University Daily Kansan / Thursday March 3, 1988
Campus/Area
3
FBI visit attracts protesters
Political, legal groups decry bureau's tactics
Chris Cunnyngham, Leawood junior, protests past actions of the FBI on the University of Kansas campus.
By Donna Stokes
Kansan staff writer
More than 30 people protested actions of the FBI yesterday in front of Green Hall in a rally sponsored by Latin American Solidarity and the National Lawyer's Guild while the agency interviewed law students inside for job opportunities.
Dwaine Hemphill, third-year law student from Louisville, Ohio, and member of the National Lawyer's Association, explains reasons for the 11 a.m. noon rally.
"We want to express our outrage at the FBI for their misconduct," Hemphill said. "They have deviated from their law-enforcement purpose by surveillance groups in opposition to the government."
"We also want to protest their policy in regard to libraries. They should not be trying to coerce librarians into the role of government informants."
Hemphill said the protestors, who stood in half-circle outside of Green Hall carrying placards saying "No More Domestic Surveillance!" and "No More Library Visits," were not protesting recruitment or interviews conducted by the FBI.
Hemphill and Scott Gesner, first-year law student, representing the University of Kansas chapter of the National Lawyer's Guild, sent a letter Friday to Michael Davis, dean of law, asking him to cancel interviews in protest of FBI behavior.
Davis said he didn't cancel the interviews because several students had signed up and because he didn't think the reasons Hempill and Gesner gave were reasons to cancel the interviews.
Davis said the number of students interviewing this year was a little larger than usual
Gesner said the rally was a positive event because it provoked a lot of dialogue and discussion about the FBI.
He said that free expression about the issue was important and that he was glad the FBI had been asked to appear at a public forum next week.
The FBI has agreed to a public forum at 12:30 p.m. March 10 in 104 Green Hall. FBI representative Max Geiman will be the speaker.
Special Agent Mike Kortan, who may join Geiman at the forum, said the protest yesterday was the first he was aware of in this area. But he said he did not believe there was any impact on the interviewing held in Green Hall yesterday.
"The purpose of the forum will be to answer questions and clarify concerns," Kortan said. "Some of the issues, such as the so-called 'library incident' and national investigations of groups against the U.S. foreign policy in El Salvador, have been lumped together."
Hemphill said, "They are going to speak for 10 to 15 minutes and then open it up for questions. I don't know how many of them they will really answer, but I am impressed that they have agreed to speak to us."
One FBI program that has been questioned is the Library Awareness Program, a national counterintelligence effort in which agents asked librarians to provide library records.
In January, an FBI agent showed a KU law librarian a photograph and asked whether the person in the picture had checked out a particular government document.
The FBI is asking librarians to betray the confidentiality inherent in librarianship," said Shelley Miller, member of Latin American Solidarity and librarian at Watson library. "It is not reasonable for them to ask us to betray our code of ethics."
Miller also defended Latin American Solidarity as a group that meets publicly every week and needs no investigation by the FBI.
In a prepared speech, Rhonda Neubauer, a member of Latin American Solidarity, said the FBI spied on legitimate political movements against intervention in Central America, including the Latin American Solidarity group in Lawrence, to disrupt the national opposition to President Reagan's foreign policy objectives in Central America.
Kortan said FBI representatives at the March 10 forum would attempt to clarify some facts among the allegations that had been raised.
David Scheuer, Lawrence sophomore and one of the protesters, said, "I don't know why the FBI chooses to investigate people whose only crime is to disfigure with the foreign policy. I would think they would better spend their time finding people who blow up abortion clinics."
However, not all students at the rally opposed the FBI.
Richard Haskins, first-year law student from Lawrence, said, "I believe that First Amendment rights of free expression should be protected, but I believe that the front of Green Hall is an incorrect forum for the protest. Concerns expressed by these people do not represent everyone at the law school."
Adam Taff, first-year law student from Lexena, interviewed yesterday with the FBI for a job opportunity.
tie," Taff said. "But I don't want the public to get the wrong idea that every law student in Green Hall feels the same way. I think it's important that both sides are represented."
"Just because the FBI asks for information doesn't mean they are a heinous organization."
"I think that the protest is fantas-
"Taff said the demonstration probably didn't have much of an effect on students who wanted to interview with the FBI. "If they were interested in interviewing, they signed up and interviewed," he said.
House committee backs proposal to fund salary raises
Bv lill less
Kansan staff writer
TOPEKA — The House Appropriations Committee endorsed a bill yesterday that essentially would fund the salary portion of the Margin of Excellence proposal.
The committee approved Gov. Mike Hayden's proposal to increase faculty salaries at Board of Regents schools by 5 percent and other employees' salaries by 4 percent. However, the committee also ratified a decision made three weeks ago to add $1.7 million for non-teaching faculty salaries.
The University of Kansas would receive $537,000 in additional funds for the salaries.
The committee heard and approved subcommittee reports on budgets for the seven Regents schools, the University of Kansas Medical Center, the Kansas State Veterinary Medical Center and the Regents office.
State Rep. Bill Bunten, R-Topeka, the chairman of the committee, said he was concerned about adding money to the governor's proposal. Hayden has said repeatedly that he would not sign any budget that spent more than it took in.
However, the bill would spend almost $2.17 million less than Hayden's recommendation. The committee voted to remove $4.58 million from an operating grant for Washburn University.
