VOL. 101.NO.55
THE UNIVERSITY DAI KANSAN
KANSAS STATE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
TOPEKA KS 66612
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
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FRIDAY NOVEMBER 8,1991
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LAWSCHOOL HARASSMENT CHARGES
NEWS:864-4810
Three excused from hearing appeal
Faculty members ask to be replaced for harassment case
By Alexander Bloemhof Kansan staff writer
Three of five members of the committee that will hear an appeal to complaints about sexual harassment in the law school have been replaced.
Tom Beisecker, who heads the Faculty Executive Committee, said yesterday that he received letters early last week from three members of the faculty senate committee on tenure and related problems asking to be excused from this particular case.
They will return to the committee after the appeal is heard, he said.
Two of the committee members yesterday refused to say why they asked to be excused.
"Those reasons are confidential," said Bezaelee Benjamin, professor of architectural engineering, who asked to be replaced.
Ed Morris, professor of human development and family life, said it in everybody's best interest for those matters to be kept confidential.
"They don't need to give a reason," said Frances Ingemann, presiding officer of FaxEcX "Sometimes it's a case I've having things about the case.
William Lawrence, a professor of law who headed the committee, was the third person replaced. He could not be reached for comment.
*All that's been made known to FacEx is that the hearing committee has been reconstituted and is proceeding with the proper steps."
"On any committee, there should be some attempt to represent people from different schools and women and minorities." Ingemann said. "But that's not a hard and fast requirement."
The University Senate Code stipulates that one member of the committee must be from FacEx, one from the School of Law and one from the KU chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
The new committee has two female members, whereas the previous committee had just one.
Rud Turbull, the new representative from the law school and chairperson of the committee, is a courtesy professor of law. His main position is co-director of the Beach Center for Families and Disability.
Beisecker said the only person available to serve as FacEx member on the committee was female.
The other two members were selected from the faculty at large.
The new FaxEx member of the committee is Elizabeth Banks, professor of classics. John Michel, professor of speech, language and hearing, is the third new member.
The appeal came from one of four complaints by two current and two former law students. The women complained to the University of Kansas earlier this year about alleged sexual harassment by law
faculty, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
The women had contacted the ACLU because they thought the University did not act quickly enough on their complaints, according to the ACLU.
Del Shankel, interim executive vice chancellor, has said that he made a decision Oct. 18 about one complaint and that the decision had been appealed.
Ron Nelson, an attorney who represents the women for the ACLU, has said that Shankel's decision was appealed by the law professor. The appeal is now before the reorganized committee.
Another complaint has been resolved by the office of affirmative action.
100 YEARSOF BASKETBALL
Plus Roy Williams and the Jayhawks prepare for another exciting year of Kansas Basketball.
See inside section for details
Jennifer Hoeffner/KANSAN
Sole man
in a room filled with shoes, Joe Shultz, owner of the Cobber's Bench, 1509 W. Sixth St., puts a new sole on a boot. Many people bring their shoes in for resolving after the first snowfall because new soles give the shoes better traction, Shultz said.
Filipino students worry about storm
Kansan staff writer
By William Ramsev
Some Filipino students at KU said yesterday that they were worried about the floods and landslides in that southern Philippines this week.
Tropical Storm Thelma, the fourth major disaster to strike the country in two years, saturated the region southeast of Cameroon on April 18. It rained 450 mm a day (24 h/kg).
Marisan Mejillano, a graduate teaching assistant from Manila, said she first learned the news on television yesterday.
More than 3,300 people have died during the floods and landslides.
"It's just awful," she said. "I guess it has been one disaster after another. I don't know what will happen next."
The tropical storm occurred just five months after the violent eruptions of the Mount Pinatubo volcano, which was also one of the most volcanic and left more than 300,000 homeless.
But for all of the Philippine islands, this disaster compounds trouble for an economic situation that already is tight, she said.
The islands of Leyte and Negros were damaged most by the storm.
Mejillano said that she talked to her parents in Manila and that they were fine.
Mejiliano said illegal logging might have contributed to the damaging effects of the storm because there was a lack of vegetation to slow down the winds.
"It is a very vicious cycle," she said.
The government in Manila set preliminary damage figures at $14.6 million and said it would ask U.N. General Assembly members for assistance
With growing fears about epidemics and food shortages, President Corazon Aquino joined and medicine to the disaster areas by cargo planes and
"We have been through a lot, and somehow we have always managed to survive."
- "Tte...associated Press contributed information to this story.
Marisan Mejillano graduate teaching assistant
Arnie Sulit, Lenexa senior, said his mother, who is from Negros Island, where the storm hit, was worried.
Diana Aga, a graduate student from the Bicol region northwest of the islands most affected by the storm, said that she would have called home but that there were no telephones in the rural region.
"But we are a very resilient race. We have been through a lot, and somehow we have always managed to survive."
"Most of the people there depend on farming," Aga said. "When big rains hit, everyone is drowning."
