Campus/Area
University Daily Kansan / Monday, December 4, 1989
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AIDS activists draw attention to KU problem
By Stacy Smith Kansan staff writer
Chancellor Gene A. Budig was given an early Christmas gift of condoms Friday, but he wasn't in his office to receive it.
Students in a new campus organization, Act Up KU/Lawrence, took the condoms and a list with
> See related story p.16
names of KU students and faculty who have died of complications of AIDS to the chancellor's office. They made a similar presentation to James Strobl, director of student health services at Watkins Memorial Health Center.
"We can't afford to be silent about the issue of AIDS. Silence just spreads the disease," said Scott Manning, organizer of the group. "We draw attention to what we perceive to be inactive administration."
"We want the administration to have a comprehensive AIDS plan for the entire campus."
Strobl said he didn't mind being presented with the condoms and the list of names. He said he posted them in the lobby at Watkins.
"Any way you can draw attention to an issue, people learn from it," he said. "But I'm not sure where the administration could do."
Manning said the group was formed about a month ago to make AIDS more of an issue on campus. He said his group was pushing the administration to develop a campus-wide program, which would include installing condom vending machines on campus and adding a mandatory AIDS class to the curriculum.
After visiting the administrators, about 12 members staged a mock death protest rally outside the Kansas Union. Several protesters played dead on the sidewalk while others drew body outlines around them with chalk.
Others pretended to be dead in the grass while holding paper tombatshes with the mames of KU students who had been infected. The tapes said died from the AIDS virus.
W
VVe can't afford to be silent about the issue of AIDS. Silence just spreads the disease.'
- Scott Manning
Act Up KU/Lawrence
Carl Hipplesteen, a member of the Act Up organization in Kansas City. Mo., said he came to KU to help the local group get started.
"Although there are not a lot of people with AIDS here, there are a lot of people who are becoming infected here and then 'moving on,' he said. "It's a serious problem."
After about 20 minutes, the group marched to Strong Hall shouting "Fight AIDS now," and carrying signs that read "Judith Ostrich" Ramaley get your head out of the sand — help fight AIDS" and "Silence = Death."
The group encircled the Christmas tree inside the Strong Hall rotunda and propped up the tombstones for another mock death scene; this time to reach the administration. After about 20 minutes, the protesters concluded their peaceful rally.
"I like what the administration has been doing, but I'd like them to take a more aggressive role," Manning said. "AIDS is becoming an enormous problem at KU."
Patrick G. Brunsgadt/Special to the Kanese Above, Lauren Crain, Olympia, Wash., senior, lies in the rotunda of Strong Hall in front of a mock tombstone for a former KU student who she says died of complications from AIDS. Left, this message to the executive vice chancellor, along with "Silence = Death" signs, protests what the activists say is KU administration's apathy toward AIDS. Students carried the signs Friday in an effort to promote a comprehensive AIDS plan for the KU campus.
Lights, decorations bring fire hazards
By Rich Cornell Kansan staff writer
Extension cords pose biggest danger
Sometimes, decorative lights add warmth to students' homes during the holiday season. Sometimes, inadequate wiring and overburdened circuits, especially in older homes, add too much warmth.
Home fires are most common during the holiday season, said Jim McSwain, Lawrence fire chief. Most fires in students' homes result when electrical circuits are overloaded or when an unattended candle flame spreads to nearby clothing or furniture.
"One of the biggest problems in student housing of all types is electrical cords." he said.
An extension cord with a built-in circuit breaker, available for $4 to $10 in local department and hardware stores such overheating. McSwain said.
McSwain said students used more electrical extension cords during the holiday season. Cords could overheat and short circuit resulting in a fire, he said.
Extension cords, he said, should be placed where they will not be damaged to further decrease the change of fire.
Students also must take precautions when using a fireplace, McSwain said.
"Ensure that all of the electrical cords are not running under chair legs or rugs." McSwin said.
Portable heaters also pose a problem during the winter, he said. Students should place them at least three feet from clothes, furniture or anything that could catch fire.
McSwain said students should water their Christmas trees so they do not become too dry. He also suggested that they spray their trees with a fire retardant.
"Always have a screen or a glass door in front of the fireplace," he said. "Do not use wood scraps or lumber because they burn so much hotter than firewood."
Otherwise, a Christmas tree may
1 HCl 1 HOF
quickly burn, filling a room with smoke and flames.
"It's almost like they explode," he said.
'Always have a screen or a glass door in front of the fireplace. Do not use wood scraps or lumber because they burn so much hotter than firewood.'
- Jim McSwain Lawrence fire chief
Scott Thomas, owner of Scott Thomas Construction, said that of the types of student housing, older houses were the most likely to burn.
Electrical wiring in many houses built during or before the 1970s cannot provide as much power as demanded from the students it serves. So students, students' solutions to the inconvenience cause overheating and fires.
"People will put in a six-way adapter." he said.
The construction of older houses also causes problems, he said. The cavity between the inner and outer walls forms a tunnel from the ground to the rafters.
"If fire gets into that wall cavity, it acts like a chimnev," he said.
Therefore, the fire quickly spreads from the first to second floor, Thomas's brother.
