ASC Authorizes Insurance Plan
A bill authorizing the Student Health Commission to enter into a contract with a commercial health insurance company was approved by the All Student Council last night.
Following some minor changes in the wording of the bill, the Council voted to adopt the measure allowing students to receive commercial health insurance under a group plan.
A resolution pertaining to the bill approved the adoption of the Blue Cross-Blue Shield company plan.
Representatives from the company outlined to the council the coverage of the plan in relation to the health service now provided by the University.
They said the cost for the first eight month term, effective Feb. 1, will be $11.70 for a single student and $64.75 for a student with dependents. A twelve month group policy will start Oct. 1, 1959, at $17.50 for the individual student and $87.25 for the family.
The representative pointed out that the coverage would not be limited to the school year and would be effective in any accredited hospital
The ASC also voted approval of a constitutional amendment to establish a permanent Health Committee composed of three members.
Richard M. Barnes, Semeca junior and chairman of State Wide Activities, gave a progress report on his committee. He said the group was reorganized this year.
He said the aims of the organization are to emphasize higher education and promote goodwill for KU in the high schools of the state. Information sheets containing information about the University have been distributed to schools throughout the state, he said.
Edgar Dittemore, McLouth senior and a member of the Labor Committee, reported the committee is
compiling information from nine other universities on employment and labor problems. The group recently met with 20 businessmen from Lawrence to compile information on job opportunities and wage rates in the area.
Dittemore reported that the Research Committee is studying extracurricular organizations and has found little overlapping of activities. The committee discovered, however, that some groups are operating without a written constitution.
A bill presented to the Council later in the meeting proposed all extracurricular organizations be required to register with the ASC and provide a written copy of their constitutions. Religious and departmental organizations would be excepted, but would have to register a statement of purpose with the ASC. The bill was sent to the Committee on Committees.
Howie Elfeldt, Kansas City, Mo. senior, reported that the first edition of the new campus humor magazine will be out after Christmas vacation. It will contain articles on sports cars and various phases of campus life. Elfeldt said.
He later introduced an amendment to a bill to change the name of the magazine from "Squat" to "The Fowl."
The resignation of Richard D. Lewis, Kansas City, Kan., senior, was read to the council.
ASC members absent from the meeting were:
Charles L. Foster, Kingsville,
Tex., senior; Judith E. Neil, Abilenne
junior; Richard H. Peterson, Kansas
City Mo., junior; and Chester Van-
tango, Bartlesville, Okla., senior.
Potential student body executive candidates absent were:
Lance Johnson, Wymore, Neb. junior, and Joseph Reitz, Kansas City. Mo.
Fires Add Tragic Note To Christmas Season
Bv United Press International
In the United States, death came to three children in a farmhouse fire in Pennsylvania.
Fires cast tragic shadows today on final Christmas preparations. In Bogota, Colombia, a roaring fire killed 98 shoppers in a department store.
Fires also broke out in several schools.
A blaze that started in a Bogota department store's "manger of the Christ child" erupted yesterday into the worst fire in the city's history.
This morning, 98 persons were known dead and 200 others were injured. Most of the dead were suffocated rather than burned when they panicked and piled up in escape attempts.
In Mansfield, Pa., three children were believed killed in a fire which destroyed their farmhouse home. The parents of the three, four and 11-year-old children were not at home when the blaze broke out.
In the Chicago area, two school blazes were discovered and quickly put out before extensive damage was done.
Arson was determined to be the cause of a fire in a south side elementary school. Three unsuccessful attempts were made to burn the building. No children were in the building at the time.
An alert custodian and a sensitive sprinkler system were credited with averting a disaster in an elementary school in Kenilworth, a fashionable suburb of Chicago.
Miss Santa Named
The blaze was confined to the main building, built in 1915. Two wings built in the past 10 years and containing the gym, cafeteria and some classrooms escaped damage.
Authorities said the blaze appeared to have been another case of arson, starting in an assembly room on the second floor of the three-story brick structure.
The custodian spread the alarm in time for the school's 600 pupils to flee to safety. A sprinkler system, activated by the heat, extinguished the fire.
A fire swept through the main portion of the 600-pupil Sparta High School today.
In San Juan Capistrano, Calif. a roaring brush fire was whipped by high winds into the Camp Pendleton Marine reservation today. It threatened 300 homes in another area.
the sheriff and city marshal questioned two youths seen near the building shortly before the fire was discovered at 2:52 a.m.
see page 8
Marines manned fire lines as the fire now in its fourth day, threatened to do severe damage. It has already burned over 52,000 acres and destroyed 19 buildings.
