CAMPUS / AREA
Wednesday, August 28, 1991 / University Daily Kansan
3
Running mate supports student leader
Campus women's groups will discuss battery issue
By Blaine Kimrey and Rochelle Olson Kansan staff writers
Reaction to word of the battery charge against Dren尔 Fuchen, student body president, has varied during the past two days of classes.
Some still support Fulcher in his role as president, but others think the battery charge reflects on his character and capacity to fulfill his obligations.
Because of limited media coverage of the incident and the sensitivity of the issue, some have not formed an opinion.
Fulcher was charged with battering his ex-girlfriend, Audra Glavas, Kansas City, Mo., senior, during a domestic dispute in February.
Glavas also declined to be interviewed.
Fulcher declined to be interviewed
He said he would respond in the future.
Glavas also declined to be inter
David Amber, vice chancellor for student affairs, said that he knew that Fulcher had a run-in with the law but that he did not know the specifics.
"If I did know about it, it would have been shared in a confidential manner," he said. "It would be inappropriate to share that in public.
"The fact that a student has had a brush with the law doesn't disqualify that person from holding a Senate position," Ambler said.
Jeff Weinberg, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, said Monday that he was not aware of the battery charge.
However, he said that it would be inappropriate for an administrator to enter the system.
"I'm not saying we don't care, and I'm not saying we are not interested." Weinberg said. "It is the business of the Senate to deal with the Senate."
Jason McIntosh, who ran on the Facts coalition for student body president against Fulcher's Impact' coalition in the spring, said that at first he did not believe the allegations against Fulcher.
*If this would have come out before
election the election would have
been decidedly
McIntosh said his coming forward
had been difficult. The week had
pending to do with election wounds.
He said that it was the domestic violence that most angered him because McIntosh experienced domestic violence while he was growing up.
"I am not going to stand for it on a
bush," she said. "It has nothing
to do with the election."
Kristin Lange, facilitator of the Women's Student Union, said she
found out early in the summer about the battery charge. Lange was elected on the Impact! ticket as an off-campus senator.
"I felt like I had been lied to, "she said. "And this is nothing I haven't said to Darren."
Lange said she was upset because part of Fulcher's platform was women's issues, and Lange strongly supports women' s issues.
"Darren misrepresented himself to his constituency and his coalition well," Lange said. "We are paying him for our jobs. Part, I'm sure, is paying his diversion."
Connie Burk, facilitator of Students Against Violence Against Women, said she also learned during the summer about the battery charge.
"We are addressing him because we know he is a batterer, and he ran with this whole PC (politically correct) and did Burk, Lawrence graduate student.
Bulker and Lange said they met with Bulcher in late July in the Kansas State.
In the meeting, Fulcher explained his side of the story. Burk said.
"It was the classic story of the batterer; discredit the victim, make her sound crazy, minimize the violence that leads to death." And that is textbook as it comes.
Women's Student Union and Students Against Violence Against Women have an orientation meeting scheduled Friday. Lange said members of the groups would lead a discussion about the Fulcher issue then.
The two groups have not set a time or place for the meeting.
Angela Cervantes, off-campus senator from the Impact! coalition, said she had talked to both Fulcher and Glavas about the incident.
"I feel that it is a personal and isolat- incident between the two of them," she
She said that the incident did not represent Fulcher's true nature, either public or private.
"I feel like Darren was elected because of his strong stance on campus and state issues," she said. "He is still devoted to the students that elected him and is still standing by his issues.
"Darren is still the same person that the students elected."
Toi Willis, executive secretary for Student Senate, said she had not talked to Pulcher about the charges.
"It is a personal issue, and it should be kept that way," said Willis, Kansas City, Kan., senior. "We all do things we are not proud of."
She said she thought Fulcher was an accomplished politician and cited his experience with Black Student Union, Black Men of Today and Student Sen-
"From a woman's point of view, I would not want to be hit," Willis said. "But then again, that was in February. He wasn't the president then."
"My question is why bring it up? It has nothing to do with his ability to represent us in the manner we want to be represented.
"A fight with his girlfriend should not keen him from doing his job."
Alan Lowden, student-body vice president and Fulcher's spring election running mate, said he had seen no official record of the battery charge
Lowden said he first heard in late June about a charge.
"This does not concern my office directly," Lowden said. "This is a personal matter of Darren's."
"I cannot take a position on rumors," he said. "I feel that this has been dealt with by the proper authorities."
