SPORTS: Jerry Reinsdorf, head of the Chicago Bulls and White Sox, discussed business in sports in a lecture last night. Page 10.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VOL.103,NO.96
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KAN
KANSAS STATE
HISTORTCAL SOCIETY
TOPEKA KS 66612
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1994
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
(USPS 650-640)
NEWS:864-4810
Heritage celebration finds roots in history
Founded by a historian in 1926, the observation has evolved, expanded By Denise Neil Kansan staff writer
Carter G. Woodson, considered by many to be the father of African-American history, did not live to see the weeklong observation of African-American history he began in 1926 evolve into a monthlong celebration fifty years later.
Woodson may have been surprised by the observation's extension.
"You'd have to see Carter G. Woodson in the context of his time," said Ralph Crowder, professor of African-American studies at Purdue University and former KU assistant instructor of history. "He lived from 1875 to 1950. It was a time when the very humanity of Blacks was in question. There was a significant amount of hostility not only to Blacks, but to immigrants."
Woodson's parents were former slaves. He was unable to enter high school until he was 19-years-old, and he graduated less than two years later. He received his doctorate in history from Harvard University in 1912.
1915 as a way to promote the study of Black history in schools and to promote racial harmony. He hoped that a special week set aside to observe Black history would help him achieve these goals.
Woodson, who founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History Inc., announced in February 1926 the founding of what was then called "Negro History Week."
Woodson had founded the association in
"He was really trying for a better understanding of Black folks in America and also to see how it could be a part of school curriculum," said Jacob Gordon, associate professor of African-American studies and executive director for the Institute for Black Leadership Development and Research.
Leaving a mark
During the bicentennial celebration of the week in 1976, the association, which in 1972 had changed its name to the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History Inc., expanded the week's celebration to include all of February. February was chosen since it included the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, a 19th-century abolitionist.
A Feb. 1, 1976 issue of the Kansan said that a group of African-American students from Ellsworth Hall had decided a few years earlier to observe the week at KU in conjunction with the national observance. By 1978, KU was participating in the monthlong observance.
Source: Many Races Foundation
Gunderman/MANBAN
William Alix / KANSAM Members of the Marquee Jordan Quintet told the audience about jazz history between their pieces Friday night at the Burge Union.
Marshall Jackson, administrative assistant for the Student Assistance Center, said the event had been observed in some form for all of the 20 years he had been at KU. It had begun as a project coordinated by the Black Student Union and the Office of Minority Affairs, he said. But over the years, it had expanded to include different departments and organizations on campus.
"I'm like a lot of people who hope some day we don't have to have one month set aside," Jackson said. "African Americans have contributed to the growth of this country from the very beginning."
Upcoming events
Tonight's lecture "When is a Black Man truly a Success?" by Ron Chilens, editor for Ebony Man Publications, has been canceled
Wednesday, Feb. 9
Reception: "Onny to Onny," for students and faculty, sponsored by the Association of African-American Graduate Students. 5:30-7:30 p.m., English Room, Kansas Union. Admission is free.
Thursday, Feb. 10
Lecture: "Creating Families: A New Look," by
Bernice Duncan.
7 p.m., Ecumenical Christian Ministries,
1204 Ave. Admission is free.
Thursday, Feb. 10
Students juggle jobs with academics
Working to pay tuition hard on attendance
By Angelina Lopez Kansan staff writer
Hoping for a sympathetic ear, LaCherl Bolle, Kansas City.
KU student Kirk Wagner, Omaha, Neb., senior, studies for his Hitler and Nazi Germany class during a break at Schlotzsky's Sand-wich Shop, 2233 Louisiana St. Wagner works the evening shift at Schlotzsky's and studies whenever he has a chance.
Hoping for a symp
Rollie, Kansas City,
Mo., senior, went to
her professor to
explain her excessive absences.
Rollie's roommate had moved out unexpectedly during the middle of the semester, and Rol-
Help! Professors and local business managers say they are doing their best to accommodate students and their busy lifestyles. Page 5.
James Wilcox / KAHBAN
lie was left with all the bills. She already was working 22 hours a week at the Office of the University Registrar as well as taking 18 hours of classes, but she had to get another job in the evening to pay for the increase in bills. She said the extra work had led to many late nights and made it difficult for her to attend her 8:30 a.m. class.
Her professor didn't need to hear her explanations. Regardless of her C average on exams, he told her that she would fail the class due to lack of attendance, she said.
Many University of Kansas students must work to afford to attend the University. Some feel that their professors are unsympathetic to their situation. Strict attendance policies, readings on reserve that are many times unavailable and fear of communicating their problems to their professors make an already difficult balancing act even harder for working students.
"Once you're old enough to go to college, it seems you should be old enough to decide for yourself whether you should go to class or not. Rollie said."
She said she had difficulty understanding an attendance policy that would have caused her to fall a course that she technically was passing. She said she also could not understand how an attendance policy could have been put into effect when she had paid for the course.
Adam Webb, Russell junior, said his main problem this semester had been
obtaining the extensive readings on reserve assigned by three of his professors.
Webb, who works 26 hours a week as a teaching counselor for Community Living Opportunities, 2113 Delaware St., and takes 15 hours of classes, said he only had one opportunity a week to go to Watson Library. But all three readings were never available at the same time, he said, so he had to drop one of the courses.
"It sometimes seems like professors think students only have work to do in their classes." Webb said.
Though she's never had the difficulties of Rolle or Web, Kim Trevithick, Overland Park junior and employee at Burger King, 1107 W. Sixth St., said that if she would have had problems balancing work and school), she probably would not have approached her professors about them.
"I think they'd have the attitude that I'm in school, and I have to deal with it," she said. "It would be really awkward."
