The University Daily
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
KANSAN
Wednesday, October 13, 1982 Vol. 93, No. 38 USPS 650-640
Senate seeks missing items worth $4,000
By DON KNOX Staff Reporter
Despite attempts to locate $11,778 in missing property, Student Senate leaders said yesterday that more than $4,000 worth of Senate-owned property still remained to be found.
The missing property, including filing cabinets, typewriters, 33-mm cameras, calculators and even a living room sofa, dates back to 1983. The University of Kansas organizations throughout the University of Kansas
Dan Cunningham, former Senate executive secretary, said Sept. 2 that a Senate inventory he made during the summer showed that thousands of dollars in property was missing
But the Senate's present executive secretary, Staci Feldman, said yesterday that several groups had aided the Senate in recovering or accounting for a much of the missing property.
"We've gotten helpful responses from most of the groups." Feldman said, adding that nearly $2,000 worth of property had been classified as lost, stolen or obsolete.
Feldman said an 11-member inventory subcommittee would begin meeting next week with group leaders to search for the rest of the missing property. The subcommittee, formed in mid-Septer to investigate the matter, is also responsible for the Senate Finance and Auditing Committee.
"Obviously, we are much more comfortable in the position we have now," he said. "Hopefully, we will be able to do that."
DAVID ADKINS, student body president,
called the inventory and subsequent Senate
investigation a "housekeeping task that needed
to be done."
Student organizations are required by state law to submit inventories of Senate-funded organizations.
But this inventory, Feldman said, is the first in six years.
"I DON'T THINK that the Senate can blame the groups now for losing merchandise that someone lost six years ago," she said. "But I think response needs to be immediate." The group immediately imposed.
Feldman also blamed past Senate administrations for not conducting annual inventories.
"Evidently, people in the past just signed the terms and did not conduct a proper search."
See INVENTORY page 5
Down trodin'
A shadowed staircase yesterday evening framed a student's journey home from classes on Mount Oread.
Strikers face tear gas in struggle for union
By United Press International
GDANSK, Poland—Thousands of shipyard workers, striking for a second day to restore Solidarity and free Lech Walesa, clashed with riot police and braved water cannons and volleys of tear gas yesterday to march on Communist Party headquarters.
The union battle sparked an all-night civilian uprising with bands of youths hurling rocks at police throughout the streets of the Baltic port where Solidarity was born.
The fighting erupted at the end of the shipyard workers' second eight-hour strike in two days
Witnesses saw demonstrators attack at least one armored car with gasoline bombs.
Crowds sought cover behind makeshift barricades near the train station and the former Solidarity national headquarters as police fired tear gas to break up crowds.
Poland's martial law authorities "militarized" the Lenin shipyard, making striking equivalent to disobeying army orders — an offense that carries the death penalty.
Polish television said 148 people had been arrested in two days of disturbances. Film showed burn-up shops, flaming pools of water and street barricades from demonstrations Monday.
ONE WITNESS described a "column of armored vehicles with fatigue-clad police just firing and firing indiscriminately from their launchers."
OFFICIALS at Lenin shipyard said the strike cost the plant $250,000 a day in unified orders.
workers said 65 to 80 percent of the men went on strike. The government said only 10 to 13 percent of the yard's 16,000 workers took part. It also said dismissed or consecrated into military service.
Some workers leaving the shipyard said there were plans to call a general strike in the Dgansk area today but this was before the militarization order.
Soviet Defense Minister Dmtri Ustinov assisted Polishlish Leader Wojcich Janzurelski in a telegram of Soviet help in its struggle to maintain communist rule in Poland.
IN WASHINGTON, a White House spokesman said, "We're monitoring the rioting in Dgansk. To us, it is an indication the Poles feel very strongly about Polish Solidarity."
Poland "may be absolutely sure of the full support and help of the Soviet Union," Ustinov said in a message published in the military newspaper Red Star.
"We have a strike committee directing the protest," said one worker leaving the shipyard. "It was planned. We knew Solidarity would be outlawed."
Hundreds of riot police, backed by armored cars and water cannons, ringed the shipyard at about 9 a.m., three hours after the strike began. Strikers perched on the flower-festoned gate and hurled rocks at the police when they got close.
WORKERS VOWED to continue the protest "until Walala appears in the shipyard." Leaflets circulating in Gandans proclaimed "Solidarity is alive, is fighting and will win."
But as dusk fell three hours after the strike's peaceful conclusion, riot police used tear gas and water cannons against 1,000 to 3,000 people who were storming the compound. Communist Party headquarters in Gansuk.
BUT POLICE did not intervene and the cordon was withdrawn at about 1:30 p.m. half an hour after the strike ended with the close of the morning shift.
Today will be mostly sunny with a high in the low 68s. Winds will be from the northwest at 5 to 15 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
Workers said loudspeakers inside the factory burned out warnings that "consequences" would be felt.
ONE WORKER said he had been fired yesterday and showed a dismissal card reading, "According to the regulation on militarized jobs, he was fired for breaking job discipline as of Oct. 12, 1982."
One witness said the riot police action was worse than the police attack Monday night to disperse improptu demonstrators, again three hours after a strike.
Polish television said six Gdansk area enterprises were hit by yesterday's protest and eight were hit Monday. Workers said at least three other Gdansk area shipyards also struck, but there were no immediate reports of sympathy strikes in other parts of the country.
Another worker who took part in the strike and "many" workers received punish draft pensions.
The strike demands drawn up Monday included lifting the ban on Solidarity and other unions, release of Walesa and the remaining 700 jailed unionists and the lifting of martial law.
