CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, October 25,1993
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Black awareness promoted at KU
Events attempt to educate, unite campus community
By Donella Hearne
By Donenta Hearne
Kansan staff writer
In recognition of its 25th anniversary, Black Student Union is attempting to create a new tradition. This week will be the first annual Black Awareness Week, organizers said.
The main focuses of Black Awareness Week are getting students involved at KU and in Lawrence and teaching them more about African-American students.
Alpha Phi Alpha
Even though the players did not seem very social when fouls were called, the game was designed to bring students together in a social setting, which is one goal of Black Awareness Week.
"We're doing this to improve the social atmosphere for Black students at the University of Kansas," said Terry Bell, BSU president.
"If we want something done we're going to have to do it ourselves," she said. "It's everybody's responsibility."
Andrea Lockett, Kansas City, Kan., freshman, said that African-American students were responsible for creating their own activities and events.
Bell said he thought this week would supplement the activities of Black History Month, a nationwide celebration in February.
"I've heard someone say, 'You can't express the history of Blacks in one month,'" Bell said.
An effort has to be made to learn about African-American history all year, he said.
Karen Blackwell, programs coordinator for BSU, said that the events BSU was sponsoring this week would be beneficial to all KU students.
Other events this week will focus on the history of African-American students at KU, Bell said.
Speakers will talk about their experiences as KU students and about the history of African-American students at KU.
The final event and highlight of Black Awareness Week will be speaker Sonia Sanchez, Blackwell said.
Blackwell said she expected attendance for the week's events would be high.
Thisweek
Black Awareness Week events
- Tuesday — Movie, "Just Another Girl on the IRT," chronicles the real life problems of a young girl in Brooklyn trying to succeed — 9:30 p.m., Woodruff Auditorium in Kansas Union. Tickets, $2.50 at SUA
Monday - Black Student Union meeting, Cliff Wiley, staff attorney at KU Legal Services and Olympic track coach, will discuss his experience as an African American at the University - 7:30 p.m., Alderson Auditorium in Kansas Union
**Wednesday** — John Foats Gardenhire, a 1958 KU graduate, will discuss the history of African-American students at KU — 7:30 p.m. Alderson Auditorium in Kansas Union
**Thursday—Sonia Sanchez will speak — 8 p.m., Kansas Ballroom in Kansas Union**
KANSAN
Valerie Bontrager/ KANSAN
Adele Gallion, a member of the color guard for Giendale High School near Springfield, Mo., performs in the 1993 Heart of America Marching Festival. The competition for high school marching bands was Saturday at Memorial Stadium. The Marching Jayhawks performed at the end of the day.
Flying colors
Contracts not made to be broken
Fraternity sues member who moved from chapter
By Shan Schwartz
By Shan schward
Kansan staff writer
A KU student learned a lesson this month that he says others should learn as well — read a contract carefully before signing.
The suit was filed in August by Tom Scalette, Theta Chi treasurer. Scalette claimed that Truelove had broken his housing contract and had failed to pay four months' rent to the fraternity. The court ruled Oct. 13 in favor of Scalette and awarded the chapter $810 plus court costs and interest.
Theta Chi fraternity sued Jon Truelove, Libertyville, Ill. sophomore, after he depledged and moved out of the chapter house last year.
Truelove said that late in Fall 1992, members of the fraternity had pressured him to activate as a full member or move out.
In January, Truelove decided to move out. He did not pay rent for February, March, April or May.
Scalethe said the housing contract had required that Truelove give 90 days notice before canceling his lease.
"But he packed up and ran overnight," Scaletty said. "Literally."
Truelove said that the terms of the contract had not been made clear to him by fraternity members and that the contract had been unfair because it allowed the fraternity to cancel at anytime.
"The contract was rushed past me," Truelove said. "They were like, 'Here, sign this,' so I did.
You hear about hazing all the time. I feel like they were hazing my pocketbook."
William Nelson, assistant director of organizations and activities, said that neither Interfraternity Council nor the University administration had set guidelines for greek chapter housing contracts. Because each house is independently owned and operated, the housing aspects are left up to the individual chapters, Nelson said.
Presidents and treasurers of other KU chapters said the contract terms of fraternities at the university varied widely. They said that housing contract disputes were fairly rare. More lenient chapters do not have official housing contracts and may allow members to cancel at any time.
However, most chapters do have some sort of housing contract. Some permit members to cancel their housing contracts only with a compelling reasons, and others require approval from the chapter's executive or alumni board.
Theta Chi has one of the more strict housing contracts, requiring 90 days notice for a member to move out.
The judge ruled that the contract was legal and that Truelove had violated the terms.
Truelove said that he had learned to be more cautious about entering contracts and that anything he signed could haunt him in the future.
"I learned the hard way." Truelove said. "I want people to know they need to watch out."
"My timing could not have been worse." Mary Rose-Shaffer, Lawrence graduate student
--said. She said the School of Education gave her six years to finish her graduate degree. Having children cut into that time significantly.
Tough choices await pregnant students at KU
By Carlos Tejada
Kansan staff writer
Holly Larrison and her unborn son are racing an academic clock.
"I'm playing roulette," said Larrison, Little Rock, Ark., graduate student.
Larrison's due date is Dec. 7. Final exams begin on Dec. 13, and Larrison said she hoped she would not go into labor until after her finals.
Finals are only one in a variety of problems pregnant students face at the University of Kansas, Larrison said. Dealing with schedule confusion, class work and financial worries sometimes make climbing Mount Oread every morning easier.
