The University Daily
KANSAN
University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas
Vol. 93, No. 160 USPS 650-840
Friday, July 22,1983
Weather
Today will be sunny, and hot with highs in the mid to upper 90s, according to the National Weather Service in Topeka. The winds will be from the west to southwest at 5 to 15 mph. Tonight will be mostly clear with a low in the 70s. It will continue to be hot on Saturday with highs in the mid 90s.
By JUDITH HINDMAN
Staff Reporter
In 1890, Eileen Murphy, associate professor of design, was working in her office on the fifth floor of the Art and Design building when a rush broke out on all of her skin that was exposed to
The cause? Murphy said someone two offices away had opened a can of silk screen lacquer thinner and the fumes had entered her office.
"IT SEEMED LIKE the air was being dumped into my office." Murray said.
Now, three years later, faculty members and students are still unhappy about the building's conditions and complain of headaches and stuffy classrooms.
Last spring, Watkins Hospital treated an art student for a severe illness that the physician said was possibly caused by exposure to toxic substances in the building.
At the time, James Maeser, dean of the School of Fine Arts, said that it was possible that health problems could occur as a result of the fumes.
TODAY, SIX YEARS LATER, insufficient funding continues to block the correction of many remaining problems.
Some faculty members and students doubt the system's ability to either dilute or exhaust toxic substances and some areas of the building still remains as originally planned because of poor ventilation.
And, according to Facilities Operations, there are times when the building's ventilation system either breaks down or is turned off in order to save money.
Murphy, who is sensitive to air pollution because of previous exposure to formaldehyde insulation in a house, is still unhappy about the ventilation system in the building.
"I stay out of that building as much as possible because of the problems," she said. "The students get horrible headaches when they come in there. I think it is threatening our major."
A STUDENT WHO ASKED not to be identified confirmed the headaches were a common result.
"I take a lot of aspirin when I'm in the
building because the fumes really get to you," she said. "And I've had a lot of other students in my class."
And there is evidence that the student's problems may be more severe than headaches.
Haymond Schweigel, physician and inferi- chief of staff at Watkins Hospital, said that last spring he diagnosed one student's serious illness from the building's inadequate ventilation.
"I had one girl last semester who may have developed a blood disorder from the toxic materials. It is hard to prove, but it was unpleasant." he said.
HE DESCRIBED HER DISORDER as an auto-immune disorder in which the immune system became self-destructive to the patient's tissues.
Although he declined to discuss that patient's specific symptoms, he did say that they could
'Art is not one of the high priorities, and so you don't say too much.' Michael Ott art professor
include arthritis, hemorrhages, kidney failure and loss of muscle control.
Although doctors do not completely understand how this happens, Schwegler said, that type of disorder seems to be related to the use of chemicals that throw the immune system out of
The prevention of such problems in the Art and Design building, he said, "would be a matter of the people who use it."
Internet麦克兰, a founder of the Center for Occupational Hazards and the Art Hazards Information Center in New York, said in his book, "Artist Beware," that many art materials contained toxic substances. Continued exposure to the substances can result in chemical pneumonia, asthma, metal fume fever, kidney damage, liver damage, anemia, skin problems, cancer and mercury, lead, cyanide or chlorine poisoning.
BUT BECAUSE MANY HEALTH problems take years to show up, no one knows the full extent of the dangers or the long-term effects of exposure to some of the substances. he said.
McCann said in a recent telephone interview
that the problem became more acute at the end of each semester when art students were working long hours to finish final projects.
Then, he said, they have greater exposure and less detoxification time.
Detoxification time is the amount of time the body requires to rid itself of toxic substances it
McCann said that 8 hours of exposure often required 16 hours of defoxification.
WHEN STUDENTS OR FACULTY members are working long hours, they have more exposure and less time for detoxification.
Murphy is only one of many faculty members concerned about the unknown dangers from these toxic substances. She also is more vocal about problems that the art and design department has been trying to solve since the building opened.
Michael Ott, who was chairman of the art department during the final phases of construction, said, "The building was designed to recirculate the same air to save money. This building was built when the thinking was to save buildings settling in many windows and cool it by machine."
"I have not seen a single university that I thought was adequately safe," he said. "I've done inspections at about 25 or 30 and my associate analyst has been at over 200 schools given lectures there."
McCann said that it took a proper engineer to design and build a system that would work
"ANY STUDIO THAT is producing toxic chemicals into the air should be 100 percent exhausted. This includes printmaking, photography and weaving," he said.
He also said that paint studios needed to dilute the fumes with fresh air. He said the amount of fresh air required depended on the number of students and on the amount of turpentine used.
"The problem is that no one knows what the safe levels are, he said. "A 0.1 percent concentration of a substance is enough to get people ill."
Bob Porter, the associate director of physical plant maintenance for Facilities Operations, said last week that very little fresh air was brought into the Art and Design building.
"Real air is taken in at a minimum," he said.
WHEN THE TEMPERATURE is between 40 and 65 degrees, he said, the building's air circulation system takes in as much outside air
Carole Thomas, Topeka senior in illustration, works in the spray painting studio in the Art and Design building. The studio lacks proper ventilation for large scale spray painting.
Henderson calls home from Texas
By CHARLES BARNES
Staff Reporter
After more than four days and 4,000 miles, KU backfill Mark Henderson finally was found yesterday morning in Lubbock, Texas.
"he called us 9:30 to Labbock," said Mark's father, the Rev. Homer Henderson.
"When he got into town he stopped at his friend's house and then called his grandparents."
Henderson said Mark grew up in Lubbock and considered it his hometown.
"HIS GRANDPARENTS TOLD him about the search and so he called us." Henderson said.
"He went out to see friends in Huntington beach, but he couldn't find them he went to New York."
