Back on the beam
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Details, page 2
Tuesday
January 27, 1987
Vol. 97, No. 82
(USPS 650-640)
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Some hate new plan for travel
Staff writer
By CHRISTOPHER HINES Staff writer
The awarding of the University of Kansas' estimated $1.8 million annual travel business to a single Topeka faculty and Lawrence university uproach faculty and Lawrences
King Travel Agency of Topeka received the yearly contract Jan. 1 under a new state plan to save money by booking all hotel, airline and rental car reservations through a single company.
Previously, state employees traveling on business would personally choose a travel agent and then be reimbursed, but that changed when the state Legislature attempted to reduce expenses by offering its travel business to the lowest bidder.
However, some worry that the new centralized system will reduce the quality of service, increase expenses and prevent needed travel.
"I've heard of some people finding the same flight at the same time with another travel agency for less than half the price," said Thomas Armstrong, professor of physics and astronomy. "We have to travel if we want to stay in the mainstream. People isn't like us." We come to us — we have to go to them."
Chris Armstrong, president of Sunflower Travel Inc., 704 Massachusetts St., said the system was a danger to the small businessman and the Lawrence economy.
"If they have the business all sewn up, where's the incentive to get the best fare?" Armstrong said. "We can give much better personal service because we are in Lawrence."
David Stremming, executive vice president of King Travel, said the new system would allow the state to better control and budget its travel expenses with frequent printed reports coming from a single agency.
The reports will denote the cost of the trip, the airline and route used, the class of service and any discounts.
"For the first time ever, all the state's travel expenses will be thoroughly documented, giving us a chance to take advantage of high volume discounts offered by a wide range of companies." Stremming said. "All the records will be open to the state for examination, and our customers are welcome to check prices with other agencies. We encourage it."
Nick Roach, director of purchases for the state, said the state was looking for ways to save the taxpayer money and originally envisioned a Topeka-based central travel agency that would control reservations for the entire state, but the plan became too cumbersome.
Instead, the Legislature divided the state into 10 zones. Each zone has its own travel agency. Douglas County is one zone, but agencies in adjacent zones may bid to give the state a more competitive range of bids. Roach said.
The King agency reduced its usual 10 percent commission on airline tickets to 5 percent, outbidding all Douglas County travel agencies.
"We would have preferred an agency in Douglas County, but we didn't receive any acceptable bids," Roach said.
The state again is accepting bids for Douglas County contracts to give interested agencies another chance. But Roach said the new bids probably would have to match or beat the King agency's standing contract to be accepted. Bids are due at 2 p.m. Feb 16., and a pre-bid conference is being held at 10 a.m. tomorrow in Topeka.
Filipino rebels fail in coup attempt
From the Kansan wires
MANILA, Philippines — Hundreds of soldiers loyal to ousted leader Ferdinand Marcos stormed two air force bases and seized a television station early this morning in an attempted coup that quickly was suppressed by government soldiers, the government said.
The military said revolts were put down at Villamar Air Base located at the Manila airport and at the headquarters of the 15th air force strike wing at Sangley Point, 10 miles south of Villamar. The military Gelfoldi Pidel V. Ramos said one mutineer was killed and 16 were wounded at Villamar.
Two guards at the Greater Manila Arts television station were wounded by rebel gunfire when the network's headquarters was taken over in a simultaneous raid.
The official Philippine News Agency also reported that about 100 armed Marcos loyalists were disarmed and detained as they tried to break into Camp Aguinaldo, headquarters of the Defense Ministry and the armed forces general staff.
The agency called the action an "attempted coup" but Aquino's deputy press spokesman, Ben David, said the rebellious soldiers "did not try to grab the seat of power."
About 500 pro-government troops surrounded offices of Channel 7 television on the outskirts of Manila, blocked access roads and cut electricity after disdissident soldiers seized the building.
There was no report of any move against the presidential palace. Spokesman Teodoro Benigno issued a statement that said President Corazon Aquino wanted to assure the public she was in complete control.
He quoted her as saying the plot was apparently aimed at blocking yesterday's vote on a new constitution.
The entire armed forces were put on red alert, the maximum state of readiness, because of the attacks amid fresh reports that Marcos was returning from exile in Hawaii.
Witnesses said rebel soldiers mounted machine guns on the roof of the private television station's office. The mutineers wore red scarves and blue headbands emblazoned with the word Guardians, the name of a military fraternity linked to recent rumors.
The leader of the Guardians, Maj Eifren Araya, rushed to the station early yesterday to negotiate with the troops inside.
Ramos said the military was in control of the situation and supported the government of Aquino. He said that the mutineers were Marcos loyalists and that about 70 of them remained inside the television station.
The mutiny came one day after Aquino sent cabinet ministers to join 15,000 protesters marching on the presidential palace, defusing some of the wrath over the killing last week of 12 leftist demonstrators and proving her control over the military.
In Honolulu, where Marcos is now in exile, a spokesman said Marcos had left the house around noon yesterday to phone associates in Manila on a telephone line that was not monitored.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Laura Jehl said officials had been in touch with the embassy in Manila and believed the situation was under control.
Alan Hagman/KANSAN
Above: Vernon Brejaeh, associate professor of design, shapes glass that he has just taken out of a 3,000- degree Fahrenheit furnace. Left: Playboy magazine recently picked Brejaeh as one of the "coolest" professors in the United States.
Glassblowing teacher recognized as 'cool'
By JOSEPH REBELLO
Staff writer
Vernon Breicha is shortless and sweaty as he leans forward to slide his glassblower's pipe into a 3,000-degree Fahrenheit furnace.
