Wednesday June 8,1988
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Vol. 98, No. 146 (USPS 650-640)
Frat may be charged for violating fire code
By Karen Boring
Kansan staff writer
City Prosecutor Jerry Little said yesterday he would file charges against the Triangle fraternity next week for failure to comply with city fire codes.
Jim McSain, Lawrence fire chief,
said in a videotaped press conference
on May 5 that after the April 26, 1987,
fire at the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity
house, the Lawrence Fire
Department developed a program to
bring all KU greek houses into compliance with the fire code.
The department inspected the 37 active Greek houses in June and July 1987, said Fire Marshal Rich Barr. The corporation board of each house was given a list of violations and was required to turn in plans of compliance, including a schedule for completion, by January 1988. A corporation board is a group of alumni that acts as landlord of the house.
The Triangle board turned in a statement to Barr, asserting that all required changes had been made. Little said. However, when the fire department called house on May 2, he found that none of the changes had been made.
The only course of action that the
fire department is interested in with the Triangle house is prosecution." Little said. "The next step is filing charges against that fraternity."
Ron Gast, Triangle corporation board president, said a new board, including himself, was elected in February and that the original plan of compliance had been submitted by the former board. Gast said he and other board members learned of the fire-code problems from the house's student officers after the May inspection.
The board is taking bids so it can make a new plan of compliance, Gast said. He anticipated no problems when meeting the December deadline.
Five other greek houses also are under investigation by the city prosecutor.
"We want to get costs in mind first," he said. "I think we will have a firm plan by this summer and have some of the work completed by September."
"They either have not submitted plans of compliance or the compliance time frame is not acceptable." Little said. "What I'm trying to do is to open the lines of communication."
The project involves obliterating grandfather clauses, under which older structures do not to have to comply with fire codes enacted after they were built, he said.
The Alpha Kappa Lambda andLambda Chi Alpha fraternities and theAlpha Chi Omega sorority have not come to agreement with the fire department on plans of compliance with the fire code, Little said. The
Tau Kappa Epsilon and Phi Kappa Tau fraternities also have been submitted for investigation.
Normally, the fire department inspects greek houses twice a year to ensure that existing fire equipment is working properly. Barr said. The present fire-code project, however, involves seeing that the existing equipment adequately complies with today's fire code.
"If they do not involve sprinkler systems, because sprinkler systems are a very large project from a structural standpoint, we are requiring those plans of compliance to be completed by December 1988." Barr said at the press conference. "If they involved sprinkler systems, then we extended that deadline by one year."
Dave Nieherwall/KANSAN
Give it a twirl
Terri Maness, Lawrence resident, twirls batons with glow sticks attached to the ends. Maness entertained golfers during the Moonshine Night Golf Tournament on Saturday night at the Orchards Executive Golf Course. The tournament was a benefit for the Achievement Place Boys' Home.
Water safe, tests indicate
Cancer-causing chemical no longer present at Lindley
By Monica Hayde
Kansan staff writer
For two weeks, signs were posted inside and outside Lindley Hall warning people not to drink the water in the building. On Friday, they were removed.
Warning notices were posted in the building on May 20 after state and University inspectors found high levels of a cancer-causing chemical in the water in Room 107. But the latest tests have shown that no health hazard exists, a University statement released Saturday said.
Inspectors from the Kansas Department of Health and
Bearse said it was unlikely the water in any other campus buildings was contaminated.
"Tests have not been run campus-wide, but they are in the process of being run," he said. "However, the water coming into Lindley Hall is of acceptable quality, so the building has all of acceptable quality going into all the other buildings."
Steve Cater, University environment, health and safety officer, said no one knew why such an elevated level of ethylene dichloride was in the water.
ever know where it came
Official reverses Hoch ruling
By Paula Messbarger
Kansan staff writer
Paul Markley, who is chief of the fire prevention division for the state fire marshal's office, said after his April inspection of Hoff that the 61-year-old building was too dangerous to use because of fire-code violations.
A state fire official who said in April that Hoch Auditorium might have to be closed because of fire hazards now says it is a safe building.
But Markley said Monday Hoch is safe and can be used by the University.
