CAMPUS: Graduating seniors may find jobs outside of their fields of study. Page 6.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VOL.103.NO.140
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
KANSAS STATE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
TOPEKA KS 6612
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
WEDNESDAY. APRIL 20,1994
42nd Governor of Kansas
(USPS 650-640)
Power has its price. Legislators love or
loathe you. The press takes pleasure in your follies. But for the first woman governor of Kansas,
it's all part of...
Legislative pages pose with Gov. Joan Finney. For their efforts at the Legislature, the pages receive a picture of themselves with the governor and the legislator for whom they work.
THE POLITICS OF BEING JOAN
Story by Stephen Martino ★ Photos by Tom Leininger
NEWS:864-4810
Gov. Finney checks her watch after lunch at Doug's grill and Kettle, a Topea diner. Her dav is usually full, and she keeps to a tight schedule.
It was a Joan Finney moment. More than halfway through her last State of the State address, the Republican-dominated Legislature hardly had acknowledged a thing in the governor's speech - not even
thing in the governor's speech — not even a few polite clauses.
But then the 69-year-old Democratic governor hit her stride.
Finney glowed as she spoke of Operation Immunize — her program to vaccinate all toddlers aged 2 and under. The representatives began to warm to the fact that the state had moved its general health ranking to sixth among all the states.
"When the program began, approximately 50 percent of Kansas babies were immunized," she said. "The state's percentage now is nearly 60 percent."
The House chamber roared with applause.
Finally, here was a reason for Republicans to put their hands together. Democrats cheered for a governor they could be proud of. In the gallery, her family beamed in approval of their matriarch.
She returned to her text. Her voice rose to ring out ... the same line.
But so long was the applause, so warm was the radiance of the less-than-familiar ovation, that the governor seemed distracted.
"It is estimated that when the program began, approximately 50 percent ..." She stopped.
By the time the governor realized she had lost her place and repeated the good news twice, Republican legislators were covering broad grins and stifling burps of laughter. Reporters in press row were openly laughing. Democrats just sat dazed.
Once again, Joan Finney, the 42nd governor of Kansas, had snatched embarrassment from the jaws of admiration.
Her opponents call her unpolished and lost, confusing and uninspiring, and the person most responsible for Kansas government being on autopilot for the past four years. But to Finney's supporters, she is a spark of populism and straightforward, common-folk thinking
Her wisdom, supporters claim, comes from knowing what the common people want, from having the interests of the state at heart.
She says she is not unlike the people in Caney, Garden City, Blue Mound or Shawnee, a common person who just happens to be governor.
"She is not cut-and-dried," said Spencer Finney, her husband of 36 years. "You can't classify my wife like that because she is a people politician."
Other people, many of them the same ones who supported her four years ago against incumbent governor Mike Hayden, say she is unpredictable and ... well ... downright crazy.
They point to the time she appointed convicted child molester Herbert Ketterman to a $30,000-a-year job collecting statistics on abortions in the state. They cite her intention to allow the death penalty, a bill she personally opposed, to become law, with her saying "I'll let it become law, but I hope it's never used." They complain about the times she appointed Republicans — instead of those from her own party — to high government posts or an important cabinet position.
"Her sense of government is off on another track than most of the people in the legislature," said Senate President Paul "Bud" Burke, R-Olathe.
The winning touch
Every day elementary and junior high students come to the Legislature to serve as pages — errand runners for the legislators and their staffs. In the morning, they line up by the governor's office to have their pictures taken with her. It is one of the best parts of her job, she likes to say, standing there with young people, the future of Kansas.
A 12-year-old boy shakes her hand. It is not the first time they have met.
"Oh, yes," she says. "I remember. We visited, didn't we?"
"I saw you at Walgreen's," he says.
"No," he answers. "You were buying pantyhose."
She never doubted her victory. She knew that the people would support her.
Not many governors go to Walgren's; fewer still pick up a pack of No Nonsense. But Joan Finney does, and she remembers the people she meets.
When Joan Finney enters a room, those who never have met her often understand why she was elected governor. Careful, steady eyes transmit the confidence of a woman willing to listen and determined to act. Even her political adversaries, such as Burke, cannot help but find her company pleasant.
miles in 11 months. Although she was outspent by a wide margin in her campaign against Mike Hayden, she prevailed by more than 47,000 votes.
"The governor is one of the most charming people I've ever met," he said. "And she is delightful to be with, whether it's one-on-one or in a small social setting or a group of people."
It is the common touch, the reaching out to the people of Kansas, that has kept her in office for the past 20 years, Finney says.
During her campaign for governor, she and Spencer drove more than 38,000
"I knew I would win," she says. "No doubts, ljust knew it. I've known for many years that I would someday be governor. And in earlier years, I thought, Why would I want that responsibility?" but I knew it was going to happen."
It happened because she put her complete trust in the people.
And the connection she makes with people is unsurpassed among politicians, some say.
"I've been in parades with Gov. Finney, and no one works a crowd like her," said U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum. "She has a populist touch with the public. Her great strength is that she remembers names and has a genuine ability to connect."
See FINNEY, Page 9.
She may be the choice of the common
Program's interest rekindled
American Indian Studies still in planning stage
By Roberta Johnson Kansan staff writer
According to the Feb. 7, 1978, Kansan, Robert Cobb, former dean of liberal arts and sciences, was "optimistic that a Native American Studies program could be started as early as next spring."
