TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6.1996
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS 864-4810
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
SECTION A VOL.102.NO.90
ADVERTISING 864-4358
(USPS 650-640)
TODAY KANSAN
SPORTS
Throwing out the first pitch
First year Kansas baseball coach Bobby Randall spoke at a preseason party. Page 1B
CAMPUS
Evaluation debate goes on
A student senator petitioned administrators for access to personnel files. Page 3A
NATION
President outlines budget
Clinton presented a preliminary $1.64 trillion budget to Congress yesterday. Page 5A
WORLD
Pope visits Guatemala
Guatemalans hope the Pope's visit will put an end to the 35-year civil war. Page 6A
WEATHER PARTLY CLOUDY
High 50° Low 21°
Weather: Page 2A.
INDEX
Opinion...4A
Nation...5A
World...6A
Sports...1B
Scoreboard...2B
Horoscopes...4B
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is free. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents.
Quiet alarms leave residents hot
By Amy McVey and Nicholas Charalambous Kansan staff writers
Several residents from Tower A of Jayhawker Towers that slept through a fire alarm Wednesday morning are worried they might not be safe if there were another fire.
"I wish I would have heard it," said Donald Trainer, Okalsoka junior. "If it were a serious fire, I would have been flat out of luck."
them before they could evacuate the building.
The fire, set by a burning piece of paper in the elevator shaft, triggered alarms in each hallway. But many residents didn't hear the alarm and had to rely on Towers' staff to rouse
"Someone came in screaming — that's the only way we woke up," Antonio Olivas, Los Angeles graduate student, said.
Ross Boelling, Kansas state fire chief, said residents should have been able to hear the alarms.
"If they are designed and installed properly, they provide the kind of noise that wakes people up," he said. "There may be some placement problem in the building."
Most residents that complained about not hearing the alarms live on the north and south ends of each wing—away from the alarms, which
are inside alcoves near the center of each floor.
Fred McElhene, associate director of student housing, said he was unaware that the volume of the fire alarm had not been loud enough to wake residents.
"That's probably an area we need to investigate with our maintenance folks," he said. "The first line of defense ought to be the alarms."
According to the National Fire Alarm code, fire alarms should have a sound level of 85 decibels. The Department of Student Housing reported that the engineer for Simplex, the company that installed the alarm system, assured it that the
Tower's alarms met the code.
"It probably wasn't even as loud as the telephone," he said.
But David Addams, Independence,
Mo., graduate student, said the alarm
was barely audible inside the apartments.
Phil Garito, associate director of student housing, said that the alarms at the towers met state fire codes.
"I know they're within whatever the Fire Marshal set," Garito said. "I'm not aware of any complaints."
Lawrence Fire Chief James McSwain said the fault sometimes did not lie with the loudness of the fire alarm. Because of many false
alarms, residents sometimes develop a callousness to the alarms.
"If you hear it enough, it's kind of like living by a railroad track," McSwain said. "If you live there long enough, you don't even hear the trains go by in your sleep."
The Kansas State Fire Marshal Department is investigating the possibility of any problems with the Towers, but advised that the University conduct its own investigation.
"KU is responsible for its residents," Rick Fay, fire protection specialist, said. "Just because we are in once a year, we're not responsible for taking care of them while we're gone."
Educators work to halt sexual assault
Program focuses on rape awareness
By Teresa Veazey
Kansan staff writer
No one deserves to be sexually assaulted.
That's the message during Sexual Assault.
Awareness Week, Feb. 5-9.
Peer educators in the Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Program will spend their lunchtime this week in the Kansas Union providing information about sexual assault and rape. The educators, both male and female KU students, also will let people know that there is a place to turn if they or someone they know has been sexually assaulted.
"We don't do it because it's running rampant," said Barbara Ballard, associate dean of student life and director of the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center. "We do it because it happens."
"No one deserves to be sexually assaulted." Ballard said. "There can be poor judgment, but that's still not an excuse to say 'she asked for it.'"
Ballard said the effort to increase awareness was begun three years ago. With education, she said she wanted to put its slogan, "You can help stop sexual assault," into effect.
When talking about sexual assault or rape, people tend to focus on women because they are usually the victims, she said. However, men also are victims of rape sometimes.
If men don't discuss and help prevent sexual assault, the message is that it is a woman's problem, Ballard said. Most sexual assaults are committed by men, but only a small percentage of men commit sexual assault.
If everyone became involved in preventing sexual assault, then it would be possible to reach that small percentage, she said.
"When most people think of sexual assault, they don't think of it as relevant to themselves," said Rachel Lee, graduate assistant at Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center and coordinator of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Program. "They think of stranger rape and it being someone they don't know. But in the majority of cases, that's not what really goes on."
Lee said 80 percent to 90 percent of raps or attempted rape cases on college campuses involved a person that the victim knew. A majority of those cases involve alcohol.
Pam Dishman / KAN$AN
"People use it as an excuse to not be responsible for what they do when they're drunk," Lee said. "Legally, they're still responsible for their actions."
Lee said that communication was crucial to avoid mixed messages.
"We make the presentation more dialogue rather than lecture, which is very important because sexual assault prevention starts through awareness and communication," he said.
Victor Dawson, former peer educator, speaks about date rape while Barbara Ballard, director of the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center, and other panel members look on.
