VOL.101,NO.73
THE UNIVERSITY DAI KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
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MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1991
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AUGUST DECEMBER 1991
a Fall of conscience
'A difficult semester'
Sept. 5 — Student Senate passes a resolution calling for the resignation of student body president Darren Fulcher. The resolution is an opinion of Senate, not a mandate. The vote came after hours of intense debate in a packed Kansas Union Ballroom.
Sept.12 — After another
migration meeting. Senate votes 42-19 to expel Fulcher from office. This vote is a mandate that goes into effect at 5 p.m. Sept 16.
Sept. 16 The KU Judicial Board decides to hear an appeal of the Senate motion. Senates' expulsion of Fulcher is stayed.
Darren Fulcher
Oct. 18 "The American Civil Liberties Union public sizes confidential complaints filed with the University earlier this year by two current and two former female law students alleging sexual harassment and assault. A decision has been reached in one of the cases. The decision is confidential."
Oct. 21 During a preliminary murder hearing, James Turner, director of affirmative action, is implicated in the death of Tamerdeen. Turner denies the allegation.
**Oct. 23** - During an interview with Kansan reporters at his home, Turner uses the terms "fat Indian flagger" to refer to certain individuals.
James Turner
Oct. 28 —The University puts Turner on paid administrative leave, citing the comments attributed to him during the Oct. 23 interview.
Nov. 5 The University accepts Turner's resignation.
Tom Berger, former associate director of affirmative action,
takes over as director.
Nov.25 Representatives of Student Senate and Fulcher make arguments to the University Judicial Board.
Dec.1 — An ACUU official says that a sanction has been recommended in one complaint and that the two other complaints have been dismissed.
Dec. 4 — The Judicial Board upholds Senate's motion to expel Fulcher, Alan Lowden, former student body vice president, takes over as president.
image, they say, is everything. If the University of Kansas were held in front of a mirror this year, University community would see
■ Its student body president, the first African-American to hold the post, removed from office after a semester-long battle that divided the campus and included cries of racism, dirty politics and a lack of concern about women's rights.
Its law school faculty accused of sexual harassment, causing the dean to form a gender-awareness committee and prompting some students to say that they are afraid to speak out at a school in which 42 percent of the students are female but only five of 29 faculty members are women.
The director of its office of affirmative action resign after he was implicated in a drug deal and was quoted using slurs — behavior that the office he headed was designed to combat. How other campuses have handled the issues, Page 7
The stories come at a time when sexual harassment and cultural diversity are national buzzwords. They come when the University is making a conscious effort to promote diversity and awareness. But the stories don't reflect a realization of these goals.
Some people suggest that the events at KU this semester show that the University is a microcosm of what is happening across the nation.
Reports of sexual harassment and racial insensitivity on campus are making headlines from the University of California to the University of Vermont.
One of the year's biggest stories, the Clarence Thomas hearings, brought the topics of sexual harassment and racism into everyone's daily conversations.
"Is there racism in the world?" asked Del Brinkman, vice chancellor for academic affairs. "Yes. Is there sexual harassment in the world? Yes. Are there crimes? Yes. It's just that these things come into focus right now because awareness and sensitivity have increased."
Most people interviewed for this article said they thought KU would not be too scarred by the semester's events.
Chancellor Gene Budig said that the three stories had created some problems, but he said that the University's support, recruitment and enrollment had not been affected by what he called "a difficult semester."
Others see a different picture. A Black Panhellenic Council member said that he had talked to high school students who said there was no way they would come to KU in the aftermath of the ousting of student body president Darren Fulcher.
But do these stories mean anything at all? Does anyone outside KU, or at the University for that matter, really care about Student Senate or the law school or the office of affirmative action? Please see Fall 1991 B
INSIDE
Woman who caught AIDS from dentist dies
Page 5
Kimberly Bergalis, who contracted AIDS from her dentist and became the focus of a national crusade for mandatory AIDS testing for health officials, died yesterday.
Lady Jayhawks claim DialClassictourney
Page 9
Senior forward Tanya Bonham scored 14 points as Kansas defeated Kentucky 62-51 Saturday night at Allen Field House.
