4A
Thursday. February 9. 1995
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE: POSSIBLE FEE INCREASE
StudEx pay raise hypocritical
Student Senate executives, the few students fortunate enough to be paid for their optional leadership position, are now requesting a raise.
This proposed raise is not only unjustified but also hypocritical.
Many other students volunteer an enormous amount of time leading student organizations. These students take on large responsibilities, which often go unnoticed and are rarely rewarded with a monthly salary.
Few appreciate the fact that Senate is proposing a raise in executive position salaries while it also is considering an increase in our student activity fee.
If the executives think they deserve a salary raise, then why don't they do what every other government is doing — trim their own budget?
Granted, the proposed salary increases are small.
If pay raise is needed for Senate executives, cut the budget, don't charge the student body another activity fee
But no one forced these students to become Senate executives, just like no one forces other student leaders to volunteer their time.
The knowledge gained from leading any organization is a priceless honor. But the prestige of being on the Senate executive staff begins to fade away when the staff insists on increasing the price tag for its positions.
And, if the Senate executive staff members favor a pay raise for themselves, why don't they favor the idea of a University-wide equipment fee, which would give all students better educational opportunities?
Something in this whole mess is definitely screaming hypocrisy.
THE ISSUE: NOBLE ACTS BY CAMPUS GROUPS
Family finds support from KU
The University community was saddened by an accident during winter break that killed one student, Hermann Lucke, and critically injured his sister, Karin Lucke.
But two groups were willing to take action to help the family.
The Hispanic American Leadership Organization has been raising money to help the family with the cost of getting Karin Lucke back to a hospital in the United States and returning Hermann Lucke's body.
These acts show that people still can be generous and kind, even at a time when the general tendency is toward selfishness.
The proceeds from the next performance of the Kansas University Symphony Orchestra also will help the family with the costs.
HALO and the symphony exhibit leadership qualities that others at the University should follow.
This is not the first time that an organization has acted generously, but the two groups should be commended for their actions.
HALO and KU Symphony Orchestra generously donate time and money to help family of accident victims
Such acts are not that easy to carry out. One must remember the time and energy that members of HALO and the symphony have put into this project.
It required a lot of motivation from all those who participated in it. These efforts also showed that a tragedy does not have to be a major earthquake or a flood to be noticed.
Both groups acted with humanity, showing that one family's tragedy is important enough to receive attention.
Both groups should be seen as role models for the rest of the University and deserve to be praised for a job well-done.
In the future, other campus groups should follow the organizations' examples and lend a helping hand to someone who needs it.
HENRI BLANC FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
STEPHEN MARTINO
Editor
DENISE NEIL
Managing editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
Editors
Robert Tapley / KANSAN
JENNIFER PERRIER
Business manager
MARK MASTRO
Retail sales manager
CATHERINE ELLSWORTH
Technology coordinator
News ... Curtis Tejada
Planning ... Mark Martin
Editorial ... Matt Gwenen
Associate Editorial ... Heather Lawrence
Campus ... David Wilson
College ... Colleen McCain
Sports ... Gerry Fay
Associate Sports ... Ashley Miller
Photo ... Jarrett Lane
Features .. Nathan Olson
Design .. Brian James
Freelance .. Susan White
Business Staff
Campus mgr ...Both Peth
Regional mgr ...Chris Branaman
National mgr ...Shelly Falevits
Coop mgr ...Kelly Connelys
Special Sections mgr ...Brigg Bloomqulet
Production mgrs ...J Cook
Kim Hyman
Marketing director ...Mindy Blum
Promotions director ..Justin Frosolone
Creative director ...Dan Gier
Classified mgr ...Lisa Kulesth
We are here in a different atmosphere to think. If that's not why you're here, go home so that those who want to think and learn about life and other cultures can take your place.
This challenge is not out of disrespect but out of a search for the truth in education. If this did not happen, we would still believe that Columbus discovered America and that the Native Americans and Malcolm X were the real villains.
teacher teach. At universities and colleges across the nation, students who are awake can question and challenge their professors.
Or at least to remind them to wake up and smell the coffee. It is a good "selective blend," that includes all sorts of backgrounds and beliefs. A blend that allows us to experience the real world of higher learning. Once you try it, it might open your eyes to the reality of the separation of cultures on our campus.
Wake up, wake up ... Wemightlive in Kansas, but this is not the Land of Oz. Some of us are sleeping through college and through the movie "Higher Learning".
'Higher Learning' captures images of real student world
John Dewey, an educational philosopher and professor at Columbia University, said, "Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself."
After reading an article in the Kansasan about the reactions to John Singleton's new movie, I realized that it was time for the alarm to go off and people to wake-up from the fantasy world in which they are living.
When I read that people feel that this movie was not a reflection of the 'Real World' or the University of Kansas and campuses across the nation I began to wonder.
I feel that the situations that are discussed in the movie are so realistic that John Singleton, director of the movie, did not have to write the script. We wrote it in our actions of everday life.
Cal Jones is a Lawrence senior in architecture.
If this is unclear, let me pull you into reality. Just this past week in the Kansan there was an ad that asked students to "Stop the Hate" on our campus. What hate you ask?
