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Wednesday, October 19, 1977
University Daily Kansan
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Comment
Unsigned editors represent the opinion of the Kansan editorial staff. Signed columns represent only the views of the writers.
The fact that a University of Kansas women's music society would seek and be granted exemption from Title IX guidelines highlights some unfortunate aspects of the University's involvement with and reliance on the federal government.
Obviously, it would be ideal if all university policies and organizations were non-discriminatory or at least if adversaries were uncriminatory and they steadily to eliminate discrimination.
But, just as obviously, that is not the case. So the Department of Health Education and Welfare thinks it necessary to threaten to withdraw federal funding from any institution that does not comply with the antidiscrimination provisions of Title IX.
The goals of Title IX are admirable. Discrimination in University employment or in the availability of student services or activities is intolerable. A group, such as a professional honorary, that has single-sex membership may cite noble-sounding rationalizations for its discrimination, but that discrimination is still wrong. The group, as Title IX asserts, deserves no University support.
Unfortunately, though, the University is refusing support for discriminating groups on the basis of the bureaucrats' guidelines. Universities, in failing to provide adequate standards on their own, have surrendered authority over government, and with that forfeiture comes the insensitivity and alienation endemic to federal guidelines of any sort.
To make matters worse, the desire to escape federal displeasure brings with it the temptation to lower oneself to the bureaucracy's level of semantic TERKIT.
The women's music honorary, Sigma Alpha Iota, recently became a social organization when it received an exemption from Title IX guidelines. The group had asked for the change in its status and the exemption so it could retain single-sex membership. It made no organizational changes. The society's province president admitted the group was not "strictly social."
Admittedly, that one group's status matters very little to the University as a whole. But anyone concerned with universities' vital role as society's largest concentration of independent thought must wonder where else members of the University community or the University itself has compromised its standards or dodged the government's standards in maneuvers to protect the flow of federal funds. Anyone interested in a good education must realize that where the federal government has financed a program or facility, the government's money has also influenced what the University teaches and how it does so.
KU as it exists today could not survive without federal money. But administrators, staffers, and teachers are the dangers of heeding what the bureaucrats say is fair treatment or good education.
The Jesus movement has become a national phenomenon of fast-growing proportions. Millions of Americans are peddling their versions of the Word on the sidewalks. A citizen is the one from the front door of rhetoric present on radio and television or from the emotionalism of religious books.
Jesus sales crucifv tolerance
One recent estimate put the combined annual expenditures of such ministerial per capita spending in television air time alone. A group of Southern Baptists in Dallas recently made plans for a nationwide advertising campaign to promote Christ will be prime-time television. Religion, especially the Jesus
Jim Bakker broadcasts to every state from Charlotte, N.C., for the PTL Club. Bakker's staff says that PTL stands for People That Love, but the CharlesObserver has noted that Pass The Loot might be more appropriate. Bakker informs users of a new-inspired admirers total about $1.5 million a month.
People have become used to the emotional rantings of such evangelists as Billy Graham, Rex Humbard or Oral Roberts. The movie has gained new popularity since the Jesus mania hit its peak.
Now the religious circuit has now new stars. There's Robert Schuller, who broadcasts from a drive-in church at St. James's in Pittsburgh; Pat Robertson plays the "Top 40" in religious tunes each week.
Mary Mitchell
Editorial Writer
movement, has become big business.
Sometimes called the borg-nagain movement, the Jesus mania is not confined to just one religious sect. Among the nation's 49 million Catholics, an estimated 2.5 million consider themselves "protestant." Another 2.5 Million charismatics are scattered among the protestant denominations.
Reaction against the charismatic movement has been strong among the Southern Baptist Convention, that says they are fighting fundamentalism, ironically, these Baptists are guilty of the same bigotry and woeful excesses that the charismatics practice, but Southern Baptists claim to have discovered the truth of their religion so profound that they return to recognize any other.