Despite a former dean's optimism in the 1970s, an American Indian Studies program still does not exist at the University of Kansas.
Spring came, but a program never did.
A wave of desire for an American Indian Studies program returned during the 1991- 1992 school year, but even though students can earn a special degree through the College of Liberal arts and Sciences, no official program exists today.
Donald Stull, associate chair of anthropology and a member of the committee that pushed for the program, said the problem in initiating the program was a lack of money.
"The Regents are not initiating new programs," he said. "Ethnic lies programs
Native American Heritage Month
Classes offered
Although nearly 40 American Indian-related courses once existed at the University, few courses exist today.
Summer1994:
ANTH 376 Native American Indians
HIST 348 History of Peoples of
Kansas
Fall1994:
ANTH 715 Seminar in Plains Archaeology
Archaeology
ENGL 572 Women and Literature:
Native American Authors
HIST 611 Early American Indian History
HIST 618 History of American West to 1900
HIST 800 Readings in American History
KANSAN
across the country are not doing well. Realistically, there's not much of a chance."
Maria Carlson, director of the Russian and East European Studies program, disagreed.
"We have experienced a high level of applicants for 10 to 15 years," Carlson said. "And African and African American Studies doesn't seem to be falling off."
Stull said that two to four classes related to Native Americans were offered each semester.
"You can get a good training here, but my own feeling is it's better to pursue a degree in another discipline and then specialize," he said. "Students can take a variety of training. There's plenty of faculty who are willing to offer it."
If there are faculty willing to teach the classes, then an American Indian Studies program should exist, said Lori Learned, Lawrence senior.
"The Women's Studies program started as an interdisciplinary program, and that's taking off," she said. "I don't know if it's a backlash against multiculturalism or there's just no real interest."
Lyle Frank, North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada,
doctoral student, agrees with Learned.
"We make a large population of Lawrence," he said. "A lot of Native American studies are not just history. There's sociology, psychology ... If it's just focusing on history, it gives a narrow perspective on American-Indian people.
"People keep seeing us as artifacts, not living, breathing people that contribute to society. We are the oldest inhabitants and least understood by the general public."
Al Johnson, professor of anthropology, said a group was trying to design a program with Haskell Indian Nations University.
universally.
"It always seemed like the most sensible idea to have a cooperative venture since Haskell's in town," he said. "But it's up to the folks out there."
Members of Haskell's administration were not available for comment.
Let it fly
Capital punishment's arrival fosters debate
The 69th Annual Kansas Relays will begin today at 10 a.m. at Memorial Stadium with the first half of the decathlon and heptathlon.
Page11.
An eye for an eye. KU students and professors are looking at this idea of retribution and other issues that affect the death penalty at different angles.
By Angelina Lopez
Kansan staff writer
Gov. Joan Finney has until 11:59 p.m. Friday to veto a death penalty bill approved by the Legislature, an action she said she would not take. The bill would go into effect July 1 and would apply to seven capital crimes.
Though some say that an eye for an eye is too severe, others say the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for those who have killed.
David Gottlieb, professor of law who has spoken in opposition to the death penalty in the Kansas Legislature, said he opposed capital punishment because, among other reasons, it was ineffective in reducing crime, it was expensive and it deflected
attention from important crime issues.
"The death penalty is an effort by fallible human beings to play God," Gottlieb said. "It gives the state power that it doesn't need to have."
But Dan Hubbard, St. Louis senior and president of KU College Republicans, said he supported the death penalty because it was effective as a deterrent and cut the expense of having to house a criminal in prison.
"It may be heartless, but these people have committed heinous crimes; it's not someone who has shoplifted," Hubbard said. "They have to be kept in prison for years and years at a high cost to the taxpayer."
However, he said, his most adamant reason for supporting the death penalty is a personal one.
"Because of the way the parole system works and the pressure of prison overcrowding, someone who might have grue
somely killed someone close to me might be set on the streets again." Hubbard said.
"If someone hurt a family member, I'd want to be the one that pulls the switch," Hopkins said.
She said that she opposed the death penalty because she was suspicious of how it was applied.
Brian Hopkins, Wichita senior, said that although he generally disagreed with the death penalty, he would want it if one of his loved ones were murdered.
"There is strong evidence that people of color who commit crimes against whites receive the death penalty more than whites who commit crimes against people of color." Davis said.
Leigh Smith, Tulsa, Okla., senior, said she found it hard to understand people's moral arguments against the death penalty.
Liane Davis, associate dean in the School of Social Welfare, said she would not get any satisfaction through the death of a loved one's killer. Instead, she said she would hope for a speedy conviction.
"If it deters a crime, it helps a victim or helps society, then it's not a moral issue," Smith said. "You have to decide what's best for society."
The KU chapter of Amnesty International stresses the importance of the prisoner as well as society, said Danelle Myron, Vermillion, S.D., senior and coordinator of the chapter.
Amnesty unconditionally opposes the death penalty because it is cruel and inhumane punishment, she said.
She said that the local chapter had followed the death penalty proceedings in the Legislature and that she was encouraging people to call and write the governor before the Friday deadline.
"Death penalties are a lot harder to get rid of once you have them," she said.