Planning board hears request
New biology hall proposed
A proposal for a new life science building to be located across Sunflower Avenue from New Haworth Hall was introduced Tuesday evening at a meeting of the Physical Facilities Subcommittee of the University Planning Board in the Council Room of the Kansas Union.
Ronald McGregor, professor of Botany, spoke before the four-member committee, representing KU's department of biological sciences.
The proposed building, said McGregor, should be completed within the next five years, and must have 300,000 square feet of usable space. McGregor described the figure as "very conservative."
"Overcrowded labs are bursting at the seams," said McGregor. "Of the 3,100 students enrolled in the various divisions of biological sciences, 2,500 do some work in Snow."
According to McGregor, botany,
general biology, systematic biology,
biology.
ecology, cell biology, microbiology and bio-chemistry are all included in the division of biological sciences. Except for microbiology and biochemistry which are housed in New Haworth Hall, all disciplines within the division are housed primarily in Snow Hall.
"The real problem," said McGregor, "is that we are at the saturation point right now. There has been a steady growth in the enrollment rate in the biology division, and there is no reason to believe that the increase will not continue steadily."
He explained that 38 of the 61 biology faculty members and 10 of the 15 staff members had offices and research facilities in Snow. Graduate students, he added, do research in the limited laboratory facilities there.
If the present Snow Hall is remodeled, McGregor said, the department would still be short of space.
McGregor predicted the department would need 100 faculty members and 50 full time staff members by 1980.
"These statistics are frightening at the moment, but we must look ahead," he said.
McGregor noted that with the razing of Old Haworth, the anatomy department has had to move its facilities to Snow. Though microbiology and biochemistry vacated space in Snow when they moved to New Haworth, he added, Snow Hall was not constructed for the laboratory facilities needed by the biology department. He said Biology II sections are making use of "crude" facilities vacated by microbiology.
McGregor proposed that forty-year-old Snow Hall be used for general classroom space when a new building is completed.
By locating across from New Haworth, McGregor said, the new life
science building would facilitate great economy and service utilization because of its proximity to other science buildings. He said several of the science departments had shared equipment for years with no problems, but that centralization of all sciences would improve the program.
"Remodeling of present Snow Hall would only cause further fragmentation of the biology division," he said. "We hope a new structure will serve our needs for the next 45 years."
Facilities to be provided in the proposed $25 million building would include offices, classrooms and conference rooms, improved animal housing and a greenhouse.
An important addition would be new environmental control rooms and a new entomology museum to replace the overcrowded one in Snow Hall.
Inside...
80th Year, No. 91
The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas
Wednesday, March 4, 1970
Johnson remains in hospital ... 24
Students and drugs ... 10
Dean Taylor speaks in Topeka ... 2
Women's liberation discussion ... 24
Berkeley professor speaks on violence ... 20
Buses mobbed
LAMAR, S.C. (UPI) State police used tear gas and clubs Tuesday to beat back a howling mob of whites, armed with axe handles and baseball bats, when they attacked buses bringing Negro children to a once-white school.
Nearly 200 white men and women smashed the windows of three school buses when they delivered 39 black students to Lamar High, once the white school in this cotton-and-tobacco town.
Troopers fired tear gas into the crowd, driving them away long enough to get the embattled children inside the school. Then the whites resumed their charge, swarmed around two of the buses and overturned them. The troopers — nearly 100 strong — then pulled their pistols and lobbed more tear gas, finally dispersing the crowd.
Several Negro children received minor injuries from flying glass or tear gas.
There were no arrests because the state police "were outnumbered," said Wayne Seal, Gov. Robert E. McNair's press secretary. U.S. Attorney Joseph O. Rogers said he would seek federal court orders for the arrest of the leaders of the mob.
A Justice Department spokesman disclosed that more federal marshals and civil rights division attorneys were en route to Lamar, where the FBI already is at work.
Seal said the patrolmen would have opened fire with their pistols
(Continued to page 24)
Library bond passes
Lawrence voters Tuesday passed a proposed bond issue to build a new $1,575,000 city library. A total of 5,421 votes were cast; 3,056 for and 2,365 against.
The old library, built in 1902, is able to serve a town of 16,000. The new library will not only offer three times more space than the old library, but also many other services to the city.
The new two story facility will have reading rooms to accomo-
date 200 people, a meeting room for a group of 15 to 20 and an auditorium seating 100.
The proposed site for the new library is the south side of Seventh street, between Vermont and Kentucky streets.
Wayne Mayo, Librarian, said it will take approximately 21 to 24 months for bidding and construction before completion of the new facility.
BSU may drop first issue
John Spearman, president of the Black Student Union (BSU), said the BSU is considering dropping the first issue of their controversial newspaper Harambee, which had been re-submitted to the University of Kansas Printing Service for publication earlier this week.
Spearman made the comment in an interview on KUOK Tuesday evening. Spearman said because a number of the papers have been printed in Wichita, it would waste money to print the paper here.
He said that all the other issues of the paper would be submitted to the university press, for publication.
Spearman said the athletic department uses black athletes as a source for its teams and then tells them where and how to live. Spearman said that in effect, the athletic department turns black athletes against their own black brothers.
In the same interview, Spearman called the University athletic department "the racist arm of the University."
Spearman, commenting on the administration is "crisis oriented" to the demands of black students, Spearman said that untill the University is threatened with action they remain largely passive to the requests made by black students.
Spearman also revealed plans for a big brother program sponsored by the BSU. Spearman said that members of the BSU would go into the black community in Lawrence and spend time with children in the community. Spearman said the program is still in its early stages, however, should begin within the week.
Spearman was asked for specific plans for a black moratorium. He said there were no specified dates reserved for the event, but the moratorium would be held as the need arises to inform people of black problems.
UDK News Roundup
By United Press International
Oil fire battle costly
VENICE, La—The battle against the Chevron offshore platform fire is turning into a multimillion dollar exercise in pollution control, according to the Interior Department.
A spokesman said Tuesday the "best brains in the oil industry," plus government pollution control experts, oceanographers and university specialists, were being brought in to study the problem of controlling the oil flow once the fire is put out.
"We hope significant advances in the technology of fighting pollution will result from this," the spokesman said.
Albino whale captured
PEDDER BAY, B.C.—An albino killer whale, believed to be the first ever captured, was under 24-hour watch today by officials from Oak Bay's "Sealand" marina.
The rare, $12\frac{1}{2}$-foot whale was taken off Race Rocks on the west coast of Vancouver Island Sunday by a team of aquarium employees.
Eclipse deadly to eyes
NEW YORK—The sun's deadly eye can put a celestial whammy on yours that will leave your vision crippled for life. Don't look at the eclipse.
That is the warning issued by many eye experts. They are talking about the danger of blindness for those who are overcome with awe or eagerness during Saturday's total or partial eclipse of the sun over North America. So overcome that they gaze directly at it.
Cancellation draws protest
CHAMPAIGN, Ill.-The twin cities of Champaign and Urbana were under an overnight curfew early today from angry demonstrations by University of Illinois students protesting the cancellation of a speech by "Chicago Seven" attorney William M. Kunstler.