Tuesday March 8,1988
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Vol. 98, No. 112 (USPS 650-640)
The Ku Klux Klan is heard at KU
About 2,500 people remained outside Hoch during the forum. Many were disappointed when only 2,000 were allowed to enter
After the forum, Kansas Highway Patrol officers escorted members of the Ku Klux Klan onto a University bus.
2,500 fill grounds for rally
By Kathleen Faddis and Christine Martin
Kansan staff writers
Shadows of protestors' signs danced on the stone front of Hoch Auditorium last night, silhouetted by the bright television lights.
A crowd of more than 2,500 people, some carrying signs that read, "The KKK is coming to town — hold onto your freedom," and chanting "Go Girl" for him. He was back in Hoch Auditorium last night to protest the Ku Klux Klan on campus.
People started arriving in front of Hoch about 6:30 p.m., and within 30 minutes people stood on the sidewalks and the muddy flowerbed in front of Hoch and overflowed onto Jayhawk Boulevard.
The rally's organizers, Students and Community Against Oppression and Racism, began speaking at 7 p.m. They used the raised flowerbed as their platform.
Dewayne Hickman, Kansas' City, Kan., senior, and a spokesman for the group, encouraged the crowd not to enter the auditorium. He told the crowd, "Don't pass through those doors; pass through the doors of life."
A protestor read the names of people killed by racial violence in the United States, including two KU students in 1970.
A tearful Sam Adams, associate professor of journalism, then spoke before the group.
"I tried to keep quiet," he said. "I tried not to recall."
But then Adams told of a time 20 years ago when he and his wife were threatened by Klansmen in the South.
"God was with me, and I did not die," Adams said. "Tonight we are speaking up against death."
Adams led a peaceful crowd, who clasped hands and sang, "We Shall Overcome."
At 7:16 p.m. the doors of Hoch opened to let the crowd in to the forum as a group of protesters chanted, "Don't go in."
About five minutes after doors opened, all the available seats were filled. The doors were then closed and remained closed for the rest of the evening.
The official demonstration ended at 8 p.m., and the crowd was encouraged to attend the prayer vigil at the First Regular Missionary Baptist Church. 1646 Vermont St.
At 8:15 p.m., several angry protesters managed to open the middle door of Hoch after breaking a glass pane. Police kept the crowd at bay, and no one got into the auditorium. No one was injured.
Jason Krakow, student body president, asked the crowd to leave at 8:55 p.m.
"We've had our peaceful protest, and they closed the doors to eliminate any anger or conflict," Krakow said. "It's best to disperse now."
After more than an hour, the group began marching down Jayhawk Boulevard, breaking away from the crowd. Their voices droned in time to the beat of the drum.
Earlier in the evening, a group of American Indians from Haskell Indian Junior College joined the crowd, chanting and beating drums. The group of about 150 was organized by Terry Dribble, head of the Haskell Intertribal Club.
Another group that joined the protest was from the St. Lawrence Catholic Center, 1631 Crescent Road. The Rev. Vince Krische, director of
the center, said he was pleased with the turnout.
The Rev. Nelson Thompson, executive director of the Martin Luther King Urban Center in Kansas City, Kan., and president of the Kansas chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said that he was in favor of the protest but that the Klan should not have been invited to the University of Kansas.
"There's no place for them here," Thompson said. "Free speech does not take precedent over human decency and dignity."
At 10 p.m., as the crowd began dispersing, some led a candle-lit procession away from the auditorium. When they had gone, all that remained were a few scattered protestors, discarded leaflets and signs.
Kansan reporter Elaine Sung contributed information to this story.
Forum is delayed by gospel singing
By Brenda Finnel and Joel Zeff Kansan staff writers
Determined to quell the Ku Klux Klan members participating in the free speech forum last night, about 15 audience members sang gospel hymns, delaying the forum for 15 minutes.
The group, which included several black ministers from the Lawrence and Kansas City areas, continued to sing after the forum got under way. The forum, sponsored by Slightly Older Americans for Freedom, took place between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. at Hoch Auditorium before an audience of about 2,000. About one-third of the audience left before the forum was finished.
"We shall overcome. We shall all be free. They shall not be heard today," the group sang to a standing ovation from the audience.
The sing began after opening remarks by Michael Foubert, forum organizer; Stephanie Quincy, student body vice president; and James Seaver, professor of history and the forum's moderator. The group continued singing and at times marched through the crowd before leaving peacefully at 9:30 p.m.
The Rev. Calvin Jackson, pastor of the First Regular Missionary Baptist Church, 1646 Vermont St., and member of the singing group, said that the group sent a message to the Klan to leave the community.
"We are not going to sit down and hide. We will make sure we will not be afraid. Bring the Klan to our face and we will not sit back," Jackson said after the forum.
Members of the South Side Baptist Church in Kansas City, Mo., said they drove into Lawrence last night to prevent panelists at the forum from speaking. They achieved that by singing while panelists tried to speak, they said.
After several futile attempts by Seaver to silence the group, members of the audience began shouting at the group to be silent.
"Let them speak! Let them speak!" members of the audience shouted.