She has not been able to get much information about the situation because of poor telephone communication, Sult said.
Aga said it took about 15 days for a letter from the Philippines to reach Lawrence.
The typhoons, which are fairly common, make it difficult for farmers, she said.
"I was a little worried," she said.
"I'm just waiting for some letters."
But Tropical Storm Thelma is unusual, she said.
"We are a little used to it, but this is a big one." Aga said.
The Associated Press
Magic tests positive for HIV, retires
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Magic Johnson, whose bearing smile and sparkling play entertained basketball fans, announced yesterday that he had tested positive for HIV, the virus preceding AIDS, and is retiring.
Basketball superstar pledges to become activist for AIDS, promoting 'safe sex'
"Because of the HIV virus I have attained, I will have to announce my retirement from the Lakers today, Johnson
the Forum, where he played for 12 seasons for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Magic Johnson
"I plan on going on living for a long time," he said.
sex.
He said that he would become an AIDS activist and campaign for safe
Both Johnson and Michael Mellman, the Lakers' team physician, said he didn't have AIDS. He said that they only had the virus that leads to AIDS.
"I feel great," Johnson said.
Johnson didn't say how he contracted the virus, which is usually transmitted through sex or intravenous drug use.
Mellman said that physicians had not determined how Johnson acquired
Johnson, 32, led the Lakers to five NBA championships. He is the most prominent American since Rock Hudson, who died of AIDS-related complications in 1985, to announce his infection with human immunodeficiency virus
Johnson stressed that "safe sex is the way to go."
AIDS activists and medical officials said Johnson's stunning announcement would focus new attention on the deadly disease. Shortly after the
announcement, a national AIDS hotline in Raleigh, N.C., was flooded with
More than just a basketball star, Johnson has been a philanthropist, a prominent figure in advertisements and a role model for young people. His broad grin, familiar nickname and the fact that he is not as familiar to people around the world.
Johnson came in fourth in a recent consumer survey of the appeal of athletes as commercial endorsers, Bjorn Ahlmann, Bo Jackson and Tommy Lasorda.
Johnson appeared inerves in the beginning of his announcement, but the [a]nnouncement
"I'm going to go on," Johnson said. "I'm going to beat it and I'm going to have fun."
Mellman said, "What we have witnessed today is a courageous act by avery brave man. He is not a person who is invisible. Because of his presence and his potential impact on society, I think that he should not only be commended. He should be held as a modern-dayhero."
Johnson said he learned final results of his HIV test yesterday. Mellman said Johnson initially was tested for an insurance policy.
Johnson, who was married two months ago, said his wife tested negative.
Mellman said he recommended that Johnson neither play professional basketball nor participate in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona because of the physical activity both required. Johnson has been named to the U.S. Olympic squad.
His retirement and news of his HIV infection came as a sharp blow to those who knew him, watched him and followed his career.
Johnson missed the Lakers' first three games this season because of what was described as the flu. On Monday, he was cleared to begin practice.
"It's devastating to us," Lakers General Manager Jerry West said.
Kansan staff writer
By William Ramsey
Hands reddened by the cold, a solemn court guard raised the flag in front of Strong Hall yesterday as part of a nationwide POW and MIA vigil.
The KU chapter of the Arnold Air Society began a 24-hour vigil yesterday to raise awareness about soldiers who still are missing in action or are prisoners of war in foreign countries.
The Arnold Air Society, a service-oriented group affiliated with the ROTC, has scheduled vigils across the November 1 and Veteran's Dav. Nov. 11.
Passers-by paused to watch the KU chapter's kickoff ceremony, which was attended by about 20 people, most of whom were BOTC cadets.
Jack Gifford, from the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, spoke on the snowy ground as I wnfer before the vigil beqn on noon.
Gifford was a POW in Korea for two years.
After the Korean War ended and Giford was released, 328 POWs still were thought to be in North Korea, he said.
Nicole Wasson lights a lantern held by Jennifer McHatton as part of a ceremony honoring MlAs and POWs.
"As far as the Army was concerned, I was not alive until I crossed the border and answered to my name at role call." Gifford said.
While he was a POW, news of his whereabouts reached his parents only through the courage of another soldier, he said.
This soldier, who was sent home because he had a broken leg, hid in his cast a list with the names and addresses of every man at the POW camp, Gifford said. Gifford's parents learned of their son's situation when the soldier contacted them.
"There were heroic people in POW camps,"Giffordsaid.
Nicole Wasson, Lenexa sophomore and director of operations for KU's Arnold Air Society, said the KU vigil would continue through noon today.
Members of the society and its civilian counterpart, Silver Wings, will
take shifts standing next to a lighted lantern in the Strong Hall rotunda, she said.
Jennifer McHattan, area commander for the Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma air society chapters, said
the group was doing what it could to raise awareness about POWs and MIAs.
"There's hope that (the soldiers) are still out there," said McHatton, Topeka junior.
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