THE UNIVERSITY DAII KANSAN
VOL.101.NO.151
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1991
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KU students, faculty skeptical of ending economic sanctions against South Africa
By Cathv Garrard
Kansan staff writer
Although President Bush thinks South Africa has improved its race relations, his hints that he will end U.S. anti-apartheid sanctions has been met with dismay from some KU students and faculty.
Bush is expected to announce his decision tomorrow
Johann Abrahams, Cape Town,
South Africa, sophomore, said Bush's
work on the "Killer" was a major
achievement.
"From the outside, it looks as if South Africa is normal, that they have done what they were told they needed to do." Abrahams said. "But
from the inside you know that things are not totally normal yet."
Abrahams came from South Africa only a year ago, but he said many changes had occurred there since he left.
"It is the only weapon that the Blacks have against the white minority," he said. "We still have no right to be so angry, we are still many political prisoners."
Abrahams said lifting sanctions would slow the progress of Black South Africans.
"The Black majority wouldn't have any leverage," he said. "If we were to win, I wouldn't."
be used again as a way to get things done quicker."
Jacob Gordon, associate professor of African studies, said he chose to look at the lifting of sanctions in a positive light.
"It might encourage them to move in the right direction," Gordon said.
He said that he had studied the South African situation but that when he lived in Africa, Blacks were not allowed to enter the country, restricting him to an outsider's perspective.
Gordon said the South African government was complying with the five conditions imposed by the U.S.
Congress in 1986.
He said the release of political prisoners was the only demand that still needed to be met.
"The president must judge by what steps have been taken," Gordon said. "If they are working toward releasing the prisoners, then I see no reason why the sanctions should not be lifted."
Darren Fulcher, student body president and former board member of Black Men of Today, said the South African Blacks' lack of political power was sufficient reason for the sanctions to remain intact.
Wilderness discovery
Discovery is a KU program that now is operating out of the Jaybowl in the Kansas Union. Through Wilderness Discovery, KU students and faculty can rent gear such as tents, sleeping bags and lanterns.
Andrew Reed, Lawrence junior, begins to take down Wilderness Discovery tents outside of the Kansas Union. Reed checked the tents Monday in preparation for the fall rental season. Wilderness
Bush is expected to end sanctions against S. Africa
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Bush yesterday promised a decision soon on the lifting of sanctions against South Africa, crediting Pretoria with the last requirement in meeting the last requirement for removal of U.S. economic penalties.
Administration and congressional sources said Bush would lift the sanctions within the next day or two.
Meanwhile, South Africa's ambassador to the United States, Harry Schwarz, minimized the role that the punitive sanctions had in promoting racial tolerance in his country. Schwarz said the struggle of the oppressed was far more decisive in dismantling apartheid than sanctions and that he did not want to take credit away from them.
Schwarz said that he welcomed the prospect of more normal U.S. South African economic ties but that the demise of sanctions after five years would have minimal impact in the global economy and businesses to recapture lost markets.
Bush, in brief comments as he left the White House for a trip to Toronto, said the law was very clear on specific conditions to be achieved before sanctions were lifted. He said that once the conditions were met there was no choice for the president
"Sanctions will be lifted," Bush said "There's no dispute, no debate."
He said previously that release of all political prisoners in South Africa was the last requirement for lifting the sanctions, consistent with the anti-apartheid legislation Congress passed in 1868 over President Reagan's yeto.
Margaret Tutwilier, State Department representative, said the U.S. government had released 1,050 political prisoners had been released since the spring of 1990.
Schwarz said all remaining political prisoners had been released.
Bush said South Africans had made great progress toward releasing all petroleum.
He said that most countries already had lifted sanctions.
On Monday, Bush received an analysis from Secretary of State James Baker on the status of political prisoners and is reviewing it, White House press secretary Martin Fitzwater said.
Fitzwater said that the removal of the economic sanctions would not affect other sanctions such as the sale of military equipment, strategic technology and nuclear material to South Africa.
The strategic material sanctions also were designed to pressure South Africa to end apartheid and move toward democracy.
Officials said Bush might announce his decision tomorrow from his vacancy.
The sanctions that may be lifted include a ban on new corporate investments and loans to government agencies; a ban on imports of steel iron, aluminum, coal, textiles and agricultural products and the retusal of landing rights at U.S. airports for South African Airways.
"Our main concern is that he does it while Congress is in session," said an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
That apparently is intended to buffer the administration against criticism from congressional supporters of sanctions that Bush was trying to slip his action through while lawmakers were out of town.
