The University Daily
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
KANSAN
Tuesday, April 26,1983 Vol.93,No.142 USPS 650-640
A man takes advantage of the warm sun and brisk breeze yesterday to fly his kite at Perry Lake.
Poor turn to library for shelter
By JEAN MANN Staff Reporter
Alonzo Howard, 60, bleary-eyed and tugging at the sleeve of his red jacket as he leaned forward on the sofa at the Lawrence Public Library, had just woken up. Although it was a chilly April afternoon, the sun that filtered through the north windows warmed the area.
Howard said he visited the library nearly every day. He said he read books on poetry,
He had hoped, he said, that a knowledge of cooling and heating systems would increase his chances of finding work as a housing contractor. It's been a lean winter for Howard, however, and he's ready to move.
he said.
"IVE USED LIBRARIES for 25 years, but I've used them a lot more lately," said Howard. "I doze off sometimes because it's so quiet and restful, but I think that if you can't find work, you should study."
Other Lawrence residents agree. The public library has always been a haven for the intellectual and the curious. Now, librarians said, it also welcomes the unemployed and the homeless in growing numbers. But, to compound matters, they said, general library demand has been headed upwards faster than the budget to deal with it.
"There were definitely more people using the library this winter," said Wayne Mayo, head librarian since 1963. "And definitely more people in marginal situations."
Mayo said that possible reasons for the increase in the number of people who use the library almost as a daily shelter were cutbacks at social agencies, the moving of the bus station — a popular place for people with time on their hands — from the downtown area, the recent policies of state hospitals to release harmless inmates and hard economic times in general.
"IF I COULDN't afford an increased heating bill because I was elderly and retired, I'd turn the heat way down and spend the day in the warmth of the library," said Mayo.
armin of the horry . said him
However, he said he had noticed categories of
people who spent their days listening to tapes or reading books.
"Some people who come here are unemployed and some others are a little strange," he said. "There's a group you'll meet in here who are very intelligent. You can see it in their eyes. But they don't work and they've gone off the rails somewhere. They're just on a different wave."
CHUCK SUMMER, who said he had attended the University of Kansas off and on since the mid-1970s and was a regular user of the public library, said that the library had recently changed for the worse.
“There are lots of crazies around here now,” he said, placing a marker in the book he was reading on Indian music. “This isn't supposed to happen.” “That’s not the right atmosphere for a library.”
bony Porter, dressed in a sand-colored zoot suit, his rasta locks showing beneath a wide-brimmed hat, said he felt different from many other library users because he spent a lot of time relaxing in the foyer and smoking Camels.
"I lost my welfare money seven months ago," he said. "That changes your pace and your pocket. I come here a lot because it takes my mind off my situation."
"I feel in no danger from anyone. Some of them are a lot more tender and better users of the library than those who complain. The lady in the room is so mad, and she says that she would rather live without a home."
"WE GET COMMENTS like, 'What are those people doing here?' she said. "It's very interesting to watch all the people. They don't bother me,
A part-time librarian, Linda Cavalier, said she had noticed an increase in "our other type of library user" even in the past month.
entering, Mayo said, just because other patrons might not like his looks.
Mary Murphy, head reference librarian, said she knew that several homeless people used the library.
"There's no law that says you have to read a book in a library or dress a certain way," he
Mayo said the only thing that would upset him was patrons who put their feet up, stretched out on the sofa and slept.
"Then I walk over and tell them that this isn't a hotel," he said.
A library could not legally stop anyone from
MAYO SAID THE library provided an essential service besides the dispensing of books.
"There are practically no other sheltered places in the city where you don't have to spend money and you don't have to explain why you're there." he said.
The idea of a library is as old as written records, the earliest of which were inscribed on clay, papyrum or silk scrolls. The first known manuscript was inscribed in a Babylonian temple about 5,000 years ago.
Libraries in America were originally associated with universities, such as Harvard, which has the oldest one. The public library did not come into its own until the early 20th century when Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate, began making gifts for public libraries. The communities accepting the funds had to agree to support the libraries out of tax funds. The Lawrence library, already in existence as a circulating library, was one of the 1,681 U.S. libraries that Carnegie financed and transformed into a public library.
GONE ARE THE days when a library was just books and a building. Like many others, the Lawrence library has grown to function as a multi-purpose cultural and community center.
For example, Lawrence now offers an array of services that include a Dial-A-Story-Service for children, loans of art prints, an inter-library computer for those who want to polish their skills.
