VOL.100,NO.28 (USPS 650-640)
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
WEDNESDAY OCT.4,1989
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
NEWS:864-4810
Noriega loyalists foil coup attempt
U.S. disavows involvement with rebellion
The Associated Press
PANAMA CITY, Panama — Troops loyal to Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega put down an attempted coup by rebel soldiers yesterday, retaking the headquarters of the Panamanian Defense Forces after a six-hour gunfight. About 65 rebels were reported detained.
"This incident corresponds to the permanent aggression of U.S. forces against the tranquility of our country," Norlaga said from Defense Forces headquarters after the fighting had sputtered to an end. "The proof is that U.S. forces closed access routes to the barracks.
ters in an attack launched about 6 a.m. but failed to capture Noriega. Troops loyal to the general, who commands the Defense Forces and controls the government, launched a counterattack. By noon, the shooting had tapered off as Noriega's backers
The rebels surrendered to General Noriega in person, said Defense Forces spokesman, Maj. Edgardo Lopez, more than 60 rob troopers and four or five officers had been detained. The Defense Forces serves as both the military and the police and has about 15,000 members.
Rebel troops seized the headquar
gained the upper hand. Noriage appeared on television around 3 p.m.
The United States, which has been trying to oust Noriega since he was indicted nearly two years ago in Florida on drug charges, denied any involvement in the coup attempt. The
uprising was launched by junior Defense Forces officers.
U. S. troops assigned to the Panama Canal zone took up positions about 600 yards from the headquar-
See PANAMA, p. 6
Two students put out fire at Snow Hall
By a Kansan reporter
Bushes in front of Snow Hall caught fire yesterday at 1:40 p.m., but Doug Meserve and another student put out the flames before the fire spread.
The fire damaged about nine square feet of the bushes. No one was injured.
He said that when they returned, the flames were spreading quickly and the bushes were producing a lot of smoke.
Meresive, Oak Hills, Calif., senior,
said he saw the bushes burning as he
walked on the south side of Jayhawk
Boulevard. He and an unidentified
student ran inside Snow Hall to find
fire extinguishers.
"It was really going," he said.
"The smoke just tasted awful."
The fire damaged about nine feet of the bushes. No one was injured.
One fire truck and a KU police officer arrived at the scene about 1:45 p.m. after receiving a call from an employee of the department of facilities operations.
Alex Valverde, Overland Park junior, said two students were sitting on a bike rail at a bus stop next to the buses. They ran away from the bushes when they realized they were on fire. he said.
Valverde said he did not think the two students started the fire, but said he suspected a burning cigarette may have caused it.
A lit cigarette probably did cause the bushes to catch fire, said Lawrence Fire Department Capt. Allen Johnson. Because damage was limited, an investigation will not be made to determine the fire's cause.
Lawrence firefighter James Ens sprays the bushes outside Snow Hall.
Cheryl Hanly/KANSAN
Exodus crackdown begins for refugees
East Germany to immediately ban travel to West, but agrees to let 10,000 leave
The Associated Press
PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia — East Germany yesterday banned free travel to Czechoslovakia but agreed to allow at least 10,000 of its citizens already in Prague to emigrate to the West.
Rudolf Seiters, chief of staff to Chancellor Helmut Kohl, said in Bonn the first train of East German refugees would be leaving Prague for West Germany yesterday evening. He said the East German decision applied to an estimated 4,700 East Germans inside the embassy and about 6,000 more milling about outside the compound.
side the compass. Seiters said Kohl was informed of the East German decision by Czechoslovak Premier Ladislav Adamech.
Both decisions by East Berlin yesterday appeared part of an effort to avoid disturbances during celebrations of the Communist state's 40th anniversary Saturday.
The crackdown came after hundreds of East Germans stormed through police lines to get inside the West German Embassy, climbing facades, rooftops and a fence to reach the compound.
Thousands of East Germans have streamed across the border into neighboring Czechoslovakia and to other East bloc countries in the last few weeks to make their way to West Germany.
Last weekend, East Germany agreed to the one-time departure of about 7,000 refugees from the West
German embassies in Prague and in Warsaw.
Previously, East Germans did not need a visa or passport to reach Czechoslovakia. ADN said that effective immediately, such documents would be required. That effectively bans all ordinary East Germans from traveling to Czechoslovakia.
It also will make it much more difficult for East Germans to reach Hungary.
West Germany closed its embassy early yesterday after thousands of East Germans streamed into the compound overnight, bringing the total seeking asylum there to about 4,500.
But after the East German decision was announced, the embassy opened its doors. refugees said.
In the West German Embassy in Warsaw, the number of East Germans arriving over the past two days reached about 300, officials said.
Refugees in Warsaw said their government was no longer issuing the special travel cards needed for Poland as quickly as in the past.
In Leipzig, East Germany, thousands of people took part in a late-night protest march Monday for democratic reforms. Church sources and West Germany's ZDF television network put the number at more than 20,000 yesterday, which would make it the largest protest in East Germany since 1953.
