University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, April 10, 1991
Campus/Area
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GLSOK to rally for national action day
Kansan staff writer
By Patricia Roias
The Gay and Lesbian Student Organization of Kansas will rally at noon today in front of Strong Hall in connection with the National Day of Action.
The purpose of the day is to protest the Department of Defense policy that bans gays, lesbians and bisexuals from the military and thus from ROTC programs, said Mike Sullivan, GLSOK director.
The designation of April 10 as the
day for colleges and universities across the country to protest the policy originated at the University of Wisconsin Madison, he said.
Sullivan said GLSOK would deliver a letter in the morning to Del Shankel, interim executive vice chancellor, explaining the purpose of
"We feel it's important to coordinate with the administration instead of working on our own or against the administration." Sullivan said.
In the letter to Shankel, GLSOK
lists five requests, he said.
First, it asks for Greg Hughes, University Council member, to read at the rally the Council's resolution about discrimination in the ROTC.
Sullivan said GLSOK was pleased with the resolution, which denounces the current Department of Defense policy.
Second, GLSOK wants the University to specify in all literature concerning the HOTC program, such as the requirements of the gram discriminates against people of
homosexual orientation and therefore conflicts with the KU policy against discrimination.
Sullivan said GLSOK members understood that KU administrators had to follow the Department of Defense's policies and therefore could not set the rules for the ROTC program on campus. But he said the administrators should express their disapproval of the existing rules.
ceremonies as official representatives of the University.
The third request GLSOK members make is that KU administrators do not attend ROTC commissioning
Fourth, GLSOK asks to meet with those administrators who visited Washington, D.C., during spring semester against the discriminatory policy.
GLSOK also will ask for a progress report on KU's discussion of the ROTC issue with other universities, Sullivan said.
He said that the fifth request was for the administration to create a scholarship for students who are not
eligible to receive ROTC scholarships because of their sexual orientation.
GLSOK has asked other student organizations on campus to participate in the rally, Sullivan said.
Kristin Lange, member of the Women's Student Union, said she and other members of WSU would participate in the rally.
Comics perform at Frontier Room
"I think this situation has gone on much longer than it needed." Lange said, speaking about the policy.
Full-time comedian finds job satisfying
By Patricia Rojas Kansan staff writer
Mike Saccone's childhood reasoning yielded to his love for jokes and laughter.
"I remember thinking right before I did something. 'It's worth it, even if I get in trouble.'" Saccone said.
"It was sick, kind of. But I've turned it into a job," he said.
Saccone, a Kansas City, Mo. native currently living in Los Angeles, was one of two comedians in Room, in the Kansas Union room.
Pervis Powell, a Kansas City, Mo., sixth grade teacher, was the other performer.
About 100 people attended the event sponsored by Student Union Activities to inaugurate the opening of the Frontier Room.
Saccone's performance included jokes about moving away from home for the first time, deciding which classes to drop and flying in airplanes in which cigarette smoking is banned.
He has performed on MTV's "Half-Hour Comedy Hour." Arts & Entertainment's "Evening at the Comedy Club" and "Comedy Club Network" amuse others.
A comedian for 12 years, Saccone was the "Star Search" comedy grand champion and Performance Magazine's best new comic in 1989.
His first public performance was in 1980 at Stanford & Sons Comedy House in Kansas City, Mo. But that performance did not his first comic performance.
His ability to entertain others in grade school was what triggered the only compliment he ever got from his sixth grade teacher. Mrs. Wilson, who really hated him, Saccone said.
"I knew you'd be good at something," she told him after he made the whole class laugh during a skit
Mike Saccone tells a joke at the Burge Union, Saccone, "Star Search" comedy grand champion and Performance Magazine's best new comic of 1989, performed for about 100 people last night.
Sacone said that at first it was hard to live on a comedy career, because when he started there were not many clubs. But he managed.
"As long as I was able to feed myself and pay the rent, I felt I was ahead of the game," he said.
