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Monday, February 20,1978
University Daily Kansan
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Comment
Unsigned editorial represent the opinion of the Kansan editorial staff. Signed columns represent the views of only the writers.
Accusations of apathy concerning student government at the University of Kansas are old and well-worn. But apathy at KU rose to new heights last week when the university's largest small voice ever from the largest number of students ever able to participate in a Senate election.
Only 2,025 - 8.5 percent of the students on the Lawrence campus-voted in elections for student body president, vice president,
Student senators and class officers.
It was the smallest turnout in Student Senate history.
SUCH RESULTS are distressing indeed and reflect badly on the whole concept of student government. When the former student governing body, the All-Student Council, was dissolved in 1989, it was replaced by the Student Senate in an attempt to a more effective, more moral student voice in institute governance. In 1989, notably a number of greater social and political awareness, 4,700 students voted—at least 28 percent of the estimated 17,500 students.
The contrast is a rude but necessary awakening.
So where do we go from here?
Stagnating in the slough of indifference, crying over the plight, is useless, of course. The vehicle to build an effective student voice has been provided.
IN THE face of election results, the newly elected guardians of the student body, president Mike Harper and vice president Reggie Robinson, are in an unenviable position.
Their job is to save student government, a job accomplished only by bringing issues and ideas home to senators, constituents and the vast majority of nonvoting students.
As stated in their campaign planks, Harper and Robinson want to delegate authority and involve senators more deeply in projects and committees.
But the task is broader still. Those currently indifferent to student government must be encouraged to participate, adding new blood to crews traditionally run by old
When 91.5 percent of the student body voice is unheard, perhaps it should be heeded as a silent cry for attention.
It's budget time and election time in Kansas. And that's a bad combination.
Bennett's budget plan sensible
Political charges and countercharges are starting to take shape in Kitchener, Canada. Legislature starts to consider Gov. Robert F. Bennett's proposed budget for fiscal 1997 which includes a legislative election draws near.
Berman said Democrats in the Kansas Senate planned to fight the Republican governor's budget campaign with a
State Sen. Arnold Berman, D-Dawrence, told the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce at a recent breakfast conference that he thought Mr. Bernier's proposal was an attempt to buy votes for his election bid.
Bennett, who is up for re-election this year, already is in the running to be one of the politicians. And the fuel feeding the fire is Bennett's proposed budget, which asks for a little more than $2 billion in state spending.
"mis is the first year the state budget has gone over the $2 billion dollar mark. The budget includes an increase of more than $150 million, or 3.8 percent, from this year's budget. Consequently, some state legislators are selling," "Too much."
"The straighten the English language is loaded with such metaphors as "leading a straight life" and not "going crooked." Wayward is one such directional word that has come to be a legal classification of invulnerable.
JUVENILES courts exist to help individuals "get back on the track" before they get themselves into real trouble. The courts provide a necessary service to the youths, their parents and society. Lately, though, this function of the Kansas juvenile courts is being challenged by a bill in the Kansas Senate Judiciary committee.
The bill is a proposal to remove waward and drant offenses from the jurisdiction of the juvenile code. It proposes to help the juvenile in paying for the costs instead. The bill is a potential powderkeg.
In Robert Frost's poem, it is preferable to take the road not traveled. But in "real life," when an individual wants his life to make all the difference, he must stick to
Wayward juveniles are persons under 18 who either behave in ways harmful to their own welfare, desert home without cause or are habitually disobedient. These wayward individuals are currently under the jurisdiction of state juvenile courts.
According to the most recent information available, 586 juveniles were referred to the CBP for treatment.
Juvenile counseling bill wayward
campaign of their own, entitled "The Year of the Taxpayer."
Steven Stingley Editorial writer
Things are bound to change for the worse if the injugine code reform bill becomes law.
Of course Berman's charges appear noble and in the best interest of Kansans because no one likes to see his state government spend more and no one likes to pay higher taxes.
and the revenue code reform will become law. The legislature's current action towards eliminating these status offenses—acts not crises for adults—is in compliance with the Federal Crime and Delinquency Act If the state has already filed the Code, which Gov. Robert R. Bennett favors, $500,000 in federal funds will be available to provide alternative programs, which intend to solve juveniles' problems without reprimanding them in any way.
Bennett's proposed budget hardly seems to be a ploy to attract voters in next fall's election. Through the administration of Bennett and former Gov. Robert DeGroot, the state passed a law he steadily enforced. From fiscal 1971 to fiscal 1978 the budget has increased from $800.4 million to $1.88 billion.
