THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1996
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
NEWS 864-4810
ADVERTISING 864-4358
SECTION A VOL.102, NO.102
USPS 650-640)
TODAY KANSAN
SPORTS
Kansas junior sprinter Pierre Lisk will represent his African country in the '96 Olympic Games. Page 1B
Gold rush
OPINION
Embezzlement at KU
Past experiences should have prevented the University from the theft of $40,000. Page 4A
CAMPUS
Weapons bill defeated
A state House committee debates the sides of a concealed weapons proposal. Page 6A
WORLD
Train derails in Colorado
High in the Rockies, a derailed train kills two and spills acid down the mountain. Page 7A
WEATHER
WEATHER SUNNY
High 67° Low 45°
Weather: Page 2A.
INDEX
Opinion ... 4A
National News ... 7A
World News... 7A
Scoreboard... 2B
Horoscopes ... 6B
The University Daily Kansan 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.
Petition misses city deadline
Organizers fail to file signatures
Sarah Morrison
Kansan staff writer
Lawrence citizens who claimed an amendment to the city's human relations ordinance granted special rights to homosexuals failed to meet the Feb. 21 deadline for their petition drive to force the amendment to a public vote.
The Lawrence City Commission approved the amendment by a 3-2 vote in May 1995 after a coalition of citizens groups called Simply Equal campaigned for the addition of the words "sexual orientation" to the ordinance.
The amendment forbade discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in housing, employment and public accommodations.
On Aug. 26, 1995, John Watkins,
Third District Republican party
chairman, kicked off a petition campaign to collect the 2,852 signatures required to force the amendment to a referendum.
Patty James, Douglas County clerk, said a state statute made the petition null and void if not filed within 180 days after the collection of the first signature. That deadline passed yesterday.
Repeated attempts made by The University Daily Kansan to contact Watkins were unsuccessful.
According to a letter contained in the petition, the group organizers hoped to file the petition in time to put the issue on the April 2 presidential primary ballot. However, Kansas lawmakers canceled the primary two weeks ago.
Carl Burkhead, professor of civil engineering, was a signature collector in the petition drive. Burkhead said he did not know if the reason the drive organizers failed to meet the deadline was because of a change in strategy, or because not enough signatures were collected.
"I had seen the petition, and I signed it," Burkhead said. "I don't think it's (the amendment) good for the city of Lawrence."
Burkhead said he did not know if Watkins was planning to start
Ben Zimmerman, co-chairman of Simply Equal, said he thought the failure to meet the deadline was inadvertent.
another petition drive.
"I don't think they got enough signatures," Zimmerman said. "I am sure if they had gotten enough signatures they would have turned the petition in."
Chris Hampton, who represents LesBiGays Services of Kansas on the SimplyEqual coalition steering committee, said the issue was not about special rights for homosexuals, but equal rights for everyone.
"Since the group will probably try again to get a petition going, I hope that all students, as well as KU faculty and staff, get registered to vote and get ready to defend equal rights if it comes up for a vote," Hampton said.
Commissioner Bonnie Augustine, who voted against the amendment last May, said that submitting the issue to a referendum might have been the fairest way to deal with Simply Equal's request.
"It's something that may have been best to do in the first place, and if the city is in favor of it, it will stay on the books. If not, it will be repealed," Augustine said.
Several events highlight the controversy concerning the extension of anti-discrimination protection on the basis of sexual orientation.
Nov. 16, 1994 -- Simply Equal delivers copies of its report to City Hall requesting a study session and passage of amendment.
Jan. 18, 1995 -- About 100 people attend the study session at City Hall. City Commissioner Doug Compton presents Commission with a list of 33 questions to be answered before the amendment goes to a vote.
Feb. 15 - City staff releases preliminary information on the 33 questions so Compton can answer questions at a campaign appearance.
mar. 2 - Compton, who is the swing vote on the City Commission, announces he will oppose the amendment. The amendment is not formally put to a vote due to the lack of Commission support.
April 9 - Allen Levine wins a Commission seat and Compton loses his, giving the amendment enough support to pass.
April 26 — Opponents of the amendment start a petition drive to put the issue on a referendum.
Feb. 21 - 180 days after the start of the petition drive, city clerk has not received the petition. Signatures collected during the campaign are null and void.
Andy Rohrback/KANSAN
Rock Chalk Revue ready to shine
Participants eager to take center stage
By Scott MacWilliams Kansan staff writer
The house lights go dim, and actors huddle ready and eager to hit the stage — It's Rock Chalk Revue time again.
Tonight marks the opening night of the 1996 Rock Chalk Revue, the annual campuswide variety show and fund-raiser. The months of rehearsals ended last night, and participants in this year's productions are ready for curtain time.
"I started back last September helping with the directing crew," said Chris Blackwell, Overland Park freshman and Sigma Phi Epsilon member.
Blackwell plays the role of a card dealer in hell and said he was nervous at the prospect of opening night.
"I haven't been in any sort of theater since middle school," he said.
"This is my third year working for Rock Chalk," Berg said. "This is the most organized each of the acts have been."
At dress rehearsal last night Nathan Berg, Lawrence resident, split his time between leading the band and waving to his little boy in the audience.
Sophie Nassif, Sioux Falls, S.D.; sophomore, was breathless after her act finished.
"It felt great, really confident," she said. "I get nervous right before we go on, but as soon as we get that first applause or laugh, it's okay."
