THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED SINCE 1889 BY THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
WEDNESDAY,FEBRUARY 15,1989
(USPS 650-640)
VOL. 99, NO. 93
Suit for death of sorority member dismissed
by Michele Logan Kansan staff writer
A multimillion dollar lawsuit against the local Gamma Delta Chapter of Alpha Phi International for the 1855 death of one of its sorority members was dismissed Friday.
See related story
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court on Nov. 6, 1907, by Eugene and Mary Carkoski. It named the sorority and its officials as co-defendants in the death of their daughter, Jeanna, said James Griffin, the
sorority's defense attorney.
The suit alleged that the defendants were responsible for the death of the 19-year-old sophomore because they ordered her to clean the house; theirledge led as part of the home's full cleaning.
Carkoski died Nov. 9, 1985, at the University of Kansas Medical Center of severe head injuries that she suffered when she fell from the ledge onto a concrete patio.
Griffin said that the Carkoskis had received no settlement and that the case was dismissed without prejudice, which means that the suit could be reified.
"Everyone is waiting for the final act, which is for the judge to sign the case dismissal order," Griffin said.
He said that he did not know why the Carkoskis had dismissed the case or whether they planned to pursue the matter further
The Carkoskiis were seeking $1 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages. Eugene Carkoski, as special administrator of his daughter's estate, was seeking an additional $2 million in damages.
Other co-defendants in the suit included Albna Phi International Fraternity
Inc., the Alpha Phi Corp. board, Nellita Pillars and Elizabeth Morr. Pillars was the house mother at the time of the accident and Murr was the chapter president.
The corporation board, Pillars and Morr were dismissed from the suit because they
News of the dismissal came only three weeks after Alpha Phi's charter was disbanded.
Jovee Shumay, spokesman for the Alpha Phi International executive office, said yesterday that she had not heard that the awasuit had been dropped.
"This will have no affect on charter withdrawal proceedings because the two parties are not in the process."
Dawn Tabinsky, Alpha Phi vice president,
said that the sorority had been notified that
the lawsuit had been dismissed, but she
refused to comment further.
The Carkoski also deceived to comment. Carkoski entered KU in fall 1984 with a scholarship from the Navy ROTC. She was a French and political science major.
At the grave site, Carkoni received full military honors and a 14 gun salute, and a medal for gallantry.
Lawrence residents Sandy Dale, background, and Charlotte Knoche work on their creations, the "Gnarlies." in an upstairs room at Trundlehill Studies, 900 Rhode Island St.
Local artists use building to work; nine featured in Turnhalle Studios
by Christine Winner
Kansan staff writer
Turnhalle Studios is the working space for nine artists, including glassblowers, a jeweler and a sculptor.
At 900 Rhode Island St., wood
shavings litter the floor, sculptures stand half-finished and life-
time stoves of naked women adorn the walls.
Wes Jackson has been the principal tenant at the building since its opening in 1864. At that time, the building was in poor condition.
He advertised the studios with a flier on a bulletin board in the department of fine arts at the University of Kansas. Jackson studied painting and sculpting at KU and graduated in 1972.
it was a slow process getting other tenants. It didn't look very habitable," he said.
Jackson said his drawings, paintings and wood sculptures were done for pleasure instead of profit. He also owned his furniture repair and restoration
tion business.
"I do my art as a diversion from the more mundane work with furniture," he said.
For Dick Rector, glassblower and Lawrence graduate student, work done at Turnhale is profit-driven because of a Midwestern clientele.
"It's kind of hard to get $150 for a bowl around here." he said.
Besides paperweights with swirling patterns and richly colored perfume bottles, Rector designs "rubble cups" broken crystals that are the outside of these drinking glasses, popular on the East Coast.
Rector operates Free State Glass with partner Jim Slough, Lawrence resident. The two have directed the University of Turluahle Studies for four years.
'Ethyl' dominates the basement. Ethyl is a furnace that burns around the clock at approximately 10am and holds 290 pounds of moist ice.
The furnace also is Free State's biggest expense. Rector said that
the natural gas bill gets as high as $600 a month.
Rector took a glass course as an undergraduate at KU because it sounded like fun, and he was one with some of his other design classes.
"I got burned out on pasting cardboard together and trying to draw straight lines," he said.
Susan Herd, Lawrence resident,
said that he did not have an art
degree but had studied art all his
life. He also worked in "field
pieces," as in farm fields.
Last October, Herd organized the "Ottawa Beanfield Cola War" in conjuction with the 10th anniversary of Ottawa's Community Arts Council. Almost 800 people clad in red or blue gathered in a field to depict the likenesses of two cola cans.
"The point of it was to illustrate the corporate battle for the consumer dollar," Herd said.
