The University Daily
Lawsuit unfolds KU prof says reputation damaged Inside. p. 8.
KANSAN
SHOWERS
High, 45. Low, 30.
Details on p. 2
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
Vol. 94, No. 123 (USPS 650-640)
Tuesday morning, March 27, 1984
Committee broke rules of Senate, coalition says
By CINDY HOLM Staff Reporter
The Student Senate Finance Committee has violated Senate rules during recent budget hearings and is operating under "some highly questionable and unethical practices," members of the KU Free Speech Movement said yesterday.
Sua Shafer, a Free Speech Movement member,
said that tomorrow he would present a letter from the group to the Student Senate charging the committee with violations of its own rules,
violations of civil rights, conflict of interest and individual bias.
The Free Speech Movement is a coalition of student organizations concerned with the fair allocation of the student activity fee, Shafer said. The movement includes members of Latin American Solidarity, Praxis and Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas.
IN THE LETTER, which was given to the Kansas yesterday, the coalition accuses the committee of violating its own rules by holding closed meetings during budget deliberations.
Tonight and Thursday night student organizations will present budget requests in open meetings. Friday, the committee goes into budget deliberations open only to committee members who have submitted an application, which has $61,000 to allocate, will consider requests from 70 groups for a total of $158,000.
Shafer said that by holding closed meetings, the committee violated a Senate rule that required any organization financed by the Student Activity Fee to comply with the Kansas open meetings law. The Student Senate receives funds from the fee.
Jon Gilchrist, chairman of the committee, said the committee always had held deliberation.
"Groups would flood the meetings if they were open," Glirchist said. "Members of the committee would feel intimidated and couldn't speak up." He said going to hide anything. The press will be there."
Members of organizations would not be allowed to meetings, he said, even if their meetings were open.
Shafer said the committee also had violated the civil rights of members of student organizations because budget request forms ask us to explain how questions to be prepared to present membership lists.
ALTHOUGH THE COMMITTEE tabled a motion Thursday to request membership lists from all organizations. Shafer said, the request budget form constitutes a violation of rights.
He said the Finance Committee had asked for membership lists only from selected groups during the hearings because of individual members' religious beliefs and possible prejudices.
Gilchrist said Thursday, "In no way did we want to isolate or harass any group or single person."
The committee Wednesday voted to ask for the lists after one member of the committee asked the Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas for a list.
Gilchrist said the committee would reconsider the motion tonight when he received a statement from the University of Kansas General Counsel's office about the committee's legal rights.
THE LETTER FROM the Free Speech Movement also says that members of the committee have represented organizations applying for funds.
Shafer said that a member of the Finance Committee had presented the Kansas Crew Trophy.
Gilchrist said that Paula Bodine, the member, was a captain of the Crew Team and had presented the budget request. He said, however, that Bodine could not vote on the team's budget.
The committee's policy excludes any member who is an officer in an organization from voting, Gilchrist said. The committee member may speak about the group but he must identify himself as an officer of the group each time he speaks.
Members of the committee who are members of organizations also must acknowledge their affiliation, he said, but they vote on the organization's budget.
THE LETTER SAYS that one member of the committee not only submitted a budget, but also requested $400 to be paid.
Chris Edmonds, KU director of Associated Students of Kansas, submitted a budget this month requesting funds for Task Force '84, a statewide voter registration drive. Edmonds, who is listed on the budget request as the person responsible for the budget, signed and dated the budget form.
Edmonds said he had submitted the budget request for Mark Tallman, executive director of
Shafer said the Free Speech Movement also objected to the membership of the committee because some members had stated publicly that they would eliminate funds of certain groups.
Shafer said that in last semester's Senate elections, four members of the Freedom Coalition, who were now members of the Democratic Party, would also they would eliminate GLOSK'S Senate funds.
See FINANCE, p. 5, col. 1
Plan to alter rules in halls draws anger
Proposed policy limits visitation by opposite sex
By TODD NELSON Staff Reporter
Most students said they couldn't believe that KU officials would try to decide for college students whether they could have their roommates or the opposite sex in their residence hall rooms.
