University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, February 17, 1988
Campus/Area
3
JRP not evacuated after bomb threat
Bv Kim Lightle
Kansan staff writer
Although it was two hours before residence assistants at Joseph R. Pearson Hall were told to inform residents of a bomb threat Monday night, most residents were not angry.
"I think they could have made an effort to tell us sooner," said Thomas LaPorta, Lena freshman. "They have been having a lot of problems late, they have been having a lot of false fire alarms lately."
Chris Ryffe, Lenexa freshman and JRP desk assistant, received the bomb threat at 11:30 and informed a resident assistant, who told Dennis that he had been shot. One or two minutes later, four officers arrived.
The officers and four residence assistants searched the lobbies, stairways, cafeterias and other public areas of the building and found nothing out of the ordinary. Trask said.
The search took about 15 minutes. The officers then left at 12:30 a.m. after going through the building again, Trask said.
Trask thought about evacuating the building and decided against it. He said that some bombs could be triggered by movement. In addition, he didn't want to start a panic.
Trask said that the office of residential programs had to notify residents of bomb threats but that the policy didn't specify how soon notification must be made.
Trask said he would had evacuated the building if the police had advised him to do so.
Mike Flaig, a KU police spokesman, said the decision to evacuate was left up to residence hall officals.
"It was a judgment call," he said. "There are a lot of things we have to consider. The scenarios are endless."
Trask is required to contact Fred McEllenbie, director of residential programs, and inform him of such situations. He said he didn't call McEllenbie until about 1 a.m. an hour after the police had told that he had decided not to evacuate the building but to inform the residents of the threat then.
"After the police have done what they're going to do, after everything is pretty much done, I inform him of what has happened." Trask said.
Ryfe said he was still working at the desk when the residents were informed of the threat and Ryfe responded.
"It's a no-win situation," McElbeen said. "We try to make the best choices."
building.
"It was hard to tell if any one left the building, maybe one or two," he said.
McElheney said the residence hall director should call him after he has had a chance to assess the situation. He said he can counteract any decision made by a residence hall director.
Several residents said that they weren't upset about how long it took before they were notified of the threat because two false fire alarms had gone off earlier this week and they were tired of evacuating the building.
Bill Danehy, Overland Park sophomore, said that he wasn't upset about the lapse of time and that he would have been mad if residents had to evacuate.
Law students see life outside textbooks
Green Hall is home for judges and lawyers to hear five appealed court decisions
By Dayana Yochim Kansan staff writer
KU law students got a glimpse of life in the courtroom by watching real lawyers arguing actual appeals yesterday in Green Hall.
Judges from the Intermediate Appellate Court in Kansas heard cases that were appealed from trial court decisions. During a morning and afternoon session, law students could watch a panel hear five different arguments from an actual court docket.
The cases ranged from a breach of an oral agreement over antique cars to a challenge of results from a breathalizer test.
Tom Ruzicka, a lawyer from Olathe, said that watching the process would give law students a chance to see real issues argued rather than make-believe ones.
"They are probably intrigued by the realities of actual proceededals." Ruizka said. "It's helpful
for students to see the practicalities of the theories they are learning in class."
Ruzicka, who graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1971, said that he would continue his law hearings when he was in school.
"When I was in school, we would have mock trials and good lawyers come in and put on their theatrical play experiences. But nothing can beat the importance of seeing a case in reality," he said.
The only change in courtroom procedure was that the lawyers went into statements of the facts of the cases before they were argued. That is not regular appellate court procedure, said William Rork, a lawyer from Topeka.
Henry Hams, law student, said that all law students would benefit from seeing any appellate hearing.
"It's good to compare what we see at the actual court to what we learn at moot court." Hams said.
He said that he was surprised at the relaxed atmosphere in the courtroom.
"At times, the atmosphere seemed more informal than the process we learn in school," Hams said. "As students, we tend to predispose ourselves to humor when arguing cases in class. In some cases, judges argue that lawyers should show more humor in arguing cases, but just in some circumstances."
Tim Hamilton, law student, said that he thought judges were extremely formal and distant in their behavior.
"The judges seemed pretty sharp. I learned that it looks a lot more informal than in my appal- advocacy classes." Hamilton said.
"Put them in a school of law, and it reckons them back to their days in law school." he said.
Rork said that the presence of the law students did not affect his
"It doesn't bother me. You kind of forget they're there." he said.
arguments.
Rork said that the best advice he could give law students was to be prepared.
"They are going to see different personalities and perspectives," she said, noting out there on Santa Claus there is no right way to do things.
Bill Westbeker, professor of law, said that the school liked to have the appellate court come at least once a semester.
"It's good to see how lawyers present a case on appeal," he said. "They can get a sense of the nature of appellate practice."
Westerbeke said that the cases presented were a reasonable sample of everyday cases that appear in court.
"It's not highly emotional like you see on television. It's good to observe cases in the real world," he said.
Steve Zinn, supervising attorney for the Kansas Appellate Practice Clinic, presents his argument in the case of William D. Thompson vs. the State of Kansas. The case was heard by Kansas Court of Appeals judges Fred N. Six, center, Mary Beck Briscoe, and J. Patrick Brazil. Court was held in Green Hall yesterday so KU law student could watch the proceedings.
Lisa Leinacker/KANSAN
Big Eight's black student governments to meet
By Kathleen Faddis
Kansan staff writer
Black student government groups from the Big Eight schools will gather for a conference at Kansas State University this week.
