OPINION
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Editorial: Security breaches on Facebook put students' privacy at risk.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN WWW.KANSAN.COM THURSDAY NOVEMBER 1, 2007 PAGE 50
Petterson: The Lawrence entertainment scene could do more to nurture fledgling musicians.
EDITORIAL BOARD
BURRITO-MADE EPIPHANIES
Felons on the University payroll
According to the Director of Human Resources Ola Faucher O'Shea, only within the past three or four years has the University of Kansas conducted criminal background checks. In addition, the University has only recently begun checking the Kansas Sex Offender Registry. The University may employ staff members who were hired prior to the new background checks and do not check the criminal status on current employees. O'Shea explained that there are factors that determine whether a felon would be considered for employment such as: How long
So long as background checks are done, a criminal past shouldn't keep someone from employment
In this day and age, a stigma is placed on those who have a criminal history, especially those convicted of felonies. After paying fines, serving possible jail time and being placed on probation, the felon is then allowed to try and reintegrate his or herself into the normal working world with the thought that their debt to society had been paid. However, the article brought to mind the uneasiness that our society holds in regards to the thought of sharing a break room with a person who has a criminal history, however small or irrelevant it may be to their current position.
An Oct. 14 article in the Lawrence Journal-World exposed the University of Kansas' history of hiring convicted felons, with at least seven currently on the payroll, including a sex offender.
ago the conviction was, the nature of the conviction, eligibility regarding the position sought and reports from previous employers.
It is of course extremely important that the University knows what type of people it employs. KU's decision to conduct full background checks is commendable, although it should have been done earlier. While everyone should be given consideration for employment, provided they don't pose a demonstrable risk to themselves or others on campus, common sense says that it's still important to know the past of all employees, whether they're maintenance workers or lecturers.
With the stigmas and extensive applicant checks, obtaining a job post-felony conviction can be difficult. As a society, we tend to 'hang out to dry' the easy targets, even when they have served their sentence and are trying to regain a sense of a normal life. We again point fingers at those who have done wrong, following the credo 'once guilty, always guilty'. In order to help these felons continue to avoid lives of crime, we need to look past their history and conviction and instead consider the rehabilitation they underwent and the steps they are taking to become responsible, law-abiding citizens again.
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You know what really grinds my gears? Those damn babies in restaurants that won't shut the hell up.
'bang.'
Have you ever noticed how Chuck Norris jokes are actually based on Winston Churchill jokes? Kind of like, "Winston Churchill was able to shoot down Nazis just by pointing his fingers and saying.
a non-ranked team.
Cupcakes. That's all I'm going to say.
I just want to call in and thank whoever found my KUJD in Wescoe, You're my savior.
Every time I see Mangino's name in the paper, I accidentally read it as Magneto. It actually makes things exciting for a moment.
I had no idea Lawrence had such a huge opossum population. There are literally four of them living on my front porch.
I'd like to say something that should go without saying. Fans of undefeated top 10 teams do not rip their goalposts after beating
Quit looking for the medallion, it's already been found.
Sorority girls. That's one.
Free for All, I need your help. I lost my favorite black leather jacket on a KU bus on Monday. If anybody finds it, please turn it into the Union.
Ugg boots and running shorts are a definite "no."
Beer is good. Beer is good. Beer is good.
Anyone who thinks that KU should stop winning at football should be stoned on Wescoe Beach.
On Saturday, do not wear red.
Do not wear red. Do not wear red.
I have three midterms this week.
Two today and one the morning after Halloween. They planned this.
I just saw Mickey Mouse riding his bike to class.
Is that an elf?
Video game no match for the real thing
Rather than play 'Guitar Hero,' it's better to purchase a real guitar and learn to play it
I'm not the typical college guy. The bane of my existence is not the idea of a full night's sleep with an alarm clock set for eight. What I truly abhor in my college life is one thing alone: "Guitar Hero."
This is college. This is where every guy in an English class raises his hand when the class is asked who plays guitar.
If you're not fluent with "Guitar Hero," let me explain it to you. It's a video game played via a guitar-shaped controller with which one matches five colored buttons in rhythm with coinciding colors on screen to play a guitar part of a once popular song. Sounds fun right? No, no it is not.
