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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2009
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 70
REFLECTING ON A LEADER
Former Chancellor Laurence Chalmers died in Durango, Colo. last Tuesday, Chalmers was known for his casual demeanor and unconventional way of dealing with problems. He served as chancellor from 1969 to 1972.
Photo courtesy of Spencer Research Library
Former chancellor remembered
BY JUSTIN LEVERETT jleverett@kansan.com
Laurence Chalmers, a former chancellor who led the University during a period of student discontent during the Vietnam War era, died last Tuesday in Durango, Colo., at age 81. He served as chancellor from 1969 to 1972.
Bill Tuttle, who was an assistant professor at the time, said Chalmers' personable ways were not well-liked by older, more traditional faculty.
"He told everyone, 'Just call me Larry',"
Turtle said. "And the more senior faculty
thought it was quite an affront, such infor- mality"
During his three years as chancellor, violence and racial tension boiled over at the University and in Lawrence. An arsonist burned down the Kansas Union, and a bomb exploded in Summerfield Hall. But Tuttle said that if it weren't for Chalmers, the violence could have been much worse.
"I think KU could have been Kent State, had it not been for Chalmers," he said.
Tuttle said Chalmers invited all students and faculty to a mass meeting in the football stadium in the summer of 1970. By voice vote, he agreed to let students go home before finals, and keep the grades they had
at the time.
This decision was not popular among senior faculty. In 1972 Chalmers resigned the chancellorship after being accused of an affair.
Del Shankel, associate dean at the time, said Chalmers was never properly recognized for his service as chancellor.
"It was a very difficult time to be chancellor," he said. "But I think that we came through that time better than we might have."
Shankel said Chalmers' background in psychology helped him deal with student discontent.
peace at the University and forestalling violence.
Robert Cobb, executive vice chancellor at the time, said he did a good job of keeping
"Chancellor Chalmers was chancellor during a turbulent time, and he did much to diffuse the turbulence," he said.
The University released a statement in his memory last week, with comments from Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little.
"Chancellor Chalmers led KU during one the most difficult periods in its history," she said. "He had a distinguished career in the worlds of academia and the arts. Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones."
— Edited by Tim Burgess
STUDENT HEALTH
Campus groups provide HIV tests
BY JESSE BROWN jbrown@kansan.com
Michael Turner has a personal connection to HIV that prompted him to take an active role in promoting AIDS awareness.
"A couple of my friends are actually positive. One of my dear friends from back home is positive," Turner said. "So I have a couple personal ties with AIDS and I really think it needs to be outreached."
Turner, Manhattan freshman, is the office manager for Queers and Allies and helped promote an event Tuesday to raise awareness for World AIDS Day by providing free HIV testing to students, faculty and staff.
The LGBT Resource Center and Queers and Allies held the event on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union along with the Douglas County AIDS Project. The groups also distributed free condoms to promote safe sex.
"It's really important to know your status and being educated about your partner's status," Turner said. "Safe sex is the best thing and knowing your status is always very important to the process of being sexually active." Saida Bonfield, LGBT Resource Center coordinator and Lawrence graduate student in education, helped coordinate the event. She said the center's goal is to raise awareness on college campuses as well as in the community and world-wide.
"On college campuses specifically, we do this event to raise
CONSTRUCTION
SEE AIDS ON PAGE 3A
Professors, students just want a little peace and quiet around here
BY MEGAN HEACOCK mheacock@kansan.com
Some students and faculty have found recent construction on campus to be severely disruptive to classes, though no one has made any formal complaints to the University.
An air conditioning repair project on the east side of Blake Hall has caused loud pounding and drilling during the day. The noise level has been a distraction to Valerie Shands, St. Louis junior, who is taking a Constitutional Law class in Blake Hall.
"It has affected my learning," she said. "I cannot concentrate when someone is drilling. It sounds like the entire room is going to cave in on my head."
Brent Steele, associate professor of political science, had to yell instructions across the room of his International Ethics class because the hammering and drilling was so loud.
When his class attempted to have discussion, the noise
overpowered the voices, he said. Steele finally walked outside to ask the construction workers to stop the drilling until the end of class.
"They were extremely reasonable and I was sympathetic to them because they had a job to do and here was this professor coming out of kind of laying down the law," he said. "And so it ended
up working out
okay, but I know
that I'm not the
only one that's
had some of these
issues with trying
to run a class
while construction is going on."
demolition projects, were done during the summer months, and that heating and cooling problems were typically addressed the season before they were needed. He said the University would modify construction schedules based on the location of a project. For instance, a project in Wescoe Hall, where there is high "classroom
"It has affected my learning. I cannot concentrate when someone is drilling."
Construction Management, said the University usually tried to take classes into consideration when undergoing loud projects.
Jim Modig,
campus director
of Design and
utilization," would be limited to nonschool hours. He said the University always took classes into consideration and tried to adjust the work schedule accordingly.
VALERIE SHANDS St. Louis junior
"We have to look at that on a case-by-case basis," he said.
Modig said that some projects, like replacing windows or other
Modig said he wasn't aware of the noise disturbance
"Based on that, I would go back to my office and my staff and ask the question whether they've
in Blake Hall because no formal complaints had been raised about the construction there.
SEE NOISE ON PAGE 3A
The northeast corner of Blake Hall has become a loud construction site, constantly disrupting classes on the lower levels of the building. The severity of the noise has sparked informal complaints from students and faculty. To make a formal complaint, e-mail imodio@ku.edu.
Contributed Photo
index
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