Seaver then appealed to the group to allow the forum to continue.
"This is a forum on freedom of speech." Seaver said. "We are obviously not being allowed freedom of speech."
Seaver then took control of the forum by prompting the panelists to speak over the singing, encouraging them to make their initial statements before answering questions.
The panelists included J. Allen Moran, an elevated cyclops of the Missouri Knights, a Klan affiliate; Thom Robb, national chaplain of the Klan, from Harrison, Ark; Ted Frederickson, associate professor of journalism; F. Allan Hanson, professor of anthropology; the Rev. Jack Bremer, director of Ecumenical Christian Ministries; and Laird Wilcox, an expert on extremist groups.
Panelists gave initial statements before answering questions from three student panelists. The students were John Cissell, Mission senior; Russ Ptacek, Wichita junior; and Steve Kidwell, Leawood graduate student.
Questions ranged from the importance of free speech in U.S. society to allegations of violence in Klan activities.
"We as free men have a right to listen and to learn," Robb said to the audience. "Only out of hatred and bigotry are you not willing to hear what we say."
Members of the audience repeatedly interrupted Moran and Robb during their answers by beckoning and shouting profanities at them.
William Dann, a Lawrence resident and political activist, was escorted out of the auditorium by police after accusing protesters in the audience of hypocrisy. Police said Dann was escorted out for his own safety. He was not taken into custody.
Frederickson said that the First Amendment protected the right of all groups to express their opinions but that it did not require people to listen to the groups.
"If our society does not allow the Klan to speak, then we do not live in a free society," Frederickson said. "We have the most problems with racial violence when we can't talk about the issues. I think people need to understand people singing, if we could hear and talk about this calmly."
Both Moran and Robb evaded questions from the panelists, instead choosing to explain their separatist ideology.
"You don't have a rainbow anymore when you mesh all the colors together." Robb said. "You only have a rainbow when the colors are separate."
Foubert, director of Slightly Older Americans for Freedom, said that the forum went smoothly and that he was pleased at the outcome.
"It came very, very close at the beginning in getting out of control." Foubert said after the forum. "But, I feel very relieved that this is over. I put myself on the line. People said it would never happen."
Kansan reporter Tom Stinson contributed information to this story.
The Rev. Jack Bremer, director of Ecumenical Christian Ministries; James Seaver, professor of history and the forum panel moderator; Laird Wilcox, an expert on extremist groups; and F. Allan Hanson, professor of anthropology, take a moment to discuss questioning.
Forum's peaceful ending a good sign, officials say
By Jill Jess
Kansan staff writer
The doors flew open and the police flooded out, escorting two men who were trying to ignore the crowd.
"Oh my God, it's them," a member of the crowd exclaimed as Thom Robb and J. Allen Moran of the Ku Klux Klan made their way from a back door of Hoch Auditorium to a KU bus that would remove them from campus and from the court that had been brewing for three weeks.
About 100 KU students followed the Klansmen to the bus, shouting "KKK, goodbye" and "Burn in hell." But the free speech forum sponsored
KKK on campus
Further coverage on page 6
by Slightly Older Americans for Freedom last night at Hoch ended peacefully.
Judith Ramaley, executive vice chancellor, said that faculty, staff and students behaved admirably and that that was a good sign for the future.
"We will continue to learn more about the needs of faculty and students on campus," she said. "I am confident that we will respond effectively to the questions that had been
raised and we will move ahead to make the campus a better place."
David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs, said, "I want to say how proud I am of students, faculty and staff at the University. They recognized the rights of others to free themselves from strengthen our commitment to eradicate racism from the campus climate."
At an afternoon news conference, Olpher Oliver, assistant director of the KU Police Department, had said law enforcement officers at the forum would try to be heightened in their efforts for vesties and riot belts, and carried eight
sticks.
Oliver also said that the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Kansas Highway Patrol would assist KU and Lawrence police at the forum and outside.
However, Lt. Jeanne Longaker of the KU police said after the forum that she was not at liberty to say how many and which branches of law enforcement were in attendance.
About 45 Lawrence police and Douglas County sheriff's officers first entered the auditorium at about 6:30 p.m.
Another load of law enforcement officers arrived about 8:20 p.m. and lined the outside of Hoch.
Asked if he expected any problems, an officer in the lobby pointed at the doors and said. "What do you think?"
People outside asked each other for information about what was going on
However, no arrests were reported, and officials inside said that at no time were they worried about security.
The lobby of Hoch was closed to avoid security risks as people outside pounded on the doors and begged those inside to let them in.
About 2,500 people protested and banged on the doors, trying to get into the packed auditorium. Doors had opened at 7:16 p.m. and closed at 7:21 p.m. all available seats filled.
Rumors flew around the crowd, many suggesting violence that never happened.
inside, and many crowded around radios and a television mobile unit which had the scene in Hoch on its screens.
No injuries were reported, and minimal damage occurred with two windows being broken in the front doors of the auditorium.
KU police officials said a news conference concerning security at last night's event would be held today.
Kansan reporters Ric Brack and Rebecca J. Cisek contributed information to this story.