SPORTS: Kansas students and players enjoy a victory in the seniors' final home basketball game. Pages 10 and 11.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
VOL. 103,NO. 114
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
KANSAS STATE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
TOPEKA KS 66612
FRIDAY, MARCH 4. 1994
(USPS 650-640)
NEWS:864-4810
BOB DYLAN
Born: Robert Allan Zimmerman, May 24, 1941,
Duluth, Minn.
First album:"Bob Dylan," 1962
First top 40 song: "Subter ranean Homesick Blues," 1965
First top 10 song:"Like a Rolling Stone,"1965
Total number of albums: 33
Compilations and Anthologies: "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits," "Greatest Hits Volume 2," "Biograph," "The Bootleg Series: Volumes 1-3"
Bob Dylan 'blowin'in to KU
KANSAN
'60s folk-rock legend booked for Lied Center
By David Stewart Kansan staff writer
In a throwback to his smaller, more intimate concerts of the '60s, Bob Dylan and his band will play the Lied Center on April 9.
Tickets for the show will go on sale Wednesday at the Lied Center box office and Ticketmaster outlets, said Desey Tziortzis, Chicago senior and live music coordinator for Student Union Activities. SUA hasn't assigned ticket prices yet.
The 52-year-old singer's appearance will represent another step forward for the newly opened Lied Center, Tziortzia said.
"With the Lied Center, we felt we had the facilities to accommodate him," Tzlortzis said. "We're not going to put him in a bar room."
An unknown number of the center's 2,020 seats will be set aside exclusively for KU students, Tziorbizis said. Those tickets will be available at the Lied Center box office on a first-come, first-serve basis.
"Since we're here to provide a service to the University, we want to make sure students have a chance to see the show," Tziortzis said.
The concert is co-sponsored by Contemporary Marketing, a St. Louis promotion company. Kevin Dochtermann, vice president of the company, said Dylan's management had specifically changed the touring schedule to include
Dylan's Lawrence show will be the fourth of seven concerts already slated for the region, with Columbia, Mo., and Ames, Iowa, among his other Midwest appearances.
"The idea was that Bob had not toured the smaller communities, especially the small, cool venues," Dochtermann said. "These shows tend to sell out at these type of venues."
Last year Dylan released two new albums: the all-acoustic "World Gone Wrong" and "Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration."
The latter recording came from an October 1992 concert at Madison Square Garden in New York featuring Dylan and other musicians, including Eric Clapton, Sinead O'Connor and George Harrison.
Dochtermann said the current tour was intended to support Dylan's history as a performer and not any one specific album.
KU computers challenge the blind KU tries to help visually impaired
University lacks braille displays voice synthesizers
By Susan White
Kansan staff writer
Heather Kirkwood had to wait a year for the voice-synthesized computer she ordered from KU's Vocational Rehabilitation Services.
"I ordered my computer when I was a freshman, and I got it when I was a sophomore," said Kirkwood, Wichita junior and president of the Student Association for the Blind. "For a whole year I had to have people on my residence hall floor type my papers for me, which was not an acceptable solution to a big problem."
Kirkwood had to purchase her own computer with funds from the service because the University of Kansas does not have computers accessible to people with visual impairments.
When she first tried three years ago to bring her computer needs to the attention of the administration, she received a lot of sympathy but little action, Kirkwood said.
Kirkwood is legally blind, meaning that she can use regular computers with the words set to three times the size of normal type, but this eventually strains her eyes to the point that she gets severe headaches.
Kim Morrow, Overland Park graduate student, said that not having computers on campus to meet her needs was a significant problem.
"Now the Student Assistance Center and the administration recognize that something needs to be done, but there are several obstacles to get past," she said.
"It is really important that the campus become computer accessible for the blind," she said.
"All blind students need is either a voice synthesizer to enable whatever is on the screen to come out in artificial voice or a braille display allowing us to read what is on the screen with our fingers. In technology age like this, it is especially important that the campus is updated with the latest equipment."
Kirkwood said that two weeks ago, she and members of her association had made a list of suggestions to
speed up the process and had brought it to Mike Shuttic, assistant director of the Student Assistance Center.
"We suggested the University should buy voice synthesizers, braille printers and other adaptive equipment," she said. "Mike said he would like to see all the campus computer labs accessible, but I have only two years left, and I would like to see them before I leave."
The organization also received funds from the Student Senate to put toward accessibility equipment.
Alan Pierce, non-traditional senator, said Senate had approved $889 for the association during budget code hearings this week. Senate will help pay for braille printing, adaptive equipment and audio-tapes, he said.
"We are funding things that the University should have taken care of themselves," Pierce said. "It's a slow process, and the problems haven't been very publicized. My roommate had to leave because the University was inaccessible."
Tina Jenkins, Seneca graduate student and member of the association, said making all the computers on campus accessible would take time.
"We just became an organization," she said. "We are basically starting from scratch, but we are trying to get some funding through the Computer Center. Also, a lot of the members of SAB are in the National Federation of the Blind. Hopefully it will help us get some of our resources to put some more of our projects into action."
Kirkwood said the University also needed to update its equipment for practical reasons.
