THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday March 2, 1988
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Vol. 98, No. 109 (USPS 650-640)
KKK heated topic Issues aired at meeting
By Rebecca J. Cisek
Kansan staff writer
Students, faculty and administrators met yesterday to update each other on the forum scheduled for Monday that would bring members of the Ku Klux Klan to campus.
About 15 people attended the two-hour closed meeting yesterday in Strong Hall's
David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs, said the meeting was not called to make any decisions about Monday's forum. Wayne Webb, president of the Black Student Union, said the purpose of the meeting was to open the lines of communication.
Michael Foubert, Lawrence graduate student and president of Slightly Old Americans for Freedom, is organizing the forum titled "Freedom of Expression in the University Environment: Voices from the Right." Ann Eversole, director of the organizations and activities center, said the site of the
Class meets at airport to question KKK
By James Buckman
Kansan staff writer
A KU journalism class interviewed two members of the Missouri Knights yesterday morning in almost complete secrecy at Lawrence Municipal Airport.
Harry Jones, the instructor of the reporting class that conducted the interview, originally had intended his class to interview members of the white supremacist group, an affiliate of the Ku Klux Klan, in his classroom on the KU campus in February.
But controversy and pressure from members of the black community, partly because Jones invited the Klansman to speak during Black History Month, caused Jones to find an alternate means of conducting the interview exercise.
Jones said his students were not told that they would conduct the interview yesterday.
"The class had a clue that it was going to be in March," he said. "I did it today because I wanted to get the damn thing over with."
He said he told his class about the field trip yesterday when they arrived at his class.
yesterday day when they arrived at this class.
"The they were told at 8:30 when they arrived in room 101 downstairs to get in their cars and go out to the airport." Jones said.
canceled.
Jones said he had asked the Klansmen Tuesday night to do the interview. He said he had an agreement with the members that he would give them only short notice before the interview so that they could not arrange for demonstrations or controversy to call attention to their cause.
In a note given to his students before they left for the airport, Jones said the trip would be voluntary, with the expectation that the event would attract no attention and occur without incident. The note said that at the first sign of any incident or disturbance, such as a protest demonstration, the students would be free to leave and consider the class
"I had them meet me at a restaurant near the turnpike exit, and then I drove them in my own car to the meeting place." he said. "I had two kids in my class tail我 must to make sure they didn't have somebody tailing us. They didn't try to double-cross me."
He said that the secrecy surrounding the class exercise had successfully allowed for him to carry out his original objective: giving his students a chance to report on and
expose racism.
"It itwent exactly as I had planned except that it quadrupled in the educational value because of all the brouhaha," he said. "It heightened their interest in the whole darn thing, and the more interested they are, the better they write.
"We learned what a bigot looks like, and what a narrow-minded bigot looks like. We stared bigotry in the face for an hour."
Marilyn Pollack, Wilmette, III., sophomore, said the interview was a great experience.
"It was absolutely both fascinating and repulsive at the same time," she said. "I'm glad we did it.
See CLASS, p. 12, col. 1
Knights tell KU students about goals
By Meredith Relph
Special to the Kansan
Using biblical parallels and historical allusions to illustrate their philosophies, two members of the Missouri Knights of the Ku Klux Klan met yesterday with a KU journalism class at Lawrence Municipal
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
gle.
at in Missouri, there were 0, but more than 250' Klan.
at he had been a member
or 10 months. He said
cause he was "looking for
fermenting."
en a member since 1981.
joined after witnessing whites in Miami.
the Klan an "upbeat, ion," and said that one of e Klan was to promote
See FORUM, p. 12, col. 1
ate
ng should be done to get them arriculum."
ill will be heard on the House robably within two weeks, 1 said. The Speaker of the lecies when the bill will be
Branson and Lowther said could be considerable debate loor.
n the speaker brings it up on indar, there will certainly be bery stormy debate." Branson
associated Press supplied some ion for this story.
g army sloyals
b) rvidence in a middlclass
b) rvidence near the middlclass
t in Tuesday, security agents
t in opposition, security agents
neighborhood, apparently e it broadcast an appeal for riega demonstrations.
onstrators gathered yesterday the four-lane street in front of iton, set up barricades of and set fire to a mini-d car.
riot police chased the protesto side streets and apartmentgs Chunks of concrete were leaest least the apartment house.
e fired tear-gas grenades and d tear gas into the buildings ortable tanks, filling the entire orthole with the acrid, stinging
officer in charge stood in the
of the street and shouted to
its. "You'll come out like cocks!"
!
did, and reporters on the law no one injured
pokesman for the Panama Commission said anonymous one callers warned Tuesday yesterday that a bomb was in commission headquarters. The organization is associated Press the build-evacuated and searched both but no bombs were found.