SUMMER Kentucky Kernel Vol. XCIV, No.156 Established 1894 Life on the edge A night in the streets with a homeless veteran By BOB NORMAN Senior Staff Writer "No one ever came out of the womb a middle-aged, homeless. alcoholic Vietnam Veteran.” Nancy Lester, Director of Horizon Center He was lingering in the night shadows. standing near a porch just off the dimly lit street. “What are you doing?” I asked, realizing how strange such a question must sound at 1:30 am. on the lower north side of Limestone Street. “What are you doing out here?” The homeless man approached me and echoed my question. "What are you doing here?" he asked. “Give you a drink if you let me wear your coat.” Across the empty street, anoth- er man was standing motionless. like a soiled statue. The only sound in the cold night air was that of a grocery can, rattling with garbage and empty alumi- num cans. An old man and wom- an walked silently behind it, pushing their home in front of them The shelterless couple are a mi- nority among street people. About 85 percent of the 250 to 500 homeless in Lexington are single men, said Tom Johnson of the city's Salvation Army. These men, about 50 percent of whom suffer from varying de- grees of mental illness, generally are forced to live on the darker sides of Lexington. Lexington residents have let them know they aren't wanted in residential districts or the down- town business district (sec related article. page 9). They cause fear and devaluate property. say the contingency that has gotten to- gether block the proposed site for a new. extensive homeless shel- ter. University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky ' Independent since 1971 June 6, 1991 GREG SANS Kernel Stdl "I'm sleeping on benches and eating out of dumpsters.“ said John Baxley. a homeless man in Lex— ington who has nowhere to go. But the homeless, living on the streets, also have fear. Fear of physical harm while they are sleeping. fear of starving. fear of not getting up the buck or two some of them need to buy a bot- tle. Fear of the unknown on the streets. “They come across as very confident and tough and all that," Johnson said. “But underneath that, they are very scared. Once you break through. they are a very trusting and friendly peo- ple." To break through and under— stand the homeless. one must on- ter their environment. It was this spring that i met the man who of- See ROBERT. Page 8 UK lauds proposal to increase black faculty State would support five blacks annually as doctoral students By DALE GREER Editor in Chief UK officials are hailing a new multi-state proposal intended to boost the number of black faculty at universities across the South. Under the proposal. each state that chose to participate would support five black doctoral stu- dents for three years at an annual cost of 519.0(1) each. and a total of $300,000 annually after the third year. Because the pool of potential black faculty is so small. students would be drawn form undergrad- uates in the top 70th to 90th per- centile. according to a report to the state Council on Higher Edu- cation. The council voted at its May 20 meeting to endorse the propo- sal. which was developed by the Southern Regional Education Board and is modeled after a Florida program. UK President Charles Weth- ful in targeting a number of grad- uate students who can be very successful in completing the PhD. program but would normal- ly not have been in a PhD. pro- gram because they would have not been at the very top of the heap in terms of test scores." Wcthington said Monday. ”One of the problems that we struggle with constantly is the “One of the problems we struggle with constantly is the difficulty we have in trying to attract significant numbers of black faculty to the University." UK President Charles Wethlngton ington. who serves on the board's executive committee. said he has "been very much im- pressed with the Florida pro— gram" and supports implementa- tion of the multi-state proposal. “It Qpean that the (Florida) progrml has been very success- difficulty we have in trying to at- tract significant numbers of black faculty to the University. “And I think the research uni- versities have a major responsi- bility to bring more black gradu~ ale students into doctoral programs . . lid make them members of the teaching profes- sion." “This is one program that has the potential for increasing the number of black faculty that will be available in the future.” Blacks comprise 3.2 percent of faculty at Kentucky‘s state- supported universities. according to council. report. INDEX In the fall of 1990 — the last semester for which figures are available —- Blacks made up 1.7 percent of the faculty at UK. Blacks also accounted for 1.7 percent of the doctoral students at UK in the fall of 1990. Of the 1,336 students enrolled. 23 were See PLAN, Paged UKTODAY_ Brooklng’s Chili closed last week af- ter more than 50 years . Story. Page 2. Sports ..................... 1 1 Diversions .............. 1 3 Viewpoint ................ 1 4 Classifieds .............. 1 5 Classwork begins today for 8-week summer session.