UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, June 5, 1996
3B
Subleases can cause student stress
Oral agreements spawn legal tangles
By Stephanie Fite Kansas staff writer
To sublease or not to sublease.
That is the question many KU students will face when searching for a new home this summer.
The number of subleases available in Lawrence varies each summer and the price of the sublease usually depends on the terms of the original lease.
Braxton Copley, staff attorney for KU Legal Services for Students, said many problems arise when students sign into a sublease.
Copley recommends that students negotiate with the landlord and sign
a contract they feel comfortable with.
"Many landlords are reluctant to write a new contract for tenants who are planning to rent for the summer only," Copley said.
"It is easy to refuse to write a new contract when there are many warm bodies on a waiting list to sublease an apartment," he said.
Under Kansas law, when the original tenant decides to break a lease contract, the landlord is obligated to make reasonable efforts to rent the apartment at a fair rental.
A subleasee, or a new tenant, takes over the original tenant's lease agreement.
Although KU Legal Services for Students advises against it, subleasing is a common practice in Lawrence.
"I wanted to sublease," said Jenny
Johnson, Garnett senior. "I'm subleasing from a friend so we have an oral contract. I don't foresee any problems."
Johnson is one of many KU students this summer who are subleasing by oral agreement.
But Copley said an oral contract is difficult to defend in court, and that both leasee and subleasee would be responsible for failure to honor the terms of the lease.
Precautions now can help avoid problems later.
"The contract must be reduced to writing." Copley said. "What happens if the sublease doesn't pay? or vise versa?"
"The lease cannot bind the subleasee the terms of an oral contract. It becomes your word against his," he said.
Read your contract: an informed renter is a protected renter. By following a few simple precautions, subleasing does not have to be a risky business.
Subleasers should know their rights
Request a copy of the original contract. As a subleasee you are bound to the original contract signed by the leasee and leasor, and you should be fully aware of each right and responsibility.
Obtain the consent of the landlord in writing and pay a sublease fee.
- Put the sublease agreement in writing. An oral contract won't hold up in court.
Go through the apartment thoroughly with the landlord and the leasee. The landlord should be aware of all damages to the apartment before you sign a contract.
- Get the home phone number and address of the leasee, as well as his parents' address and phone number. If you are held liable for damages you did not cause, it is helpful to know where the leasee will be over the summer.
If the sublease agreement is between two students, KU Legal Services for Students cannot provide assistance.
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Free tickets for staff, faculty end
By Dave Breitenstein Kansan staff writer
All KU faculty and staff members will have to pay for tickets to athletic and performing arts events beginning July 1—even Chancellor Hemenway and KU athletics director Bob Frederick.
"Given the revenue needs of the theater and athletic department, the Chancellor felt that it was probably inappropriate to provide complementary tickets," said Richard Mann, university director.
Complementary tickets had been given to university administrators.
athletic department employees, facilities workers and faculty members for more than 20 years. Instead of receiving tickets for free, faculty and staff will now receive discounts of up to 20 percent.
"Administrators and faculty members historically, for one reason or the other, have gotten free tickets," Mann said.
Mann said that the theater and athletic teams are not in debt, but they each need more money.
"It's a tough business and both of them need all the legitimate revenue they can get," he said.
Tom Hutton, director of University Relations, said revenue needs are not the principle cause for change.
The monetary issue it's more of a second- or third-level issue. The primary reason for this change is to create equity." Hutton said.
"There was no rhyme or reason as to who received tickets — they just did," Hutton said. "Chancellor Hemenway reviewed who was getting them and he didn't see any distinct pattern."
Many discrepancies exist as to who receives complementary tickets. Some higher-level administrators were given tickets, while others were not.
James Haiar, Omaha, Neb., senior, said it was wrong to distribute free tickets in the first place.
"Administrators are already wellpaid, so they should not get free tickets. They should be able to afford tickets anyway," Haiar said.
Haiar also saw inequity as a key issue.
"Students have little or no money, but we still have to pay for tickets. Administrators should have to pay for tickets just like everyone else. If anyone were to receive free tickets, it should be the students," he said.
Three Swiss Red Cross workers killed in ambush in Burundi; tragedy marks latest chapter in country's history of violence
The Associated Press
GENEVA — Gunmen ambushed and killed three Swiss Red Cross workers who were completing a relief mission in northern Burundi, a central African nation bloodied by ethnic violence.
