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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
NEWS 864-4810
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1996
ADVERTISING 864-4358
SECTION A VOL.103.NO.56
(USPS 650-640)
Two KU students victims of attempted robbery
A robber ambushed two KU students early Thursday morning near 13th and Kentucky streets, Lawrence police said.
Maria Freire Hermida, Santiago, Spain, graduate student, and a friend were walking home at 12:30 a.m., when Freire Hermida sensed someone was approaching them from behind.
"I looked back and saw a man running toward us," Freire Hirida said. "I thought he was just in a hurry."
The man pushed Freire Hermida so hard that she fell to the ground. He then ran after her friend.
"He tried to take my friend's purse but she managed to run away," Freire Midaa said.
Freire Hermida got up and ran after the man who briefly chased her friend, but the man got away
Although neither woman lost any possessions in the attempted robbery, Freire Hermida did suffer scratches on her face and a bruise on her knee.
Police said the man was described as a 20- to 26-year-old, thin African-American male approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall.
—Kansan staff report
China announces plans to ban American imports
Andy Longstreth, Liberty, Mo., senior, Mariele Brugvin, France sophomore, and Carrie Brown, Overland Park junior, brave the cold weather to conduct a candlelight vigil. The vigil was in memory of nine Nigerian environmental activists, including author Ken Saro-Wiwa, who were imprisoned and executed one year ago last night.
BEIJING — Turning up the pressure before a visit by the U.S. secretary of state, China said yesterday it would ban imports of U.S. fruit, beverages and other goods in retaliation for a fine for alleged trade violations.
The United States levied a $19 million penalty on China on Sept. 6 for attempting to ship garments to the United States through other countries, thereby skirting quotas and violating a 1994 trade pact.
China's retaliation, the latest in a series of trade disputes that have soured China-U.S. relations, comes less than two weeks before a planned visit by Secretary of State Warren Christopher.
Christopher and Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen are expected to talk about trade, among other topics.
It's probably no coincidence that the ban comes at a time when the two countries are preparing to renegotiate their textile trade agreement, said Jay Ziegler, a representative for the U.S. Trade Representative's office in Washing ton, D.C.
Army instructors accused of threatening victims
BALTIMORE -- Army instructors charged with raping and harassing female recruits at a training center also are accused of threatening them.
— sometimes with death — to keep quiet
"I'm going to knock your teeth out and get away with it," one drill sergeant told a trainee, according to newly released Army documents.
Four drill instructors and a captain at the Army Ordnance Center have been charged, three with criminal charges and two on administrative counts. They and 15 others have been suspended in the investigation
The five men facing charges, which range from rape to sending improper love letters to the trainees, were accused of harassing at least a dozen women in their first weeks of training. The average age of the women was 21.
According to documents detailing the charges released late Saturday, one of the defendants, Staff Sgt. Delmar Simpson, threatened to kill women if they told anyone he was having sex with them.
He is accused of grabbing one woman's hair and jerking her head back after threatening to knock out her teeth.
The Associated Press
Students remember slain activists
Candlelight vigil last night honors environmentalists
By Ashleigh Roberts Kansan staff writer
Thirteen students lit candles in front of Wescoi Hall last night in memory of the nine Ogoni people who were executed a year ago yesterday for protesting Shell Oil Company's work in southern Nigeria.
"We're here so people don't forget what happened," said Matt Caldwell, Overland Park junior, and co-coordinator of KU Environs. "It was an offense against native people who had nothing on their minds but equality, and America didn't do anything about it."
Ken Saro-Wiwa, a Nigerian poet, playwright, and environmental activist, was a prominent critic of the alliance between large oil companies and his country's military government. Saro-Wiwa had led protests against Shell Oil's ecological devastation in the Ogoniland region and the unfair distribution of the industry's benefits.
Last night's vigil lasted for a half hour and included a short background of the oppression and messages from Amnesty International and KU Environ members.
The revenue from Nigeria's vast oil reserves is being distributed between the military dictatorship and the oil companies, while the Nigerian people suffer from extreme unemployment, inflation, and severe military
repression, The New York Times reported.
Saro-Wiwa and eight co-defendants were imprisoned for murder charges and hanged after a trial by a court that was formed especially for their case.
Caldwell said the KU Environs sponsored the event because the military operation against the Ogoni tribe was an atrocity that students should not respond to with silence.
"We should be appalled," he said. "We need
to press for some kind of government policy. We need to tell Shell Oil Company that we don't want to be involved."
Rachel Wiese, Overland Park junior, said the vigil was useful because it introduced students to international human rights groups that worked to help people who were denied the freedom of organization and the ability to speak their minds.
"If we can get this many people out on a cold night like this, it was definitely effective," she
"It is a horrible thing going on over there. It happens a lot more than anyone would like to admit."