But are Berman's accusations reasonable?
these juveniles, 443 were from within the county. Less than one-half of these went through formal court proceedings. Most of them, typically in trouble for the first time, were instead helped by court services' counseling.
THE 1976 figures of juveniles in trouble are lower than the previous two years,' but they still represent an alarming number of youths from the Lawrence-Baldwin-Eudora area who have now had at least one 'run-in' with the law. And according to the Lawrence school social worker, juveniles are referred to the court services only as a last resort.
WAYWARDNESS and truancy have long been part of the juvenile code. Without their inclusion, children who are less than 15, 16, or 17 years old, will be free to leave school at their will.
It appears that wayward and truant individuals are incapable of knowing what is good for them. If they skip school now, they will learn to misbehave, and the unpermitted, playline years from now.
At the moment, no new counseling programs for Kansas have been developed. Even if they are, both Malliay and Mike Ellwell, Douglas County District Health Supervisor, would not begin to pay for the work that the reform of the juvenile code would cause.
The near-sightedness of these federal guidelines and the Legislature's haste to qualify for federal funds can be compared to the general qualifications are motivated by immediate gratification.
"If THE schools aren't meeting the needs of the community and of the kids, then let's change the schools," Malloy said. "Sending the kids out into the streets is no solution."
Pat Allen Editorial writer
in one way both, if the country eases up on status offenders now, the country itself will suffer from a less knowledgeable population, many of which will soak their ex-classmates, who remained in school, with welfare demands in the future.
percent increase, is characteristic of budget increases in the past. It does not stand out as a primary increase in the budget.
The governor's current proposal which asks for an 8.3
Berman also has called for a reduction of taxes soon.
But the fact is that Kansans are not paying outrageous taxes at all, compared with other states. Kansans pay about the same or lower taxes than citizens of other states. Bennett hasn't raised a tax on his proposal, so about 1977 budget proposal, he doesn't see any increases in taxes in the next several years.
In fact, Bennett recommends that the current Legislature approve $3.5 million in tax relief for the next fiscal year.
- **Rewriting the property tax lid** so that many exceptions are prevented and so that local government control in setting the tax lid.
These measures include:
- Changing the ways business and livestock inventory and agricultural land are taxed.
Another part of the state's budget that is being attacked is the surplus of funds that the state is hanging on to for the proverbial rainy day. At the end of this fiscal year, which ends in October, the state will be black an estimated $142.9 million.
These might not be the sweeping measures Berman is looking for, but they are reasonable attempts by the present administration to trim and to reform taxation.
- Expanding the Homestead Property Tax Relief program in an effort to aid elderly Kansans.
* Enacting a $28.7 million property tax relief measure and a sales tax credit on food.
- Expanding exemptions from the intangibles and inheritance taxes and amending the state income tax law.
sunnett cities these as reasons why it's not a bad idea to have extra funds available: rapidly rising energy costs, the new federal minimum wage requirements, the fact that the state is self-insured, the need for health insurance rates and probable judgments in suits pending against the state.
vault and into state programs. Berman says that the state can lower taxes by doing so.
Overall, it looks as if Bennett is doing a fair and prudent job of handling the state's budget to increase revenue, and also continues to increase at a rate even without tax increases.
But Bennett has his reasons for keeping the funds on hand, although he plans to reduce the amount to 1800 to a more reasonable figure.
Political rhetoric against increases in the budget appear unjustified. The state's budget is in good hands.
To the editor:
Regarding the Feb. 10 article in the Kansan concerning the American Indian display in the
Indian exhibition misrepresented
Kansas Union, there are several misrepresentations that seem to be the result of an ethnocentric attitude combined
Campus buildings don't mix well
If an infinite number of monkeys were placed at an infinite number of drawing boards, they would eventually design the building scheme for Kansas campus.
From time to time the University has had visions of a master plan, under which all the buildings, streets and landscaping would follow one comprehensive scheme. The plans have a history of going awry.
Many people think the task would not take them long. The buildings on campus are important. They protect the seekers and the dispersers of knowledge from the temptation to use their precious records safe for us; they serve as forums in which the teachers and the students meet and exchange ideas and information. They also go to meetings, like speakers and a taxed.
IF THE HUB had been built according to a plan submitted in 1994 called the Kessler plan, every classroom building would be arranged in a large semicircle around the HUB.
