CAMPUS: Residence hall residents voice outrage at being blocked from their homes after basketball games. Page 3.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
VOL.103,NO.70
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1993
(USPS 650-640)
December grads look ahead
Job hunt should be in works now
Students graduating this month still face many of the same issues as spring graduates, including finding a job.
By David Stewart Kansan staff writer
Some KU students hope to receive one item a few days before Christmas — their diplomas.
But because of the fewer number of fall graduates, they will have concerns unique to their impending departure date.
At the University Placement Center, the number of interview schedules set up by off-campus recruiters has decreased by about 15 percent from last December, said
Terry Glenn, director of the center. Most of the recruiters visiting campus were interested in hiring December graduates, Glenn said.
In general, fall graduates often have a slightly harder time finding work because most employers tend to focus their energies on the larger number of spring graduates, Glenn said. But, he said, students should consider finding some form of employment while they wait to locate a more fulfilling position.
"They might not be looking for as high a number of employees as last year, but they are hiring," Glenn said. "But people need to start the process early. If they're just starting their job search and plan on graduating in December, they're starting late."
"People have to be adaptable," Glenn said. "Ive always been of the position that it's better to hire someone coming from a
employed position than one who is unemployed."
"If they're graduating, they've been successful in the environment of the University," DeSalvo said. "They will now have to learn the rules of a new environment."
While graduating students may feel overwhelmed by the new responsibilities of their move to the work force, they could take some comfort knowing their average earnings after graduation continue to outpace those of noncollege graduates, said
Fall graduates trying to determine their career plans often turned to the Career Counseling and Planning Service at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said Francis DeSalvo, director of the service. Students preparing to graduate often express concern about the transition they must make between college and the working world. DeSalvo said.
Joshua Rosenbloom, assistant professor of economics.
"What has happened is a substantial shift for employers seeking college graduates," Rosenbloom said. "It is increasingly competitive for a worker to find a low-wage, low-skill position. This is an advantage for college students, where they have the greater level of skill."
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For graduating students anticipating graduate or professional school, they should consider what they hope to achieve with an advanced degree, said Bob Bearse, associate vice chancellor for research and graduate studies.
"The need for education—both informal and formal — is increasing." Bearse said. "But remember that life is long. You'll have many opportunities. Make sure you understand what your situation is and deal with it intelligently."
English program frustrates some foreign students
By Carlos Tejada Kansan staff writer
Nawshad Shaikh, who majored in English at his high school in Dhaka, Bangladesh, never expected to find himself in a remedial English program.
But when Shaikh enrolled at the University of Kansas in 1990, he discovered that his scores on his English placement tests were too low. He was required to take two semesters of noncredit classes at the Applied English Center, where he said instructors often asked him why he was not enrolled in regular English classes.
"I felt like I was being dragged to class and that I was being punished for something I hadn't done," said Shaikh, now a KU sophomore.
International students must take tests to determine their English skills. A low score could send them to the Applied English Center to take classes, which count as credit hours on schedules but do not count as credit on transcripts. Some international students — who pay $3,470 each semester — resent the cost and hassle.
Passorfail
"They feel like their money is being spent around," said Nesi Igoren, secretary general
International students are tested to determine English proficiency.
*Test of English as a Foreign Language - Students must choose one choice of test with individual scores in 5 in three categories.*
of the International Council.
Applied English Center Proficiency Test -- if the students scored too low on the first test, this comprehensive test would determine whether they need the center's classes.
KANSAN
Gerald Harris, director of International Student Services, said that KU had lost 12 international students this semester because of frustrations with the center. He said that those students would tell others at home about the problem, and KU could lose still more students.
Isgoren, Izmir, Turkey, sophomore, said the center served an important function. However, the combination of stressful tests at the end of each semester — which determine whether the student is ready for English 101 — and the lack of credit for the classes can discourage students, she said.
The solution, Harris said, is to combine the center's classes with English 101 and 102 classes. That way, students could earn credit and learn special English skills.
"Students should get academic credit for the academic work they do," he said.
Harris said the International Council and International Student Services would wait until a permanent director of Freshman/Sophomore English was named before proposing the change.
Elizabeth Soppelsa, director of the center, said putting the students in specialized English 101 and 102 classes would further separate them from American students.
Most students find the process frustrating, but realize the center serves a necessary purpose, Soppela said.
Soppelsa also said the center's methods were the best way to cope with students with different proficiency levels in English.
Holiday cheer The University Dance Company and the Cohen/Suzeau Duet Company bring the spirit of holiday dance to KU.
Holiday cheer
Page 7.
Traci Bunkers-Branden, Lawrence resident, spins wool into yarn for mittens and hats in the Kansas Union Gallery. Bunkers-Brandon, owner of Bonkers Handmade Originals, spun wool during Student Union Activities' Arts and Crafts Fair yesterday. The fair runs until Friday.
Spinning away
Clinton signs long-fought handgun bill
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — As James Brady turned in his wheelchair to watch, President Clinton signed into law the most sweeping handgun control bill in a quarter century yesterday. "Americans are finally fed up with violence," the president declared.
The new law, which takes effect in 90 days, will require a five-day waiting period and a background check on handgun buyers. It was named for Brady, the White House press secretary who was gravely wounded and left disabled in the 1981 assassination attempt against then-President Reagan.
