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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Details page 6
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Friday December 4,1987 Vol.98,No.72
(USPS 650-640)
Black enrollment drop at KU is part of trend Peac
By MARK TILFORD
Staff writer
While overall enrollment continues to increase at the University of Kansas, black student enrollment has decreased 9 percent from last fall and 15 percent from the fall of 1881, University of Kansas figures show.
Blacks now make up 2.7 percent of the University's overall enrollment, the
Black student enrollment is at 716 students this semester
The figures reflect students enrolled at the Lawrence campus, the Capitol Complex in Topeka and the Regents Center in Overland Park. They do not include students at local central centers in Kansas City or Wichita.
Since last fall, overall KU enrollment has increased by 2.4 percent.
“It’s significant,” said Marshall Jackson, assistant director of admissions at KU: "That's a big drop, I wasn't expecting that big of a drop."
Jackson said he didn't think most KU officials had taken real notice of him.
The problem, he said, reflects a national trend of decreasing black enrollment on college campuses.
But the problem has not been ignored, according to other KU officials.
"Have we taken cognizance of it? You bet we've taken cognizance of it," said David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs.
Ambler said the current economy and federal budget were part of the problem.
For example, two-thirds of a student's financial aid package in the past often comprised grants and scholarships, which do not have to be paid back. Now two-thirds of a financial aid package often comes from
loans and work, Ambler said.
That greater financial burden puts more of a strain on minority students. Ambler said.
One change designed to help minority students, Ambler said, has been to change the immediate supervisor of the office of minority affairs. The director now reports directly to Ambler's office. That puts the office more in touch with student concerns, Ambler said.
The office previously reported to the office of the executive vice chancellor.
Administrators also are working to find a new director of minority affairs. Vernell Spearman, the director, is stepping down for personal reasons and is being accused by the beginning of the spring semester. Ambler said.
"It is a very tragic thing," Spearman said of the enrollment drop. "I
Also, Ambler said, a new admissions staff member recently has been placed at the Regents Center to help with recruiting students from the Kansas City area.
was not expecting a drop that large. It means that we must certainly increase our recruiting efforts."
Chancellor Gene A. Budig and Executive Vice Chancellor Judith Ramaley are looking closely at the decrease, Ambler said.
Other people have other reasons for KU's decline.
"it doesn't come as too much of a shock, but it doesn't lessen the worry about it." he said.
Richard Lee, director of KU Supportive Educational Services, said that tighter out-of-state admissions requirements also were discouraging blacks from coming to KU.
"The parents of a black student approached me at a meeting the
other day and asked, 'is KU working toward the elimination of black students?' "' Lee said.
Brian Dougherty, Black Student Union president, said the atmosphere of an predominantly white campus often gave black students a reason to participate.
Ambler said that expanding KU's orientation program to include programs emphasizing cultural diversity was one of the steps the University hoped to take in the future.
"It is a continuing concern to the University." Ambler said.
concern about black enrollment also exists at KU's five peer institu-
At the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, both overall enrollment are slightly up, but the number of black
See ENROLL. d, 6, col. 1
State may hire staff to help with health plan
TOPEKA - A legislative committee yesterday recommended that the Health Care Commission examine the possibility of hiring a benefits manager and a staff to oversee the state's health insurance.
The recommendation came after two days of testimony by both critics and defenders of the state's new contract with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas. The new plan, which increased premiums and decreased benefits, has prompted protests from state employees. It takes affect Jan. 1.
The committee also suggested that an employee advocacy group be formed, citing the lack of involvement by state workers in the negotiations.
tools.
State Rep. Bill Buntin, R-Topeka,
also suggested that employees be
educated about the insurance policy.
"We're going to have health care premium problems for as long as we're around," he said.
The suggestion that the state hire a benefits manager and a adequate staff was made by several people who testified during the hearings, including Raymond Davis, chairman of the Health Services Administration Department at the University of Kansas.
The committee also came out strongly against the state insuring itself, which was suggested by the Health Care Commission. Bunten said he did not believe the state could do a better job offering insurance than professionals in the field.
At the urging of State Rep. Vern Williams, R-Wichita, the committee recommended that the $10 monthly charge on all state employees who smoke be dropped or at least postponed. The money raised by the charge will be used to establish "wellness programs."
"It's an irritant," Williams said of the smoking penalty. He told the committee that he quit smoking in 1958.
Bunten suggested that lawmakers examine the mandated coverage and see what "is real and what is political."
