CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, October 20, 1994
3A
Legal services counsels KU students
Services can be helpful for small claims cases
By Nathan Olson Kansan staff writer
What can you do if your landlord is cheating you?
Plenty, said Jo Hardesty, director of Legal Services for Students.
Hardesty said Legal Services generally took
a three-step approach to student questions about landlord-tenant situations.
"First, we talk to the student about the problem," she said. "Then we contact the landlord. If the problem doesn't get solved, we may advise the student to go to small-claims court."
Small-claims court is used to settle claims up to $1,800. The amount went into effect July 1; previously, it was $1,000.
In small-claims court, a tenant can sue for up to one and one-half times the amount of a
claim involving a security deposit. For example, if a landlord withholds $100 from a security deposit because of damages to an apartment, a tenant who feels the money was withheld improperly can sue for up to $250.
"If students decide to go to court, we help them prepare their case and help them with forms they need to fill out." Hardestv said.
In Kansas, lawyers are not permitted in small-claims court.
"Many times we tell them to go to the court to see how it works before their case comes
Hardesty also listed a number of actions students could take:
up,"she said.
Document your problems. "Give the problems to your landlord in writing."
■ If you have multiple problems, list them in order of priority. "This is a gesture of courtesy in case some of the violations take a lot of time."
Contact the city building inspector. "Students should give the inspector a written complaint of city code violations in the residence."
Michele Kessler, associate director of Legal Services, said landlord-tenant problems constituted a significant percentage of the student questions Legal Services received.
"Many times, we are asked to be on the side of the student who is being sued by his or her landlord through an eviction," she said.
Hardesty said that Legal Services helped students because there was no tenant union available to students. "The landlords are well connected," she said. "The students are not."
EAT play focuses on the plight of black suffrage
Yumi Chikamori/ KANSAN
W. Scott Pinkston, Lawrence senior(right) and Tara Jensen, Lawrence senior (middle) play the role of racist couple. Pinkston whose role is the man of accused murderer yells at his lawyer, Steve Bryce-Holtzman, Lawrence junior in the rehearsal of race related play, "Snakes" last night. The play will start tomorrow through Saturday at Lawrence Arts Center.
Marketing strategies increase sales boost visibility of University Press
By Ashley Miller Kansan staff writer
Although most student plays are directed by graduate students, Paul Stephen Lim, professor of English, is directing "Snakes."
"I let others direct for EAT as mucl as possible." Lim said. "But there's such a shortage of directors right now."
Play inspired by the life and death of Medgar Evers
The play will be presented by the English Alternative Theatre at 8 p.m. tonight through Saturday at the Lawrence Arts Center, 200 W. Ninth St. There also will be a 2:30 p.m. performance on Sunday.
"Snakes" also addresses minorities who mainstream into the white man's world, Denton said.
"There are some Black Americans who try so hard to mainstream that they forget their roots," Denton said. "Don't forget where you come from."
"Snakes," a new play by John Denton, is not about slimy reptiles found at the county zoo.
Schott said the press also used the marketing technique on President's Day this year to market a book titled, "American Presidency: An Intellectual History."
Lim said that he felt he was more qualified to direct the play because he worked closely with Denton in his beginning playwriting class.
By James Evans Kansan staff writer
Denton said his family's experiences during the civil rights movement also inspired him to write "Snakes." His father's aunt was severely beaten in 1963 when she returned from a voter registration training session in Charleston, S.C. She was held in jail for asserting her right to vote, and the sheriff ordered two inmates to beat her, he said.
Instead, it addresses issues such as race, murder and civil rights.
"Snakes" probably is not a play that an audience can walk away from without a lot of discussion, Lim said.
The book, which is a photographic look at cemeteries in the Midwest and Southwest, already has sold 3,500 copies, Schott said. She said she hoped the publication release strategy would help increase the sales of the book.
The University Press of Kansas is betting that Halloween will be a good day to release one of its next books.
Denton said. "So many people were hurt during the civil rights movement and their killers got off."
Denton said he wrote the play after he learned about Medgar Evers, a civil rights activist who was murdered in 1963. Evers' murderer, Byron de la Beckwith, was not convicted of the crime until 1993.
Especially if the book is titled, "Soul in the Stone: Cemetery Art from America's Heartland," said Susan Schott, assistant director and marketing manager of the press.
The marketing techniques and publication of 46 books last year helped the press have its best sales year in its
Denton, who graduated from the University of Kansas in May 1994, said the play was about a young Black voter registration worker in Mississippi. The man encourages Blacks to register to vote and is killed for his efforts.
48-year history at the University of Kansas, Schott said.
She said that sales totaled $1,6 million last year and that last month the press grossed $206,000 in book sales, — about $200 more than the total gross sales in 1981.
But in the last year, the press went beyond its mission statement. Of the 46 books the press published last
"It's a fascinating piece of history."
The mission of the press, which is one of 114 university presses around the country, is to extend the reach and reputation of the six Kansas Regents universities through the nonprofit publication of books about Kansas, the Great Plains and the Midwest. Woodard said.
Admission is $5
The press, 2501 W. 15th St., publishes books written by KU scholars and other scholars from U.S. colleges and universities, said Fred Woodard, director of the press. However, the books are not printed by the press but are contracted out to various printers.
Woodard said that in a normal year the Press would win about one award for every 10 books it published.
Performances will be at 8 p.m. tonight through Saturday. There also will be a performance at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
"Last year was by far the best year we ever experienced" he said.
year, eight won awards and three won commendations.
"Snakes' will be presented by English Alternative Theatre at 8 p.m. tonight at the Lawrence Arts Center, 200 W. Ninth.
Gray said that she supported new playwrights because there were not many of them.
Sandra Gray, professor of anthropology, plays a prosecution witness in Denton's play. She has performed in other plays presented by EAT and spent 13 years on professional stages in Chicago, Boston and New York.
Let them EAT 'Snakes'
He said that a highly praised press also helped draw students and retain faculty members because it helped a universities' reputation for research.
Woodard said that most of the books the press produced were designed for specific audiences. He said that only 1,000 to 2,000 copies of each book normally were produced because of the limited audience of the subject matter.
"It doesn't present any easy answers," he said. "The good people are not entirely good, and the bad people are not entirely bad."
Woodard said that all students and faculty had a vested interest in the books that were produced by the Press.
"If we are performing our mission successfully, anything that enhances the University adds to the value of a student's degree," Woodard said.
"This is the only way they will learn what they're doing right and what they're doing wrong." Gray said. "They can fall here and not lose money."
Jay Thornton / KANSAN
Fred Woodard, director of University Press of Kansas, holds "The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln," by Philip Shaw Paludan. The book is one of the hot sellers for the press, and Woodard said he thought it had a good chance of winning a book award.
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