Cheers and applause erupted in the East Room as Clinton signed the long-fought bill before an audience of law enforcement officials, mayors, governors, members of Congress and families who have lost relatives to gun violence.
Reading slowly from notes as his wife, Sarah, held a microphone for him, Brady called the ceremony "the end of unchecked madness and the commencement of a heart-felt crusade for a safer and saner country."
The emotion-filled ceremony marked the end of a nearly seven-year battle by the Bradys and gun-control advocates with the National Rifle Association and its congressional supporters. Every major law enforcement organization had endorsed the bill.
It was the first major gun bill since 1968 when Congress — in the aftermath of the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. — banned mail-order purchases of rifles, shotguns, handguns and ammunition and curbed out-of-state buying of those firearms.
Clinton said the Brady bill finally passed "because grassroots America changed its mind and demanded that this Congress not leave here without doing something about this."
"America won this battle," the president said. "Americans are finally fed up with violence that cuts down another citizen with gunfire every 20 minutes."
A major anti-crime bill, to put 100,000 more police on the streets and ban several assault-style weapons, is expected to be high on the agenda for Clinton and Congress next year. It is a politically popular issue, since polls show that violence-weary Americans say crime is their top fear.
Trying to debunk a central argument against gun control, Clinton said that opponents have successfully portrayed gun restrictions as an impingement on the American culture of hunting and fishing.
He said that signing the Brady bill was "step one in taking our streets back, taking our children back, reclaiming our families and our future."
"We have taken this important part of the life of millions of Americans and turned it into an instrument of maintaining madness," the president said.
"It is crazy," Clinton said. "Would I let anybody change that life in America? Not on your life. Has that got anything to do with the Brady bill or assault weapons or whether the police have to go out on the street confronting teen-agers who are better armed than they are?" Of course not."
Critics contend the bill will have a limited effect because criminals will simply buy their weapons in illicit markets.
At least 25 states have Brady-like restrictions on handgun sales.
Brady bill finally becomes law
President Clinton signed the Brady bill after Senate Republicans agreed to pass it on the condition that Congress consider modifications to the bill next year. The Brady bill is named after former White House press secretary James Brady, who was wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on former President Ronald Reagan
Key provisions of the Brady bill
▶ Waiting period ▶ Background check
Handgun purchasers could be screened for any history of criminal activity or mental disorders during the waiting period. The bill provides $200 million annually to establish the queue system, switching to computerized "instant checks," which would replace the waiting period.
imposes a five-workday waiting period for anyone to legally purchase a handgun.
What Senate Republicans want to change
Shorten the five-year phase out of the waiting period to four, giving the attorney general the option to add a fifth year; have the instant background check ready earlier, possibly two years after bill takes effect
SOURCES: News reports, Congressional Quarterly
Pledge Riddles Tribute / KANSAN
SOURCES: News reports. Congressional Quarterly
Knight-Ridder Tribune / KANSAN
Sex in the stacks: Ever done it in the library?
By Donella Hearne
Kansan staff writer
There is probably not a university library in the country that has not been the site of sexual encounters. Watson Library is no different.
Liz Welz, St. Louis junior, works at the circulation desk at Watson and said she had heard countless stories about students having sex in the library.
Although she has never seen anyone having sex in the library, she said she had found a used condom in the stacks.
"I've seen some pretty convincing evidence," she said.
Custodians also have told Welsch that they find used condoms on a daily basis.
William Crowe, dean of the libraries, said although he had not had any recent reports of students having sex in the library, it would not surprise him.
"I have worked at five major libraries in the country," he said. "Large university libraries are not unfamiliar with these issues."
The library is open late at night, and there are many remote areas where students could engage in sexual activity, Crowe said.
Keith Wingert, Omaha senior, who works at Watson's circulation desk, said he thought it was the nature of the library that made students want to have sex there.
"After all, it's a place of education," he said. "People come here and check stuff out."
One place where students are reported to be having sex is near a section of books on sex and sexuality. Wingert said.
Dennis Dalley, professor of social welfare, said certain materials such as books on sex may create an excitement in some people.
"You need to be sensitive to the people around you," he said.
"For a small group of people there is some heightening of the experience by taking subtle risks," he said.
He also said the thought of having a sexual experience in a public library could be considered erotic to some.
Maureen Carroll, Ft. Collins, Colo., senior, saw something she said she did not want to see while looking for a book in the Watson stacks.
"There were two guys up there having a lot of fun," she said. "I just turned and walked away."
Dailey said that although he had nothing against the expression of sexual feelings, students should be concerned about interfering with other people when expressing those feelings in a public place.
She said she thought the library's labyrinth design, with its large and seud-
ed corners, made it an ideal place for some.
"It's an old library," Carroll said. "It's no wonder people go there."
John Sindt, Lawrence sophomore, said he was oblivious to the fact that people were engaging in sexual activity in the library.
"I never thought people would be crazy enough to do it." he said.
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Library workers said they rarely caught anyone in the act.
"There's really no way to detect it until after the fact." Crowe said.
When employees do catch people, the employees are instructed to walk away and call KU police.
Police can charge students with trespassing, indecent exposure or disorderly conduct, which are punishable by fines, said Officer Burdel Welsh.