THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27. 2005
WWW.KANSAN.COM
PAGE 7B
Philanthropic efforts to be congratulated
EDITORIAL
People who have never been in a fraternity or a sorority, or vaguely know someone who has, tend to highlight negative images of these people just for bad publicity.
Popular culture images from such movies as "Animal House" and "Old School" promote the stereotype that all greeks drink and spend money like crazy.
What people don't realize is that the greek life here at the University is more active than ever when it comes to philanthropic events.
In the past semester alone, members of the Panhellenic Association, the KU Interfraternity Council and the National Panhellenic Council have spent many hours raising money for their national and local philanthropies.
Recently, funds were raised for causes such as hurricane relief, the Make-A-Wish Foundation and The House that Greeks Built.
The Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity donated half of the money raised from parking fees collected in its parking lot during football games. Jason Ptaszek, Alpha Epsilon Pi member, said, "This past semester, since we have brothers from New Orleans, we donated (the money raised) to the Red Cross." Alpha Epsilon Pi also held a poker tournament to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Service to others is part of the core values of the sororities and fraternities ... the editorial board commends them for their constant, meaningful — and often unnoticed—
service.
The Zeta Phi Beta sorority also has plans for this semester. This month, the women of Zeta Phi Beta will visit the University of Kansas Medical Center to hand out candy to children in the pediatrics ward for Halloween, because they will not be able to go trick-or-treating.
If you have spent time in the hospital on a holiday, then you know this gesture means a great deal to the kids.
The Zeta women won't stop there, however.
In November, the women of Zeta Phi Beta start off the month by bringing awareness to diabetes. November is Diabetes Awareness Month, and events concerning Diabetes Awareness are in the works.
Zeta Phi Beta is also participating in a Bone Marrow Walk-A-Thon here at the University, on top of its annual Thanksgiving dinner for the women and children at First Step House, which is a transitional home for mothers who are recovering from drug and alcohol addictions.
The Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity chapter completed more than 2,000 hours of community service last year.
The Crittenton Children's Center in Kansas City benefited from the helping hands of Sigma Phi Epsilon when it painted the entire gymnasium.
In the spring, Sigma Phi Epsilon will play host to an eight-state softball tournament. Proceeds will go toward its national philanthropy, YouthAIDS.
The Chi Omega sorority chapter at the University supports the Make-A-Wish Foundation for its annual philanthropy.
In September, the Chi Omega women raised funds to adopt a girl or boy with a life-threatening illness and make a wish come true.
There will also be an auction on Homecoming Day, two hours before the game, when the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Association auction off more than $5,000 worth of items to benefit the House that Greeks Built. So
TABLE OF EVENTS
- Thera Chi fraternity members collected money for the American Diabetes Association during its Rob Nye Powder Puff Classic on Saturday.
- ◆ On Wednesday, Pi Beta phi sorority sponsored the All Kemp Barbecue and Self-Defense program in memory of All Kemp, who was killed in Leawood in 2002.
- On Saturday, Phi Kappa Pai fraternity is inviting 200 kids from the Boys & Girls Club to its house for a haunted house tour. Its goal is to raise $2,000.
Dr. Delta Theta fraternity is bringing Lawrence its first Walk to D'Feet AL5. Phn D
♦ Kappa Sigma fraternity will raise funds for the Lance Armstrong Foundation in November.
♦ PI Kappa Phi fraternity is sponsoring an accessibility project by building a ramp for someone who uses a wheelchair. This project will break ground in November.
- Sigma Chi fraternity will hold its annual Derby Days in the spring. Members raised $100 last year for the Children's Miracle Network and want to double that figure this year.
The maturity is bringing Lawrence its first Walk to D'Feet ALS. Phi Delta Theta joins this walk annually in Kansas City. This walk has raised more than $100,000 for ALS.
- Sigma Chi fraternity will hold its annual Derby Days in the spring. Members raised $10,000 last year for the Childrens Mirror Network.