Introduction to hunger: Signing up sponsors for Emory's second annual 24-hour fast
Some protesters try and try again, especially at the University of Colorado at Boulder During a three-day span in April 1985, 478 people protesting a recruiting visit were arrested on campus. Later that year an additional 210 were arrested in one day. Before yet another CIA visit, in November 1986, campus police put up a fence to stem the protest. It didn't work: 300 people trampled the blockade and violence followed. Though only 16 protesters were arrested, as many as 75 people claim they were sprayed with Mace by
COLLEGE LIFE
Many more Emory students are involved with Atlanta's hunger problems. More than 300 volunteers work at least once a week in various service projects, including the staffing of local soup kitchens and shelters for the homeless, as part of Volunteer Emory, a satellite group of United Way that has been operating on campus for eight years. And about 100 Emory students joined about 9,000 marchers at a National Coalition for the Homeless rally in Atlanta in late February. "It's not that students were looking for something trendy to protest about. The issue is so prevalent," says Erika Wunderlich, a senior history major
Paul Marklev
'Hoch is safe as is. The
main concerns when inspecting a building; fire alarms, clear exits and emergency lighting that comes on all three. Hoff has on all three. Markley said.
state fire marshal's office
It's one thing to talk about those who do not have enough to eat and another to feel hunger for even a day. Two hundred forty Emory students elected to feel hunger in February during the second annual 24-hour fast sponsored by the Emory Coalition to Oppose Hunger and Homelessness (ECOHH), which raised thousands of dollars for the Atlanta Woman's Day Shelter. (Money is collected from sponsors who "adopt" fasters.) "Whether you're fasting or just sponsoring someone, it makes you think about people who don't have enough to eat," says Jane Marsh, a junior who participated in the fast.
police, others say they were beaten and at least two protesters sued the police. The CIA, however, had finally got the message. Last fall the agency conducted interviews off campus. No protesters showed up this time.
Nor does controversy stop at the career placement office. At the University of California, Santa Barbara, students protested against CIA officer George A. Chriton, a participant in the agency's officer-in-residence program who was appointed to teach a course on intelligence and national security. There were two major protests. Chriton received threats and his campus office was sprayed with graffiti. The political-science department faculty, saying it had not been fully consulted when Chriton was appointed to a two-year teaching position, voted to strip him of his teaching assignment and make him a "visiting fellow." The proposal mandates that Chriton may only guest-late in other professors' classes and may not recruit while serving on campus. That arrangement did not go far enough for 150 students who took over the chancellor's office in protest; 38 were arrested, but the university adopted the proposal and Chriton remained.
Homelessness
arrested during their protests, and there were loud demonstrations on at least a dozen campuses. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a February conflict was particularly rumbunctious. When a CIA recruiter checked into a local hotel room to hold planned interviews, protesters threw red-dye "blood" in front of his door. The recruiter promptly got into his car and ran down the highway to make sure he didn't return. The board of trustees labeled the incidents "violent, terrorist acts," and the university has promised disciplinary actions.
emergency rights are in operation.'
who serves as codirector of Volunteer Emory. "It's so obvious that you can't close your eyes to it."
Environment
The response surprised even the most ardent activists. Last year a consulting firm recommended that Duke develop a large portion of its nearby 8,300-acre Duke Forest and build, among other things, a convention center, condominiums and a shopping mall. Duke's Environmentally Concerned Students (ECOS) responded quickly. In four days the group garnered 3,000 student signatures on a petition denouncing it. It was thinking, "I'm going on here!" said Levin Nock, a graduate biomedical-engineering student who solicited signatures. "No one was arguing with us."
Action against the CIA has created reaction. While some Chapel Hill students fasted to protest the recruiter's visit, others fought back with a free pizza "eat-in" in favor. Students supporting recruiters interrupted an anti-CIA demonstration at Wisconsin last spring, creating a scene of dueling posters. And at Colby College in Maine, students who want recruiting continued are challenging their professors. Last November the faculty passed a resolution asking the board of trustees to ban CIA recruiters. Students responded with their own recommendation to get rid of the faculty proposal, claiming it denied them freedom of choice.