Tony Coast, Cimarron junior and peer educator, said that student involvement helped create a more open atmosphere.
"There are assumptions being made on both sides about what each person wants to happen," she said. "You have to be clear about your intentions."
Guidelines to follow
For women:
You have the right:
— to say no
— to dress as you please
— to be treated with respect
— to agree to have sex but then change your mind
If you feel threatened by somebody you know or by a stranger, stand up for your self. Be willing to make a scene if you need to.
Trust your instinct. Be aware of situations in which you don't feel in charge of yourself.
For men:
Be aware of sex-role stereotypes that define women as passive, weak or irrational.
Make decisions for yourself. Decide what your own limitations are.
it's not OK to force someone to have
say even it.
Support your friends. If a friend asks you to leave with her from a party, do it.
— she dresses provocatively
— you paid for the date
— she asked you out
— you think she enjoys or expects some force
It's not successful seduction to pressure a woman to have sex with you. It's rape. It's also rape if the woman is too drunk to consent.
— you ve had sex with her before
you think she is loading you on
— you've had sex with her before
— she agrees to have sex, then changes her mind
— you think she is leading you on
Physical affection does not always have to lead to sex.
Source: Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center
Be aware of sex role stereotypes that encourage aggression and force. No means no.
No means no.
Panel debates causes effects of date rape
Bv Susanna Lööf
Kansan staff writer
Men and women don't communicate well when it comes to sex—which is one reason why date rape is a problem.
That was a conclusion of last night's panel debate on date rape at the Big Eight Room in the Kansas Union.
Six student leaders were panelists, and Barbara Ballard, director of Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center, led the debate, which was attended by about 50 students.
"We're all in college and supposed to be intelligent," said panelist Chris Hane, Lawrence senior and one of the center's peer educators. "But men and women are afraid to discuss sex openly."
There are no statistics showing how common date rape is at the University of Kansas. But it does occur, Ballard said.
"It is very difficult to say how common it is because rape is one of the most under-reported crimes we have," she said. "But we know date rape occurs. Even if it occurred once a week that would be too much."
Alcohol is a factor in more than 90 percent
of all rapes, and that was addressed during the debate.
Panelist Stevie Case, Olathe sophomore and president of the Association of University Residence Halls, said alcohol can be dangerous because it can bring people together who normally wouldn't be attracted to each other.
"I know that we all have put on our beer goggles sometimes and looked around and seen things that weren't there," Case said.
Ballard stressed that rape is not okay even if the victim is too drunk to say no.
Nor does a miniskirt or a see-through blouse excuse rape, she said.
Agreeing to go home with a man also is not an agreement to have sex.
"If I go home with somebody I don't know, it's stupid on my part, but that doesn't make it right for date rape to happen to me," she said. "You're not to blame if it happens."
The debate also addressed how to react if a friend is raped.
"If that happens, make the decision to support that person," Case said. "Don't question how they got into that situation."
Dave Meyer, Overland Park freshman, said he came to the debate to learn the female point of view.
He said he thought date rape was a problem at the University, even though it was not talked about.
Career fair serves a smorgasbord of prospective jobs
By David Teska
Kansan staff writer
More than 100 full-time and parttime employers will gather tomorrow in the Kansas Union Ballroom for the University Placement Center's Spring Career and Employment Fair.
Kansan staff writer
The fair, the sixth one planned by the placement center, will have companies ready to talk to potential employees both about full-time employment after graduation and part-time and internship positions for the summer, said Ann Hartley, assistant director of the placement center.
"It's the first year we've invited full-time employers," Hartley said.
Some of the full-time employers attending include Frito-Lay, PepsiCo Inc., Boeing Co., Abercrombie & Fitch and New York Life.
This year's fair will be a bigger event than last year, when about 65 companies came, Hartley said. The placement center also is expecting more than 800 students, an increase from last year's 700 students.
A new feature of this year's fair is accessibility to the names of firms coming to the fair via the placement center's home page on the World Wide Web. Hartley said.
The home page, managed by Michael Heuring, assistant director of the placement center, recently added a listing of part-time jobs available to students on campus. Heuring
said he spent up to an hour each day maintaining the site and always was looking for new site links that might be beneficial to students.
"It's kind of intimidating if you don't know about it," Hearing said.
"We act like goalies, sending students in the right direction," Burge said.
Throughout the fair, it will take the efforts of all the placement center's student staff to make sure students can find the company they want, said David Burge, Wichita senior, and an employee of the placement center.
Because this is a job fair, Hartley said that students needed to keep in mind that they are getting looked at by potential employers. In addition to bringing a supply of resumes, Hartley said students should not dress in regular street clothes. Even employers looking for summer camp employees and interns like to see students dressed professionally, she said.
For more information on the services provided by the placement center and an up-to-date listing of companies coming to the fair, see the placement center's home page on the World Wide Web: http://kuhttp.co.ukans.edu/cwis/unit/sydfacts/u扑acts/upc_main.html.
Students also should plan to come early and come often, Burge said, since the volume of students is expected to increase. This also will help students get more one-on-one contact with recruiters, he said.
Spring Career and Employment Fair
When: Wed.. Feb. 7
Times: 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Where: Kansas Union Ballroom
Tips for success:
- Bring a stack of resumes
- Dress in attire appropriate for the job desired.
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