The Big Eight Council on Black Student Government will hold its 11th annual conference from tomorrow until Sunday.
Del-Metri Bynum, Topeka senior and chairman of the Big Eight Council, said that 50 to 60 KU students will probably attend. About 500 students from all the schools are expected to attend.
Vernell Spearman, director of minority affairs said, "The purpose of the conference is to bring together black students from the Big Eight region to discuss concerns on their campuses and try to come up with solutions."
The conference will open tomorrow evening with a panel discussion, "Black Students on a Predominantly White Campus." Olivia Dorsey, communicators affairs director and host of "Dimensions in Black" on KMB-CTV in Kansas City, Mo., will lead the discussion.
The conference is also a forum to develop black student leadership and bring about unity of purpose, Spearman said.
Mary Berry, professor of history and law at the Institute for the Study of Educational Policy at Howard University in Washington, D.C., will be the keynote speaker Friday morning. She is on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Workshops will be all day Friday and Saturday. A career fair is scheduled Friday afternoon and Saturday. About 30 sponsors and employment
The KU Black Student Union choir will sing
with the BSU with with the BSU choirs from all eight schools
The Rev. Emmanuel Cleaver, city councilman from Kansas City, Mo., and a civil rights activist, will be the featured speaker Saturday night. The topic of his speech has not been announced.
recruiters are expected to participate.
Darrin Johnson, Kansas City, Mo., sophomore, came back from last year's conference and created the McColum Hall Black Caucus.
Bynum said that the conference is a real motivating process.
"I went down there for the sole purpose of learning how to better my leadership abilities," Johnson said.
Profs will petition for reconsideration of new add policy
By Rebecca J. Cisek
Kansan staff writer
Several KU professors have said they will petition University Senate to reconsider the policy it adopted last week that does not allow schools to set shorter add periods.
Shulen burburger, associate dean of business, said he would initiate a petition to allow discussion of the add period by Senate.
Fifty Senate members must send petitions to a call meeting the Senate and a possible mail ballot. All faculty members and some student senators are members of University Senate.
Chancellor Gene A. Budig still has to sign the measure to make it policy.
On Jan. 28, the council passed legislation that shortened the drop period to three weeks and the add period to three weeks and two days.
Opposition to the add period plan began last week after University Council rejected an amendment that would have allowed individual schools to set add periods shorter than the University-wide standard.
The School of Business has had
years, Shulenburger said. The new policy would cause classes to be unsettled.
Many business classes present key theories that are discussed in the first weeks of the semester. Some classes also have group projects that start early, he said.
Many faculty members agree with Shulenburger.
Dana Leibengood, associate dean of journalism, said that a journalism faculty member was preparing a petition that would be circulated among the school's faculty to call a University Senate meeting.
"I see only disadvantages," to the policy. Shulenburger said.
Faculty wouldn't have final class rosters for four weeks and students would have a difficult time to stay up the new policy, he said.
Leibengue said that the three-week add period would give students unreasonable expectations that they could add a class. Instructors can tell the enrollment center to decrease the maximum size of their class to prevent other students from adding.
Lois Clair, assistant dean of architecture and urban design, said that students who entered school would face grave problems.
"It is impossible to allow students to start a studio course three weeks into the semester."
Commission unhappy with round-the-clock cab operation request
Kansan staff writer
By Christine Martin
The Lawrence City Commission acted coolly toward a request last night that would require all Lawrence cab companies to operate 24 hours a day.
If the request is approved, it would require KU's Secure Cab, a nighttime only service, to operate all day. Some Cab is also known as "Tipsy Tab."
Michael Riling, a local attorney representing Ward Thompson, owner of Transportation Inc., a Lawrence cab company, said that the request would prevent any competing company from operating only at peak hours, when it is most profitable.
Thompson's company is the only one to provide 24-hour cab service in Lawrence. If the request is denied, the cab company might cut back its hours, Riling said, and the city would suffer from not having a 24-hour cab service.
"In the event that there is competition, my client might have to be forced to cut back his services to the city." Riling said.
Riling said that KU's Secure Cab would compete with Thompson's company by operating from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., peak business hours.
Robert Forbes, president of Corporate Coach of Lawrence, one of the companies hoping to win the bid for Secure Cab, said he opposed requiring cab companies to run 24 hours a day.
Secure Cab would operate like a shuttle system, taking students home
Riling said that although his client had economic motivation, he felt a duty to Lawrence to provide a necessary service.
City Commissioner Dennis
Constance said it was not the city's job to
leave the building.
"The principal concern should be the public welfare," he said.
Mayor Mike Amyx said that if the city started regulating cab companies again, the city should regulate everything, including fees and basic standards, and not just hours of service.
"It looks to me like you're starting to reverse your position," Schumm said. "I think you want it both ways. If it's going to be run as a free enterprise, competition is going to be a part of it."
"If the company you represent chooses not to operate, that's a business problem."
from bars and stops on campus on a fixed route.
“If we’re going to do it, we might as well go to the limit.” Amxv said.
The Commission agreed to look into the 1980 regulation and to update standards to comply with state guidelines before taking any definite action.
City Commissioner Bob Schumm said that the city stopped regulating cab companies in 1980 because he believed that the city interfered too much.
Forbes said that Secure Cab would be strictly for KU students and would have no effect on cab business with Lawrence residents.