Larrison said if her son were born before finals, she would not have a chance to take them. Her semester then would be wasted.
Valerie Bontrager / KANSAN
"I'm psyching so hard to get done," she said. "But I could finish my semesters with incompletes. I don't know if it's going to be worth it."
Mary Rose-Shaffer, Lawrence graduate student, said she bid her pregnancy as long as she could.
She said unsympathetic faculty members might deny her husband grants in the history department because expecting a child would put his academic commitment in doubt.
Rose-Shaffer said her fears had been unfounded — but such occurrences had been known to happen to students expecting children.
"If it had come out before he had a chance to tell people, it would not have come out well." Rose-Shaffer said.
"The worst-case scenario would have been if we were not working with the people we're working with now, our funding would have been withdrawn," she said.
The situation often depends upon departments, Rose-Shaffer said. She said that although the faculty of the department of history had been cooperative, other schools and departments might treat future parents with disrespect or disdain.
Academic schedules also could suffer, Rose-Shaffer
Mary Rose-Shaffer, Lawrence graduate student, left, hands some information about La Leche League to Karin Pagel. Rose-Shaffer was volunteering her time at the baby fair at Lawrence Memorial Hospital on Saturday. She says that she worries some faculty members are not sympathetic to pregnant students.
"I can't get paid. I can't get credit," she said. "What can I do?"
Robert Shelton, University ombudsman and associate professor of religion, said there was no specific University policy concerning pregnant students, but students could contact the Student Assistance Center for possible help.
Larrison said simply sitting in class and trying to concentrate was uncomfortable. She said she often had to sit on chairs in aisles or move around desks in order to sit and take notes.
"My timing could not have been worse," she said.
Larrison said she could not afford to drop out for academic and financial reasons.
"There's always stories, but nobody has any evidence," he said.
Shelton said students needed to work out their schedules and finals with professors beforehand.
Any instance of discrimination should be reported to the Office of Affirmative Action, Shelton said. But he also said no occurrence of discrimination against pregnant students had been reported to him.
"That's something they need to take into account," he said. "If they happen to be dealing with a professor who is unsympathetic, they should probably drop the class."
Compacted waste may be future fuel
Burning garbage would save landfills and conserve energy
By Liz Klinger
Kansan staff writer
Future students tired of paying hefty bills to heat their houses may use a heating unit fueled by burning garbage.
"The technologies are coming before the public that will allow them to change their perspective of one of waste disposal to one of utilization," said Les Blevins, Lawrence innovator of an alternative fuel source. "This is a trend now. It's official, I would say, with Clinton's declaration of greenhouse policies."
Since 1980, Blevins has been designing units he calls "fire boxes," which will heat houses and small businesses by burning cubes of household garbage compressed by a trash compactor. Blevins has designed 10 different fire boxes equipped to handle from 150 pounds to 150 tons of waste a day. He said he had sold two fire boxes, now being used commercially.
Someone wanting to heat a small house by this method could purchase a small fire box, which costs about $3,000, and a trash compactor, which costs about $250.
Blevins said finding cubes should not be a problem because it would be a long time before many people use fire boxes. Blevins said that the process was rather revolutionary and that about 30 percent of U.S. houses would have fire boxes by 2030.
Because each cube usually weighs between 10 and 20 pounds and a fire box uses 150 to 200 pounds of waste a day to heat a small house, the user would have to rely on neighbors for cubes. Bleivens said he envisioned a warehouse of sorts within a neighborhood where people could drop their cubes and do some basic recycling.
Blevins said a fire box user probably could save $300 a year in heating
costs.
"It's an alternative fuel source that doesn't cause global warming," Blevins said.
Blevins said it also would save the user and contributing neighbors money that would be spent on garbage pick-up. He said the fire box would reduce waste normally placed in landfills.
"We have to find alternatives to landfills," Blevins said. "Recycling can only do so much."
Dennis Lane, professor of civil engineering, said he thought that the fire box sounded intriguing from a purely scientific viewpoint but doubted its acceptance by the public.
Lane said he thought that only a small group of people would want to use a fire box because it was relatively inexpensive to heat a house with natural gas. Few neighbors could supply fire box users with trash cubes because only one in 100 houses has a compactor, Lane said.
Tonkovich makes first move to appeal dismissal to Board of Regents
By David Steward
Kansan staff writer
Emil Tonkovich, former KU professor of law, filed a 300-page brief with the Board of Regents on Friday, explaining the reasons why the Regents should review a University committee's decision to dismiss him as a tenured faculty member.
students accused Tonkovich of sexual harassment.
Tonkovich submitted the appeal to the Regents in response to July 30 findings by a faculty committee. By a 3-2 vote, the committee agreed with Chancellor Gene Budig's decision to fire Tonkovich after several
The Regents have not established procedures for hearing Tonkovich's appeal, said Ted Ayers, general counsel for the Regents. Ayers would not comment on the content of the appeal.
According to a prepared statement by John Montgomery, chair of the Regents, the University will have until Nov. 11 to respond to Tonkovich's statement of appeal. The Regents then will give Tonkovich until Dec. 1 to write a rebuttal to the University's
response, according to the Regents statement. The Board then would decide whether to hear the appeal.
"The Board of Regents will seek to address Professor Tonkovich's request in a reasonable, prompt and fair manner that seeks to assure due process for all concerned," Montgomery said in the statement.
Tonkovich said he wanted to make his brief a matter of public record but said he would wait until he had spoken with the Regents about the brief's release to the public.
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