Graduation average lower for athletes
(Editor's note: What percentage of athletes finally graduate from the University of Kansas at the end of their four years of performances? How many never make it? To find the answers to these questions, the Kansan consulted University records and the athletic department. The results were surprising. Second of a series.)
By TED ILIFF Kansan Staff Writer
The academic adviser for the athletic department keeps several drawers full of records of the scholastic achievements of his athletes.
But John Novotny doesn't keep records on when or how many of the athletes graduated with degrees from KU.
"I don't know exactly what the graduation percentage for some years is, but I have an idea it's pretty good. Two years ago we had an excellent year for graduation, but last year I think we had a bad year," Novotny said.
To find out more concretely how many athletes graduate in June of their senior year, the Kansan examined lists of athletic scholarships and degrees issued in the last four years to try to determine when and how many athletes graduated. Scholarship lists, registrar records and commencement programs from fall 1965 through spring 1969 were used to compile the data.
The research revealed that in the last four years 147 athletes reached senior status while participating in football, basketball, track, swimming, tennis, baseball and gymnastics. Of those 147 athletes, only 46, or 31 per cent, graduated at the end of their senior year.
For a comparison to the statistics on athlete graduation, the Kansan asked William Kelly, registrar, to provide statistics on all students completing eight semesters and obtaining a degree at the end of their eighth semester.
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80th Year, No. 67 The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas Wednesday, Jan. 7, 1970
Photo by Mike Frederick
Relief-four inches worth
Students looking for a fling before or during finals might find ice skating on Potter Lake a good study break, providing the ice doesn't. Harry Bucholz, superintendent of buildings and grounds, said the four inches of ice on the lake was enough to support skaters.
Sons infuriated by murders
UDK News Roundup
By United Press International
Kansas to fight weeds
TOPEKA—The state of Kansas plans to take the fight against marijuana to its origin the rural countryside where thousands of acres of the weed grows wild.
Schools to desegregate
The Kansas Board of Agriculture proposed a pilot project Tuesday to find ways to control the wild hemp plant which the experts say is next to impossible to eradicate. The project was outlined at a special conference called by Gov. Robert B. Docking, who has already asked the 1970 Legislature to adopt some type of marijuana control program.
JACKSON, Miss.—Three more school districts with black student majorities and another facing the threat of a white boy-cott resume classes in Mississippi today under orders from the Supreme Court for immediate total desegregation.
The districts were the latest among 30 of Mississippi's 148 school districts included in the Supreme Court's sweeping October ruling that sounded an end to the "all deliberate speed" concept in favor of a "desegregate now" policy.
Inquest continues
EDGARTOWN, Mass.—Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's testimony before a secret inquest into the death of Mary Jo Kopechne was corroborated completely by his two closest friends, UPI learned today.
Joseph F. Gargar, Kennedy's cousin, and Paul F. Markham, a former U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, testified for more than two hours Tuesday at the second day of the secret proceedings in the century-old district Courthouse.
CLARKSVILLE, Pa. (UPI)—The embittered sons of United Mine Workers (UMW) official Joseph A. "Jock" Yablonski charged Tuesday the execution-style pistol slayings of their father, mother and sister were done by "professional assassins" and linked the killings to strife within the union.
U. S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell Tuesday night ordered an FBI investigation of the murders. Mitchell said he was acting on a telephone request from Gov Raymond P. Shafer of Pennsylvania and under provisions of the
Landrum-Griffin Act, which grants federal protection in union elections.
Investigators followed up reports the Yablonskis' 200-year-old three-story colonial style home here where the murders occurred had been under periodic surveillance in recent weeks by occupants of an automobile with "white, out-of-state license plates."
The Yablonski family attorney, Joseph L. Rauh Jr., met with Mitchell for a half-hour Tuesday seeking FBI intervention in the case.
Reports on the mystery car came from relatives and UMW friends of the victims. They said Yablonski at one time chased after the auto but that it eluded him.
In a brief, blunt and bitterly worded statement, Yablonski's two attorney sons, Kenneth of Washington, Pa., and Joseph of Washington, D. C., gave outlet to their feelings.
"There is no doubt that these horrible misdeeds are an outgrowth of our father's recent bid to win election to the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America," they said.
Yablonski lost the Dec. 9 election to the incumbent UMW President, W. A. "Tony" Boyle, after a bitter campaign.
Yablonski's sons spurned any union memorials. They sent telegrams to the union's international leaders in Washington requesting they not visit the funeral home or attend the funerals of the victims.
Investigators believed more than one killer was involved and the murders were precisely planned. They said nine .38 caliber pistol bullets were used and the slayings occurred probably New Year's Day. The bodies were found Monday.
Yablonski, 59, was shot at least five times, all from the right front. His wife, Margaret, 57, was shot twice. The daughter was shot twice in the head.
Unsafe housing persists
(Editor's note: This is the first in a series of three articles on substandard housing in Lawrence. The series will be concluded Friday.)
By DAVE BROYLES
Kansan Staff Writer
Lives of student occupants are threatened by some standard conditions found in some rooming houses north and east of the KU campus, although less dangerous conditions that should be corrected to insure health and safety of the occupants are more common, Ken Jorgenson, city building inspector, told the Kansan.
Some substandard conditions are caused by destructive tenants. But no landlord can legally rent seriously substandard housing regardless of the cause of conditions, Jorgensen said.
Yet despite efforts during the past year by the Lawrence city government, the University administration and groups of interested students, many KU students still live in substandard housing.
The Lawrence Minimum Structures Code sets health and safety standards that all dwellings are required to meet. The city building inspector is responsible for code enforcement.
Code standards are seldom enforced unless someone complains, Jorgensen said. He said the city didn't have enough staff at present to initiate a large-scale inspection program, though the city will investigate all complaints.
William M. Balfour, dean of student affairs, said that anyone who filed a complaint should consider the fact that the landlord might raise rental rates if he were required to make expensive major repairs.
Asphyxiation and fire can result from substandard heating. Unvented room heaters are particularly dangerous because they can cause asphyxiation if the room is poorly ventilated. Unvented heaters violate both city and state fire codes as well as the city housing code.
At an address on Louisiana Street, a three-room basement apartment is heated by one unvented gas heater. Tenants said they seldom opened the three small basement windows because the screenless windows let dogs and insects into the apartment.
At another address on Louisiana Street, one tenant said the basement had filled with natural gas when the heating failed last February. One spark could have
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