Matt Caldwell KUEnvirons coordinator
said. "We can really do a lot if we unite and know what is going on."
The KU Environs and Amnesty International clubs are bringing Ken Saro-Wiwa's brother, Owens Wiwa, to speak Dec. 3 on campus. The time and location of his speech have not been announced. Owens Wiwa, a medical doctor and human rights activist, escaped Nigeria after his brother's execution. Helives in exile in London.
Owens Wiwa has documented the Nigerian army's human rights abuses of the Ogoni people and the environmentally-related diseases that could result from Shell Oil Company's drilling.
The KU Environs are sponsoring another vigil at 6 p.m. Nov.18 to speak against the continuing military repression and the ecological devastation in Nigeria.
"It is a horrible thing going on over there," Caldwell said. "It happens a lot more than anyone would like to admit."
A place to park ... for a price
Eric B. Howell / KANSAN
A KU student uses a cardboard cutout of David Hasselhoff to advertise parking spaces in his yard. Game days provide opportunities for people to make money selling spots.
For those living near stadium, Kansas games can be profitable
By Liz Musser
Kansan staff writer
Although he couldn't care less about football, Jeff Isham loves game days.
Isham, a Minneapolis, Minn., senior, is one of the lucky people who live within blocks of Memorial Stadium. Every time Kansas plays at home, he takes advantage of his location by charging people to park in his yard.
Mark Akin, Newton senior, lives at the corner of 11th and Maine streets. Because he has a large front yard, Akin said, they park about 50 cars each game day.
"We're not even into football, and we're making money off of all these idiots who like to watch sports." Isham said.
Isham, who lives at 1015 Illinois St., said his yard could hold up to 15 cars. He charges between $10 and $15 per car, depending on the size of the car, he said.
"We don't want to say how much money we make because our landlord may come and take the money." Akin said. "But we make a lot."
Akin said that in 1993, the landlord had sent an agent on a game day to park cars and collect money. The next game, Akin said, he and his
roommates chased the agent off the property.
"It wasn't pleasant," he said. "But there's nothing about it in the lease, and we rent it, so it's ours to make money on."
Mike Sarowski, who has named his his yard "Royale Parking," said his landlord didn't mind his parking cars in the yard.
"Some landlords will write it into the lease," Sarowski said. "But ours doesn't care. The only thing he does is sometimes call us and have us save him a spot."
Sarowski said he and his roommates charged $10 per car on Saturday, and parked 23 cars in their yard.
But packing cars in the yard can be challenging. Sarowski said people not being able to get out was one.
"Everybody wants to be able to get out when they get to their car," he said. "But you can usually tell the difference between that and people with a real necessity. We try to be as honest as we can."
Akin said he tried to accommodate people who needed to get out early but that it usually came at a price.
"Getting parked-in is just part of the deal," he said. "They can pay more for an edge spot if they need one."
December CLAS graduates to cross stage now, hill later
"Graduates miss out on their commencement if they are unwilling or can't make it back in May," Frost-Mason said.
By Lindsey Henry
Kansan staff writer
Sally Frost-Mason, dean of liberal arts and sciences, said that a commencement ceremony would be held at 1 p.m. Dec. 14 in Murphy Hall for all of the college's fall semester graduates.
"We have very few mid-year graduates in social welfare," Weick said. "We do include them in the hooding in the spring, but it is different in each school depending on the number of graduates."
Because the college's ceremony will be in December, there will be a few changes from the usual commencement.
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences wants to make sure its seniors graduating in December aren't forgotten by anyone.
The December commencement is for seniors only in the college.
"Walking down the hill in December is probably not such a good idea," Frost-Mason said. "So we have
Ann Weick, dean of social welfare, said that a December graduation in her school was unlikely in the future.
"If we can pull it off in the CLAS, maybe other schools could do it," Frost-Mason said.
reserved the Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murmur Hall."
Frost-Mason said that the ceremony, which was initiated at the beginning of the semester by the commencement committee, would cost the college several thousand dollars.
"We've got to rent the hall, musicians, gowns for the faculty and buy cookies and drinks to make it nice," she said. "But the chancellor and the provost already have said they'd be there."
She said that invitations to the commencement had been mailed to the 400 graduates and their parents. Responses are requested by Nov. 15.
Pam Houston, director of the college undergraduate administration, said she already had received numerous responses from students saying they would be attending.
Houston said that students' names would be called out individually and they would walk across a stage.
She said that she wished her department, human development and family life in the School of Education, offered a December ceremony.
"The theater seats about 1,500," Houston said. "I'm hoping it will be large enough."
Debbie Dawn Wells, Olathe senior, agreed.
"Walking down the hill in May seems like a long way off." Wells said.
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