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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Much cooler. Partly sunny.
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KSBOE
HAS MADE
A
JOKE SCIENCE
Kansan
JOKE SCIENCE
HIGH LOW
75 52
A science humor magazine awarded the Kansas Board of Education the Ig Nobel prize for its decision to remove evolution from public schools' standardized tests.
Inside today
SEE PAGE 3A
Tuesday
October 12, 1999
Section:
A
Vol. 110 • No. 38
Sports today
Sports today Kansas students keep in shape on the Jayhawks' club crew team.
SEE PAGE 10A
Contact the Kansan
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Student set to defend swastika drawings
By Michael Terry writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
All swastikas are not equal, or at least that's what Jimmy Adra thinks.
on sept. 30, the Wichita sophomore wrote on a public doodle board located in the eighth floor lobby of McCollum Hall, "When the revolution comes you'll not be spared," with waskitas drawn on each side.
Adra will go before the department of student housing at 9:30 a.m. in the basement of Gertrude Sollards Pearson-Corbin Hall to answer questions about whether he violated the student housing policy harassment clause.
Kim Grassmeyer, assistant director of student housing, said the department did not have any comment at this time.
Adra said he did not have any racist intentions when wrote the remarks and drew the two swastikas on the board.
The American Civil Liberties Union will represent ADA in today's fact-finding hearing
"I did it to see if student housing would overreact, and I believe my actions are protected by the first amendment." Adra said. "Everyone should fight for their rights before government or even student housing tries to take them away."
"Adra didn't do this to harm anyone." Jenkins said. "He has a right to his freedom of expression, and he should not be punished for his actions."
represent Adra in today's fact-finding hearing. J.D. Jenkins, ACLU advocacy chair and Shawnee junior, said Adra had a constitutional right to exercise his freedom of expression.
If Adra is found guilty of harassment, the punishment could range from a verbal reprimand to expulsion from the University. Jenkins said he thought expulsion was too extreme a punishment.
This is the second instance this calendar year where a swastika was found displayed in a residence hall.
On March 18, Arron Hale Culwell, a St. Francis freshman at the time, burned a swastika into the carpet of the third floor Hallway in Oliver Hall.
Adra said he thought everyone had an inherent right to be racist as long as they didn't act upon it.
"The board was public forum, and anyone should be allowed to voice their opinions." Adra said. "Suppression is not the way to get rid of hate groups."
Ted Fredrickson, a professor of journalism who also is a lawyer, said that he thought everyone had the right to live in peace in their own home.
"If he would have done it outside on the sidewalk on campus where everyone could see, it would have been different," Fredrickson said. "That building is not just his home, but other people's home, and a home is not a public forum."
Edited by Matt James
Student rights committee directed to examine bias in blood drives
By Chris Bornerig
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
An inquiry will begin tonight into whether the American Red Cross discriminates against some of its donors.
The student rights committee will investigate the Red Cross' blood screening process for evidence of bias against sexual orientation. The investigation was initiated by Korb Maxwell, student body president.
Jason Thompson, committee chairman.
said the committee would seek an answer before next spring's blood drive.
"We felt like we needed to do something," he said. "This is very much an issue of students' rights."
In the screening process, staff ask donors about their health histories — including male-to-male sexual contact. Applicants who have had such contact are deferred, and considered at risk for HIV/AIDS.
But concentrating on just those criteria is flawed, Queens and Allies President Matthew Skinta said. He said the population of infected people overlaps all social and ethnic groups.
"I ideologically, they're targeting dangerous behavior, but it's no longer just a gay disease," he said. "Now, it would be more appropriate to ask behavior-oriented questions in the general populace."
Students discover dark side of Columbus
Rv Nathan Willis
Writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
As Americans celebrated Columbus Day yesterday, Native American speakers at Wescos Beach spoke of the darker side of Columbus' legacy.
Columbus Day traditionally commemorates Christopher Columbus' so-called discovery of the Western Hemisphere, but for Native Americans, it represents genocide and oppression, said five speakers assem-
and you can't take anything with you."
bled by the First Nations Student Association, a group that represents Native Americans on campus.
and you can't take anything with you. In addition to Columbus Day, speakers protested the current treatment of Native Americans by the federal government, the use of Native American mascots by sports teams and the building of the South Lawrence Trafficway, which would impact wetlands near Haskell Indian Nations University that are considered sacred. At 9 a.m. today, advocates for preserving the wetlands and the Haskell Board of Regents will meet with proponents of the highway, including the Kansas
"What about the 100 million indigenous people that were here before Christopher Columbus? Who's going to tell that story?"
Cornel Peewardy
Department of Transportation.
assistant professor of education
During that hour, the speakers said that most people didn't know the true history of Columbus.
March Runner,
First Nations
member
and Lawrence law
student, organized
the event.
