Tomorrow's weather
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
AAAAAAHHH
Great temperatures tomorrow with mostly sunny skies.
Kansan
HIGH LOW 76 45
Online today
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Wednesday
October 28,1998
Section:
A
Vol. 109 • No. 48
Sports today
The Big 12 Conference selected Kansas running back David Winbush as its offensive player of the week for his play against Colorado Saturday.
SEE PAGE 1B
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Watson Library patrons steamed
Broken compressor cause for high heat
By Chad Bettes
Kanson staff writer
Students in Watson Library were a little hot under the collar Monday and yesterday, but it wasn't because they were angry. An equipment breakdown caused the building temperature to soar into the 80s and 90s.
Kent Miller, library facilities manager, said the trouble began sometime Sunday night, probably after the library closed. At that time, the steam heating system uncontrollably started pumping heat into Watson.
"An air compressor went belly up deep in the bowels of Watson." Miller said.
Bob Porter, assistant director of facilities operations, said when the compressor broke down, steam valves on the heating system were left wide open. This is comparable to leaving a furnace on without a thermostat to control it.
Although that problem was fixed Monday morning when the valves were shut manually, the situation was complicated because the air conditioning system is inoperable. Porter said to accommodate a renovation project on the air conditioning system, the chilled water system had been drained.
The only way to cool the building from its high temperatures was to use outside air, Porter said.
Fans are being used to circulate air in certain areas and some doors and windows are open for fresh air. However, unseasonably warm weather is not helping the building cool down.
Porter said he was concerned about the temperature in the building as well as the humidity. The University libraries try to control humidity to better preserve the books and other holdings.
Alicia Sanchez, Hutchinson freshman, said she was tempted to study outside because the library was so hot.
It is estimated that more than 1,270 patrons use Watson Library daily. Yesterday, only a few students were using the top floor of Watson Library, where temperatures were the highest.
"But after a while, you get used to it," she said.
She was unaware that the library was having equipment problems, so she assumed at first that the University was trying to save money on heating and cooling costs.
Melissa Mahan, Minneapolis sophomore, said she was surprised when she entered the library.
"Geez, it's really hot in here." Mahan said. She said she took off her sweatshirt to cool down and wanted to get her work done quickly so she could leave the library.
Bv Sarah Hale and Keith Burner
By Sarah Hale and Keith Burner
Kanson staff writers
A urban legend predicting a mass murder at a college campus on Halloween night has reared its ugly head at the University of Kansas.
KU sorority chapters have been in the center of the legend hoopla as various prowler citings have been reported the past few days.
"There's a lot of panic in some of the houses right now," said Wes Simons, assistant director of Greek programs. "A couple things have been taken too seriously. It's become a bigger issue because of rumors floating around."
According to one version of the legend, a psychic predicted the murder on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and said that the massacre would take place inside a sorority
house.
In a related article in the Michigan State University newspaper, The State News, Audrey Pass, senior publicist for the "Oprah Winfrey Show," said that there was no truth to the story.
A member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority, 1600 Oxford Road, told police Sunday that she saw an unidentified man walking in the house's basement at 3:30 a.m. Saturday.
While some of the stories were rumors, other incidents were not.
Another member also told police that $45, a check card and a credit card were stolen from her purse, which was in the house, that night.
Police said they thought the man entered the house by breaking the code on the keyless entry key pad.
Amner McGraw, Alpha Delta Pi president,
said all the necessary precautions had
URBAN LEGENDS BACKGROUND
The legend originated in the Midwest about J66R, perhaps inspired by the
the legion in the news about 1968, perhaps inspired by the murder of nine nurses in a Chicago rooming house that year.
The 1998 movie *Urban Legend* triggered recent legend outbreaks, such as one in
been taken to ensure the chapter members' safety.
Michigan earlier this month.
"Naturally we were all frightened at first," said McGraw, Marshall, Mo., senior. "But we should be secure in the fact that we will be safe. I want to be sure that everyone isn't going crazy or blowing it out of proportion."
Police are looking for a bald, white male in his thirties with red stubble on his face. He was last seen wearing a blue baseball cap, a blue jacket with a gray stripe and blue
There are many variations to the legend.
One reports that a crazed student will use a sharp object, such as a hatchet, to kill 20 women in an 'H'-shape sorority house.
jeans.
Jill Wilder, Lenexa sophomore and member of Delta Delta Delta sorority, 1630 Oxford Road, said that a lot of members had seen the alleged intruder before.
"Basically the whole house is on red alert," Wilder said. "We're escorting people to their cars and keeping an eye out for the weirdo."
To your health?
