THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
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Kansan
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January 19, 1999
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A
Vol. 109 • No. 75
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Sports today
The Kansas basketball team defeats Texas 76-67 and remains undefeated in conference play.
SEE PAGE 1B
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Festivities honor King
Raleigh Washington, a Chicago pastor affiliated with the Promise Keepers, speaks to an audience of 1000 at the Lied Center. Washington spoke about the role of love in racial reconciliation as part of a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration yesterday. Photo by Graham K. Johnson/KANSAN
Chancellor, others speak of unity, peace
(USPS-650-640)
By Dan Curry
Kansan staff writer
Martin Luther King's dream resounded inside the Lied Center yesterday as attendees to the Ecumenical Fellowship's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Observance sang hymns, linked hands, and shouted responses to the speakers' messages of unity.
"This is a time when the community comes together," said Cancellor Robert Hemenway, who was one of the speakers at the event.
Hemenway said that many members of the campus community thought Martin Luther King Day was the highlight of the year.
The program capped three days of celebration, including a banquet Saturday and a commemorative musical Sunday that featured the MLK Community Adult Choir and Children's Choir.
Among the other speakers at yesterday's program were Mayor Marty Kennedy, State Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, Robert Martin, president of Haskell Indian Nations University, and keynote speaker, Raleigh Washington.
An organizer estimated attendance at 1000.
"We cannot walk in harmony if we don't extend our hands together," she said. "Dr. King wanted peace and harmony in this world."
After Ballard said that too often people talked about differences among race, she received a standing ovation for a surprise solo performance of the hymn Let there be peace on Earth.
Illustration by Joshua Peterson
Washington, a former member of the Promise Keepers board of directors and founder of a church in Chicago, focused his speech on the program's theme: "Reflecting on the Past: Looking forward with hope."
Washington said that as America
becomes a nation of minorities, people must take care to meet and build relationships with members of different ethnicities.
"As we look forward to the future with hope, we must loot Martin Luther King." Washington said. "He had a dream that he lived for, suffered for and died for. And that dream was a dream of unity, a dream of reconciliation, a dream of oneness. His dream was that somehow we would all join hands."
Washington challenged his listeners to go beyond racial stereotypes.
upon whose hands it's in."
“Are you willing to move out of your comfort zone and create a genuine relationship with someone who is racially different from you?” Washington asked. “The Martin Luther King dream will be a reality right here in Lawrence, Kansas. It all depends
Further events celebrating the civil rights activist include a commemorative march sponsored by Alpha Phi Alpha Friday at 3:15 p.m.
The march will begin in front of Wescoe
Hall and end at the Kansas Union. After the march, there will be a program in the Pine Room of the Union with tentatively scheduled speakers James Kitchen, dean of student life, and Robert Page Jr., assistant director of admissions.
Hashinger RAs resign after violating policy
By Jamie Knodel
Kansan staff writer
After several staff members resigned from their positions and admitted to drinking in Hashinger Hall, eight new resident assistants began this semester.
Porter, Colby senior, said that around midnight Nov. 26, the staff received a call stating that there was an intruder in the building. However, when police officers came to check the building, they found no one.
During Thanksgiving break, after all of the Hashinger residents had left the building, the resident assistants began drinking, said Kevin Porter, an RA who resigned and was involved in the incident.
He also said that the Department of Student Housing had found out about the alcohol in the residence hall from the prank caller.
Porter said that the staff later learned the call was a prank.
"Housing by no means fired us." Porter said. "We were asked not to be RAs this semester, we were asked to resim."
When questioned by the Housing Department, the resident assistants admitted to drinking alcohol in the hall. Porter said.
Eahab Alias, Lawrence sophomore; Andrea Barefield, Minneapolis, Kan., junior; Dillon Dreher, Topeka senior; Jeremy Glauner, Lawrence senior; Penny Laden, Merriam junior; Nick Schmitz, Olathe junior; Adam Yarbrough, Shawnee senior, and Porter submitted their resignations on stop day last semester.
The Housing Department follows a strict policy prohibiting the consumption or possession of alcohol by anyone in the building or on the grounds.
"Staff is expected to meet and abide by the same rules as the residents," said Kim Grassmeyer, assistant director of residence life and staffing.
When it was discovered that staff was in violation of this policy, individual meetings were scheduled between the Hashinger staff and the Housing Department administration.
Grassmeyer said when residents were caught with alcohol, they often received less severe punishments.
The ramifications for a staff member's first offense with alcohol were more severe because they are expected to be role models and exhibit good judgment. Grassmeer said
"It is not likely that a resident would be asked to leave after one incident with alcohol." she said.
"Housing told us we were asked to resign to set a role model," he said. "Residents are given a second chance with alcohol, we were given none."
This was the first alcohol incident that any of the eight had been involved in. Porter said,
Grassmeyer said that this incident was not the first time staff had left their positions because of drinking.