Henderson said that Mark drove to Lubbock after he could not find any friends of his in New York.
"He told us that his way to California, he stopped in Las Vegas to send us a postcard and tell us what he was doing," Henderson said. "But we were going there, people so he moved on without sending one."
"I guess he has driven about 4,000 miles since Sunday." Henderson said.
in addition to the $100 Mark withdrew from his Lawrence bank account at 1:30 a.m. Sunday, Henderson said, Mark had two gas credit cards which he used to finance his travels.
HE SIMPLY SAID he wanted to take a trip on the spur of the moment, Henderson said. "He must have thought 'tom. arrow is Sunday, I think I did it.'"
Henderson said that Mark was "utterly amused" at the reaction to his trip.
"When he heard that an all-points bulletin had been issued, and that story had been written about him in the Kansan, the Lawrence Journal-World, the LA Times, and papers in Oklahoma City, Dallas and South Dakota, he said 'Oh my God.'" Henderson said.
"I think it will do him good to find out what impact of his actions have had" Henderson
are him.
"We're grateful to the coaches and football
"Mark was also surprised to find out that the football team had a meeting to get leads to try to
players who helped try to find him," Henderson said.
THE LAWRENCE POLICE Department and Douglas County, Sheriff's Department did a
disaster investigation.
David Reavis, a detective in the Douglas County Sheriff's Department, said that he had been notified at 10 a.m. yesterday that Mark had been found.
Reavis said he and a KU Police Department detective had collected 12 pages of information on Mark's disappearance.
"We didn't have any information on whether it was foul play or whether he had taken a shot."
"It was a routine investigation," Reavis said, and "we always collect all the information we need."
"WE CONTACTED ABOUT 25 people. If it had turned out to be a felony case and more detectives had to be called in, we wouldn't want to have to retrace our stone," he said.
The elder Henderson was understandably relieved.
"I feel like a five ton weight has been taken off my stomach," he said.
Despite the 99 degree temperature yesterday, Lawrence shoppers turned out to bargain hunt during the annual sidewalk sale.
ABC official denies network can't find sponsors for show
Staff Reporter
Bv MELISSA BAUMAN
A representative from ABC-TV denied yesterday that the network cannot get sponsors for "The Day After," a movie filmed in the Lawrence area portraying the aftermath of nuclear war.
"That's too harsh a statement, I think," Dan Doran, public relations spokesman for ABC, said yesterday. "There is a concern about sponsorship only because it's such a touchy matter. But saying that we can't get sponsorship is too harsh."
THE MOVIE DEPICTS survivors of a nuclear bomb attack on Kansas City and uses realistic makeup and special effects to simulate victims' injuries.
In a Wall Street Journal article published Tuesday, ABC officials said that sponsorship of the movie was a problem, which was why it did not run last spring as scheduled.
The article also said that the network was considering running the movie without sponsors
Doran said that the movie was delayed because editing took longer than expected and that the network wanted as much time as possible to promote the movie.
"There are no clandestine reasons that the movie has been delayed," he said.
DORAN SAID HE did not know whether the network was considering running the movie without advertisements.
"All I can say is I would presume, judging from the interviews that the Wall Street Journal got, that it is a possibility, but it has not been confirmed with me yet," he said.
Doran said that ABC was talking of doing some kind of public service program related to the movie on the ABC news program Nightline or immediately following the televast, but said that it was still in preliminary stages and that the goal of the Nightline program had not been decided.
Doran said that the movie was tentatively scheduled to air in November or December.
The movie, some of which was filmed on the KU campus, included many Lawrence residents, KU professors and students as extras.
BRENT LAMB, Topeka senior, was an extra for the film. He said that although he was only on the set for a day, he could see why advertisers would not want to sponsor the film.
"If you want to convey a positive image, then associating yourself with this film wouldn't be hard."
"If I were an advertiser I would probably wait and put my money on some happy movie"
See Harold Harvey, vice president
SEE MOVIE page 5
Dole will help Menninger celebrate the doctor's 90th birthday in Topeka
From Staff and Wire Reports
TOPEKA — Karl A. Menninger, chairman of the board and founder of the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, and Sen. Robert Dole, R-Kan., have more in common than being native
Today both men will celebrate birthdays — the 90th for Menninger and the 60th for Dole — at a reception in Topeka that will begin three days of events celebrating Menniger's 90th birthday.
DOLE WILL VISIT two foster homes owned by The Villages Inc., a non-profit organization founded by Menninger, before presenting a lecture titled "Taking Care of the Children: Private and Federal Cooperation," before the reception.
Herbert Callison, executive director of The Villages Inc., said that when they selected Dole to lecture at the reception, they did not know it also was Dole's birthday.
"We wanted to get someone who was a Kansan because Dr. Karl loves native Kansans," he said. "And we wanted to get someone who was a Japanese because it is the greatest love is solving the problems of children."
"So, Dole just seemed like the logical choice." Elizabeth Dole, secretary of the department of transportation and wife of the senator, will give brief documentary remarks before her husband's lecture.
THE LECTURE WILL begin at 8 p.m. in White Concert Hall at Washburn University, and the reception will be held immediately after the lecture and the reception are open to the public.
Meinlinger said this week that his long career, which has revolutionized the field of psychiatry, was a success.
"There's so much to be done in this troubled world," he said, appearing deep in thought in his library-office on the Menninger Foundation grounds. "I'm not through yet. I'm still alive."
For a man who has spent the past 50 years witnessing revolutionary progress in the field of psychology and social reform, it is natural for him to mourn over the tasks he thinks are yet undone.
HE SAID HE FELT guilty because death would probably spare him from one of his greatest fears and sorrows — nuclear holocaust
See BIRTHDAYS page 5