Three African-American students were victims of racist actions on campus, which are being investigated by the FBL. I hope that this brings back memories of scenes in the movie with the students at the fraternity house.
I'm here to teach people, too.
Is it getting clear? Maybe I should remind you of the issue of "coming out day," or the need for Gay and Lesbian Academic and Staff Advocates,
GUEST COLUMNIST
and Lesbian, Bisexual and Gay Services of Kansas on this campus. These organizations and activities remind us of the fight that the leading female character had with her identity. I hope that you are waking up now.
athlete goes through to make everyone on this campus happy and maintain a sense of direction?
Do you ever think of the struggle that the college
Please don't forget the rape scene in the beginning of the movie. I have personal contact with a woman who was in the same situation, but it was no mobile. Am I interrupting your beauty rest? Or should I say "conscious rest?"
I feel sorry for those of you that continue to sleep through the college years, during which you are supposed to experience "higher learning." Those of us who are awake and who are trying to achieve this are truly getting our money's worth.
We should question our professors, too. We need to make sure that they are not sleeping. In the movie the leading male character made his
Instructor evaluations subjective, ineffective
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Making instructor evaluations accessible to the student body is not a good idea because the evaluations themselves are totally flawed. Evaluations have degenerated into a "payback" system for disgruntled students who got crapped on all semester and now get a University-sanctioned potshot session.
Come on, the people who write more than three sentences on the evaluation forms typically are the ones who feel like they got burned by some dinosaur with a doctorate. The students who don't feel that way won't spend a whole lot of time on the Scantron sheets because they feel relatively satisfied.
The greater evil associated with student evaluations is professors
who cater to students by being "easy," typically slip through the evaluation system. Not many people bitch about a professor's slow, third-grade teaching demeanor if an A appears on the report card. Alternatively, "hard" professors, who may be challenging, tend to take a few extra lashes for their efforts at the hands of students who couldn't hack it. I'm not saying that there are no bad professors, I'm just saying that student evaluations don't recognize the qualities that make "good" or "bad" professors.
If you really want to find out about an instructor's teaching style, take the class yourself. If you don't like it, the bureaucratzis at the Enrollment Center will be more than happy to accept a drop form.
Tim Lebestky Lawrence senior
Basketball not the only activity at KU
By having a ticket lottery you have available the potential for great seats, and at the minimum, seats—period.
Men's basketball is important to the University but so is a well-rounded student body. Waiting for seats does not allow students to make full use of many of the opportunities available at KU. There are many free or minimal cost activities around campus, like performances at the Lied Center.
Ms. Lawrenz, Mr. Gelston and Ms. Headley did not appear to get the point of Ms. Reiff-Martin's letter that was published in the January 24 edition of the Kansan. I did, and it is basically "Gets a Life."
Phil Martin
Lawrence graduate student
Constitutional amendments should prohibit annoying acts
The Constitution always has been a little unclear. It was written in the Age Before Grammar, where "shall" still was a common verb and the framers inserted semicolons wherever they pleased.
This is probably one of the many reasons our New and
Improved Congress wants to
change the Constitution. But it's not
silly punctuation they want to to
correct, nor some pesky freedom of speech stuff. Instead, they want to add to the document a 28th amendment requiring the U.S. Congress to keep a
balanced budget at all times.
It's not binding, really, its supporters are quick to say. It simply motivates the Congress to keep the budget in the black. It won't specify what and where to cut.
For those of you out there who aren't legal scholars, the best way to think about this approach is to think of the Constitution as a sort of New Year's Resolution list. It would be awfully nice if you kept up with your resolutions, but nothing will happen to you if you let them go.
But as long as we're revising the damn thing, why not go whole hog and look at the entire document?
As the New and Improved Congress has pointed out, those wig-wearing ninies 200 years ago knew nothing about promoting the general welfare in the 1990s. It's about time we changed with the times.
So let's get those state conventions going, open up the liquor cabinets and get to business.
29th Amendment — No citizen of the United States shall wear the sweatshirt of a university he or she has not attended. I mean, really, folks. Did that many people go to Duke?
30th Amendment — No modern day white soul singer shall cover any song by Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding or Ray Charles. Also known as the Bolton Amendment.
31st Amendment — The number of fat, conservative, cigar-eating, never-mind-the-facts radio talk show hosts from Missouri shall be limited to one. If that. Also known as the Limbaugh Amendment.
32nd Amendment — Once upon a time, professional baseball's athletes had the best names. Cookie Gilcrist. Kiki Cuyler. Bucky Buckles. Razor Shines. On the strength of those names, baseball kept its grip as America's pastime. No longer. The best names are in professional basketball. Detel Schrempf. Yinka Dare. Mookie Blaylock. Latrell Sprewell. The new writers of the Constitution should take note when deciding America's new pastime.
33rd Amendment — It's "I couldn't care less," not "I could care less." Big difference. Know it. Live it. Love it.
34th Amendment — No rock 'n'
roll singer shall be allowed to yell
"Geee-tauri" just before the guitar
solo. Tacky, tacky, tacky.
You might say my ideas are frivolous. I disagree. Our New and Improved Congress has shown me that nothing is too frivolous to be written into the law of the land.
Carlos Tojada is a Lawrence senior in Journalism.
HUBIE
By Greg Hardin