CAMPUS: A KU graduate heads the international relations department at a fledgling Nicaraguan university. Page 5.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VOL. 103, NO.44
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1993
(USPS 650-640)
TONKOVICH
After losing his job in July, Emil Tonkovich looks to the future and the possibility of returning to teach at the KU School of Law. He will submit his appeal to regain his job to the Board of Regents tomorrow.
FIRED BY TRIAL
Tonkovich says that the media have ignored important aspects of his case. Following are some of his claims and excerpts of records from the dismissal hearings that address Tonkovich's assertions. Tonkovich says he will refer to all of these arguments in his appeal, which is due tomorrow to the Board of Regents.
The "simple facts" according to Emil Tonkovich
"I am not here because of this job. I have no motive in that reason. I just want to clear my name.
If I wanted to just get out of here I could take the money and run. I don't need that. I am here to clear my name."
Stories by Lisa Cosmillo and David Stewart Photos by Tom Leininger
NEWS: 864-4810
— Emil Tonkovich, former professor of law, in his May 12, 1993 closing argument during his dismissal hearing.
Tonkovich actually was found to have violated the "moral turpitude clause" of the University Faculty Code of Conduct (Article V, Number 5).
TONKOVICH
As used in this section, conduct involving moral turpitude means intentional conduct, prohibited by law, which is gravely injurious to another person or to society and which constitutes a substantial deviation from the accepted standards of duty owed by a person to other persons and society."
See "SIMPLE FACTS." Page 6.
A profile of Emil Tonkovich
"I have been fired for allegedly violating a rule that wasn't in existence until last month."
The code states:
[Tonkovich is referring to the faculty-student dating policy announced July 30, the day the faculty committee on tenure and related problems publicized its vote for his dismissal. The policy went into effect Aug.20.]
UNIVERSITY
"Committing an act which involves such moral turpitude as to render the faculty member unfit for his position.
losing is never easy, especially for a lawyer. But even in defeat, Emil Tonkovich has tried to stay in control.
What remains are his words, his drive and his power of persuasion.
Using these tools while he pores over more than 8,000 pages of testimony at his kitchen table. Tonkovich works on the key to his redemption — a brief to appeal his dismissal from the KU School of Law as a tenured faculty member.
The brief is due tomorrow to the Board of Regents, which will hear the appeal.
Yes, Tonkovich says, he expects to regain his position as a tenured law professor. Yes, he says, the University owes him an apology for putting him through what he calls "the hell of the past two years."
But the act of clearing his name, of shaking off any stigma associated with the name "tonkovich," is what he says he wants.
Some of the women said that Tonkovich had made them feel uncomfortable with blatant requests to meet them outside class.
In May of 1991, the day after graduating from the law school, a group of female law students approached Robert Jerry, dean of law, with allegations of sexual harassment against Tonkovich.
During an investigation of the matter, the University solicited other accounts from students and collected a total of 19 allegations of student sexual harassment. The University added one other charge against Tonkovich for this apparent pattern of conduct. One student said that Tonkovich had asked her to see his new Toyota truck. His manner seemed to imply a come-on, she said. Another said that Tonkovich hadlied about having a fatal illness in an attempt to become intimate with her.
CALL FOR DISMISSAL
But it was the Tammee McVey story that would force Tonkovich out of the law classroom and into the hearing room.
She told University administrators that after she and Tonkovich had left a party in the summer of 1988, Tonkovich had pressured her into performing oral sex after a discussion of grades.
In September 1991, Chancellor Gene Budig determined that the allegations demonstrated a pattern of moral turpitude and sexual harassment by the professor.
See TONKOVICH. Page 7.
Senate to track funds allocated to groups
Intent is to ensure legitimate spending
By Donella Hearne
Kansan staff writer
Student Senate leaders think they need to start following their money, $950 of which went to temporarily lost paint, canvas and brushes.
Senate officers hope that a new policy designed to help them track the money they allocate will keep them from losing sight of projects such as a mural that is supposed to be mounted on a wall in Wescoe Hall.
On Oct. 8, 1992, Senate voted to give the KU Art Students' School $950 for materials needed to paint a mural for the Wesco Terrace cafeteria.