The Charismatic Renewal Group is nothing more than pentecastivalism with a new name. The controversial part of this movement is the mystic experience that is supposed to give its recipients the power of the Spirit, including the ability to speak in tongues. Speaking in tongues is talking with God in a language that is uninterpretable to all but an interpreter. But
how many ways can such a garbled phrase as "Ye keed ee akv shangda" be translated?
from 20,000 to 40,000 Jews have joined the movement as Messianics. They profess to be Jews and Christians
Jews have become targets of the Jewish have become targets of a nationwide "buy Christian" campaign. Both the Christian Yellow Pages and the Christian Business Directory, with a fierce marketing push, publish directories restricted to their own brand of professing Christians. To be included in these directories, one must sign up to an alternative again believer. They are fees, ranging up to $900, the advertiser gets space in the listings and is accepted as a fellow to be trusted by all good Jews. The group also to these exclusive lists by filing suit. After all, the directories
These business directories are not the only form of intimidation and harassment prevalent in the Jesus movement. Such pressure counters the precepts of respect to those who take up arms; that men — attributes that one would assume are part of the Christian religion. In Boston last fall, the president of a small electronics firm dissolved his network of 14 distributors to man with all the equipment he needed. Now the company makes contracts with and hires only people who believe in Jesus as their Lord.
and reaction are on the rise once again. Their impetus has been spurred by the election of a born-again President who wears his faith on his sleeve. The Jesus zealots have left their closets for more prominent spots.
The concern for civil rights in education, employment and housing has overlooked one issue in the struggle to practice religion or, in some cases, non-religion is embodied in the Bill of Rights. This right is being trampled by narrow-minded religious leaders who call themselves Christians.
support economic boycott for religious reasons.
Religion has marched unashamedly into the marketplace and taken more than a mere 30 pieces of liver. A group of people and flouting of individual rights needs to be checked.
Public protest can stop nuclear plants
Religion is a personal choice, not a matter of coercion. Everyone should have learned this lesson from the Nazi war crimes. The forces of anti-intellectualism, fundamentalism
By HARVEY WASSERMAN N.Y. Times Features
SEABROOK, N.H.—In August, the 32nd anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings was marked by two major actions at more than 100 nuclear power plant construction sites across the country. The protections involved in that operation were a wake of the April 30 mass occupation of the proposed nuclear plant site here, when more than 2,000 people marched to the site to sat down. More of the same is 'coming at other sites this fall.'
It seems virtually inevitable that the protests will continue to escalate as long as nuclear-age bombs are launched. Since the early 1970s, a steadily growing number of citizens have petitioned, lobbed and intervened in the hearings and demonstrations on reactor proliferation.
REACTOR BREAKDOWNS remain frequent and grotesque expensive, and the spotty performance record of
Praise the Lord and pass the tolerance.
The rising popular opposition now seems to have combined with financial pressures, regulatory hassles and other factors to dim the outlook for nuclear power. But what many want is that world is a safe shut it off altogether. For, as the atomic-power experiment has progressed, our misgivings about nuclear energy have multiplied. For example, low levels of radiation in reactors has been linked to cancer, leukemia and birth defects.
JOHN GOFMAN, one of the world's leading medical physicists and a participant in the Manhattan Project — the development of the atomic bomb — has pioneered research in this area. His crucial findings, which grew out of a study sponsored by the Alliance Energy Commission — have been documented by an important book, "Poison Power."
Meanwhile, construction costs are soaring, as is the price of nuclear fuel. The industry as a whole is in questionable financial shape, and the hope of atomic-generated electricity that would be "too cheap to meter" has long-since faded.
C catastrophic accidents are a possibility. Though the odds on their happening are just as hotly contested as are the efforts to prevent radiation, the plants quite clearly involve an enormous gamble. Reactor-related insurance is still an unsettled matter. With human error, sabotage and the transport and storage of radioactive wastes. Even, the question of how to deal with the plants once their generating life ends is a matter of serious dispute.
