no question that Devan is having real problems and that his symptoms are related in time to the exposure to the gas," Yockey said. "The problem is that the odors that he breathed in don't cause the symptoms he's having."
Yockey said Case's symptoms might go away on their own.
"He appeared to be improving, but then he had that problem on Friday," Yockey said.
Case has undergone a number of tests since the leak including a CT scan at the University of Kansas Medical Center. The tests have not given any indication as to what is making Case sick. Yockey said.
"In this case, we're having extreme difficulty trying to find out what his symptoms are due to," he said. "At this point, it's a total puzzle."
Balloon burst
Doug Hesse / KANSAN
Robynn Evert, Lawrence senior, watches her team's entry in the Rube Goldberg contest during the Engineering Expo at Learned Hall. The entries in Friday's competition were contraptions designed to take the most difficult route to popping a balloon. Evert's team won this year's contest. See story, Page 5.
Family leave law may affect University
Officials will compare KU, national policies
By Dan England Kansan staff writer
The new federal family leave law has KU officials wondering how it will affect the University and what changes may have to be made.
The legislation, enacted Feb. 5, requires companies with more than 50 employees to grant workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a newborn or newly adopted child or a seriously ill family member.
KU's parental leave policy states that employees who wish to take leave upon birth of a child or parental leave in the case of adoption may do so only if the health of the spouse or child requires the employee's presence.
If the leave is desired for other than health reasons, vacation or leave of absence may be requested but is subject to departmental approval.
University officials are not sure whether its policy will have to be changed to comply with new laws.
The University's department of human resources has requested a copy of the national policy but has not yet received it, said Ola Faucher, assistant director of the department.
When human resources officials do receive a copy, they will compare policies and figure out whether anything needs to be changed, she said.
Faucher said that an employee of the University could receive an unpaid leave of absence for up to two years if necessary.
However, Nancy Dahl, head of the University Senate Executive Committee, said it was much easier for professors to take off a year than it was for staff members, such as secretaries or office assistants.
When Dahl had her children in spring of 1967 and 1970, she was able to teach trade loads with another professor. She doubled her teaching load in the fall, and he doubled his in the spring. No such option exists for staff.
"It isn't impossible for staff members to take some time off," Dahl said, "but they may be a little more vulnerable."
Dick Tracy, head of University Council, said members of Council and the administration had discussed drawing up a new family leave policy.
"There are some things that have been
talked about," Tracy said.
Sandra Albrecht, director of women studies, was the head of a committee put together last year to come up with a better family leave policy for the University.
The committee surveyed most universities across the nation and formed recommendations of its own from the surveys.
One of the recommendations, a proposal to expand the six-year time frame in which a nontenured instructor with a newborn can earn tenure, has been supported by University officials and will be discussed next week in the Faculty Executive Committee.
Albrecht said she hoped that the new law would make the University more aware.
"I do think they are working on it," she said, "but I would like to see them work much faster. I hope this new bill quickens the pace."
About 750 students from the Midwest attended this weekend's 16th annual Big Eight Conference on Black Student Government.
Leaders visit KU
Students found not to have measles virus
See story. Page 3.
More accurate tests come out negative
By Vicki Bode Kansan staff writer
Two people at KU suspected to have measles do not have the virus, according to test results received Friday at Watkins Memorial Health Center.
A student living in Oliver Hall who showed symptoms of measles — fever, sore throat, muscle aches and a rash — was tested Feb. 8, said Jody Woods, Watkins' nurse practitioner. The test, conducted by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, was positive and the health department confirmed the case.
However, Watkins' staff drew the student's blood again for a more accurate test, and the results, returned Friday, were neg-
ative.
Wattkins' staff suspected a second case in Oliver last week and feared that a measles epidemic plagued the University, but the initial test on that case came back negative Friday.
"If we had not worried about the cases like we did, it could have been really bad if the tests were positive." Woods said. "Measles needs to be caught early."
Woods said the two suspected cases were common viruses that caused rashes.
"In the long run it worked out," Woods said. "We got students to come in that needed to get shots anyway."
She said more than 30 students went to Watkins on Thursday to receive immunizations.
"A lot of the students called their parents, and the parents couldn't remember if the kids had gotten a shot," Woods said. "So, the parents tell them to get one to be safe."
If we had not worried about the cases like we did, it could have been really bad if the tests were positive. Measles needs to be caught early."
If a measles case occurs next year at KU, many students will have met the immunization requirement, she said.
"Each time we give a shot, we are that much ahead," Woods said.
She also said the possibility of a measles case helped Watkins' staff determine how many Oliver Hall students had been immuniced twice. Immunizations given before 1980 were not 100 percent effective.
Jody Woods Watkins'nursepractitioner
"We got a list of every Oliver resident and found out many already got their second shot," she said.
She said that more than half of the 546 residents at Oliver had had their second immunization.