VOL. 99, NO.146 (USPS 650-640)
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED SINCE 1889 BY THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION
WEDNESDAY JUNE 7,1989
Upheaval in China rocks the world
Beijing's defenders skirmish
Steve Traynor/KANSAN
Chinese students march down Javhawk Boulevard protesting the Chinese government's actions in Beijing.
The Associated Press
BEIJING — Only days after some units of the Chinese army attacked thousands of unarmed demonstrators in Beijing, citizens poured into the streets yesterday to give a hero's welcome to other units.
This astonishing contrast represents the sharp differences in loyalties and backgrounds among the factions of China's fighting force.
The 27th Army, based in Hebei province, is reviled and feared in Beijing for shooting hundreds of people during a demonstration in Taianmen Square.
But the 38th Army, which normally is responsible for defending Beijing, is now considered a force that has come to drive the 27th from the capital. Its troops were greeted Tuesday when they entered the city. People rushed forward to give them cigarettes and shake their hands.
The intentions of the 38th in entering Beijing remain unclear. But Chinese and diplomatic sources widely agree the army group has come to end the killing and possibly to drive the 27th from Beijing.
Details are sketchy on the number of soldiers involved in the three or four armies deployed in the Beijing area. The People's Liberation Army is organized into about 22 Group Armies, such as the 27th or 38th Each has about three divisions and totals about 40,000 soldiers.
The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies estimates the Chinese military has more than 3 million men and women on active duty, with about 2.3 million in the army. The 22 Group Armies are spread among seven designated regions of the country.
KU students rally for democracy seekers
There already have been skimishes reported between soldiers of the 28th and 38th with men of the 27th. The clashes are possibly a prelude to a major battle to drive the 27th out of the capital and end one of the worst crises in communist China's 40-year history.
Less than half of each corps is thought to have been deployed in Beijing. So far they have shown mainly tanks and armored personnel carriers, the groups are also equipped with anti-aircraft and artillery regiments.
by Laura Graham
Kansan staff writer
Wearing black armbands and chanting "Long live China!" Long live the people! Long live democracy!" and other slogans in support of students from around 50,000 people marched on Jayhawk Boulevard yesterday afternoon.
The march began at about 3:15 in front of the Kansas Union, as the crowded paused for a moment of silence before pouring for those recently killed in Beijing.
"Today we are here to demonstrate for a new democratic China that we always wanted, but never had the opportunity to have," said Zhou Xiaofang, Beijing, China, senior He read from a document that addressed the march had prepared to address all the friends of China."
"We simply want to show our support," said Joseph Kuo, associate professor of East Asian Languages. "No one knows what will happen."
Ye Ying, Zhengzhou, China, graduate student who used to work for the Chinese government, said it was hard to believe all the killing and violence which was taking place in his homeland.
"I believe that sooner or later the students will win," said Ye. "I believe that if I were in China, I surely would participate."
Commist regime, "Justice will be done" or "We shall overcome" organizers said the rally was needed to a peaceful demonstration.
Although many marchers carried signs with messages such as "Penalize the butcher," "Down with the
"The violence that has happened there is tragic," said Mike Mader, Great Bend graduate research assistant for the KU Information Center. Mader said he thought the march was important because the Chinese students' quest for democracy was really a global issue.
Students wait, watch homeland
by Charles Higginson Kansan staff writer
Eight people crowded around the television set in a corner of a Stouffar Place living room Monday afternoon. As videotaped footage of a fire in Beijing filled the screen, they swooped down on the television, leaning close and peering into it. They pointed at signs and placards, reading them aloud and tapping the screen. When commercials replaced the news, they turned eagerly to a pile of newspapers on a coffee table.
In a scene repeated in hundreds of apartments across the United States, Chinese students at KU were trying to figure out what had happened in their homeland.
It was early Sunday in Beijing when Chinese military forces began shooting and beating their way through throngs of pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, killing and injuring thousands of people. For three weeks, Chinese students and workers had occupied the square, demonstrating for democracy.
Yu Xuejian, Beijing graduate student, was one of the students gathered around the television. In a voice constricted with anger, he most recent events in China meant to Chinese students in the United States.
"People have been asking us, 'Are you afraid of the future?'" Yu said. "And sure, my future will be in danger. But I don't care."
we don't care anymore.
Yu said the Chinese government's violent response to the continuing demonstrations was a shock.
"This kind of massive killing was unexpected," he said. "This regime is insane."
Yu was one of nearly 40 KU students who traveled to Chicago early Sunday to demonstrate at the Chinese consulate.
"We knew that our voice should be heard," he said. "Even though we cannot go back, we can call for the support of all Chinese students and scholars in the United States. We can try to get the attention of the U.S. government and people and hope they can offer some support."
Yu said he doubted the Chinese government could last.
"The present regime is certainly doomed." he said. "How can a government survive without the support of the people and call itself a people's government? Their victory will be temporary."
See ANGER, p. 6, col. 1
Tom Foley elected speaker
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Democrat Tom Foley of Washington was elected the 49th speaker of the House today, replacing a scandal-scarred Jim Wright. Foley promised to end months of political tumult caused by charges of ethical misconduct.
