AREA
County commissioners say the South Lawrence Trafficway project is still on track. PAGE 3A
FEATURES
The Lied Center announces the concerts scheduled for the 1995-96 season. PAGE 6A
BREEZY High 70° Low 41° Weather: Page 2A
THE UNIVER KAN
KS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
TOPEKA, KS 66612
VOL.104,NO.143
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 1995
(USPS 650-640)
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
NEWS:864-4810
Brian Vandenvliet / KANSAN
Laura Crow, Lawrence graduate, plays with her 11-month-old daughter, Dae Hong, outside Stouffer Place Apartments. Crow is one of almost 1,000 residents who live at Stouffer Place. "Stouffer Place is good because it is very family oriented," she said.
NEIGHBORHOOD LIFE
STOUFFER PLACE OFFERS AFFORDABLE FAMILY ENVIRONMENT
By Brian Vandervilet Kansan staff writer
Juan Carlos Lopez, Bogota, Colombia, graduate student, fills his plate with food at a neighborhood picnic at Stouffer Place Apartments. He and his wife, Adriana, talk with friends as their 1-year-old son plays with other children.
Four years ago, the couple left Bogota so Lopez could earn a master's degree. Since then, the 296 apartments north of 19th Street and south of Allen Field House have become more than brick buildings — they have become home.
"That we are away from South America makes it sometimes difficult," Lopez said. "The fact that we share values and culture with others here, that's a good help."
The history of Stouffer Place began in 1957 when 11 buildings were constructed and made available for student families. The University's goal had been to provide affordable housing for veterans with families returning to school, said Fred McElheneie, assistant director of student housing.
"In Lawrence, there had been no place for them to live that was reasonable," he said. "It was done in response to a whole generation of people who were coming back to school."
Laura Crow, Lawrence graduate student, and her husband have both returned to school. With the added expense of an 11-month-old daughter, the family needed affordable housing. The two-bedroom apartment costs $241 a month.
Crow said that living on campus allowed her to better manage her time. In addition, Stouffer Place has been a good environment for raising her child, she said.
"It isn't luxury by any means, but it's not too bad," she said. "Stouffer Place is good because it is very family-oriented. There are lots and lots of kids and people from different countries. I feel like it's a lot safer than the average complex. You just don't hear of break-ins."
One year ago, Jue Wang, Kaifeng, China, graduate student, moved into a one-bedroom apartment at Stouffer Place. He said that he, his wife and their 6-year-old daughter probably could use more space. But for now, it is adequate.
He said that because many Asians lived at Stouffer Place, the family's transition to KU had been easier. His wife, Liming Xiang, said she liked being able to garden with friends and talk in her own language.
Brian Vandervliet / KANSAN
Wang said the family had lived briefly at an apartment on 25th Street.
"The rent was cheap, but the environment was really awful," he said. "We feel quite comfortable to be here. It is pretty ideal for us."
Juan Carlos Lopez, Lawrence graduate student, picnics with relatives and friends at Stouffer Place Apartments. He said that there was a sense of community among the families at Stouffer Place.
Brian Vandervliet / KANSAN
Stouffer Place residents Liming Xiang, left, and Jue Wang eat dinner with their 6-year-old daughter, Xiaodan Wang, in their one-bedroom apartment.
Bombing influences Jayhawks
Kansas tennis teams bring back memories of triumph and tragedy from Oklahoma
By Robert Moczydlowsky Kansan sportswriter
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Kansas tennis teams spent three days in the shadow of the worst terrorist attack in United States history, trying desperately to remain focused on the Big Eight crown.
Between matches they caught a firsthand glimpse of the emotions and effects behind the headlines and the sound bites. When they returned to Lawrence on Sunday night, they brought two drastically different memories with them. One of triumph and achievement, the other of tragedy and loss.
5:15 p.m. Thursday: After a four hour drive, the women's team reaches the outskirts of Oklahoma City. The radio is buzzing with the announcement that the FBI has released composite sketches of two bombing suspects. Regular radio programming is dumped in favor of bomb-related chatter. Outside of the two rented vans, traffic on I-35 speeds by.
Suddenly, after a long curve in the highway, downtown is visible.
Thousands of orange cones line the highway. Every exit is closed. On top of every overpass sits a highway patrol car, lights flashing.
On the streets below, there is no traffic.
"Please, please, please, stay out of downtown," a radio newsman begs. "You can help by sending food and donations. The best thing for everyone to do right now is stay home."
the as vans speed on, necks crane and eyes strain — but the building is not visible.
Finally, five miles from downtown, the vans exit the highway. The team checks into its hotel, then rushes off for practice. For forty-five minutes, the devastated building is forgotten.
8:45 p.m. Thursday; "ER" is about to come on, and most of the team has gathered to watch.
As the opening credits of "ER" start to roll, the show is interrupted by another news brief. The death toll has risen, and it is announced that President Clinton will visit Sunday.
The team watches in silence, interrupted only by the ringing phone. It is women's coach Chuck Merzbacher, reminding the team of its 7 a.m. wakeup.
"You just can't escape it," sophomore Amy Trytek says. "Every channel, every station. It's unbelievable. It doesn't feel like the building is only five miles away."
9 a.m. Friday: As the tournament's No. 1 seed, Kansas draws the nonscholarship Missouri Tigers in the first round. It takes just 48 minutes to secure a 6-0 victory.
