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Keith Lawton Is Liaison Between KU and Builders
By Clayton Keller
Keith Lawton, a tall dark-haired man in his middle 40s, has an office on the second floor of Strong Hall. But this office serves mostly as a place to rest between conferences.
I waited in the reception room of his office for him to return from a conference. Our appointment was for 2 p.m. It was 2:10 when he entered, wearing a gray suit and light blue tie.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," he said, smiling.
Inside his office, I explained that I wanted to find out the work involved in his position as "administrative assistant to the chancellor in charge of physical plant coordination and development."
MR. LAWTON explained that he is "assigned the major responsibility for long-range and short-range physical plant planning and for individual planning of new buildings
"After the preliminary plans are
"I'm a liaison between the Deans, the chancellor, and the architects in planning new facilities," he said. "For example, before we start building we have to decide the number of rooms and how much space we need, and how to finance the building. We have to work all this out before we can meet with the state architect."
Dance Gives Lecture
Frank E. Dance, assistant professor of speech and drama, will present the Last Lecture at 4 p.m. today in the Kansas Room of the Kansas Union. The Last Lecture series presents the views of various faculty members on their last day on earth.
Federal Recruiter To Hold Interviews
The staff development officer from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, will be at KU Saturday morning to interview students interested in management development.
Garrett Smith, from the department's division of personnel management, will be seeking persons who have the potential to fill positions in grant-in-aid administration, research, public contact, and in other administrative positions. The starting salary is $5.455.
Interested students should contact Mrs. Ann Davis, in the college placement bureau, for appointments.
Instant Coffee
NEW YORK — (UPI)—Instant coffee drinkers are getting more for their money as capacity is outrunning demand to produce a rash of special prices. Powdered coffee consumption now runs more than 25 per cent above 1956 but capacity is about twice the current sales rate.
approved, the architect goes into the working drawings, from which bids will be taken.
"I'm involved in the decision on who will get the award, and after the contracts are awarded I follow the job through its construction, completion, and turning over to the maintenance department," Mr. Lawton said.
HE EXPLAINED that his job also involves setting "broad policies for the operation of buildings," such as remodeling projects or other modifications.
I asked him to describe a typical day or to give me an idea of what he might do on a given day.
"My day is not typical," he said, smiling. "In this job you never have a set routine.
"I might attend an architect's meeting here or in Topeka, or I might attend a planning conference with other members of the administration here," he said. "I might be called on to solve some problem caused by breakdowns or misunderstandings on the building site.
"At least 50 per cent of the meetings I go to are right at the place where the trouble occurs," he added.
Mr. Lawton has held his present position since 1951. Before 1951, he was KU dormitory director for three years.
Before starting his career as a KU administrator, Mr. Lawton served 19 months in the Navy during World War II, worked in the production control department and the engineering expiditing department of Beech Aircraft Corp. in Wichita, and graduated from the KU School of Business in 1947. He was assistant manager of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce and acting manager during his senior year at KU and in the year following his graduation.
Asked if there were specific incidents about his job which stood out in his mind, he answered, "I always get a tremendous satisfaction out of the completion of any building project. I especially remember the dedication of Allen Field House in 1955.
Mr. and Mrs. Lawton have two children-Chad, a ninth grader at Central Junior High and Leslie Ann, a sixth grader at Cordley Elementary School.
"THE FIELD House gave all of us (administrators) a sense of accomplishment," he continued. "There was a long series of delays in getting the material, due to postwar rationing, the steel strike, and the Korean War.
"Then, too, the opening of Murphy Hall was a big event. There were lots of complicated engineering problems; it was a complex building in the first place, and then we had problems of acoustics and sound control to contend with."
The whistle having blown, Mr Lawton stood up.
JFK Backers Note 3-Vote Gain
"I hope I've been some help to you," he said. "I hate to break it off, but I've got a conference at 3 o'clock."
WASHINGTON — (UPI) — Senate backers of President Kennedy's plan to create a Department of Urban Affairs estimated today they would muster 55 votes to win its approval next week.
Their latest figure, representing a gain of three votes, came as Senate hearing on the issue opened with Senators and administration and private witnesses testifying for the proposal.
HOUSE PROSPECTS for the plan are still dim, however.
CASE SAID that "despite its shortcomings . . . creation of the new department stands as the best hope for beginning to bring order out of existing administrative chaos" in handling city problems. City problems, he emphasized, "leapfrog city lines," and run far into suburbia.
New Jersey's two Senators, Republican Clifford P. Case and Democrat Harrison A. Williams, both endorsed the plan in testimony prepared for the Senate Government Operations Committee.
In prepared testimony an AFLCIO spokesman said the cabinet department would be "simply an effort to catch up with the swift march of events, and to make the organization of government operations match the growth of federal programs."
The AFL-CIO also endorsed the plan.
Even with adoption of the reorganization plan which Kennedy submitted after broader legislation was blocked in the House, Case said, the proposed new department would "need to be strengthened." He noted that it does not now provide for "bringing all the programs affecting an urban society under one administrative roof."
Williams, like Case, stressed that urban areas contain more than two-thirds of the population and account for about 75 per cent of the nation's economic productivity.
HE BELITTLED arguments that the new department would downgrade the importance of housing, build a new bureaucracy, bypass the states and weaken local initiative.
A vote on Kennedy's plan was assured for next Tuesday when Senate Democratic Leader Mike Mansfield announced he would force the proposal to the floor Monday. Only 10 hours of debate are allowed on the pending resolution for disapproval.
The plan takes effect automatically unless vetoed by Congress. A rejection by either the House or the Senate would kill it.
Merry Old England Returns to Mush
LONDON — (UPI)— Love flooded the British Isles today—especially the post office.
An estimated record number of 28 million valentines were purchased by Britons this year--about three of every four bought by women.
Wednesday, Feb. 14, 1962 University Daily Kansan
Something has happened to the British romantic climate in the past 12 months. A year ago funny valentines were in vogue: "Roses are red, violets are blue, I love someone but who could love you?"
"Pick me for your valentine:
'I'll be forever true; on all the earth
there's none who's worth as much
to me as you."
But this year true love seems back in command:
"I don't know what's happened since last year," one card dealer said, "but mush is back in style."
"Body Snatchers" to Be Shown Tonight
"The Body Snatchers" will be shown at 7:30 p.m. today in the Forum Room of the Kansas Union. It is the first in a series of old-time horror shows.
Other films are "The Phantom of the Opera" Mar. 14 and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" April 18. Tickets are 60 cents and a limited number are available.
Watkins Scholarships Given for Research
Six KU faculty members have been awarded Watkins Faculty Scholarships for summer research. Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe announced today.
The six staff members who will share a $5,400 grant are Lawrence R. Good, instructor in architecture, Herman Iventosch, assistant professor of Romance languages, Fred F. Langford, assistant professor of geology, Charles F. Sidman, assistant professor of history, Charles E. Staley, assistant professor of economics, and Gerhard Zuther, assistant professor of English.
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