Treed
For years the problem of an 18-foot blue spruce had the James E. Roberts family of Lawrence stumped. The tree blocked the view from the Robertses' home, but they
felled their 1,500-pound problem by giving it to the University. Workers yesterday put the tree up in Strong Hall, where it's sure to keep KU's Christmas evergreen. See page 3.
Warmer
The University Daily
High, 55. Low, 30s Details on page 3.
KANSAN
Vol. 95, No. 65 (USPS 650-640)
Wednesday, November 28, 1984
Suit names Regents in violation of meetings law
By MARY CARTER
Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
In a civil suit filed yesterday, Kansas Attorney General Robert T. Stephan accused the Board of Regens and 10 current and former members of the Regents of violating the state open meetings law.
The lawsuit, filed in Shawnee County District Court, alleges the academic programs, budget and enrollment of Emporia State University were discussed privately by members of the Regents on six separate occasions between June 29 and Oct. 18.
"I believe this series of private meetings is contrary to the spirit and the letter of the Kansas open meetings law," Stephan said.
yesterday in a prepared statement. "The public was excluded for over three months from discussions involving the future of Emporia State University.
"THE PATTERN OF conduct by one of the state's most prestigious boards is in direct conflict with this state's policy of open government and cannot go unchallenged by
Wendell Lady. Regents chairman, said yesterday evening that he would not
"We're going to meet on Thursday to decide what we're going to do." he said.
Stanley Kopik, Regents executive director, said, "The board will meet on Thursday to discuss the lawsuit, and I think it's fair to say that they will discuss a full
range of options, from challenging the lawsuit to accepting the charges. There are an infinite number of possibilities, and I think it's too early to comment."
STEPHAN SAD IN his statement that he hoped the lawsuit would be resolved quickly.
"A lengthy adversarial procedure would be of benefit to no one." Stephan said. "Our primary interest in filling this seat is to open the door, though which the Board of Residents operates."
Stephan said members of his staff had discussed the suit with Regents attorneys and he was optimistic that the suit could be resolved without a lengthy court proceeding.
The lawsuit is the result of an investigation by the attorney general's office that began
after two newspaper editors complained in October that the Regents had violated the rules of the magazine.
Under the state open meetings law, meetings may be closed to the public only for discussion of personnel matters.
STEPHAN SAID IN the statement that the personnel matters had to relate to specific employees. Broader policy matters, such as employment policies, must be discussed in public session, be said.
In the suit, Stephan alleges that eight members of the Regents met June 29 and Sept. 30 in Topeka and on Oct. 18 in Wichita. At each meeting, the group recessed into executive session to discuss deletions of academic programs, budget cuts and declining enrollment at Emporia State, Stephan said.
stephan said Regents members Lady, Archie Dykes and Sandra McMullen met in late July, mid-August and on Sept. 12 to discuss the same topics
Lady had said during the October Regents meeting that he thought the meetings were closed legally because matters that affected personnel were discussed.
RAY CALL, MANAGING editor of the Emporia Gazette and one of the editors who complained to the attorney general, yesterday said, "We think the individual members of the Regents are fine, public-spirited people. But we don't feel that the Regents are
Flaws flavor presidency, Sidey says
See REGENTS, p. 5, col. 3
Hugh Sidey, contributing editor for Time magazine, gestures. ference. Sidey spoke and answered questions for about two as he answers a reporter's question at a news conference in hours last night in the Union Ballroom. The topic of his speech was:
By JULIE COMINE Staff Renorter
Hugh Sudey has seen the frailties, the triumphs and the fabbles of the past seven
"The presidents we war over and argue over, the people that run for office — they're imperfect," Sidey, a contributing editor for Time magazine, said last night. "They're all
Each president brings strengths and weaknesses to the job, and throws in a dash
Dwight D Eisenhower read Western novels and amused himself with painting-by-numbers.
Lyndon B. Johnson swooped down on St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on Christmas Eve 1967 with a plastic bust of himself to present to Pope Paul.
Gerald Ford tripped down the stairs of Air Force One and bumped his head while he was stepping on a staircase.
SIDEY, WHO WRITES a column titled "The Presidency" for Time, spoke to about 250 people in the Kansas Union Ballroom on Monday. Presidency and the Nature of Leadership,
The presidency is a personal office that changes with each new occupant. Seid said.
