U.S. Rep. Jim Slattery, D-Kan., was planning to introduce legislation to make Haskell Indian Junior College’s board of regents autonomous, thereby giving the regents more power and more responsibility. At the time, Haskell’s policies were set by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, while their board of regents acted only in an advisory capacity.

Kansas University officials were ready to begin raising funds for a performing arts center. The actual site was still under discussion, but administrators said that they needed to raise $12 million to $14 million in donations. New space was badly needed to replace Hoch Auditorium as the university’s main stage. Hoch, which dated back to 1927, had poor acoustics, a shortage of backstage space, and “primitive” dressing rooms, according to dean of fine arts James Moeser.

A Kansas City area mother who had abandoned her two 4-year-old children in an Overland Park shopping mall was arrested and charged with two counts of child endangerment. The children had been found with a note from the mother reading, “I don’t want them no more. Find someone that wants them – don’t call me.”