SPORTS: Kansas defeats Creighton 10-9 in the 11th inning at Hoglund-Maupin Stadium. Page 11.
KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
KANSAS STATE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
TOPEKA KS 66612
VOL.103.NO.139
TUESDAY, APRIL19, 1994
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
Minority groups protest Kansan
（USPS 650-640）
Students outline demands for more diverse coverage
By Angelina Lopez Kansan staff writer
NEWS:864-4810
"The UDK will pay today," shouted about 50 minority students who marched down Jayhawk Boulevard at 12:30 p.m. yesterday to protest the Kansan's minority news coverage.
The march, which began at the Chi Omega fountain, was organized by Sandra Olivas, president of the Hispanic American Leadership Organization. But Terry Bell, president of the Black Student Union, and Arthur
Chiu, president of the Asian American Student Union, also helped lead the march.
"Do people of color have to shoot, kill, rob, rape, use drugs, etc., in order to get front page coverage in the UDK?" said pamphlets that were handed out during the march. "Do people of color have to be 'star athletes' in order to get front page coverage in the UDK? The answer shown from the Kansan is yes!"
However, outside of Stauffer-Flint Hall, all three leaders said that they
The protest was sparked by HALO's dissatisfaction with the coverage received during the Hispanics of Today conference, a conference sponsored by HALO that took place April8-10.
In a previously scheduled meeting with the Kansan editors, the group presented a list of three demands. Their most pressing demand called for more reporters to be assigned to minority reporting.
were protesting the Kansan's improper representation of all minority groups and to push for more positive minority stories.
The march ended inside the Kansan newsroom.
Their second demand called for a minority representative to be added to the Kansan board, which chooses the Kansan editor.
"There is only one minority reporter," Olivas said while outside. "There are four different writers for sports. Are we important to them?"
The third demand called for the Advisory Board, which serves as a communications link between minority groups and the Kansan, to be given more power in the daily decision-making process at the Kansan.
"The groups we heard had some legitimate complaints about our coverage," said Ben Grove, Kansan editor. "Especially in regard to the HOT conference, which was an event that we did not put enough thought into covering."
He stressed, however, that he stood behind the Kansan's coverage of minority students on campus.
Stephen Martino, editor for Fall 1994, said he planned to meet with the group Thursday at the Kansan to further discuss their concerns.
Members of six different minority groups on campus march down Jayhawk Boulevard in protest of the University Daily Kansan's coverage of multicultural events. The group's march ended inside the Kansan newsroom yesterday.
INTELLECT TAKES A WRONG TURN
ARE COLLEGE CLASSROOMS FULL OF CULTURAL ILLITERATES?
STORY BY DENISE NEIL ILLUSTRATION AND GRAPHICS BY MICAH LAAKER
S
oftenies Albert Cook shakes his head in wonder.
He can't teach his favorite 17th Century poet, George Herbert, anymore. His students don't know who Herbert is, and they don't seem to care.
They don't get his references to Shakespeare during his lectures either. When Cook, an associate professor of English, makes references to the Bible, mythology, history and other literary works, they go right by his students.
"They don't have the capacity to understand history decade by decade, century by century," Cook said. "If it was before they were born, it vaguely in older times."
Earlier this semester in an upper-level German class, Maurer made a reference to Herman Melville's classic work "Billy Budd." He got blank stares.
Warren Maurer, professor of German, also wonders if students understand the historical and literary references in his lectures.
"I'm somewhat pessimistic at this time," he said. "Over the years, I seem to find the level of college students we get is dropping off."
If you don't get it either, if you didn't know Melville wrote "Moby Dick" and that Billy
The nice way to say it is that most college students aren't culturally literate anymore. But what professors and educational researchers seem to be finding is that KU students, like most college students today, are dumber than they used to be. And nobody seems to be telling them.
Budd is probably his most famous character after Captain Ahab, if you think Latin is spoken in Latin America and you don't know whether there are more Jewish or Muslim people in the world, then join the group — the ignorant group.
The proof may be found in standardized test
scores. Grade point averages have risen consistently during the last five years while ACT composite scores have dropped. The average score on the SAT's verbal section has risen slightly in the last few years, but it still is less than the average verbal score reported four years ago.