The reference librarians handle around 2,000 questions a month from people curious to know how many caesareans Ethel Kennedy has had (they had to give up on that one) to why an
Students start petition to stop GLSOK funding
See LIBRARY page 5
By SARA KEMPIN Staff Reporter
A Student Senate decision to allocate money to Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas has prompted a petition drive to ask the chancellor to override the Senate's decision.
About 25 students are circulating the petitions, which state that by financing GLSOK, “the Senate has flagrantly violated its responsibility to represent the students and their wishes.”
Ralph Munyan, graduate student senator and one of the leaders of the petition drive, said that the students were circulating 300 petitions that would each hold 10 signatures.
"We believe the students were misrepresented by the Senate," he said. "As a student, it's my
See related story page 13
opinion that the majority of the students do not favor giving them part of their activity fee.
"THE OBJECT OF the petition is to make student senators and administrators realize that the students disagreed with the Senate's decision." Murun said.
Lisa Ashner, student body president, said, "If financing for GLSOK is stopped, it would be a case of the opinions of the majority oppressing the minority."
um Cramer, student body vice president, said, "I think it's obvious that some people are concerned about this issue. I sort of share Ralph's idea that the senators were voting on their personal convictions rather than being representative."
He said that according to Senate rules, if 10 percent of the student body signed an initiative instead of a petition. A petition would demand action by the administration to overrule the Senate decision. An initiative would force the student to take the issue up for a student referendum vote.
Munyan said the students would start circulating an initiative today along with the paired
"IT TAKES TWO to three weeks to set up a referendum, so it could not be done this semester," he said. "The only way to stop the funds from being allocated at the start of the next fiscal year on July 1 would be for the administration to intervene."
Ruth Lichtwardt, director of GLSOK, said, "My immediate reaction is 'Are they hoping we'll disappear?' We feel we're deserving of the funds.
"We have been a recognized student group for 10 years. If you look at what we do, we provide a great service."
"But homosexuality scares people. Part of our function is to educate people about homosexuality."
If the funds are taken away, it would be a signal that KU is closed-minded and prejudiced and is not the tolerant University it likes to think it is. she said.
"FINANCIALLY WE WOULDN'T be hurt that much, but we'd be very disappointed in the students and administrators at KU," she said. "The gut reaction of most students is to be scared. But we're people like everyone else. Our sexual preferences are just different."
"I think the problem is that most students don't know what GLS0s are. If they did they would learn it."
David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs, said, "My understanding with Student Senate is that as long as they allocate money to registered student organizations and as long as the Student Senate follows its own procedures and the procedures of the University and their institutions, I will not interfere with their allocations, in terms of imposing my own value judgments."
Ambler said that he sometimes disagreed with the groups that the senators gave money to, but he made it a policy not to interfere with their decisions.
HE SAID MUNYAN'S petition was misdirected because there was a provision in the Senate code whereby if 10 percent of the student would be brought to a referendum vote by the students
"I'm not fond of referendums because it's hard for the general public to be informed of issues. It's not the best way to decide a Student Senate resolution." And Ms. Almond's groups would receive money," Amber said.
"I hate to see decisions on the student activity left to popular opinion." Ambler said.
Ashner said, "The petition doesn't change anything it certainly doesn't change my mind"
THE GROUP IS A recognized student group and serves the students at the University. They should be treated like any other recognized student group, who are objecting are done it on a moral basis.
"The petition could be questioned. It's not a question of whether homosexuality is right or wrong. It's whether they are a recognized student group." Ashner said.
By United Press International
Wall Street investors cash in after record-setting morning
NEW YORK — The stock market got off to a fast start but lost ground yesterday when investors cashed in after the Dow Jones average climbed on the 1,200 level for the first time in history.
The Dow Jones average, which rose past the 1,200 level in the first two hours, surrendered 9.09 to 1,187.21. He had climbed 62.81 points over the week, including 8.03 Friday to a record close of 1,196.30.
Because of the recent gains and the fact that the closely watched average was up nearly 420 points since the bull market began Aug.13, analysts were not surprised the market was pausing.
The New York Stock Exchange index dropped 0.86 to 91.29 and the price of an average share decreased 34 cents. Standard & Poor's 500-stock index skidded 1.61 to 158.81. Declines routed advances 1,050-621 among the 2,002 issues traded.
THE AMERICAN STOCK Exchange index shed 2.54 to 414.39 and the price of a share fell 10 cents. Declines topped advances 396-247 among the 847 issued trades.