◆ Phi Kappa Tau fraternity is continuously raising funds to be donated to The Hole in the Wall Gang camps.
- Chapters and their respective philanthropies:
Panhellenic Association
Panhellenic Association
Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Delta Pi
Alpha Gamma Delta
Chi Omega
Delta Delta Delta
Delta Gamma
Gamma Phi Beta
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Delta
Kappa Kappa Gamma Pi Beta Phi
Cause
Sigma Delta Tau Sigma Kappa
far, $20,000 has been raised. It is obvious that the greek organizations here at the University care about the community
Service to others is part of the core values of the sororities and fraternities. With 13 Panhellenic chapters, 22 Interfraternity chapters and 11 National Panhellenic chapters making a difference, the editorial board commends them
Cause
Domestic violence
Ronald McDonald House
Diabetes
Make-A-Wish Foundation
MS and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Vision Related
Camps for children
CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocates program)
Prevent Child Abuse America, Girls Scouts of the USA,
Children's Hospital of Richmond, VA, American
Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Research
Reading Is Fundamental
Arrowmont School of Art, Arrow in the Arctic,
Literacy, Ali Kemp Foundation and Run, Walk, Roll
Prevent Child Abuse America
Gerontology, Alzheimer's Disease, Inherit the Earth,
Maine Sea Coast Mission
for their constant, meaningful and often unnoticed — service.
GUEST COMMENTARY
Abortion unalienable right
In the early 1800s, it was believed that aborted souls weren't baptized, and therefore would go to hell.
As a result, arguably, abortion was made illegal after the mother can feel the baby move in her womb and poisons were sold to women as a means of abortion before this period. In 1859, the anti-abortion laws of Connecticut led to almost every state outlawing abortion by the 1880s, and abortion remained illegal for nearly a century.
DAVID ARMSTRONG opinion@kansan.com
Despite the illegality of abortion, a birth control clinic was opened in the predominately Catholic town of Waterbury, Conn., in 1938 but was later closed because of political pressure from the conservative and religious sectors. Finally, in the 1940s and '50s, the general public started openly displaying mixed views on sex, abortion and birth control, and in 1961, a Planned Parenthood defied Connecticut state law and opened a clinic in New Haven. This led to the case of Griswald v. State of Connecticut, which overturned the birth control law 7-2, reasoning that denying birth control is a violation of a right to privacy.
By the 1960s, abortions were still illegal but were being performed nevertheless. It wasn't until 1973 that the landmark case of Roe v. Wade came about, which established that laws against abortion violated a right of privacy.
I, like the Supreme Court of the United States, agree that sex birth control and abortion are private actions..
It is a shame that religious propaganda and beliefs of supernatural phenomena prompt certain individuals to invade the privacy of other people. Like many controversial issues, religion seems to play a role in choosing which side to support. Intelligent design, same-sex marriage and abortion come to mind as issues that can have a religious complications.
If someone's prerogative is to dislike abortion, I have no problem with that. If people want to put bumper stickers on their cars that read, "IT'S A CHILD NOT A CHOICE," I have to argue that it is a choice. Everything is a choice, just like choosing to believe that "GOD IS PRO-LIFE," to quote another bumper sticker that I have seen.
Furthermore, outlawing abortion means taking backward steps in controlling the world's overwhelmingly quickly increasing population explosion that will surely lead to people wanting to outlaw birth control pills and other contraceptives. Roe v. Wade sets a model for the rest of the world — that outlawing abortion restricts privacy and interferes with women's rights.
I also have to point out that if our government chooses to overturn Roe v. Wade and make abortion illegal, it will just endanger more lives, because people would not stop attempting to abort babies just because it has been made illegal by the conservative right.
I believe that the population of this world is reaching a maximum, and if a woman wants an abortion and not allowed one, there is a good chance that the child will not be offered a healthy, positive life.
