VOL.101,NO.32
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
KANARA STATE HISTORICIAN
BOSTONY
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
ADVERTISING:864-4358
TUESDAY.OCTOBER8.1991
(USPS 650-640)
NEWS:864-4810
Bikes on ramps forbidden
Policy gives KU authority to remove obstacles from access ramps
By Stephanie Patrick Kansan staff writer
The University is expected to enact a policy today forbidding the blocking of disabled-access ramps by bicycles and other vehicles.
The University vice chancellors agreed yesterday on the policy, which will give KU the authority to remove bicycles and other vehicles from disabled-access ramps, sidewalks, stairways, handrails, doorways and balls.
Del Shankel, interim executive vice-chair, said the policy, which is in response to complaints from faculty and staff members, will continue after some of its writing was clarified.
Violators will be given a two-week grace period, and the date the policy actually will be activated should be announced soon, he said.
"We want people to ride their bikes to campus," Shanha said. "But we need to protect them."
The University is adopting the policy
because there is no law that specifically deals with chaining bicycles to disabled-access ramps.
Under the terms of the policy, locks and chains of the violators will be cut, and the bicycles, mopeds or scooters will be stored by a vehicle-towing service.
Shankel said the offenders would be responsible for reclaiming the vehicle and paying any fines assessed.
He said he did not know how much the fines would be.
Facilities operations will handle faculty and staff complaints about blocked disabled ramps. The Student Assistance Center will respond to student complaints.
KU police will witness all removals for identification purposes, according to the terms of the policy.
Bob Turvey, associate director of the center, said he was pleased with the decision but thought the solution should be temporary.
He said that: by the time the center would be able to respond to complaints, the vehicles probably would have been removed by the owners.
The center took action last week by posting signs on ramps at four campus locations that asked the bicyclists to consider the bike lanes and to park their bicycles elsewhere.
Turf survey he had noticed a decrease in the number of bicycles chained to the rail.
"I think it is a sensitivity issue, and people just need to become more aware," he said.
Michael Henderson, associate professor of linguistics, said bicycles chained to ramps had become a common occurrence at Blake Hall, where he teaches.
He asked for the railings to be put on the ramp because he had trouble navigating the stairs his cane or wheelchair.
Henderson said that the signs had made an enormous difference clearing the ramps but that it would be nice to see something more permanent.
"I'm looking forward to even clearer ramps." he said.
Thomas vote expected despite controversy
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Senate yesterday struggled with allegations that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas sexually harassed an assistant a decade ago.
Senate leaders indicated they would move ahead with a vote this evening and the White House decreed the allegations as an 11th-hour smear campaign.
A handful of senators called for a delay in Thomas' confirmation vote so that the allegations, made by Anita Hill, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma, could be thoroughly investigated.
Hill called for a more thorough investigation of her charges, saying that the Senate should consider the conduct of Thomas.
"It seems to me a person shouldn't have to violate the law in order for his character to be called into question, she told reporters in Norman, Okla, where she is a tenured professor."
want to focus on behavior."
She said she thought Thomas' behavior undermined his ability to work with the overwork he was wastewormed.
The allegations, which surfaced during the weekend, threw the Senate into tumult on the eve of its scheduled vote on Thomas.
Clarence Thomas
The nominee stayed out of the public eye as the accusations arose.
Minus a ninth justice, the Supreme Court opened its fall term.
in statements to the Senate Judiciary Committee and the FBI, Hill said that Thomas made sexually explicit remarks to her about pornographic movies and his sexual interest in her.
Students object to yearbook changes
By Rochelle Ols Kansan staff writer
The Jayhawker yearbook staff is planning a new format this year, and two students say they will circulate a petition to change that.
For the past several years, photographs of seniors have been placed in the book according to the student's grade. The students take pictures of all undergraduates.
This year, the yearbook staff is planning to put photographs of students from all classes in the book, according to a new report to include more students in the book.
The women plan to circulate petitions among Greek houses, residence halls, off-campus housing and scholarship halls today or tomorrow.
"We think it's unfair," said Missy Feeder, Loveland, Colo., senior, who along with Carrie Nuzum, Washingto-
Feeder and Nuzum both live in Gertrude Sellards Pearson-Corbin Hall.
But they want their pictures to
classmates at the School of Journalism.
came to KU to study journalism,
and the people that I've met here have
become my very closest friends,"
Feeder said. "I think people want to be
labeled with the schools they are in,
not where they live."
Feeder said that she had spoken with students in other schools, and that she was encouraged to continue.
Nuzum suggested that the editors place seniors' pictures in the book according to their schools or college libraries; everyone else's pictures by residence.
"I just think it creates more unity among classes when they do it by class and not by where you live," Nuzum said.
Brett Zinger, editor of the Jayhawk-
er yearbook, said if enough students
wanted to change the format, the yearbook staff probably would do something about it.
Bob Turvey, faculty adviser to the yearbook staff, agreed with the staff's decision to make the change.
Hesaid he wanted to group people by residence because he wanted to include more students in the year- book.
But he said he would listen to how students felt about the change.
Zinger said he thought the bigger book also would generate more sales because more people would be in it and want to buy it.
"We feel it is a yearbook for all students and not just seniors," Zinger said.
Zinger said that his fellow editors supported him.
"This is a book that pictures the camus," Turvey said. "If large numbers of people prefer a different format, we will have to take a look at it."
He said the additional photographs would provide more revenue and allow the yearbook staff to produce a bigger book with more features.
