RAINY DAY
Weather
**Today:** Cloudy with a high of 72 and a low of 48
**Tomorrow:** Cloudy with a high of 77 and a low of 61
The University Daily Kansan
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Thursday, April 19, 2001
Sports: Jayhawks will compete in distance events today in the Kansas Relays.
SEE PAGE 12A
Inside: The Body Farm's founder and director spoke on campus yesterday.
(USPS 650-640) • VOL. 111 NO. 125
SEE PAGE 3A
For comments, contact Lori O'Toole or Mindie Miller at 864-4810 or editorkansan.co
WWW.KANSAN.COM
KU is among universities that don't offer abortion pill
By Livi Regenbau
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A new survey indicates that few campus health centers offer the abortion pill RU-486, and Watkins Memorial Health Center won't become one of them any time soon.
A survey of 30 colleges and universities conducted by the American Life League found that only Yale University's health center carried the pill.
Henry Buck, gynecologist at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said the pill is an anti-progesterone pill that was not offered because Watkins lacks the ultrasound equipment to determine the length of the pregnancy, which is crucial to deciding whether the pill can be administered. He said it was not given to patients who needed to be closely monitored once the pill is administered because Watkins is not always open.
"It is very much managing a spontaneous miscarriage," he said. "It is very unpredictable when that is going to occur from the time the medications were given. We are not open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It would not be ethical for us to start a process that we are not capable of taking care of."
Randall Rock, physician at Watkins, said the pill was different from the morning-after pill, which is offered at Watkins. The morning-after pill prevents conception, while RU-486 initiates an abortion. He said the morning-after pill must be administered within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse, while the RU-486 pill can be administered the first 49 days after conception.
Rachel Harvey, Lawrence junior, who said she was against abortion, said the pill should not be available at Watkins.
"I don't think it should be because there are other options besides abortion and that if any woman would think through her options, not only for now but for her future, that she would realize that an abortion is not what is best for her," she said.
Sally Puleo, co-coordinator of the KU Pro-Choice Coalition and St. Charles, Ill. senior, said the pill should be available at Watkins. She said that many health care providers were not able to provide the pill because of the expense of the equipment.
"Medical facilities and private doctors that don't have the money to buy the equipment aren't able to provide the service," she said. "It affects the services for poor women and that includes college women."
— The Associated Press contributed to this story
Retake policy up for approval
University Senate could decide today
By Cassio Furtado
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
- Edited by Jason McKee
Students, faculty and staff could make a decision today whether KU students will be able to benefit from a new course retake policy.
University Senate, which includes about 1,400 faculty members, staff members, student senators and University administrators, will meet at 3:30 p.m. at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
If 280 members — one-fifth of Senate's membership, which constitutes a quorum of the Senate — attend today's meeting, the body will vote on the issue.
Otherwise, mail ballots will be sent to all University Senate members because of the introduction of a petition opposing the new rules.
After members receive the mail ballots, they have 10 days to return their votes to University Governance, said Molly Mulloy, administrative assistant for University governance.
She said that if the Senate didn't have a quorum, mall ballots would be sent early next week.
However, if there were no petition and no quorum at today's meeting, the proposal will automatically be passed on to Provost David Shulenburger for final approval.
The course retake policy would not factor into a student's grade point average the original grade of a D or an F in a course and would average two grades for students who receive an A, B or C the first time.
The proposal, which the University Senate Executive Committee approved, was also approved by University Council March 8.
J. D. Jenkins, Shawnee senior, has worked during the past weeks to ensure that enough supporters of the proposed policy attend today's meeting.
He said he met with dozens of professors he knew who were in favor of the
policy and called dozens more.
"We're trying so hard to make people turn out," he said. "Usually there isn't any effort to get people to go. Usually there's no business."
Jenkins also said he had consistently asked student senators to attend the meeting.
Jenkins said he expected more than 300 University Senate members to attend the meeting today to vote on the issue.
Tim Shaftel, professor of business, introduced the petition containing 115 signatures asking for the mail ballot.
He said he had introduced the petition because he thought all faculty members should be involved in the decision. Shaftel said the proposal was not friendly to students or to the University and that faculty members opposed it.
"The vast majority don't like it," he said.
Mulloy said the last time University Senate had a quorum was in the 1980s.
— Edited by Melissa Cooley
What's happening: If 280 of the 1,400 students, faculty members and staff members who make up University Senate attend Senate's meeting today, they would vote on a new course retake policy that would allow students who retake a course with a passing grade after failing it the first time to replace the failing grade in their grade point average. Under the current policy, the two grades would be averaged
COURSE RETAKE POLICY
What it means: The Senate needs 280 members to constitute a quorum, otherwise the question will be sent to all Senate members on a mail ballot. A student senator in favor of the new policy has encouraged other student senators and faculty members to attend today's meeting.
- What's next: If the measure passes, it will need final approval from Provost David Shulenburger and Chancellor Robert Hemenway. If there are not enough members for a vote today, mail ballots will be sent out next week.
FAIR WARNING:
SIRENS OF SAFE
New campus alarms to heighten security during severe weather
ay Kate McCarty
writer@kanson.com
Special to the Kanson
New alarm systems and outdoor sirens are helping to keep the University of Kansas one step ahead of severe weather.
The yellow sirens on Watson Library and by the Lied Center were replaced with newer ones that can put out more sound, said John Mullens, assistant director of the KU Public Safety Office.
However, the outdoor sirens are not audible from all locations indoors, such as the stacks in Watson Library. The University installed new fire systems this year that can issue indoor weather alerts in Joseph R. Pearson Hall, Twente Hall, Murphy Hall, Margaret Amini Scholarship Hall and the child care center in the Dole Human Development Center.
