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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
OUR OPINION
PAGE 6A
Office must disclose details immediately
On Oct. 29, after the KU football team's victory against Missouri, a KU Public Safety Officer used pepper spray on a group of Jayhawk fans carrying part of a goalpost. The University of Kansas has not seen an encounter like this in quite some time and it quickly turned into a high-profile affair on campus.
We applaud the KU Public Safety Office's thorough investigation of the matter and its decision to reveal its findings; however, given the infrequent and serious nature of what transpired, the office should have responded immediately. The office also should be expected to respond with full disclosure because it is accountable to the students, faculty and staff of the University.
Capt. Schuyler Bailey said the office wanted to take time on the investigation because it was a personnel matter. He said he did not know how long the inquiry took, though he did know the results were not ready at the end of last semester, when a reporter from The University Daily Kansan asked about the altercation. In fact, it took nearly three months — from the end of October when the incident occurred to the middle of January — to get a definitive answer on the matter from the office.
Did it really take that long to figure out that the officer's
Stance: The use of force should prompt an explanation.
actions were justified? Haven't murders been solved in this kind of time frame?
Issue: Disclosure and the KU Public Safety Office
"Typically in these situations we don't announce the results, but in this case we answered the reporter's questions," Bailey said.
When a use of force against students occurs, especially when Bailey said he could not recall another incident occurring on campus comparable to this one, circumstances must be different. It is unfortunate that an event like this is necessary to break the normally tight-lipped stance the office takes with reporters. The Kansan still does not have any extra knowledge from the office except that the officer thought that he was being charged and that his use of pepper spray was justified.
Next time a use of force against students by those charged with protecting them occurs on campus, the office must be more forright and punctual in its answers as a service to us all.
- Malinda Osborne for the editorial board
Kansas shouldn't get ahead of itself
▼ LETTER TO THE EDITOR
I am a student at the University of Nebraska.
W
Congratulations to Kansas. It seems to be on the rise in the Big 12.
I came to Lawrence from Lincoln, Neb., for the basketball game between Nebraska and Kansas. The Jayhawks beat the hell out of us.
Yes, you defeated our football team. There's no doubt about it. The mighty Crimson and Blue played their hearts out that day, and for that, I applaud them.
That being said, however, I couldn't help but notice how ridiculous the chant of "Just like football!" was.
Now, I'm not trying to stir anything up, but if Kansas State University won the football game between your two schools next year and started chanting "Just like basketball," even though they had beaten you for the first time in 30-some tries, tell me you wouldn't say they were a bunch of idiots.
of Kansas is thrilled by beating our football team once every 37 years, so proud that they chant it at an unrelated sport, let's just say we'll take it.
But, frankly, if the University
I hope you enjoyed the Fort Worth Bowl.
Garrett Wright Lincoln, Neb., sophomore University of Nebraska - Lincoln
COMMENTARY
Realtionships are minefields; the battle rages in our hearts
Forget Baghdad and the West Bank, the real war in the world today is being waged behind our own closed doors.
There are no guns and bombs in this war because the front line today is in the bedroom. These things that we call sex and relationships are the true art of warfare in the 21st century.
Eighties pop singer Pat Benatar was right: Love really is a battlefield. We are all soldiers fighting this battle to the death.
Every weekend we arm ourselves with three different shades of MAC lip gloss packed in our favorite Vuitton or Coach clutch or splash on another deadly mix of the latest Calvin Klein or Abercrombie cologne.
We slap on our usual uniform of expertly distressed jeans and tight-fitting T-shirt. We groom and primp and pre-drink and then groom and primp again with as much intensity as 1,000 Kamikaze troops in World War II.
Someone should have told Donald Rumsfeld to look no further for weapons of mass destruction than on the bodies and in the minds of every single young person in this nation.
ourselves with the weapons of our warfare in our awkward, exhilarating — and sometimes devastating — search for love, lust and companionship.