If abortions suddenly ceased to exist, there would be a huge population increase, which would mean that even more people on this planet would suffer from malnutrition and inadequate healthcare, and some would suffer from being beaten and mistreated by their unloving parents.
If a woman is forced to have a baby that she doesn't want to care for, then yes, adoption is a possibility. Despite the fact that it may be difficult to adopt a healthy baby in this country, there are many more adoptees than there are adopters. I am pro-choice because I believe in privacy, women's rights, healthy families, population control and freedom.
Armstrong is an Overland Park senior in anthropology
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Ebay, Ford Yenting, WaoJel Simone, Dhovt Hoyt, Anne Waltmer, Julie Pauli, Nathan McGinnis, Joe Goatstein, Sara Garlick, Travinson Brown, Julian Portillo, David Archer
EDITORIAL BOARD
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Free for All and the Temple of Doom: www.kansan.com
To the girl or guy who said they'd mostly have sex with any member of the Chiefs, no questions asked, be prepared to get chlamydia, just like I did.
I like condiments, and when I say I like condiments, I mean I like condiments a lot.
What do you do when someone you love and would do anything for stops loving you because you didn't do enough to make them happy? How do you show them how much they mean and how do you earn their love again?
Did I ever tell you about the time Braskey took me out drinking? We drove around for a few hours, looking for a bar, and then we parked in an empty lot, and Braskey said, "Here we are." We waited for one year in that car, and they built a bar around us. The minute they were finished, we went inside and each took a shot, then burned the bar to the ground. Over the roaring flames, I heard Braskey yell, "Always leave things the way you found them!"
Keg beer is better than our football team.
I'd just like to say that Jason from Laguna is a whore, a filthy whore!
(Obviously a man attempting to sound like a woman)
Hey, I think Dank Berk's really sexy!
I want her back.
What is up with the crossword puzzle clue,
"Actor Baldwin?" There are just so many things wrong with that clue that I don't know where to begin.
This is to the girl who left the sticky note on my Jeep. were you saying my Jeep was sexy? Or myself?
♠
Sara Garlick; I declare war on you.
There's nothing more that bothers me more... wait, that doesn't make any sense.
More girls need to wear skirts.
I think girls should shave the peach fuzz off their face. It's disgusting.
Let's get real people. There isn't a soul on earth that actually believes in their heart of hearts that the United States military is in Iraq fighting for our freedom. The sooner we get that through our heads the better. Do it now, do it now, do it now.
More girls need to wear skirts.
Tex, don't ever come in my room again
The article in the opinion page was totally audacious. I've never cheated on anyone I abuse!
Did I just seriously see a low-riding suburban go by Mrs. E's?
★
So am I the only one who's not gelin'?
+
I see how it is Mo Rocca.
Mo Rocca is a traitor! He's wearing a K-State shirt on I love the 80s 3-D.
To the person who made the crack about the Cardinals fan, you can go straight to hell.
1
You gotta get one more! You gotta get one more.
I'm cool with one, but I wouldn't hate two.
Boycott France.
I just walked in on my roommate masturbating.
What should I do?
We just had another Big Mac Smokers Anonymous meeting and we were lucky, because we saw the mountain lion again.
+
How could you Mo Rocca? How could you?
Hey, Mo Rocca, how about I Mo knock ya?
+
Guess what? Everybody in Jayhawk Towers gets to play a game called Freeze-Out. Every night, you have to try to not die in your sleep from the cold. If you win, then you get to play again the next night!
+
I'm at the Haunted House right now, and I am so stoned... Oh my God!
Oh, Chi-O, my loins burn for you.
Screw this, let's go get a beer.
★
Hey, this is Movie Gallery guy with the blue eyes. I just called in to say that I have a girlfriend. Sorry.
I don't know why everyone bitches about the Free for All being lame, it's a lot cooler than the people who say it's lame. I love you.
Screw what that kid thinks. If I had to rate the Free for All on a scale of one to ten, I'd rate it a terrible.
I just ordered a lot of Taco Bell on your debit card.
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