VOL. 100, NO.42 (USPS 650-640)
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
T THE STUDENT NETS SAFEAR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KAISANSAF
TUESDAY
OCT. 24, 1989
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Flag-burning bill's defeat kindles tempers
ROTC cadets (from left) Mica Ashmore, Darrell Williams and Mark Arvidson raise the flag behind the military science building.
Local reaction to issue retains initial sparks
By Anita Meyer Kansan staff writer
The Senate's defeat Thursday of a proposed constitutional amendment that would have prohibited burning the U.S. flag has prompted local reaction ranging from anger to support.
Army ROTC Sgt. Maj. Albert Dalao said he often had the task of raising and lowering the fing in the wrist as part of science building on campus.
"I strongly feel there should be an amendment," he said. "In my opinion, the flag is what the whole country's been fighting for."
Dan Flavin, sargeant of arms for Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, agreed with Dalao.
"I'm kind of sad the amendment wasn't passed," he said. "I'm for the amendment. It's unpatriotic to burn the flag."
Charles Ashby, building and grounds supervisor for the Douglas County Courthouse, said he had been raising the flag at 7 a.m. every morning for about a year.
"We take the flag very seriously around here," he said. "If it's even a little crooked or a little late, believe me, I'm the first one to hear about it. We treat it with the utmost respect."
Ashby said that he had seen people burn flags in the '60s and early '70s on other campuses, but that he had never seen a U.S. flag burned in Douglas County. He was disappointed that the bill did not pass.
"I was very upset," he said. "I had six brothers, and three of them were Vietnam vets. I'm pretty much a patriot."
Others, while opposed to flag burning, don't think that the Constitution should be amended to prohibit the act.
a constitutional amendment prohibiting the burning.
Cindy Bachofer, leader of Campus Girl Scouts, said that her group protested the burning of the flag but that she would not support
"One-third of our Girl Scout promise is to respect the country, and showing respect to the flag is one of the easiest ways to do that," she said. "When you banFlag burning, we must prevent her hefted froden. When you start saying 'No,' to this, it's easier to say 'No,' to that."
Brent Garner, assistant professor of Air Force ROTC, said he believed flag burning was not
"I think the courts have overextended the meaning of the First Amendment," he said. "I don't think our founding fathers would've supported the flag burning. Some people ask the question. If you take away this, then where do you stop? I don't think it's a question. Government would never oscillate that far."
covered by First Amendment freedoms.
Phillip Padudan, professor of history, said he was glad to see the
"The freedoms the flag stands for should have the biggest possible scope," he said. "If you add a special amendment to make a special exception for flag burning, then it might set a precedent for other special exceptions. The Constitution should be changed only after long and serious discussion."
flag-burning amendment defeated.
State Sen. Wint Winter, R-Lawrence, agreed.
"I would hope that we could protect the flag without amending the Constitution," he said. "I don't think the Constitution should be amended without a compelling reason."
Winter said he would support other legislation, such as a statute that would prohibit flag burning.
State Rep. Jessie Branson, D-Lawrence, said she would be hesitant to support legislation to stop flag burning.
"I feel flag burning is disgraceful," she said.
Committee re-examines speech issue SenEx amends faculty statement
By Doug Fishback Kansan staff writer
A statement declaring instructors' rights to assign readings, to express opinions and to invite guest speakers to their classes was amended yesterday by the University Senate Executive Committee to call for faculty to "criticize" the instruction and adherence to the subject of the course.[17]
The SenEx version of the statement, passed back to the University Council with no recommendation, stresses that the mentioned freedoms are protected under current regulations and that the statement simply reaffirms them.
"These freedoms, as well as freedom of expression by faculty members themselves, carry correlative responsibilities, such as exercise of critical judgment and adherence to the subject of the course . . . Such expression, whether inside or outside the classroom, should be compatible with the formal education of the University and should be appropriate in manner to the academic community," the added portions read.
The original statement was introduced to the Council Oct. 5 by Donald Marquis, associate professor of philosophy, during a session to discuss the minority issues task force report. He should not be reached for comment.