Every night we ritually ready
For some of us that search ends in our bedrooms where our wildest fantasies, dullest experiences or most horrifying nightmares come true.
It is here, with the fortification of our bedroom door protecting us like a desert tank that we become warriors of a different sort.
It is in the bedroom we are freed from the wearisome tasks of our everyday lives and we are transformed into creatures utterly different from our normal mundane selves.
Whether we are gay, straight, bisexual, male, female, transgender, single, dating, engaged or married, at some point, we have all taken part in the modern mating ritual.
COURTNEY HAGEN opinion@kansan.com
Whether we have found love or had our hearts stomped on
Someone should have told Donald Rumsfeld to look no further for weapons of mass destruction than on the bodies and in the minds of every single young person in this nation.
and thrown out in a million shattered little pieces, we have all served valiantly in this frantic battle between sexual and emotional fulfillment.
Others are newer to the ranks and therefore must suffer through the toughest of training in dating rituals, flirting drills, sexual etiquette and all other embarrassing and awkward matters that will one day prepare us to fight on the front lines.
Some of us are veterans of this war, valiantly sporting the Purple Hearts of battles gone by.
As author Norman Mailer so correctly put it "There is nothing safe about sex. There never will be."
He was right, because when you invite this war into your
own bedroom, you invite all the good and bad that can come with it.
You make yourself vulnerable to the inevitable barrage of shrapnel that will fly your way. In the bedroom, just like on the battlefield, things are never pretty.
We have lost a lot of good men (and women) out there, but we keep fighting, because that is all we know.
It is the sheer exhilaration of the fight that attracts us. That inescapable attraction is why every other week this semester I will be examining another issue from the love and sex battle front.
I will do this not to prescribe any solutions or to offer any explanations in this fierce engagement of modern relationships.
I know and understand no more than you.
I write more as an observer and participant, rather than as an expert, because, just like you, I am fighting this battle too.
So fight on until next time, friends.
- Hagen is a Council Bluffs, Iowa, junior in journalism and film
COMMENTARY
On Jan. 28, I sold two tickets on eBay for a New Year's Eve concert in Denver.
With only three days before the show, I hurried to the post office to get the tickets in the mail, to save my buyer in Denver some worries and money on shipping.
Later that day, I checked my mail to see if this guy, we'll call him Dick, had sent me the payment for the tickets. Instead, I opened an e-mail telling me he no longer wanted to buy them. Did I ever wish I could retrieve those tickets from the mailbox!
Dick knew I had him there, and he asked me to help him resell these tickets that were now technically his. I told him the tickets were already in the mail, and there was no way to get them back in time for me to resell them.
I know, from a completely capitalistic, strictly business point-of-view, I should have waited for payment before sending the tickets, but I was trying to do Dick a favor. I decided to send Dick a reminder that, according to eBay policy, "Buyers automatically enter into a legally binding contract to purchase the item from the seller if they win the online auction."
Dick responded with a huffy message saying that his address had changed, and since he no longer lived at the address I "rushed" the tickets to, he would not honor our agreement.
DAVID ARMSTRONG opinion@kansan.com
He finished with, "I am disputing the amount you claim I owe and will be filing an appropriate objection with eBay... So, to you I wish good luck in locating your tickets sent into
Neverland with the United States Postal Service."
In other words, Dick wanted to stick me with the tickets, no payment, and a bad rep on eBay. I knew it was partially my fault for trying to get the tickets to him quickly. I was encouraged, though, when I called Dick and we agreed to work together to solve our mutual problem. At one point he threatened, I'll "see you in court and eat the tickets for breakfast," but we eventually settled on a plan.
Dick agreed go to his old address to look for the package containing the tickets, and we agreed to meet up somehow in Denver before the day of the show.
I spent a couple of hours wondering how this situation could possibly work out for me, but finally Dick called me to say that the people living at his old address had received the package and were kind enough to hand it over to him.