Daily hansan
Wednesday, Dec. 17, 1958
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
56th Year. No. 65
KU Budget Hearing Will Start Tomorrow
The University of Kansas' 1959-60 budget will be presented to the State Budget Director in Topeka tomorrow in hearings that will run through Friday.
KU officials expect the $9,150,367 request to be slashed, but there has been no indication from state officials where the cuts will be made.
Raymond Nichols, executive secretary of the University, said today he expects reductions in three divisions: teaching staff salaries, research and operating expenses.
Mr. Nichols will be the only KU administrator present at the hearing. Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy and other university and college presidents are barred from the hearing.
The Board of Regents, which approved the proposed KU budget request unanimously, will be allowed to speak.
Gov. George Docking has indicated he will submit an exceptionally tight state budget to the 1959 legislature.
The budget director indicated earlier he would probably cut the University's budget.
Reductions in budget requests have been made by the budget division on other budgets that have been considered at hearings during the past three weeks.
State institutions are asking for some 18.5 million dollars. The budget division has recommended the figure be slashed to about 16.5 million dollars.
KU's legislative request for the 1959-60 school year represents an increase of about 10 per cent over the $8,246,497 appropriated for the current year.
Of the amount requested, $7,220,375 is to be used for salaries and wages. Other requests include: Operating expenditures, $1,042,434; Geological Survey, $461,448; training of firemen,
A discussion of the University's proposed 1959- 60 budget appears on page 2 of today's Kansan. Included in the study are comments by other newspaper editorial writers and excerpts from statements made by Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy on the proposed request.
$10,500; instruction of peace officers, $5,250; mortuary science, $10,000 and general research,
$400,000.
The budget recommended by the budget director will be submitted to Gov. Docking for his approval and then will go to the state legislature. During the past two years the legislature has appropriated more than the governor has recommended.
Mao Gives Up Half His Duties
TOKYO —(UPI)— Mao Tse-tung has decided to give up the presidency of Red China to concentrate on his job as boss of the Communist party. Peiping Radio announced today.
Mao is faced with the mammoth job of marshaling China's millions into "people's communes" and Peiping Radio said the party had decided to put on a drive in this direction between now and April.
Western diplomats here and in Washington did not regard the announcement as a downgrading of the 65-year-old Mao.
The official Communist broadcast did not name a successor for Mao but reports reaching Tokyo said aging Marshall Chu Teh would be moved up from vice-chairman to chairman (president.)
The committee's communique, as broadcast by Peiping Radio, said Mao himself suggested the change to enable him to concentrate more on party work.
Weather
Clear to partly cloudy tonight and Thursday. Continued mild. Low tonight 30 to 35. High Thursday 55.
The mercury soared into the 50s over most of Kansas yesterday.
Air Force ROTC Program Offered in 7 Semesters
Students with seven semesters left before graduation will be allowed to enroll in the Air Force ROTC next semester under a new program. Lt. Col. Robert P. Ash, professor of air science, said today.
Normally eight semesters are required for completion of the course leading to a second lieutenant's commission in the Air Force.
Students who wish to take the eight semester program will still be allowed to, Col. Ash said.
Col. Ash said the new program is
temporary, designed for new students who have expressed interest in the AFROTC but have waited too long to enter under the regular program.
Under the new policy the missed semester will be made up by taking a junior course concurrently with a sophomore year course.
Anyone interested should contact the air science office in the Military Science Building as soon as possible. Col. Ash said.
Sophomore Coffee Will Be Tomorrow
The sophomores will hold a precedent-setting class coffee at 10 a.m. tomorrow in the Kansas Room of the Kansas Union. All sophomores will be excused from 10 a.m. classes to attend the first such event for any class other than the seniors.
Sophomore ID's, on sale for 25 cents from house representatives or the alumni office, must be shown for admission.
Entertainment for the program will include a vocal solo by Joyce Mal-
icky, Baldwin sophomore, and a dance routine by Delano Lewis, Kansas City, Kan., junior. Terry Kiser, Omaha, Neb., sophomore, will be master of ceremonies.
Sophomore cheerleaders Ken Gray, Lyons, Jane Perry, Lawrence, and Heather Graham, Kansas City, Mo., will practice class yells with the group. The sale of class rings and plans for spring activities will be discussed at a short business meeting.
GIFTS FROM THE EAST—David Elliott, Merriam freshman, portrays one of the three kings from the East, as he places a gift before the manger in the German Nativity play. Mary, played by Carol Yagher, Oakley sophomore, watches. The play will be given at 8 p.m. in Fraser Theater.