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The University Daily Kansan
Today: Scattered T-storms with a high of 74 and a low of 58.
Tomorrow: Scattered showers with a high of 70 and a
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Thursday, October 26, 2000
low of 51.
Sports: The volleyball team played a tough match but lost to Texas A&M 3-0. Next, they prepare for No.1 Nebraska.
SEE PAGE 7A
Inside; The Kansan set up two KU students for a blind date.
SEE PAGE 1B
(USPS 650:640) • VOL. 111 NO. 42 For comments, contact Nathan Willis or Chris Borniger at 864-4810 or e-mail editor@kansan.com
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Players will not be charged with assault
By Katie Hollar writer@kansan.com
Kansas senior staff writer
No charges will be filed against the two football players accused of assaulting a female soccer player last spring.
The victim said yesterday she was told that despite a six-month-long investigation, there was not enough evidence to file charges against the men. The witnesses all told police they didn't remember anything, she said.
The witnesses were University of Kansas football players.
"I can't believe (the suspects) are actually getting away with it," she said. "They should probably give their friends a big thank you. Their lies have saved them."
Prosecutors could not be reached for comment.
According to the soccer player, she was approached by the two
men Feb. 26 outside the Yacht Club, 530* Wisconsin St. They held her down, then fondled, spanked and taunted her.
She first reported the assault to her soccer coach, and she agreed to let football coach Terry Allen handle the situation rather than going to the police.
When she heard that Allen's punishment consisted of making the two run stairs at Memorial Stadium, she went to Bob Frederick, athletics director. On April 26, she gave a statement to police.
One of the accused football players continues to play for the team. He had been placed on probation, pending results from the police investigation.
The other man was dismissed from the University for poor grades and now plays football at Garden City Community College.
Neither Allen nor Frederick returned phone calls last night.
After hearing that no charges would be filed, Ted Frederickson, the victim's former professor, said he was disappointed — but not surprised.
"She knew when she went to police that the witnesses to the attack on her were KU football players, teammates of the accused," said Frederickson, professor of journalism. "She assumed they would tell the truth about what they saw."
The case went down to her word against theirs, he said.
"That is obviously very good for their football team, which could not afford to lose a starter," Frederickson said. "This decision does not mean they are innocent, only that the prosecutor doesn't feel she has enough evidence to convict."
This decision could prompt further protest of the football team, said Kyle Browning, Lawrence senior.
At the first two home games, he and members of Delta Force and the Women's Action Empowerment Coalition distributed handbills with information about the case and anti-Allen messages.
Browning said the protesters might return to Saturday's game against Texas Tech.
"I think some kind of action would be appropriate," he said. "I know for a fact a lot of people won't think this is good or appropriate."
The victim said she would finish the soccer season, but she would not involve herself with the athletics department again.
"No one could understand this," she said. "I don't know where to go from here."
THE INVESTIGATION STRETChed THROUGH SIX MONTH!
— Edited by Warisa Chulindra
Feb. 26 — A female soccer player said she was spanked and fondled by two football players outside the Yacht Club, 530 Wisconsin St.
March 1 — She tells Mark Francis, her coach, what happened.
March 2 — Francis and the woman meet with football coach Terry Allen. Allen gives her two options: Go to police or let him handle the punishment. She agrees to the latter.
April 18 — The woman learns the punishment was running extra sprints at practice.
April 25 — The woman meets with Bob Frederick, Kansas athletics director. She said he told her he would call the police.
April 26 — When she doesn't hear from Frederick, the woman gives a statement to Lawrence province.
May 3 — Frederick and Allen publicly offer their support to the woman.
May 5 — Frederick and Chancellor
day 5 — Frederick and Chancellor
Robert Hemenway ask Barbara Ballard, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, to examine the Athletics Department's sexual harassment and sexual assault policies.
Sept. 11 — The Kansan prints results of a department survey that says three student-athletes have been sexually assaulted by a student who is not an athlete, six have been assaulted by a student-athlete and two have been assaulted by University faculty or staff.
Oct. 4 — Ballard completes her report, which says the alleged assault on the soccer player was mishandled by the department. Oct. 11 — The University releases the report to the public.
Oct. 24 — Lawrence police forward the results of their investigation to the Douglas County district attorney's office.
Playstation 2 expected to sell quickly
Oct. 25 — Douglas County prosecutors decide sufficient evidence does not exist to file charges against the two football players.
Low supply may exist until after holidays
By Meghan Bainum writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
The system was released early this morning and is expected to fly off the shelves.
Students hunting for the new Sony Playstation 2 computer entertainment system might have to rely on a bit of luck or the Internet's black market to get the system before Christmas.
In a written statement,
Sony touted the Playstation 2
as a revolution in home
entertainment systems.
The console combines a video game system and DVD-
More information
For more information about the Sony Playstation 2, see www.playstation.com/site/ps2.asp
Video player while also having the ability to be used as a network terminal.
Sony plans to release 500,000 units of the Playstation 2, followed by 100,000 units a week *through the holiday season.*
That may not be enough.
That is, not because Chad Wells, a SuperTarget executive, said the high-tech toy may be difficult to find.