Others just called the idea foolish.
Several hall residents conveyed their dismay yesterday about a recently drafted revision in a visitation policy that would prohibit students from having such guests.
Nina Russ, right, and Susan Rowe, both Leawood freshmen, read a poster informing residents of KU residence halls that they may not be able to have members of the opposite sex as overnight guests next year.
BUT THE PRESIDENT of the Association of University Residence Halls said that he would seek a compromise with KU officials to establish a joint proposal and be more acceptable to residents.
The Residential Programs Advisory Board is considering the proposed change in visitation policy because more stringent rules would improve hall security and would help curb complaints from residents whose roommates abuse the current visitation policies. For Eichenie, a board member and director of the office of residential programs.
Current visitation policy allows a resident to have a guest of the opposite sex in public areas of a hall and in a private room, if the resident's roommate agrees, except during weekends.
McElhennie said that under the new policy no guest of the opposite sex would be permitted in private areas of the hall after security hours had begun.
James Jeffrey, AURH president, distributed petitions Saturday night to KU's eight residence halls to find out how residents felt about the proposed change.
Security hours begin when all outside doors, except the front door, are locked. During security hours, the policy now allows invited or escorted guests to enter the hall through the front door and go to private rooms if invited. During restricted hours, visitors of the opposite sex are not permitted in private rooms.
AS OF EARLY last night, 913 people had agreed to stop the percent of people against the proposal. a Jeffrey
Jeffley, a student representative to the board, said that he would present the results of the petition to the board at its 4 p.m. meeting Thursday in 103 Bailey Hall.
Some residents said that they were satisfied with the current policy and wanted to be able to choose whether to have guests of the opposite sex after security hours.
Karen-Tey, Overland Park freshman, said that she liked the visitation policy now because it provided for residents' safety and privacy.
"I don't think it should be made any stricter than it is now." Tye said. "But I don't! Think it should be made any stricter than it is now."
Julie Comine, Omaha, Neb. junior, said that the decision to permit guests of the opposite sex in a room after security hours is an unpopular one and ultimately, hinders resident spaces and the guests.
"I DON'T THINK it's something that needs to be mandated." Comme said.
Comine also said that the policy change would "destroy the whole reason for having a new law."
"Coed doesn't necessarily mean an orgy hall," she said.
Some residents said that they thought college students were old enough to be responsible for their own security.
Susan Schaub, Topeka freshman, said, "I
See POLICY, p. 5, col. 3
Legislators reject claim for award in student's death
Staff Reporter
By GRETCHEN DAY Staff Reporter
Members of the Kansas House yesterday decided against giving $1,900 to the family of a KU student killed in 1979 when a driver involved in a high-speed chase with KU police rammed
Margie Thornton, then 21, was killed Nov. 18. A KU police officer had stopped to test a fire alarm.
Thornton's father, Charles R. Thornton, of Boston, fitted suit against the state, contending that the officer was negligent in pursuing the activist and isolator up to 50 mph on campus and 50 mph downstream.
Yesterday, the Kansas House of Representative rejected a joint committee's proposal to give $15,000 to the family. The Joint Committee on Special Claims Against the State had recommended the $15,000 as a provision of a bill authorizing other state payments.
THORNONT'S FAMILY eventually took the case to the Kansas Supreme Court, which ruled in 1882 that the state was not liable for the failure of the court, and then filed a special claim against the state.
State Rep. John Solbach, D-Lawrence, said that although the state did not have a legal obligation to the student's family, "when a high-speed chase results in the death of an innocent bystander, for humanitarian reasons, the state of Kansas should give every consideration to repairing the damage done by that wrongful death."
Although the House rejected the recommendation, Solbach said, the issue is not settled. The bill now goes to a conference committee of House and Senate legislators. The provision for the $15,000 may be reattached to the bill in the conference committee, Solbach said.
