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VOL.101.NO.40
THE UNIVERSITY D KANSA
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
ADVERTISING:864-4358
FRIDAY,OCTOBER18,1991
(USPS 650-640)
Brock visit shocks friends
NEWS:864-4810
After five-week absence, older sister withdraws from classes
By Jennifer Bach and Heather Anderson Kansan staff reporters
Two KU sisters from Russell came back to Lawrence yesterday, surprising friends who had not heard from them since they vanished more than a month ago.
Hersister. Stephanie. did not.
Sonya Brock, one of the women who disappeared, withdrew from the University yesterday, said Brenda Selman, assistant registrar for the office of student records.
But questions about where Sonya and Stephanie Brock have been, what they have done and what they plan to do are still unanswered.
The sisters could not be reached for comment yesterday, but friends at Miller Scholarship Hall, where Sonya Brock used to live, said Sonya visited the hall.
They did not discuss what the women had been doing for the past month, some of hall residents said. They were just happy their friend returned safely.
Downing, Wichita senior, said that Stephanie Brock did not come to Miller with her sister. But Sonya told Downing that Stephanie had accompanied her to Lawrence, Downing said.
"Talking with her, she's still the same Sonya we've always known," said Theresa Downing, who spent time yesterday talking with Sonya. "I was so happy to hug her and see her."
The sisters and their mother, Marcia Brock, disappeared after attending a friend's funeral Sept. 9 in Russell. The Brocks left Washington, D.C. Sept. 27 for Israel with two other people, Donna Butts of Russell and Scott Corder of Ottawa.
FBI investigators talked to the group at DFL International Airport in Washington,
"Talking with her, she's still the same Sonya we've always known."
Theresa Downing Wichita senior
and group members said they were traveling on their own free will.
The travelers have been associated with a group in Russell that reportedly believes in the existence of extraterrestrial life.
Russell County Sheriff Bob Balloon said he received a call Wednesday that the Brock sisters' brown Mercury Sable was seen in the driveway of the family's Russell home.
A nationwide bulletin had been issued for the year before the group was found in Wash-
ington.
After Sonya's visit to Miller yesterday, some residents said she would always be welcome at the scholarship hall.
"We have to commend them both for coming back and facing the University and the people." Downing said. " Their private, persecuted lives are out of our everyone to pick at and be judged."
Sonya did not talk about what her future plans were. Downing said.
Due to Sonya's late withdrawal from the University, she is unable to receive a refund for her tuition unless she can successfully petition for one. Selman said.
ship hall programs, said Sonya's housing contract at Miller Scholarship Hall was not terminated.
Sonya would have to write a statement explaining why she was withdrawn from her contract if she wanted to break it, Wilkins said.
Sam Brock collected his daughter's belongings from the hall Sept. 21. He could not terminate her housing contract because University students are allowed to break housing contracts.
Jim Wilkins, assistant director of scholar-
Molly Green, director of Miller, said the women in the hall had been extremely receptive about Sonya's return.
Megan Crawford, who shared an apartment with Stephanie Brock, said she expect ed Stephanie to be gone for a long time.
Crawford said that she did not hear from Stephanie yesterday.
"I'm not going to turn her away," she said.
"It was when Mr. Brock came to get her stuff I knew she wasn't coming back," she said "I knew I'd have to get on the ball and find a place to live."
Crawford already has found a new roommate and place to live, but before she can move in, she has to find someone to sublease their old apartment.
"Mr. Brock only gave me rent up until October," she said. "I'm angry he didn't pay for more, but I understand."
Town hopes return of women will bring lives back to normal
By Rochelle Olson
Kansan staff writer
RUSSELL — The return of Sonya and Stephanie Brock to this small central Kansas town has done little to clear up the mystery surrounding their disappearance.
The local sheriff and newspaper editor want to put the episode behind them, but friends and neighbors of the family still have questions about why the women left.
