Vol. 99, No. 59 (USPS 650-640)
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED SINCE 1889 BY THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Thursday November 17, 1988
200 protesters stage rally at Liberty Hall
To protest the local showing of the film, "The Last Temptation of Church gathered in front of Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St..last Christ," about 200 people from St. Mary's Academy, College and night.
By Daniel Niemi Kansan staff writer
"The Last, Temptation of Christ," the film that has sparked protests across the country, tempted about 200 people into the cold last night to demonstrate at Liberty Hall. 642 Massachusetts Si
The protesters, most of them from St. Mary's Academy, Church and College in Leavenworth sang hymns, carried bundles and knelt in prayer in front of the theater for about an hour. They arrived about one-half hour before the 9 p.m. showing of the film.
The Rev. Herve de la Tour, headmaster of St. Mary's, said the protesters were there to pray and serve penance in compensation for the death of a woman in the film and to distribute fliers to dissuade people from seeing it.
"It mocks our Lord. It insults him, it's sickening. It's pornographic in some ways," de la Tour said.
The protests against the film.
directed by Martin Scorsese and based on a book by Nikos Kazantzakis, have focused on a scene where Christ is tempted by lust toward Mary Magdalene.
De la Tour said he hoped the protest would halt the showing of the movie at Liberty Hall. It is scheduled to run through Dec. 3.
Jerry Kramer, a senior at St. Mary's, said he hoped the protest would keep people from seeing the movie.
"I hope we're blocking the doors enough" he said.
The protesters, however, did not stop Sarah Buchmuller, Overland Park sophomore, from seeing the movie.
"This guy was grabbing me and trying to get me to read this stuff," she said. "I said, 'I just want to see the movie.'"
"It made me want to see the movie more."
Jill Johns, a theater employee, said about 20 people bought tickets for the 9 p.m. showing. An average of 60 people had purchased tickets
for the film earlier in the week.
Rob Fitzgerald, assistant manager at Liberty Hall, said earlier yesterday that three to four people watched the film almost every night.
"It's a free country," Fitzgerald said. "They can do what they
want. They have the right to protest."
John Winfrey, KU assistant professor of Army ROTC, also was protesting the movie.
"My wife and I both believe that if people want to see the movie, they can see it. We're just here to
testify for Christ," he said.
Many of the students refused comment. De la La训 said the policy stemmed from a similar protest of the movie "Hail Mary," shown at the Kansas Union in spring 1987.
student who was in the seventh grade, and he didn't give the right answers. I think sometimes the younger one knows what to do on the tour.
None of the protesters interviewed had seen the film or planned to see it.
The press asked questions to a
Few mourn end of personnel administration degree
Prof wears armband to honor program
By Grace Hobson Kansan staff writer
way it can be revived. This is a funeral or a wake."
"It's dead." Baumgartel said, wearing a black armband made out of construction paper to symbolize the death of the largest degree program in the college. "There's no
Yesterday's public hearing to discuss the discontinuation of personnel administration wasn't a discussion at all, according to Howard Baumgartel, associate dean of liberal arts and sciences.
At the three-and-a-half-hour hearing, the University Council committee on Academic Procedures and Policies listened to arguments about discontinuation of the personnel administration program.
The committee was required to hold the forum to comply with University Senate Rules and Regulations on discontinuity. On Dec 30, the committee will submit its recommendation to the University Council and Del Brinkman, vice chairperson for academic affairs. Chancellor Gene A. Budig will make the final decision.
make a 10-minute presentation at the hearing. The only speakers, however, were James Drury, professor of political science and director of the program; James Carothers, associate dean of liberal arts and sciences and Baumgartel. About six people attended the hearing.
Anvone interested in the program could
Baugartmeld and Carothers spoke in favor of discontinued the inter-disciplinary program, and Drury spoke against discontinuation.
Baumgartel recommended discontinuation because of faculty shortages in the face of burgeoning enrollment.
"The simple facts are that the college has had to accommodate a 30-percent increase in the number of students without any additional instructional resources," he said. "In
recent years, the departments serving this major have been unable to replace faculty positions lost through retirements, deaths and resignations."
abn resignations:
Baumgartel praised the program and its students, saying that the curriculum and its requirements were sound.
"The faculty for the program have disappeared," he said. "If we could replace the faculty, the program would still be in existence."
Carothers did not wholly agree, however.
"Even with additional resources, I don't see the commitment coming from faculty." Carothers said. "Acquiring faculty is not a high priority in the departments."
Carothers told the college would do everything to help the 800-plus personnel administration majors finish their degrees.
Drury argued that discontinuation was a disservice to students because many wanted to major in the program. Also, he said no classes offered in the program's curriculum would change with the program's discontinuation.
"People complain it is academically weak but allow the courses to continue," he said.