"This alleged incident occurred in the city, and the matter has been resolved by the (district) court," Lowden said.
He said that if KU students had known about the battery charge before the Student Senate elections in 2016, then if the election would have been affected
Troy Rabakovich, Senate Executive Committee chairman, said he had heard rumors this summer about Eulieber's battery charge.
Later in the summer, Fulcher approached Radakovich and told him his side of the story. Radakovich said.
"I always go for first-hand accounts of events," Rudakovich said. "I don't mind."
Radakovich said Fulcher told him that he had discussed the issue with Glavas' parents and that they had handled the matter personally.
"I have not been able to get anidle of Audra, and that's why I'm a little shaky about this," Radakovich said. "I would like to know if she allright."
Radakovach said he had not seen the police or court reports.
Seth Traxler, leisure activities coordinator of Student Union Activities, said that until yesterday, he had not seen the police or court reports.
Traxier was an Impact! coalition member and said he intended to talk about the issue.
"I think it should be discussed because all I've heard is rumor, and Senate should not conduct its business on rumor," Traxler said.
Fulcher rumors flew in summer
later agreed to speak out on the record about the Fulcher story.
McIntosh said the reason he was coming forward was not because of any election issue, but because he was angered by the domestic violence.
"I cannot sit here and let this thing happen." McIntosh said.
KJHK broadcast a story on the Fulcher police report and court records. June 20 during three different cases told Tami Hale, KJHK news director.
Hale said the station heard a rumor about the story and pulled the police and court records. In deciding whether to broadcast the story, the station considered the fact that the history was more than seven months old.
"But we felt since a majority of the students did not know what in fact happened and what could be facing them in terms of their student leadership,
we felt it was news," she said.
His job dealt almost exclusively with programming music, he said, and though he said he occasionally did help out at the station early in the Spring season, he said he cuttleful KJIK manager decided to run (or the Senate position).
McIntosh, who served as KJIK program director from March to November 1900, said he had nothing to do with its coverage of the Fulcher story.
After fall Student Senate reporter After fall Student Senate reporter Kansan editor Holly Lawton about the court reports, Lawton said she instructed Kimrey to follow her instructions and other background. If there was a story, Lawton said, the paper would run it.
Giles Smith, who ran with McInlost on Facts for student body vice president, also quit his job at KJHK before the campaign began, McInlost said.
"I realized how much people were
talking about it and were concerned." Lawton said. "People want to know what the facts are. Darren is a representative of all the students of the University, so that it's our obligation to let the student know how he 'representing them.'"
Connie Burk, facilitator of Students Against Violence Against Women, said she and Kristin Lange, of Women's Student Union, met with Fulcher after they heard in July about the reported battery.
Also this past week, organizers of some campus women's groups have been meeting to decide their plans in reacting to the Fulcher incident.
The women's groups plan to discuss the issue at an orientation meeting Friday. A time and place for the meeting has not been set yet.
Burk said Fulcher seemed cooperative about coming forward on the issue.
Editor's note: The Kansan was unaware of the events leading up to the election. Reasons are provided when appropriate.
Chronology of events
Fulcher scheduled to work at the organization's homeless shelter for the KU community-service program.
Dec.15-Feb.6- Salvation Army work
Feb.11- Reported battery
Fulcher allegedly batters his ex-girlfriend, Audra Glavas, at her lawrence apartment, according to police. Glavas files a police report.
He posts bond and is released, given a court summons of March 21.
Feb.12- Fulcher Arrested
March 18-Salvation Army complaint
Jeannie Blankenhip, former director of the homeless shelter, enters a complaint with the University claiming Fulcher forged her signature on a pay sheet she submitted to the KU community-service program. The Kansas was unaware of the complaint. Administrators are not allowed to discuss complaints filed with the University against students under the national Rights and Privacy Act.
March 21-Fulcher diversion
Fulcher's lawyer, Richard Frydman, reaches a diversion agreement on the battery case with the Douglas County District Attor-
April 4-Ad-hoc group meets on Salvation Army complaint
A committee of students and faculty meets to deal with the Salvation Army complaint. It includes Mike Schreiner, then-student body president; David Hardy, assistant director of the Organizations and Activities Center; Lisa Krigsten, director of the community service program; Carl Damon, then Student Senate treasurer; and Stu Comfort, current Senate treasurer. The committee gives Fulcher a choice of either paying the community-service program nine hours of wages, about $39, which he could not accurately account for, or continue the complaint process. Fulcher agrees to pay. The Kansan was unaware of the meeting. Schreiner said meetings involving personnel decisions were almost always closed. Blanketing decides to continue the process, though, and a disciplinary hearing concerning the complaint is set for May 17. Schreiner said the meeting's proximity to the Senate election was coincidental.
