Campus/Area
University Daily Kansan / Friday, March 24, 1989
3
Student may have fallen after rappelling
by Angela Clark Kansan staff writer
Kansan staff writer
Discrepancies in a witness' report prompted police to question his account of a student's fall Wednesday morning in the Art and Design Building, a KU police spokesman said yesterday.
"The information that he gave us he was the first time was not quite the truth," said Schuyl Bailey, KU police spokesman. "He was afraid that they had been doing something they shouldn't have been."
Gerard Joseph Overbey, Topeka junior and a KU ARMY ROOT TC cadet, said he was the witness.
When he was re-interviewed, he told police that James Skinner, Overland Park junior and industrial design major, had been rappelling down the open stairwell of the Art and Design Building when Skinner fell 25 feet, suffering a severe closed-head injury. The building that he had fallen from a starvell rising.
Skinner was listed in critical condition last night
in the intensive care unit at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan.
Rick Cameron, KU outdoor education coordinator, said rappelling was a controlled fall using ropes and equipment, usually in mountain-climbing.
"They have rappelled together before, in other places." Bailey said.
Overbey said he was the witness who talked to the police when they arrived at the building.
the police who is a professor of military science, said training for Army cadets, like Overbye, included rappelling.
"There is nothing inherently dangerous if you are careful." Kennard said. "It's a question of being careful, following proper procedures and having an awareness of safety."
Saintney said the men had tied the rop to a sash, railing, and when Skinner began to rappel, some people yelled, "You're bad."
"It was either operator error or faulty equipment." Blaiev said. "That is still debatable."
Victoria Thomas, KU general counsel, said the University may be liable for injuries suffered on its property.
"This isn't something the University sanctions," Bailey said. "They went out and did it them- alves."
Russell Buchholz, assistant director of campus preventative maintenance for facilities operations, said the stairwell and its railings met code standards.
However, she added that she had "no information in this case that the University had any duties, to the students, that were violated."
"We don't have any kind of anti-rappelling device." Buchholz said. "I don't know what we can do."
Bailey said an investigation was continuing.
School board candidates discuss issues
by Carrie Harper Kansan staff writer
Kansan staff writer
The five school board candidates discussed policy, curriculum and a second high school at a forum last night at Lawrence High School.
Barbara Ballard, director of the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center and KU associate dean of student life, is an incumbent. She said that if voters did not support the school bond referendum, the urgency of specific problems should be addressed immediately.
Ballard added that if the referendum is successful, boundaries, busing and a site for the new school should be considered after meeting the plan.
Gary Condra, owner of Residential Alternatives Inc., said he did not think there should be boundaries for each high school. He said he would like to see the students decide which school to attend.
Condra said he would like to see an alternative education program for potential dropouts in junior high school and move to the high school extension center
Aice Fallow, a clerk-typist for the Lawrence Fire Department and current school board president, said a family's income should not determine a child's education. She suggested that any boundaries drawn from low-income families in East Lawrence would have equal opportunities.
Some children fall through the cracks in education because they do not have the same opportunities as other children. Fowler said.
Larry Morlan, director of corporate and foundation support for the Kansas University Endowment Association and current school board vice president, said postponing a bond campaign would be prerequisites merely would force the district into applying Band-Aids to problems without solving them.
The school superintendent and area legislators will have to work harder to prevent further loss of state funds. The education district school district. Morlan said.
John Tacha, owner of the Bureau of Lectures and Concert Artists, said the school board should get involved at the state level and lobby for more
Michael Nelson, Lawrence resident, portrays Adnan in "Struck Dumb," a one-man play presented by Lawrence Community Theater, 1501 New Hampshire St. The play opened last night and will run through Saturday night. Performances are at 8 p.m.
Department alters Western Civ class format once again
by Brett Brenner
Be silent. that you may hear
Kansan staff writer
The two-year-old lecture format, 204/205 classes, will not be offered in the fall. Instead, all non-honors classes will be in the 234/235 format, smaller classes which meet three times a week.
Despite low state financing and the reappealais notice, Tacha said he thought the community would support a bond issue if it were presented well and if the citizens realized the need for relieving overcrowded
Holy Sacrates, they're at it again.
For the second time in three years,
KU's Western Civilization program
will undergo format changes.
The discontinued lecture sections, five large lecture classes paired with 114 discussion classes, currently on campus for classes, retreats, and once a week for discussion.
The lectures are taught by a professor, and some discussion sections are led by graduate teaching assistants.
This semester, approximately 1,400 students are enrolled in the 204/205 classes.
To make up for the number of students that will not be able to take the canceled classes, the program adds 234 sections to double the number of 243/235 sections.
These will be the only classes that non-honors students will be able to take without faculty permission.
