1970269T
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VOL. 100, NO. 36 (USPS 650-640)
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
MONDAY OCT.16, 1989
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
NEWS: 864-4810
Fed ready to act to divert replay of market dive
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve officials are monitoring stock and currency markets overseas today, poised to take emergency action if necessary to prevent a repeat or worse of the Friday the 13th stock plunge.
Stocks were down sharply in the first few minutes of trading today on the Tokyo Stock exchange and the dollar was also coming under heavy selling pressure. But, by midmorning in Tokyo, both the dollar and Japanese stocks had partly recovered.
Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan today planned to make his first public comments since the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 190 points on Friday, the worst drop since the 1987 crash. He was appear- Association, holding its annual convention here.
A senior Fed official, speaking on condition of anonymity yesterday, said the central bank's counterparts in Japan and Europe had given assurances that they stood ready to supply needed cash to the banking systems in their countries to stem any fallout from the U.S. plunge.
The world's central banks also were preparing to intervene if necessary by selling dollars to keep the value of the U.S. currency from falling precipitously, the official said.
Developments in overseas markets today could set the tone for U.S. markets when they open. The Fed official said the central bank was prepared to flood the American banking system with money to prevent any further stock decline from rippling out of control.
"We will be there with all the liquidity demand that is needed," the official said. "If there are any doubts about liquidity being available, there is no reason to be concerned."
"Liquidity" refers to the ready availability of cash.
For the 6,500 bankers gathered for cocktails and conferences, Friday's events are reminiscent of the opening of the group's 1887 convention in Dallas when the market crashed 508 points, causing Greenspan to abruptly cancel his speech and jet back to Washington.
C. C. Hope, a board member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said the regulatory agency had asked banks to stand ready to help if asked by the Fed.
While the injection by the Fed of massive amounts of cash into the system cannot by itself push stocks higher, it does serve to reassure nervous bankers that they need not cut off credit to securities firms suffering heavy losses.
Greenspan was widely credited with decisive action that prevented the 1987 crash from wreaking havoc on the banking system and perhaps toppling the entire country into a recession.
"The banks are ready to participate. The Fed has lined up the players," he said. "We've just expressed our concern to some people and said, 'Stand by and be ready to do some assistance if you're called upon.'"
The brokerage houses, assured of a reliable line of credit, then can refrain from selling stock simply to replace their dwindling supplies of cash. Such waves of forced sales can drive prices down even further.
Grad senator may vacate position, too
By Lara Weber
Kansan staff writer
"I have a lot of responsibilities," he said. "I have to set some priorities because my studies have been affected."
Last month he single-handedly boycotted Student Senate, but now James Muir, graduate holderover senator, says he can't sacrifice his education to do everything for graduate students.
At the first Senate meeting, Muir announced a graduate student boycott of Senate because he believed, in part, that the undergraduates were unable to deal effectively with graduate concerns.
Muir said he believed that he had generated graduate student interest in Senate but that he may decide to pull out of Senate to devote more time to other obligations.
"I'm not a one-man show," he said. "I got off my butt and got involved so I think I had a right to complain."
At a later Senate meeting, a letter from Muir stated that he had acted alone in his boycott and that the Graduate Student Council and the Graduate Executive Committee, both of which Muir is a member, wanted to work with Senate to solve several of the graduate concerns.
Muir said that since the controversy had developed, several graduate students had expressed interest in getting involved in Senate.
Diggs said they decided they would try to amend Senate rules and regulations to form a graduate committee. But he never liked like the other Senate committees.
Rashid Zulu, the only other graduate senator, did not honor the boycott. There are 12 vacant graduate senator seats.
He said it was important that students who got involved had time to attend all the meetings and participate in the student governance proc
"We decided that the basic problem is that undergraduates, by their very nature, are not able to solve graduate problems," he said.
The Senate Minority Affairs committee recently was charged with addressing the concerns of graduate students.
He said a bill would be generated out of the Minority Affairs committee Wednesday to be presented to Senate the following week.
Michael Diggs, committee chairman, conducted a meeting Thursday
"It's about the only way to get things done." Diggs said.
Jana Gregory, Arkansas City senior, one of 2,221 KU students with children, plays with her 2-year-old son, Ryan in their yard.
Students juggle books, diapers
By Stacy Smith Kansan staff writer
When David Harger, Olathe senior, thinks back to the fall finals period his sophomore year, he can laugh about the C on his transcript, which broke his perfect 4.0 grade point average.
The C doesn't bother Harger much when he looks at his 22-month-old daughter, Dene, and remembers the day she was born the morning before his statistics final.
"It's kind of fun explaining why that C is there," he said. "Internship people are in shock when I tell them." It's kind of an ice-breaker.
Harger is one of 2,221 University of Kansas students with children, 992, of whom are undergraduate students, according to Fall '88 records from the office of institutional research and planning.
For the past year, Harger, 21,
has been a single parent with joint
custody of his daughter Dene
Schaefer. He also then goes to spend the next two
weeks with her mother in Overland Park;
Although balancing the roles of student and parent are not easy, Harger has done both while maintaining a GPA above 3.5 in accounting and economics. He plans to attend law school after he graduates in the spring.
"It's really hard, because you've got a baby that stays up until 9 or 10 at night and you can't do homework." he said.
Harger said his day usually began at 6 a.m. and did not end until 1 or 2 a.m. when he finished homework and could slip into bed. With only four or five hours of sleep, he must be ready to start each new day as a student and as a parent.
"I do OK. I think I am a good father," Harger said. "I'd get married and divorced again just so she needs Dene. She comes first, so pooh!"
Harger said money was the biggest problem he faced on a regular basis. He said he worked during the summer and saved as
much money as he could. He also has several academic scholarships to pay for tuition. But still the bills add up.