April 11-Election
Fulcher and impacti coalition running-mate Alan Lowden are elected student body president and vice president, respectively.
May 2-First Kansan report
The Kansan reports the Fulcher-Salvation Army story, including a report of the ad-hoc meeting, after a Kansan reporter received an anonymous tip. The Kansan runs a follow-up story the next day.
May 17 Disciplinary hearing Salvation Army complaint
The hearing is confidential, and administrators are not allowed to discuss its result under the Rights and Privacy Act.
June 13- Fulcher misses diversion payment, hearing date
The Douglas County District Attorney's office enters a motion for hearing to revoke Fulcher's diversion agreement and for trial setting. Fulcher had failed to make a June 1 court payment of $94.71, according to court records.
June 19- Kansan learns of court case
An anonymous source tells a Kansan staff member about the reported Fulcher battery and his failure to make the June 13 pay-
June 19-25-Kansan plans story
A Kansan reporter gathers information from police and court records and interviews Fulcher and Glavas, separately. The Kansan plans to publish a story on the reported battery and court proceedings June 26.
June 25-Fulcher makes missed payment, hearing dropped
The Douglas County District Attorney's office enters a motion to withdraw in June 13 motion to revoke diversion agreement after the transfer of the county attorney.
June 25-Story shelved
The Kansan editor decides to not publish the Fulcher story, in part because the motion for hearing was dropped and he believed the story needed a more timely angle.
KJHK KU's student-run radio station, begins running daily news reports of the reported Fulcher battery and court proceedings.
Aug. 20-KJHK story
Aug. 26-Information posted in Kansas Union
Students report seeing both photocopied versions of the Fulcher court files and hand-printed bills with information about the story in the Kansas Union.
Melissa Unterberg/KANSAN
Blaring music out of fashion
By Justin Knupp Kansan staff writer
Louder is not always better
Hearing loss due to excessively loud rock music is a national problem getting attention from people in the music industry. (It has been of passed by the University of Kansas.
John Brandt, professor of speech, language and hearing, said that music related hearing problems were present on KU's campus
"We do have some KU students who are coming to us with hearing problems that may have been caused by prolonged exposure to loud music," he said. "This type of hearing loss is also common in both on campus and nationally."
Brandt said some hearing problems of KU students were caused by rock music played at excessive volumes at the studio's stereos, at bars or on personal stereo.
"When someone walks by wearing a walkman and you can hear the music, then they are at risk of damaging their hearing," he said.
Hearing loss occurs when the hair cells in the inner ear are damaged because of prolonged exposure to extremely loud noises.
"One of the early warning signs associated with hearing loss is a persistent ringing in the ears," Brandt said. "The cells are very sensitive and don't have the ability to heal themselves. Once they are gone, they are gone."
Kim Sykes, a clinical audiologist at the Marston Hearing Center, 1112 W. Sixth St., agreed that the hearing loss in emergency sounds was becoming a trend
"One of the first signs is a ringing in the ears called finnitus that does not go away after a short period of time." Sykes said. "The others are a sensation that feels like having cotton in your ears or a change in hearing abilities."
She said that after a rock concert, it was normal to experience some ringing in the ears. However, that was a hard music volume was harmful to the ears.
"The ringing normally goes away in a several hours," she said. "If it does not, then there may be permanent damage."
If it is not possible to avoid excessively loud music, Sykes recommended using some type of hearing protection.
"One way is to use ear plugs that are designed to lower the decibel level of the noise," she said.
Musicians, a group at high risk of hearing loss, are taking an increased interest in protecting their hearing, as part of the new Drum Shop, 1000 Massachusetts St.
"We carry ear plugs for musicians that lower the decibel level of music by 35 decibels," he said. "More and more, musicians are coming in looking for them. Mostly, the requests seem to come from the drummers who have to be around the loudest noises for a prolonged period of time."
Hayes said that in the past, musicians normally played all night and went home "noise drunk," the experience of feeling light-headed, dizzy and tired. Hayes said her symptoms described by Sykes as an early warning sign of hearing loss.
Larry Marston, associate professor of speech, language and hearing, said everyone could take one basic precaution to avoid hearing loss.
"Turn down the volume," he said.
"It is that the most basic thing anyone can
can do."
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