State Sen. Gus Bogina, R-Lenexa, said he would recommend that the Legislative Post Audit Committee authorize yet another study of the insurance plan. The Legislative Division of Post Audit complied with the contract this week, concluding the contract was the best one available.
State lawmight require some medical procedures to be covered by insurance that are not necessary, he said.
The committee asked that the second study examine what controls Blue Cross and Blue Shield had to ensure that all payments are accurate and legitimate. The new study would also study how much Kansas state employees use the insurance plan compared to other states.
"I'm finding more and more people who are not taking the insurance the state is offering," said Wayne Wianeke, executive director of the Kansas Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees. "Some have found alternatives. Some of them are really going on a gamble."
Critics of the plan say many state employees will drop insurance coverage because they cannot afford the increased premiums.
going to Blue Cross and Blue Shield defended the contract, calling it a bargain for the state.
Candyman
Scott Carpenter/KANSAN
NAS CITY, Mo. — Willie Guylo, an employee of Green Mill Candy, material for candy products shipped throughout the country. Guylo, who turns out, buttered popcorn. The popcorn is used as packing has been with the company for 20 years, was working yesterday.
City inspector says two Oread houses violate codes for plumbing, electricity
By VALOREE ARMSTRONG
Generally the city makes inspections only upon written complaints or in writing.
Staff writer
Margene Swarts, Lawrence housing inspector, said yesterday that she had inspected houses at 1032 and 1319 Tennessee St. and found multiple violations of the city's minimum housing code.
After a Nov. 17 article in the Kansan detailing problems with the two buildings, Swarts sent letters to L & M, the company's Lawrence manager, Lynn Meredith, and tenants of both houses, notifying them of a Dec. 1 inspection.
The owner of the buildings, L & M of Hieronymus, will be given about 30 days to bring the houses up to code. Swarts said. After that time, the tenants will be ordered out if the buildings still are substandard.
there was cause to suspect that violations existed, the city could order an inspection.
Swarts said that much work was needed to correct electrical and plumbing problems in both houses. Plastic water lines and copper tubing on gas lines, which are illegal, were found.
Swarts said she would notify L & M, a Kansas-based land management company, that unless it corrected the violations within about 30 days, the city would order the house's tenants out.
Meredith accompanied Swarts yesterday and Tuesday on most of the inspections of five of the 11 apartments at 1032 Tennessee St. and the three units at 1319 Tennessee St.
But Swarts said that the time limit was not written in stone and that the
Meredith could not be reached for comment.
city would work with the owner if an attempt was made to repair the houses.
Lois Hieronymus, owner of both houses, said last night that the city was being unreasonable. She said the houses' plumbing and electrical systems were fine in the late 1960s when they were built.
But Swarts said that if the systems initially installed had been maintained, extensive repairs wouldn't be needed now. Although the houses were divided into apartments when Hieronymys bought them, the buildings originally were not meant to handle the number of apartments they contain.
"It satisfied the city then," Hieronymus said from her home in Springfield, Mo. "Now all of a sudden the city wants me to spend beaucoup bucks."
Hieronymus said the needed repairs would cost $5,000 to $6,000 for each house, a price she said she could not afford.
apartment should have its own electrical circuit. At 1032 Tennessee St., there are 11 apartments and only seven circuits, she said. Swarts said this could cause an overload.
Swarts said that generally each
"I'm going to do what I possibly can," Heronymus said. "But financially, I'm in a bind. Everytime I get one (house) fixed up, they come back with something else to be done."
Hieronymus bought six houses in Lawrence in 1985. Since then she has sold two and is trying to sell a third
Swarts said the city did not use fines or imprisonment as punishment for uncorrected violations of the housing code. She said that forcing the tenants to vacate a building with violations was the city's only recourse.
Peaceful ending in Atlanta Cubans inmates release hostages
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — Cuban inmates freed their 89 hostages early today, peacefully ending an 11-day prison uprising under an agreement that provides a moratorium on deportations of 3.800 Mariel detainees nationwide.
Hostages immediately rushed out of the U.S. Penitentiary through the room in which the eight-point agreement was signed shortly after 1 a.m.
The first to taste freedom was Basil T. "Buddy" Levens, a 44-year prison hospital administrator, who said it "feels great." He rushed into the arms of 11 waiting relatives.
The two-page agreement is similar in most provisions to one that ended a siege by Cuban inmates in Louisiana on Sunday.
Both granted permission for some to go to any third country willing to accept them, a guarantee of medical treatment for those inmates who need it and immunity from prosecution for damage at the prison during the rioting.
However, only the Atlanta agreement mentions U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meees III's proposed moratorium on deportations of Cubans who came to the United States in the 1980 Mariel boatlift.