Kansas athletes lead Big 8 graduation rates
University of Kansas athletes know there is more to life than just sports. That is just one of the reasons why Kansas enjoys the highest graduation rate in the Big Eight.
Page 1B
Not everyone is happy with Campaign Kansas
Campaign Kansas, the University's five year fund-raising effort, has generated more than $230 million. But some departments have not seen any of the financial rewards.
Page 4B
Bad health may mean bad grades
By Kerrie Gottschalk
Kansan staff writer
This is the perfect recipe for inefficiency and maybe even failure, KU health officials said.
Take two pets of coffee, add one hour of sleep, junk food, may a pack of cigarettes and mix them into a student before taking a final exam.
Students who neglect their health during finals actually may decrease memory effectiveness and increase the risk of illness and panic attacks, said Charles Yockey, chief of staff at Watkins Memorial Health Center.
"Sleep deprivation and overindulgence of caffee can distort reality," Yockey said.
Linda Marshall, assistant director of the student assistant center, said that people who missed two hours of sleep could decrease their mental ability by about 30 percent.
"The first thing I would say is that some level of anxiety is helpful," she said.
Marshall said that some anxiety often motivated a person to do better.
However, when anxiety becomes a panic attack, the student probably will
Students should study frequently for shorter periods of time and take brief breaks. Marshall said they also learned that they were there when he distracted, she said.
She added that students should take advantage of study groups and not hesitate to ask a professor for help.
Yockey emphasized the need to sleep five to seven hours a night, to eat three meals a day and to exercise.
"If students would follow this advice, I guarantee they would be more productive." Yockey said.
KU student body president wants to make most of new job
Raised in a small town of 1,000 people, Alan Lowden now leads 26,000 students.
By Blaine Kimrey
Kansan staff writer
He sits behind his desk in the Student Senate office, his face pale, eyes glazed and voice monotone.
Alan Lowden, former student body vice president, has just found out that the KU Judicial Board rulen in favor of Senate and that Darren Fulcher is no longer student body president.
A willing leader but an unwilling politician, Lowden has grown from a small-town boy in a 200-student high school to a full-ride scholar and business school teaching assistant.
He now leads 28,000 as student body president.
This is not what he planned.
"He doesn't want to be president," said Nicola Heskett, liberal arts and sciences senator and Lowden's girlfriend. "He didn't want to from the beginning."
Lowden says he hates politics because he likes being in front with people.
"But I love the University of Kansas, and I'm really interested in working toward solutions for the multitude of KU students," he said.
Unlike Fulcher, who told the media that he aspired to be a U.S. senator someday, Lowden said he had no intentions of being a politician after graduation.
But as the son of a former Air Force avionics engineer and Vietnam veteran, Lowden was destined to lead a life something other than predictable.
"I don't know my mom very well," he said. "I think she's funny, but I can't say I know her very well. She's a very traditional Japanese woman."
Add to the familial stew a Japanese mother who speaks little English and two step mothers, and it becomes clear that Lowden's family life has been far from traditional.
Lowden was born in Honolulu but has spent most of his life in Sedan, a small town in southeast Kauai.
Lowden's parents were divorced in 1973, and Lowden has had little contact with his mother ever.
He moved from a school of 200 students in Sedan to a school of 3,000 in Lompoc.
did, however, move from Sedan to Lompoc,
california to Kansas.
"It scared the hell out of me," Lowden said. He did not want to leave Kansas.
Lowden entered high school in Lompco, Calif., as a sophomore and two weeks later he was more than ready to leave the West Coast.
lived with his step grandfather for eight months.
"That's when I became self-sufficient," Lowen
He earned his keep by doing household chores for his stewardfather.
After eight months, Lowden's stepmother returned to Sedan. His father returned eight months later.
"I have kind of a strange family history," he explained.
Lowden came to KU in 1988. His main motivation was the ELLS Bever Scholarship he was awarded.
The scholarship paid for Lowden's tuition and
for five years plus a $200 a month spending
allowance.
He supports himself with the scholarship and 11 others he has received for college.
Please see Lowden, Page 6