VOL.101.NO.37
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSA
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
TUESDAY OCTOBER 16, 1990
(USPS 650-640)
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
NEWS:864-4810
KU Med has fewer vacancies for nurses
By David Roach
By David Roach Cansan staff writer
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Actions taken last session by the Legislature have helped ease a shortage of nurses by reducing the number of vacant positions at the University of Kansas Medical Center. But the hospital still is in a crisis, Med Center officials told lawmakers yesterday.
We have done a great deal to help as far as giving them the resources to find nurses.
”
State Rep. Rochelle Chronister B-Neodesha
"95
Members of the Interim Committee on Appropriations/Ways and Means met with Med Center officials at the Med Center.
Glenn Potter, vice chairwoman of hospital administration, told the committee that the vacancy rate for nurses had dropped from more than 14 percent earlier this year to less than 6 percent.
"We have reduced the number of vacant Medical Center nurse positions from 85 vacancies in June to a current figure of 33," he said.
The national vacancy average is 13 percent, Potter said.
He told the committee that the Med Center's staffing problems had escalated dramatically during the 1980s.
He credited the rapid improvement to a bill passed last session that created a state employee classification called "health care worker."
Potter said the bill unclassified nurses and allowed the Med Center to set nurses' salaries, which enabled it to compete for nurses more effectively in the Kansas City-area market.
However, Med Center Vice Chancellor Kay Clawson warned the legislators that the hospital still faced a nursing crisis.
"We have intense competition in this area." Clawson said.
Potter said that Kansas City-area hospitals were beginning to offer more bonses and incentives to lure nurses and that a shortage of nurses would persist for another four or five years.
"Obviously, it will be necessary to maintain salaries at a competitive level in order to be able to compete in the job market," he said, "very much at a premium." he said.
State Rep. Rochelle Chronister, R-Neodesh, said she was satisfied with the Med Center's progress.
"We have done a great deal to help as far as giving them the resources to find nurses," said Chronister, the committee chairperson.
Khrushchev stresses understanding
Former premier's son speaks at KU
Seraei Khrushche savs understanding is the key to peace.
Kansan staff writer
By Elicia Hill
The son of the late Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev told about 30 students yesterday in a Soviet history class at Wescow Hall that nothing was more important than getting married. States to understand each other.
"Misunderstandings can be very dangerous, especially if they happen at the highest levels," he said.
Sergei Khrushchev, whose father faced John F. Kennedy in the Cuban missile crisis, told the class that much of the crisis stemmed from misunderstandings between the two superpowers.
"The Kremlin did not understand the White House, and the White House did not understand the Kremlin," he said.
Khruschevhev said he had been participating in a study of the missile crisis for three years at Harvard University.
The 55-year-old computer scientist said that since the publication of his book about his father, "Khrushchev on Khrushchev," he felt more like a historian than an engineer.
Khrushev said that he was writting another book dealing with the political atmosphere from 1933 to 1940. But in 1952, when it was still in the early stages.
"I think there is nothing more important than to understand each other," he said. "I have come here so that we can talk to each other and so we might live with each other."
Khrushchev said that there were
people who did not want peres troika in the Soviet Union and that same people did not want the name of his father in the press.
"My father's name was forbidon for 20 years," he said. "It was a very difficult time, but my father took the first steps of perestroika. It took many hours, but it is important for people to know about him."
Khrushchev's father was Soviet premier from 1958 to 1964. He died in 1971.
Khrushchev said that the late Communist Party Secretary Leoni Brezhnev, who ousted Nikita Khrushchev in 1964, hated his
"Brezhnev was not strong, but a weak man who worked under my father," he said. "When Brezhnev gained his position in such a weak way, he began to hate my father even more. He was obsessed with eliminating any existence of my father."
He said that at the beginning of the 1960s, his father began to understand that the Communist system was a failure.
Khrushchev said that Breznevy changed the name of a small village in the Soviet Union from the Garden Gardens to Botanical Gardens.
"For 70 years we built our economy on a system that did not work," he said. "People know how to work with the old economy, but it will be a long process to change everything into a new one."