Jacob Gordon, associate professor of African and African-American studies, said he was concerned that the original statement was meant to "sidetrack" the issue of the task force report, because the statement appeared related to the visit of the Ku Klux Klan to the University of Kansas in Spring 1988.
"It makes me wonder," he said.
Gordon said the University had adequate free speech protection without the statement.
"I think that we have a very good document already that addresses academic freedom on this campus."
Texas plastics plant explodes One person dead: more than 100 injured in Pasadena blast
The Associated Press
PASADENA, Texas — Explosions rocked a Phillips Petroleum Co. plastics plant yesterday, hurling chunks of metal and other debris miles and creating a fireball visible for 15 miles. At least one worker died, more than 100 were injured and 23 were unaccounted for, authorities said.
Flames and intense heat kept rescue workers from getting close enough to the plant to look for workers, said Dr. Paul Pepe, director of Houston emergency medical services.
"We're betting there's a lot of fatalities just because of the nature of the explosion and where it happened," Pepe said. "We don't think there's anybody alive in there."
Twenty Phillips employees and at least three contract workers were unaccounted for more than eight hours after the explosions, Phillips Petroleum President Glenn Cox said late yesterday.
Cox said 109 workers were taken to hospitals. More than 30 were admitted, and five to six were listed in serious to critical condition. Officials said that the injured were being treated for burns, breathing problems and cuts from flying debris.
The blasts buckled a ceiling and blew out cafeteria windows at Kruse Elementary School about a mile away. None of the more than 700 pupils was injured, and they were all sent home, a school employee said.
The first explosion at Phillips Houston Chemical Complex, just of two high-rise buildings, on downtown Houston occurred about 1 p.m., Parks said.
Several explosions followed, witnesses reported.
Seismologists at Rice University in Houston said the first blast appeared to be the equivalent of 10 tons of TNT.
Officials closed a nearby section of Huehaw 225.
Bill Stoltz, said. Firefighters pumped water from a sewage treatment plant and the nearby Houston Ship Channel to fight the blaze. Part of the channel was closed to traffic shortly after the blast.
The fire was brought under control about 6 p.m., but was expected to take several more hours to extinguish, said Fire Chief Jay Goyer.
At the plant, leaking gas and broken water lines hampered firefighters, Phillips environmental director
Maintenance worker Roby Clemsons said a warning message was broadcast over the plant's emergency radio 20 seconds before the explosion.
Stoltz said the explosion was caused when a seal blew out on an ethylene loop reactor, releasing ethylene-isobutane, a compound used in making plastics. The plant manufactures plastics like those used in milk jugs and toys.
The chemical compound is flammable and explosive but not very toxic,
"I never saw people run so fast," Clemens said.
Galveston
Knight-Ridder Tribune News
said Jim Price, director of research for the Texas Air Control Board in Austin.
Glen Dickey, who lives five miles from the plant, said he came home from lunch and found a 6-foot piece of metal in a tree.
"Pieces of stuff were falling out of the sky. I got over there to my house and my neighbors, and they were walking out in the neighborhood picking up pieces of metal and insulation off the roads," Dickey said.
Professor testifies Willner did not fulfill duties
Michael Crawford, professor of anthropology, said in testimony before a faculty Senate committee yesterday that he supported the dismissal of Dorothy Willner based on his experiences working in the same
By Angela Baughman Kansan staff writer
department with her
Alfred Johnson, former anthropology chairman, also began his testimony.
On the fourth day of dismissal hearings for Will.
Willner
ner, professor of anthropology, Crawford told the Faculty Senate Committee for Tenure and Related Problems that, according to the KU
"She has attended only two faculty meetings since May 1977." Crawford said. "She does not evaluate graduate students or advise undergraduates. She does not really contribute."
faculty handbook, every professor had three jobs: teaching, research and service. He maintained that Willner had not fully contributed to those jobs.
He said he had received a deluge of complaints about Willner's teaching from students. In cross-examination of Crawford, Donald Koster, Willner's representative for the hearings, asked him how many student complaints he had received about Willner's teaching.
