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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
PAGE 5A
▼ EDITORIAL BOARD
JayWalk doesn't walk the line
It's time to give a wake-up call to the campus safety advisory board on how money is being spent on campus safety.
Case in point: JayWalk. It's a service program that offers to walk students to their cars or any building on campus.
It operates from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. from Sunday through Thursday out of posts at Anschutz Library and GSP-Corbin Hall.
No one could give a definitive answer on exactly how many volunteers and users of the program there were each semester but reports indicate the number for both groups hovers around 40 to 50.
Andrew Schmidt, Lawrence sophomore, volunteered with JayWalk during the 2004-2005 school year. He worked one or two two-hour shifts a week and walked six people the entire year
He said it was a good service but people just didn't use it.
Student Senate implemented the program Fall 2003 as one of the political platforms of KUnited's campaign from the previous spring semester.
Like the yellow bike program, JayWalk exists as another testament to Senate bureaucracy and impractical ideas realized at the students' expense.
Approximately $120,000 comes from the $2 student safety fee everyone pays each
semester. The campus safety advisory board, made up of student senators, is charged with spending that on capital improvements like improving lighting, adding crosswalks and maintaining the blue phones.
After three years, there has been enough time to critically evaluate the program and make adjustments. It also does not address the other safety concerns of students, like the more unsafe surrounding areas off-campus, where poor lighting and sidewalks are a problem.
JayWalk received $12,800 this year to spend on Internet and phone usage, promotion and other incidentals. Each year, however, the program ends up with nearly $1,000 of unspent money, yet JayWalk saw an increase of $2,100 in funding from the previous year.
Students can just as easily call a friend or carry mace rather than take an awkward stroll with two strangers.
Student Senate needs to get realistic about its goals to help student safety and reevaluate Jaywalk.
Malinda Osborne, for the Editorial Board
Despite its coordinator's best efforts, the program is impractical and thus doomed from the start.
Alito comes through at ease, unscathed
COMMENTARY
COMMENTARY
JOSHUA GOETTING opinion@kansan.com
Just when some of us thought that winter break couldn't get any more boring, along came the Alito hearings.
While no one expected these hearings to be a three-ring circus of fun and excitement, Alito's opponents had, up to the beginning of the hearings, raised quite a few issues that could easily have sent him the way of former candidate Harriet Miers.
However, in a less-than-exciting style, Alito turned what had the potential to be serious challenges to his nomination into so much hot air. In fact, it seemed during most of the hearings that the senators remarks and questions took up more time than Alito's responses.
To most who watched, this seemed to be because Alito answered questions so succinctly and concisely and with such solid reasoning that senators had no choice but to speak in verbose circles in vain attempts to come up with any sort of follow-up.
As for the serious accusations made against Alito, all of them appear to have been disproven.
For instance, the accusations that Alito is a closet bigot with ties to an unsavvy organization at Princeton have been totally refuted. What was proven was that that Alito had only a subscription to a magazine published by Concerned Alumni
of Princeton (CAP) and this subscription was the result of his desire to see ROTC return to the Princeton campus and not of his dislike for minorities.
It also came out that, far from being a racist and sexist publication, the CAP magazine had only been targeted due to a single article that decried the rising enrollment of women and minorities at Princeton, which turned out to be an entirely satirical piece.
Although it is the right of senators to delay votes like this for up to a week, the beginning of the hearings were already held up by a week with the understanding that they wouldn't be delayed later. That makes this latest postponement look like a cheap stalk tactic.
Not only could senators not make hay of Alito's answers about some of his more notable rulings, but the American Bar Association, which asked Alito many of the same questions about his judicial reasoning, found his answers satisfactory enough to give him its highest rating.
Despite all of this, Democrat senators stalled the Judicial Committee vote on Alito for a week because several senators would have had to hurry back to Washington from Martin Luther King Day celebrations.
It seems that once again Senate Democrats are attempting to obstruct the elevation of a highly qualified judge because they don't agree with that judge's philosophy, but this ploy has been defeated before, and, it should definitely be defeated again.
I was really enjoying being at home during winter break. Away from the dining halls, I got to eat hearty, tasty meals that weren't on a regular two-week rotation. I was getting into a pretty good groove of sleeping until ridiculously obscene hours of the day for no good reason, reaching an all-time record of 5:30 p.m. once. But most of all I just enjoyed being lazy and having no responsibility.
Rise and shine, freshmen; second semester dawns
♦ Goeting is a Leavenworth senior in political science and East Asian languages and cultures
Last Monday I could tell that adjusting back to college life would be difficult. That was when I made the big, impressive splash I was hoping for in my first semester on the staff of this newspaper by stumbling into the first day of Kansan orientation half an hour late, still gregory after sleeping through my alarm.
So, personally, I wasn't looking forward to the start of school terribly much.
Freshmen around campus have varying perspectives on returning to school after winter break. While some don't return at all, others feel relieved at coming back to school for a second semester.
"It was actually a really good feeling." Nick Reed, St. Louis freshman, said. "College isn't like high school because over break you can't hang out with the people you go to school with."
According to surveys conducted by the Institutional Re
Then, of course, there are some freshmen who never return after going home for winter break.
MATT ERICKSON opinion@hansan.com
search Office, the percentage of freshmen who don't return for their second semester has hovered around seven percent in recent years, Kathryn Nemeth Tuttle, associate vice provost for student success, said.
"There are many complex reasons why students don't continue," She said. "Probably about half leave for academic reasons and about half for personal or financial reasons."
Reed said the only time he had ever thought about leaving the University was the second day after he arrived in August, when he didn't know anyone here. But now that he's gotten to know people, he said leaving was the last thing he would do.
