Student unrest nothing new to KU
"KU students are no longer only interested in parties, but also in presidential campaigns. They are no longer interested in going out and drinking, but going into the ghettoes and programs like the New Jersey Street project." David S. Awbrey, KU Student body president.
By CHARLES CAPE
Kansan Staff Writer
Student unrest and demonstrations are not new on the KU campus—just more frequent. The first recorded anti-ROTC demonstration was held Dec. 7,1931.
More recently, 110 students were arrested on charges of disturbing the peace when they staged a sit-in at the chancellor's office and refused to
leave when the office was closed at 5 p.m., March 8,1965.
The students were members of the Civil Rights Council. They were demanding that fraternities and sororites abolish their discriminatory policies, the School of Education refuse to place student teachers in schools whose policies were still of a segregated nature, and the Kansan refuse to run advertisements of business firms who practice discriminatory judgments with their personnel.
Several students were suspended from school by former Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe, but were reinstated March 10, 1965, with the understanding the demonstrations stop.
On April 29, 1968, a sit-in at the chancellor's office was averted when the organizers decided that it would hinder rather than help their cause.
They were protesting the military and its projects on campus. Their demands included abolishment of the ROTC program, a ban on the on-campus military recruiters and abolishment of the University's on campus military research projects by members of the faculty.
More recently, students have been verbalizing their feelings as did David S. Awbrey above. He was describing a march held in favor of 27 men accused of mutiny in a sit-down strike at the Army's Presidio stockade in California.
The march in Kansas City by some 300 KU students was just one of the incidents last year which was symbolic of the student unrest sweeping across our nation.
Perhaps the greatest cause of unrest on the campus is Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). (Continued to page 16)
80th Year, No.14 The University of Kansas----Lawrence, Kansas Thursday, Oct. 2, 1969
Union delays plan
By SUZANNE ATKINS Kansan Staff Writer
A freeze on the further development of plans for a satellite union building was declared Wednesday night at a meeting of the Union Operating Board.
The reasons for the delay are complex and are largely contingent upon the meeting of the Kansas Legislature next January. At that time the question of a fee raise for University of Kansas students will arise. The possibility of this raise could greatly influence a number of considerations regarding the Satellite Union, said William Balfour, dean of student affairs.
Preliminary Architectual plans for the building, from which the working plans will be developed, will be available at the end of October. At that time the Union Operating Board will meet again to decide the fate of the satellite union.
Considerations of the urgency of the need for a satellite union, the site on which to build it, and commitments already made were challenged and discussed.
During the last few years the need for expanded Union facilities has become apparent in the overcrowding of the Hawks Nest, the
Hawklet, Union meeting rooms and the Bookstore.
Planning for a satellite union has been progressing for several years and has received approval through the channels of the University and by the Kansas Board of Regents. Students have expressed their priorities on space commitments within the satellite, and these priorities have been realized in plans whose optimal efficiency and completeness exceeded the expectations of the Union Executive Committee.
Despite the careful planning that has gone into the satellite union question there is controversy concerning some aspects of it. The changing political climate at KU has raised the question of whether a board should speak for the student body on matters which primarily concern student facilities or involve allocation of student fees.
The proposed satellite site was contested by student body vicepresident Frank S. Zilm, St. Louis senior and a member of the satellite union planning committee, on the grounds another site, the present N-Zone parking lot area, is more accessible to traffic flow patterns.
Union director Frank Burge
pointed out the grave need for retention of the parking lot in its present location and the expense that would be involved in moving it. There is a possibility N-Zone will eventually become a tiered parking area, Burge said.
Burge predicted a delay on whether and where the building will be could set back the completion date of the satellite by as much as two years. Meanwhile, construction costs are increasing at the rate of 12% per year, compounded. At the last meeting of the Student Union Executive Committee last summer no hope was seen for a decrease in labor costs, and it was recommended construction of the satellite union begin as soon as possible to minimize the effects of inflation.
The early repayment of the 1950 Union expansion bonds and the funding of the new Union were clarified. When a $5 increase in student fees was levied in 1950 to help pay for additions to the Kansas Union, the assessment was based on what is now known to have been an overly-conservative projection of future enrollment. Since more money has been collected in student fees than had been expected, the bonds
(Continued to page 16)
Photo by Halina Pawl
They did it again
Welcome the University Daily Kansan weekly panty raid report. This time, erstwhile raiders hit almost every women's dormitory on campus.
See related story page 13
UDK News Roundup
Nixon praises OAS
By United Press International
WASHINGTON—The Organization of American States (OAS) drew praise from President Nixon for its recent success in ending the two-week war between Honduras and El Salvador.
GOP opposes nominee
WASHINGTON—The Senate Judiciary Committee has asked Clement F. Haynsworth Jr. to supply a record of his stock market dealings, amid fresh Republican opposition, including a demand from one GOP senator that President Nixon withdraw the Supreme Court nomination.
University Council to decide ROTC status on KU campus
The University Council will attempt to decide the fate of Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) today.
The council will review two reports presented by a University Senate committee on ROTC which has been studying the question of credit for military courses at KU since last December.
David S. Awbrey, Hutchinson senior and student body president, said the 11 student members of the council will propose a third solution to the question.
The majority and minority reports of the committee, he said, were too black and white. One, he said, called for the complete abolition of credit for ROTC
courses, the other for continuing the present system of full credit with minor alterations.
Awbrey said student members of the council had met and decided more moderate reform of the programs was necessary. He declined to outline the exact nature of the student proposal.
He also said the discussion by the council of the three reports would most likely be a long and heated affair.
The University Senate committee which formulated the proposals for the abolition of credit and maintaining the status quo was composed of two students and five faculty members, including one ROTC instructor.
A similar study of ROTC by a
committee of the faculty of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences last year resulted in two reports carrying essentially the same alternatives. The College faculty voted, by a narrow margin. ROTC credit.
Abolition of college credit would have seriously crippled the military program since the college is the largest of the University's schools.
ROTC has come increasingly under fire in the last few years, with dissention culminating in the disruption of the Chancellor's ROTC Review May 9.
All three military services maintain ROTC detachments at KU.