"Let's say around 50 since the early '70s," Crawford said. "I did not keep a score because it was always distasteful for me to hear complaints about my colleague."
complaints in person during advising periods and that the complaints were volunteered by the students and not solicited by Crawford. Crawford gave an example of such an incident. A student complained about a class of Willner's he had taken advice from him to take. He said that the student complained to him, "How could you do this to me? She is a madwoman."
He said he generally received the
Crawford said that in another incident, a student complained that he was confused because he had been told to "get up and dance" in one of Willner's classes. Crawford said his reaction to such complaints advised it is not my job to sit here and listen to all of this bitching."
"Students are confused and don't know what to do," he said. "Graduate students have complained she is the worst teacher they've had in their
professional careers. In 24 years here, she has not produced a single Ph.D., to my knowledge. There is obviously something wrong with her teaching."
Crawford said that in research, Willner's productivity was below average. He said that about one article every three years from Willner was low compared to the number of articles produced by himself and other anthropology faculty.
"Others have to do her job," Crawford said. "Others have to pick up the pieces. That's the thrust of my complaint."
Crawford identified specific complaints that he had made regarding Willner from a letter compiled by Robert Squier, former anthropology chairman, for Del Brinkmar, vice chancellor for academic affairs, dated April 22, 1988.
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Freeway survivor Buck Helm improved yesterday, but crews searching the collapsed highway where he was rescued gave up hope that others would be found alive. The death toll from last week's earthquake climbed by two to 61.
'Obstacle course'takes Bay area back to work
Bay area commuters, meanwhile,
conquered heavy traffic and rough
seas on the first full workday since
the oak.
"We're very certain nobody up there is alive. We've searched, searched, re-searched, triple-searched," said Oakland Police Lt. Kris Wraa, referring to the crumpled 1¼-mile stretch of Interstate 880 where huge slabs of concrete teetered in the rain.
Asked if officials had given up hope of finding another survivor, she said,
"That's fair wording."
With rescue efforts suspended, crews began dismantling a shaky 100-yard section of the collapsed roadway, officials said.
About 150 residents of a housing project just 10 feet from I-880 joined thousands of homeless because of fears that more of the highway could fall.
And yesterday's commute, slow but not paralysing, underscored how well San Francisco has coped.
Commuters did return to the earthquake-raved transit system, many boarding extra trains or a flotilla of ferries because the Bay Bridge from Oakland to San Francisco remained closed.
About 3 million people commute on a typical workday in the nine-county region. Authorities warned that 2 million of them could be disrupted in a nightmarish obstacle-course commute.
Without the Bay Bridge, 65,000 rush-hour motorists were forced to seek other ways to work. Daily, 260,000 cars use the bridge, the most crucial of the region's earthquake-disrupted roadways. Repairs will take at least four weeks.
▶ See related story p. 5
The Bay Area Rapid Transit system carried twice the normal load, and ferry passengers had to stomach rough seas and whipping winds. But there was little of the feared "gridlock" on the roads.
"I've just been through hell, but heck, I have to admit I made it through it," said John Trowbridge, a commuter who normally would have driven across the Bay Bridge but instead rode a lurching, swell-battling ferry.
"It can only get better; this can't get much worse," he said.
Helm did get a bit better yesterday, doctors said.
The 57-year-old longshoreman, who spent four days trapped under the freeway rubble in his car before being rescued Saturday, was awake and was given a writing tablet and pencil so he could start responding to questions while on a respirator.
Damage from the 8.9-magnitude quake Oct. 17 topped 77 billion, surpassing Hurricane Hugo a the costiest natural disaster in U.S. history, according to the Independent Insurance Agents of America.
Two more deaths were reported in San Francisco. One, an unidentified female, was found in fire rubble in the Marina district. The other, a 68-year-old woman from Sweden, died while sustained at a downtown hotel.
At a Salvation Army warehouse filled to the rafters with donated supplies, a dozen volunteers yesterday prepared goods to be sent to quake victims.
The White House said yesterday that it was abandoning an effort to assemble its own $2.5 billion relief package and would instead work with Congress, which began work on a $3 billion-plus bill.
for many in the Bay area, a scenic and diverse region of 6 million residents, life was actually quite normal throughout the past week. Damage was confined to distinct areas of the major cities.