"A lot of classes require some computer work, like for the engineering department," she said. "Also, if blind students come to the University to major in computer science, there won't be any computers for them to use."
"It becomes a big deal without the basic tools," she said.
Leann Keefe, Whitewater, Wis., graduate student and treasurer of the association said she also was frustrated with the computer situation on campus.
"It is hard to be competitive with my peers," she said. "I get really tired from extra eye strain from looking at regular computer screens."
Kirkwood said that her lack of sight had not slowed her down but that the lack of accessible computers had.
Valerie Bontrager / KANSAN
Nadine, a guide dog, keeps watch by her owner, Kimberly Morrow, Overland Park graduate student, who is blind. Morrow uses a voice synthesizer on the computer in her room to do homework and write messages to friends on electronic mail.
By Heather Moore
Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas tries to make itself accessible to students who have visual impairments, but KU officials admit that more could be done.
Most University officials also agree that the University does the best it can with its limited financial resources and that it tries to address all students' needs.
Mike Shuttic, assistant director of the Student Assistance Center, said the University had set goals for improving accessibility for people who have visual impairments.
"The library isn't as accessible as it should be," he said.
"We're working on it now. Our main goals are to get 'X' number of computer terminals and an on-line catalog and make access to enlarged screens."
Shuttic said that despite the goals, he couldn't put a date on when the center would be able to purchase new equipment.
Jim Neeley, head of the reference desk at Watson Library, said that the library worked with the center to develop services and policies but that more could be done.
Shuttle said that KU was behind other universities in purchasing accessible equipment.
Electronic information resources, such as on-line catalogs and books on computer disks, need to be made more accessible to people who are visually impaired, Neeley said.
But the library has been doing its best to help people with disabilities, he said.
"I expect we'll make screen displays accessible to people with vision disabilities," he said.
Neeley also said the University was doing well with the little money that was available.
"Other schools have more services, but they work with more people," he said. "I'm not aware of any needs that aren't being met."
Lisa Popelka, assistant to the counselor for students with disabilities at the University of Oregon, said that Oregon was well-equipped for people with visual disabilities. That university has braille campus maps, books and notes on tape, voice recognition computers, braille print-outs and braille typewriters, she said. Oregon is one of KU's five peer institutions.
"We would like to outfit all the buildings with braille and provide textbooks on computer disks," she said. "There is a question of who is responsible to pay for this. I haven't run into many problems, but money is tight."
Susan Brown of Independence Inc., a Lawrence organization that assists people with disabilities, said communities such as Lawrence needed to provide better public transportation for people with disabilities.
"The KU bus system caters to the students," Brown said. "The general population needs to provide better transportation."
But the University could do more to help people with visual impairments. Brown said.
"Some students with visual impairments are dissatisfied," she said. "The campus tries to make an effort but doesn't go the extra mile."
He's safe!
The Kansas baseball team won its home opener 21-5 against Grandview.The Jayhawks enjoyed their return to competition after the game had been postponed twice because of the weather.
Page12.
Legislative body calls for more Hoch money
Regents may ask Finney for $3 million funding increase
TOPEKA - A legislative committee recommended yesterday that up to $3 million more be appropriated for the reconstruction of Hoch Auditorium.
By Stephen Martino
Kansan staff writer
The Joint Committee on State Building Construction requested that the Board of Regents ask Gov. Joan Finney for the additional funds. The original appropriation was $18 million, but bids for the reconstruction exceeded that amount.
However, Finney's budget director cautioned that more money may not be avail
The University of Kansas building was struck by lightning in July 1991. All but the front facing was destroyed by the resulting fire. The building, which opened in 1927, contained the largest lecture hall on campus.
able for the project.
State Rep. Phil Kline, R-Overland Park, said the first bids on the project contained two underground floors of space for the government documents and map library, which is now in Malott Hall. However, he said that unless the money could be found now, that space obviously could not be built later.
"We know KU and its architects have been trying to cut down costs," he said. "If we don't get those floors now, we know we'll never get them."
Kline said that the proposed money would come from the state's budget stabilization fund. This is a fund used for onetime appropriations.
But Gloria Timmer, state budget director, said that reports about the size of the fund were exaggerated and that the money might not be there for Hoch.
Hoch's original $18 million came from this money, and $75 million went to the budget stabilization fund.
In 1991, the state received $185 million from the federal government. The money was owed to the state for care of indigent clients in state hospitals.
Timmer said the Legislature should appropriate the money itself instead of asking the Regents to request it.
"I generally think that this is the Legislature's way of avoiding responsibility," she
However, Timmer said only about $25 million was left in the stabilization fund because a shortfall at the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services required the governor to designate $50 million to the department.
said.
Kline said the state now would take three sets of bids for Hoch's reconstruction if the governor approved the recommendation: one for the ground floor up and one for each of the two underground library floors.
Kline, who is a civil engineer, said underground construction was less expensive than most construction.
"It is most cost effective for us now to finance the construction of the two library floors,"he said."We feel that if we don't do it now,we will have to address this problem later when it is much more expensive at another location."
Timmer said that she had not been notified of the committee action but that she was skeptical of its chances.
"If I was a betting person, I would suggest that they look at building within the $18-million range," she said.
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