Side's speech was part of the Vickers Lecture Series, named for J. A. Vickers Sr., an alumnus of the University of Kansas who in 1970 established a family entitled the lecture series in 1970.
"We probably over-emphasize the importance of the president," he said. "But we must remember that government is not the system. We expect too much of the president; we blame him too much when things go wrong."
SIDEY, WHO BEGAN writing his column
on the presidency in the mid-1960s, said he was partly responsible for the "whole media cult" that invades the White House each day. He was president in television lights and cameras.
Sidey said much of the press had lost touch with the public's perceptions of the presidency during this year's election, as shown in comments for Democratic candidate Walter Menken.
President Reagan's landslide, he said, shows that "much of America does not necessarily think like the editorial page of the Washington Post or the New York Times.
But it wasn't just Reagan's personality that swept him into office again, Sided say.
"Don't tell me these kids who have been voting conservative by a margin of 4-0 to really believe that Ronald Reagan is a hero," he said. "The people who supported Ronald Reagan it would have been someone else."
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE have become increasingly suspicious of big government, he said. So they elected Reagan the former president, and in a dudle, the "perfect product of government."
"Mondale portrayed himself in this election — and I think this came across quite clearly — as activist, knowledgeable, the son of government," he said.
games on a nearby radio station, said Reagan. Bloodiness of the government street was high.
Sidley, who as a youngster in Greenfield, Iowa, listened to Reagan broadcast football
"Here is a man with a bizarre background, and now he's president," he said. "Reagan couldn't name you a subcommittee if you didn't learn about it, or discover Lebanon wasn't in Ohio."
JOHN F. KENNEDY was an artistocrat, who man lived during the Depression but had no memory of hard times. But he learned about the other side of America by reading,
"He was a scholar." Sidee said. "He read 1,200 words a minute. History. Biography.
Winter hits and runs; warmer wind coming
Staff Reporter
Bv DAN HOWELL
Like the Cheshire cat in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," winter made the slightest appearance yesterday, only to disappear again.
Mike. Akulow, the forecaster, said Goodland, Russell and Dodge City had reported 0.1 inch of precipitation from snowfalls up to three inches. In the southeastern part of Kansas, Pittsburg received 0.5 inch of rain.
Snow fell early in the day in Lawrence but most of it melted by noon. Still, the city's 0.24 inch of precipitation was the most in the state, a forecaster for the National Weather Service in Topeka said yesterday.
THE WEATHER SERVICE forecasts as a return of southerly winds today as a high-pressure center moves east of Kansas. Winds of between 10 and 20 mph will raise the temperature into the low 50s under a partly cloudy sky.
For Lawrence, seasonal temperatures and mostly dry conditions should prevail.
Tonight, there will be a 20 percent chance of rain with an overnight low in the upper 30s. The chance of showers continues at 20 percent for tomorrow with a high
Yesterday's chilly wind increased the number of anxious faces at campus bus stops, and the general manager of Lawrence Bus Co., 841 Pennsylvania St. said he had observed a small increase in the number of riders.
in the upper 40s and moderate southerly winds.
Lori Lilson, assistant manager of the Lawrence Humane Society, 1805 E. 19th St., said cold and wet weather required pet care and think more about shelter for their pets.
BESIDES PROVIDING SHELTER out of the wind, she said, owners need to make sure their pets' drinking water is not frozen. They should keep small and short hairied dogs and cats indoors at least, especially as the nights become colder
Duane Ogle, the general manager, said cold or rainy weather normally caused an increase in the total number of bus riders. He noted that the number of regular riders uses buses.
But winter's worst is not expected to reach Kansas this week. Akulaw said the weather service expected high temperatures for the weekend to be in the low to mid-70s. Some information for this story was supplied by United Press International.
"A arule, the cafres hawrs go up a litle," he said. "But it has to get to get oold heavier than
Leaders seek better process for future campus elections
By JOHN HANNA
Staff Reporter
As most of their counterparts slept, about 25 students and administrators a few weeks ago counted ballots from this month's elections into the early hours of the morning.
The counting lasted until 4:30 a.m. Nov 16 and, after a day's break for sleep and classes, until 1:30 a.m. on Nov 17. In all, about 14 hours were devoted to the task.
David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs, said Monday that he thought the Senate Elections Committee had run the election well, but that he would like to see the Senate investigate more modern methods of polling.