"I'm broke now. I'm always broke," he said. "I have just enough money to get tuition paid and the rent paid."
"They usually don't want to have anything to do with me, and I don't blame them," he said. "It's a saint thing to involve with."
Harger said dating also was a problem because he was always up front with women about his daughter.
Linda Marshall, assistant director of the student assistance center, said the center offer worked with students like Harger to help them with questions about parenting, school or finances. She said it took a very strong and responsible person to overcome the obstacles associated with being a parent and a student.
Jana Gregory, Arkansas City
senior, is also a single parent.
Gregory, 21, married her fresh-
man year, had her son the summer
before her sophomore year and was divorced her junior year. Now Gregory raises her two-year-old daughter by her own while attending school.
Gregory, who is majoring in business communications, has been able to maintain a 3.5 GPA since she had her son. She has received several academic scholarships and a Pell grant, which help her finance her education and living expenses.
Gregory said many people had a stereotype about college students with children as being desistile.
"They just don't think I look like a mother," she said. "I just ask them, 'What does a mother look lie?'
Gregory said there were a few activities on campus she wished she could have been involved in and internships she would have liked to have applied for if it were not for her son.
"Iif I had it to do all over again, I'd wait to get married. But I wouldn't trade Ryan for anything," she said.
Hurricane Jerry rips through Texas coast
The Associated Press
GALVESTON, Texas — Hurricane Jerry roared into the Texas coast yesterday, tossing cars and ripping down power lines, trees and neon signs in the storm's rage. The spun off boundaries that inflicted damage along the Gulf Coast.
Jerry's fury combined with the highest tides of the year to flood coastal areas as thousands of people, mostly in Louisiana, fled to higher ground.
The center of the hurricane moved ashore on the west end of Galveston Island about 7:25 p.m. with sustained winds of 7 mph and gusts up to 100 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Fla. It was moving north-northeast at 10 mph.
Charleston and other parts of South Carolina last month, was a category 4.
Jerry was considered a category 1 hurricane, the least severe possible. Hurricane Hugo, which devastated
"A lot of people take a Category a hurricane lightly, but this can spur tornadoes and a lot of damage," said Galveston City Manager Doug Matthews, who ordered an 11 p.m. meal. "This is one mean, mean fellow."
In Galveston, a 32-mile long barrier island connected to the mainland by a causeway, officials reported scattered power failures, street flooding and a roof torn off a building. There were no reports of injuries.
As Jerry struck, heavy rains and rising tides moved over the upper Texas coast and were expected to increase over the southwest Louisiana coast, the National Weather Service said.
The hurricane center said the area would receive 4 to 8 inches of rain.
"It's a very small hurricane. I would not expect much damage from it," said Bob Sheets, director of the National Hurricane Center.
"Category 4 is a major disaster and Jerry is a bad day," said Jerry Jarrell, deputy director of the center.
Jerry strengthened from a tropical storm to a hurricane 110 miles off Galveston Island at 1 p.m. when its sustained wind hit 75 mph, or 1 mph above the threshold, according to the National Hurricane Center. During the afternoon, the storm reached 85 mph sustained wind and swung onto a northerly course toward Galveston, the hurricane center said.
The storm surge caused by a combination of Jerry and high tides was not expected to be over eight feet, he said. In comparison, the storm surge in the Charleston, S.C., area from Hugo was up to 20 feet.
a tornado hit downtown Orange,
near the Louisiana border, and several homes and businesses were damaged, police officials said. There were no immediate reports of injuries, police dispatcher Rachel Timaeus said.
Heavy rains pounded the area, and the hurricane's winds shook trees, parked cars and light poles. There were a few motorists on the road as Jerry struck, and een a few hurricane sightseers on the seawall.
There were numerous reports of power outages in Galveston and there was some street flooding, officials said. Several cars were tossed onto sidewalks and there was a report of one washing over the seawall, but officials did not know if anyone was inside.
In Louisiana's southwestern corner, the Cameron Parish Civil Defense Office ordered coastal areas evacuated, and spokesman Scott Henry said that affected 8,000 to 10,000 people.
Residents of Lewis Hall and Templin Hall are served meals in the Lewis cafeteria.
Changes would improve food service
By Lisa Moss
Kansan staff write
"People make cracks in line all the time," said Mike Mast, McColm Hall resident. He said people joked that they were served from two weeks ago.
Residence hall food is often the brunt of lokes.
Residents could stop kidding around if improvements being considered by housing officials are initiated.
Peggy Smith, assistant director of food services for residence halls, said she wanted to offer more services to students.
Smith is setting up a campus-wide food committee to improve communication with students. The committee will be made up of food chairmen
"We have to take this in little stee." she said.
from each residence hall. Smith said she would meet with the committee once a month.
She said the cafeterias were traditional with all diners going through the same line. With consolidation, the
Last year, most of the residence
extended serving hours,
Smith said.
Smith said there were plans to expand the Lewis cafeteria and to update food services.
Plans for consolidation and expansion of food services are being considered as another way to improve services to students.
A step toward consolidation was closing the Templin Hall cafeteria this semester. Templin residents now use the Lewis Hall cafeteria.
"We want to move from an institutional setting to a commercial set- tion."
"eatery concept" would make different kinds of food available at the same time.
Kenneth Stoner, director of student housing, said people would eat at a cafeteria that was not in their residency but hall if more services were offered.
He said most schools had aban- dened the one-hall, one-cafeteria set up.
An architectural firm is working on plans for the expansion, but it is hard to say when the actual expansion will take place. Stoner said.
Smith said that the plans for consolidation were long-term and that no cafeterias would be closed in the next year.