Rocky DeFazio, Wichita freshman, hangs his head after Nick Delgadillo, St. Louis sophomore, scores a video game touchdown. Delgadillo said money was the only thing keeping him from lining up at 6 a.m. today to purchase a PlayStation 2. Photo by Carrie Julian/KANSAN
However, he said, students who didn't get a Playstation today might have plenty of time to save up the nearly $300 it would cost to buy the machine.
"Many people believe that if you aren't going to get them opening day, you may not have them before New Year's," Wells said.
Ricky Allen, assistant manager at Wal-Mart, 3300 Iowa St., said Wal-Mart would have the same problem keeping the Playstation in stock.
"Whatever they send us is what we get," he said. "This will be the initial shipment, but after that it's anybody's guess."
See SUPPLY on page 3A
Come rain or shine
Representatives of Gideons International truck around campus handing out free bibles. About 20 representatives were on campus yesterday despite rainy weather. Photo by Jamie Roper/KANSAN
Area bikers pedal back for Critical Mass ride
By Matt Merkel-Hess
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The ride starts at 5 p.m. at Watson Park, between the 600 block of Tennessee and Kentucky streets. A discussion will precede the ride at 4 p.m., said Llowell Fletcher, Lawrence resident and one of the ride's organizers.
Bikers will hit the streets tomorrow for this fall's second Critical Mass ride, which organizers hope will raise awareness and visibility of bicycle issues in Lawrence.
"We wanted to do it again to show it wasn't a one-time thing and to keep the energy up," he said.
Fletcher said organizers wanted to keep ideas on bike lanes and sustainable transportation in the forefront.
"We're just trying to let people know what we're doing," he said. "We're not trying to cause trouble or provoke the police in any way."
About 125 people participated in the first ride on Sept. 21. Twelve people were issued traffic safety violations for crossing the center line and running red lights, and one person was forcibly arrested after he tried to steal an officer's radio.
Det. M.T. Brown of the Lawrence Police Department said officers would be present at tomorrow's ride to monitor the riders and keep
traffic flowing.
"We hope that there is no violence and that everybody obeys the rules," he said. "We're trying to make sure they get to ride down the road and to make sure nobody gets hit by a car."
Brown said the police department would be there to help facilitate the ride. He compared the ride to other events that temporarily disrupt traffic such as road races or parades. He said as long as no laws were broken, the police would simply be observers of the ride.
Kurt Lane, Overland Park junior, attended planning meetings for the second ride and said he wanted people to become more aware of sustainable transportation before fossil fuels supplies were exhausted.
"An economy based on extraction and exploitation is not sustainable," he said. "Why don't we start working on that before our backs are up against the wall?"
Lane said he wanted to see more bike lanes in Lawrence and that a Critical Mass ride was a direct way to create a dialogue within the city.
- Edited by Kimberly Thompson
"Even if people don't like it, it still makes them think," he said. "I'm excited just seeing whether we can sustain and just build off the initial energy and overcome the negatives that came out of it."
Senate voices opposition to housing ordinance
By Kursten Phelps
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
"It's a fairly simple presentation of some of our arguments," said Holly Krebs, Senate Student Rights Committee chairwoman.
Student Senate made its opposition to a proposed Lawrence housing ordinance official at its meeting last night.
at its meeting Senate approved a resolution that outlined its arguments against the proposal, which would lower the number of unrelated people allowed to live in residences zoned for single families from four to two.
The resolution argues that the proposed ordinance unfairly targets students as a group that is responsible for the degradation of Lawrence neighborhoods.
"This is an issue of neighborhood stability, and they are concerned that we are a transient population," Krebs said. "I think an excellent point to make is that even though as individuals we're transient, as a group, we are stable. There are always going to be students here making important contributions to the city."
The Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods, which supports the proposal, has cited party houses, poor maintenance of houses, increased rental of single-family houses and a drop in enrollment at some elementary schools as problems that would be alleviated by the proposed ordinance.
But Krebs said it was important to show the city commission the contribution that University of Kansas students made to the Lawrence community, as well.
Krebs said the resolution would be sent to the city planning commission, city commission and local media outlets. A copy probably also will be sent to the chancellor and the provost's office, she said.
Krebs and eight other students affiliated with Senate also will speak against the ordinance at a town hall meeting Wednesday night. Senate has rented a bus to shuttle students to the meeting, which will start at 6:30 p.m.
Although speakers must register for the first part of Wednesday's meeting, other students still can speak during an open forum segment of the meeting. Erin Simpson, off campus senator, encouraged other students to voice their opposition to the proposed ordinance.
In other business:
Ben Walker, student body president, announced that the Athletics Department had decided to move the Marching Jayhawks next to the student section in Memorial Stadium. The decision will take effect at Saturday's home game against Texas Tech.
Senate approved a bill that would allow registered student organizations to rent audio-visual equipment at the Kansas Union for free. Senate will pay the Union $3,000 this year to purchase a portable sound system and to provide free use of audio-visual equipment for organizations this year and next year.
"Senate passed a resolution requesting two-for-one "parking passes for married residents of Stouffer Place and Sunflower Apartments.
— Edited by Kimberly Thompson
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