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Monday, Mav 1, 1978
University Daily Kansan
-UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Comment
Unsigned editorial represent the opinion of the Kaman editorial staff. Staged columns represent the views of only the writers
The cruel and unnecessary predicaments that mentally and emotionally ill adolescents are traditionally expected to endure have sprung back to life in Kansas after a brief period of dormancy.
ofer period. Life was breathed into the backward notions of adolescents' rights in the state mental health system when the Kansas department of social and rehabilitation services dropped its policy of required hearings for adolescents who are prospective mental patients. Chalk one up to bureaucracy. The policy had been in operation for about nine months, from July 1, 1977, until March.
That practice was the result of an effort by mental health workers, and others, to reform the state's attitudes toward adolescent mental health patients.
EVEN legislators entered the act. A bill signed into law before the end of the session by Gov. Robert F. Bennett was designed to give additional rights to adolescents more than 14 years old. But enough critics of the measure have made themselves heard that the effectiveness of the new law has had shadows of doubt cast on it. Opponents say the law doesn't add any more protection of rights to the group that was supposed to have benefited from the law.
The law allows 14-year-olds to admit themselves to state hospitals without the written consent of their parents or guardians. The law requires administrators at hospitals to notify the adults who are responsible for a youth that the youth has requested to be discharged from a hospital.
The law also demands that parents or guardians agree to a youth's request for discharge before release.
HOWEVER, the essential provision, that a youth is entitled to a court hearing before admittance to a state hospital, was deleted from the bill before Bennett signed the measure.
The legislators who masterminded the deletion of the essential court hearing provision apparently didn't respect the recommendations of their colleagues who spent a summer on an interim judiciary committee and then proposed that the hearing policy be made law.
A RANDOM survey of 24 case histories of youths in Kansas hospitals who consulted the Patient's Rights Center at Topeka showed that all of the patients wanted, and, therefore, needed, an explanation of their legal status. One's legal status is a fair approximation of one's identity in American society, whether one is in jail or in a hospital.
The aim of the changes recommended by reform proponents is to treat adolescents as persons instead of property. A hearing to determine whether hospitalization is necessary is in itself therapeutic, as mental health professionals have demonstrated and as common sense would seem to dictate.
A hearing assists in healing a child's illness, if an illness does exist, because the hearing demonstrates that the system has been designed to protect the child, not swallow him. And if a child is admitted after a hearing, more progress can be made in treating the youth's condition because a hearing will have promoted a spirit of cooperation, rather than one of confrontation and rebellion. The hearing records would allow parents or guardians to plead their estimation of the case for or against admittance. And, as health professionals have noted, the guilt that some parents feel about the hospitalization of their child would be reduced if the case were brought out into the open, without shame or blame.
IT IS too late to change the law passed last week, at least this year. But Kansas, which can boast of one of the more enlightened mental health systems in the country, cannot tolerate a system that shunts disturbed children into state institutions without the benefit of a hearing attended by all involved parties.
Until legislators are able to amend the law passed this session, the department of social and rehabilitation services should re-adopt its policy of required hearings.
And next year, mental health reform proponents should mount a more intensive effort at casting light on the state's need for a scrupulous attitude toward adolescent mental patients.
It doesn't pay to break the campus law at the University of Kansas.
A student is going to be hit hard—right in the pocketbook if he forgets to return a library card from campus "No Parking" sign. Severe penalties await the absent-minded and the
For example, the fine for overdue library books is 25 cents a day. That might not sound like a great deal, but it adds up quickly. If a student stashes away a library book, forgetting it completely, he will not be reminded by the library that book in his overdue account. There's $3.50 right there.
If a student parks in the wrong place or in the wrong place at the wrong time, he will be smacked by the teachers and the rates are going up this fall. The minimum fine will be $7.50. If a student doesn't pay up in two weeks, he's under a hefty financial penalty.