In newer buildings, he said, flooring extends into the wall cavity, separating the first and second floors with a 5/8 of an inch layer of sheetrock. Such sheetrock, thicker than most, stops fire for one hour.
Thomas suggested that students, especially those living in old houses, install smoke alarms. Also, they should have their furnace and fireplace inspected once a year.
"Just don't run miles of cord," he said.
Inquest into shooting planned
Finally, he said, students shoud not overload electrical circuits.
Bv Rich Cornell
Kansan staff writers
A coroner's inquest will be convened to review evidence and hear testimony concerning the shooting death of a 21-year-old KU freshman, district attorney Jim Flory said Friday.
Brian Keith Robinson, Topeka, was shot once in the head about 4:20 a.m. Nov. 13 at a friend's apartment in the Tanglewood apartment complex, 951 Arkansas St., a police record stated. One of three other men there shot him.
"I think it's important that all the facts be developed by way of examination under oath." Flory said.
"Their only determination will be whether it's felonious or accidental." Flory said.
Carol Moddrell, Douglas County coroner, will preside over a jury of six county residents, Flory said. The inquest will begin within the next seven to 10 days.
He said jury members would decide whether they thought a charge should be filed and then make a recommendation to him.
stere calling for a coroner's inquest, Flory and his staff had studied evidence and testimony from the case. He did not decide whether a charge should be filed, he said.
Moddrell said Robinson's blood-alcohol level was .10, the legal level of intoxication.
"If they determine that charges need to be filed, it will be my responsibility to order an arrest," she said.
be my responsibility to order an arrest. Flory said Moddrell would instruct the jury what laws applied to the case. They may determine the shooting was a crime, a justifiable homicide or an accident.
Robinson's family is aware of the decision to hold an inquest, Flory said.
Arts fair benefits youth, local artists
Bv a Kansan reporter
Local artists decked the halls of the Lawrence Arts Center with Christmas creativity yesterday.
CENTER WITH SCHOLARS
More than 30 exhibitors were at the annual Holiday Art Fair, sponsored by the Lawrence Art Guild, offering original arts and crafts to the public.
on sale to the public. All proceeds from the "Giving Tree" will be donated to the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence, a United Way agency.
In the foyer of the Arts Center stood the "Giving Tree," to which the artists had donated original ornaments, also
"We expect to give about $75-$100 to the Boys and Girls Club this year," Clark said.
Andy Contreras, director of the Boys and Girls Club, said the agency appreciated the donation. This was the second year that the Lawrence Art Guild donated money to the agency. The money will be used to provide art supplies for the children, he said.
Firing 'difficult but necessary'
By Doug Fishback
the chairman of anthropology told a University committee Friday that calling for the dismissal of Dorothy.Willner was a difficult but necessary step for her colleagues.
By Doug Fischbuck
Kansan staff writer
David Frayer, chairman of anthropology, told the Faculty Senate Committee on Tenure and Related Problems that Wilner's colleagues had based their decision to call for revocation of her tenure on a 12-year history of incidents that they thought threatened the department.
"It's not an easy thing for this department to do." Frayer said. "But we got to a point where we didn't think we could survive in any other way."
When Donald Koster, Willner's representative, asked Frayer whether the department was following a 1959 guideline that condemned the formation of factions, Frayer answered that factions were to be expected in anthropology and in other disciplines. He said, however, that factions should result in communication.
"The factions that developed in our department with regard to professor Willner never ended up in a healthy exchange of ideas," he said.
Frayer said that when department members met informally in March 1977, Willner objected and left the meeting. She returned briefly, opened the door and shouted. "This is nothing but a kangaroo court," he said.
When Koster asked Frayer whether Michael Crawford, professor of anthropology, had called for censure of Willner at the meeting. Frayer said that it may have been mentioned in the heat of the moment. Censure was not, however, considered as a formal motion, he said.
Neither did Frayer seek a hearing before the University judiciary regarding what he said were accusations of drug use Willner had made against him. In 1977 letter, Frayer said, he had stated he would "settle for no less than a letter of apology or a hearing before the University judiciary."
Frayer, who denied using drugs, said that Willner originally had written about an unnamed faculty member who had smoked marijuana on the sixth floor of Fraser Hall but that she later named him specifically.
Koster asked Frayer why he had not sought a hearing when Willner did not anologize.
"It wasn't worth it to me. I just wanted her to leave me alone," Frayer said. "I wanted to be out of it. There's nothing illeral with a bluff."
Frayer also said that legal briefs Willner had submitted for merit salary evaluation had not been legitimate scholarly research. He said that accepting such materials as research would set a precedent that would result in "total chaos of the merit salary system."
In other testimony, Myles Garland, a former student of Willner, told the committee he thought that Willner had been unethical by not answering students' questions and by not taking phone calls from students requesting clarification about a take-home final exam.
Gartland, who took a class from Willner in 1987, said that the professor had made four students stand in the hall on the first day of class, leaving about three desks empty in the room.
He said he never had met a student who was "even remotely happy" with Willner's courses. Garland also said he advised other students not to enroll in courses taught by Willner,
"I tell every single one of them, 'No,' " he said.
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