Industry propaganda notwithstanding, the real bargains are political, not technological. Renewable energy, recycling and conservation will come as a result of movement pushing them.
These technologies are also labor-intensive. Their mass use requires a high degree of more jobs than a fossil fuel or nuclear economy, which ultimately rely on complex machinery and heavy work. The skills needed for
many plants nov in operation raises serious doubts about whether some of them will every nov for themselves at all.
And the fact is, we don't need these plants. The billions carmarked for nuclear containment toward making, realities of renewable nonpolluters such as solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, wood and methane energy, as recycling and conservation.
renewable energy are relatively simple and easily learned, and an energy economy based on them could give us a good shove toward full employment.
INDEED, THERE'S a growing conviction in the ecological movement that what's good for the natural environment is also good for jobs, and that the key to saving the environment might rest precisely there.
Harvey Wasserman is an organizer of the Crambshell Alliance, a condition of open access to new construction in New England.
The vastly broadened protests of this spring and summer have also added pressure to the government's violation that the reactors can, in fact, be stopped, and that stopping them will go a long way. But they are as a planet that is not only safer and cleaner, but also more just.
IF THE ENERGY CRISIS IS THE MORAL EQUIVALENT OF WAR, CONGRESS MUST BE THE DRAFT DOGERS.
--in reference to Rick Taherem's column on Oct. 13 and the coincident furo about a potential day," my reaction is that the Gay Services of Kansas and the Lawrence Lesbian Alliance are doing an excellent job of creating a large portion of the general public.
Gay day brings thoughts
To the editor:
Theaertm stated in his theatrical, "People of all types—cowboys, freaks, Greeks, Germans, and second thought to what they wear Friday." It is exactly that that will gauge the success of a play. Thetaertm had to give it a second thought, not how many wore
Letters
jeans, is the key. The fact that some had to give it a second thought is the measure of how much they were intimidated and how weak their own principles and self-images are.
Theaemer goes on, "Those coerced into not wearing jeans may find no humor in being intimidated by a minority." Of course they won't find any humor in it, because by not wearing jeans they are the coolest people they are the cool, calm and collected college student they have fantasized themselves to be.
great Christian ethic, as interpreted by Mark Twain, that nothing is reforming so much as other people's habits.
I fully expect that a large portion of the people reading this will assume that I am gay since this letter is in support of their efforts last Friday. They are free to assume anything they then from doing that. I would caution, however, that there is an old saying that goes, "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt." Whether I agree or not concerns to anyone but me and ones I choose to love.
In memory, bug will live after death
Stephen J. Hill
People are notably ill-humored when forced to look too closely in a mirror. I suppose that this happens to movement stems from the
The bug is being exterminated.
After 28 years in the U.S. market, the Volkswagen Beetle is on its way out. Recently the German manufacturers quit shipping the Beetle and are now using safety standards for gluemelium U.S. sales.
It's sad in a way. The gradual death of a car that made it, not on looks but on personality and performance. I remember reading the biting criticisms of the car in its early years. Homely, noisy, filmsy, ugly. Sophisticated looking for laughter. The car was not as beautiful as Beetle. A car-shaped midget wasn't a car at all, they said, but merely an ugly duckling on wheels.
And its persistence paid off. The German car transcended its impressive automotive abilities and became a part of the American Way. I grew up with bugs around me.
Since 1968, when sales peaked at 423,000 Beetles, the Beetle's base price has increased from $1,050 to $1,700 and then from $1,500 to $1,800 through July. At last count, only 700 Beetles remained in U.S. dealer showrooms. The only one that will remain in the United States for at least another year is the
BUT THEY were wrong. The bug became a bug. Everyone caught it. It defied estimates that Americans would buy only big, powerful and attractive cars. It went on to sell and sell big. As of several months ago, Volkswagen had said 5 cars such. Such is the persistence of an underdog.
Rick
Thaemert
Editorial Writer
STORIES OF college students who had
And safety. It was among the first cars that used safety shoulder harnesses.
