Women's Basketball: Texas, Kansas and Colorado tie for top spot. Page 1B
Review:Dante's Peak is a familiar and predictable experience.
Page 4B
************3-DIGIT 666
KS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 3
PO BOX 3585
TOPEKA, KS 66601-3585
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
NEWS 864-4810
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1997
ADVERTISING 864-4358
SECTION A VOL.103,NO.95
(USPS 650-640)
Binge-drinking death leads to indictments
FROSTBURG, Md. — Eight students at Frostburg State University were charged with manslaughter in the alcohol-poisoning death of a freshman who got drunk at a fraternity party.
The freshman, John Eric Stinner,
20, consumed at least six beers and
12 shots of vodka in two hours at the
off-campus Kappa Beta Zeta party.
Allegany County State's Attorney
Lawrence V. Kelly said yesterday.
Friends carried Stinner back to his dormitory room, where he was found dead on Nov. 9 with a blood-alcohol content of 0.34 percent, more than three times the legally intoxicated level of 0.10 percent.
Seven were members of Kappa Beta Zeta, one of several unsanctioned fraternities that hold weekend parties in the western Maryland town of 8,000. The eighth lived in the apartment building where the party was held.
They also were charged with reckless endangement and sale of alcohol without a license. Stinner, of Glassport, Pa., and other underage drinkers had paid a $3 admission fee to the party, Kelly said.
Close calls in the sky suspend training flights
WASHINGTON — The Air Force extended its suspension of all training flights to the Gulf of Mexico yesterday after two new reports of close encounters between F-16s and commercial aircraft over New Mexico and Texas.
Both of the close encounters occurred on Friday, Air Force officials said.
While the incident in Texas was near the Gulf of Mexico, it was unclear if the New Mexico incident would lead to suspension of training flights elsewhere.
One incident involved two F-16s and an American Airlines MD-80 passenger jet that came too close near Clovis, N.M., said Air Force representative Capt. Leo Devine. At 2:37 p.m. EST, two F-16 fighters flew out of a military training area without authorization.
The military aircraft had just exited a military operations area at the time of the incident.
The second incident involved one F-16 and a Northwest Airlines airbus, said Air Force representative Lt. Col. Virginia Pribyla. It occurred about 70 miles southwest of Palacios, Texas, at 4:47 p.m. EST.
Simpson ordered to pay $25 million to families
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — A jury yesterday ordered O.J. Simpson to pay $25 million as punishment for the slayings of his ex-wife and her friend, a final blow that could doom Simpson to a lifetime of debt.
The punitive judgment is on top of $8.5 million in compensatory damages awarded last week when the jury found Simpson liable in the June 12, 1994, murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. It was a dramatic turnaround from Simpson's murder acquittal 16 months earlier.
Simpson hasn't been back to court since last Tuesday's verdict but has been seen playing golf. Simpson also was a no-show yesterday. Members of the Brown and Goldman families showed no reaction. Jurors were similarly impassive.
The combined $33.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages were more than double the $15.7 million that Simpson's accusers said he was worth.
Unlike the liability verdict, the jury did not unanimously agree on the punitive award. The vote: 11-1 on whether Goldman's father should get damages and 10-2 on the amount; with the same split on the damages for Nicole Brown Simpson's estate.
Ebonics inventor lectures
—The Associated Press
Speaker hopes to foster concern
By Kelli Raybern Special to the Kansan
The man who coined the term "Ebonics" tried to shed light on this controversial issue in a lecture last night at the University of Kansas.
Robert C. Williams, who invented the term in 1973, emphasized the value of encouraging teachers to recognize Ebonics when teaching African-American students Standard English. This idea is the basis of the policy adopted Dec. 18 by the Oakland Unified School District Board of Education.
"Far too many African-American students are not acquiring enough proficiency in Standard English," Williams said. "The issue is not if Ebonics should be recognized as a language but how to better educate these children."
Williams also described the media's reaction to Oakland's policy as divisive, oversensationalized and shallow.
"There's been a great deal of comedy cast at Ebonics because people didn't understand what it is about." Williams said. "It's an important topic."
Patricia Iga, Irving, Texas, sophomore, said she thought it was important for teachers to understand African-American students. "If you don't understand what a student is going through, you can't help them," she said.
Julius Williams, the assistant director of Minority Affairs and faculty adviser for the Black Student Union and son of Robert Williams, said his father's career was important.
"I hope that there is a greater concern for
the success of African-American students," Julius Williams said.
Robert Williams, recently retired from his position as professor emeritus of psychology and African and African-American studies at Washington University in St. Louis, is the author of *Ebonics: The True Language of Black Folks*, and has spoken as an Ebonics expert on CBS, NBC and BET.
Williams said he began to study African- American speech patterns while working on his master's degree at Wayne State University.