The University of Kansas would receive $537,000 in additional funds for the salaries.
The Legislature may vote to place Washburn under financial administration of the Regents. Now, the state Department of Education administers finances for Washburn. The committee decided to remove the $4.58 million until the Legislature decided whether to put Washburn under Regents administration.
The $4.58 million will be used in the Department of Education budget.
KU requested about $128.6 million in general-use operating budget for the 1989 fiscal year, a 9.4 percent increase from the 1988 fiscal year.
The governor recommended a general-use operating fund of about $127.5 million, an increase of 8.3 percent from 1988.
The committee recommended adding $512,000 to KU's general-use operating fund.
Rock Chalk ticket sales reflect schedule change
The Associated Press supplied some information for this story.
The bill would appropriate a total of $224.47 million to KU and $205.05 million to the Med Center. Additional funds were allocated for other state operations at KU.
By Stacy Foster
Kansan staff writer
David Shaeffer, the business manager and Springfield, Mo., senior, said that because Saturday's show had been moved from evening to afternoon, tickets sales weren't as high as last year's sales. He also helped ticket sales for Thursday and Friday which are up from last year.
Ticket sales for the 38th annual Rock Chalk Revue are having some ups and downs, the business manager for the show said yesterday.
Last year, about 3,000 tickets were
bought for Saturday evening's performance which sold out a month in advance. Shafeffer said that today there were still about 600 tickets available for Saturday's afternoon performance.
About 50 percent of the ticket sales goes to the Lawrence United Fund
Tonight's performance starts at 7:30 p.m. Seat choices are limited for Saturday's show. Tickets for the show are available through the Student Union Activities ticket office or can be ordered from participating fraternities and sororities.
Committee debates bill to establish honors scholarships
State scholars may get aid Committee debates bill to establish honors scholarships
By Elaine Woodford
Kansan staff writer
Kansas high school seniors who are named Kansas honor scholarships may be able to receive scholarships from the state, if a bill debated today in the Senate Education Committee receives a favorable recommendation.
The bill would establish the Kansas honors scholarship program, which would provide Kansas honors scholars with a $500 one-time scholarship to be used at any state college or university.
Kansas honors scholars are high school seniors selected by the Board of Regents for high academic achievement.
Sharon Brehm, director of the KU honors program, said the idea behind the bill was a good one.
"the principle that the state would make a financial investment in having talented students attend state universities is excellent," she said
Legislators are also considering a bill that would establish the Kansas Rhodes scholarship, which would provide financial assistance to Rhodes scholars from Kansas who enrolled in graduate programs at a state university.
Brehm said that both bills were a step toward attracting the brightest students to Kansas colleges and universities. But she said that the Kansas honors scholarship also would affect more students and possibly help curb the exodus of talented students to out-of-state universities.
"We have to deal with two problems," Brehm said. "One, we have to make state institutions financially attractive to students, and two, we need to make the educational institutions in the state compete with
other institutions."
Brenda Selman, assistant director of admissions, said the scholarship could be used as a recruiting tool.
"Anytime that the state can guarantee students additional money, it is helpful," she said.
Mark Shelton, Topeka junior and a Kansas honor scholar, said he felt the scholarship program was a good idea because some scholars felt slighted that they received scholarships from out-of-state universities, but didn't receive any type of monetary award for their achievement from institutions in their own state.
"They not only needed the money to attend school, but they felt slighted that they didn't receive any money from KU when they received large scholarships from schools like Stanford," he said.
Plus/minus grading system passed
Kansan staff writer
By Brenda Finnell
A new grading system for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences that was approved yesterday could be a plus for some and a minus for others.
In a 213-165 mail vote, the College Assembly passed a plus/minus grading system that will probably be enacted next fall, said James Carothers, associate dean of liberal arts and sciences.
Carothers said that the grading system would be similar to plus/minus grading systems currently used in some of the University of Kansas' professional schools.
Frances Ingemann, chairman of the committee on undergraduate studies and advising, said the committee would probably develop the guidelines for enacting the new system.
Stephen Shaw, associate professor of physics and astronomy, originally
During the Feb. 2 assembly meeting, Shawl proposed that all assembly members have the opportunity to vote on the plus/minus system in a mail ballot.
Shawl said yesterday that he was pleased that the new grading system had passed.
"I'm obviously thrilled," he said.
"I'm glad to see people agreed with the arguments that were proposed."
Shawl said the plus/minus system would allow teachers to give students better and more accurate evaluations of work. The plus/minus grading system is also more fair to students, he said.
But Lin Holder, a graduate-student assembly representative and a teaching assistant, said she was in favor of the system more as a teacher than as a student.
There are subtleties in a plus/minus grading system that allow teachers to more accurately reflect a
Compression means teachers would award fewer F's and A's. Students who currently receive A's could receive an A- under the new system.
Noelle Henrickson, Gladstone,
Mo., senior and student assembly
representative, said she did not favor
the plus/minus system. She said it
would make students more grade-
conscious due to education-conscious.
Ingemann said the committee on undergraduate studies and advising had considered the plus/minus grading system and recommended it not be used both last fall and during the 1986-87 academic year.
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"Students are already anxious enough about grades," she said.
But graduate students may experience grade compression because of academic rigor in awarding grades, she said.
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