THE FINE increases at the daily rate until the book is 30 days overdue. Then it's time for the student to dish out enough money to buy a new book — plus a lot of money. Then the book is out of print, the student must pay an average fine of about $25.
And for the student who chooses to challenge the system of campus law, there are more goodies awaiting him. For example, he will be able to buy a phone and his grads won't be released.
These are pretty stringent penalties. But does the punishment fit the crime?
YES. These are necessary fines, although many students might think otherwise.
When a person is up against the wall of guilt, he can either succumb to authority and to his punishment, or he can scream. Clearly, most students choose to scream.
Case in point: A student willingly risks parking his 82 Falcon in a place clearly forbidden by clearly spelled out words on a clearly visible sign. He returns to his car, eyes the ticket and mumbles vulgarities University as a whole and the world. He fails to see who is really at fault.
Red tape to sabotage research
Of course, there are alter-
Fines are really great for KU
There is no telling just how many dollars have disappeared into the tangle of regulations that emanate from governments. The red-tape mess becomes most complicated, though, when the government attaches strings to the money of a powerful supervision of grants might sometimes be necessary. But many times it is tedious.
THE OFFICE OF Management and Budget in Washington has proposed changing the ways in which the reimbursement is figured. According to KU administrators, the changes will mean a loss of from 10 to 25 percent in KU's indirect cost money—a loss of from $200,000 to $300,000.
The University of Kansas might come to fit it closely. Because of impending changes in the way the federal government reimburses universities for research projects, KU stands to lose thousands of dollars in research grants.
The planned changes have been sent to colleges and universities across the country.
Currently, KU gets about $2 million in federal money for what are called the indirect costs of research. Those are costs such as utilities, custodial services, wear and tear on the library and general University administration. Another significant cost of money that is a certain percentage of direct costs—salaries and operating expenses.
John Mitchell Editorial writer
which have had until today to comment. It is not certain what the comments are going to be, but I will keep them posted.
PERHAPS MORE importantly, the money received for indirect expenses goes into KU's general operations form, forming a fund of assets that will administer its plan to budget. William Argersinger, vice chancellor for research and graduate studies, says that any reduction in federal money would result in a decrease in staff. And that means less money for everything.
The indirect money is important to KU in two ways. One is that the things it pays for must indeed be paid for somehow. If the money formerly coming from Washington is decreased, it will be up to the state to pick out and deliver no assurances that the state of Kansas will.
The reduction of the budget base seems the greater difficulty of the two, but both are actually parts of the same problem—the eternal problem of money. The impending loss of less money for KU to operate on. And that means something is going to have to go.
Government-sponsored research projects have a history of keeping much better records of scientific data than of billable expenses. These records may be more detailed accounting of the indirect costs of research and will not allow some expenses to be put on the government's tab. For example, an experiment that changes the ratio of indirect to direct costs, which determine how much money KU gets.
The trouble is, with the reductions coming in research money, that research probably will be the victim. The new regulations will make it harder to conduct research and pay
Research money is too important to a university for it to lose some of it. Especially at KU, which has emphasized its research programs, continuation of research seems vital. OMB probably gets the message from KU administrators but doesn't give them great changes. It is doubtful, though, whether that message can stay out of the thicket of paperwork into which all federal grants seemingly are enclosed.
ROBERT BEARSE, associate dean of
difficult administration, put the problem
differently.
"They're counting more and more things as direct costs and less as indirect costs. That lowers the ratio and we get less money."
Steven Stingley
Editorial writer
natives to having fines stiff enough to actually enforce the rules and regulations of the University. One option might be to go to a park where park and as you please. That might get a little hectic.
Another option is to expand existing parking lots and to build more. All the open spaces on campus that are now green will be built into a shaple apart places that would be black and barren. Everyone would have a place to park anytime. But there would still be the problem that we parks wouldn't look as nice.
Then there is the plight of the bookworm who is nailed by the library for keeping his books six weeks.
parking system—probably all as worthless as the first two suggested.