See SORORITY on page 2A
Kiersten Morgan, Junction City junior, (center) and Silas Hoover, Topeka senior, (right) show off their milk mustaches. The national tour was at the Kansas Union yesterday where KU students could have their picture taken in a search for the next milk model. Photo by Tara Bradley/KANSAN
Group challenges milk campaign
White milk mustaches decorated the upper lips of many KU students during yesterday's Milk Mustache tour.
The national campaign said its purpose for the tour, which will visit 50 colleges and universities, was to educate people about the health benefits of milk.
"I want to remind people that this is an advertisement," said Schmitt, Harrisonburg, Va., graduate student. "The milk industry wants to sell a product."
But the campaign did not bring smiles to all students' faces.
Schmitt said the campaign was not truthful in its education, and he distributed fliers during the campaign that read: "Milk Does Nobody Good Don't Believe The Hype."
Michael Schmitt of the Proponents for Animal Liberation disagreed with the campaign.
intake of animal protein, he said.
Drinking milk does not reduce osteoporosis, Schmitt said. The only way to reduce osteoporosis is to reduce the
imake of animal protein, he said.
Large amounts of animal protein,
Schmitt said, leach the calcium out of
hones.
But milk proponents said that milk offers calcium that keeps the body strong and that the proteins in milk are good for the body.
Despite PAL's objections toward milk, Lynn Bott, head athletic trainer, said that participation at the campaign was steady.
By Julio M. Sachs
Construction workers pave an area behind Blake Hall. A malfunctioning air conditioner has forced classes to open windows in Blake, leading to complaints about the noise created by the construction. Photo by Corie Waters/Kansan
Noise disrupts Blake Hall classes
Students and faculty in Blake Hall had to open windows yesterday to combat a malfunctioning air conditioner, but noise from construction outside caused even more frustration.
By Augustus Anthony Piazza
Kansan staff writer
The building's air conditioning water tower, which takes the heat out of the building, was clogged by leaves and made it feel as if the air conditioning system wasn't running.
Bob Porter, associate director of facilities operations, said workers unclogged the tower twice yesterday once in the morning and again in the afternoon.
"It's very loud. I don't like it," said Shawnau Haught, Emporia senior. "They would never do it in the summer when it was convenient."
Haught said the noise came from jackhammers, bulldozers and a truck that drove around the building.
Since the air conditioning didn't
work, students tried to open the windows, but loud noise from the construction of a parking lot south of Blake Hall disrupted classes.
Jim Modig, director of design and construction management, said the construction of the parking lot, being done by Green B. A. Construction Company Inc., 1207 Iowa St., was supposed to have been completed at the end of August, but because of the company's busy schedule, the completion
date had been pushed back to Friday.
Students also complained about fumes coming into the classrooms.
"It was not intended for the work to continue this far into the semester," Modiz said.
"We had fumes coming in, so we had to shut our windows," said Sarah Davidson. Emporia senior.
Donald Haider-Markel, post doctoral associate of political science and government, teaches a class in Blake Hall.
"Today I had to shout to be heard over the noise." he said.
He said the noise from the construction started last spring when the Blake Annex was demolished and said the noise had forced him to speak louder while lecturing.
Committee has meeting on possible media policy
"We are trying to keep any rules away from the content of the media," he said. "That starts to infringe on the First Amendment rights of students."
By Jason Pearce Kansan staff writer
The discussion of a possible Internet-media policy at the University of Kansas was on the agenda last night for a new Student Senate subcommittee.
The new-media subcommittee, acting on a recommendation from the Academic Computing Center, began a broad-based discussion of what a new-media policy could entail in the future.
Holly Krebs, Oskaloosa junior, said that any policy would need to clarify the University's legal rights and responsibilities of providing the new media service to students.
One of the main concerns of the discussion centered on the University's liability for offensive or illegal material such as copyrighted graphics or music samples.
The committee was unsure whether the University had the obligation to monitor content on the Web pages.
Brett Stoppel, president of the Kansas University Campus Internet Association, said the objective of the subcommittee would be to decide what type of policy should govern new media. These policies could stipulate how student and faculty Web pages, list servers, chat rooms and other Internet media could be controlled.
Stoppel said the subcommittee formed in response to a recent incident where a student's Web page was altered after a viewer of the page became offended by a graphic.
"We had a lot of debate on what the University could do legally to control the information." Stompel said.
Stoppel said the committee used print-media analogies to explain the purpose of the Internet and how it could be used.
Six students and a faculty member attended last night's meeting. Future meetings will be at 7 p.m. Tuesdays until a policy recommendation by the committee has been reached.
"If they find any possibly illegal material on the Web pages, we need to know what actions they can take," Krebs said.
Krebs said the University could either investigate possible illegal material and ask the parties to remove the material or leave final responsibility with the creator.
More on committees A congressional candidate will visit Student Senate committees tonight. See page 5A