The molten glass at the end of the pipe shimmers for a second before he pulls the pipe from the bowl. The melted glass in the glass it an intricate design.
“这 draws students the way it draws moths to a flame,” Brejcha said, “Look at that flame. It’s gorgeous!”
The work he does has attracted only 21 students this semester, but
it has brought Brejcha, associate professor of design, a measure of national attention.
In its January 1987 issue, Playboy magazine named Brejcha one of the nation's five "coolest" professors. A section in the issue's article about the nation's 40 best "party schools" identified him only as a Kansas professor who teaches a course in glassblowing.
Breicha, who teaches the only glassblowing course in Kansas, found the recognition an amusing irony.
"What's strange about it is that we get mentioned as one of the
cooiest courses in the United States," Brejcha said, although the extreme temperatures in the building produce a lot of sweat.
But Brejcha agreed that the course he taught provided his students with the most fun and the most satisfying way to learn.
"I think everybody on campus should want to do this," he said. "I don't know why the other schools even exist."
Brejcha teaches one advanced and two basic glassblowing courses in a stone barn on West Island. The students were fascinated by Brejcha's
teaching methods because he gave them the freedom to be inventive and because he was a great talker.
Alison Sheafer, Topea junior,
said Brejcha loved to punctuate
his lectures with such epigrams as
"Technique is cheap."
"He lets his personality show and that's what makes him cool," said Sheafer, who is majoring in glassblowing.
"He told us once that he used to be really clumsy while dancing and that glassblowing taught him how to dance," she said.
"He really dances with the glass when he's working. He just
swooshes across the floor with the glass, and sometimes when the design he's working on is really pretty, he even blows a kiss at it."
Beicha's students take turns bringing doughnuts to class, said Christine Haug, Lawrence sophomore. And every Thursday, Beicha shows on what other glass artists around the country are doing.
Every semester, Brejcha's new students are asked to participate in a glasslowers' ritual dating for the 16th-century.
Senate loan plan may help financial woes
See GLASS. p. 6. col. 3
By BENJAMIN HALL
Staff writer
KU students could have access to small, interest-free loans this semester if a Student Senate proposal pans out.
Although the plan is still in its preliminary form and details are sketchy, Student Body President Brady Stanton said he expected the program to be in operation by late March or early April. And some University officials share his optimism.
The proposal, which was part of the Cheers coalition platform, calls for
An account of $7,500 would finance the loans, and the Senate would make no loans if the account ran dry. Stanton said. The initial amount would be taken from the Senate's recorded account, which has about $113,000.
Stanton said a business or accounting graduate student would be hired half-time, at a cost of $6,500 a year, to interview applicants.
short-term loans of up to $100. Applicants would not need a co-signer, and loans would be given after a quick credit check and interview.
"Idle money is worthless. If you don't put it to use, you might as well burn it."
"It's sitting pretty," Stanton said.
The office of student financial aid now issues emergency short-term loans at 6 percent interest, Stanton said.
"But they don't advertise it, and they don't like to do it," he said.
Stanton said the Senate should take more responsibility for providing services to students.
Loan requirements would be more lenient under the Senate loan program. Stanton said. But no guidelines yet have been established.
Nor has the Senate determined collection methods, Stanton said. He said a collection agency could enforce loan repayment, although collection costs could cost one third of the loan amount.
Wes Williams, director of educational services, said collection and record-keeping costs might be just as small as $15 or $15, as for larger ones.
"Anytime you set up a loan program like this, it's going to cost money to run."
Lottery bill moves closer to becoming reality
See LOANS. n. 6, col. 3
Rv PAUL SCHRAG
Staff writer
TOPEKA — State legislators yesterday fine-tuned a bill intended to allow the Kansas lottery to begin on schedule and operate efficiently.
The House Committee on Federal and State Affairs passed about half of 12 proposed amendments to the lottery bill during an afternoon hearing. The result was a set of mostly technical changes that left the general structure of the lottery plan intact, said committee member State Rep. Tom Walker, R-Newton.
"The amendments clarified several things so that the bill says exactly what people think it
Committee members said the most significant decisions were the rejection of a proposal to limit lottery advertising expenditures to 4 percent of lottery revenue, the approval of a requirement that prizes of $5,000 or more be paid by the Kansas Department of Administration and the approval of a requirement that lottery odds be posted where lottery tickets are sold.
ought to say " Walker said
Today, the committee is expected to approve the amended bill and send it to the House of Representatives, committee members said. House is expected to vote on the bill next week.
"We're trying to provide the best lottery possible, since it was approved by the voters," said State Rep. Ed Rolfs, R-Junction "and we are hoping to bring the state of Kansas with a well-run lottery."
The lottery, which is scheduled to begin Sept.
1, is expected to generate $100 million a year.
Harley T. Duncan, secretary of the Kansas Department of Revenue, said he thought the committee's most important decision was its rejection of the amendment that would have limited lottery advertising to 4 percent of lottery revenue.
"There's lots of uncertainty about how much
this will actually cost," he said. "So to introduce this cap would be premature and would be detrimental at this time."
Walker said committee members who opposed the advertising limit thought its passage might delay the start of the lottery.
INSIDE
The committee passed the amendment requiring prizes of $5,000 or more to be paid by the Kansas Department of Administration because checks written by the department are subject to federal laws that allow automatic withholding of such prizes from people who owed money to the state. Walker said.
Swinging back
KU tennis player Tracy Treps, who won the Big Eight Conference No. 1 Singles Championship last year, is back in action after shoulder surgery. See page 94.
Out in space
KU students in the School of Engineering are designing several experiments that will be performed during one of the 1888 space shuttle missions. See story page 3.
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