From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for July 15, 1987:

Demolition workers at Kansas University had succeeded in lopping off the top 170 feet of the 265-foot-tall smokestack that had loomed over campus since 1921. The ongoing project had slowed as the workers neared the tower’s base because of the increased thickness of the concrete there. Professors in nearby offices were expressing some indifference about the loss of the landmark. “I don’t have any real feelings about it,” said journalism professor Calder Picket, whose office was just a few hundred feet from the site. “I would rather get rid of the whistle than the smokestack.” He was of course referring to the well-known class-changing whistle at the university’s power plant, which was not to be affected by the smokestack’s departure.