CAMPUS: A Smithsonian exhibit of milestones in the New World starts tomorrow at the Museum of Natural History. Page 5.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
VOL. 103, NO. 35
FRIDAY,OCTOBER 8,1993
ADVERTISING:864-4358
(USPS 650-640)
Oread plan aims to reclaim parking
NEWS:864-4810
By Traci Carl Kansan staff writer
When Chris Palmer saw a student who was parking in an alley space behind his apartment house, he got a curt response when he told the student that the parking spaces were for residents only.
"He said, 'Get me towed then,' and walked off," said Palmer, Aurora, Colo., senior. "I wasn't going to do that."
Palmer needs those alley spaces. Parking in the 1300 block of Ohio in front of his house is almost impossible from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.
"When I come home during those hours, I don't even look on the street." he said. "I just drive up 14th to the alley."
Palmer and the Oread Neighborhood Association, a group of residents that live north and east of campus, are tired of students and KU employees taking their street parking, said Linda Hixon, member of the association and a resident of the 1100 block of Ohio.
The proposal would let residents purchase up to three annual passes and one guest pass for $10 each to park between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. on weekdays.
The association will meet about its new proposal at noon tomorrow at 1146 Ohio St. The meeting is open to the public.
Hixon said that the homes in the Oread neighborhood were built at the turn of the century and that many did not have driveways or garages.
Recently, more cars have been squeezing onto the neighborhood's streets, she said, prompting the association to create the proposal.
"I lived in this house for 16 years, and it wasn't this bad when we moved in," she said. "There are more cars parked on our street than actually fit."
Parking tickets would be issued by the city, Hixon said, and students and KU employees who are not residents would be forced to pay for a campus parking permit or find a different place to park.
Donna Hultine, assistant director of KU parking services, said lots by Memorial Stadium and behind Joseph R. Pearson Hall usually were not full, she said.
Kyle Thompson, president of the association, said some scholarship hall residents opposed the proposal last spring. But he has not heard from them this year.
Hultine said that last spring the scholarship halls did not have the parking spaces that they have now. This year the parking department sold 225 permits and there are about 248 spaces available
The proposal is still being discussed and is not expected to reach the Lawrence City Commission for several months.
Jason Tischer, Leawood senior and a resident of the 1200 block of 13th Street, said he did not think the permits were necessary.
Oread proposes parking restrictions
"I park on 13th or Tennessee," he said. "I've never had a problem."
The Oread Neighborhood Association's latest proposal would restrict parking to residents of the neighborhood. Shaded streets mark the proposed no-parking areas.
14th St.
14th St.
Micah Leaker/KANSA
William Alix / KANSAN
More duties for Bryan
Maurice Bryan was named director of the Office of Affirmative Action last spring. Yesterday, he was appointed the University's assistant executive vice chancellor. In his new position, Bryan will:
Clay Malloy, Virginia Beach, Va., senior, and Matt Thiesing, Albuquerque, N.M., junior, clash during Kansas lacrosse practice. The team practiced yesterday at Shenk Complex at 23rd and Iowa streets.
coordinate programs for diversity:
- coordinate programs for diversity;*
* ensure implementation of task force reports;*
- ensure compliance with state and federal requirements:
serve as the administrative center for multicultural issues;
serve as a resource for offices and groups about multicultural needs, expectations and initiatives.
Maurice Bryan
KANSAN
Job doubles administrator's responsibilities
Affirmative Action head named assistant executive vice chancellor
Stick slashing
By Carlos Tejada
Kansan staff writer
Less than two months after he was appointed director of the Office of Affirmative Action, Maurice Bryan yesterday was named KU's assistant executive vice chancellor.
Bryan's new position will deal with multiculturalism, diversity and minority groups, said Ed Meyen, executive vice chancellor.
"He will play a significant role in controlling our progress and seeing if we are striving in the long run to meet needs," he said.
Meyen said he appointed Bryan because Bryan fit the needs of the new position.
"He has the personal attributes, the orientation and philosophy, and he has the experience," he said.
Bryan's new responsibilities were created in response to recommendations by many University groups — the latest being the African-American Student Concerns Task Force — that a position close to the executive vice chancellor's office be created, Meyen said.
Bryan said that he would keep his position as director of the Office of Affirmative Action. He said that he would not find it difficult to handle the added responsibilities because he had used the office in an activist way.
"My orientation is to look at affirmative action within the broadest context." Bryan said.
In addition to announcing his new position, Bryan released the draft of a program, "Blueprint for Diversity," to yesterday's meeting of the University
Senate Executive Committee. The draft stated that the program, which Bryan would oversee, would be a joint effort by administration officials to implement recommendations offered by task forces and committees in the past.
Bryan told the committee that the program would not "rehash" the findings of other committees.
"This is not another task force," he said.
Carlos Fleming, a former member of the African-American Student Concerns Task Force, said he approved of Bryan's new position.