There will be 59 sections of 234/235 classes offered in the fall, an increase of 36 classes. Woolfe said the new course, 190, would 2,000 students to enroll in the classes.
James Weelfel, director of the program, said about 700 students were enrolled in 234/235 classes this semester.
There are 23 sections of the 234/235 classes this semester. They are taught by GTAs
The 114/115 classes, which are open to students in the honors program or with permission of the instructor, currently have five lectures and 19 guest lectures. Class discussions and discussion are the same format as this semester's 204/206 classes.
three available positions on the seven-member board will be filled in the April 4 general election.
1 he students said they felt more comfortable in the smaller classes.'
For the 114 sequence, three lecture sections and 27 discussion sections will be offered. The 115 sections will
'T.
James Carothers associate dean. liberal arts and sciences
not be offered.
"We have been seeking ways of incorporating the NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) and art sets and setences budget," he said.
James Carothers, associate dean of liberal arts and sciences, said money and student preferences prompted the changes.
The grant, which runs out this semester, was established three years ago to encourage senior faculty members from other departments to teach in the program. The grant provided compensation for teachers, as well as for their home departments.
Six faculty members currently work with the program.
In the process of evaluating the grant, Carothers said, students were asked how they felt about the program.
Carothers said another issue was student feedback about classes.
"The students said they felt more comfortable in the smaller classes," he said.
David Schrag, Newton junior, said he preferred the classroom setting instead of large lecture classes.
"One of the things we look for in hiring is teaching experience," he said. "the TAS who haven't taught the class that have done the readings and been through the program. They should be able to move right in."
Kansas to receive severe weather technology
The change would also affect many GTAes involved in the program. Many might be teaching a class next semester instead of just leading a session.
bv Merceda Ares
Kansan staff writer
Although *tornadoes* often leave paths of destruction, in some cases they can be productive — at least in Kansas.
Because Kansas is an area often buffeted by torndozes, it will be one of the first states to receive benefits of new technology in weather forecasting, a spokesman for the National Weather Service said yesterday.
Don Witten, public affairs officer for the National Weather Service in Washington, D.C., said Kansas would be used as part of a formal one-year demonstration, to begin in spring 1992, that will showcase new technology that is more accurate in predicting severe weather.
"Kansas is in the heart of the country." Written said. "It's in tnr nado alley. You got a pretty hot state there because of this modernization
Written said the demonstration would have to prove to the Department of Commerce that the weather service is providing the ice. The weather service is part of the
Department of Commerce.
The weather service's modernization program is part of a plan to streamline its offices all over the United States through consolidation.
As part of the demonstration, Kansas will receive a wind profiler, which provides accurate readings of wind on the earth's surface. The state agency has installed four Doppler radar systems, which measure the velocity of raindrops.
This new technology enables meteorologists to predict weather faster and more accurately. Witten said. A tornado can be discovered as high as 10,000 feet in the atmosphere with Doppler radar.
Stations consolidated
Kansas has one weather forecast service office in Topeka, which issues information to four weather service offices in Goodland, Concordia, Dodge City and Wichita. Topeka is the only office that generates forecasts for the entire state. There is also a weather service meteorological observation office in Garden City.
"Kansas will do quite well in the modernization," Written said. "Wichita, Dodge City and Goodland are increased in capacity four times."
Stations at Wichita, Dodge City and Goodland each will increase the number of employees from six to 23.
Topeka will maintain its 20 employes.
Witten said Concordia's and Garden City's stations, which each now have six employee positions, would be consolidated into the four remaining Kansas offices. Of the 262 offices in the United States, Witten said, 114 will be maintained. About 6,000 jobs will be lost nationwide.
Jim Henderson, deputy regional director for the Weather Service Central Region in Kansas City, Mo., said phasing out meteorological technicians was necessary to restore the deficit from fiscal year 1989.
The technicians, who usually do not have degrees in meteorology, take manual observations of the weather.
Henderson said after these people retired, they would not be replaced.
"A lot of them are retiring in the next 10 years," Written said. "We'll see more of a skill mix adjustment. We'll see more of the younger graduates with degrees."
Oppportunity for grads
Eo Jagleham, professor of meteorology, physics and astronomy, said as many as 170 more students would be hired nationwide for weather service jobs in the future. Presently less than 50 are hired each year.
Source National Weather Service
Dave Eames/KANSAN
Eagleman said he had worked with the National Center for Atmospheric Sciences concerning how to teach about new meteorological technology.
"It's quite likely there will be new classes." he said.
One of the new technologies in
teaching will be the combined use of video disks and a computer to simulate doppler radar. Eagleman said
"As long as streamlining does not cut collecting data in critical areas, everything will be fine." Eaglemann said. "They are already limited because of the distance between stations. If some of these are taken out, the further distance may mean more inaccurate data."
Because you love to live