Tonight will be fair with a low of 35 to 40.
Tomorrow will be sunny with a high in the
midwinter.
Student vote may be powerful, ASK official says
Staff Reporter
Rv BRUCE SCHREINER
Students could be a potent political force in the 2nd Congressional District race if they became better organized, an Associated Students of Kansas official said yesterday.
The official, Mark Tallman, executive director of ASK, a student lobbying group, said this year's congressional redistricting, which shifted the University of Kansas into the 2nd District, put students in a potentially enviable position, especially in a close election.
"It's clear that when you look at the makeup of the district, students are one of the most, if not the most, important special interest groups in the district." he said.
STUDENTS COMPOSE 11 percent of the district's voters because the University was
transferred into the same district as Kansas State University, Washburn University and private colleges such as Baker University and Benedict College.
Tallman said the campaign strategies of Republican Morris Kay and Democrat Jim Slattery showed they respected the potential importance of the student vote.
"Morris Kary has aligned himself closely with the administration, but Kay has said that he differs with Reagan on further cuts in student loans. But many students are having an effect," Tallman said.
Both candidates also have made several campaign stops at the universities, he said.
TALLMAN, WHO predicted that students could help decide the election if Slattery and Kay were within 5 to 10 percentage points of each
other, said students had the potential to unite into an influential votine bloc.
But a KU political science professor said the student vote would probably be split in the congressional race.
"There is not all that much of an indication that students act as a bloo," said Allan Cigler. "It makes sense."
*"Students are not as cohesive as other groups, and they are hardly a bie compared to other groups."*
CIGLER SAID the student vote would have only a marginal impact on the election but added that students vote more as a bloc in the gubernatorial race. He said students saw a correlation between that race and their economic status.
He said students might join forces in the gubernatorial race because of the severance tax
issue, which Cigler said students would support overwhelmingly.
But students often have difficulty determining how a congressman can make a difference in their economic status, Cigler said.
Tallman and Cigler said students often leaned toward liberal philosophies, which they said were unhelpful to their learning.
"STUDENTS TEND to be more liberal on social issues, like ERA and abortion," Tallman said. "But there has also been a growth in religious fundamentalist groups on campuses."
"I think students are more pragmatic with the economy. So if a conservative comes along with policies that they are convinced will give them a better future, they will vote for him."
Tallman said many students supported Slattery because they sensed a greater com-
Chemistry students using beam Laser provides hands-on experience
See STUDENTS page
BY BONAR MENNINGER
Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
A laser beam, purchased last April by KU's chemistry department, is providing students with "state-of-the-art" learning opportunities, the chairman of the department said yesterday.
"This laser brings us in one giant step to the forefront of technology," said Marlin Harmony, professor of chemistry and chairman of the chemistry department. "It permits training of students in techniques that are currently at the heart of science and will be for many years to come."
HARMONY SAID the $100,000 laser would give students hands-on experience in the fields of industry, science and government research. A special department had acquired such a device for 15 years.
The professor said graduate students now were using the device in experiments involving spectroscopy, the study of absorption of light. The new laser is a sophisticated one that allows the instrument to time the beams to diffract wavelengths, thereby increasing the versatility of the instrument.
"Frankly, we were behind the times, because most leading universities have had lakers. If not for that, they would probably be in the NBA."
ONE EXPERIMENT now being conducted by students involves using the laser to detect extremely low levels of molecular elements in different gases.
A practical application of this kind of research would be the analysis of pollutants in the atmosphere.
In explaining the operation of a laser, Harmony said the characteristic feature of the beam was that it was monochromatic, which means it operates on a single frequency of light. Visible light encompasses the entire range of the light spectrum. However, because the energy in this light can be concentrated on one particular point on the spectrum, the beam becomes extremely powerful.
In the future, the laser will be available to undergraduate students for research projects.
THE PROFESSOR said the monochromatic properties of lasers were produced by stimulating molecules to a higher than normal level of active energy by means of electric impulses.
"If you can fool the system somehow so that at least half the molecules exist in higher states, then you achieve very effective radiation emission." Harmony said.
The photons of light are then emitted when there are several possible energy levels between the excited and low, or ground, state, Harmony said.
A transparent, non-conducting crystal known as YAG supplies the excitable material which produces the laser light. The six-inch crystal is replaced every few months, Harmony said.
The LASER produces an impulse of light 10 to 15 times a second, which Harmony said had the
One feature of the new laser is its ability to emit energy at several different wavelengths or colors. Harmony said many lasers were limited to only one color. The KU laser can operate anywhere on the spectrum from ultra-violet to infrared.
energy equivalent of 100,000 times the wattage of a 75-watt light bulb.
Several KU students who have been conducting experiments with the laser since April said they would like to work on their projects.
"WORKING WITH THE laser has been a real experience," said David Predmore, Concordia graduate student. "Sometimes we are a little bit nervous, but it because we’re not too sure what’s on."
Fellow researcher Alice Murray, a post-doctoral student from Oklahoma City, said. Aside from the scientific information you glean from our research facilities of setting the machine up are valuable.
Since lasers were invented in the mid-1980s, hundreds of applications for them have been devised in many fields. Lasers are used in the construction and textile industries and recently have been used in the medical field, notably in optical surgery.
As an example, Harmony said, lasers were used in the recent renovation of Maldon Hall to up ceiling panels. Because the laser shoots outward from a focused beam, many applications in the construction industry.
KU's laser was purchased with matching funds from the University and the National Institutes of Health.
Marlin Harmony, chairman of the chemistry department, checks the power meter on the laser in Malot Hall. The $100,000 machine allows students to perform the latest in laser experiments.