Gina Schellman, Lawrence sophomore and employee at the enrollment center, said she had felt comfortable approaching her professors.
"They don't want to flunk you," she said.
"Falling their class is a bad reflection on them."
Where to get help
Students bogged down with classes and jobs can help get at these locations:
Time-management and budget-management service are available through:
Student Assistance Center, 133 Strong Hall, 864-4064
Office of Student Financial Aid, 50 Strong Hall, 864-4700
Tutoring services are available through:
■ University Information Center, 864-3506
■ Supportive Educational Services, 864-3971
Many of the individual departments
KANSAN
Death bill supporters win round
Republican majority sends capital punishment proposal to House by narrow margin
By Stephen Martino Kansan staff writer
TOPEKA — After a weekend of arm twisting by death penalty supporters, State Rep. Rand Rock cast the deciding vote that sent a capital-punishment bill out of committee yesterday and to the floor of the House of Representatives.
Rock, D-Akansas City, was strongly courted by death penalty supporters during the weekend after it seemed certain his vote would make or break the legislation.
"I don't see this as a Republican or Democrat issue," he said. "My support was not a change in my position on this issue. I've always supported it."
However, in exchange for his support, Rock was able to force the House Federal and State Affairs Committee to adopt several changes to the bill. These changes made the bill's application of the death penalty more narrow.
Rock proposed, and the committee accepted, provisions that raised the age of execution to 18 and removed the broad felony murder provision. This provision would allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty for people involved in a crime that resulted in someone's death, even if the accused did not kill the victim. Several exceptions were added the bill to replace the felony murder portion.
Rock said the death penalty could be sought against a defendant if he or she killed someone during a violent sexual crime or kidnapping or if the victim was a law enforcement officer or a prison inmate. Premeditated murder was already covered under the legislation, and it was not changed.
The vote sending the bill to the House floor was as close as it could be. It basically followed party lines with 11 of 12 Republicans for it and 10 of 11 Democrats opposed. Rock was the lone Democrat to vote for the bill, and State Rep. Thomas Robinett, R-Overland Park, was the only member of the Grand Old Party to oppose it.
Early in the committee meeting, an amendment by State Rep. Kathleen Sebelius, D-Topeka, to remove death penalty by lethal injection and replace it with death by imprisonment failed. Soon after that, the committee voted to recommend the bill to the entire House.
State Rep. Phil Kline, R-Shawnee, an early supporter of the legislation, said he was pleased with the bill that made it out of committee, even with the amendments.
"I think this provides for a strong bill, but that doesn't mean it can't be strengthened on the floor," he said.
Speaker Robert Miller, R-Wellington, has set 10 a.m. Thursday for the beginning of floor speeches on the matter, said his chief of staff, Roger Aeschliman.
"It's not going to last less than three hours, and I wouldn't be surprised if 10 hours later people are still debating the issue," he said.
State Reps, Barbara Ballard and Forrest Swall, both D-Lawrence, said they would vote against the legislation.
Swall said that the death penalty was based on revenge, rage and retribution no matter how impassioned the support for it was.
"The death penalty fundamentally is one of the most barbaric throwbacks to the Middle Ages that we do in this country," he said. "In a civilized society, we need to be governed by rational law. The death penalty moves us out of the realm of rational rules."
Swall said that this legislation represented society's strongest outrage against premeditated murder, but if the Legislature passed it, the Legislature would be engaging in premeditated murder itself.
"I will stand up and speak against the legislation," he said. "I may not change many minds, but I will be able to live with my emotions. No matter how you look at it, we are opening the door to state-sanctioned, premeditated murder, and everyone in the Legislature will be a party to it."
A voice for change
By Jamie Munn
Kansan staff writer
Not many KU graduates can say they have their own flag flown on U.S. Navy ships. But they now have an example to follow.
Kansan staff writer
Secretary of Defense Les Aspin nominated Michael Sullivan, a 1967 graduate originally from Leavenworth, for promotion to rear admiral Wednesday.
"Anybody that gets promoted to admiral is surprised," Sullivan said. "But I was more pleased than surprised."
Sullivan graduated from KU with a degree in business administration and received his commission from Navy ROTC.
One of the keys to his success was the diversity of his background, Sullivan said. Even though he had spent much of his time in Washington, D.C., Sullivan said, he thought the variety of his experiences were essential to his selection.
Commander John Jones, executive officer of KU's Navy ROTC unit, said the selection for a flag rank position distinguished Sullivan as one of the Navy's top leaders.
"To be selected, he'd have to have done an extremely good job," Jones said. "This is a recognition of that achievement."
Jones said that from now on, when Sullivan boarded a Navy ship, a personalized flag would be flown in his honor.
Jones said the promotion was special
because Sullivan was one of only two Navy supply corps officers selected this year to wear the one star of a rear admiral. Because the military is being cut back this year the Navy has not promoted as many supply officers as in the past, Jones said.
After Sullivan received his Navy ROTC commission, he attended the Navy Supply School in Athens, Ga. But one of his most challenging assignments later was commanding the Navy supply center in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, from 1990 to 1992.
Jones said Sullivan's duties there probably ranged from overseeing personnel payroll to making sure there would be enough food for all the ships. As commander of that center, Sullivan supplied most of the U.S. bases in the Pacific Ocean, Jones said.
Jones said Sullivan's current duties included handling much of the bidding and potential bidders for the department.
Sullivan currently serves as the Deputy Commander for Contracts at the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters in Washington.
But in the future, Sullivan may not be the only KU grad with the rear admiral honor.
Jones said some of KU's Navy ROTC students were studying to follow the same path Sullivan took. He said one such student was Andrew Darnell, a business administration graduate who currently was attending the Navy Supply School.
"His future has the possibility of being just as successful," Jones said.