Monday
February 22,1988
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Vol. 98, No. 101 (USPS 650-640)
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Faculty cancels Klan visit
The Rev. Calvin Jackson of the First Regular Missionary Baptist Church wears a red ribbon to signify unity against the Ku Klux Klan. Jackson was one of several community leaders at Friday's news conference at Calvary Church of God In Christ.
By Ioel Zeff
Kansan staff writer
Local black leaders claimed victory Friday afternoon when three KU faculty members announced that they had canceled the Ku Klux Klan visit to the KU campus.
"The faculty, having taken into consideration what we have learned over the last few days, have decided to cancel the visits of the KKK representatives to the radio station and the journalism class," Judith Ramaley, executive vice chancellor, said in a prepared statement Fridav.
Ramaley, Chancellor Gene A. Budig and Mike Kautsch, dean of journalism, met with about 15 black community leaders Friday in the basement of the Calvary Church of God In Christ, 646 Alabama St. After the closed meeting, KU officials and local black leaders held a news conference in the church.
At the news conference, Ramaley said the radio station and the journalism class would use means other than a Klan visit to the KU campus to study and report on the Klan.
The Klan had been scheduled to appear on JKHK's JayTalk 91 and in a reporting class last week. Both groups protested from the black community.
However, John Broholm, KJHK faculty news adviser, and Adrian Rivers-Waribogha, assistant professor of journalism, said that the show about the Klan would still be produced.
"We haven't decided when the show will be or how the show will be done. I would not rule out a taped interview of the Klan off campus. The producer of the show will bring preparations to me." Broholm said.
At the news conference, Ramaley said that the Klan visit to KJJHK had been canceled because of security concerns.
Broholm would not comment on whether the station or he had received any threats.
"There were security problems, that's all I can say. Through the First Amendment the show will continue," Broholm said.
J. Allen Moran, exalted cyclops of the Missouri Knights and one of the Klansmen invited to the KU campus, said that the decision Friday had violated his right to free speech under the Constitution.
"It is a tragedy," Moran said in a telephone interview yesterday. "The minorities are in control of the government; this is just in a smaller scale. We no longer control our own government. If they can stop us, they can stop anybody with a philosophy they don't agree with."
Moran said that this was the first time he knew of that the Klan had taken hold.
"We are planning to come to Lawrence and the KU campus. We will roar in the streets. We won't be there necessarily to recruit, but to make sure the community knows our point of view," Moran said.
Moran said that his group was considering legal action against the University but would not specify the extent of the action.
Vickie Thomas, University general counsel, said that for the Klan to be able to file serious legal action, it would have to establish that the University violated some right protected under state or federal law.
Budig and Ramaley agreed that the decision would not sacrifice academic freedom in the classroom.
"The faculty members involved have reached a position where academic integrity has not been compromised in haste, and the statement, "I personally apologize to those individuals who have been offended by this incident."
In a similar statement, Ramaley said that the preservation of academic freedom must be exercised with intelligence and humanity.
The Rev William A. Dulin, president of Ecumenical Fellowships, said the new study was "exactly what we need."
ning of closer relations between the white and black communities of Lawrence.
"For the last few days this community has been sitting on a bomb. But, thank God, that bomb has been defused," Dulin said at the news
conference Friday. "I feel we have witnessed the birth of a new child. This child's name shall be called unity. This child has no one culture of background. This child is of no one
See CANCELED, p. 9, col.1
Canceled Klan visit draws praise and criticism
By Jeff Moberg
Kansan staff writer
Further coverage on page 9
After an emotion-charged week of protests and controversies, students, professors and community leaders have offered a gamut of reactions in response to the Ku Klux Klan's scheduled and then canceled appearance at the University of Kansas.
Three faculty members decided to cancel a visit by two members of the Missouri Knights, who were scheduled to appear in a journalism class and on KJHK's JayTalk 91. The Missouri Knights are affiliated with the KKK, Judith Ramaley, executive vice chancellor, announced the decision by the three professors at a news conference Friday.
Journalism class reacts to decision.
KU extremist expert upset .
Academicfreedomquestioned.
Gloria Brooks, Denver junior, said it almost would have been a crime to have the KKK visit campus. Brooks and others wore red ribbons as a show of solidarity against the Klan's appearance.