As both a guitar player and college student, I hate this game.
This is why the concept baffles me so. One should go out and learn to play a real guitar instead of playing a sad intimation. What happened to pride?
As a guitar player I hate it even more. The game isn't about playing guitar, it's about matching colors in tempo—I'm convinced it's actually harder to do than playing a real guitar.
The weirdest thing to me is that guys enjoy playing a guitar in part because of the attention it earns them from women; guitar playing can be a self-indulgent activity, one sometimes preferable to sex, even though it can eventually lead to it.
tar playing along to "Welcome to the Jungle." How's anyone going to make that look sexy?
Yet, this game does not impel women to talk to you. In fact it can turn many of them away. A man looks rather ridiculous holding a plastic imitation gui-
A few of my friends disagree with me on this and have told me to compare it to other video games, like "Grand Theft Auto" for instance, where one can do something that they couldn't normally do in real life by just matching symbols with positioning.
But the major flaw in that is I can go buy a gun and jack a person relatively easily, if not as easily as in "Grand Theft Auto," while "Guitar Hero" is far more difficult than playing an actual guitar (plus an individual is way cooler for playing a real guitar).
Recently "Guitar Hero III" came out on various video game systems. My roommate purchased it. I watched as several of his friends and he thoroughly destroyed the game—they owned it (to put it in non-shredder terms, they did quite well).
of zoned out and became mesmerized by the flashing colors and wicked guitar lines until my eyes landed upon their fingers. They were all playing that game faster than I can play guitar now with eight years under my belt. I started to think about how accomplished they would all be as players if they actually picked up a guitar and learned some basic theory.
I think "Guitar Hero" ruins the drive for people to learn to play the guitar. Who wants to practice something that doesn't have flashy colors or high scores to beat nowadays?
So have fun with your imitation rocking. I be over here doing the real deal. That is unless you'd like to pick up the real deal, if so I completely support your decision.
Stewart is a Wichita junior in journalism.
While I watched them I sort
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I LOVE EVERYBODY
MAX RINKEL
Chimpanzee research should be encouraged Studying and interacting with our genetic cousins is heartwarming, rewarding
not possibly imagine anyone wanting to support. Chimpanzees are intelligent, fascinating and pretty darn cute. I mean, who wouldn't want to learn more about them?
This city is full of bumper stickers. Most are political and kind of
If anything there should probably be more chimpanzee research. I would love to read about the little fellas.
political and kind of harsh in a more purposeful way than the traditional "horn broken, watch for finger" kind of manner. But I saw one on a car in front of me on Lollipop Lane (Mississippi Street) that read, "Stop Chimpanzee Research." This is a ridiculous imperative statement, and one that I canto the editor at editor@kansan.com.
Especially if the information I was reading either had pictures of baby ones with dry pieces of grass in their fur with humorous quotes above their heads, or maybe a VHS tape of their adorable antics.
In fact, I would like to do some chimpanzee research first-hand. Then I could put diapers on them and hug them a lot.
I could play with a baby, and teach him baseball. And then communicate with the parents to develop a relationship, in which I would be a wacky outsider somehow finding a place in their ape family and, in the end, bringing them closer together, like Sinbad in "Houseguest."
I would like to feed a banana to a monkey. But chimpanzees aren't monkeys. They are apes. I learned that in my chimpanzee research.
I do understand some people's hesitance toward chimpanzee research. My friend Dan Barbuto hates chimpanzees. He is terribly afraid of them, though he is even more afraid of the hybrid humanize.
If he found a chimpanzee somewhere, and he felt that he could take him, my friend would have no problem with killing it. But this seemingly irrational reaction seems to stem from his fear of anything that attacks the human race in science fiction films, like machines, or aliens or the Chinese.
But, aside from Dan in his apocalyptic Charlton Heston-inspired nightmares, who wouldn't want to learn more about our genetic next door neighbors? It's just good biological manners.
White is a Colorado Springs,
Colo., junior in journalism.
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The Editorial Board
Erick R. Schmidt, Eric Jorgensen,
Darla Slipe, Kelsey Hayes, Bryan
Dykman, Brandon T. Minister, Angelique
McNaughton and Benjamin R. Smith
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