Freshman Christie Sim returns to the Jayhawk lineup for the first time after sitting out the conference season with a stress fracture.
After the match, Merzbacher agonizes about his lineup.
"I know if I ask Christie how she felt, she'll say she's fine," he says. "But that's because she wants to play. Do you play what you think is your best lineup, even though one player hasn't played for a month?"
1:30 p.m. Friday: The men's team, which had a first round bye, is rushing down the interstate toward Oklahoma City.
Chris Garcia, men's tennis Sports Information Director, is behind the wheel and senior Manny Ortiz is seated beside him. They are singing Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" in a strange, country western-
See OKLAHOMA, Page 5A
Terrorism stereotypes hurt Muslims
Oklahoma bombing prompts false assumptions of guilt
By Eduardo A. Molina Kansan staff writer
Minutes after the Oklahoma City bombing, many assumed that Islamic groups were involved in the crime. Later the assumption was proved false, but the harm already had been done to the Muslim community.
Mosques all across the United States, including those
in topeka and Kansas City, received bomb threats.
The Lawrence Muslim community didn't
receive any threats, but stereotyping the group as terrorists still upsets some Muslims in Lawrence.
"Violence is prohibited in Islam," said Rashid Malik, Lawrence graduate student, who is an American Muslim. "The Koran says that if you kill one human being, you have killed the whole human kind. So, it hurts our feelings when a so-called media expert stereotyped us as 'violence."
Malik said that accusing Muslims of the bombing has misguided U.S. public opinion.
"The bombing was an evil action," he said. "Labeling people corrupts the minds of people and public officials, and it does not help to find a proper solution."
Baha Safadi, chairman of the board of directors of the Islamic Center of Lawrence, said he agreed with Malik that Muslims must not be treated differently because of the actions of some individuals.
"We don't know what to do to prove that we are a peaceful community."
Hadi Alhasani president of the Muslim Student Association
"People brand our religion as extremist, but we just worship God," he said. "We are taught peace, love and kindness. You cannot brand the whole population because of the actions of some people."
Felix Moos, professor of anthropology, has studied terrorist and fundamentalist movements. Fundamentalism was not only a problem for Islam, he said, but also for other religions.
"You find fundamentalism in all religions," he said. "It is true for Christianity. Some movements such as Christian Identity were linked to the assassination of a Denver talk show host. Every religion has fundamentalist groups, and they are as radical as the Islamic groups are."
Moos said that it seemed easy to make a connection between the Oklahoma City bombing and Islamic fundamentalist groups.
"Violence caused by Islamic groups is common in the Middle East," Moos said. "We are mentally conditioned to think that Islamic groups could do these kind of bombings. But we are not mentally conditioned to think that Americans could do it."
Hadi Alhassani, Najran, Yemen, senior and president of the Muslim Student Association, said that Muslims had to work harder to avoid stereotypes.
"We don't know what to do to prove that we are a peaceful community," he said. "Crime, divorce and child abuse rates are almost nonexistent in the American-Muslim community. Stereotyping just results in hate crimes."
Remote control badger used for rodent research
Kansas shortstop Joe DeMarco hasn't had any trouble changing from a back-up infielder to a Jayhawk starter this season.
By Robert Allen
Page 18
Kansan staff writer
He's the Terminator on four legs. Part animal, part car, he strikes terror into the hearts of rodents.
The badger's skull had been crushed and was useless for research, so Swearing stored the body in a freezer for later use.
"My son had been deer hunting," he said. "This thing had been killed in the road where he was hunting."
Robo-badger began as a normal badger in the wild. His body was found next to a road, said Tom Swearingen, director of exhibits at the Natural History Museum.
He's robo-badger
Robo-badger was the idea of Dan Blumstein, post-doctoral student in systematics in ecology. Originally, Blumstein wanted to build a model of a badger that could be used to study how animals react to predators. He was having trouble creating a paper-mache badger and decided to use a stuffed one.
"I thought, maybe I can pawn this badger off on Dan," he said. "For this kind of situation, it doesn't have to be perfect."
When Swearingen learned that Blumstein wanted to build a model badger, he notified Blumstein.
Bhumstein got the idea for robo-badger from other people who used stuffed wildlife for research.
"Rather than having a tame badger, which is difficult to do, we got a stuffed one," he said.
Blumstein is researching how marmots, which are large ground-dwelling squirrels, communicate with each other. A groundshog is an example of a marmot.
Badgers are predators that feed on animals such as marmots, squirrels, prairie dogs or anything living in holes.
"They're not the fastest animal in the world, but when they start going after
you and digging you out, you're at their mercy," Swearingen said.
"I'm asking the question, do different species have different words for different predators," he said. "Do marmots have different words for different predators?"
Tom Swearingen,
director of exhibits
at the Natural History
Museum, and
Dan Blumstein,
post-doctoral
student in systematics
and ecology,
finish assembling
the robo-badger.
Kathleen Driscoll /
KANAN
Blumstein will use robo-badger to study communication patterns in marmots.
Marmots frequently communicate by
whistling, Blumstein said. He hopes to discover whether they use different whistles for badgers than for other predators.
After stuffing the badger, Blumstein and Swearingen mounted it on the chassis of a radio-controlled car. Blumstein plans to take robo-badger into the wild and drive it around, scaring marmots
See BADGER, Page 3A