"It's kind of like someone who rapes you and then having to invite them to your dinner table," Brooks said.
The decision pleased students who attended the news conference.
Sam Adams, associate professor of journalism, said that he did not think students in the reporting class were
Full text of statements by Budiq and Ramalev.
ready for that type of interview. But he said that the Klan should be studied.
Adams and his family were the targets of Klan violence during the 1960's, but he said that was not why he objected to the their appearance.
"That's not the full basis for my objection," he said. "I have a stronger objection against the official invitation because it gives a legitimacy that it does not have. It gives the Klan an assist."
The cancellation came after many members of the black community voiced their resentment of the Klan's appearance, in part, because of the
Other minorities on campus also took offense to a visit by the Klan.
"For me, as a Jewish student, I'm very happy that they are not coming," said Dana Crow, president of Hillel. "It's an embarrassment to the University. I'm embarrassed to say that I go to a University where the KKK was invited to speak."
official invitation to the Klan and because it coincided with the Black History Month.
But a student from the journalism class said she thought that the cancellation was the wrong decision.
journalism school's part," said Shauna Nortfeel, Independence, Mo., senior. "We just want to talk to them and write a story. It's not like we're having a conference or a platform for them to preach their beliefs or recruit members."
Michael Foubert, Lawrence graduate student, said that the University's decision had set an awkward precedent because minority groups had decided what the proper curriculum was for all students.
"It seems kind of wimpy on the
Other students took the issue with a grain of salt.
"You have to realize the Klan is out there," said Lorna Kindred, Edwardsville senior. "You have to learn to deal with racism."
Kansan reporter James Buckman contributed information to this story.
Despite the wide differences of opinion, the Rev. Le Barbeacher, a local black minister, said that something good came out of the situation.
"The University's decision shows our time was well spent." Barbee said. "It also shows that the community cares about what goes on at the University. I think they felt separated from the community, but now we have an opportunity to work together."
Winners of the costume contest at the 10th annual Brazilian Carnival celebrate together.
Carnival festival a Brazilian gala
Whistles blew, shakers shook and Brazilian samba music blared as about 400 people, many in costumes, danced in celebration Saturday at the 10th annual Brazilian Carnival.
The festival, held at the Knights of Columbus building, 2206 E. 23rd St., was sponsored by the KU Brazil-Portugal Club. The event was based on the actual Carnival in Brazil, which is celebrated during the four days before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.
Luiz da Silva, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, graduate student and president of the Brazil-Portugal Club, said Brazilians from the Kansas
By Jeff Suggs
City, Wichita and Topeka areas came to the Lawrence festival.
Kansan staff writer
Cristina Fonseca, Rio de Janeiro junior and treasurer of the club, said the local festival also was held to expose U.S. students to Brazilian culture.
"It it doesn't quite substitute," da Silva said about the local Carnival. "It's a way we found to come close to doing it in Brazil."
"We want people to get to know what samba is," Fonseca said.
By Jeff Suggs
Kansan staff writer
"They're really free with their dancing," said Lori Irving, Thousand Oaks, Calif., graduate student. "They just let themselves go."
Samba is a type of music and dance popular in Brazil.
Some U.S. students said they were impressed with Saturday night's festivities.
Three University of Kansas students and a Lecompton woman were killed Friday night when their car collided on a road five miles north west of Lawrence.
Joe Salem, Wichita sophomore, said, "I was told it was a guaranteed good time. It looks
4 killed in crash 3 KU students die in wreck Moddrell said she would not know whether alcohol was a factor in the accident until she received blood alcohol results from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation laboratorv
hoppin', it looks like fun."
There was also a costume contest at the festival. Dressed in drag, the mustachioed Vailrrode Santos, Rio de Janeiro graduate student, won a $20 first-place prize for best costume for a male. There were also awards given to the best costume for a female, the best costumes for couples and the most original costume.
Officials said that巴顿Sschilp, 21, Wichita junior, Darin Selby, 20, Wichita freshman and Paul Apprill, 19, Merriam sophomore, and Margaret Whitmore, 32, of Lecompton were killed when their cars collided on Douglas County Road 438 at 11:17 p.m. Friday.
in Brazil, it's very typical to go as a group and dress up like girls," Santos said.