Sen. Paul Simon, D-III., chairperson of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on African affairs, urged Bush to hold off on lifting the sanctions, saying this would keep the pressure on South Africa to continue reform.
Partial eclipse will shade a bite of the midday sun
By Jeff Meesey
Kansan staff writer
Tomorrow will be the same as any other day, except part of the sun will disappear from view. Most people in the country probably will not notice though.
That is because the total solar eclipse that will be seen in Hawaii, Mexico and parts of Central and South America only as a partial eclipse from here.
At 2:09 p.m. tomorrow about one-third of the sun will appear covered from this area. The entire event will last until 4:10 p.m.
"If a person doesn't know it's going to happen, they probably won't know it's an eclipse," said Steve Shawl, professor of physics and astronomy.
According to the U.S. Naval Observatory, depending on how astronomers in this area measure the distance between them, they can either 28 or 39 percent of the sun
An aneclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth. The moon casts a shadow over parts of the earth, which makes it
For those who will be in position to see the sun completely covered, it will disappear for as long as six minutes and 53 seconds.
Shawl described tomorrow's event as 'the eclipse of the rest of the century.' An eclipse lasting as long tomorrow's will not occur until 2113.
Shawl stressed that only during the few minutes of the eclipse is the sun completely blocked and safe to observe.
"During times of totality, it is safe that the sun is a million times
"We are capable of doing similar observations from satellites using artificial obscuring disks," Armstrong said. "But the best obscuring disk is the moon."
less bright," he said. "But even if it is 99 percent covered, it isn't safe to look at it."
He said the Clyde W. Tombaugh Observatory in Lindley Hall would be open during the eclipse. The telescope, equipped with a special astronomical filter, will be aimed at the sun and moon. Also, the image of the eclipse will be projected onto a screen.
Eclipses are important to scientists because they provide a chance to study the sun's outer layers such as the corona and the chromosphere, which are invisible from Earth without sophisticated telescopes.
"I have become an amateur astronomer," Perry said. "I thought going to a solar eclipse would be the thing to do.
One KU professor, Charlie Perry, with the U.S. Geological Survey, said he had seen his money and would be in it. The area was called *Burbankia*, where the eclipse would be total.
"They look for planets closer to the sun than Mercury," he said. "Obviously, none have been found yet."
"Some people buy a boat and drive around Clinton Lake. Some people do other things like spend their money on a trip to Mexico."
Eclipses also help observers find comets and asteroids that could not be seen otherwise because of the sun's brightness.
Finney seeks to reduce excess spending KU Med Center criticized for purchase of $40 hammers and $100 pencil sharers
KU Med Center criticized for purchase of $40 hammers and $100 pencil sharpener
By Kelley Frieze
Kansan staff writer
Gov. Joan Finney would prefer that the University of Kansas Medical Center not buy any more $40 hammers.
In a statement last week, Finney cited Med Center purchases of two $40 hammers and a $100 pencil sharper as extravagant spending. The Kansas Department of Administration is conducting an ongoing review of about 25,000 vouchers received weekly from all state agencies.
This procedure began two weeks ago as part of the Finney administration's program to reduce excess
spending.
"I made a pledge to cut government waste." Finney said in the statement. "This type of extravagant habit is old habit which is coming to a halt."
Barbara Lockhart, director of purchasing at the Med Center, said the program is designed to help
The 16-ounce fiberglass hammers, for example, were not available through a state contract, and the pencil sharpener that had been
bought through the state contract had burned out because of extensive use, so the Med Center bought the system through a non-contracted company.
State contracts are for groups of items that the state or an agency has agreed to buy from the lowest bidder that meets set specifications. State contracts usually provide lower costs for the purchaser.
Lockhart said that while the state-mandated system of purchasing was cumbersome, she did not think purchasing officials had overlooked anything when they approved buying the hammers and pencil sharpener.
Because of Finney's statement, the Med Center is reviewing the purchases.
The Med Center purchasing department recommends but does not require that a department find the lowest prices.
Dale Brunton, chief of the administrative audit section, said that the cited Med Center expenditures alone were not enough to create a statewide system. And they were indicative of its spending patterns, there could be a problem.
Lockhart said she did not know where the departments had attended her.
Outspoken
Michael Steinbacher (left), Lawrence junior, and Bob Cutler (right), Lawrence resident, take part in a counterdemonstration in Topeka. Steinbacher and Cutler were two of about 30 people who protested
the Rev. Fred Phelps' picket line Sunday. Phelps was staging an anti-homosexual protest at 10th Street and Gage Boulevard. Phelps recently has staged two other anti-homosexual protests.