SINCE 1839
Stop the presses
Today's Kansan is the last of the spring semester Summer Kansan begins June 4.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, MAY 2, 1986, VOL. 96, NO. 146 (USPS 650-640)
Mild Details page 3.
Accident not over, diplomat says
The Associated Press
MOSCOW — The Soviet Union told a nervous world yesterday that radiation from the nuclear plant disaster was decreasing, but one of its diplomats said other countries were sick because the accident was not over.
The Kremlin presented a calm face, rejecting offers of help from the United States and other countries, but an international bone marrow transplant organization said its offer to aid victims had been accepted.
Traditional Soviet May Day parades went on as usual, including one in Kiev, the Ukrainian city of 2.4 million that is 80 miles from the Chernobyl power plant where a reactor caught fire early this week. State television showed colorfully dressed folk dancers performing in Kiev.
The cause of the accident has not
been revealed, but Soviet radiation expert Pavel Ramazzei said yesterday, when asked whether it was a bomb that reactor core. "I suppose that, is so."
There were conflicting reports whether the reactor fire had been extinguished. U.S. intelligence sources said that it still raged and could burn for weeks.
Vitally Churkin, second secretary of the Soviet Embassy in Washington, testifying before a House of Representatives subcommittee yesterday, was asked whether the fire had been put out. "I don't know," he said. "The accident is not over with That. Is clear. We have not told other countries that everything is OK and they can relax."
The U.S. Agriculture Department said shifting winds were carrying a radioactive plume from the plant over the rich farmland of the western
Ukraine and into Romania, Hungary,
eastern Czechoslovakia and Austria.
Poland reported less fallout than in
previous days but said radioactivity
levels in water and soil remained
high.
A Soviet Foreign Ministry official in Red Square for the parade said a news conference would take place when more information became available, but he added he could not predict when that would be.
Officially, the toll is two dead and 197 injured, but U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz said the number was higher.
The Soviet Union's first public mention of any effect on other countries came yesterday in a report by the official news agency Tass on a meeting in New York between U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar and Yuri Dubinin, chief Soviet delegate to the United
Nations.
"The Soviet government has informed a group of European states of the accident and steps undertaken to liquidate its consequences, so that the governments of nationals that are involved in the necessary measures for securing the health of the population and to protect the environment." Tass said.
Meanwhile, more foreigners left the Ukraine to avoid potential health hazards. Their governments monitored the radioactivity and denounced the Soviets for not providing full information
The British Foreign Office warned travelers to avoid Moscow and Warsaw, the Polish capital, because it could have information about radiation levels.
Because of the wind shift, no new
See NUCLEAR, p. 5, col. 4
Evacuated students examined in London
United Press International
The students, who had been in the Kiev-Minsk area affected by the accident at the Chernyolb nuclear power plant, were examined by specialists who boarded the plane from Moscow with Geiger counters.
Airline officials said the 111 students — most of them British, but including a handful of Americans — were among 151 who were among aboard British Airways Flight 711 at London's Heathrow Airport.
Officials said some slight radioactivity was found in luggage aboard the aircraft.
Most of the other passengers were Britons who had not been in the affected zone but were asked by Britain to leave.
The students underwent examination in London even though they carried clean bills of health issued by Soviet doctors when they boarded the flight in Moscow. Each had been given a slip of paper with his chekizd zvorov — meaning healthy — before they left the Soviet Union.
Journalist in Space
John C. Hockenberry, reporter for National Public Radio in Chicago, answers questions from Patty Noland, Independence, Moe., graduate student and KANU-FM employee. Hockenberry is one of 20 regional candidates who were interviewed yesterday for the Journalist In Space Project.
Finalists selected tomorrow
Larry M. Hatteberg, associate news director for KAKE-TV in Wichita, is photographed by Gary Mason, associate professor of journalism. Hatteberg is one of 20 regional semifinalists in NASA's Journalist in Space Project. They were selected from more than 1,700 applicants.
Staff writer
By Sandra Crider
In Stauffer-Flint Hall, journalists were answering questions instead of asking them.
The tables were turned on some on the region's top journalists who visited the campus yesterday to parade with them. NASA's Journalist in Space Project.
Yesterday and today the nominees from Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma are heading to the grafhed, videoed and interviewed
The names of the five finalists who will be selected from this region probably will be announced tomorrow, said Rick Musser, the associate professor of journalism who is handling arrangements for the interviews.
Journalists in their dressed-for-
success best waived nervously for
their turn in the conference room
with eight panelists. Their
emergence was usually accompanied
by a smile and a sigh of relief,
For some, the nervousness came after the fact.
"For hours I'm speeding on adrenaline, then when the pressure's off I have to sit down," said John Waller for the Rocky Mountain News.
In spite of their nerves, most nominees said their interviews went
well. They were confident that their backgrounds had prepared them to be the first journalist in space.
For Meyer, it was a climb to the top of Mount Everest that made him stand out from the crowd.
"Without Everest, I didn't know how I could prove I was more qualified than anyone else." he said.
"No one ever forgets you if you do any interviews with them because you're in a wheelchair," he said. "It's easy to develop a relationship with people because they're curious."
Doing a series of stories on the climb taught him something that would be useful in space.
“It's the way I could take an experience that was so foreign to them and tell them what it was like,” Meyer said.