HIGH SCHOOL days marked my first wreck. The lucky vehicle was a Volkswagen bug. What I felt to be a slight smite to the Beetle in front of me was actually a blow of cave-in stature. I cursed the tiny bug's skin for clumping like an inflatable balloon. I slipped the back, compact and tight, where any blow would render it harm. Mine did. Perhaps it was the humiliation of watching a wicker prer my bumper loose that made me feel intimidated by the Beetle. It should have bounced off my car, from its runnable appearance. Instead it hung tight, clutching my car with its wyrm front bummer.
"Slug-a-bug" became a game for the road.
Pointing out bugs and shouting that catchy phrase eased riding monotony for tykes like me. And like most American games, it sometimes ended with a biff on the nose from those with few Beetle tallies.
Soon, however, I began hearing stories that heralded the misfit. More than 30 miles to the gallen in days when fuel was beginning to surplus. By the time he reached a dozen of drivers. For a time, the bus meant energy.
Kansas City, Mo., senior
THE COMPACT size, called claustrophobia-influenced when it appeared, even came to be accepted. Its open foot well, bucket seats and crowded interior made it the economical middle-class sports car, without the sporty looks. Its size became a challenge to some college students, who twisted and comforted their bodies to fit as well as possible in the Guinness Book of World Records title for bug cramming become a goal for many. It was indeed a fun car to own.
traveled coast to coast in a trouble-free, inexhaustible way. No jolting it. Only that it might be a category of the best.
Even its misgivings don't seem so severe in the light of its manufacturing slowdown. The jerky movements as it did better-skeeter in and out of traffic. The exclusive putt-putt of the small VW engine that sent solid vibrations through the car's body would not be possible whether the car was running. It could be felt.
Even its looks grew to be admired. The large baking bulb eyes and smile-like shape of the cheeks give it a fierce look.
My first ride in a Beetle was even more revealing. Parallel parking was a breeze. Tight squeezes weren't so tight. Volkswagen heaters, known for their ferocity, quickly transformed the interior into a toasty cockpit in a matter of minutes.
The bug also could serve as a sort of impromptu weathervane on the highway. Tossed around by the wind, the lightweight bugs kept their pilots aware of the airst outdoors.
Perhaps the most laudable of the bug's characteristics is its ability to remain unchanged in appearance. In a world where producers change styles, fads and designs as often as they change underwear, it was nice to see them become ever present, ever dependable and ever humble.
Some have already recognized the nostalgia of the car, which will, in time, dwindle in numbers like DeStores and Edels. According to a Lawrence car dealer, it's difficult to obtain used Beetles. Smart owners are hanging on to them. They are pounding on the opportunity to buy them.
But now, as the car nears its end in the United States, people may still offer a chuckle for the Beetle, not out of mockery but out of respect for an unusual car that succeeded. Perhaps someday the mention of a Volkswagen will be like telling a timeless joke; it will still seem a little funny, but more importantly, it will always be remembered.
Although the WV Rabbit has all but annihilated the Beetle in performance, safety and luxury are its main characteristics. The character, Beetle owners are a testimony to that. For 28 years, they have put up with snide comments about having a dog-faced, commonplace and mischievous car. And they laugh along on the job.
A sympistic, round, ungady car, the model of which is the opposite of auto manufacturers' intentions today. The Beetle will always be one of a kind.
To the editor:
Gays not born that way
An editorial by Rick Thaemert in the Oct. 13 Kansan equated the gay rights movement with the rights movement. This is a disservice to blacks. Blacks don't choose their skin color. But homosexuals have some choice in their lifestyle. That's why we say "preference" means, "Circumstances may sway their
decision to become homosexual, but ultimately it's still a decision.
So if homosexuals endure discrimination, it's not because they're gay, but because there's something about their homosexuality they don't want to give up. No one can say they were born that way.
Doug Lamborn Lawrence senior
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