THE FIRST big University building was the original Fraser Hall. It was the most prominent building on campus and became KU's symbol, its two towers reaching up in a distinctive pattern and flags flying from their peaks.
Why do builders and planners deviate from a master plan? Perhaps they don't care as much perhaps because they think they can do better. That has not always been the case
What was on the north slope is somewhat unbelievable. Strong Hall opened out toward the stadium. The stadium was envisioned to be at the bottom of the hill, almost where it is now. In between would have been a grass pit, or maybe like a Chinese pagoda, where the Campanile would have been built. It was a grandiose scheme, and it certainly would have sent the postcards the U.S. sells.
with the builders of University buildings.
Fraser Hall's two towers, an integral part of the old building, were reduced to afterthoughts. Two cupolas, called by some students "outstanding," authored the Monkey Hotel," now fly the flags and symbolize KU to incoming drivers.
and replaced with parodies of themselves.
BLAKE HALL lacks the interest of its predecessor and has become simply the place for political science classes.
A walk between Wescoe and Strong hills could make the architect think he walked in on
If an architect took a stool around campus, his eye would be caught—and perhaps his sensibilities infamed—by the way KU puts clashing buildings together.
an argument. Strong Hall, with its severe, strait-aced styling and three divisions, needs only a dome to become a state capital. Its 1923 look, the law of the ruling class, faces the brawny young upstart, the poorer of the problems, but it is so big and bold it argues with Strong across the street.
ITS' NOT completely)
Wescoe's fault. The designers had originally planned a 25-room building, but they cut the hill. Lack of funds cut the size of the planned humanities building to fifteen, then to four floors—and presumably didn't buy that. They opened for windows that opened.
The Kansas University is a study in early add-on. It began as a memorial to the alumna who died in World War I. One has
since been expanded, excavated and tunneled through. The result is a mismatch of styles, metal awnings on windows and discontinuous levels.
And one of the newest projects, the computer center on Sunnyside Avenue, seems to have been designed to fulfill double duty as a bunker, in case student rots return to make the campus a battlefield.
None of this will change any of the existing buildings at KU. What has been poured in concrete and set in stone must be kept out for perhaps. But faculty members should be understanding when their students in classes don't know what's going on. They need to know at the campus landscape wondering what's going on.
The advertisement brochure for KU still boasts of the wooded natural beauty of the north slope of the hill, called Spencer Museum could possibly have been meant to reflect more sunlight on that natural beauty. It also could signal the beginning of an attachment upon the north slope.
THE POWERS that build at KU have not learned their lesson yet. It seems the way they designed new Green Hall to accommodate for a law library, add office space around it, stick on a few
classrooms here and there,
add an administrative office
and a common area and then
indicate the outer walls.
KANSAN Letters
with an obvious lack of knowledge of Indian culture.
When writing about appliqued designs on shawls, she states, "
I am embarrassed to have had my name connected with such a misleading article. I think that the reviewer meant well, but she missed the point of the exhibit entirely.
She apparently believes that the use of the sewing machine involves "improved craftsmanship," as if handmade articles invoke inferior craftsmanship! How absurd.
Perhaps the only other Native American clothing she has seen was in a museum one hundred or more years old, and perhaps well-worn by the time the museum closed. There are several major pieces in the exhibit that are entirely handmade. The standards of ex-
but the lines are crisper and the corners are sharper than they could be without the aid of a sewing machine. Free from the distraction of uneven edges and loose threads, the eye is able to see clearly and the proportions of the design." Unseen edges? Loose seeds?
ceilence in . craftsmanship remain the same; it's the materials and techniques that change. The modern pieces are just as authentically American Indian as the hand-made Jakkin Today, both methods — new- and old, side by side.
Apparently the reviewer, Sarah Iles, thinks all our ancestors wove and dyed cloth. She states: "Polyester, velvet and linen are excellent fabrication handwoven and home-dyed cloth" and "these fabrics grow more brilliantly and last longer than would the hues obtainable in home dying. It is a superior fabric of all Indians as blanket weave. The stereotype is subtly reinforced.
And when she stated that the Eskimo yo-yo does not look like a traditional yo-yo, I had to chuckle a little. What one would call traditional depends on your viewpoint. The Eskimo yo-yo certainly is the traditional yo-yo to a child of Native Americans far the north. And the yo-yo does not involve twine or a "chunk of wood" but rawhale or sinew and a small handle of antler.
Martha Kreipe
Lawrence senior,
Indian Exhibit coordinator
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