Foley pledged in advance to "restore a mood of conciliation, reconciliation and cooperation with the people," House replied with a standing
Wright, presiding for the final time as speaker, said the tally was 251 for Foley and 164 for GOP leader Bob Michel.
ovation as his election was announced.
A few moments later, Foley made a ceremonial entrance into the chamber where he had served for 25 years. He climbed the speaker's podium. Wright, descending, handed over the gavel.
Michel stood beside Foley and conceded defeat in a humorous
speech.
"I'm all for putting an end to bitterness," he said. "I'm all for putting our house in order. But we are not sweeping things under the rug."
Michel also took one final shot at Wright, saying that the members of his committee who had investigated him "neither mindless nor cannibals."
Wright's fall from power hits hard
"The chair will receive nominations for the office of speaker," said Wright.
The Associated Press
Even as Wright nominated Rep. Tom Foley of Washington as speaker in a somber speech on the house floor, workers were truely out of touch with expectations out of the speaker's ceremonial office on canvas-covered carts.
WASHINGTON — The impact of Jim Wright's fall from power was stark and swift yesterday, as the former House speaker remained in his Capitol office while his successor of only an hour headed to a White House meeting with the president.
Asked about his plans as Foley prepared to take Wright's place at the table with President Bush at a meeting on clean air legislation, Wright replied. "I must get to on the phone and call my wife."
A day earlier, Wright was sitting next to Bush as the congressional
The Fort Worth Democrat, a member of the House leadership for the last 12 of his 34 years in Congress, spent his final moments as speaker holding his regular conference but revealed little about his plans or his state of mind. He declared simply, "I feel fine."
leadership gathered with the president to discuss foreign policy.
Forced out of his leadership job over ethics questions. Wright plans to resign his congressional seat later this month.
"I might express my appreciation to all of you for keeping a robust discussion going." he told a
As giant orange trash cans waited to be filled with cardboard boxes stuffed full of folders, frames and plaques in his staff's adjacent office, Wright was asked if he had any parting words.
room packed full of reporters: "I might want to write a column or two. Someone suggested I should become a columnist. It might be a good thing. In fact, I might disgust those who unnamed sources are."
Just 45 minutes before he was to nominate Foley before House Democrats, Wright closeted himself in his office with notes written the night before and wrote his last speech as speaker.
A spokesman said Wright had not yet decided whether he would move to his congressional district office in the Longworth House Office Building until he resigns his seat. But it was clear that he and his wife, being pushed quickly out of the mansiononial office, although Wright also has a personal office in the Capitol.
Desegregating Topeka
District considers adding 'magnet' schools
The Associated Press
TOPEKA - Lawyers said yesterday that busing probably will not be required to correct lingering school segregation in Topka, 35 years after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision, but school district officials are studying their options after an appeals court ruling in Denver.
An attorney for a group of parents who said the district had not done enough to eliminate the segregation that led to the 1954 decision said he believes a remedy will not be possible without action by the district said he's not sure what the district will have to do.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Denver said that although Topeka officials had not resisted integration, segregation still existed in its school system. Thus, the panel said in a 2-1 decision, a remedy will be required. The panel filed its decision Friday but released it publicly Monday.
"I doubt that we're talking about busing." said Rich Jones, an attorney for the parents. "I doubt if we're talking about anything really radical. This school district has a very difficult problem, and the worst we had seen or the worst we had read about."
Gary Sebelius, the district's attorney, said any speculation on what the district will have to do is premature.
“Something has to be done. They don’t say what.” Barbara Kudlacek, the district’s spokesman, said: “there’s too much that has to happen before we even start to discuss that. I don’t think there are easy answers.”
The district could ask the appellate court for a rehearing before all 10 judges, and if it gets a similar decision there, it could appeal to the U.S. Surpeme Court. Sebelius did not know whether the board would hear the hearing.
In 1964, in Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education, the
"No one has suggested that we have anything less than an excellent program," Sebelian said. "There's just a lot of it."
However, in 1979 the parents of 17 black schoolchildren said the district had not eliminated all vestiges of segregation. Among those parents was Linda Brown Buckner, who was a student at the time of the 1954 decision and whose maiden name is on the case. The reopened case is sometimes called "Brown II."
U. S. Supreme Court said segregated school systems were unconstitutional because separate facilities for blacks and whites provided inherently unequal educational opportunities. The district, which set aside four elementary schools specifically for black children, had to implement an integration plan.
The case went to trial in October 1986, and U.S. District Judge Richard Rogers of Topeka ruled in April 1987 that the school district did not bear the liability for racial imbalances in some of its schools because the parents failed to prove it intentionally attempted to keep schools segregated.
The appeals court said Rogers applied too strict a standard and the parents merely had to prove that segregation existed, given the past history of the district.
The parents had pointed to seven elementary schools and one middle school that, they said, had a disproportionately high number of minority students. At the time, most of the schools' schoolchildren were minorities and 19 percent, black.
Dan Biles, an Overland Park attorney who represents the State Board of Education, said he's not sure what the appellate court's decision will mean in practical terms. The parents originally sued the state board, but Rogers removed it as a defendant and the appeals court agreed with that ruling.
Biles said the court has narrowed the scope of the case to focus on the assignment of students to schools, school attendance boundaries and the assignment of faculty and staff.