E. D. Hirsch Jr., a professor of English at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, brought the cultural illiteracy problem into the national spotlight in 1987 with his book "Cultural Literacy." It contained a controver-
Corporal punishment called into question
By Ashley Schultz
Kansanstaff writer
It would take an executive order to save Michael Fay from the cane.
Unless Singapore President Ong Teng Cheong grants him clemency, he will receive six strikes across the buttocks from a rattan cane. The punishment will likely split his skin open and could leave permanent scars.
The 18-year-old Dayton, Ohio,
native pleaded guilty last fall to
charges of vandalizing cars with eggs
and spray paint and tearing down traffic
signs. He faces four months in jail,
a $2,215 fine and six siwes. Fay has
said that his confession was coerced,
and his lawyers have until tomorrow
to appeal.
This form of corporal punishment, which is unheard of in the United States, has been called into question.
William Arnold, associate professor of sociology, said Fay should have known better. But even if Fay knew about the law, Arnold said it may not have served as a deterrent.
"In general, punishment does not deter very well because everybody always thinks they're going to get away with it." Arnold said.
But, he said, U.S. citizens should not be quick to condemn.
"These people are probably not pausing to consider what they themselves did when they were kids," Arnold said. "The clamoring is very similar to the clamoring for the death penalty — which we know is not a deterrent — but, it's a similar kind of bloodfirstness."
But some people will argue that the severity and promptness of punishment can impact crime rates, Arnold said.
Terry Weidner, associate director of international programs, visited Singapore about 10 years ago.
"I think that they have done what a lot of people in the United States call for, and that is to have penalties that are so extreme that they really are a deterrent." Weidner said.
For example, he said, drug users face length prison sentences and drug dealers face execution. He said that warnings were posted everywhere.
"Sell drugs and be executed," Weiner said. "It's not subtle at all. You can't walk on the grass in Singapore without getting in trouble."
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
Nixon hospitalized
After suffering a stroke, former President Richard Nixon was hospitalized yesterday and remained in serious condition.
Hotel shortage forces parents into dorms
Page 13.
By Heather Moore Kansan staff writer
Kansan staff writer
These are just a few difficulties students face when their parents come to Lawrence for graduation.
Pull out the couch, pick up the beer cans and take out the trash.
Because area hotels have all been booked, students must put their parents up in residence halls, out of town or at their own homes.
Randy Timun, conference service coordinator for the department of student housing, said the department expected 250 parents to be staying in the residence halls during graduation weekend.
They may face one more.
"On May 4 we will stop taking reservations," he said. "There will be limited space for walk-ins. All the hotels in town are booked. Students would have to make reservations in advance for their parents to stay anywhere in town."
Parents who wish to stay in a hotel in Lawrence won't find many vacancies. Lisa Sims, Olathe junior and employee at Holiday Inn, 200 McDonald Dr., said the hotel had been booked since January.
"We have already had calls for next year," she said. "We are still getting calls, but we have to send people to Kansas City since Topeka is already booked."
Jim Higbie, general manager at Travelodge Motel, 801 Iowa St., said he had been booked since last June.
"Everyone in town is booked," he said.
"We will start getting calls for next year
after graduation this year."
"It's only one night," he said. "It can't be that cranny."
Brian Anderson, Derby senior, said his parents would stay in a residence hall.
Anderson said staying in a residence hall would be a good experience for his parents.
Sarah Wachter, Wheaton, Ill., senior, said her parents would be staying at a hotel in Kansas City, Mo.
"I think it will help them build character," he said. "I'm sure they will enjoy the public bathrooms. After this, they will appreciate my decision not to live there."
"It was very frustrating that there was nothing available," she said. "If they have been drinking, they will stay here, though."
Kara Fabin, Sterling senior, said that
"I like it when they stay here," she said. "They come down quite a bit."
some of her in-laws were staying at a hotel in Ottawa but that her parents were staying with her.
Tom Allison, Hutchinson senior, said that his parents were going to be staying at his place but that it didn't bother him.
"If it's a family event so it's no big deal," he said. "I'll be on my best behavior for them and probably do some clean-up around here."
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Eric Almquist, Salina senior, said he wasn't sure where his parents were staying.
"They tend to be in contact more with my sister, who is graduating also," he said. "They probably won't stay here. They rarely do."