Campus/Area
University Daily Kansan / Friday, March 22, 1991
3
Program will teach education for deaf
By Amy Francis Kansan staff writer
The year of preparation is almost complete for the graduate program in deaf education at the University of Kansas Medical Center, and the program director said it would be ready for the fall semester.
"it's going to be a real quality program," said Barbara Laetke-Stahlin, director of an professor at the university's program in computer science to get ready for next year.
The program is designed to teach students how to teach people with hearing impairments, she said. Early childhood deafness, elementary deafness and secondary deafness will be the educational levels of study.
All the areas of study will include special education classes, she said. One-third of the program is supposed to focus on special education because students with special needs also have a disability such as blindness or mental retardation.
'We're going to be looking at all ways to communicate with deaf children.'
— Luetke-Stahlman program director
Uluetke-Stahliman said that one of the strong points of the program was that it would teach students how to teach others to use sign language as well as how to talk.
"We're going to be looking at all ways to communicate with deaf children." she said.
Larry Marston, associate professor of speech, language and hearing, said, "Signing is usually very helpful in teaching sign language to spoken language is more difficult."
The program is designed to last two years for full-time students and five years for part-time students. But the program has largely moved to a part-time student.
"Almost all the classes, if not all of the classes will be offered after 4 o'clock," Luetke-Stahman said. "We are positioned to the working person."
The classes will be divided between the Med Center, the Lawrence campus.
The original deaf education program started at the Med Center in 1949, said Luekte-Stahlman. It closed in March 1899.
"There was just a decision being made as to either to operate the ship or not."
The decision to bring back the program was made last year. Luekte-Stahlman said she was hired as director in August.
The program's renewal was due in large part to the community, she said. There are 10,000 deal residents in the area near the Med Center.
A committee comprising community members involved in deaf education helped plan the new curriculum, she said.
"The whole university is very aware of the deaf community," Lueket-Stahlian said. "There was a significant interest in the commun-
"The teachers of the deaf that are out there are very excited about the curriculum," she said.
Sians of life
Veterans get homecoming in Lawrence
Kim Wasinger, Hays sophomore, waters African violets at Pence Garden Center and Greenhouse, 15th and New York streets. Michelle Cusumano, greenhouse manager, said business had increased steadily with the advent of spring. Recent shipments of trees, shrubs and perennials have been popular sellers.
Soldiers glad to exit gulf area
By Patricia Rojas
Kansan staff writer
It was a welcoming home of veterans by veterans.
Members of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post conducted a reception yesterday for technical sergeants Steve Klopfenstein and Stephen Lawrence veterans of the Persian Gulf War who came home last week.
Both veterans, members of the 190th Air Force Unit, said they were pleased they had been sent to the Middle East.
Klopfenstein said he thought many of the soldiers who were not deployed to the gulf during the war were disappointed to stay home.
"If I had been the guy to stay behind, I would've been really hurt," he said. "I think very, very few people didn't want to go."
When the U.S. soldiers first arrived in the gulf region in August, the Saudi soldiers did not understand what was happening, Klopfenstein said.
"They thought they were being invaded," he said "When they found out we were there to protect their country, they couldn't have been nicer to us. They were as curious about us as we were about them."
Klofenstein said that what impressed him most about the Saudi soldiers was their religious integrity. Most Saudi soldiers pray at least five times a day. When it was prayer time, they stop what ever they were doing.
"They had rules to follow, and those rules would not be broken for
'When they found out we were there to defend their country, they couldn't have been nicer to us. They were as curious about us as we were about them.'
- Steve Klopfenstein technical sergeant
anything." he said.
"You got used to it," he said. "There was no use in getting upset. It was just the way it was."
Often the bus that transported him from his post to the Air Force base where he worked would be late because the Saudi soldiers on board had stopped to pray for about 20 minutes.
Groves said the U.S. soldiers had to watch their actions carefully to ensure that they did not offend the Saudis.
"A hand gesture over there can get you in trouble." Groves said
He said he learned that the Saudis considered it rude to sit down and cross one's legs while showing the bottom of one's shoe.
Despite the cultural differences, the Saudi and U.S. soldiers worked well together, he said.
Legislators ask Bush to stop military ban
"I think what we've done is what we needed to do," he said. "It's time for us to get out and let them take care of it."