I make it more than 120,000 East Germans have reached West Germany so far this year, either legally or illegally.
Board members exhort parking permit change
Feasibility limits ability to deter thefts
By Bryan Swan Kansan staff writer
however, a financially strapped Parking Department might prevent such action or pass the cost of the change on to students.
The continuing theft of parking permits this semester has prompted some members of the Parking Board to urge changing the permits to a kind that can be placed on the inside of car windows.
James Muir, student representative to the board, said he would raise the question of changing the permits at the Parking Board's next meeting Oct. 12.
"There are budgetary problems in parking services right now," he said.
"Revenue has to be increased or costs cut. The change would probably go through if it saves money. No one says the stickers have to be outside, but it's the easiest way."
Muir said that cost and feasibility would be the primary considerations of any plan to change the stickers. The only reason stickers were placed on the outside of car windows was that it was not practical for all vehicles, such as Jeeps, to have the stickers inside.
He said students had expressed their concern about the issue to him, and that was one of the reasons he planned to have it discussed at the meeting.
Sgt. Schuyler Bailey, KU police
spokesman, said that the number of permit thefts had dwindled in recent weeks but that the thefts were still occurring.
Russel Smith, student representative to the board, said the idea of changing the permits was discussed informally at the board's first meeting Sept. 14. But that was when the problem had first started, and no official action was taken.
He said he would support switching the stickers if the cost could be absorbed.
"We were talking about what direction the board should take this year, the things we should try to implement, around the time of the first reports and thought maybe switching them would alleviate it." Smith said, referring to permit thefts. "I can see nothing detrimental about it. I can only see improvements."
He said the only way to implement a change of permits if it was not cost effective would be to increase the fee for the permits even though students who had not been affected by the thefts might disapprove.
"It's like insurance," Smith said. "You don't want it until it's too late."
Morris Faiman, chairman of the parking board, said no students or members of the board had discussed with him the permit thefts or changing the permits. The issue is not on the agenda of the board's Oct. 12 meeting.
Campus group says KU football poster violates University sexism rule
Bv Lara Weber
Kansan staff writer
It hangs on many students' walls, despite the fact that some believe it is sexist and is in violation of a University of Kansas policy that prohibits sexism and other discrimination.
The 1989 KU football poster features 11 KU woman dressed in various pieces of KU football uniforms and equipment and states, "11 dates to remember."
DONALD LEE
"We believe the poster is sexist," said Kristen Lawing, Wichita senior and member of the February Daughters. "The University has a policy against sexism, and to me this poster is in direct violation."
poster group is distributing a petition to show that students are offended by the poster and to call for an apology to students from the Athletic Department.
A campus feminist group, the February
Daughters, is protesting the poster.
"We're not against KU football or the Crisman Girl's," Lawing said.
"That not really the point." Lawing said. "But the University broke its own policy. There are people who are offended. Our main goal is more sensitivity in the future."
Eight of the women on the poster are members of the Crimson Girls, the University's pompon squad.
"I'm sorry if the poster offended anyone," he said. "But it certainly wasn't our intention."
Bob Frederick, athletic director, said he had heard from six or seven people in regard to the poster.
Frederick said the ponter was created by the athletic marketing department.
"We were just looking for a way to have a poster that represented KU football," he said. "Obviously, if it did offend anyone, we'll take a serious look at the matter."
Craig Halines, director of marketing for the athletic department, reiterated what Frederick said and added that the department had been looking for new ways to generate enthusiasm in the football program.
"It was a new idea," he said. "I really didn't expect any criticism. We certainly weren't out to offend or do any harm to anyone in any way."
Haines said interest in the football program had increased this year, mostly because of the new coaching staff, but he hoped that part of the new enthusiasm had been generated by the marketing department as well.
Sherri Lewis, St. Louis senior and one of the Crimson Girls featured on the poster, said she didn't think there would be any problem because the girls had chosen to pose for the poster.
"It's a decision we felt very honored about," Lewis said. "I know for a fact that they tried to stay away from any kind of exploitation."
She said the poster was a simple promotion
for the athletic department and had nothing to do with exploitation.
Kevin Rice, Lakewood, Cole., senior, said he didn't think the poster was sexist.
"The ones who protested are the ones who couldn't have the opportunity to do what we did," she said. "I know that's radical, but
Debbie Adams, a freshman Prismon Girl who was not on the poster, said she understood the concern about the poster but did not think such a strong reaction was warranted.
"I don't see why they think it's so exist," she said. "It looks good with pretty girls and it attracts people to the poster."
"they're good-looking girls, but they're not scantily-clad enough," he said. "If the people who are in it complain, they are the only ones who have a right to complain."
Lawing said the February Daughters would be collecting signatures for their
Julie taman/KANSAN
There are complieba that this promotional poster is sexist, but the models say they think others are jealous of them.
petition at the football game Saturday to raise the public's awareness of the issue.
"We don't even think about it," she said. "We're so infiltrated by this kind of crap everyday."