Now, all that Dick had to do to get himself out of this was deliver the tickets to a friend of mine, who conveniently lived in Denver. The package was delivered as promised and I arrived the next day. After meeting up with my friend and seeing the package that I never should have mailed, I was relieved. But I still had to sell these tickets!
This gave me the opportunity to explore Denver and find the venue. It didn't take long to find two people willing to buy the tickets, and away I walked, ecstatic that everything had worked out for me and for Dick as well.
♦ Armstrong is an Overland Park park in anthropology
Lesson learned: When it comes to eBay, and to buying and selling in general, little room exists for favors and friendliness, because in the marketplace, it's everyone for himself.
Free All for Call 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Standerous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
OK, so all of you who say that there's nothing in FreeFor-All, that it's very boring,
I think all Kansans are racist.
do you ever think that you're contributing to the problem?
Just a thought.
★
Thanks to the First Amendment I can honestly say that The Aristocrats is the funniest family values joke ever.
Hey Free-For-All, you're so money you don't even know it, baby.
No, the $71 million that was cut from preparing New Orleans for floods was cut in George Bush's 2004 budgeting decisions, not 1993. It seems kind of sad that the only way you can defend your candidate is by making
up false statements because you can't defend him on the facts anymore.
★
I need to know the number for the KU Info. That way I can get the number for the rec center. That way I can reserve rackets.
For the person who called us pro-choicers pro-abortionists, I have news for you. You can be pro-life but still be pro-choice. You choose life.
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OK, I changed my mind. I don't actually want the phone number. Can you just call them up for me and reserve racquetball from like 7 to 10
maybe? Thanks Free-For-All.
You're my hero
After sitting through my anatomy class today, I think that I may never be turned on by another vagina ever again.
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Hey iPod, thanks for making those earbuds such a damn fashion trend. We'll all thank you when we're 30 and
our ears are bleeding.
I cannot believe that businesses are using the Facebook to determine whether or not someone could be a good employee or not. I can't think of a
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arithmetic way to evaluate someone.
To the person who's freaking out about Micah Downs: Calm down. We're going to be just fine. It wasn't like he played anyways.
Hey, I just want to let you know that I can do the Cryptoquip, Sudoku, and the crossword, which means I win.
To those of you complaining about Bill Self and all his transfers that he's losing, honestly, do you really want a team led by guys like Alex Galindo, David Paddett, Micah Downs, Omar Wilkes and Nick Bahe? Come on. Chalmers, Robinson, Giles, Wright, I mean even Moody.
We haven't lost anything from those transfers.
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To the guy who said he just found the Web site with all the Chuck Norris comments on it: Where the hell have you been?
Mr. T had the shortest VH1 Where Are They Now ever. It was a black screen with white words written across saying "He's right behind you."
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This is to the editor of Free-For-All, will you go out with me? Yes, no, or maybe? Circle one. (Editor's note: If no, check maybe?)
TALK TO US
Jonathan Kesling, editor
864-4854 or jkealing@kansan.com
864-4854 or jealuing at tansen.com
Joshua Bickel, managing editor
864-4854 or jjcklin@tansen.com
Nate Karlin, managing editor
864-4854 or nkkarlin@tansen.com
Jason Shad, opinion editor
864-4924 or jshad@tansen.com
Sarah Connelly, sales manager 864-4462 or adsales@kansan.com
Patrick Ross, associate opinion editor 864-4924 or pross@kansan.com
Arl Ban, business manager
864-4462 or addirector@kansan.com
Melcoil Gibson, general manager, news adviser 864-7897 or mgbison.kanean.com
Jennifer Weaver, sales and marketing adviser 854-7066 or jweaver@kanaan.com
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Oliveran Kealing, Joshua Bickel, Nate Karlin,
Jason Shaad, Patrick Ross, Ty Beaver, John
Jordan, Malinda Obsbourne
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1
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