First of all, the delinquent reader is likely to rant and rave about not being notified by the library about his books being available. And the fine is too large for him to take casually. More complaining is likely to follow. To the delinquent, an ad-hoc request for his wallet has headquarters in the musty stacks of Watson.
But is the library a babysitter?
THERE probably are other alternatives to the present
Denise Jenison, supervisor for Library Software's fine department, puts it simple—and well:
"We assume that they (students) are grown up enough
and responsible enough to get their books back on time."
Jenson adds that it would be far too costly—in dollars and manpower—to send out notifications of due dates to all customers. The library waits two weeks because that is about the time that the number of overdue books begins to dwindle. Even then it sends out 10 'downtown' accesses a day, according to Jenson.
BESIDES, students can keep books for three weeks and then renew them indelibly, or, if they want to donate to check out the same book.
That seems fair enough.
Of course, the libraries could do away with the fines and let students enjoy eternal reading of the books of their choice.
he tries to clear his record. Like other other administrative arm of the University, the fine system had be made a whole lot simpler.
The fine systems at KU are not perfect. It's easy for the student to get tangled up in unbelievable bureaucracy when
Also, faculty members are allowed to do as they please but students are forced to pay. There are no overdue fines for parking tickets issued by the zero enforcement of parking tickets issued to the faculty.
SOMETHING needs to be done to reform that grossly unjust situation.
But student fines are still a necessary element of enforcing the rules of the game on campus. And human nature sometimes these fines must be high if some kind of order is to be maintained.
Everyone benefits if the law on the campus is upheld. Individual students have no grounds to complain when they do something wrong.
To the editor:
Incidentally, this backlog goes back to the 1950s, when extra money to buy whole
Your editorial (April 25, 1978) about Watson Library renovation right stressed the point made by our Dean Ranz that we should not you earlier that renovation will not give us more space than we now have. Space can be better utilized and the patrons served better by renovation of Watson. We are less nervous than we have now. The collections are growing rapidly and will soon fill our existing space. As you pointed out in our editorial, State House was wrong when he thought that renovating Watson meant no new library in the near future. We are cataloging more books each year as we work on the renovation and some of the large backlog.
The University Daily Kanan is to be congratulated on its recent series of new stories on the work of the university system. We appreciate your continuing support and we believe that you are helping the cause of better library service through our work, which is our most important goal.
KANSAN Letters
collections of books at one time was found. The budget did not allow any more people to catalogue these large collection cards represented by one temporary card at the author's name or at title when there was no personal author. Far from being marketed, these books have been checked out at the circulation desk for many years now. If a book circulates uncatalogued, we catalogue it when it is needed. We also have the usus that we thus have proof that someone needed that book. Each year we catalogue some of the backlog, and money is in the budget soon for special events. Since we were given more cataloguing positions, we have been able to stop brief-listing any materials newly received. These projects is our solution to the problem of the old backlog.
you must have, so we offer inadequate cataloging is bad, incomplete or erroneous cataloging. As a veteran of 22 years in this cataloging department, I can assure you that our standards are always high and KU has always had a good reputation. The Library of Congress has frequently asked us for our original cataloging of a book it does not expect to receive. Since we are now on the Othello tour, we have more than 400 library, many of them large Eastern academic libraries, we see their cataloging daily on our terminal screens. Our cataloging compares favorably with their best, and we are frequently more accurate and more helpful entries for additional access points that the user may find helpful.
Deep Throats vanish with Watergate
Rv GERALD RAFSHOON
By GERALD A. SHON
N.V. Times Features
You see, in Jimmy Carter's Washington, "sources" on substantive issues ask about the like—virtually have disappeared. Just as he promised, Carter is conducting an open account, and the report has disoriented Washington reporters.