"Bryan will now have to help us take charge," said Fleming, Shaker Heights, Ohio, senior. "That's a step in the right direction."
Jay Jackson, president of the Native American Student Association, said Bryan would have to stay close to the University's minority population to be effective.
"It doesn't do us any good unless the person is in touch with minorities," said Jackson, Flandreau, S.D., senior. "We need him to have a close, touching relationship to be a mentor."
But Terry Bell, Tampa, Fla., senior and president of the Black Student Union, said he wondered whether one person could fulfill both of Bryan's positions at the same time. He also questioned the decision by Meyen to appoint such a position without a search committee.
"It was an in-house decision by Ed Meyen," Bell said. "Closed-door policies tend to be a little questionable."
Kansean staff writer Christoph Fuhrmann contributed to this story.
Custodial employee reports racial abuse. physical threats
By Carlos Tejada
Kansan staff writer
KU police are searching for a man who allegedly verbally abused and physically threatened a University custodial worker Monday morning.
Nunez also said that she did not report the attack to her supervisors
Brenda Nunez reported the alleged attack, which took place as she cleaned the third floor men's restroom in Wescoe Hall, to police the same day.
because they had failed to act on similar matters in the past.
Nunez told police that she was the object of racial abuse and physical threats when a white male stepped past a cleaning sign in front of the restroom door and attempted to use the urinal.
When she told the man to leave he began directing racial slurs at her, Nunez said. Nunez is an African American.
The conflict ended when Nunez left the restroom intending to lock him in, she said. But she said he followed her out and continued to shout racial slurs.
Nunez also said that the man stepped closer to her and raised his
KU police said the suspect was a white male, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, 160 pounds, with glasses and blond hair.
Alan Lichter, associate professor of English, said he saw the end of the
fist as if to strike her. She said she stepped back to avoid the blow, which never fell.
encounter. He said he saw the two yelling racial slurs at each other as the man walked off.
Nunez said she was justified in velling back.
"I told him that he was just a white crazy fool," she said. "When you're called 'nigger' 10 or 12 times you get angry."
Nunez said she had no desire to report the incident to her superiors in the department of housekeeping. She said her supervisors had labeled her a troublemaker.
"There's been racial comments, jokes, for the 10 years since I've been at this department." Nunez said.
Nunez also said her supervisors had been insensitive to racial matters in the past.
Nunez said that her supervisors might be sympathetic to the harassment complaints of other employees but that she had caused difficulties in the past. She said that in the past she had taken complaints about her coworkers to the Office of Affirmative Action and the Department of Human
Resources.
Don Schulenberg, her supervisor,
and Jack Bierbauer, Schulenberg's
supervisor, said Nunez had never
talked to them about racial or any
other sort of harassment.
"I'm not so sure why she didn't contact me." Schulenberg said.
Bierbauer said that no supervisors ever called Nunez a troublemaker.
Phil Endacott, associate director for housekeeping, is on vacation. Diana Beebe, assistant director of housekeeping, declined comment.
On the road
The 11-8 Kansas volleyball team has experience on its side when it plays Iowa State in Ames, Iowa this weekend.
Family members help ease transition to University
Page 6.
By Kathleen Stolle
Kansan staff writer
For Laura Cea, the best source of support for her as a Hispanic at KU has been her roommate and big sister. Claudia.
"Having her live with me motivates me, keeps me going in school," she said.
The Ceafamily left El Salvador during the civil war there in 1981 and settled in a predominantly Hispanic community in Kansas City, Kan.
In 1990, Claudia Cea was uprooted again, moving to the University of Kansas. Laura joined her two years later.
Laura, a sophomore majoring in biology, said it was reassuring to live with someone who enjoyed the same food, music and living environment.
Claudia, a senior majoring in biochemistry, said that leaving the familiar ethnic environment of home was challenging but enlightening.
"I think by going to an atmosphere like Lawrence, you learn more about yourself as a Hispanic," she said.
Claudia said that she suffered from self-consciousness at first. However, talking to people about her Hispanic heritage as well as her personal interests dissolved her
Laura said she was more attuned to the differences as a freshman.
uneasiness and others' misconceptions, Claudia said.
"You kind of stereotype yourself, you don't let people look at you as a person," she said.
"Being Hispanic means I get to let people know about the similarities, not just the differences," she said.
Claudia said she thought KU could improve its support of Hispanics through curricular changes. She said KU students were not exposed enough to other cultures.
She said her involvement with the Hispanic-American Leadership Organization, or HALO, helped her understand that cultures may have defined boundaries but that individual personalities do not.
"A lot of people travel to these countries, but at the University they don't promote classes that teach their values and beliefs," she said.
Next semester, however, the Languages Across the Curriculum program is expanding to five courses. The program, which began this fall with three offerings, teaches courses in Spanish. However, the language itself is not the focus. Topics include Latin American history, anthropology and politics.
"It allows you to get an understanding you can't get in English, in part because language reflects culture," said Terry Weldner, associate director of the Center for International Programs.