Herd is working on a 5,000 square-foot mural at the Kansas
SeeARTISTS. p. 6. col. 4
This glass sculpture is a piece of art made by Dick Rector, co-owner of Free State Glass, in the basement of Turnhall Studios.
Harassment complaints filed at KU
bv Marv Neupauer
Kansan staff writer
Although she received word over the weekend that her sexual harassment complaint against one of her teaching assistants had been acted upon, problems continue for Tia Williams.
"I don't feel safe on this campus," she said. "My former teaching assist shows up at places on campus where I am and screams at me and waves his arms around. It's very intimidating."
See related story p. 8, col. 1
Williams, Chesterfield. Mo., sophomore, with a representative from the office of affirmative action on Nov 4, 1980, because she was allegedly sexually harassed by French touching assistant, she said.
Williams and her former teaching assistant had the chance to voice their sides of the issue at a hearing Jan. 26, in accordance with University policy for the resolution of sexual harassment grievances. Williams
On Saturday, Williams received a letter informing her of the case, aminers' recommendations, she said.
Affirmative action cases are not won or lost; they determine probable cause and offer recommendations.
"I'm satisfied with the findings," Williams said. "There were promises of changes that had to be made, so I'm happy."
Jan Kornau-Southall, chairman of the department of French, said that the department had received a letter on Monday concerning the case.
Kozma-Southall would not comment on the specifics of the case.
"I received the examiners' findings, but the privacy of the people involved in the case is more important," she said. "To say about the decision, she said."
Kozma-Southali said, however, that a set of materials and possibly a speaker from affirmative action would become a part of the orienta-
tions. The students and assistants participate in when they are hired before each fall semester
See OFFICE, p. 12, col. 4
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The judge in the Oliver North case rejected a proposal yesterday he said would have allowed the Justice Department to object in "bits and pieces" the disclosure of classified information after the trial got under way.
U. S. District Judge Gerhard Gessell also challenged Attorney General Dick Thornburg to the case once and for all by sub-committee action. The disclosure of state secrets needed for North's defense.
In the meantime, Gessil said he would await a Supreme Court ruling on whether the trial would be stayed indefinitely while an appellate court reviewed the Justice Department's objection to secrecy procedures already put in place by the judge.
"He can act now if he wants," Gessell told Thornburgh aide Stephen Saltzburg.
The high court, which has temporarily stayed the trial's start, will meet Friday to discuss the issue.
The judge's comments came
during a hearing on a compromise proposal, worked out between the Justice Department and independent counsel Lawrence Walsh, covering procedures for deciding whether an accused could be aired during the trial.
Gesell ruled that the Justice Department must rely on Walsh's prosecutors to speak in court for the government on all disclosure issues, including appeals of any judicial determinations that some secrets were relevant to North's defense.
The proposal was aimed at preventing surprise disclosures by North, and it was opposed strongly by the former National Security
Only if the Justice Department determines it must stop the case can it file an affidavit barring further disclosures under the Classified Information Procedures Act, the judge ruled.
The judge said he wouldn't let Thornburg chop up the case with a series of affidavits barring discussions. Nor did North try to introduce evidence
KU coach believes nothing is impossible
by Cynthia L. Smith
Kansan staff writer
A shy, sensitive seventh-grader was yanked from the court after missing a basket.
"You couldn't make a basket if you stood on a 10-foot ladder," her gym teacher said.
She accepted her position 17 years ago, becoming the first black to coach women at a predominately white university.
Washington also was the first black woman to coach a U.S. national team and the first black coach to serve on the Kodak All-America team panel.
And she played on the first women's collegiate national champion team and was one of the first two black competitors chosen for a U.S.
Today, Marian Washington, KU women's basketball coach, calls the shots.
"She has to draw on a lot of energy to accomplish everything she wants to accomplish," said Judi Yaleen, assistant women's basketball coach. "I think she's also always trying to tap everyone's individual energy and get them to reach their potential in that way."
As a child, Washington decided to strive for success in athletics.
"I think athletics became extremely important to me because
I'm from a poor background, and you have a very pridful family," she said. "In the arena of athletics, at a very young age, I realized that you weren't judged by your color or how much money you had or whether you had decent clothes. It was whether you were in line for the finish line before somebody else."
Washington said she had always been family-oriented.
Her father was more severe, she said.
"If you wanted a description of what love was all about, you just had to meet my mother." Washington said.
"But I do believe that I probably have a lot of him in me, in terms of being somewhat of a workable," she said. "And I'd like to feel that I have a lot of her in me, in that I do most of the people and people that comes naturally."
Washington still cares about Ruth Redding, a black junior high math teacher, who advised her to take college. She is also a predominately white high school
See WASHINGTON, p. 6, col. 1
Redding said the educators were pressured to steer black students into a basic program, but the helped educate them at school college preparatory program.
Marian Washington, Kansas women's basketball coach.