A shower today
A boy is jumping in the air.
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday October 15,1987 Vol. 98,No.39
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
(USPS 650-640)
5 residence halls lacking required smoke detectors
By BEN JOHNSTON Staff uniter
Staff writer
"I am rather surprised KU still has five dormitories that do not have fire detectors, because fire detectors are our top priority in fire safety," Markle said yesterday.
Markley said the fire office inspected the residence halls each year. But each year when the smoke detector rule was not met, the KU
Six years after state fire codes were changed to require university residence halls to have smoke detectors in halls or rooms, five KU halls still do not have them.
Dean Milroy, associate director of maintenance for the office of student housing, said Lewis, Templin Hashinger, Ellsworth and McColum halls did not have smoke detectors, but the housing office did plan to install them in those halls.
Paul Markley, chief of the fire prevention division for the state Fire Marshal Department in Topeka, said that since 1981, state fire codes have required residence halls to either have a smoke detector in each room or 30 feet apart in each corridor.
"I had been operating under the assumption that the plan is acceptable." Stoner said.
lin in 1988, in Hashinger and Ellsworth in 1989 and McCollum in 1990, Stoner said.
But Markley said the housing office was violating state law by not having alarms in the five halls. He said the housing office could be liable if someone was injured or killed in a fire in one of the halls.
I am rather surprised KU still has five dormitories that do not have fire detectors, because fire detectors are our top
priority in fire safety.'
Paul Markley Of the state Fire Marshal Department
KANSAN MAGAZINE October 14, 1987 9
"A jury would probably have to answer that question," Markley said. "If they believed the University was negligent, or not making enough of an attempt to comply with the law, they could possibly be held responsible."
Two halls are about the most that could be wired with smoke detectors in one year because the housing office has a limited number of electricians. Also, the cost of the installation would take money away from other projects such as roof repairs, Stoner said.
Milroy said smoke detectors were installed in the scholarship halls in the early 1980s.
Don McConnell, assistant director of maintenance for student housing, said that Oliver still was being wired for the smoke alarms, and that the project would be completed by the beginning of next semester.
Stoner said smoke detectors had been installed in Jayhawk Towers some time after the housing office began operating the Towers in 1980.
NCE
s support
from both. The load has to be shared."
Even though the amount of money KU receives from the state is 85.9 percent of the average amount received by peer schools, KU has the largest private endowment. KU's endowment totals $196 million. North Carolina has the second largest endowment at $105 million and Oklahoma has the smallest at $32 million.
KU's total spending for fiscal year 1987, which ended June 30, was $183.99 million. The Endow-
See PRIVATE, p. 14, col. 1
TOMORROW
Chancellor Gene A. Budig says KU will lose its best professors if the Kansas Legislature fails to approve Margin of Excellence this spring. What do legislative leaders say?
Also, the Board of Regents discuss Margin of Excellence and open admissions.
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