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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
NEWS 864-4810
SECTION A VOL.103, NO.50
ADVERTISING 864-4358
Brazilian plane crashes, no passengers survive
(USPS 650-640)
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL — A Brazilian jetliner crashed into a residential neighborhood in Sao Paulo shortly after takeoff yesterday, igniting flames that engulfed apartments, homes and cars. A civil defense official said all 95 people on board the plane were killed.
Three other bodies were pulled from the rubble, and the death toll was expected to rise as firefighters searched homes and apartments struck and set on fire by the crash.
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA — When the Khmer Rouge turned Cambodia into a vast graveyard two decades ago, Yin Vantha lost her parents, sister, brother, husband and children.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER1, 1996
Cambodia's brutal past: Should truth be taught?
debate about what — even whether the generation of Cambodians born since the Khmer Rouge regime was ousted in 1979 will learn about the movement that ravaged their country.
She is vice minister of the Education Ministry's research institute, which prepares Cambodia's school textbooks. In January, she and other top educators will debate a new curriculum on what to teach about the Khmer Rouge and its brutal attempt to turn Cambodia into an austere agrarian society.
Now she may lose their history. Yin Vantha is embroiled in a
At least three Americans were on the plane, the U.S. consulate in Sao Paulo said.
Host gives condolences to family of slain guest
PONTIAC, MICH. — Talk show host Jenny Jones denied misleading the public about the topic of a taped show on homosexual crushes when she expressed condolences on-air to the family of a guest who had been slain yesterday.
The Associated Press
Testifying in the first-degree murder trial of a former guest, Jones said she sometimes doesn't know the topic of each day's show until she receives a folder of background, a script and other information the night before.
TODAY
Citibank identified one as David Francis Tobolla, a financial director at the company.
Jones was called to testify by lawyers for Jonathan Schmitz, a heterosexual accused of killing Scott Amedure three days after the two taped a Jenny Jones Show segment in which Amedure revealed he had a crush on Schmitz.
INDEX
COOL
National News ... 7A
Features ... 8A
Scoreboard ... 2B
Classifieds ... 7B
Entertainment ... 8B
Horoscopes ... 8B
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The University Dalkan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents.
Weather: Page 2A
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Students with disabilities face obstacles daily at University
By Bradley Brooks Kansan staff writer
Andy Rohrback/KANSAN
There are many obstacles in a student's education: going through enrollment, dealing with University bureaucracy and waking up on time are a few. But for some students, the difficulties in earning a degree are on a more fundamental level. For those students, physical and mental accessibility to what the University of Kansas has to offer is the challenge.
"I have to be creative about the class schedules I make," said Suzanne Mace, Lawrence freshman and a wheelchair user. "The 10 minute break between classes is just enough for me to get from Strong to Wescos, and that is without snow or rain."
Mace said that the University's buildings often are not accessible. And if they are, it is at a low level.
"There are some buildings that I really have to search to find an accessible door to," she said.
Everything from the height of a paper towel dispenser in a bathroom to students' misconceptions about her disability is difficult, she said.
"Some kids haven't had much experience with people in wheelchairs," she said. "They think that because I'm in a wheelchair that I'm not very smart."
To help improve the accessibility on campus, Mace serves on an architectural barriers committee that meets with representatives from Facilities Operations and Mike Shut-
tic from the Student Assistance Center.
"Someone from facilities and operations says what they can do within their budget; I say what really needs to be done, and Mike is a mediator between the two." Mace said.
In addition to persons with physical disabilities attending the University, there are, unseen to many KU students and faculty, people with learning disabilities — invisible barriers to grasping knowledge as easily as other students.
Erik Peltzman, San Carlos, Calif., junior, has dyslexia, a condition that makes a person's reading skills below what would be expected
based on their overall level of intelligence.
"It is difficult for me to read something and comprehend it," Peltzman said. "It starts with the actual picking of classes to take. Right there, that was difficult to do on my own."
Peltzman said that he receives help from the Student Assistance Center and Supportive Educational Services, an office on campus, which is financed by a grant from the Department of Education and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
"SES provides me with a tutor and an advisor because I have a docu-
See STUDENTS,Page 2A
University to break barriers of accessibility to campus buildings
By Eric Weslander Kansan staff writer
Carruth-O'Leary Hall is a labyrinth of stairways and corridors that don't quite connect. Lindley Hall's elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor.
Such architectural details may appear to be minor inconveniences, but for people with physical disabilities, they can be formidable barriers.
These and other barriers are targets of a $4.1 million project to make the University of Kansas more accessible to people with physical disabilities. The money is part of the $42.2 million appropriated for the University by the Board of Regents as part of the Crumbling Classrooms Act.
"Accessible" is defined as complying with the 1900 Americans with Disabilities Act, which, among other things, established physical guidelines for construction in public institutions. For example, elevator entrances must be at least 36" wide, ramps can be no steeper than a one inch per-foot rise and bathroom stalls must have grab bars.
See BARRIERS, Page 2A
Environs, giant chainsaw highlight logging by Mitsubishi
By Dave Breltenstein Kansen staff writer
Kansan staff writer
A 35-foot inflatable chainsaw dominated Wescoe Beach yesterday afternoon.
KU Environs members stood in front of the chainsaw, chanting "Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Mitsubishi has got to go!"
The demonstration was an effort to increase awareness about Mitsubishi International Corporation's wrongdoings.
"We're hoping to make people aware of deforestation around the world," said Bridgett Chapin, Lawrence graduate student and Environs coordinator of the speakout. "There is so much information in the media about deforestation but not much has been done about it."
Mitsubishi's rainforest logging activities have been criticized.
Environns wants Mitsubishi to research the possibilities of alternative production materials.
"We want people to be able to look into the products they buy and see where they came from," Chapin said. "We want people to stop buying Mitsubishi products because they are destroying rain forests. Most students don't know that Mitsubishi is so diversified."
Mitsubishi makes automobiles, televisions, video cassette recorders and fax machines. It also owns Nikon cameras, Kirin Beer and Value Rent-A-Car.
A Mitsubishi pamphlet said the company recently spent $3 million supporting reforestation experiments in Malaysia.
The pamphlet cites statistics United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization statistics saying deforestation is caused by poverty and local needs, and that timber exports are a minor factor.
Environs urged students, faculty and staff to sign a petition to show that the University community supported the Mitsubishi boycott.
Carrie DeSandro / KANSAN
The University already has banned Mitsubishi products, and Chapin said Environs was trying to get the Board of Regents to adopt the boycott as well.
But that may not be so easy.
Proovist David Shulenburger said that even if the Board of Regents would boycott Mitsubishi, the state would decide if the ban would be instituted at Kansas universities. Because University funding comes from the state, a boycott must be backed by the state.
Members of KU Environs protest Mitsubishi in front of Wescoe Hall. The protest yesterday was held to raise awareness of the depletion of the rainforests.
However, Victoria Silva, KU environmental specialist, said Environs should not give up its quest for a boycott. She complimented their efforts.
"I think the fact that they are interested in a lot of different environmental issues proves they are very committed to the environment," she said.
Ryan Hanke, Littleton, Colo., freshman, said the speakout was a
good way to highlight deforestation.
"You have to applaud their efforts wherever you can," he said. "There
are those who will choose not to listen, but if they just reach out to a few people, then that's all that matters."
T