4A
Monday, December 5, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Americans have forgotten basis of our legal system
The jury selection process in the O.J. Simpson trial brought to light a very disturbing fact. According to Judge Lance Ito, up to 95 percent of prospective jurors either do not understand or do not agree with the two fundamental tenets of the American legal system - a person accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty and that guilt must be established by the prosecution beyond a reasonable doubt.
It is not surprising that people living in a society increasingly fearful of crime would tend to hold prejudicial views regarding those individuals accused of crimes. But itisnevertheless necessary to realize that as citizens of a free society, we each bear a responsibility to ensure that no harm befalls the innocent. In a court proceeding, this responsibility requires that we both presume a defendant's innocence and place a stringent burden of proof upon the state.
GUILTY AS CHARGED What happened to innocent?
Though it is true that some guilty individuals do go free under this system of justice, that is a necessary evil. Of course some will argue that our system of justice is wrong, and that more harm is done by the acquittal of criminals than by the conviction of innocent people. They reason that we should have a system of justice that requires the defendant to prove his or her innocence in order to protect society. This view, though widely held, does not stand up to scrutiny. While it may be conceivable to sacrifice a few innocent people so that more guilty people are punished, who among us would be willing to see a friend or relative wrongly accused of a crime be sent to prison or to the gas chamber so more criminals might be punished? Undoubtedly, no one. Though our current system of justice is far from perfect, it punishes the guilty, not the innocent.
JASON McCLURE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
Volunteer escort service could protect students
People who are on the University campus after dark for one reason or another are faced with walking down streets that are not always lighted well enough to engender a feeling of security. The means of increasing on-campus security for these people without raising more money are within the reach of this University and should be modeled after a program started at Kansas State University.
Although there has not been a significant increase in on-campus assaults this semester, the time to prevent future rapes and violent crimes is now. If nothing else, the general peace of mind of students caught alone on campus at night would improve, and it doesn't have to cost a thing.
At Kansas State, if a person is alone on campus and feels threatened or even just nervous about walking alone, he or she can pick up the telephone and an escort will arrive to transport that person to their destination speedily and safely.
MAKING KU SAFER Students can help students
The way to implement this without additional costs is to let various student groups donate their time and effort to improving conditions on campus. They would not only be providing a valuable service, they would be seen in a very public manner serving their educational system not for money or glory, but out of kindness and a willingness to give of themselves.
If this system is implemented and works, no one will ever know because the potential crimes would have been prevented before someone got hurt. And that is a good system.
MARK YONALLY FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
KANSAN STAFF
STEPHEN MARTINO Editor
CHRISTOPH FUHRMANS Managing editor
JEN CARR Business manager
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
JEN CARR
CAMERON DEATH Retail sales manager
CATHERINE ELLSWORTH Systems coordinator
News...Sara Bennett
Editorial...Donella Heame
Campus...Mark Martin
Sports...Brian James
Photo...Daron Bennett
Mellasa Lacey
Features...Treal Carl
Planning Editor...Susan White
Design...Noah Mueller
Assistant to the editor..Robble Johnson
Editors
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
JEANNE HINES
Business Staff
Campus mgr ... Mark Mastro
Regional mgr ... Laura Guth
National mgr ... Mark Mastro
Coop mgr ... Emily Gibson
Special Sections mgr ... Jen Perrier
Production mgrs ... Holly Boren
Regan Overy
Marketing director ... Alan Stiglic
Creative director ... Dan Gler
Classified mgr ... Heather Nielsen
Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. Writers affiliated with the University of Michigan have a specific website.
Guest columns should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be photographed.
The Kanan reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kanan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
Kansan needs new student voices
Here's your chance.
How many times did you pick up the Kansan this semester, open up to the opinion page and say, "What business does this good ball have writing for my student newspaper."
Judging from the letters we've received, and from a few strokes through Wescoe Hall and the Kansas Union, I'd have to guess your answer is a lot!
The opinion page is supposed to be a student forum, a marketplace of ideas. Traditionally, it should represent the very best writing in any newspaper. And I'll be the first to admit that the collective student opinion this semester is that our page has been less than stellar.
Intimidated by asking us for a chance to write? Don't be. As your editorial editor for spring 1995, I will require nothing short of the most insightful and thought-provoking
Fine. Here's your chance.
writing humanly possible. But this page is the one page of the newspaper where people who aren't journalism majors can take part. In fact, it is vital to the success of the opinion page that we represent the students for whom this paper is printed.
MATT GOWEN
We need diversity. We need wit and wisdom. We need you.
As of this morning, applications for columnists, editorial board members, strip cartoonists and editorial cartoonists are available in the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. Pick one up.
liberals? Help change that. Are we ankle-biting whinners, elitists or morons? Help change that.
Are we starched conservatives?
Help change that. Are we bed-wetting
They will be due Friday, Dec. 9, at noon. Interviews will begin Monday, Dec. 12.
Twice a week the editorial board gets together, snipes and bickers about an issue, then votes on a position. One of the 15 or so board members who supported that position then writes a concise, logical and well-thought editorial for the page. Next semester we will try to concentrate even more on campus and local issues, so we will need your help more than ever.
