One fine day
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Details page 6
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Thursday October 29,1987 Vol.98,No.49
(USPS 650-640)
Von Ende moved to halfway house
By NOEL GERDES
Staff writer
Richard von Ende, former KU executive secretary who pleaded guilty last year to federal cocaine charges, has been placed in a halfway house in Kansas City, Mo.
Von Ende, who performed lobbying duties for the University of Kansas for 14 years, was transferred Oct. 8 from the Federal Prison Camp in Big Spring, Texas, to the Dismas halfway near downtown Kansas City, Mo., before going to the Inmate Locator Service in Washington, D.C.
"I assume it was because he was a good inmate." Mark Bennett Jr., attorney for von Ende, said yesterday. "Transfers like that only happen if you are doing what you are supposed to be doing."
Von Ende was sentenced to three years in prison last November in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan. He began his term Dec. 8, 1966, at the Federal Correction Institute in Fort Worth, Texas, and was transferred May 14 to Big Spring. Both are minimum security prisons.
Dismas House is a community rehabilitation center, the Rev. Everett Thornton, executive director of the center, said yesterday. It has a contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons to treat people convicted of federal crimes, he said.
The center requires its inmates to hold jobs, maintain bank accounts, participate in individual and group counseling and volunteer for community service. About 30 people are now in the center's rehabilitation program, Thornton said.
Thornton said he was not able to comment on von Ende's progress or when he would be released from the center.
Steve Johnston, south-central region administrator for the U.S. Pole Committee in Dallas, said yesterday scheduled for parole March 8, 1988.
The parole commission ruled at a June 9 hearing that on Ende should complete 15 months of his three-year prison sentence.
Johnston said each inmate received a parole risk score based on behavior, prior convictions, length of sentence and severity of crime. Parole risk score guidelines recommended that von Ende serve between 12 and 18 months of his sentence, he said.
After his release, von Ende will be
supervised by a federal probation officer until early December 1989, when his sentence expires.
Von Ende was charged last fall with three counts of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and three counts of distributing cocaine.
On Sept. 22, he pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and one charge of distribution. All other charges were dropped.
Von Ende was KU's principal lobbyist to the Kansas Legislature from 1972 until he resigned in September 1986. He was one of 21 people in Lawrence indicted in July 1986 on unlawful charged charges after an investigation involving local, state and federal drug enforcement officials.
October morning sunshine
Lee Harbison, Lawrence resident, basks in the sun as he waits for a bus at Ninth and Massachusetts streets. He has lived in Lawrence for 30 years.
Staff writer
Students find unlisted course changes
By MICHAEL HORAK Staff writer
An orange poster hangs near the center of a 3-foot glass case outside the enrollment center at Strong Hall.
Next week, when students begin to enroll, they will likely notice three words, written in italic on the poster, which read, "2 weeks only." The word is a reminder of the action to the deadlines for advising which ends completely next Friday.
Some think it is ironic that the orange sign hangs in the case.
If the University of Kansas really wants to advise students about classmates' privacy, it will new and closed classes that weren't printed in the spring timetable, some
students asked yesterday.
"There could be classes I'd be interested in taking that aren't in the timetable," Gina Constantino, Olathe
It can really hurt a student who doesn't go to an adviser.'
junior, said as she leafed though her timetable in front of Strong Hall.
Joe VanZandt
Joe Vanzano coordinator of undergraduate advising for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
"I think they should get on the ball
Because of the printing schedule, changes made in course offerings in October are not included in the package and were handed out earlier this week.
- people are planning for next semester already. If you don't know what they offer, how do you know what to take?" she asked.
Currently, there is no place on campus where students can go to see the performance.
But, Gary Thompson, director of student records, said yesterday that student concerns would prompt his list of those class changes from on now.
"We have not done it because we have not thought of it before," he
The office of student records prints an addendum, which lists all course changes for next semester, but not until after advising and enrollment are completed. That addendum is sent to every faculty member in early December.
said. "It's a good idea, and I'll make sure we do it in the future."
Once enrollment starts, student records prints a list of courses that have been enrolled.