Margaret Coleman, Grantville resident, was the driver of the vehicle that Schippw was trying to pass. She said she was already over the crest of the hill when the accident occurred.
Sgt. Betty Pringle of the Douglas County Sheriff's Department said the three students, who were traveling east in a 1969 BMW on the road known locally as the "Farmer's Turnpike," were returning from a high school basketball game in Valley Falls. Schilpp, the driver, attempted to pass a vehicle on the left side of the two-lane road when it collided with Whitmore's 1981 Plymouth station wagon, which was going west. The impact of the accident caused Whitmore's car to catch fire.
Douglas County Sheriff's officers arrived at the scene at 11:39 p.m. The Lecompton Fire Department was called to put out the fire.
Carol Moddrell, physician and Douglas County coroner, pronounced the four victims dead at the scene. Moddrell said Schilpp, Selby and Apprill died of head and neck injuries. Whitmore died of multiple injuries.
Pringle said that Schipp made a passing attempt on the crest of a hill. The absence of skid marks at the scene indicated that the drivers didn't see each other until impact. Both cars were traveling at about 55 mph.
Moddrell said she would not know whether alcohol was a factor in the accident until she received blood-alcohol results from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation laboratory in Topeka. She expected the results to return in about a week.
Mitch Fuqua, Valley falls freshman, and Scott Ellsworth, Wichita freshman, were friends of the three students and were also returning from the basketball game in Valley Falls.
"I heard the crash but I didn't see the two vehicles hit together," Coleman said.
According to the police report, they were traveling behind Schilpp's car when the accident occurred. Fringle said Fiona called the authorities.
KJHK's public forum, JayTalk 91,
will consider how to deal with the
deaths of close friends, said Gwen
McKillip, KJHK news producer. The
show will be broadcast live at 9:30
p.m. today from the Phi Gamma
Delta fraternity.
On March 27, 1987, four KU students were killed when a train struck the car that they were riding in. The four students died instantly.
Source: Douglas County Sheriffs office
Paul Apprill
Services today for crash victims
Baron Schilpp
By Donna Stokes
Kansan staff writer
Services for three KU students killed Friday night in a car accident will be held early this week.
The three students and a Lecompan woman were killed at 11:17 p.m. Friday when their two cars collided head-on on Douglas County Road 438
Baron O. Schilpp, 21, Wichita junior; Darin S. Selby, 20, Wichita freshman; and Paul T. Apprill, 19, Ferriam hoplophyceae football game in Valley Falls when Schilpp attempted to pass a vehicle on the two-lane road.
The family suggests memorials to the KU Biology department, the Queen of the Holy Rosary School and the Mage High School in Roeland Park.
Services will be in the home towns of the students
Services for Selby will be at 10 a.m. today at Metropolitan Baptist Church in Wichita. Graveside services will be at 1:30 p.m. today at Memorial Lawn Cemetery in Emporia.
Services for Apprill will be at 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Queen of the Holy Rosary Church in Overland Cemetery or at Resurrection Cemetery in Lenexa.
Services for Schipp will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the West Heights United Methodist Church in Wichita.
Schipp was majoring in personnel administration. He was also involved in naval ROTC at the University of Kansas. His ROTC adviser, Lt. Bob O'Neil, had just talked to him Friday about his progress in school.
Brett Brenner, Wichita sophomore and Schilpp's roommate, said that Schilpp had wanted to be a pilot.
A Baron Schipp memorial fund, in care of the First National Bank in Wichita, has been created in lieu of flowers for the services.
The three students lived in Sunrise Village Apartments, 660 Gateway Court. They had moved to the apartment complex after becoming friends last year when they lived on the fourth floor of Oliver Hall.
"The fourth floor was a pretty tight-knit group," Brenner said. "It's neat how everyone is supportive."
Michael Miller, Lawrence freshman, also lived on the fourth floor of Oliver last year.
"We did all kinds of things together," Miller said. "We had dinners on the holidays. We were all like a second family to each other."
Selby planned to major in business and liked to play basketball when he was a teenager.
Brenner said that Apprill had been majoring in biology and had wanted to go to medical school. He also was as a lifeguard at Robinson Center.
"I don't think I ever saw him when he wasn't happy. He always had a smile on his face," Brenner said of Apprill.