Being a paraplegic is not a hindrance to Hokkenberry, he said, but an asset in his work and in interviewing the Journalist in Space Project
His handicap would not pose problems in space because of the absence of gravity. He could move people into the deepest part of freedom. He said, evacuating the
Making an impression on the judges also was important for John Hockenberry, a reporter for National Public Radio in Chicago.
vehicle quickly in case of an emergency might be difficult, but no more so than on a commercial airliner.
Many of the nominees said they wanted to go on the space shuttle because of a necessary journalistic trait — curiosity.
"I'm just bubbling with curiosity about the whole thing," Hockenberry said.
different.
The love of space is apparent in children, many of whom want to be astronauts. Journalists are no
"You wonder when you're a little kid about being an astronaut." Hockenberry said. "Then one day you see a planet you're not going to be an astronaut."
"When something like this comes across the wire. you go for it."
His interest in international relations would be strengthened by a trip into space. Mever said.
"Astronauts have said that when you look at the earth from hundreds of miles away, you're proud to be
American but you think of yourself as an earthling." he said.
For Dan O'Rourke, reporter and anchor for television station KPCR in Houston, even his weak points may become strengths.
"I'll take advantage of both my strengths and my apparent weaknesses," he said, "such as my naive understanding of space."
Knowing relatively little about the technical aspects would be helpful in relating them to average people, O'Rourke said.
Cross-campus trek more than just a jaunt
The one thing all students seem to have in common is that, at some point in their college careers, they will walk all over this campus.
Allen Wiechert, director of facilities planning, said Wescoe's location was not a matter of chance.
By Russell Grav
So here it is - the student's guide to walking on campus.
Staff writer
"Most students in the first couple of years take liberal arts classes," Wiechert said.
Wescoe Hall, where the humanities are taught, is the main academic building on campus.
With a crowded auditorium and a busy Union, it will take at least three minutes just to get out of the building. This means pushing the 10 minutes allowed for interbuilding travel.
So at any given class change, most students are either leaving or going to Wescue.
However, there usually is a class in the auditorium, and it's always big. This immediately creates problems for the walking student.
It takes only about eight minutes to walk to Wescoe from Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
But if students are late to their
classes at Wescoe, maybe they can tell the teacher it's history's fault.
The 10-minute time limit between classes has been around for a long time, said David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs. And 10 minutes between classes seems like a reasonable amount of time for travel.
"It seems to me that 10 minutes between classes has been standard since I was an undergraduate here in the Dark Ages," he said.
The walk from Robinson Center to Wescose isn't that long — only seven minutes — but it's a nightmare.
way east of Haworth and Malot balls
The best route to the east side of Wescoe from Robinson is the stair-
After having a class that involves physical activity, there are 106 stairs to climb — usually at a run if the shower in Robinson takes too long.
To cap it off, the ground between the steps slopes up — the double whammy.
But students didn't always have to deal with such terrain — all the classes used to be concentrated along Jawhawk Boulevard.
Allen Field House is about 30 years old, Ambler said. Just after World War II, student housing for the married veterans returning to school was
Since then, Summerfield and Haworth halls, and Robinson have been added, he said. Learned Hall, home of the engineering program, was built in the 60s and Green Hall in 78.
on Sunnyside Drive.
The University decided in 1973 that it could handle up to 30,000 students without expanding its current academic building core, Wiechert said. Within the core, some buildings, such as Hoch Auditorium, will be used solely for academics to handle enrollment growth.
See WALKING, p. 5, col. 1
9Z policy reaffirmed by Council
By Lori Polson Staff writer
After a heated debate, the University Council reaffirmed its position yesterday that KU students who are academically dismissed from their schools should not be allowed to enroll in classes for one semester.
A policy, which would not allow dismissed students to enroll in classes under the classification of S2, is supported by the University Faculty Council.
"The main effects of this motion is to cover up a misuse of $v^2$, said Robert PRIauf, professor of physics counsellor and member of both councils.
The 92 classification was created to allow people to take classes for enjoyment and not to apply toward a degree.
Sandra Wick, administrative assistant, said the policy would be sent to all faculty in the University. If the members do not respond within 15 academic days, the policy recommendation will be given to Chancellor Gene A. Budig for approval.
Students who enroll under the classification of 92 do not enroll in any school of the University or the College of Liberal Arts. They also do degree programs in various college or high school transcripts to be admitted to the University.
Robert Cobb, executive vice chancellor, said the proposal should be considered seriously because of its effect on 92 students.
But the measure probably will not be approved until next fall, she said, because there are not 15 academic days left in this semester.
"I think this is a serious issue that has been floating around on the periphery of the University for several years," he said.
Many student members of the University Council said they did not approve of the recommendation.
"How do we maintain the threat which is implied in the probation if there is not some end?" said Dub Culligan, professor of public administration.
Gordon Woods, Ufysse senior,
said making students sit out for one
semester would not help solve the
academic problems of some
"It does nothing to help these people evaluate their alternatives," he said. The problem isn't that there aren't enough students who lead what up to students being 92".
Each school in the University has its own regulations concerning academic probation and dismissal.
The University Council also passed a recommendation to the vice chancellor for academic affairs asking for earlier identification of students with potential academic problems.
Elizabeth Banks, associate professor of classics and member of both councils, said the request would help point out possible academic problems and notify students sooner if they were in academic trouble.
The recommendation asks the separate schools in the University to look over their policies for advising students who are in grade trouble.