The Atlanta siege, one of the longest prison uprisings in U.S. history, left one prisoner dead and three buildings gutted.
At the ceremony, one of the inmates sitting at the table had wrapped himself in the Cuban and American flags. The group placed a large silver crucifix on the table before them.
After the agreement was read in Spanish and then English and signed, the inmates shook hands with Auxiliary Bishop Agustin Roman, the Cuban-born prelate who helped end the standoff at Oakdale, La., but did not take part in the Atlanta negotiations.
The others in the room began to sing
The freed hostages shook hands with Cuban inmates and hugged federal officials as they streamed down a short hallway lined by SWAT team members. Outside, vans waited men to the prison warden's house.
The hostages were to be given medical evaluations.
One hostage, Ellison McKnight,
told Cable News Network after the
ordeal that it was "just long, hard
long days of wondering what, when,
what if, that sort of thing."
"It was stressful but not painful. They didn't mistreat us. They were very good to us. They wanted to make sure we stayed alive. They knew that if we stayed alive, they stayed alive," McKnight said.
Relatives of the hostages, wearing yellow ribbons and carrying balloons, had packed into a small room at the prison to wait for their loved ones.
Shortly after the agreement was approved Thursday afternoon, cheering detainees waved and sang the Cuban national anthem on the roof at the stone prison. "Tomorrow everyone will go home," the inmates said.
The standoff here and one that ended Sunday in Louisiana had threatened to unravel an agreement between the United States and Cuba to deport some of those imprisoned after arriving in the Mariel boatload of 1980.
'O Come, All Ye Faithful' to annual Vespers concert
By MARIO TALKINGTON
Steve Parker, Leavenworth senior, laughed as he looked at the robe distributions posted on the third floor of Murphy Hall. He and another student had been assigned to wear the same robe.
Special to the Kansan
"I think we'd be little crowded," he said. Parker is one of nearly 300 KU student singers and musicians who will perform Sunday in the 63rd annual Vespers holiday
The concerts, which are at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in Hoch Auditorium, will begin with the traditional Vespers opening. The University Choirs, robed and holding battery-operated candles, will sing "Fanfare for Christmas Day" from the balcony and then march into the auditorium singing "O Come, All Ye Faithful."
Admission to Vespers is free. A collection will be taken to support the Vespers Scholarship Fund, which is used to award scholarship money to music students.
ship money James Ralston, professor of choral music and director of choral activities, said members of the University Band Brass would play holiday music from the outside balcony for 30 minutes before each concert.
The concert songs will range from a performance of "He is Born," a traditional French song arranged by Roger Wagner, to a performance by the Balcony Choir of "Jungle Bells."
"Sometimes it gets rainy and snowy and cold, but they still play for a half hour," Ralston said.
Jingle Bells:
Kevin Richey, Wichita freshman, said choir members enjoyed singing "Jingle Bella" in rehearsals.
"Everybody starts dancing a little bit when we're singing it." he said.
During the concerts, the choirs and orchestra will lead the audience in singing "Joy to the World" and "Silent Night."
"People love to do that," Ralston said. "We've been doing those two carolls for as long as I can remember and I've been involved with Vespers for at least 25 years."
Ralston said that planning for Vespers, which is presented by the School of Fine Arts, must be done at the school.
The concerts were moved to Hoch Auditorium in 1927 to seat the increasing number of people attending the performances.
"There's a lot of logistics that go into doing this program," he said. "For example, one of the ladies upstairs orders batteries in the fall for the candles."
people attending a lecture at Risalton said that Hoch, which seats about 3,700 people, was normally filled for both performances.
"It's been getting seemingly fuller the last
Vespers was first performed in 1924 as part of a series of concerts set up by Donald Swarthout, then dean of fine arts. Swarthout conducted the first program in the auditorium of old Fraser Hall.
several years," he said.
"Judging from the crowds last year, I'd say that for the community, Vespers is a major part of their holiday season," he said.
Parker said that Lawrence citizens seemed to find Vespers a traditional part of the holiday season.
Neal Erickson, president of Sigma Nu
Academy, will deliver a formal
party each year on Vespers day.
"Everybody meets here before Vespers and then we walk over to Hoch," Erickson said. "Afterwards, we have a real nice line and a jazz band plays through the night."
Mike Van Keirnickel, Shawnee senior, said the Sigma Nu partitions have had to trek through the snow at least once in recent years to get to Hoch.
"We've gone through some kind of bad weather," Van K躲isbilek said. "The walk goes on though, rain, sleet or snow."