However, Groves said he thought now we must pull out of the Middle East.
Kansan staff writer
By Lara Gold
President Bush should end the military's ban on gay and lesbian enlistment after an estimated 50,000 gay and lesbians served in the Persian Gulf War. 40 House members said in a letter to the president.
"While enduring the same hardships of war as their non-gay colleagues and making the same sacrifices, gay and lesbian service members must hide an integral part of themselves." stated the letter.
The letter was distributed by Rep. Gerry Studds, D-Mass, who is an acknowledged homosexual.
The number 50,000 is based on the
theory that 10 percent of the U.S. population is homosexual, and therefore, according to the letter, 10 percent of the 560,000 uniformed men and women who served in the war would have been gay or lesbian
Janie Simms, representative for the assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, said she could not confirm whether gays and lesbians were enlisted in the military and had served in the war.
The letter said many gays and lesbians had enlisted in the military and had been concealing their sexual orientation.
"We submit that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is as important as any other difference."
of race," the legislators said in the letter. "The only difference is that gay people cannot be detected simply by the color of their skin."
Mike Sullivan, co-director for Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas, said the military's ban on gays and lesbians is problematic and blatantly discriminatory.
"Their (the Defense Department) own studies have disqualified that statement," he said.
Sullivan said the president needed to take action to end the discrimination.
"He said there was no room for any discrimination in this country," he said. "I would like to see him back that up. It's long overdue."
The Human Rights Campaign, a gay and lesbian lobbying group based in Washington, D.C., has been appointed by the Department of Defense's policy.
Karen Friedman, deputy legislative director for the Human Rights Campaign, said that the president had called for an end to all discrimination but that the military still was fighting against gays and lesbians.
"The military thinks gays and lesbians would be bad for morale," she said. "They say homosexuals are likely to be blackmailed."
Friedman said the gay and lesbian community nationwide was trying harder to effect a change in the
military because of the positive climate after the United States and the allied forces won the war.
The Department of Defense study shows that gay and lesbians are as well-suited or better suited as their heterosexual counterparts for military training. The department asked a study titled "Gays in Uniform: the Pentagon's Secret Report."
"It is hypocritical," Friedman said. "On one hand all these gays and lesbians can risk their lives for our country, but when they come back they are treated like dirt and without dignity."
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
Regents put improved-English program on hold
By Eric Nelson
Kansan staff writer
After the Board of Regents tabled the student advisory committee's proposal for improving English proficiency for foreign instructors last month, a action was expected at yesterday's meeting.
But after the smoke from the debate cleared, the motion was tabled for another 90 days.
The motion calls for the minimum qualifying score on the Test of Spoken English to be raised from 220 to 240 out of 300. It also calls for a one-semester probationary period for candidates failing the exam and a review committee of three faculty members and at least one student
when hiring faculty.
The 240 minimum score and one-seme-
tration probationary period are already KU require-
Del Brinkman, vice cemployer for academic affairs, gave a presentation on behalf of the
He said that although the University of Kansas had implemented the proposed guidelines, the situation still was not perfect.
"We still have an isolated problem, but overall, things have improved," he said.
issues needed to be identified on each campus. He said that although the guidelines were
Brinkman said that to find solutions, specific issues needed to be identified on each cane.
working well at KU, how they would affect other schools would vary from campus to campus.
John Breazeale, executive vice president for academic affairs at Wichita State University, was concerned with the proposal and its applications for foreign instructors at Wichita State.
Wichita State has recorded more complaints from students because of inadequate English skills than any other Regents school. In the past year, 67 complaints have been filed.
Breezeale said Wichita State's pool of instructors to choose from would be cut in half if the minimum English test score were raised
to 240.
Other Wichita State officials suggested that reasons other than the lower minimum test score were causing the problem. They requested further study of the situation.
Regent Donald Slawson, of Wichita, suggested that more time should be taken with the issue because it could result in the loss of faculty.
The issue was eventually tabled, but support for the proposal and its implementation for Fall 1991 was made clear.
Robert Creighton, Regents chairperson, said that many times established guidelines resulted in positive action.
901 Mississippi
$1.00 Cover Before 9:30
WEDNESDAY
Power
Showcase
3 BANDS
3 BUCKS!
Live!
Nick Cosmos
FALSE FACES
Alive & Kickin'
18 & Above Admitted Tues. & Wed.