At the beginning of this semester, Senate officers realized they did not know if the mural had been started.
For the past few weeks, the officers had been searching for the 10-by-20 foot mural of flowers in water. But on Tuesday, artist Trey Parker, graduate student, said his brightly colored mural had been sitting for a month — nearly completed — on the fourth floor of the Art and Design building.
When John Shoemaker, student body president, was notified of the mural's whereabouts, he said he was relieved.
James Schafer, president of the KU Art Students' League, has been handling the arrangements for hanging the mural in Wescoe. The mural should go up by the end of November, he said yesterday. He said that Student Senate had not contacted him and that he did not think he was obligated to keep in touch with Senate once the group had gotten the money.
"The last I spoke to them was the night we got the financing," he said.
Shemaher hoped that such lack of communication would be avoided by a new policy that would track the money allocated to student groups.
New rules and regulations, passed at the end of the Spring semester, would a tighter system of auditing groups' spending, Shoemaker said.
The auditing system would assign a senator to each event sponsored by Senate. That senator would attend the events and file a report on the success of the event.
Such a system would have prevented the Senate from having worried about the possible misuse of funds, Shoemaker said.
Although groups always have been required to provide receipts for the money they spend, there has not been any formal follow-up on the events and projects financed by the Senate.
"Last year the checking on groups was done very informally. There were no rules and regulations established for that," Shoemaker said.
Chad Browning is a member of the committee that examines rules and regulations for Senate-financed groups. He said the new system would not only assure the money was spent properly but also effectively.
The Senate needs the information on reports in order to judge whether a group or event is worth financing in the future, he said.
Set for a kill
Statistics show that Kansasvolleyball player Cyndee Kanabel is one of the team's most dominant players.
Page 9.
Rise in downtown bars generates city concern
By Traci Carl
Kansan staff write
Commissioner Bob Schulte said his main concern was the trend toward a higher concentration of bars. Schulte said he did not want downtown to become the next Aggieville in Manhattan or Westport in Kansas City, Mo.
More bars downtown have attracted more people, and this concentration has city commissioners concerned. They want to limit the number of bars downtown because of increased public complaints about patrons wandering drunk from bar to bar on Massachusetts Street.
"The biggest thing is we're getting out of balance," he said.
In the past year, eight new bars have opened in the downtown area.
Kelly Wiedt, Olathe senior, went to three bars on Massachusetts Street on Tuesday night without getting into a car. Wiedt said she thought the new concentration of bars downtown decreased drunken driving.
"You can bar hop and it's safe," she said.
Mayor John Nalbandian, associate professor of public administration, said intoxicated people on the street was unacceptable.
"My question is, why are they drunk?" he said.
Jeremy Furse, owner of the clothing stores Britches Corner, 843 Massachusetts St., and Hunters, 919 Massachusetts St., said he heard merchants complaining about picking up beer cans and bottles. Tuesday night he saw someone urinating on the side of a building.
Downtown needs an even mix of bars and retail businesses, Furse said.
He said that he would like to see more retail stores open because they would attract more people to his stores.
"A bar on every corner won't do that," he said.
Troy Tarwater, Overland Park senior and downtown bar patron, said the
increased number of bars had attracted more students.
"I've definitely come down here more in the past four years," he said.
Jon Cabrera, Topeka senior, said he lived on Ohio Street and could walk downtown.
"A lot of students live near downtown," he said.
"I could see more people yelling because there are more drunks," he said.
Ed Schager, Glennview, Ill, senior, said that although he had not seen any problems he could understand how more bars could make downtown rowdier.
"It takes them 15 or 20 minutes to disperse," he said. "There's a potential for a problem, but I don't think it's by any means dangerous."
Dave Roberts, manager of Hockenbury's Tavern, 1016 Massachusetts St., said that although he had not heard complaints from the public, bar closing times could create problems because more people were forced into the streets at once.
Too many bars
City commissioners have indicated that they want to limit the number of bars downtown. In the last year, eight new bars have opened.
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Source: Kansan staff reports  John Paul Foose/KANSAN
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