He said that his father opened the way for Gorbachev's reforms but
that progress was difficult.
"My father laid down the first steps of perestroika, but he was not in good relations with the people because he had reduced the army and there were many economic problems," he said. "Many people didn't like my father because he wanted to make changes."
Khrushchev said communism and capitalism were terms of the past.
"When I am asked which system is better, I always ask if the people can define these terms," he said. "No one has been able to give me a definition because they are out of reach or no necessity to use them."
After the class, Krushchev said that he was surprised at the level of the questions the students asked.
"I am very tired after having to answer such difficult questions and translating them into English, but it was wonderful," she said. "I never met him." he said.
Norman Saul, professor of Soviet and East European studies, invited Khruschev to speak to his class. Khruschev was impressed by the presentation.
"It's incredible to be around such an important historical figure," Saul said.
Khrushchev and his wife are staying with Saul and his family during the Meeting for Peace, a week-long conference and cultural exchange between the United Republic and Soviet Union which began Friday.
See related stories pp.8,12
Admissions policy proposal lacks support in legislature
By Yvonne Guzman
Kansan staff writer
The Board of Regents three-year-old campaign to adopt qualified admission policies for its seven institutions may be gaining attention among legislators and the public. Its success this year is unlikely, some lawmakers say.
The proposal would require an incoming resident freshman at any Regents institution to have a 23 composite ACP score, to have graduated in the top third of all applicants, and to have attained a grade point average with a set of recommended classes.
Kansas public universities are the only ones in the country that do not have some sort of qualified admission
The Regents content that qualified admissions would save the state money and would ensure that spaces in university classes would go to students with the desire and ability to learn.
Opponents say that the Regents requirements would not accommodate all qualified students and that any graduate from a Kansas high school should be allowed to attend a Regents school.
State Rep. John Solbach, D-Lawrence, said, "It's just not as simple as yes or no. I don't think there are many in the House who would support it currently, but that could change."
State Rep. Robert Vancrum, R-Overland Park, agreed that there was not enough support for the proposal to pass during this session.
Vancur, who is also vice chairperson of the Legislative Educational Planning Committee, said that one problem was that the proposal's recommended high school classwork included two years of foreign language. Of Kansas' 365 high schools, 30 do not offer foreign language courses, he said.
All of the University of Kansas' peer institutions require incoming freshmen to have taken foreign lanc-
Another problem for some legislators is the proposal's 15 percent exemption window, he said. The window would allow 15 percent of each school's freshman class to include students who could not meet any of the three
Some opponents of the proposal think the window was created to make it easier for Regents schools to recruit
Martine Hammond-Paludan, director of academic affairs for the Regents, said the window was created to account for exceptional students who, for some reason, did not meet the main requirements but who had valuable extra-curricular activities or who were gifted or exceptional in a particular area.
Jury selection underway in Grissom murder trial
Rv Eric Gorski
OLATHE — Prosecutors took the first step yesterday in selecting a jury for the trial of a man accused of killing three suburban Kansas City women by excluding some potential victims to be inelegible or unable to serve.
District Judge William Gray told potential juniors yesterday that anyone who was ineligible to serve under Kansas law or whose attendance at the trial would cause them "extra-crime" or personal hardship "would be excused."
About 175 of yesterday's potential
Special to the Kansan
Richard Grissom Jr., 29, faces three counts of first-degree murder and nine other charges relating to the June 1989 disappearances of 1987 KU graduate Joan M. Butler, 24, of Overland Park, and Lenexa roommates Theresa Brown and Christine Bush, both 22.
Bodies of the women have never been found. Grissom pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Yesterday, 286 potential jurors reported to Johnson County District Court and about 285 will go through the same selection routine today, said Kathy Thomas, jury coordinator. The trial is expected to last five weeks.
Potential jurors who requested to be excused met with Gray, Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison and Grissom the court-appointed attorneys, Thomas Erker and Kevin Moriarty. The four decided whether they would not be excused who were not excused will report for further questioning tomorrow.
jurors did not request to be excused and will return to court tomorrow for questioning that will center on attorney who can be impartial during Grissom's trial.