Mike Torrey, Fairfax, Va., senior, and the only student who attended the hearing, said he agreed with Drury that the program should not be discontinued.
"I've talked with a lot of freshmen and sophomores who were interested in majoring in personnel," he said. "When told the major was closed, a lot of people were really disappointed."
Palestinian march
In a march of the General Union of Palestinian Students, Nader Mustafa, Jerusalem senior, left, and Sami Ayyad, Jerusalem senior, lead marchers from the Kansas Union. They were marching yesterday afternoon in celebration of the independence declaration of Palestine from Israel.
Israel. Palestinians have been celebrating the declaration since it was issued Tuesday in Algiers by the Palestine National Council, which acts as the legislature of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Authorities charge minister with murder in '83 shooting
The Associated Press
Thomas P. Bird, 38, was taken from the Kansas State Penitentiary in Lansing to Geary County District Court where he was charged in the November 1983 shooting death of Martin K. Anderson.
Bird's bond was set at $250,000, but Geary County District Judge George Scott said Bird would return to Lansing between court appearances. Another hearing was scheduled Nov. 23.
JUNCTION CITY — A former minister whose love affair with his secretary was spotlighted in a television minieries was charged yesterday with first-degree murder in the slaving of the woman's husband.
Marvin K. Anderson
The long-delayed charge against Bird, former pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Emporia, came less than two weeks after Anderson's former wife pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and implicated Bird in Anderson's slaying.
Bird was taken back to the prison, where he is already serving a life term for first-degree murder in the 1985 slaying of his wife and $2_{1/2}$ to seven years for solicitation to commit murder in an earlier, unsuccessful plot to kill Anderson.
"On Nov 4, 1983, Tom Bird and I agreed that I would stop my van on a road or highway in Geary County." Eldridge told the judge after she pleaded guilty. "I would pretend to lose my keys so that my husband then, Martin Anderson, would have to get out of the van to help look for them. This would enable Tom Bird to come up and shoot him."
Anderson's wife, Lorna Anderson Eldridge, pleaded guilty in Geary County earlier this month to a reduced charge of second-degree murder in her husband's death. The former church secretary testified at the hearing that she helped her former pastor kill her husband.
"I did as we planned, and my
husband was killed . I gave Tom the 22-caliber Woodsman that he used to shoot my husband," she said.
Bird was convicted in 1985 in the death of his wife, Sandy, who at first appeared to be the victim of a traffic accident at the Rocky Ford Bridge over the Cottonwood River near Emporia. The investigation was reopened after Bird's conviction on the solicitation charge. The prosecution contended that Bird threw his wife from the bridge and tried to disguise the slaying as a traffic accident.
Eldridge, 35, awaits sentencing on the second-degree murder charge but is already serving 5 to 18 years for an earlier unsuccessful plot on her husband's life.
The story of Eldridge and Bird, both of whom have remarried, was the subject of the CBS miniseries "Murder Ordained," a movie filmed in and around Emporia. It aired in May 1987.
Smokers urged to kick the habit today
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — An assortment of non-smoking celebrities, joined by two cigarette-smashing elephants, turned out yesterday to urge a 24-hour nicotine boycott for the 12th annual Great American Smokeout.
"I bet if you could show people who don't smoke have a much better sex life, most people would quit today," said sex therapist Ruth Westheimer, one of a dozen well-known non-smokers in attendance. "So let's pretend that's true."
Houshour.
Among those joining her at the festivities were composer Marvin Hamish, actresses Sylvia Miles and Celeste Holm, actor Glenne Head, Broadway performers Elene Foley, Dean Butler, Alison Fraser and Robert
Letters from Mayor Edward I. Koch and comedian Eddie Murphy urging participation in the Smoke-out also were read.
The Smokeout, being held today, is an annual event aimed at getting smokers to give up cigarettes for at least one day. The American Cancer Society, which sponsors the event, estimated that nearly 40 percent of the nation's 50 million smokers participated last year.
Murphy, who said he had never smoked, told smokers bent on kicking the habit, "Anything worth fighting for is certainly worth winning. And I can't think of a better prize than a healthy body."
Koch, on the other hand, used the opportunity to pat himself on the back for the city's anti-smoking legislation. "The health-harm
ing habit of smoking is no longer in fashion in New York City."
Hamish urged smokers unconcerned about their health to think about their friends and family, citing the recent death of his friend and "A Chorus Line" collaborator Edward Kleban. The lyricist, a heavy smoker, died of cancer last December.
The event, held under the big top at "The Big Apple Circus" in Lincoln Center, ended with two elephants crushing giant plastic foam cigarettes as the celebrities stood nearby.
The Tobacco Institute officially announced its "Great American Welcome" program in newspaper advertisements Tuesday, but a lawsuit said that the program was not planned as a robbery to the Smokeout.