Wednesday July 6,1988
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Vol. 98, No. 150 (USPS 650-640)
Meese to quit
The Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Attorney General Edwin Meese III announced yesterday that he will resign in late July or early August, saying the conclusion without indictment of a 14-month-long independent counsel's investigation into his conduct makes it clear "there is no basis for criminal proceedings."
"I have determined over the past few weeks it would be advantageous for me to return to private life," he said, "do so without a cloud over his head."
Earlier in the day, independent counsel James McKay filed a sealed, 830-page report with a special panel of appellate judges in Washington which marked the conclusion of an investigation into Meese's ties with the scandal-plagued Wedtech Corp., an Iraqi pipeline project and two other enterprises.
Stringing along
In filing the report, McKay signaled that he did not have sufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges against Meese. But the report could have become the basis for a separate, administrative review of Meese's fitness for office.
Meese said that he had not seen the report but he was grateful that no indictment was brought against him.
He said he could not bring himself to resign earlier, because "to allow myself to be hounded out of office . . . would undermine the system."
Mark Murphy, Sacramento, Calif., restrings tennis raquets at Robinson Center Monday during the Mainline Classic Tennis Tournament. Murphy fell from the competition early but plans to compete in Springfield, Mo. next week. Murphy restrings raquets to pay for his travel expenses.
He said he had informed the president of his decision and that there had been no discussion of a successor.
He had said previously that he might return to private life once the investigation was concluded, and he said Tuesday he was resigning to "vigorously pursue" his private goals.
Officer charged with battery gets continuance
By a Kansan reporter
A Bonner Springs police officer who was charged with two counts of misdemeanor battery against two University of Kansas police officers, was granted a continuance yesterday by Douglas County District Court Judge Jeane Shepherd. The hearing is scheduled for July 19.
W. 15th St. to answer a disorderly conduct complaint by an assistant manager at the complex.
According to court records, police officer Carolyn Burns struck officers Lonnie Kendall and Tim Cochran June 10 after she was taken into custody. Officers were called to the Jayhawker Towers Apartments, 1603
The police found Burns outside the complex, drinking a beer and verbally abusing the assistant manager. Wellington arrived, she verbally bombed them.
The officers discovered Burns had an outstanding traffic ticket. They then took her into custody, after which she struck both officers in the mouth. Kendall and Cochran were treated for cuts and bruises and were released from Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
frank Robertson, Bonner Springs police chief, suspended Burns from the department with pay until an internal investigation can be completed. Robertson said yesterday that the investigation was almost complete.
Burns pleaded not guilty to the charges at her arraignment June 16 and was released on her own recognition in lieu of $1,000 bond. District Court Judge Michael Malone ordered Burns to have no contact with Kendall and Cochran and to consume no alcohol.
Ramaley: Oriental trip will improve exchange
By Michael Shunk
Kansan staff writer
Great strides have been made toward expanding KU's foreign exchange program and organizing international alumni chapters, Judith Ramaley, executive vice chancellor, said yesterday after her return from a three-week trip to China and Japan.
Ramaley said that on her trip, she pressed for more formal exchange programs with universities in the Far East. Three universities in China now exchange students with KU.
"The advantage of a formal exchange program is that a certain number of exchanges are agreed to in advance," she said. "With that type of a program, there is also a deeper level of commitment between the two universities. Scholarly interests can be greatly promoted by the exchange of these institutions."
Ramaley said that KU usually had about three students studying in China every year. She also promoted faculty exchanges.
During the trip, she was accompanied by George Woodyard, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs. She also traveled with Daniel Bays and Cameron Hurst, professors of history.
"It don't like to travel in a country when I don't understand the language and the customs," she said. "It's so easy to misunderstand people."
However, she said that her traveling companions provided her with almost everything she needed to know about the places they visited. And she almost always had a translation with her.
Ramaley said that she went to Hong Kong, where she visited the University of Hong Kong to inquire about a possible exchange program with KU.
She said that Hong Kong was a good base of operation for some of KU's scholars, but that the agreement was not as far along as some other proposed programs.