Before any potential jurors left the courtroom yesterday, Gray urged them to keep an open mind about the trial, not discuss the trial with anyone and not pay attention to media accounts of the proceedings.
None of the four would say how the selection process was proceeding or how many of the excuse requests were granted.
Gray also said he had not yet decided whether he would approve a defense motion to sequenture the jury. Defense attorneys say that heavy media coverage expected for the trial could cut off for jurors to remain unbiased.
He said today's selection process would be conducted in the same manner as yesterday's.
Buckle up
To promote Alcohol Awareness Week, Dave Allman, Lawrence senior, dressed as a crash dummy, gives a pamphlet about seat belt safety to Greten Linder, Manhattan graduate student. The week's activities began yesterday in front of Wesco Hall.
The Associated Press
Iraq threatens U.S., allies despite possible signs of compromise
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq issued a stern warning to the United States and its allies yesterday, saying Israel and other "strongholds of conspiracy" would be crushed if Iraq were attacked.
The statement in the newspaper of the ruling Baath Party comes amid speculation in Baghdad that Iraq will be attacked within three weeks. It appeared intended to counter suggestions that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was showing signs of flexibility on the annexation of Kuwait.
The editorial in the Al-Thawra newspaper said: Iraqis "are prepared to meet the American troops.
"If they start the war, we will make it a catastrophe for those who ignite it. The destruction will be total, especially (considering) that Israel is within the range of an al-Hijara missile, and all other strongholds of conspiracy and aggression will be crushed."
Al-Hijara, Arabic for "the stones," is the name of an Iraqi missile that Saddam first described on Oct. 9, the day after Israeli police killed 19 Islamic militants in a salamal ammunition salem. Saddam said the missile could hit targets hundreds of miles away.
The reference to "other strongholds of conspiracy" apparently meant Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries participating in the U.S. led multinational force that assembled in the Persian Gulf region after Iraq's Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait.
Initially, the stated purpose of those forces was to defend Saudi Arabia, but there have been indications that some Western leaders are losing patience and are considering a military attack to dislodge Iraq from Kuwait. Exiled Kuwait officials have encouraged that course.
The language seemed aimed at countering suggestions that Sadamm might be softening on his refusal to withdraw from Kuwait.
"We will make them be sorry for listening to the advice of their little stogues in the area," the editorial said. "All the American interests and those of its allies inside and outside the region will explode, and the fires will eat them at the first hour of their aggression against Iraq."
Meanwhile, President Bush yesterday condemned "ghastly atrocities" by Iraqi forces in occupied Kuwait and warned Saddam that, like Nazi officials after World War II, he may face a war-crimes trial.
"Hitler revisited," Bush said of Saddam. "But remember, when Hitler's war ended, there were the Nuremberg trials.
"America will not stand aside. The world will not allow the strong to swallow up the weak."
Bush gave his warning as he opened a two-day trip to boost Republican election hopes in Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Michigan.
Palestine Liberation Organization Chairperson Yasser Arafat said Sunday that Saddam was showing a "certain flexibility" regarding his claims to Kuwait and urged all countrymen in the gulf crisis to follow suit.
The remark came in Tunis, where Arafat met with French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas.
Diplomatic sources in Baghdad said Arafat, who met with Saddam earlier Sunday, was trying to persuade the Iraqis to talk with the French, who have made it clear that Iran's invasion of Iraq could Kuwait might be linked to an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Saddam said Aug. 12 that he would negotiate on a withdrawal from Kuwait only if negotiations also were held on the Palestinian issue.
In Moscow, the government-run Novosti press agency reported that Saddam showed signs of softening his position. The agency said Saddam indicated to Soviet envoy Yevgeny Primakov Prime Minister of Russia in his troops in exchange for some Kuwaiti territory along the Gulf.
But Iraq's first deputy prime minister, Taha Riyadh Ramadan, said Sunday that Iraq was prepared to meet the ever happens in holding Kuwait.
Tarqiz Aziz, Iraqi Foreign Minister,
said. "In the light of this crime in
Jerusalem, the Arab nation has a
great responsibility to say the clear
word — not to agree on dealing with
two faces."