Kristin George, Vienna, Va., senior, and Tierney Veatch, Blue Springs, Mo., senior, were on hand last night watching some of their friends go through their paces.
"I was in Rock Chalk my freshman year and helped out on the director's committee," George said. "But since then I haven't been able to to schedule conflicts."
For Veatch, Rock Chalk was a new experience.
"I'm real impressed, and the in-between acts were great." she said.
The first in-between act is called Hypothetical Seven. The group performs original comedy that included some insights on the working life of a comedian.
Paul Maxwell, Prairie Village freshman and Phi Delta Theta member, plays the role of Colonel Mustard in Pair-a-Dice Lost, the first act.
The show begins at 7:30 p.m. today, tomorrow and Saturday at the Lied Center. Tickets are available at the Student Union Activities box office in the Kansas Union and area Dillons stores. The cost is $10 for tonight, $12 for Friday night and $15 for Saturday night.
"We had a little trouble with the sound equipment, but it went pretty well," Maxwell said. "We will be in great shape tomorrow."
Members of Delta Gamma and Beta Theta Pi practice their skit last night at the Rock Chalk Revue dress rehearsal.
The Road to Rock Chalk Revue
Anyone can enter, but few make the cut. The road to Rock Chalk Revue is long and suspenseful, and only five groups survive the tryout process.
Late August to early September Rock Chalk Revue theme is announced.
September through early October
Groups work on notebooks; planning plot,
costumes, music, characters, and set design
Notebooks are turned in and judges select five groups to perform.
Last week in February Rock Chalk Revue hits the stage
Monday before Thanksgiving Break
The five chosen groups are announced
Andy Rohrback / KANSAS
Victims of rape suffer in silence
Nine out of 10 cases are not reported; most women know their attacker
By Amy McVey Kansan staff writer
While most people were safe in bed early Sunday morning, a 19-year-old KU student was being raped.
She was walking home from a party at a friend's house when it happened.
Her rapist didn't jump out from behind a bush or stagger out of a dark alley. He was a friend who had offered to walk her home.
She reported the rape to Lawrence police, but did not press charges.
According to the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center, acquaintance rape happens to one in five college women, and 90 percent of rapes on college campuses are acquaintance rapes. Nine out of 10 acquaintance rapes go unreported, making it the most unreported crime in the country.
Four rapes were reported on campus in 1995, and none have been reported this year, said Sgt. Chris Keary of KU police.
But Keary doesn't believe the numbers.
"I'm under no misconception that there were only four rapes last year," he said. "Unfortunately not all women report rapes."
Rachel Lee, graduate assistant for the center, said that the majority of college-age victims of rape are raped by an acquaintance. And there were a lot of different reasons why victims didn't report acquaintance rape.
"A lot of time they don't recognize it as rape," Lee said. "There's a lot of self blame."
Lee said that the victims felt blame because before the rape they knew their rapist as a friend, a boyfriend or an acquaintance — not as a rapist.
Lawrence police Sgt. Susan Hadle said it was hard to tell how many people had been raped, because some-
See RAPE, Page 2A
Best friends from China reunite in Lawrence
Xin Fei, former professor of computer science, and Kun-Jian Gu, chemistry researcher, embrace after a game of table tennis. The childhood friends were reunited three years ago.
Luby Montano-Laurel / KANSAN
Acquaintances meet after 30 years apart
By Susanna Löof
Kansan staff writer
Kun-Jian Gu, a post-doctoral chemistry researcher at the University of Kansas, did not believe his ears when he was introduced to Xin Fel, a former KU professor of computer science at a party in Lawrence. He could not believe that he was talking to his childhood friend that he had not seen for 30 years.
The two did not recognize each other at a party in 1993, but a bell rang when they heard each other's names. After exchanging information about their backgrounds, they realized that it really was true.
The two friends thought that they never would see each other again after they lost contact when they graduated from high school in the Chinese city
"It was a very happy surprise," Fei said about the moment when the two friends met again.
Wuxi in the Jiangsu province close to Shanghai. But a coincidence brought them together in Lawrence, about 7,000 miles from Wuxi.
After they had graduated from high school, they both went to universities to continue their educations. Fei went to Beijing in northern China, and Gu went to Nanjing more than 500 miles south of Beijing.
As children, the two were very close friends, Gu said. Their families shared a two-story house, and they often played together. They also celebrated birthdays together, because they were born on the same day about 50 years ago, Gu said.
After Fei had left for Beijing, his family moved from the house, and even though his family kept in touch with the Gu family, Fei and Gu lost contact. The underdeveloped communications in China made traveling and calling difficult, said Jane Fei, Xin Fei's wife.
After studying in Beijing, Fei studied at the University of Arkansas, but came to the University of Kansas in 1989 to start a superconductor laboratory. Little did he know that his friend Gu had researched medical chemistry at the University of Kansas between 1985 and 1988. In 1992, the University's department of chemistry invited Gu to come back as a chemistry researcher. He accepted the invitation and moved back to Lawrence. For six months, Gu and Fei lived in the same city without knowing it. Then they ran in to each other at the party.
.
Now, the two are good friends again. They go to parties together, chat and play table-tennis, just like they did as children in China. Gu still is the better player and wins more often, Fei said.
Their families in China were happy to hear about the friends' reunion. Fei sent a photo of the two in Lawrence to his mother.
"She thought we looked just like we did when we were children," he said.
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