"We are in an exploratory phase," she said.
The highlight of her trip, she said,
occurred in Tokyo, where she was
to attend the first international
KU alumni chapter meeting.
Ramaley said that was an important step in KU's foreign relations, because those alumni were interested in preparing foreign students to attend KU. And they also were willing to help KU students who travel abroad adjust to the country they visit.
She said that about 400 KU alumni lived in Japan, and about 45 came to the meeting.
Ramaley was surprised at the KU spirit that was displayed in the foreign countries.
"It was an extrordinary reaction," she said. "Many Japanese alumni were still excited about KU even though they studied here in the fifties."
She said they concluded the meeting with a rousing rendition of the Rock Chalk chant.
Although drastic changes are not expected in KU's foreign exchange program, Ramaley said the doors were now more open.
"We won't be tripling our enrollments, but we are providing more options for students," she said.
Because of a rigid schedule, Ramaley said that she was left little time for sightseeing. However, she was able to visit the Yangtze River and the Great Wall of China.
"It (the wall) is everything you might think it is, and more," she said.
She also enjoyed seeing a baseball game in Tokyo.
Ramaley hopes to start international alumni chapters in other countries also, such as Korea and Costa Rica.
"We are a very international campus," she said, "and those far-flung alumni provide such useful input and help."
Embezzler's parole nears end with KU still short $254,000
Kansan staff writer
Rv Lisa Sheikh
Steve McMurry, the former coordinator of the KU bus system who was imprisoned for embezzling more than $257,000 from the bus system, goes off parole Friday. His repayments to the University so far total $2,580, KU records show.
McMurry's 1984 parole agreement stated that he would repay the University $257,051, which he embezzled between 1978 and 1982 while working as a non-salaried volunteer for the campus bus system. The agreement said the resitution would be made in monthly payments with the amount depending on his income.
Larry Cavnagh, McMurry's Colorado parole officer, said yesterday that once McMurry was off parole, he would not be responsible for restitution payments as stimulated by the parole agreement.
However, Mary Prewitt, KU's assistant general counsel, said a civil suit filed by the University against McMurry was still pending. She said the University now would pursue the civil judgment.
then finding any assets he might have to use toward restitution. She said the University had not done that previously because it had not been necessary while McMurry was making payments as part of the parole agreement.
Prewitt said that would consist of filing a certified copy of the judgment in Colorado, where McMurray lives, and
McMurry could not be reached for comment.
He was arrested in September 1982 and charged with five counts of felony theft of property. He was convicted in Douglas County District Court in June 1983 and sentenced to four consecutive two- to five-year prison terms and another that would run concurrently with the others.
His sentence was modified in November 1983 to five concurrent two- to five-year terms. He was released on parole after spending 17 months in the Kansas State Penitentiary. On Friday, he will have completed his maximum sentence, said Tony Ramos of the Kansas Department of Corrections.
Pewitt said she could not predict what would happen in the case once McMurry was discharged from parole.
See MONEY, p. 2, col. 1
Rapid Soviet changes unlikely, KU profs say
Bv leff Pitcher
Kansan staff writer
The Communist Party national conference probably won't have any immediate effects on the Soviet Union, two KU political science professors concurred yesterday.
The national conference, the first since 1941, was called by party General Secretary Mikhail S. Gorbachev to chart political reforms and to reassess the role of the Communist Party, which began June 28 July 1965.
The Communist Party controls most aspects of life in the Soviet Union. Gorbachev's reforms, including more freedom of the press and freedom of speech, are aimed at opening up the historically closed society there, but they have met with resistance within the party.
Although the conference made several resolutions, including limiting party officials to 10 years in office and making the distribution of food a top priority, the two professors remain skeptical.
"I predict continuing turmail in the near future," said Roy Laird, professor of political science, who teaches courses in Soviet politics.
"can sum it up by quoting Gorbachev," Laird said. "If we don't reform the political system, all our beginnings, the whole massive task we've started, will grind to a halt."