"It's actually very difficult for students to be dismissed after the first semester," she said.
But that's exactly what happened to Zach Johnson, a Topeka freshman last semester. He received a letter during break telling him that he had not met the University's academic
Tuttle said that most students left of their own accord, rather than being asked to leave.
standards and that he had been dismissed as a student. This is understandable, though.
Johnson lived on my dorm floor last semester, and he's definitely not stupid, lazy or unmotivated. He just never went to class because he had other concerns. He poured a lot of his energy into playing guitar, and he was planning to transfer to a sound engineering school in Florida, anyway.
This is what I suspect is the
"I had fun." Johnson said. "But as far as schoolwork goes, I didn't really do anything."
case for most freshmen who don't come back for a second semester — they just realize that the University, or even college in general, just isn't right for them.
Those of us who choose to keep going with school, though, will continue to wage battles against procrastination, lack of sleep, and boring lectures with our heads held high, no matter how much we would like to continue sleeping well past noon every day
- Erickson is an Olathe freshman in journalism and political science
Reasons why college freshmen may not come back for a second semester.
Kelli Sparks/KANSAN
COMMENTARY
Fuel alternative tastes yummy
In the last few years, it has become increasingly clear that an alternative to gasoline needs to be developed. Car manufacturers have made great strides in this area by producing hybrid cars, which use the internal combustion engine of a regular vehicle along with a battery and an electric motor.
These cars are great, and we have all heard celebrities swear by them, but there is a slight problem: You pretty much have to be a celebrity to get one. Solar-powered cars have been looked into also, but even if a car could be powered on solar energy alone, that car would cost a bundle.
Cars with the ability to run on natural gas and hydrogen are available. Natural gas is made up of hydrocarbons and is produced from gas wells. Natural gas burns very cleanly and it is not nearly as hazardous to the
Dan Becker, of the Sierra Club, spoke to the Star about the potential harm to the environment due to the amount of fertilizer needed to grow crops used in biodiesel fuel.
Becker said in the article. "If you really want to listen to Willie Nelson, go buy one of his records and play it in a hybrid."
Despite not necessarily being beneficial to the environment, biodiesel is an inexpensive source of fuel. Plus, it is a great way to feel better about eating French fries.
A lot of fries have to be made for fuel cars with the grease. Those fries really should not go to waste. I mean, it's for a good cause.
BioWillie is made from various crops and can be used in a regular diesel engine. In an article in the Kansas City Star,
KAITLYN SYRING opinion@hansan.com
Patrick Ross, associate opinion editor 864-4924 or prox@kansan.com
environment as other fuels. Products have even been developed that enable people to compress natural gas from the pipes in their houses right into their vehicles.
- Syring is a Salina sophomore in journalism
Poor Willie.
environment as other fuels.
Hydrogen is abundant. We would never have to worry about running out of hydrogen to power our cars. A car running on hydrogen could get almost 5,000 miles out of one tank! How's that for efficient? So why don't we all have these amazing natural gas and hydrogen vehicles? Once again, the problem lies in the expense of such a purchase.
Willie Nelson is a fan of this fuel alternative and has even gone so far as to invent his own form of biodiesel called BioWillie.
Free for All
Mialcol Gibson, general manager, news advisor
1867 or mqlbson@kansan.com
Nelson doted on his fuel,but the Sierra Club expressed its lack of enthusiasm concerning BioWillie.
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. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
Mike Lewis, who runs the center, said in the PBS article that the center takes cooking oil from local restaurants and turns it into a source of fuel. Animal fats, soybeans and corn are other substances from which biodiesel can be made.
So what can we regular folks use as an alternative to gasoline? One option is biodiesel
PBS posted an article on its Web site describing the use of biodiesel at the Regional Transportation Center in San Diego. At the center, people can fill their fuel tanks with biodiesel made from french fry grease and other oils.
Hey Free-For-All, I just lost.
Ari Ban, business manager
864-4462 or addressor at kansan.com
Crab cakes and football, that's what Maryland does.
Jennifer Weaver, sales and marketing adviser
864-7664 or iweaver@kansan.com
864-7667 or mgibson@kansan.com
Free-For-All, you ever get mauled by a bear? I hope it stays away from your face, because I think you're really
I have some amazing bedroom skills. *Sucking noise*
cute. Love you.
Joshua Bickel, managing editor
884-4854 or jbickel@kansan.com
Nate Karlin, managing editor
884-4854 or nkarlin@kansan.com
Jason Shaad, opinion editor
884-4924 or jahuad@kansan.com
I was my math TA's boss over summer.
Do you want the noise brought on you?
Hey Free-For-All, instead of redoing the main Web site, they really should have redone the Enroll and Pay. Confusing!
Jonathan Kealing, editor 864-4854 or jkealing@kansan.com
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Yeah, you totally need to get back online. This is like the first time I've gotten through to you on the phone. Thanks.
talk.
Plus, when you're online, I sound a lot smarter. Internet has made me forget how to
Hey, uh, Free-For-All, how does, uh, one acquire a keg tap. Uh, yeah, thanks man.
Bye.
TALK TO US
So I just watched three episodes of "Made." I am such a loser!
This is to whoever said "Fire Moody". I'm going to fire you out of here.
Oh no, Reid left us for a younger woman.
Actually, that's OK, we just left Reid for Mangino.
We should have started the Rock Chalk chant at half time.
My friend is calling the Red Hot Dateline and getting really scared.
Man, the Free-For-All better be free. Just watch me. I'll spit game!
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Jonathan Kalting, Joehua Bickel, Nate Karlin, Jason Shead, Patrick Rosa, Ty Beaver, John Jordan, Malina Madeia
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