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Tuesday, October 11, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
That is one of the results of a survey conducted last spring and released last week by the Division of Student Affairs. About 90 percent of the people who returned the survey said they used or had used alcohol.
KU alcohol survey doesn't reveal reasons students drink
Most KU students drink alcohol.
Is that surprising in an environment where bars and parties are the major entertainment? This is a college town, and college student playgrounds.
The survey leaves more questions unanswered than answered. It reported that 34 percent of the students said they have had more than five drinks on a single occasion. But how often do they do that? Do they drink alone? Why do they drink? Do they consider themselves alcoholics? Answers to these questions were not reported.
The survey could have gone a step further into pinpointing any far-reaching problems rather than just isolating some people who said they did some stupid things when they were drinking. The information reported left out too many pertinent questions to be answered, so the blackouts, or engage in indiscriminate sex? Or was it just once? Is it a problem? Does alcoholism run in their families?
The survey reported that 32 percent of the students who responded said they had missed classes because of alcohol use, 25 percent said they had experienced blackouts and 31 percent were in indiscriminate sex while under the influence of alcohol.
U. S. District Judge Lucius Bunton ruled Sept. 30 in a case brought by 311 Hispanic FBI agents that the agency "demonstrated a pattern and practice of discrimination relating to conditions of employment and promotions."
In the wake of such events as Yonkers desegregation fiasco, the Brawley charade and, in a closer context, the Ku Klux Klan, it is not surprising that discrimination exists in the United States. But the worst part about the recent case brought against the Federal Bureau of Investigation is where the discrimination occurred.
Irony in FBI discrimination
In January, 1887, Bernardo M. Perez, the No. 2 man in the El Paso, Texas, FBI office, filed a lawsuit claiming that the FBI discriminated against Hispanics in promotion, discipline and assignments.
For the effort spent on conducting the survey, it should have answered more questions than it did. We already knew that most college students drink, but is it an alarming problem at KU?
Alcohol use at KU is a given. And sadly, for some, with alcohol use comes alcohol abuse. This survey has lumped together those students who do have problems with alcohol with those who drink moderately or who don't have a problem, and therefore provides little worthwhile information to help deal with alcohol problems at KU.
Christine Martin for the editorial board
That means that the part of federal government most responsible for keeping justice in organizations, businesses and communities on track is the Department of Justice.
The worst place for discrimination to occur, or even a doubt of such behavior to occur, is within part of our national government, because, as an attorney for the plaintiff said, it is the responsibility of each department of Justice, if it exists there, it does in other places.
It is ironic to know that an entity under the Department of Justice has sponsored Hispanic special agents, with discriminatory behavior.
Inherent in its authority to enforce the law, the FBI is responsible for setting a standard for all organizations to comply with laws and regulations.
Because the FBI, in applying the law to thousands of cases every year, is key in identifying discriminatory acts, the agency must be honest in taking a close inspection of itself and its policies.
Tony Balandran for the editorial board
The editorials in this column are the opinion of the editorial board.
The court ruling indicates that changes are in store for the FBI. What the bureau needs to do now is enforce the rule, "Hate Crimes."
The editorial board consists of Michael Merschel, Mark Tillford, Todd Cohen, Michael Harak, Julie Adam, Julia McMahon, Tony Anderson.
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All-new ways to make the grade Or, how to make the competition forget the reason they're here
It was a crisp, bright fall day. A warm sun hung in a blue sky. I cheerfully be-bopped across the KU campus full of good feelings and saying to myself, "Gosh, life is swell."
Then the test scores came back
Instantly, my mood became black, foul and evil.
I spent the rest of the day scowling at co-workers and wanting to break things. All because of a stupid little letter at the top of a test.
So I'm competitive about my grades. I不是m not one who feels like a wrapping around the
A sizable bunch of people are offended by that because of what they call grade compression. They say it isn't fair to give A - 's because it makes the A's smaller. Thus, their grade averages point lower.
Because I am so grade-motivated, I agree with the side that says a plus/musin system is unfair. I agree with anyone who wants to give me a chance at a higher GPA.
But another bunch of people say that ABCD and aren't enough options for professors. A plus or a minus? No, it's all there is.
However, I wouldn't mind a plus/minus system if it makes my professors happy. A happy profes-
sor is one who works well with others.
So I've tried to come up with a few ideas to make everybody happy, especially these highly competitive countries.
