KUstrives for full access for handicapped
By DAVID SIMPSON
Staff Reporter
The student slowly moves his wheelchair into an elevator in the Kansas Union on his way to a meeting
He is alone in the elevator, and as he reaches for the sixth floor button, he finds that it is beyond his
The elevator automatically goes down to the ground floor and then back up to the fourth floor, before ascending again.
The student in the wheelchair asks the new rider to push the sixth floor button for him so he can finally get on.
This incident, as described by a KU student, is typical of problems faced by the handcapped.
The University of Kansas has been working since 1973 with groups such as the Architecturally Handicapped Committee to prevent such incidents and to make the campus more accessible to students with physical disabilities, according to Allen Weichert, director of Facilities Planning.
"WESCOE HALL was probably the first building in KU which worked with the architect to make sure the
design of the building meet the needs of the handicapped." Weichert said.
Wiechert said that prior to 1973, when Wiesco was built, few buildings on the campus were accessible to students with physical disabilities. He said KU had spent about $450,000 on curb cuts, grade level entrances to buildings, modified restrooms and new or improved buildings in buildings to make the campus more accessible.
Weichert, however, said KU now faced projects of greater expense, and said he had sent in a request for funds to improve the campus. The Kansas Legislature is scheduled to vote today on the Kansas Board of Regents budget, which includes funding for KU.
Weichert said that if funds were approved, the Lawrence campus will get $500.00 and the KU campus will get $296.00.
KU had requested $1.9 million for the Lawrence campus and $311,000 for the Med Center from the University.
"If funds for remodeling projects for Marvin and Lindley halls are also approved," Williams said, "the money could be used to remodel Snow Hall, the only remaining highly used building that is not ac-
ROGER WILLIAMS, a former member of the Architectureally Handicapped Committee, said
although much had been done since 1973, there were more projects that KU needed to undertake.
Williams said the funds could be used to make a main entrance accessible and other improvements on the building.
Dick Royse, a member of the Kansas Department of Vocational Rehabilitation Services Advisory Board, and a KU student, agreed that although the KU campus was one of the most accessible in state, the science department in Snow Hall was still a problem.
"BIOLOGY CLASSES" have a lab and students with mobile disabilities can't take the lab unless special arrangements are made," Roysa said. "The lab areas prevent students from going into the science."
"The entrance and other improvements would open up life science courses to students who are currently being screened out because of accessibility problems."
Tom Bissingham, president of the Students Concerned With Disabilities, who uses a wheelchair, said that he would like to see buildings on campus more accessible but that remodeling costs were often prohibitive.
"The group realizes the financial problems the administration has in obtaining funds for remodeling," he said. "I'd just as soon have a marginally accessible campus and an administration to make a tough move toward improvements than a totally accessible campus and an administration with a negative attitude."
Students who use wheelchairs can enter the outbuilding only through a service entrance in the rear of the building.
BISSING SAID the campus was moderately accessible to all but severely disabled students. He said Strong Hall was a good example of a building that easily palatable, but that took geneingety to get around in.
"The elevator is next to impossible for someone with a wheelchair unless he has strong force of his own."
are not many instances when I use my legs, but the elevator at Strone is one of them.
William Montgomery, acting director of Vocational Rehabilitation Services in Topeka, said KU had a high quality of education and the most courses available to students with disabilities. However, he said, Emporia State University was still ahead of KU in accessibility.
GERAL ISTILAREA, a blind graduate student from Hawaii, said KU gave a lot of individual help to students.
"KU has made a lot of improvements in the last three to five years to make it more accessible," Montgomery said. "However, Emporia has been able to maintain this for a longer period of time, and KU is still No. 2 in that category."
Toni McCalla, Topека sophomore, said that although buildings such as Marvin Hall and others
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
"Other schools that have established services often find it hard to change their programs for the needs of certain students," she said. "KU, because programs are complex, we here, can revise things quickly to meet the needs of certain students."
See ACCESS back nage
KANSAN
Wednesday, April 25, 1979
Vol. 89. No.138
The University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
Commission votes taxi fare increase See story page 10
"Daddu" Kina
Eunice Stallworth, Hartselie, Ala., junior gets a big hug from the Rev. Martin Luther
King Sr. King, known as "Daddy" King, spoke to more than 800 people last night in the Kansas Union Ballroom.
However, Malone said he was not upset with the court's verdict on the charge.
Hunter found guilty on 4 counts of rape
Mike Malone, Douglas County district attorney, said "The court was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt as to why Hunter killed him, so why he was found not guilty on the charge."
A 16-year-old Lawrence youth was found guilty of four counts of rape by Judge James Paddock of the Douglas County District Court yesterday afternoon.
The 13 charges of which Hunter was found guilty occurred enud of the University of Virginia.
Hunter's intent was at issue in the charge of which he was found not guilty. Paddock said the issue was whether Hunter's intent was to find a place to sleep or to commit a rape when he allegedly entered a house in the district block of Rhode Island Street on Dec. 22, 1978.
Paddock also found the youth, Charles Hunter, guilty of two attempted rapes and seven counts of aggravated burglary. Hunter was found not guilty on one of 14 counts he faced: that of aggravated burglary.
Staff Reporter
Paddock said any motions for a new trial would be heard at 1:30 p.m., May 9.
WESLEY NORWOOD. Hunter's court-
appointed attorney, and insist night that he would present a motion for a new trial next
The court will not sentence Hunter until appeals, if any, are heard.
"Some of the matters in the trial and some
the proba in Padlock's decision will be
decided."
The penalty for rape in Kansas is five years to life imprisonment; for aggravated burglary, one to 20 years imprisonment; for assault, rape, one to five years imprisonment.
Malone said he expected a pre-sentence evaluation of Hunter at one of the state's colleges.
Malone said the court would decide at the sentencing whether Hunter's sentences would be served concurrently or consecutively. He said the prosecution would ask the court that sentences involving different victims be served consecutively.
Bv DAVID EDDS
King's message touches audience
There was no plea-bargaining in the case, Malone said.
Staff Renorter
By pleading not guilty to the charges,
he preserved his right to appeal,
Maloney.
By ELLEN IWAMOTO
"his attorney approached us several times, but nothing was resolved as to please him."
Hunter is being held in the Douglas County jail pending the results of Norwood's trial.
"I have a message for you," he said. "Are you listening? Because if you don't listen, I can't get through to you. I've wasted time if you don't listen."
The voice of the Rev: Martin Luther King Sr. rang out over his audience, and as he leaned over the podium and spoke, his feet reached out and touched each person there.
King, 80, retired in August after preaching or 44 years at the Ebenezer Baptist Church Atlanta.
They listened.
"You look mighty good out there to me."
THE AUDIENCE rose and gave "Daddy"
King a standing ovation when he entered the room—a gray-haird, dignified man, who sat across the stage, and waved to the audience.
His message was one about misplaced emphasis. People are too concerned with another person's skin color or his material status and lack of advocate of civil rights and social reform.
More than 800 people crowded into the Kansas Union Ballroom last night to hear King speak about his life experiences. King arrived among tight security. Secret Service agents and KU police were stationed around the ballroom.
King also said a racist society still existed in America.
"My life has been a life filled with dif-
ferences," he said. "But Lord knew I
want to be."
he said. "I'm going to give you a message I think you ought to have. This comes from experience, because a young preacher would be afraid to do this."
"I wish I had a Ph.D. I would wear it with dignity," he said, "but don't you go around boasting about it, because you don't know much."
"I don't look that old. I look younger than I really am because I don't hate anybody. I just love them."
"Emphasis has been placed in the wrong place," he said. "The churches, schools, universities and maybe even America may be responsible for it.
In Mississippi, the Ku Klux Klan is starting up again, he said, but it is not going to get far. People will rise up and start tearing the Klan's clothes off, King said.
"Don't get hung up on it. Thank God for what you have."
"One of the things we get hung up on is color. Just because your skin is white, it may be an accident, or just because your skin is black, it may also be an accident.
King said he was thankful for being able to live.
ANOTHER MISPLACED emphasis occurs in education. Kina said.
He told a story about an educated man who could not fix his car that had broken down in the road. A man with no formal education came along and fixed it. King
King praised the young people of the country. They have nerve, he said and they protest. The older people are acared of jail, but the young ones are not, he said.
"There aren't going to be any slaves anymore," he said. "We've come from a long way back, but we got a long way to go. No man has it made. Go help others, even knowing that they hate you. Don't make yourself little."
"IM EVERY man's brother, no matter what the color of his skin, the texture of his hair, or the amount of money he has in the bank."
It doesn't matter how they treat me, I won't hate them."
King's son, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated April 4, 1968, and his youngest son, the Rev. A.D. Williams King, drowned in his swimming pool a year later. King's wife, the late Mrs. Alberta King, was shot and killed July 1974.
"IVE THOUGH myself out of death," King said. "My loved ones aren't dead, they still live. Martin Luther still lives, can't you hear him still preaching, still takin'呢?"
King said he did not fear that someone would kill him.
"This old body is going to die, but the real me inside is going to move on out," he said.
"I've got a job to do, but I'm too old to be doing what I'm doing," he said. "My strong voice, that's not me, that's God, and I thank him for it."