She said the
event's primary
purposes were to
inform people of
the dark side of
“It’s like you have them sleep over and share your snacks and play with them,” Bointy said. “Then they tell you that you have to leave your house,
"We're teaching a one-sided, lopsided story of the heroism of Christopher Columbus," said Cornel Pewwardy, assistant professor of education. "What about the 100 million indigenous people that were here before Christopher Columbus? Who's going to tell that story?"
But that isn't the worst of the Columbus myth, said Michele Bointy, Poplar, Mont., senior. Most people don't realize that Columbus slaughtered Native Americans who had welcomed him into their lands, she said.
To illustrate her point, she related a story of a friend of hers who had taught kindergarten and preschool classes. In those classes, her friend told students to pretend Columbus was an alien spaceship that landed in somebody's backyard.
Columbus and to encourage people not to celebrate the day.
She said another purpose was to encourage the approximately 250 Native Americans on campus to get involved, many of whom are Haskell students who also attend the University of Kansas.
Jerry LittleWounded, a Haskell junior from Eagle Butte, S.D., who watched all the speeches, said he found the low awareness of Columbus' misdeeds discouraging.
In his home state, the law now designates what once was Columbus Day as Native American Day, he said.
LittleWounded said although he believed events such as the yesterday's speeches helped, he didn't foresee any changes to the holiday in Kansas.
“There are not enough voices in Lawrence speaking out to be able to change anything right now,” LittleWounded said. “I think that Americans and the American government are too proud to change it.”
Edited by Mike Loader
Dan Wildcat, professor of American Indian studies at Haskell University and member of the Eueche tribe, performs a purification ceremony called smudging before speaking to KU students in front of Wescoe. "Smudging is a ceremony for getting your mind ready," said Jean Annday, member of
the Ho-Chunk tribe. Wildcat and others spoke to KU students about Columbus' affect on indigenous peoples. Also, Wildcat urged KU students to petition for the release of Leonard Peltier. Photo by Nick Krug/KANSAN
Moore teaches students about Social Security reform difficulties
Third district representative, Dennis Moore, talks with Burdett Loamis' Introduction to U.S. Politics class about Medicare and Social Security reform. Moore visited Johnson County Community College and The University of Kansas yesterday to participate in an interactive exercise on preserving the future of Social Security and Medicare. Photo by Carrie Julian/KANSAN
By Clay McQuistion
writer@kansan.com
Kanson staff writer
Congressman Dennis Moore introduced 350 students yesterday to harsh political realities.
The representative from the third district of Kansas visited Burdett Loomis' Introduction to U.S. Politics class. The subject of yesterday's class was reforming Social Security and Medicare. Moore, along with Corey Davison of the nonpartisan Concord Coalition, hoped to show students the challenges of changing the Social Security and Medicare.
"Social Security was a big issue in the last campaign; it's going to be an issue in the foreseeable future," Moore said. "The big question before the public and before Congress certainly is going to be, 'What are we going to do put Social Security on a sound footing?'
The students in 110 Budig Hall broke up into eight- to 10-person groups for half of the class, working on tally sheets that presented a wide array of options available for Social Security funding. Moore circulated throughout the auditorium, chatting with various groups.
The students weren't given much time, but Loomis said it wasn't necessary.
"You can solve Social Security in 20 minutes," he said. "The politics are murder, but the math is easy."
Moore, a freshman representative, had done the same exercise with students at Johnson County Community College earlier in the day. He also worked with the Lakeview Retirement Community in Lenexa on Friday, using the same problem.
"There aren't any simple answers here," he said.
"Congress needs to pass the law — the bill that I introduced — to start telling the truth to the American people," he said.
Moore didn't present any answers of his own, although he strongly advocated taking the Social Security trust fund out of the general national budget. If the trust fund were taken out, Moore said, the government no longer would have a budget surplus.
"It's easy to stand up here and say we need to save Social Security," Moore said. "It's a lot more difficult when you say we need to make some tough choices and answer some really hard questions."
Moore also discussed with the class the possibility of partial privatization of Social Security funds, which he called an interesting possibility.
Davison, Midwest regional director for the Washington, D.C.-based non-profit Concord Coalition, assisted Moore in the class.
"We try to get youth to relate to this," he said. "There's a lot of cynicism and skepticism over whether Social Security will be there when we're older."
The 29-year-old Davison echoed Moore in calling for prompt, if painful, reforms.
"We really need to have a better understanding as public citizens about what Social Security and Medicare have wrong with them now," he said. "By doing the right thing in the near future, we'll be saving a lot of pain in the years ahead."
Erin Willis, Omaha freshman, said the exercise was interesting.
"It really excited me," she said. "It was a hands-on feeling of what our politicians are working with."
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Edited by Ronnie Wachter
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