Thompson said there were generally few changes in course offerings. For example, students from unforeseen situations such as a professor dying or leaving in the
See TIMETABLE, p. 6, col. 3
Student senators defend attendance policy at meeting
By BRAD ADDINGTON
Staff writer
The Student Senate attendance policy and the problems it presents to some senators were among the topics discussed last night at a Student Senate town meeting.
About 20 KU students and student senators discussed that issue and others with Jason Krakow, student body president, and Stephanie Quincy, student body vice president, in the Union Auditorium in the Kansas Audition.
Pritchard has received three exposed absences
According to Senate regulations, senators with two unexcused absences or four absences of any kind during their terms are automatically suspended. Suspended senators have a week to appeal a suspension to avoid dismissal. Senators who fail to appear for a week will be dismissed automatically if they receive two more absences of any kind.
Brian Kramer, Northbrook, Ill. sophomore, contended last week that some Senate officers were using the attendance policy to remove KU basketball player Kevin Pritchard from Senate.
Last night Quincy said, "This idea
that Kevin Pritchard is being singled out and discriminated against is completely false."
She said that the Senate's attendance policy had been in effect since the late '60s. She also explained why she supported it.
"If you're not there and not voting, then you're really not representing the people that elected you." Quincy said. "The president population would be ripped off."
Pritchard, who was not at the meeting, said last night that the attendance policy discriminated against student athletes because their game and practice schedules were in conflict with Senate meetings.
Pritchard said that he planned to represent students in other ways, such as by doing promotional pieces of Kansas' HERO program.
Krakow said, "Kevin is a great representative of the student body. But within the sphere of Senate, he thinks his constituency is thinking."
A student who attended the meeting, Eric Levitty, Green River, Wyo. sophomore, said, "I originally came
Parents wait for news of daughter in Tibet
See SENATE, p. 6, col. 1
From staff and wire reports
The parents of a Lawrence woman who was stranded on a snowbound road near the Tibet-Nepal border said yesterday that they still had not heard from their daughter but that they thought chances were good she was safe.
Chinese officials said yesterday that they had mobilized military planes to rescue foreign and local travelers stranded on the road. The officials had said late Tuesday that the United States and all foreign tourists were safe.
Emily Hill, 19, a sophomore at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, who had been vacationing in Tibet, wrote her parents on Oct. 13 that she would hire a bus to take her part of the way from Lhasa, Tibet, to Katmandu, Nepal. The trip was expected to take about a week
Hill was traveling with her cousin, Chris Hill of Boulder, Colo., and their friend, Pierre Valette of Newton, Mass.
A blizzard stranded travelers and mountain climbers on the road in the Himalayas from Oct. 19 to 21. The snowpack, the highest mountain in the world.
Marcia Hill, Emily's mother, said yesterday, "They may be in Nyalam and they may be in Lhasa, we just see the image is in Tibet, near the Nepal border.
The three had been vacationing in Tibet when civil unrest broke out in hasa. The Tibetan capital. The gregoriots who were ordered to leave Tibet.
Stephen Hill, Emily's father, said that he thought the group had either gone back to Lhasa or were staying in one of the nearby villages after the
blizzard.
He said that if the group was in a village near the Tibet-Nepal border, his daughter could not call because the region had no telephones. And if they had gone back to Lhasa, they still would not be able to telephone because the Chinese government had cut off communications because of the civil unrest. The Chinese government has ruled Tibet since 1851.
Hill said he thought the group might be able to fly to Chengtu, Sichuan, China, where there is a U.S. consulate.
"I suppose there could be a party still marred out there," he said.
But Hill said he still was worried about his daughter.
It's unclear exactly how many people were stranded by the blizzard. The U.S. State Department announced Tuesday that about 150 tourists were stranded in five buses at the 17,384-foot pass. An official of the Tibetan Autonomous Region said marooned travelers, including foreigners, were rescued Tuesday morning and were brought to Nalam.
A tourist official in Lhasa said Tuesday that about 200 foreign tourists had gradually returned to Lhasa in the two previous days. It is not known whether the two groups are related.
Also in the storm, 11 Tibetans died when they were trapped by the snow while out gathering cow dung. Two of them perished stranded on nearby Halyan peaks.
Kansan reporter Kirk Adams contributed information to this story.