"I didn't find out we were getting a new RA until they were on their way out," said Jimmy Meade, Northfield, Ill., freshman and Hashinger resident.
Hall residents said that they were not informed of the situation.
Hashinger was not the only hall to get new staff, Grassmeyer said that a total of 23 new RAs took position this semester for various reasons.
Majority of Kansas students, faculty disgusted with trial
By Nadia Mustafa
Kansan staff writer
Many KU students and faculty members are mirroring nationwide sentiment in their disgust at the state of affairs on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
The White House opens its defense today in President Clinton's impeachment trial.
Regardless of their political affiliations, many students and professors stand on
"I'm ready for it all to be over," said Phil Stephenson, Mount Vernon, Ill., sophomore and Young Democrats chair. "No amount of debate on the Senate floor is going to get the votes needed to remove the president from office."
common ground in their hopes for a speedy resolution to the trial.
For the first time since the impeachment
Clinion: Many in KU community tired of hearings.
or President Andrew Johnson in 1868, the U.S. House of Representatives voted Dec. 19 to impeach Clinton on two articles - perjury before the grand jury and obstruction of justice in the Paula Jones case.
Burdett Loomis, professor of political science, said that he was appalled that the proceedings had gone so far when the impeachment trial moved to the Senate Jan. 6.
See Clinton on page 3A
Clinton's lawyers ready to give opening remarks
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Senate's Democratic leader conceded today that witnesses may be inevitable in President Clinton's impeachment trial and signaled that if they are allowed Democrats would insist that no limits be placed on either side.
"Who are we to tell either the House or the White House how they're going to run their case?" Tom Dashle asked in an interview with The Associated Press.
Daschle said he continued to believe witnesses were unnecessary but acknowledged the political momentum was moving toward having some witnesses.
See Trial on page 3A
"We do have the right to say no witnesses, the Supreme Court says that every day. But once we say we have to have witnesses, then it seems to me we've given up the ability to tell the House or White House how to present their case," he said.
White House lawyers were busy putting the final touches on their opening arguments, set to begin when the trial resumes today. The presentation is to take three days, after which senators will have 16 hours over two days
Governor cuts salary increases for faculty
By Kristi Reimer
Kansan staff writer
Chancellor Robert Hemenway and KU faculty expressed disappointment with Gov. Bill Graves' proposal to raise faculty salaries by only a fraction of what higher education leaders had requested.
The Kansas Board of Regents had asked Graves and the state Legislature to consider an annual 7.6 percent pay raise for the next three years at Regents universities, beginning in the fall of 1999.
Graves cut that increase to 3.5 percent in his budget plan released last week, but he did allocate an additional $2.5 million for retaining meritorious faculty.
Hemenway, who has been on the forefront of the push for salary increases, said he was pleased that the governor was singling out faculty for special recognition but that the plan, which now goes to the Legislature for discussion, did not go far enough.
"We will certainly make our case that additional money should be added." Hemenway said. "The amount for faculty salaries will help some, but it doesn't enable you to significantly address the problem."
Hemenway said that his job now would be to convince the Legislature to recognize the severity of the problem.
RAISES
"We certainly feel we've got a good logical case to make," he said. "Really, the equation is pretty simple. If you have good, well-paid faculty, you end up with good education for students. And that is really what everybody is involved with here."
Tony Genova, chairman of the department of philosophy, was less optimistic.
The University of Kansas' average salary is $5,901 a year, which is 12 percent behind its per institution.
"At this point,
The Board of Requests asked for a 7.6 percent increase during a three-year period beginning in 1999
It's just a school rassing," he said. "Every department on campus has experienced the problem of faculty leaving for enormously larger salaries."
Gov. Graves approved a 3.5 percent pay raise, and also allocated $2.5 million to help keep good faculty at the University
Of all Category I schools in the nation—the top tier of universities that emphasize research and offer a variety of doctoral programs—the University of Kansas is in the 18th percentile, or bottom fifth, Genova said. The average KU faculty salary is $55,901, 12 percent behind those at peer institutions of similar size.
Genova said he was tired of the hypocrisy of a state government that claimed rhetorically to support higher education.
"The state has been made aware of this problem over and over again," he said. "The day for excuses and reasons is over. The bottom line is that the Legislature is not interested in or supportive of higher education in the state."
Another problem, Genova said, was that the Regents wanted a 7.6 percent salary increase at all Regents schools. He said the needs of the University of Kansas, with its Category I standards, were greater.
"You have to budget schools in accordance with their mission," he said. "The mission of KU is not remotely the same as Fort Hays State. It's just a dumb way of budgeting, and I don't know of any other state in the union that does it."
State Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, said the 7.6 percent increase was warranted but not practical given the condition of the state's revenue.
"There are always more legitimate, worthy, deserving needs for money than there are funds." he said.
But he did add that he expected a number of legislators to look for ways to increase faculty salaries above the 3.5 percent recommended.
4
"We'll see if we can do better. We as a state need to do better," he said.