Duke's Save the Forest campaign, organized by acro of four student clubs with local support, continues. Activists lead nature walks through Duke Forest, which surrounds the campus. They point out that nearly 135,000 people visit the preserve each year and that Duke scientists conduct $1 million worth of research there annually, testing such environmental factors as acid-rain levels and air quality, which themselves help it importance to preserve that sanctuary," says Debbie Robertson, a senior history major who heads a student group that takes underprivileged city children for outings in the forest.
The activists helped force are-evaluation of the proposal. Duke officials, who did not specifically endorse the proposal when it
NEWSWEEK ON CAMPUS 29
He said not having a sprinkler system would the state would not permit a necessary access hole.
Hoch Auditorium once was used as the home court for the Jayhawks basketball team until Allen Field House was dedicated in 1955. Hoch has had a long history of safety and success. In 2014, University's decision to build a new performing arts center within the next few years.
"There is an emergency lighting system, and its been there for at least 15 years," he said. "The problem was, no one asked the right person."
meet the lack of a sprite- area. Mark- be closed corrected the r. However, city officials formed there for at Hoch. n, that con- emergency
larkley said. are in opera-
James Modig, campus director of facilities planning, said his office and a committee appointed by Judith Ramaley, executive vice chancellor, are reviewing possibilities for using Hoch once the new performing arts building is completed. Modig said some suggestions were offices, classrooms or an addition to the new science library.
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MAY 1988
"The sprinklers are there to protect the buildings," he said. "We care about the buildings, but our main concern is getting the people out."
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Tom Anderson, director of facilities operations, said the problem with the original inspection probably was a result of a KU Facilities and Operations employee who was sent with Markley on the inspection. Anderson said it was common practice for KU employees to assist the fire marshals during inspections. He said the employee probably was not familiar with Hoch and its lighting system.
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"We're looking for the general needs of the campus." Modig said.
As for the near future, not much will be done to Hoch, he said. Some of the stonework will be repaired this year under the fiscal year 1988 budget. But there will be no projects for the fiscal year of 1989 because the Board of Regents did not approve the requests.
Dukakis finishes with nomination
The Associated Press
Michael Dukakis clinched the Democratic presidential nomination with a four-state flourish Tuesday night and forecast a "golden opportunity" to win the White House in 1988. Republican George Bush labeled himself the underdog heading into the fall campaign but said, "I'm fighting back."
Dukakis dominated Jesse Jackson coast to coast on the final night of a grueling Democratic primary marathon. He was winning primaries in New Jersey, Montana, New Mexico and California by margins of 2-to-1 or more.
The three-term Massachusetts governor began the night needing about 150 delegates to achieve a mathematical lock on the nomination. He was winning more than 131 in New Jersey, Montana and New Mexico combined, and early returns from California showed him ahead for more than 200 delegates.
Dukakis emerged as the winner of the Democratic primary marathon and owner of a lead over Bush in the nationwide public opinion polls. But Bush, who wrapped up the GOP nomination six weeks ago, holds formidable Electoral College advantage over the last Republicans have won four of the last five presidential elections.
Thus, the prospect is for a close general election, and Bush and Dukakis seemed to share an eagerness to begin.
"My friends, what a golden opportunity this is for us," Dukakis said as he savored his nominating triumph in a speech in California. He pledged to use his campaign to stand up for factory workers thrown out of their jobs with no warning, to ease the burden of families hit by medical bills and to "share the rage" of those living in neighborhoods threatened by drugs.
"Every day between now and November, the American people will want to hear how we intend to build a strong and vibrant future for our country," he said. "They aren't interested in slashing attacks: They want to judge our positive ideas for change."
Bush posted uncontested primary victories in all four states and said, "I think I can overcome this deficit (in the polls)," he said.
In a television interview, he likened Dukakis to Walter Mondale, the landslide Democratic loser in 1984, for refusing to rule out a tax increase. "I'll rule it out," Bush said in an interview with CBS, and rely on a spending freeze to reduce the deficit.
He decried the "gloom and doom" that he said was emanating from the Democrats and said the polls would change as he began to establish his own political identity. "When we get through in the fall talking about opportunity and peace and numbers of jobs and how much better things are and what I'll do to keep it that way, I think I can overcome that deficit," be said.