Jaroslaw Piekalkiewicz, professor of political science, who teaches courses on totalitarian governments, said any predicted changes in the Soviet Union would take a long time.
The party congress, which meets every five years, debates and passes rules for the party and formulates the government's policy for the next five years.
"One has to wait for the implementation," he said. "That won't happen."
"In many ways, the conference is an expression of changes that have already taken place." Piekalkiewicz said.
Laird is pessimistic.
"It's going to take years for any big changes," he said. "The changes can't be done in a vacuum."
Piekalkiewicz said he would decide after the laws are passed whether changes would occur.
"The odds are against him to gain power," Laird said. "Eighteen million bureaucrats are against it. The people are apathetic, and only the intellectuals support him."
Laird and Piekalkiewicz interpreted Gorbachev's call for a strong presidency in different ways.
"Maybe we're getting too excited about reform," he said.
Piekalkiewicz said if Gorbachev survived, he might be the country's first president.
"I think he has the support of the people, but that doesn't really matter in the Soviet Union," he said.
"If he can effect a massive purge, then he has power," Piekalkiewicz said. "He proposed a purge, but it was toned down."
Both professors said they thought there was a chance that Gorbachev might be ousted from office.
Right now, there are too many conservatives in power from the Brezheny era for Gorbachev to have much power, he said.
"Either he'll be ousted, or, because he's a true politician . . . he'll have to back off and compromise," Laird said.
Laird said Gorbachev won't get his way.
"It's going to be fascinating to watch."
High and slack
Philip Belknap, alias Flip Philip, entertains his audience at Independence Days. Belknap, a slack-rope walker from Minnesota, has been featured in the festival for the past several years.
Classified employees want higher salaries
By Paula Messbarger
Kansan staff writer
The Executive Council for Classified Employees at the University of Kansas voted June 29 that a job reclassification study should have a higher priority than the Margin of Excellence.
The council passed a resolution opposing additional funding for the Margin of Excellence until sufficient funding is given to the classified employees' job reclassification study.
The Classified Senate will vote on the resolution in September.
The Margin of Excellence is a Board of Regents-sponsored program to generate financing for the seven Regents institutions during the next three years.
The classified senate and executive council represent about 1,200 KU employees in administrative and professional positions, clerical, paraprofessional, skilled crafts and servicemen and protection. They are state civil service employees which make up about 1,650 KU employees. About 500 classified employees are represented by the Public Service Employees Union.
Brothers said a program the state began four years ago to re-evaluate the salaries of all classified positions had been put on hold and neglected.
"It is an inequality we're tired of tolerating." Brothers said.
Employee Obligations
The unclassified employees
include the faculty and professional
non-faculty workers.
Sgt. John Brothers, a KU police officer and president of the executive council, said yesterday that the resolution restated the disparity in pay and benefits between the classified and the unclassified employees.
been put on for this lagger.
The job reclassification study was
This year under the Margin of Excellence, the Kansas Legislature passed pay and benefits raises for Regents faculty and unclassified employees that ranged from 7.5 to 10.5 percent, but the classified employees received less than a 6 percent increase.
browsers said that he didn't think he should get the same salary as a faculty member but that his percentage increase and benefits should be equal.
a three-phase study that began in the Kansas Legislature in 1986. Phase One was a reclassification of clerical employees, which resulted in a salary increase. Phase Two, a reclassification of machine operators, and phase Three, service and protection workers, were evaluated the following year.
"We all work together to make the University the best it can be," he said. "We all deserve equal compensation and benefits."
Phase Two was implemented in 1987, but Gov. Mike Hayden decided to implement the third phase and other studies over five years.
The 1988 Legislature appropriated a small percentage of the money necessary to continue the study, but Hayden vetoed it.
Brothers said that the senate did not fault Chancellor Gene A. Budig but that it did fault the Board of Regents, the governor and the Legislature.
"If there is not enough money for us, why was there enough to dump millions of dollars into the faculty, a group that averages $36,000 (a year), and ignore those who work in sustenance jobs?" Brothers said.
Brothers said that in some cases,
See CLASS, p. 2, col. 1