For him, the fun involved outweighed the inconveniences, just as it did when he got punished for his jokes in high school.
"The pay wasn't that good, but the satisfaction was," he said, speaking about the jokes he played in school.
Unlike Saccone, Powell is a part-time comedian. But he is planning to work as a full-time comedian for at least a year.
"I'm testing the waters," he said. "It's tough, but it really helps when you see good comedians."
Powell's first public comedy performance was in 1989, also at Stan-
He said he could earn the same
Powell said he still worked the
amount of money doing comedy for 10 minutes as he did teaching for eight hours.
"master of ceremonies" stage for comedians. This means he gives a 10 to 15-minute act prior to another comedian's presentation.
Warm weather heats buildings
Turning on cooling systems takes time
By Katie Chipma
Kansan staff writer
If it seems that on warm days the temperature inside some campus buildings is uncomfortably hot, there is a reason.
Bob Porter, associate director of facilities operations, said campus heating systems were not like furnaces in homes and could not be turned on and off with the flip of a switch.
Porter said it took 24 to 72 hours for facilities operations crews to switch to cooling systems because they had to change from heating to cooling controls and add coolants to the systems.
"Air conditioning is not what the name imperson." Porter says. "It's not cooling the air, it's taking the heat of the air. And that process takes time.
The temperature outside will have to reach 70 degrees and stay there for a few days before the decision to turn on air conditioners is made, he said.
Porter said the heat in most buildings had been turned off because of recent warm temperatures, and in some buildings the air conditioning had been running until Monday, when the temperature dropped.
Some buildings, however, have not had the air conditioning turned on
because of maintenance reasons
"Last fall, we ran the air conditioning up until the middle of November." Porter said. "We were not able to get through it so do the winter maintenance until late."
"Now that we had some warm days above 75 degrees, we can't turn on those units that weren't maintenanced."
Porter said that facilities operations tried to maintain a temperature of 74 degrees in buildings all year but that there was a period of four to six months when no one could be satisfied with the temperature in the buildings.
The facilities operations crews work with departments in each building to determine the need for air conditioning and heating. Buildings that contain animals, computers or child research areas that have children present are given attention first.
Jill Joiner, Overland Park parkmore, works at the information counter on the fourth floor in the Kansas Union.
She said it was difficult to work in the Union because the windows could not be opened and the fans only circulated hot air.
"Everybody was complaining about how hot it was," she said. "It was really frustrating to keep telling people that the air conditioning wasn't coming on until it stayed warm."
Men charged in bomb incident plead not guilty
By Rick C. Honish
Kansan staff writer
Two men charged with planting a pipe bomb under a security jeep behind IBM R. Pearson Hall last week, the police say yesterday in a Topeka federal court.
Joseph Ceresko, Derby freshman, and John Bitker, Lawrence resident, both 20, were charged with using explosives at an institution receiving federal financing.
Bitter remained in custody without bond. Ceresko was released last month on a $10,000 bond, said Greg Hough, assistant U.S. attorney.
The two were arrested March 28 in the early morning after a KU police officer saw someone tampering with the jeep.
Another officer picked up the explosive and put it on a hill about 10 feet from the jeep, where it detonated. The police window and a nearby car windshield.
If convicted, the men face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a 2520.00 fine. Hough said
KU police Lt. John Mullens said the
two men now would go through separate hearings before the trial would begin.
Del Shankel, interim executive vice chancellor, said the University would seek full prosecution in the case because of the number of bomb threats that had been received prior to this one.
Thirty-nine bomb threats were made last semester, in addition to seven this semester, including one room shortly after the March 28 incident.
Mullens said that the last bomb to explode prior to this one was in Summerfield Hall in the late 1960s, when all three threats had to be treated seriously.
There have been no threats since the one called in after the explosion, he said.
"For whatever reasons, people may have a little more sense to not call these in and cause this pandemonium," Mullens said.
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.