Columnists can write about whatever they please, as long as it is intelligible.
gent, wise, moving, inspiring or humorous. Or all of the above. The topics can be heavy issues, related to government, the community or the university. They can also be lighter, more personal viewpoints. Remember Steve Martin's tirade to John Candy in "Planes, Trains & Automobiles?" Right. Don't forget to make a point.
Maybe you wanted to honk for hemp yesterday at the corner of 11th and Massachusetts streets, but your horn was broken. Maybe you think a Slattery endorsement was bunk.
Don't let me down.
Whatever your motivation, I'll say it again — here's your chance.
Or maybe you just have something interesting to say to your fellow students.
Sean Finn / KANSAN
Holidays are a time to show your love for a special friend
Ah, the holidays, you gotta love'em. Amid the swirl of school, shopping and travel, a person barely has time to think, let alone reflect. For many, the season serves as a reminder of loved ones lost, painful experiences or solitude. But if you're depressed, you may be missing the point. Allow me to explain.
Matt Gowen is a Lawrence senior in Journalism.
Just after Thanksgiving 1898, I ran into a high school buddy in a bar. After a few drinks, he invited me to an event known as the "It's a Wonderful Life Christmas." The event consisted of nothing more than locating the bar open the latest on Christmas Eve, where bottles of beer were consumed amid all-night contests of pool, darts and "Whack-a-mole." You know, the one with the fuzzy mallet. The singular purpose of this event was to insure that we slept through the cruel day that followed, stocking caps covering our ice packs. Though the offer was, uh, tempting, I was saved by my best friend, Sabrina. Others weren't so lucky.
GUEST COLUMNIST
During the holidays,178 million chocolate Santa's will be sold, 250,000 letters will be mailed to the north pole and 69 percent of dog owners will buy gifts for their pets. Meanwhile, 450,000 women will be violently abused in their homes, and people will be 62 times more likely to commit suicide.
So, beneath the ceremony and salesmanship that defines the modern American holiday, the current of
JONATHAN KIEFFER
human passions runs deep and, too often, dark.
Marley's Ghost visits more than just a few hundred community theaters each year, with results that are less redemptive than those realized by Dickens' anti-hero.
Americans seem to indulge in an unseemly level of self-pity, and, judging by the numbers, the fulcrum of failure and frustration tilts most severely when viewed through a half-empty glass of cold duck.
Don't misunderstand me, I'm not without sympathy for the trials presented by the season. Like some, I've sat through my first Thanksgiving following the death of a loved one, unsettled amid the stilted conversation. And, like many, I've stared vacantly into a faux-frosted store window only to realize that the search for the perfect gift wasn't going to be necessary this year.
Depressed? Here's a suggestion, albeit not a particularly original one.
But then, the truest ones never are. Who is the one person whose existence in the world matters most to you. A parent, friend or lover? Who has touched you the most, taught you what people really mean when they speak of the human bond? And whose presence, if taken from you now, would subtract from you with a cold shudder more than you care to consider?
That's the point of the season. You've got an excuse to say it. Amid the gift-wrapped dialect that we speak between November and January, you have the chance to take that person aside, pick up the phone, and in plain English and with eyes open simply tell them.
If you don't, you'll remember it a hell of a lot longer than whatever stocking stuffers you charged on your American Express Card last year.
Most of the year Madison Avenue serves up such enlightened mantras as "Be young, have fun" and "Obey your thirst."
As a pre-emptive strike, how about a similarly staccato jingle with a lot more bang for the buck? Love is everything. Just say it.
At the holidays they'll once again pull out all the stops: Nothing beats Santa surfing the slopes in an inverted Norelco.
I know I will.
Jonathan Kleifer is a Lawrence first-year law student.
LETTERS TO
THE EDITOR
Parking problem needs attention
It's nice that someone finally addressed the parking problem in Alumni Place lots, but it's too bad that the parking department's attitude seems to be that the problem is not serious. There is nothing they can do to stop people from parking illegally there, Donna Hultine said. Funny, considering that's what the parking department is paid to do.
Hultine said she hadn't received many complaints this year. It's not because there aren't any. Scholarship hall residents have come to expect not to find a spot in the main lot behind the Wheel on Thursday nights or on football game days. The people who park illegally don't care — when I told one person that he was parked in a restricted lot, he laughed and said he'd never seen a tuck truck there before.
It's no surprise he'd never seen a tow truck — the parking department's appearances in Alumni Place lots are rare, and they are never when they are most needed. When the lot is full around 9 p.m on a Thursday, callers are often told all parking employees have already left for the night, despite the article's statement that the departments tows until midnight.
Hultine was right about one thing: The only threat to illegally parked cars in Alumni Place is "potential towing."
Virginia Marghelm Alliance, Nebraska sophomore
Evaluations are a waste of time
Semester after semester, I have been asked for input on each of my instructors. I am thankful that I have had, for the most part, good experiences with teachers in my four years here. However, there have been teachers who were ridiculously poor. I was excited for the chance to evaluate them so my voice could be heard. In a few cases, I hoped to save other poor souls from an instructor.
For a recent semester evaluation, I was nearly 100 percent sure that not one person in two course sections marked a single positive comment.
I truly thought that when administrators read the evaluations, they would realize how awful this instructor was.
WRONG! I came back to find one of my friends in the same class with the same instructor.
If the administration wants to use the evaluations — great. Otherwise, quit wasting our time!
Angela Morgan Canton senior
HUBIE
By Greg Hardin