OPINION
Coming Tuesday, December 4...
Cohen: Student Involvement in politics has increased for the 2008 election cycle.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Shroyer: 60 years after Jackie Robinson, racial representation in major league baseball is still lacking.
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MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2007
PAGE 7A
EDITORIAL BOARD
Student Senate makes progress; needs better communication
United Students has made headway into passing its platforms, but stalled proposals and lack of dialogue pose problems for the next election.
When United Students emerged as the top coalition in last spring's Student Senate elections, the student body trusted that it would make progress in bringing its various platforms to fruition. Halfway through the year, United Students has made admirable progress in some areas, but there is still room for improvement before elections in the spring.
The most immediate praise for Senate is in its successful campaign to increase student parking access to the Student Recreation and Fitness Center. The proposal, drafted and presented by Ray Wittlinger, Olathe senior and student body vice president, allows students without yellow permits to park in the SRFC lot for a period of up to three hours
at a time. As of next semester, when the proposal will go into effect, students should be able to utilize the SRFC more during the day without worrying about parking.
Another target of Senate's this past semester is the University's zero-tolerance policy on illegal downloading. Senate has suggested to administrators that the policy isn't being adequately enforced, and has set up a task force to investigate the issue.
Two of United Students' platforms, implementation of a dead week and improving technological access for students on campus, are currently in the middle of their proposal periods.
Regarding a dead week, the University Governance's calendar committee is debating the feasibility of even allowing a single stop day, leading Hannah Love, Dodge City senior and student body president, to realistically expect opposition. While Senate's proposal, written months ago, is ready to go, administrative decisions beyond Senate's control may prevent it from getting passed.
Love is also polling students at the University in order to convince administrators that technological access on campus is necessary for a well-rounded learning experience. Once this polling is complete, Senate will begin work on a formal proposal, which in the original platform included less expensive software costs and more technology in classrooms.
In addition to progress, Senate also faces several uphill battles in the next few months.
University Governance failed to pass legislation that would change the grading system of credit/no credit courses. Under the current system, passing constitutes having a grade of A-C. The legislation would have allowed students to pass with a grade of A-D. This setback forced Love to place a proposed "A" Guarantee' plan on hold for fear that it wouldn't pass.
United Students also placed emphasis on sustaining a more environmentally friendly campus in their election platform. Recycling was the keystone goal here, including adding permanent recycling bins to Park and Ride lots. Love delegated this
issue to the Environmental Advisory Board and has yet to see if they have made progress with it.
This general lack of communication, more than the success or failure of any one platform, is United Students' largest flaw. It is imperative that Love and Wittinger each know exactly where their coalition stands regarding the progress of their platforms.
The most disappointing action that Senate has undertaken this year is the $20 fee increase due to inflation. $20 is not an outrageous sum, but is still important considering the coalition's attempts to stave off fee increases and the general rising cost of University attendance.
generally had a successful semester, with few of its letdowns the coalition's fault. There is plenty of time to reevaluate the "A" Guarantee" plan and the implementation of a dead week, and the student body should know the progress of the recycling initiative.
Overall, United Students has
What's important is not that these proposals are stalled now, but that they come to completion within the next few months, and that coalition leaders successfully communicate amongst themselves and keep the University abreast of progress. The only obstacle keeping United Students from another successful campaign season is itself.
DRAWING BOARD
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MAX RINKE
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.
Rock Chalkl Too bad the UDK was wrong. Wait, why did they pick USC?
Cici's is way better than Pizza Street! Better tasting and cheaper on Mondays!
I had missed partying. I guess it's my unofficial welcome for transferring to KU.
Lee Corso looks like he was about to explode that he was so wrong about Mizzou winning.
Fiesta Bowl anyone?
Chase Daniel couldn't pass worth a crap last night and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him get angry and frustrated with every incompletion.
I hate how guys lie, and how I catch them in that lie and they turn all idiot on me.
Hey Mizzou, how does it feel? It hurts, doesn't it?
Reesing could have brought his A game, nose picker!
Mizzou played like poo! What else is new?
OU/Kansas in the Fiesta Bowl?
I can't wait for BCS Selection Sunday!
Free for All, how will I live for months without Brent Musburger and college football?
Hearing fellow Jayhawks cheer for this game is hilarious. "I hate Mizzou and I don't want them to
Oh dear Jesus, let's just give Hawaii the National Title bid.
Haha Mizzou just got killed! Have fun at the Cotton Bow!
win! I just hope they don't lose."
I threw up a little in my mouth when I cheered for Missouri against Oklahoma. I sacrifice my stomach for you KU football, so we get a BCS bowl bid.
Yeah, my roommate thinks college is about sitting at her computer ALL the time. How freakin' lame.
My roommate has slept in our room 10 times this whole semester and I haven't seen her in two weeks. Is she dead?
GARDENING TIPS
Paying for a family is a daunting, consuming task Having children incurs costs beyond financial support
BRANDON T. MINSTER
My kids can't agree on the gender of the baby in my wife's tummy. My daughter insists it's a girl, while my son is adamant it's a boy. They're both wrong: What this baby is is expensive.
This is our third kid, but our first without insurance, and as every American knows, things purchased through insurance are "free." After our son was born, a nurse tried to help us loot the hospital before checking out, offering us handfuls of $45 bags of chemical ice that she swore were complimentary. I told her a bag of frozen water from our freezer at home would do the same job. "But these are "ee," she repeated.
Let me set the record straight: Nothing involved with having a baby is free. But when I had to give up full-time employment because my degree program is not available at night, we ended up with, "If you've severed a limb, this coverage will make sure you don't die on the sidewalk outside the emergency room doors" insurance, and that type of insurance doesn't cover 'luxuries' like babies.
It was okay, though, because we were so poor we would qualify for government help. Except that program counts gross income, not net, and that put us just barely out of the program. But they miscalculated my hours, ignoring that I don't work full weeks during finals, which put us just barely out.
So I voluntarily restricted my hours to put us just barely in. But we're a family of three for their purposes, ignoring our two other children, which put us just
barely out. But the program has a $200-per-month allowance, which put us just barely in. But then my company gave us a small bonus, which put us just barely out.
I told my wife she had to get used to being poor and start acting like poor people do: Take her two kids to the
program office in Topeka and let them scream in the reception area while she insisted on service. In a war of attrition there's a whole lot of government that has to be worn down. She, however, was born too uppity to that way. It wasn't like I asked her to let the kids grow mullets while she rode a scooter around Wal-Mart. But she still refused.
Meanwhile, our baby's sex made itself outwardly recognizable. People began demanding to know what we were having. Answers of, "Uh, a baby?" appeased no one. With our other two children we had sonograms, going in with a boy name and a girl name and coming out knowing the name of the baby inside my wife. But that was when the state was picking up the tab. Now that we would foot the bill, it didn't seem so important to know.
So we tried to give our baby a general nickname, but our kids can't even agree on that. Our son prefers "Baby X," while our daughter uses the name "Mystery Baby." When we say prayers at night we have to say thank you for both or there is a protest.
We've taken two loans, one from the Bank of Mom and Dad and another from In-Laws Savings and Loans, and that should help us keep the wolves from the door, as it were. My fears of springing our baby from hock or dodging a guy from Jersey in a track suit who's come to "repo" the baby are allayed for now. But if we default to my in-laws I'm worried for my knees.
Minster is a Lawrence senior in economics.
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