Professor with AIDS says K-State fired him unfairly
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Staff writer
As AIDS continues to spread, employers, including state institutions such as the University of Kansas, are developing guidelines for employees and students who contract the disease.
An animal pathologist at K-State, who says he was fired last spring because he has AIDS, filed a complaint Oct. 13 with the Kansas Commission on Civil Rights against the state of Kansas, the Kansas Board of Regents and K-State and its representatives. His is only the second such complaint the commission has received.
Kansas State University may be the first university in the area forced to confront those policies.
Dennis Howard, a 38-year-old associate professor of veterinary diagnosis, said that in the spring he signed what he thought was a medical leave form. K-State officials said this was a medical retirement agreement, he. Howard said he had made several oral requests to return to work since mid-May but bed had ignored.
K-State administrators said they could not comment on specific personnel matters. An AIDS policy has been in place at the school since May 1896, and K-State officials said it
had been followed.
That policy stipulates that employees with AIDS not be treated any differently than employees with any other kind of disability.
Howard, a tenured associate professor and rabies specialist, was told that he had AIDS in September, 1986. He said he told Mahlon Vorhins, head of the department of veterinary diagnosis, that he had AIDS in early October 1986.
Howard went back to work in mid-October 1986, after being hospitalized for pneumonia pneumonia for a few weeks. Howard said most of his work after mid-October 1986 was consultation work, which he conducted from his office at K-State.
Wants job back
Although he is not sure of exact dates, Howard was hospitalized again that spring for encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain. At that time, Howard said he had been officially for medical leave because he was so sick that doctor, William Wade of Topeka, recommended that he take medical retirement, but Howard chose not to. Wade would not comment on his recommendation
"I thought it was only fair to my co-workers." Howard said.
Howard signed what he calls a medical leave agreement sometime before April 13.
Encephalitis can cause memory loss, disorientation and neurological disorders, said Charles Wood, assistant professor of microbiology and AIDS researcher at KU.
"That was not a resignation letter," Howard said. "I thought I was signing a medical leave for more than 30 days. But, I had thisitis — I really don't know what I was signing."
Howard and his attorney met April 2 with Vorhies and John Noorday, who was then associate dean of the College of Veterinary Surgery at Noorday's situation. Noorday is now acting dean.
Howard received a letter April 6 from Vorbies and Provost James Coffman, former dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, that stated that because of Howard's health, his work schedule and responsibilities should be adjusted. The administrators said it was unlikely he would be able to work full-time on a consistent basis.
The letter also stated that Howard should restrict his activities to his office at K-State or to his home. He was instructed not to work in the laboratories.
The letter encouraged Howard to let Vornies and Coffman know if he had questions. The letter also said that K-State officials were willing to explore how best to handle retirement and disability income if the need arose.
Howard said, "They did make some minimal adjustments in my work schedule, but not many."
Howard said he wasn't sure whether he had signed the medical leave agreement before he received the April 6 letter.
Howard said he was shocked April 13 when he received another letter from Coffman that instructed him to return home and remove his personal belongings from his office at K-State. The letter also said that retirement benefits soon would be worked out.
Howard's oral requests since mid-May to return to work have been ignored, he said. Wade, his physician, said he wrote a letter to the hospital asking for medical reasons why he could not work in a
In the April 13 letter, Coffman said Howard should leave because his doctor had advised him to take medical retirement, because he was not in a condition to continue his duties, and because his colleagues were concerned about their health and his.
non-laboratory capacity. But Wade said recently that when he wrote the letter he didn't know what Howard's job responsibilities were.
Dorothy Thompson, K-State's attorney,
said that the university was willing to discuss
the proposed changes.
"We are happy to discuss these concerns with him," Thompson said. "We've never shut the doors."
Vorhies, although he cannot discuss Howard's case, said that some issues involving AIDS were important for the public to consider.
"There is more than one issue involved," Vorbies said. "There are concerns for other faculty members, the public and concern that an individual does not harm himself."
Jane Rowlett, director of affirmative action at K-State, said that it sometimes was frustrating for university officials not to be able to comment.
"We can't say that we disagree or that something is untrue because we can't discuss personnel matters," she said. "It sounds so and sounds like we don't care. But we do care."
See HOWARD, p. 10, col. 1