"I had grown sick and tired of White folks writing about the language of Black people." Williams said.
Williams refuted accusations that Ebonics was not a legitimate language.
"The purpose of language is to communicate. Ebonics does communicate," he said. "Ebonics is a language."
Approximately 250 people attended the lecture, which was free to the public.
The Black Student Union paid Williams $1,700 to give the lecture.
Steve Puppe / KANSAN
Robert C. Williams, professor at Washington University addresses the issue of Ebonics at Woodruff Auditorium. Williams coined the phrase Ebonics in 1973 and has written a book on the subject.
Play preparations
Karl Jackson, Lawrence sophomore, paints the hand of Amy McCarville, Hutchinson senior, before a dress rehearsal for the children's play Alex and the Shrink World. The play will be performed at Murphy Hall from Feb.10 to 15.
Brian Flink / KANSAN
Faculty questions new advising center Instructors personal touch with students could be stifled
By Kevin Bates
Kansan staff writer
Concerns about faculty involvement were once again an issue at a second meeting, which discussed a proposed new advising center at the University of Kansas.
Tom Mulinazzi, associate dean of engineering, said he was concerned that a new, centrally located advising center would not be appropriate for the students he advised.
"Advising at Learned is pretty good," Mulinazzi said. "It ain't broken, and I don't think it needs to be fixed."
"We would just need more communication between the center and the departments," said Carlin; associate professor of communications. "Right now, most faculty don't know the phone numbers to call with questions about other departments."
The new center would be staffed with advisers who were informed about all the schools and departments on campus, said Diana Carlin, chair of the committee that developed the blueprint for the advising center.
Students often have more in-depth advising questions than whether they need to take a third English class by their sophomore year, and the center would be able to provide answers throughout the year, said Frank DeSalvo, director of counseling and psychiatric services.
"Advising would not necessarily happen in one day," DeSalvo said. "We want students to feel comfortable enough to go back and talk to someone. We want them to see the relevance between what they're doing now and what is coming in the future."
Provost David Shulenburger said he wanted to keep an open mind about the center, but added that 30 new paid positions at the center would be expensive.
Mulinazzi said he tried to develop a personal connection with incoming freshmen in the school of engineering, but he wondered if he still would have the right touch when the new advising center opened.
"It will require a lot of reallocation, but it is also expensive not to do it," Shulenburdan said. "Part of the reason we need to do something is because of a missing connection between students and the University."
"On all the letters, I wrote personal notes to each student, saying 'I will be your adviser until you choose a major.' Can I still do that?' he asked.
Shulenburger agreed advising should remain an essentially faculty-centered activity.
"Teachers determine curriculum, and you need to teach to see how it works, how it impacts students. You can never completely separate those elements."
Worlds of Fun limits audition selections
Rap music excluded from tryout material
By Umut Bayramoglu
Kansan staff writer
The world of rap music is one region you won't find on a map of Worlds of Fun.
The amusement park is holding auditions for singers and dancers from 3 to 5 p.m. today at the Kansas Room in the Kansas Union.
Brent Barr, employment manager at Worlds of Fun, said the musical selections were not to include rap music.
Students, he said, would be requested to sing two songs, a ballad and an upbeat song.
"I'm looking for country, and I'm looking for rock 'n' roll," he said. "If I heard somebody performing rap music, I would not be able to tell if they have the pitch I'm looking for."
Black Student Union vice president Ernie Batsell said, "That's bull—"
Batsell, a St. Louis sophomore, said he could not understand why people criticized rap music.
"God gave us the ability to choose between right and wrong," he said. "And no matter what your age is, 4 or 44, you don't need to be influenced by some lyrics of a song."
Barry Shank, assistant professor of American Studies, said rap music came from a long tradition
of African-American culture.
"Rap music is one of the most important cultural forms of our time," he said.
Regina Smith, Kansas City, Kan., junior, said she could understand why Worlds of Fun officials would want to exclude rap.
"Most people that go to the Worlds of Fun are predominantly White, and not very many of them are into run," she said.
But, for Tyrone Seymour, San Diego freshman, it is unfair to judge talent on the type of music students choose to perform.
Seymour said rap music was criticized because of its lyrics but he did not think it was the only type of music with problematic lyrics.
"Alternative has profanity, too."
Ernie Batsell
Ernie Delson
Black Student Union Vice President
God gave us the ability to choose between right and wrong. "
he said.
Seymour said he enjoyed both the rhythm and the lyrics of rap music.
"Not all rappers use profanity," he said. "Some use metaphors and similes. I think it's very creative."
TODAY
INDEX
Television ... 2A
Campus Events ... 2A
Opinion ... 4A
Scoreboard ... 2B
Entertainment ... 4B
Horoscopes ... 4B
Classifieds ... 5B
CHANCE OF SNOW
Weather: Page 2A