First Edition
Today's issue is the first of the 1970-71 year. The next Kansan will appear Monday and publication will continue on every weekday except holidays until the final examination period.
81st Year, No. 1 The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas Thursday, August 27, 1970
Report By KBI
See Page 13
Summer Brought Tragedy to KU
By BOB WOMACK
Kansan Staff Writer
The Shock of July
Summer in Lawrence was a kaleidoscope of tragedy and fear. But even through the waves of shock and reaction there remained at summer's end some positive notes of hope and optimism.
The problems were all too real for those who had to relive the days of last April. But as the news of what really happened spread farther and farther from Lawrence, so did the exaggeration and carelessness of interpretation.
Millions of Americans heard national newsmen describe Lawrence as a violence-torn city with vigilantes on every roof and guns under every pillow. Irresponsible journalism seemed to exploit, rather than explain, the story.
As if death and the threat of curfew days were not enough, the tragedy of reaction and overreaction almost found expression in the attempt of several Regents to use Chancellor Chalmers as the scapegoat for a tragic manifestation
of deeply rooted problems that were more indigenous to the city of Lawrence than to the campus of the University of Kansas.
THE VISIBLE expression of violence and tragedy began in late July with the death of a 19-year-old black youth during a gun battle with police in a predominantly black area of east Lawrence.
Donald (Rick) Dowdell was known to police, and in fact had been stopped the night before his death by the same officer who shot and killed him.
Dowdell's death came after witnesses saw two persons leave Afro House, a black culture center, enter a Volkswagen, which, according to police, ran a stop sign, and continue, under police pursuit until they attempted to enter an alley, but struck a curb. Dowdell ran from the car with a gun in his hand. Policeman William Garrett ordered Dowdell to halt and fired a warning shot. Garrett said Dowdell shot
(Continued to page 12)
Liberation
A small but determined group of coeds smiles at the reaction of two male chauvinists to their Women's Lib pamphlets. Carrying signs and
literature promoting birth control and urging establishment of a birth control clinic at KU, the marchers crossed the campus Wednesday afternoon. The trek was in response to a call by Betty Friedan, president of the National Organization of Women (NOW) for a nationwide strike by females.
KU Seeks University Attorney
The University is seeking a full time lawyer to serve as its attorney, and the Kansas Attorney General's office has offered its help if the search fails.
About 10 weeks ago, Chancellor E. Laurence Chalmers Jr., said a University attorney was needed to handle problems the Attorney General's office could not cover because of time and staff limitations.
Lawrence Blades, dean of the KU School of Law, Thursday said he had been trying to help Chalmers locate an attorney, but "we are still looking."
He said the functions of the
attorney would be confined to University matters.
"The attorney would be a professional lawyer charged with upholding the laws of the University, seeing that the judiciary operates efficiently and fairly, and giving legal advice to the University when needed," Blades said.
On Aug. 25, Kansas Attorney General Kent Frizzell mentioned the idea in his remarks on the Kansas Bureau of Investigation report on unrest at KU.
Regents Vs. Chalmers, Senate
Frizzell said he was in favor of such a position, but he called it a "prosecutor."
On an average summer day at a not-so-average meeting of the Kansas Board of Regents the University of Kansas came within one vote of losing its chancellor of one year, E. Laurence Chalmers Jr.
On July 26, during a closed door meeting, the Board voted 4-3 to retain Chalmers. The vote was presumably a result of campus disorders during the spring and summer, although Board members have refused to comment whether or not the vote indicated a question of Chalmers' ability to handle the disorders.
In other action the Board unanimously voted to instruct Chalms to dismiss Gary D. Jackson as assistant to the dean of men. The Topeka Police Department had previously reported that Jackson had purchased 27 boxes of ammunition July 17 in Topeka with a check drawn on a Black Student Union fund in a Lawrence bank. A Regent told the Kansas Tuesday that the vote was a direct result of Jackson's purchases.
A motion was also made that the attorney general be requested to conduct an investigation into the number of purchases of firearms and ammunition in more than normal amounts in Kansas City, Topeka and Lawrence in the weeks immediately preceding the Board meeting. The Board to date has not received a report on this.
Blades said the word was misleading, because the University attorney would probably never present a case before the University Judiciary.
"The University attorney would be analogous to the Attorney General in function. He would advise, but rarely prosecute," Blades said.
The subcommittee met in Lawrence Aug.19 and held a hearing pertaining to the procedures of the Student Executive Committee. It will meet again Friday,Aug.28,in Lawrence to hold a hearing on hiring procedures of University personnel.
Regents Henry Bubb of Topeka, Jess Stewart of Wamego and Arthur Cromb of Mission Hills were appointed to a subcommittee to investigate the allocation of student fees and the hiring procedures of administrative personnel at KU. The Board voted that allocations remain the same as last year until the investigation was completed.
A report on both hearings will be made at the Board meeting Sept. 18.
Another Regent confirmed to the Kansan Tuesday that there was no probationary period of any sort imposed on Chalmers.
a sort of probation, but Bubb later said that he had been misunderstood by the press.
After the Board meeting, Bubb reportedly said that action pertaining to another vote on whether or not to retain Chalmers would be delayed three months. This, in effect, would have put Chalmers on
KBI Survey Report May Not Be Public
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation report requested by the Board of Regents to investigate ammunition purchases in the area during the period of strife this summer may never be made public. Edward Collister, assistant attorney general said Wednesday.
Earlier, Atty. Gen. Kent Frizzell and Harold Nye, director of the KBI, had issued a report about July's events and had said that another report could be expected this week.
Collister, who has been coordinating matters relating to the probe, said Wednesday that ammunition purchases in Kansas City were still being investigated. He said the reports for Lawrence and Topeka were already completed.
"We feel such a person should be a private attorney, someone from our office or who is a public prosecutor," Seaton said.
Also still being investigated, Collister said, are allegations of racial trouble in Oliver Hall this summer. Collister said the request to investigate Oliver Hall was made two days before the end of summer school and the KBI had no available personnel then.
He said the idea originated from Chalmers, not Frizzell, and Frizzell's comments were only "an affirmation of the Chancellor's commitment to find such an attorney for the University."
Asst. Atty. Gen. Richard Seaton said the Attorney General's office was standing by to supply an attorney if University efforts failed.
"But if nobody else gets the job done, we'll do it," he added.
He said the Attorney General's staff would be hard pressed if a lawyer from their office was needed.
"It would also have a better psychological impact if the attorney was a private lawyer," Seaton said.