The Brock sisters and their mother, Marcia Brock, disappeared Sept. 9 after the funeral of a local woman. They had not been seen since Sept. 27 when they were at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., en route to Israel.
Donna Butts, a Russell woman who has written books about UFOS, and Scott Corder, a physician from Ottawa, also went to the Brocks.
The five were said to belong to a religious group that holds apocalyptic world views and believes in the resurrection.
The four women arrived back in Russell Wednesday.
Russell County Sheriff Bob Balloun said he was tired of the media surrounding the
He said he turned down an opportunity to appear on the tabloid television show "A *Curry for her*".
"I don't know why this has drawn so much attention," Halloum said. "I need to put the
Bob Estes, managing editor of the Russell Daily News, said things had gotten carried
away.
"The thing that bothers me about the whole deal is that no law was broken," Estes said.
Since the disappearance of the women, a statue of an angel in a city park has been vanished.
The statue, called "The Seventh Trumpeter," was designed by the friend whose funeral the women attended. She was said to be one of the members of the same religious group as the Brooks.
Sandy Daugherty, a teacher at Russell Middle School, said people may have associated the statue with the religious group and the women's disappearance.
Daugherty said she had known Marcia Brock, a 46-year-old English teacher at Russell High School, for a long time and had no idea why she had left.
"You just hate for somebody near and dear to you do something you don't understand." Dauda, a young woman, chuckled.
Mildred Mills lives on the same block as the Brock family. Mills said she was shocked by the women's disappearance but she welcomed them home.
"I just hope that Marcia and the girls and the mother (father) can get on with their lives." Mills said.
Marcia Brock may have taken a step in that direction yesterday when she contacted Leroy Jaggers, principal of Russell High School.
Jaggers said he informed Brock that the school board planned to discuss Monday whether she still had a contract with the school.
Board of Regents approves plans to replace Hoch KU will request $18 million from Legislature for project
By William Ramsey
Kansan staff writer
The next step for the University of Kansas is to convince the 1992 Legislature to finance the project, which could be completed by Fall 1995.
PITTSBURG — KU's plan for an almost entirely new $18 million Hoch Auditorium passed its first hurdle yesterday when it was approved by the Board of Regents.
The new building would provide classroom space, as well as library space, with an overhead walkway connecting Hoch to
Three floors of classrooms, including ones with seating for 500 and 1,000 students, would occupy the same area as the old Hoch's auditorium.
University Senate leaders have said that a rebuilt Hoch also should be able to house concerts and entertainment events.
"We will make every effort that the space is flexible space for multiple uses," Cancellor Gene Budig told the Regents.
Allen Wiechert. University director
of facilities planning, said the reconstruction of Hoch, which was built in 1927, could be completed in four years.
He said the same stone was used to build Watson Library and Snow Hall.
Hoech's north facade and its two sides that extend back remain standing and will be used in the construction, he said.
Limestone from the same Bedford, Ind., quarry used to build the original Hoch, could be obtained for the construc-
A building committee has been working for months on the proposal to build Hoch. Wieckert said.
"If it is not rebutt, we remain in desperate circumstances for any location for our larger classes." Shankel said.
Keith Niteth, director of business affairs, said KU would have to justify the Legislature its need for a reconstructed body.
Del Shakel, interim executive vice chancellor, said the university had scrambled for resources since Hoch burned the campus.
Cleanup and preservation work on the building's shell will be completed this year with money that was set aside for repair before the disaster, said Warren Corman, Regents director of facilities.
"We essentially spend all of the money that we get," Nitcher said.
He said there was no money for the project in University funds.
He told the Regents that KU would ask next year for $1 million to finance the planning process.
The following year, the University will ask for $4 million to begin reconstructing Hoch. The final $2 million for the project
Corman said the Legislature did not set money aside to rebuild state buildings that were damaged by disasters.
KU will have to wait and see if legislators can find the money, he said.
