THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9,1995
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS 864-4810
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
ADVERTISING 864-4358
SECTION A VOL.102,NO.57
(USPS 650-640)
TODAY KANSAN
SPORTS
Staying close to home
Kansas tennis player Christie Sim spurned several other schools to remain in her home state of Kansas. Page 1B
CAMPUS
Wrapping up the season
English Alternative Theater makes its final performance of the semester. Page 3A
NATION
Powell says he won't run
The general announced he will not be a candidate for the 1996 presidential election. Page 8A
WORLD
Israelis arrest more suspects
A leader and a member of an anti Arab group may have known about the assassination plan. Page 8A
WEATHER SUNNY
Weather: Page 2A
INDEX
Scoreboard ... 2B
Horoscopes ... 4B
National News ... 8A
World News ... 8A
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.
Students unite to preserve wetlands
KU, Haskell students find common cause to fight alignments
By Joann Birk
Kansan staff writer
Students from Haskell Indian Nations University and the University of Kansas came together yesterday to protest all proposed alignments for the South Lawrence Trafficway Project.
The day of protest, which was inspired by the public hearings on the trafficway, began with a prayer circle at the medicine wheel on the Haskell campus.
Some KU students, though they did not gather in the prayer circle, were there to support Haskell's opposition to the trafficway.
Erin Turack, Naperville, Ill.
sophomore and a member of KU Environs, said that she hoped KU students would help in the effort to preserve the wetlands.
After the prayer circle, about 40 students gathered on both sides of 31st street carrying signs reading, "Preserve our wetlands" and "Destruction of the wetlands is pollution not progress." As cars passed, many drivers honked in support of the protesters.
"It is so important for the Native-American culture and spiritual beliefs that this area is preserved," she said. "And it is important that we help support their cause."
Haskell and KU students were united in their opposition to the three proposed alignments for the trafficway.
"I wish they wouldn't even build the road," said Richard Taliwood, Haskell sophomore.
Jennifer Champagne, Haskell
sophomore, said that all Lawrence residents should be concerned about the trafficway because of the damage it could do to the Haskell-Baker Wetlands.
"This is a really pretty part of Kansas and we need to keep it that way," she said.
Jason Daniels, Colby, sophomore, said that he and the other members of KU Environs supported Haskell's efforts.
"I wanted to support Haskell because I support the wetlands," he said.
Students involved in the protest said they were unsure of what the final decision on the trafficway would be but they would continue to fight.
"I'm committed and many students here are committed," said Katrina Coker, Haskell sophomore. "If that translated into lying in front of buildozers on 31st street, we would do that."
Groups present views on routes for South Lawrence Trafficway
South Lawrence Trafficway officials will consider opinions from the hearing in their decision to use 31st Street, 35th Street or 38th Street as an alignment for the trafficway.
By Tara Trenary
Kansan staff writer
A public hearing was held yesterday at the Douglas County Fairgrounds to get input from Lawrence residents about the alignment issue of the South Lawrence Trafficway.
"It's not a vote," said John Pasley, project manager of the South Lawrence Trafficway. "We're trying to get people to take a position."
He said that trafficway officials could have chosen a route first, but through the hearing they could get opinions on route options.
And opinions are exactly what they got.
Officials representing Haskell Indian Nations University, Baker University, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the city of Lawrence, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Coalition to Preserve the Wetlands, the Kansas Department of Transportation and the South Lawrence Trafficway gathered at Building 21 on the fairgrounds to answer questions and
See WETLANDS, Page 3A
Homemade lasers
Andy Rullestad / KANSAN
J. J. Cavaleri, Los Angeles, Calif., graduate student, monitors a home-built laser system in the research laboratory of Robert M. Bowman, associate professor of chemistry. The laser flashes are used to capture the initial moments of a chemical reaction.
Committees look at ADA concerns
Decisions made by the ADA advisory sub-committees:
Transportation and Parking To look into the University's master plan to see if any ADA related concerns exist.
Deaf Issues/Education
To make an appointment with the chancellor to discuss the need for improvements in resources for deaf students.
Transportation and Parking
Brian Flink / KANBAN
Employment
To develop ADA training as part of orientation for new unclassified staff.
To make sure an ADA coordinator is listed in the University directory.
Dwight Ley, Hoyt sophomore, Maria Herron, registrar staff member, and Dana Lattin, Lawrence graduate student, discuss policies during an Americans with Disabilities Act advisory board meeting.
To make sure that advertisements for available positions have an attached message stating that accommodations for interviewing can be made for those who need it.
By Hannah Naughton Kansan staff writer
A series of concerns that were raised at a public hearing last fall were compiled and broken down into lists for five different subcommittees within the advisory committee to review.
The Americans with Disabilities Act advisory committee met yesterday to discuss public concerns about the University of Kansas' adherence to the act.
Many of the concerns that were brought up at the public hearing have been addressed and others are being followed up, said Steve Ramirez, assistant director of the Office of Affirmative Action.
The committee members signed up this fall through the office of Ed Meyen, executive vice chancellor. From there they were divided into subcommittees. These focused on Housing, Parking and Transportation, Employment, Academic/Services Center Accommodation and Deaf Issues/Education.
"The advisory committee's task is really to not only look at the status and see what improvements need to be done, but then to feed it into the self-evaluation of the University," said Rose Marino, associate general
counsel for the University.
The improvements and feedback come from the different committees, Marino said. Some subcommittees set up schedules to deal with their agendas later on, but others began discussing the issues at the meeting.
"I don't want to create a plan, I want to see some action," said Robin Routh, graduate student in the
School of Social Welfare and member of the Deaf Issues/Education sub-committee.
Routh, a deaf student, said that the University needed to improve the systems in dealing with deaf students, such as developing a better interpreter system. It also needed to look more closely at the differences
See ADA,Page 3A
Professor uses politics to help unite communities
Kansan staff writer
By Novelda Sommers
The usual donkey vs. elephant presidential politics can bring fragmented communities together.
At least that is what Diana Prentice Carlin, associate professor of communication studies, hopes her latest project will do.
Carlin is supervising Debate Watch, a research project sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The project will give grassroots citizens' groups across America materials to help them organize to discuss the 1996 presidential debates. The materials, which will be available through libraries and civic organizations, will include information on the format of the debates, questions for viewers to ask and discuss and surveys to evaluate the projects' effectiveness.
The idea for Debate Watch came from similar studies Carlin helped conduct for the commission in 1992 to see what people thought about the 1992 debates. A total of 625 people in 17 cities participated.
Mitchell McKinney, assistant professor of political communication at the University of Oklahoma, said that Debate Watch should bring communities together.
"We are seeing a splintering of our society," McKinney said. "In these groups, we saw people coming together and trying to understand each other."
McKinney was a graduate student at the University of Kansas when he helped Carlin with the 1902 study.
Suggestions from the participants spawned what will be the most massive study of presidential debates in history, Carlin said.
In 1996, this could happen on a larger scale. he said.
Carlin said she hoped that people would assemble similar groups to discuss local elections.
Carlin's job does not end when the debates are over. The information packets include questionnaires for the participants to send to Carlin, which she and her graduate assistants will compile in a book. She and others also will travel around the country after the debates to conduct focus groups among randomly selected Debate Watch participants. Carlin said the data should be compiled and published by 1998.
"It was such a simple idea," Carlin said. "I don't know why no one had thought of it before."
Debate Watch will be piloted this winter during the presidential primaries and perfected for the presidential debates next October.
The project's headquarters are at KU. Its e-mail address is: presdeb@falcon.cc.ukans.edu.
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