Hanging around
Ying Xin, research associate, suspends a magnet using a superconductive material studied by a KU professor. The material will improve communication and transportation. (Photos by Jennifer Hoeffner)
Patent granted for superconductive material
By Alexander Bloemhof
Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas and three other universities have received a U.S. patent for a breakthrough in superconductivity research.
Ken Wong, KU professor of physics and astronomy, and scientists at the universities of Arkansas, Hong Kong and Missouri at Kansas City have die eloped a new ceramic superconductive material that could eliminate some of the problems of other ceramic superconduc-
Superconductors have no electrical resistance below a certain temperature and can transmit electric currents without loss of energy.
The patent for the superconductor developed by Wong and his associates is only the second patent for a material with a critical tempera-
Robert Zerwekh, associate vice chancellor for research, graduate studies and public service, said the patent illustrated the importance of Won's research.
neither longer than 77 degrees Kelvin. It retains its conductivity qualities up to a temperature of 110 degrees Celsius.
Zero on the Kelvin scale is equal to 460 below zero on the Fahrenheit scale. Water boils at 373.16 degrees Kelvin.
Wong said the material was less brittle than other ceramic superconductors and not toxic. He also said it would not lose its superconductivity, but it could be like most of the other ceramic superconductors.
Therefore, it has more practical applications, he said.
"This patent represents an official stamp of approval for the work of Dr. Wong and his colleagues," he said.
Zerwekh said the patent paved the way to start identifying and developing practical uses of the material. The patent prohibits commercial use of the material without permission of Zerwekh.
Wong said that the material could be used in many ways commercially and that it would have a huge impact on communication, transportation and consumer products.
Wong started his original investigations in 1986 in cooperation with the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Later, the universities of Hong Kong and Arkansas provided laboratory assistance.
"We could hope that actual usage of these materials will start in a decade or so." Wong
The primary supporter of the project is Midwest Superconductivity Inc., a Lawrence-based company headed by John Carlin, former
Carlin said the company provided all the laboratory rooms, equipment and assistants. Other support comes from the state and federal agencies.
Ata demonstration yesterday at the MSI laboratories, 1321 Wakara Drive, Wong said he expected the patent would prompt more federal support.
Kansas governor.
At the laboratories, Wong demonstrated how the magnetic field created by the material can keep a magnet floating in midair.
"The force is as large as that of an ant that can carry hundreds of times its own weight," he said.
This force can be used to keep monorail trains floating above the rail. That eliminates the friction between the rail and the train and enables high speeds, Wong said.
Bush campaign may exhaust federal matching funds
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Bush's re-election strategies are planning a $25 million fund-raising bitz to capitalize on a legal quirk that could deprive Democrats of federal match payments for the early 1982 primaries.
The ruling effect gives campaigns that raise the earliest contributions the first crack at a limited pool of fed funds available for the early primaries.
The well-heeled Bush-Quayle camp could gobble up millions of federal tax dollars under a recent Treaty with Iran. But the Democrats are triveting to overturn.
Even though Bush faces no GOP primary opposition, Republicans are on the verge of launching an effort to raise $25 million from private contributors by year's end. Bush could then collect matching funds from the federal Treasury equal to the first $250 of each contribution.
The fund-raising strategy includes an extensive direct-mail solicitation
George Bush
later this
month. Four
to five political
dinners around
the country are
also planned,
beginning
with a 31 dinner in
Houston,
GOP and
White House
sources said yesterday.
Bush was expected to start the fundraising effort within the next few days, said one Republican official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The five major Democratic candidates now yawning to unseat Bush are not nearly as well organized or funded. And these are the candidates who will need federal matching money the Democrats can provide to heavy primary schedule in early 1992.
"The president can come in early and get all this money," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Common Cause. "There would be none left over
Common Cause, a public-interest lobbying organization, is supporting an effort by the Democratic National Committee to overturn the Justice Department regulation overturned.
for the six or seven Democratic candidates, who would have to go out and borrow from banks."
Senate Democrats were able to slip a measure into a Treasury Department appropriations bill to overturn the ruling, but the effort was sidetracked last week in a House-Senate conference committee. Separate legislation on the matter faces a rumored Bush veto threat.
The Treasury Department ruling puts federal campaign matching funds for 1992 on a first-come, first-served basis. And more importantly, it says the fund cannot be replenished until additional money comes in from income-tax returns, a flow that would not begin until after April 15.
Only about $16 million is in the fund now beyond what is already earmarked for the two major political conventions next summer and the general election campaigns. Another $30
Democrats want reversed a ruling that would give incumbents an edge in receiving campaign money.
million or so is expected to flow into the fund later in 1992 from the $1 political checkoff on income tax returns.
The current rule would favor any incumbent or well-known challenger able to raise campaign contributions early. But critics claim that in the curriculum of a president, only one presidential candidate is favored by the rule: George Bush.
Congressional Democrats want to change the Treasury Department ruling to allow tax-checkoff money to be distributed as needed in 1992, even
before the money actually flows in to the government.
the administration argues that the money should not be distributed until it is received.
Meanwhile, Bush and his top aides continue to stress that he still is not a candidate. The president is not expected to formally announce his candidacy until late January, even after fund-raising is beginning this month.
Marlin Fitzwater, White House press secretary, when asked yesterday about a schedule for political dinners and other campaign events, said, "We're still considering all these things. There will be fund-raisers for a campaign but we just don't have them all nailed down yet."
A GOP official close to the campaign-planning process said yesterday, 'We're ready. The preparation is our president said to go today, we could go.'
The official said GOP strategists were savoring the fact that the Bush campaign might be able to throw Democrats off stride.