The KU Public Safety Office can trigger an alert and all-an clear message from the dispatch center in
The University tests them on the first and third Mondays of March through July and the first Monday of August through February.
Carruth-O'Leary Heid Mintore said
building. Outdoor sirens will sound in three-minute intervals and students and staff should move immediately to a protected area and remain until an all-clear alert is issued, according to the Public Safety Office's Web site,
In a severe weather situation, the University policy is for individuals to take shelter in the lowest part of the
He also said that the system is one of the first of its kind in the Midwest. In addition to the five new systems, the University plans to update fire alarms in 16 other campus buildings during the next 12 to 14 months.
www.ku.edu/~kucops.
Tornado drills are not required past 12th grade, so students, staff and faculty must rely on common sense and knowledge acquired from living in the area. Mullens said.
"We figure that once a person gets to college they must ask and should know what to do." he said.
According to the National Weather Service, peak tornadoes months are April, May and June. However, tornadoes can occur at any time of the season if the atmospheric conditions are right. The deadliest storms are small and spring up unexpectedly.
Meteorologists can track storm systems as early as 48 to 12 hours before they hit, so it is important to pay attention to the weather reports, Mullens said. It is updated weather information are available on Public Safety Office Web site.
Kate chaucer, Lawrence junior, said he thought people did not take warnings as seriously as they should. I see in a few turnados when we lived in western Kansas," he said. "Being in one makes you more aware if you've ever seen one or heard one from your basement, you'd pay attention."
Mullens agreed that some people don't respond abnormally to tornado sirens.
People always stay put when we are airlifts go on, but when the severe weather alerts go off, they run away. A majority of injuries and fatalities during a tornado come from debris, especially glass. Mullens said.
The most dangerous spots to be during a tornado are close to a window, a glass enclosed staircase or a high level of a tall building. The best places to take shelter include basements, under stairways, closets and bathrooms, according to the National Weather Service and Kansas Division of Emergency Management.
Edited by Joshua Richards
Mascots offend some minorities
Professor objects to use of Native-American images, mascots
By Sarah Warren writer @kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The professor of teaching and leadership has spent the past 15 years trying to eradicate the use of Native-American images as school mascots. He spoke to about 20 people at the Multicultural Resource Center yesterday as part of a coffee break series sponsored by the MRC.
Cornel Peewardy is on a crusade to end half-time pow-wows and to stop people from wearing war paint at sports events.
"People see these mascots and they see the chants and the cheerleaders dancing around and they begin to believe that that is the way real native people are," said Pewwardy, who is Native American.
He said that at least 40 school districts in Kansas have Native-American-related mascots. He said schools were hesitant to change their mascots because of the cost of
"They say, 'We're honoring your people,'" Pewewardy said. "It's hard because you can't just go up to a school and say, 'change your mascot' because it'll change the essence of the school, but I would like to educate them."
changing signs, athletic uniforms and stationery.
Eulalio Munoz, Topeka junior said schools with non-native human mascots, such as the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, do not have stereotypical-based game-time antics like Native-American-themed sports teams.
The United States Commission on Civil Rights issued a recommendation Friday calling for an end to the use of "Native American images and team names by non-native schools."
"Maybe if a drunken Irishman parades around at games, then they would want change like the Native Americans," said Muñoz, who is Latino.
"People see these mascots and they see the chants and the cheerleaders dancing around and they begin to believe that that is the way real native people are." Cornel Pewewardy professor of teaching and leadership
professor of teaching and leadership
Pewwardy said Native American children having constant access at an early age to prejudicial images on television and in the movies is disturbing to him.
"This is a serious matter," he said. "Our native children begin to get ashamed of who they are because of these stereotypes and images."
— Edited by Brent Waska
Wescoe media equipment stolen
By Lauren Brandenburg
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Five projectors and some media equipment disappeared between Tuesday night and yesterday morning from five Wescoe Hall classrooms, said Mikaen Pantos, assistant director of the Ermal Garinger Academic Resource Center.
She said one of the five projectors stolen was from an Instructional Development and Support classroom.
Lt. Schuyler Bailey said the KU Public Safety Office took a report on the theft yesterday and was investigating the incident.
Pantos said the center controlled nine classrooms in Wescoe, most of which were used by language and humanities classes. She said the center was missing four projectors and some media equipment and estimated the items' value at $18,000. She said the classrooms themselves were not locked, but Wescoe was supposed to be locked
at a specific time at night.
John Mullens, assistant director for the Office of Public Safety, said housekeeping locked the building's doors Sunday through Thursday nights, and the security department locked them Fridays and Saturdays.
James Choate, associate director of housekeeping, could not be reached yesterday. A housekeeping employee said that housekeeping was not responsible for locking Wescoe Hall. She said it was the responsibility of the safety and security department.
Pantos said she did not know when the projectors, which are used in conjunction with computers and VCRs, would be replaced. She said there was no insurance to cover the theft.
For Instructional Development and Support, which already had two broken projectors, the theft is "kind
Until the items are replaced, she said, the department had some mobile projectors on carts that could be used but it did not have enough to meet everyone's need.
"Most instructors teaching in there requested that room because of the equipment and designed their classes around it being operational." Frederic Gutknecht Instructional Development and
Instructional Development and Support media coordinator
of painful," said Frederic Gutknecht, IDS media coordinator. He said the stolen projector was worth about $6,000.
"Most instructors teaching in there requested that room because of the equipment and designed their classes around it being operational," he said. "They're kind of dead in the water."
— Edited by Melinda Weaver
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