The three men were returning to the capital of Bujumbura after bringing water and medical supplies to civilians and hospitals in the northern province of Cibitoke, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
Their four-wheel-drive vehicle, marked with the Red Cross emblem, was ambushed in Cibitoke near the village of Mugina, Red Cross spokesman Tony Burgener said. Red Cross officials in a second vehicle were fired on but no injured.The victims were identified as Burundi relief coordinator Reto Neuenschwander, 39; Juan Ruffino, 36; and Cedric Martin, 32. All were Swiss nationals.
Burgener condemned the attack, which violated the respect generally granted the relief organization and its operations around the world.
He said the Red Cross had broadcast messages on radio, and television in Burundi to explain the organization's neutrality and humanitarian goals. They also wanted to ensure its emblem was recognized and respected.
"The whole population there is cut off from water. We had to start a full operation in the region."
Tony Burgener Red Cross spokesman
"In any operation of this kind, we have Red Cross flags out as well as Red Cross emblems painted on white vehicles. This is the protection we have. The emblem is known in Burundi," he said.
The Red Cross had stepped up its mission in the Cibitoke province in recent days, he said, because the population there is cut off from water, necessitating a full Red Cross operation.
Burgener said the area had been hit hard by ethnic fighting but that he was not aware of previous attacks on humanitarian staff in the area.
Burundi has been caught in spiraling ethnic violence since 1989, when the country's democratically-elected Hutu president was assassinated in a failed coup by the Tutsi-dominated military.
The conflict killed 15,000 people last year and displaced 200,000 others. More than 100,000 people have been killed since 1993.
The Belgian Red Cross suspended its activities earlier this year after rebels stopped a Red Cross van and killed wounded soldiers being taken to a hospital. The rebels accused the Red Cross of helping the enemy.
France announced last month it was suspending its 20-man military cooperation mission to Burundi because the situation was deteriorating.
Worried by the increasing attacks on both sides, the United Nations is
seeking a commitment from member states for an intervention force in case of a major outbreak of violence.
International mediators are trying to negotiate a peace accord between the factions and avert the large-scale violence that struck neighboring Rwanda two years ago.
At least 500,000 people were killed in Rwanda in April 1994, most of them minority Tutsis killed by extremist Hutus. Another 2.5 million Rwandans fled their homes in three months of ethnic bloodletting.
Local Rwandan Red Cross workers were among those killed in Rwanda.
The International Red Cross last lost a staff member in August 1998 when a Red Cross nurse was killed in an ambush in Sierra Leone.
Cbitoke, which is virtually controlled by rebels, is the region where the U.S. Ambassador Bob Kruger was ambushed by unknown gunmen in August 1995. Kruger survived but a priest with him was killed.
Also in Cibitoke, a deputy from the National Assembly was killed in late April. Since then heavy fighting has driven 22,000 refugees into eastern Zaire. The governor of the region was assassinated May 6.
Cops grab Tiananmen mourner
The Associated Press
BEIJING — Police dragged away a woman yesterday who tried to place a bouquet of flowers at Tiananmen Square, yet most who marked the seventh anniversary of the army's assault on pro-democracy protesters did so privately.
The woman braved the certainty of arrest to carry a large bouquet of yellow chrysanthemums to the obelisk Memorial to the People's Heroes in the heart of the square.
She was close to the memorial's white marble steps when uniformed police dragged her from the square and across the street. They grabbed the flowers, forced her into a motorcycle sidecar and drove her away, leaving behind a pile of flower petals.
The brutality of the military attack in 1989 and a heavy police presence on Beijing's streets during subsequent anniversaries have largely dissuaded public commemorations.
Seven years ago, the Tiananmen demonstrations began with university students laying bouquets near the marble monument following the April 15 death of former party leader Hu Yaobang, an outspoken reformer ousted in 1987 for not halting student protests.
in the six weeks that followed, the students staged massive marches from their campuses and later began camping out in the square. Workers and others joined them.
Supported by tanks, soldiers began moving into Beijing on June 3,1989,the next day began firing into astonished crowds blocking their way.
The usual crowd of Chinese and foreign tourists filled the square Tuesday. Police were also stationed in Beijing's university district, where the 1989 demonstrations began.
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