That simply won't do. For just as colonels don't become
The system, which persisted through the Ford administration, may not have lent itself to the use of a computer in reporters of marginal ability to develop distinguished reputations. Reporters with "sources" were like many pet parrots; they could be very helpful if they didn't have much to say.
In the days of Richard Nixon, John Mitchell and H.R. Haldean, reporters thrived on "informed sources" who provided backdash "background," "deep background" and even "deepest background."
country. He appears on television to explain his programs and his views. As a result, journeymen in the profession jarring sadness, to report the substance of issues, the impact of compromises, the meaning of government actions—without "undertigned sources."
Almost overnight, all that changed. Today, everybody told me how to tell everybody. Often. He conducts two news conferences every month in Washington. He hosts meetings with public meetings around the
—or more likely, what he wanted the reporter to think the "source" thought Nixon thought.
WHEN MITCHELL, Haidean and the rest of President Nixon's men were around, a journalist might ask "a source" to explain what Nixon really thought about a substantive issue. The "source" might reply he thought Nixon thought
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
PETITION FOR COMMISSION OF SENTENCE
(From an e-mail) This petition may be made to the Secretary of Justice for one of the following reasons:
PETITIONER John Hawson Mitchell:
Name: Prentice Mobile: Last:
- Federal prisoner, Reg. No. 26173-157 . confined in the Federal institution or Maxwell A.F.S. City
Alabama in seeking a commutation of sentence, meets that he be a citizen of U.S.A.
In describing the occupant of a car stopped by police, Stingey describes "a huge black man wearing a dark suit and black trousers in some serious words," "I see him reach over his undercoat and then I know why policemen have to be cautious." The implication is that the officer should do with "why policemen have to be cautious" as his reaching.
Name Country
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
I may be picking nuts, but this is the worst kind of racism. Outright bigotry is at least honest and can be dealt with head on. But a child minded kind that we'll sneak right up and bite you on the ass. Did the car's horn go "honky-honky"?
The creeping octopus of closet racism has siftered its slimy suckers onto your editorial page. I refer to the column by Steve Stingley, "Poice face thrill of monotony."
born on ___ Sept. 1, 1913, and has social Security No. 052-09-9361 . . . If not present continued.
Here is the address:
No. Street City State Zip Code
A. The document is in adding a compilation of sentence, makes that he is a citizen of ___ Country.
Date
I feel certain that you intended to convey that we did not have the staff to catalog all the books in the backlog at once, but I will insist on suspect! Also, when you mention "a sustained effort to improve cataloging" in your last sentence, the same error occurs. You created, You do not mean that the books we catalogue could be catalogued in a better way, but that we need more people to do backlog (as we keep current now and do not add to the backlog).
Barbara E. Clason
Head cataloguer,
Watson Library
long-range planning. When money becomes available, we can have projects to catalogue the backlog. Please continue to support us in our requests for funds as you have in the past.
To the editor:
Police column called racist To the editor
THE Washington Post, for example, credited a "source" with delivering to its reporter a pre-publication copy of Haldeman's book about Watergate, thereby scooping the New York Times and other publications that had paid for the materials. He also appeared in its "source"? rip-off to the Times' acquisition of the Pentagon Papers indicates how the recent burden of official source-
lessness has jangled journalistic reasoning.
Journalists' psychies and reputations, if not their accuracy, would be strengthened and only pursuits might dispute that as a priority in a free society.
Gerald Rafshon, who handled Jimmy Carter's political advertising in the 1976 presidential campaign, heads a Washington-based public-relations company.
generals in peacetime, reporters don't gain notoriety for their skills when simply anybody can find out what Carter is up to. Having "sources" is the foundation of building a journalistic reputation. But with Carter, his Cabinet and his aides all speak of how the organization on campus, reporters have been required to slake their thirst for "sources" by searching elsewhere.
As you can see, all these problems are being attacked in
Tim Bradley
1
Assistant instructor emeritus radio-television-film
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Editor
Harbara Rosewier
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