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79th Year, No. 83
The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas
Wednesday, February 26, 1969
Criminal code passed
UDK News Roundup
By United Press International
VC step-up offensive
SAIGON - Viet Cong attacked the huge U.S. Bien Hoa airbase outside Saigon early today and burst through the perimeters of another nearby U.S. base to blow up nine helicopters in the fourth day of their nationwide winter offensive.
Other Red units pressed the offensive throughout the nation, shelling 50 more cities and bases over night, military spokesmen said.
Sirhan willing to die
LOS ANGELES - Sirhan B. Sirhan is willing to plead guilty to the murder of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and die in the gas chamber rather than proceed with his present trial.
The 24-year-old Arab exploded in anger in the courtroom yesterday at presentation of notes in which he wrote that Kennedy "must die like his brother."
Mideast tensions rise
JERUSALEM - Premier Levi Eshkol, who guided Israel through its gravest political and military crisis of the decade, died today at the height of a new Arab-Israeli confrontation. He was 73.
Al Fatah Arab commandoes claimed responsibility for his death but the premier's attending physician attributed it to a heart attack, Eshkol's third in three years.
Czech student burns self
PRAGUE — A Czech youth, declaring himself "Human Torch No. 2," burned himself to death yesterday for political reasons on the day Czechoslovakia observed its 21st year of Communist rule.
Witnesses to the burning said Jan Zajic, about 18 or 19 years old, set fire to himself in a passageway leading from Wenceslas Square, not far from where student Jan Palach set himself aflame last month.
Draft overhaul proposed
WASHINGTON — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., yesterday proposed a major overhaul of the draft and called for a study of amnesty for those who fled the country to avoid induction.
But Kennedy said the draft cannot now be abandoned because an all-volunteer Army "is simply not realistic policy for the immediate future."
"It's way down the road," Kennedy said and warned ending the draft could lead to "an all-black Army fighting white middle-class wars."
--even think it would have been introduced," Arvin added.
MARTHA MANGELSDORF Kansan Staff Writer
TOPEKA - The revised state criminal code was passed by a 25-12 roll call vote in the Kansas Senate yesterday, and now goes to the House. The unamended abortion section of the code was the main point of opposition.
Sen. Lester Arvin, R-Rose Hill, although voting "yes," said he felt the section would make Kansas the "abortion mill of the United States.
"I don't believe this section would have passed if it was a separate piece of legislation. I don't
"But the code as a whole is a good piece of legislation. Therefore, it is with the hope that a committee in the House will amend the section on criminal abortion that I vote 'yes,'." Arvin said.
The abortion provision would set no conditions for performing abortions except that the abortion be made in a licensed and accredited hospital by a licensed doctor.
Present Kansas law permits an abortion only when necessary to save the life of the mother.
During debate Monday, several senators led by Sen. Winton Winter, R-Ottawa, tried to amend the abortion section by substituting phraseology which would have listed the conditions under which an abortion could be performed. The amendment was defeated by a vote of 20 to 18, with one absent and one senator passing.
The status of other bills is:
Capital Punishment
The House Federal and State Affairs Committee, Monday killed a measure to repeal the death penalty in Kansas. Only three committee
(Continued to Page 12)
CYD against House bill
By KEN PETERSON Kansan Staff Writer
Members of the KU Collegiate Young Democrats (CYD) will circulate petitions on campus this week opposing a House bill designed to thwart would-be demonstrators.
A booth will be set up in the Kansas Union for students to sign the petition, said Mike Dickeson, Atchison junior and president of CYD.
The motion was approved last night at a CYD meeting.
House Bill No. 1144 provides that students engaged in a demonstration or disturbance on a
state university shall be expelled from that university, when the students "fail or refuse to obey the lawful order of any peace or police officer."
CYD's "Petition for Free Speech," says the bill and others related to it "would be a coercive method of silencing students and educators and restricting academic freedom through threat of dismissal from the university."
- It denies equal protection of the law because students are
Through consultation with the KU School of Law, CYD says the bill is unconstitutional on the following grounds:
subjected to criminal liability from which the general public is exempt.
- It exposes students to double jeopardy through the penalty of expulsion and also through the general criminal statutes of Kansas.
- It violates the rights of free speech and assembly.
- It contains vague terms "demonstration or disturbance," and "lawful order." "What is a demonstration and lawful order?" and "Does the bill apply to off-campus activities?" CYD asks.
- It violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution through the effects of unlawful prior restraint forcing self-censorship.
Rock Chalk dress rehearsal
Photo by Tom Jones
Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and Delta Tau Delta fraternity perform the rousing finish of their Rock Chalk Review performance at dress rehearsal last night. The Rock Chalk skits will be presented Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights in Hoch Auditorium.