Monday, August 25, 1997
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 5
Scholars program switches gears
Reputation earns Sponholtz first directing position
By Jennifer A. Yeoman Kansas staff writer
A new director sits atop the Mt Oread Scholars program this fall.
Lloyd Sponholtz, associate professor of history, was named as the program's first director.
Lloyd Sponholtz, associate professor of history, poses in his office in Wescoe Hall. Sponholtz took over as director of the Mt. Oread Scholars program this fall. Photo by Geoff Krieger/KANSAN
The Mt. Oread Scholars, which is in its second year, is for freshman with an ACT score between 28 and 30 and who were in the top 20 percent of their graduating classes. About 130 students are in the program this year.
"It's a community with a lot of interaction," Sponholtz said. "It's a chance for the students to feel more at ease, and it's fun for me to be around all of the students."
Jim Carothers, who headed the program last year, said that these students were not quite in the honor's program but showed a lot of potential.
"It's important to put them in the right place," said Carothers,
professor of English. "It's the foundation for everything else they do here at KU."
Mt. Oread Scholars grew out of a 1995 study conducted by the Honors Task Force to determine how the freshman experience could be improved, Carothers said.
After serving as chairman of the Honors Task Force, the duty of directing the Mt. Oread Scholars fell on Carothers.
Kathleen McCluskey-Fawcett, associate provost of academic services, said that she had appointed Sponholtz because of his work with undergraduate advising and because of his reputation as a teacher.
Making Sponholtz the first director was part of the program's natural progression, Carothers said.
"Dr. Sponholtz is widely recognized on campus as an outstanding teacher, mentor and adviser," McCluskey-Fawcett said. "I know he will do an excellent job in working with this outstanding group of freshmen and in developing the full potential of this program and these students."
The program provides incoming freshmen with senior-level faculty advisors within their field. It
also sets aside spaces in classes taught by senior faculty members and provides help in preparing for scholarship applications.
The program already has proven its effectiveness. During its first year, the average GPA of Mt. Oread Scholars was a 3.32, compared to the 3.1 of students with
equal ACT scores. Mt. Oread Scholars also averaged 2.5 more credit hours during their freshmen years.
"Getting these students off to a good start assures persistence, retention and timely graduation," Carothers said. "I think the program is working."
Parolee sues prison for acquiring AIDS virus during rapes
The Associated Press
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — When Michael Blucker went to prison for burglary and auto theft in 1992, he wasn't expecting a death sentence.
A federal lawsuit filed by the 28-year-old parolee said that what he had gotten when he contracted the AIDS virus during repeated rapes in prison. The case goes to trial today.
Blucker, who is seeking unspecified damages, contended that a prison gang had forced him into sexual slavery and that authorities had done nothing to help him.
Blucker, who lives with his wife in suburban Chicago, was sentenced to prison in 1992.
He was escorted from cell to cell, where he was forced to have sex in exchange for valuables — sometimes just a pack of cigarettes — that later went to a prison gang leader, the lawsuit said.
He said he repeatedly had told prison officials at the Menard Correctional Center in Chester of the alleged rapes to no avail. And he argued that the state policy allowing HIV-positive inmates to live in the general population had put him at risk.
While declining to give specifics, corrections representative Nic Howell said that prison officials doubted Blucker's rape story and thought that he had contracted the virus during
consensual sex — perhaps before he entered prison. Prison officials also said that prison workers had educated inmates about the threat of HIV.
Blucker entered Menard on May 5, 1993. The lawsuit said that Blucker's HIV test at Menard on June 10, 1993, was negative but that another taken on March 29, 1994, was positive.
There are no widely accepted estimates on the number of rapes in prison, but Blucker's supporters said it was far higher than prison officials acknowledged.
"We're not asking for coddling," said Don Collins, president of the Los Angeles-based advocacy group Stop Prisoner Rape. "We're asking to keep him safe."
Jenni Gainsborough, a representative for the National Prison Project run by the American Civil Liberties Union, said she was unaware of any other case in which an inmate tried to prove he contracted HIV in prison.
State Rep. Cal Skinner has tried unsuccessfully to pass legislation requiring segregation of HIV-positive inmates and greater protection for victims of prison sex assault.
"He is not a winner," Skinner said of Blucker. "But there's nothing he has done that merits a death sentence, and yet that's what he's received."
JonBenet Ramsey parents saturate case with ads
The Associated Press
BOULDER. Colo. — The newspaper advertisements and fliers that the parents of JonBenet Ramsey have placed seeking help in finding their daughter's killer could be influencing potential jurors, said jury consultants and other experts.
JonBenet, 6, was found dead in her family's basement Dec. 26 about eight hours after her mother had said she had found a ransom note demanding $118,000. There have been no arrests, and no suspects have been identified, although the Ramseys have been described as a focus of the investigation.
Some of the experts contended that John and Patsy Ramsey were going to great lengths to divert attention from themselves, "The Denver Post" reported yesterday.
The Ramseys' latest advertisement appeared yesterday in the "Daily Camera" of Boulder and referred to the story lines of three popular crime movies: "Ransom," "Speed" and "Dirty Harry." It said the family thought that the killer had acted similarly to villains in the movies' extortion plots.
Previous ads have listed phrases from the movies with suggestions that they were similar to lines in the ransom demand.
"In terms of sending out fliers — sort of direct-mail advertising — that's pretty unprecedented," said Richard Kammen, an Indianapolis criminal defense attorney and jury selection consultant.
Potential jurors may not remember much about the fliers and ads by the time the case comes to trial, Kammen said.
unusual somebody would do that," he said. "It's sort of protesting too much."
A family attorney rejected Kam m e n's assessment.
"But if they remember, I think the memories would probably tend to be negative because it's so
"Ifrankly take exception to the notion that we're doing this to influence a jury pool," said attorney Ha'
Ramsey: Ads and fliers may influence potential jurors.
Haddon. "Our whole purpose is to keep the pressure on the killer and to generate leads."
That idea is supported by one jury consultant. Robert Hirschhorn of Lewisville, Texas.
"If I were in their camp, my advice would be to keep the pressure on — to keep doing what you're doing.
"This is such a horrific crime, and when suspicion originally focused on the family, it left an indelible impression on many potential jurors. They now have to fight to find their daughter's killer and clear their name in the public eye."
Earlier this month, Haddon told "Time" magazine that the family's team of private investigators and forensic experts had produced nine substantial, credible leads. He said that none of the leads was strong enough yet to turn over to Boulder police.
Haddon acknowledged that the Ramseys were not gaining fans with their advertisements.
"All the feedback from the public has been pretty negative," he said. "Everything we've said has been turned against us."
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