Vol. XLVI No. 18 . Room 117, Otter HaD, Louisville, Ky ~ 40208 January 31 , 1975
Student wounded by police
listed in satisfactory condition
by Kenny Vandevelde
Larry Basham, the stt.ide.nt who was
shot by a campus policeman early
W~dnesday morning (January 22), has
been listed in satisfactory condition at
Norton's Children's Hospital. He , was
transferred to Norton's from General
Hospital last weekend.
Basham originally had been listed in
serious condition, with internal bleeding
and a punctured lung. When the lung
failed to inflate after an appropriate
length of time, he was placed on the
critical list.
But early yesterday morning, a nurse at
Norton's told the Cardinal that Basham
was in satisfactory condition and resting
comfortably.
Basham, and another student involved
in the incident, Joseph Groetsch, were
charged with third degree burglary. The
trial date was set last week for early
March. .
Sergeant George Robinson, the officer
. involved in the incident, was reassigned to
a desk job Monday morning. Prior to
Monday, Robinson had been on
administrative leave, pending an
investigation ·into the shooting by the
Department of Public Safety.
The investigation is awai~ng the
completion of a separate investigation by
the Louisville Police. ·
In a related development, three
representatives of the Louisville Civil
liberties Unionmet Tuesday afternoon.
with Director of Public Relations David
Baker, Legal Affairs Officer Ed Paul, and
Assistant Vice-President for Financial
Affairs Bill Davidson to discuss the
incident. .
The LCLU representatives told the
university official that they "have a
practice of regularly investigating . any
instance where excessive force may have
been used."
Paul told the LCLU representatives
that" he could not comment on the
specifics of the case for fear· of
jeopardizing the trial. But he did agree to
answer questions of a general nature or
relating to the university's statement on
the incident.
One of the LCLU representatives asked
Paul why Robinson used a gun to hit
Basl}am rather than a nightstick. "I
assume the p<_>lice are issued billy clubs,~
he said.
"11lat is a false assumption," replied
Paul. h
A night sergeant on duty told t e
Ctudi1Uii that all the public safety officers
are issued night sticks and are expected to
carry them with them when out on a call.
Asked why it was nece~ry for the
campus police to carry guns, Davids~n
told the civil libertarians that secunty
officers have been ftred upon while
performing their duties.
Davidson also told the men that
Robinson had graduated from the
Louisville Police Adademy, and was
qualified as an "expert" in weapons.
The LCLU representatives also wanted
to know what action had been taken with
regard to Robinson. Paul said Robinson
haP been placed on administrative leave,
pending. Public Safety's investigation.
"You must remember that such a thing
is a traumatic shock. for the policeman
himself," he added.
In response to another question, Baker
told the men that grievances against
campus police are taken to the officer's
immediate superior, and through ordinary
administrative channels. He said there was
no special review board to study police'
grievances.
The discussion also covered the
university's position on Robinson's use of
his gun.
Paul told the LCLU representatives
that he believed Robinson was justified in
drawing his gun, since it was dark in the
tunnel and the three suspects could have
been aimed.
He said Robinson would not
necessarily have been justified ·in firing,
but that that was irrelevant since
Robinson didn't intentionally frre
anyway.
"I think I'm willing to concede that,"
one of the LCU representatives said.
Pbotopaph by JUct Yetter
Construction began early this week on a new twmel system between the
University College and .~atural Sciences buildings.
A&S Student Council approves new fees
by Steve Wingf~eld
The Arts & Sciences ·student Council
this week approved new fees in the
Departments of · Health, Physical
Education and Recreation, Geography
and Natural Sciences.
Clark Wood, Chairman of HPER,
appeared before the council to answer
objections to the proposed fees on HPER
courses.• A $5.00 fee for each physical
education activity class had been
proposed to the Council.
Wood stated that enrollment in HPER
ctivity classes had increased dramatically ·
while funding of HPER had remaj.ned
constant, except for the standard
inflation increaie: Due to the rise in the
replacement costs of necessary equipment
for the classes, Wood said that the
breaking point had been reached.
Students, he said, would have to begin
supplying their own equipment for the
classes. He further stated that cost of
equipment for some classes could be
$25.00 for each student.
Wood also said that more and better
equipment could be purchased by the
department than by the student if the fee
were approved.
Responding to a council member's
question, Wood stated that the $5.00
figure had been assigned by the A&S
Dean's Office. Wood said that originally
he had r.ecormnended a $5.00 per year
fee, but the dean's office requested a
$5.00 per semester fee . He added that he
would not be opposed to changing the fee
to either $3.00 or S4 .00.
After Wood left the council meeting, a
motion was made to approve the new fee
at $3.00 per activity course. Also
included in the motion were $5.00 fees
for Nat Sci 312 and Nat Sci 320 and a
$5.00 per hour lab fee (to a maximum of
$7 .SO per course) for those Geography
courses concerning photogramety and
cartography. There was no resistance to
the proposed Geography and · Natural
Science fees.
Discussion on the proposed Physical
Education Activities fee was heated. A
general consensus that the fees were
needed by HPER was reached by the
council members. An amendment to
change the $3.00 activity fee to a $5 .00
fee was then offered. After discu~ion,
the amendment was adopted.
Reasons cited by council members for
r~sing the fee $2.00 were that they felt
that HPER was ·being penalized by the
university administration in the allocation
of funds and by raising the fee they felt
HPER could purchase better equipment.
The main motion, to assess a flat fee of
$5.00 for each HPER activity course as
well as the Natural Science and
Geography fees, was then asopted by a
vote of 13 to 3, with S abstentions.
The rootjon was passed with the
following stiupulations:
1) All money raised by the fees will be
returned to the departments for which
the fee is assessed.
2) The approval of the fees is null if
the fees for laboratory courses (approved
by the A&S Council during the Summer
of 1974) are not re-submitted and
re-approved by the Council before the
start of the Fall, 1975 semester.
3) Within 60 days after the beginning
of a semester the Financial Affairs Office
will notify the appropriate departments
of the amount of money they are to
receive.
A&S Council policy calls for periodic
review of all fees approved by the
Council.