The House decision evoked mixed reaction from legislators.
"CERTAINLY WE ALL sympathize with the family of this young lady, but it is a poor precedent to allocate state funds based on sympathy." Miller said.
State Rep. Vic Miller, D-Topeka, said he reluctantly asked the amendment that led to him to lose his seat.
Sobach said the joint committee had recommended that $15,000 be given to the family because the state's separation for wrongful death payments already received $19,000 in insurance benefits.
State Rep. Betty Jo Chariton, D-Lawrence,
See STUDENT, p. 5, col. 3
A KU student walks alone through trees south of Memorial Stadium, Rain and drizzle fell yesterday on Lawrence. See related story, p. 8.
Jim McCrossen/KANSAN
Duarte says his lead is large but predicts a runoff election
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Moderate Christian Democratic candidate Jose Napoleon Duarte said he had a substantial lead yesterday in a confusion-plagued presidential election but predicted a runoff against ultra-rightist Roberto D'Abuisson.
By United Press International
Christian Democratic Party officials said Duarte had a substantial lead but did not win enough votes in Sunday's election to avoid a runoff.
They predicted Duarte, 57, would face d'Auubuisse, 40, of the extreme-rightist Nationalist Republican Alliance, in a runoff. If none of the eight candidates in the race garners more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff between the top two will be in April or May.
DESPITE THE PARTY'S predictions, the country's Central Elections Council did not release any official results yesterday, adding fuel to charges that the elections were poorly organized. Official results were not expected until mid-week.
The commission broadcast notices on local
The party's unofficial tally showed that with 80 percent of the vote counted, Duarte was ahead
radio stations saying it was the only agency that could release official vote tallies and forbidding local media to distribute the Christian Democratic Party's tallies.
Duarte was followed by d'Aubuisson with 29.3 percent, and Francis Jose Guerrero of the conservative National Conciliation Party with 19.7 percent. Five other candidates trailed far behind.
Duarte ran strong in Salvalor province, beating d'Aubusson 2-to-1, while the former national guard major was strongest in the provinces, the unofficial figures showed
The Christian Democrats compiled their statistics by stationing party activists at offices where local officials were counting the ballots. They had been phoned into party headquarters in the capital.
IN WASHINGTON, President Reagan praised Salvadorans for braving rebel violence and sabotage to vote and said voter turnout was "a victory for freedom over tyranny."
More U.S. troops are sent to Honduras for maneuvers
By United Press International
The first of 1,000 fresh U.S. troops arrived in Honduras yesterday to take part in another set of U.S.-led military maneuvers, while in Washington diplomat Harry Shlaudeman was sworn in as President Reagan's envoy to Latin America.
Col. James Strachan, spokesman for the U.S. military presence in Honduras, said 100 to 200 troops of the 864th Brigade began arriving in the northern city of San Pedro Sula from Fort Louis.
STRACHAN SAID the maneuvers, called Grenadier I, would begin April 1 and end June 30 and would involve 1,000 U.S. troops in the construction of two airstrips and counter-
The rest are expected to arrive by the end of the week to join 1,700 U.S. servicemen already in the service.
Strachan said the maneuvers were to train the Honduran army and "demonstrate the interest the United States has in this part of Central America."
Honduran military sources have not specified how many Hondurans will participate.
Strachan said that he had no information about the reported participation of Panamanian sailors.
Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriegia, chief of Panama's National Defense Force, said in El Salvador last week that 250 Panamanian troops were deployed in the southern area and an undetermined number of Salvadoran troops.
On Sunday, 750 Honduran troops and 250 U.S. troops of the 82nd Airborne Division based in Fort Bragg, S.C., staged a mock invasion of Honduras in an operation coded "Lighting I."
Slaudeman, 57, has been a career diplomat since 1954 and served as ambassador to Venezuela, Peru and Argentina. More recently he was staff director of the special commission on Central America headed by former secretary of State Henry Kissinger.