And that was too much time, the student, body president, vice president and an administrator said recently. They said they would like to see the Senate speed up the process — possibly with voting machines or computers.
"I TTOK AN awful lot of logistic effort to do it," Ambler said of the election. "The human error factor is always there with paper ballots."
"The Senate Elections Committee used paper ballots for the Senate's November 1983 election in January, Chancellor Gene A Budg invaded the presidential and vice-presidential nominations of the Judicial Board had described as "fraught with inconsistencies and ambiguities."
For new elections in the spring, the Senate rented six voting machines from Shawnee County for $475. That fee covered transportation of the machines and their programming Ballot tabulation in the spring during midterm at about 7:30 p.m. on the last day of voting.
The machines were rented from Shawne County because paper ballots still are used in
IN SEPTEMBER, THE Senate passed a non-binding resolution asking the Elections Committee to look into the possibility of having mechanized elections.
"I want to see any kind of mechanization to speed up the counting and remove the problems of biases," said Jeff Polack, student body vice president.
William Easley, student body president, called the paper ballot system used in the election "archaic" and said the process was the reason for the great amount of time it took to count the ballots. He said he hoped the Senate would take legislative action next
Easley and Ambler also said the Senate could purchase its own voting machines.
BUT FINDING USED machines to buy sometimes is not an easy process. Cress said
Emma Cress, supervisor of voting machines for Shawnee County, said new machines cost about $2,000 each, but used machines could be bought for about $600. Shawnee County has about 440 machines that are in use elections. Cress said
See VOTING, p. 5, col. 1
Arafat gives resignation to PLO early
By United Press International
AMMAN, Jordan — Yasir Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization since it was created 20 years ago, abruptly resigned the position yesterday in a move that surprised his supporters, a spokesman said.
Arafat submitted his resignation to the Palestine National Council, the Palestinians' parliament in exile, at the end of a two-hour spokesman Abhmad Abdul Rahman said.
The reasons for the move were unclear and Rahman declined to discuss specifics.
At the end of each annual Palestine National Council, Arafat normally resigns as chairman of the PLO executive committee along with the 15 other members of the group so a new membership can be elected, and Arafat has always been reappointed.
HOWEVER, THIS YEAR Arafat resigned a day ahead of the rest of the executive committee members, but there was no indication that PNC delegates would not reappoint him chairman today. There also was a suggestion he would accept or refuse a reappointment.
Rahman said Arafat appeared to be responding to pressure put on his leadership by four Syrian-backed factions that ousted Lebanon last December in heavy fighting.
"If pressure against the Palestinian revolution PLO) would be reduced through his resignation, he was willing to submit it," he said. "But if he was referring to Syria, he said, 'Yes.'
Arafat, 55, has been chairman of the PLO, which is seeking a homeland for Palestinians, since its creation in 1964 and he has survived attempts to oust him.
"ABU AMMAR (Arafat's nom de guerre) is the property of the Palestinian people and his resignation should be decided by them," said Rahman, a strong Arafat surrenderer.
The current council is expected to end either today or tomorrow.
Arafat's speech reviewed PLO developments since the council last met in February 1883, but was closed to reporters. Rahman said it was interrupted at various times by bombings and was called him "the symbol of the Palestinian revolution and our leader until victory."
5
Rahman said Arafat's resignation took many in attendance by "complete surprise," and that to members of the committee he made speeches imploring him to withdraw it.
In apparent preparation for his resignation, Arafat took seats in the third or fourth rows of the meetings the past two days, instead of his usual place in the front row
THE CURRENT PNC session is being boycotted by the Syrian-backed rebels who have been most vocal in demanding Arafat's ouster.
The PLO's executive and central committees each went into emergency session after
their meetings.
Rahman said Arafat explained during his Rahman said Arafat explained during his speech his reasons for visiting Egypt last December after the Syrian-backed PLO (Palestinian Liberation Front) from the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli.
Egypt, on the basis of the 1979 Camp David treaty, is the only Arab nation at peace with Israel, and calls for Arafat's resignation intensified after the he warmly embraced Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last December.
Rintegregating Egypt into the "Arab fold" has been a chief topic of this year's PNC by Arafat supporters. Arafat has said he went to Egypt because Carlo helped arrange protection for his evacuation by sea from Tripoli when Israel was threatening to attack him