"According to past market actions, the 1,200 level was a perfect place for those who wanted to take profits to cash in," said New York investment adviser David Polen, noting the Dow had trouble getting through the 1,000 and 1,100 barriers.
"One day doesn't determine whether a major retreat has begun." Polen said. "But a pause here will give investors time to analyze where they want to put their money."
The bond market failed to respond to the Federal Reserve's report late Friday of a $3.1 billion money supply decline. The small Southwest Bank of St. Louis lowered its prime rate to 10 percent from the prevailing 10 $\frac{1}{2}$ percent level.
Some traders were disturbed that the nation's March budget deficit of $26.04 billion put the total for the fiscal year to $129.2 billion, compared with $71.9 billion a year ago.
Federal coal reserves leased cheaply, House report says
By United Press International
WASHINGTON — Interior Secretary James Watt is leasing federal coal reserves to industry "for next to nothing" with some officials saying it will be a congressional report concluded yesterday.
Harmon Kallman, an Interior Department spokesman, called the report, first detailed in yesterday's Washington Post, "a leaked file that says we will respond to in bearings on Wednesday."
Leases for federal coal reserves "have been awarded for next to nothing, with some leaseholders paying only $1 per acre in annual rents. The remaining leaseholders are require windfall profits."
The report by investigators of a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior said the program would benefit leaseholders at the expense of the federal treasury.
THE SUBCOMMITTEE has arranged a hearing for tomorrow during which Garrey Carruthers, the assistant interior secretary blocks the coal program, is expected to testify.
The investigation was ordered last year
The report said the historic sale last April of one billion tons of federal coal in the Powder River Basin, near the Montana-Wyoming border, under management of the coal leasing program.
because some lawmakers believed the program was tantamount to a "giveaway" of federal resources.
IT SAID MANY government and industry officials regarded the leak as scandalous, and some unidentified agency officials wanted the leak postponed, but higher officials insisted it be made.
The investigators found that information about the estimated fair market value of the Powder River Basin coal was leaked to industry officials a month before the sale.
That, it said, "temporarily reduces fair market value and allows the industry to ac- ticipate."
It said having such sales when there was little demand for coal "distorts the market by creating a monopoly."
Competitive bidding was so minimal at the Powder River Basin auction that the government received about $60 million less than they believed the coal was worth, the report said.
KU economics prof accepts Hoover Institute fellowship
By JEFF TAYLOR
Staff Renorter
Staff Reporter
Malcolm Burns packed whiskey-flavored tobacco tightly into the bowl of an old pipe with his thumb. The end of the pipe looked like a dog's chew, bone.
"I guess there is some prestige in going there," he said yesterday. "Those things aren't easy to get. But I got one, and I don't think I'm the brightest candidate around."
But Burns, a KU assistant professor of economics, said he gladly accepted a flattering fellowship to the Hoover Institute at Stanford University next fall.
"I'm sure looking forward to it," he said, lighting the tobacco. "I have some mixed feelings about going, in that I'm leaving a lot of students high and dry."
IN SEPTEMBER, Burns will board a plane headed to Palo Alto, Calif., where he will work for 11 months at the institute, a non-profit research organization generically referred to as
During this semester, Burns said, he squeezed in time to advise students about classes they should take next fall. Many of those students had counted on enrolling in his classes, he said.
"I will miss a lot of the students and activities going on here," he said. "But this is an extraordinary professional opportunity."
About 15 selected scholars of various social sciences from across the country are paid by the institute each year to work on an approved research project.
Right
BURNS SAT SMOKING in his office in Summerfield Hall, thoughtfully explaining the hidden meanings behind predatory price cutting.
Burns said he will be finishing a paper he submitted to the Hoover selection committee last year titled,"The Effects of Predatory Price Cutting and Mergers on the Acquisition Costs of Competitors."
A copy of the Wall Street Street was buried beneath papers scattered on his desk. He wore a suit and hat.
the past. Burns said his interests lay in the history of anti-trust actions that were taken against large industries that monopolized their markets.
See BURNS page 5
Some allegations survive today that say that large industries in the early 1990s used cutthroat tactics to dominate their markets, Burns said. Some scholars allege that big businesses hired arsonists to burn their competition to the ground or bribed their competitors, he said.
Weather
CLOUDY
Today will be partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of afternoon showers and thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service in Topeka. The high will be in the mid to upper teens, the low will be in the lower teens. Tomorrow will be partly cloudy with a high around 70.
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