King's speech, part of the University Lecture series, was preceded by a performance of the Gospel Choir of the Ninth Street Missionary Baptist Church, B74 Ohio ST. Several dignitaries were in the audience, including King's grandson, Marcia Masterson, members of the Kansas Legislature and members of the Kansas Board of Regents.
Senate to consider fee increase
The transportation system is funded by $3.50 of the student privilege fee, which pays for student privileges such as the health services. This semester's privilege fee was $100.10.
Keith Mab, Student Senate treasurer, told the Student Senate executive committee last night that the bus system had not been budgeted enough money and that he was not sure from where the money would come to pay its bills.
The Student Senate will discuss raising the student privilege fee by $2.50 to compensate for a $20,000 debt in the case of an insolvency.
Maib said there were several options for the source or the extra money.
"We're counting on backlog, hidden figures and money coming in," he said. "We are considering floating a load on the Endowment Apples."
Co., which provides the buses for the service, would allow an extension of the payments.
He also said that Duane Ogle, owner of the Lawrence Bus
She also said she had discussed the possibility of a graduate student secession from the Senate with Mark Mikkelsen, executive coordinator of the Graduate Student Council.
MARGARET BERLIN, student body president, said after the meeting that the approval of the Senate, the administration and the Kansas Board of Regents would be needed to increase the privilege fee.
Mikkelsen proposed that Berlin set up a committee to study the feasibility of secession during the summer. Berlin said that she was considering this move and that she would rather form a committee than have a direct secession.
The Senate Student Services Committee also met last night to discuss budget recommendations for organizations.
The committee's recommendations and the groups' original requests were respectively.
MECCHA, 809 from $1.55, Douglas County Rape Victim
Support Services, 1,210 from $1.24, Kansas Defender Prison
THE COMMITTEE decided not to recommend funding for the Defender Project because it was not sure that the project would succeed.
The Kansas Defender Project is a group of 24 law students who help inmates at Lansing and Leavenworth State Prison.
Barry Shalikny, off-campus senator, said he would try to amend the Services funding bill to include the Project at
The committee also decided to send to the Senate recommendations that the Senate accept the use of Blue Cross/Blue Shield for student health insurance at KU. It also voted to take $400 from the Senate internal unallocated account for a bicycle air compressor pump and hose at the Satellite Union.
By JOHN LOGAN Staff Reporter
It is spring at the University of Kansas. The red trees are in full bloom. The front steps of Wescow Hall are crowded with students. And the rumors that Chancellor Archie R. Dykes is leaving KU are flying again.
Spring rumors fly about Dykes' exit
Last spring, reports had Dykes leaving Lawrence for either the University of Wisconsin or Washington, D.C. Dykes was supposed to announce his departure after commencement. But August arrived and Dykes was still here.
It's the same song, second verse this year. Only now Dykes is supposed to be considering vacant presidential positions at the University of Illinois, Michigan State University and the University of Michigan.
There is some element of truth to the rumors, however.
Dykes said that he also had been contacted by Michigan State officials about the presidency of that school but that he had turned them down also.
Dykes said last week he had been invited by Illinois officials to interview with them but had no intention of going. Although Dykes had spoken to trustees of the school while on a trip to Chicago last year, the team he was not interested in the job.
Dykes said he had been asked by
But Dykes said that he had never been contacted by the University of Michigan and that he was not interested in leaving KU.
The Lansing State Journal reported Friday that Dykes was one of three candidates for the presidency of Michigan State. The article said an anonymous source had listed Dykes as the frontrunner for that job.
Michigan State University officials to apply for the position but he had told them he was not interested.
"I don't have any interest in the presidency of Michigan State University," Dykes said. "I have no idea how my name got on the list."
Dykes said that a Michigan State official had visited him in Kansas City recently and that he had been called several times about the job. But Dykes he had told them each time that he was not interested in the position.
The rumor that Dykes was being considered for the presidency of the University of Michigan apparently was started by reporters from the University of Washington, who were checking possible candidates for that school's vacant presidency.
"We knew that Dykes had been interviewed at Illinois and Michigan colleges, and we wanted the reporter on the University of Michigan student newspaper." "We consider these school peer institutions and we pretty much know what would be up for the running at one point."
Dykes said that he had never been contacted about the Michigan job and that he had no interest in it. But a spite of telephone calls from curious Michigan men and women carried all through yesterday and Dykes said he was getting tired of the speculation.
Dykes said, "I wish to state publicly that I have no interest in serving any university other than the University of Kansas.
"I am proud to be part of the University of Kansas, now and in the future, and I look forward to continuing as chancellor as long as the Regents want me to serve and as long as I'm able to contribute."