Performing for a crowd at Oliver Hall, Brent Ford and Kristal Hill-house, members of the RisQue Business theatre group from Miami, Okla., present a skit about alcohol abuse. See story, p. 12.
RisQue message
Heated debate concerns Regents mission statement
Kansanstaffwriter
Universities accuse board of hidden agenda
By Alexander Bloemhof
PITTSBURG — Regents, university officials and faculty representatives yesterday emotionally debated the actions the Board of Regents have taken on a systemwide mission
The statement has received sharp criticism from all six Regents schools because it would reduce the universities' autonomy by giving central authority to the Regents. The statement was drafted by the Regents staff in late August.
August.
In a statement read by Jay Mandt, faculty senate president at Wichita State University, faculty representatives accused the Regents of misrepresenting concerns of the Legislature, pursuing a hidden agenda and not living up to their public promises.
"Last month, the Board gave every indication that it was prepared to withdraw the staff's ill-conceived and impractical plan," Mandt said.
Because of the original criticism, the Regents referred the statement in September to the Council of Chief Academic Officers for academic affairs and the heads of academic affairs at the universities.
"Now, on the contrary, it seems that the Board insists on once again basing discussion of mission on proposals that were repudiated by every campus."
After the September meeting, critics expressed relief because they expected that the group would take action.
But yesterday, faculty representatives said they had the impression that the Regents had
They said that the Regents had instructed the council to include in the new mission statement elements from the statement that had drawn much criticism.
Then the Regents strongly recommended the faculty representatives withdraw their
Everyone was silent for a moment after Mandt read the statement.
"I have been on the board for six years," said Regent Donald Slawson. "And this is the most confrontational statement I have ever heard."
Jack Sampon, Regents chairperson, said,
"You have accused us of a lot. This is a considerable accusation against the Board of Regions."
However, Bob Ratzaff, vice president of academic affairs at Pittsburg State University and a professor of biology, died on Thursday.
Ratzlaf, head of the CoCAO, said the council required him enough time to work on a mission statement.
He said that the Regents who had sat in the council's meetings had requested that the CoCAO respond to every initiative in the original statement, which had taken all their time.
These initiatives sparked complaints because they would give the Regents more control over government spending.
After lunch, the Regents responded with a statement assuring the universities that they did not intend to centralize power and that they supported strong leadership on campuses.
It stated his view that the Regents should emphasize effective governance, organization and control of the Regents universities in the future.
"I felt there should be a clarification to the concern about centralization." Slawson said.
"There are some responsibilities the Regents have to take on," Sampson said. "If you don't centralize, you leave everything up in the Regents' hands, and I think nobody really wants that."
But only an hour later, Sampson presented a document that seemed to contradict the Routt report.
Campus named for alumni
Kansanstaffreport
PITTSBURG — The Board of Regents yesterday named a new campus in Overland Park for two KU alumni.
The Regents approved the recommendation by Chancellor Gene Budig to name the campus after Roy and Joan Edwards.
The campus, which is scheduled to open in Spring 1983, will contain state-of-the-art telecommunications and computing equipment.
Clay Blair III, a KU graduate, donated 15 acres of land at the northwest corner of 127th Street and Quivira Road for the campus.
"Mr. Blair made this extraordinary gift with the expressed hope that the new campus be named for Roy and Joan Edwards, who encouraged him and supported his educational pursuits at KU," Budig said in a prepared statement.
Roy and Joan Edwards both graduated from KU in 1942.
Roy Edwards, who died in 1867, was president of the University of Kansas Alumni Association in 1867.
Joan Edwards is a member of the Campaign Kansas National Council, has served on University search committees and has been involved in various other University activities.
INSIDE
- The gunman who massacred 22 people in a barrage of semi automatic gunfire may have been triggered by a fury against women, authorities said yesterday. See story, p.16.
U. S. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and other NATO defense chiefs reached a landmark decision to cut their nuclear arsenal in Europe by 80 percent. The reduction would be the biggest in NATO's 42-year history. See story, p. 7.