I think one way we should be to throw the traditional system and any proposal for plus/imminus out the window. I think we should be to make it as simple as possible.
Michael
Merschel
Editorial editor
and F, would use AAAA and A.
But professors like to feel needed. If an AAAA system would make them feel useless, maybe they could write evaluations instead of grades. It would be easier for students to work in large, small, overpriced liberal arts colleges in New England and California that have eliminated grades. In addition to solving the plus/minus problem, it would create such snooty, Ivy League classrooms where grades will increase would be justified for the next decade.
That would eliminate the grade compression problem: There aren't any low grades to go down to. It also solves the problem of giving professors enough categories to put students in. With only one category, there wouldn't be any question of where a student belongs.
Instead of putting an A on a transcript, a professor might write something like this：“ Joe Highsturgh showed up to this class frequently. Because he sat in the front row, I could tell he rarely slept through my lectures. His papers were hard to make a special effort to bring up unrelated material from books to work on, rooted in the rest of the class. I'd be forced to give him an A if we used a normal grading system
But then, that's a lot of work for KU's already worked and underpaid staff. Maybe we could simply things. Instead of evaluations, a professor would give students a test that use little smiley-face stickers that say "Good Job!" or "AOK" or "Far Out" or something similar. This method would give professors plenty of ways to classify students. Their possibilities stem from the by various colors of foil stars they could wear.
because he groveled in my office every chance he got."
That would make us competitive types happy we could have a whole new way to feel superior or insightful.
The last alternative, of course, is pretty simple. We could keep the old, reliable grading system as is and not worry about it. Instead of letting grades be such an emotional topic, more of us could try going to class and learn for the sake of learning. You can take a test, take a quiz, forge and ignore, and secure it in the knowledge that it's not what's on our transcripts that counts, but what's in our heads.
Nahh. Who could let that kind of thinking dominate their education? The idea that getting the highest grades is all that matters is too ingrained in all of us.
And who knows? This silly business of plus/ minus keeps enough grade-competitive people distracted long enough, maybe I'll be able to best bear one of them out for a spot on the dean's list.
■ Michael Merschel is a Lakewood, Colo., senior majoring in journalism.
This letter is about Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas. I attended the first meeting of the semester and was treated to a breathless, hurried welcome by Ms. Mills and her bar and socialize." I vowed never to go back.
Gay leadership lacking
Recently I became aware of a number of people that GLOSOK was not serving. These are people that are just coming to grips with their preference.
They are less secure to their position than the average "member" of GLSDK. I decided to attend another meeting, because in light of the recent hacking attempts, we address these concerns. I was again treated to "the leadership had managed to do this," and it on the movie, and we're having another
GLOSO has a long, historically very active relationship with the University community. It has provided many services, social and political, and has helped change many perceptions about students questioning whether there should or should not be a job and lesbian organization on campus.
James Buchanan Lawrence graduate student
However, the current focus of the group is to center on functions that are socially beneficial.
The group is financed by our fees, and I wonder if this particular organization is being held accountable for serving all the interests of this vital University minority.
Meinhardt questioned
Having taken notice of the numerous (Phil. Meinhardt posters decorating Wescos Hall, I have to wonder what sort of ethics this man possesses. His posters boatast of "cleaning up Congress with Kansas common sense." How are they cleaning up Congress when he is not in Congress?"
The implication is, of course, that Meinhardt our incumbent congressional representative Theodore W. Schoeneck has purposeful mimepresentation of the facts. How are we, as voters, to trust someone who so willingly presents facts?
Our real congressman, Jim Slattery, will be on campus Oct. 20. I look forward to hearing from a real, Oct. 17 and honest member of Congress.
Patty Kennedy Silver Lake sophomore
Solutions suggested
There is no doubt that parking has become a serious problem at KU, and one merely needs common sense to recognize the problem is going to get worse.
I have three schemes to solve this problem at least to some extent. Maybe parking officials are making a mistake.
1. Building a multi-store parking garage so that more space will be available. I know this is easier.
2. Parking lots could be built outside Lawrence, and a shuttle service would be provided. This would be similar to what we see at Kansas City International Airport.
3. There would not be a parking problem if people would not drive to school. For this, the bus service should be made more efficient and equipped with more seats. Also, the students were employed to drive the buses. This would create employment opportunities on campus, and the bus company would get cheap fares.
One may not think about these suggestions or may have different ideas, but the parking
Hemant Joshi
Bombay, India, graduate student
Hemant Joshi
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed