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Friday, October 14, 1977
University Daily Kansan
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Comment
Unsigned editors represent the opinion of the Kansan editorial staff. Stigned column represent only the views of the writers.
Tuition is no weapon
As Kansas legislators grapple with plans to keep medical school graduates in the state, they should realize that a proposal to allow medical cell drive away promising medical students.
A legislative interim committee is sprucing up a bill that would offer students entering the KU Medical Center two options: They could agree to practice medicine in Kansas after graduation and attend school tuition-free or they could pay $4,900 in annual tuition — about $3,700 more than students pay now.
The reasoning behind the bill is simple. The state will provide cost-free medical education in return for a period of service within the state. Students who do not agree pay a medical education to use in Kansas pay a helper portion of the educational bill.
THE PROPOSAL IS an improvement over bills the legislature considered last year; some of those would have made students pay more than $20,000 in tuition unless they agreed to serve in the state. But although it is an improvement, the new proposal still ignores students' basic right to an education at reasonable cost at state schools.
Legislators seem unswayed by arguments
based on the rights of students, however. The legislators' goal is to deliver the goods — in this case the doctors — to the folks back home.
But their delivery plan could backfire. If tuition is used as a threat, the state could lose students before they even enroll in medical school in Kansas.
AT THE TIME they enter medical school, most students are not ready to make the kind of long-range commitment the proposal requires, particularly when the penalty for not following through would be financially crippling. Therefore, promising Kansas medical students simply would pack up their books and go elsewhere, right into the laps of those other states that Kansas does not want stealing its doctors.
And who could blame the students? If tuition at KU and a more exclusive school is equal, why shouldn't a bright student go to KU, where, where he would be free to use all options?
The answer to Kansas' doctor shortages is not fencing students in with the threat of prohibitive tuition costs. The answer is making practice medicine in Kansas attractive enough to make graduates want to stay.
Good news, sports fans! Ralph Nader is on your side.
Nader's game plan misguided
Nader, whose consumer crusades spelled doom for the Corvair and airline overbooking, recently announced the formation of a group that will try to build a spectator sports. The name of the organization is the Fight to Advance the Nation's Sports—
which forms the acronym F.A.N.S.
F. A.N.S. is dedicated to the proposition that the sports fan is a neglected consumer whose voice should be heard. Nader proposes to voice the concerns of athletes and player associations, team owners, Congress, the courts and the broadcast media.
Lynn Kirkman
Editorial Writer
F. A.N.S. promises to try to regulate the price of tickets so that most fans can afford to see their favorite teams in action,
Union leadership needs new blood
When the AFI-CIO convention meets in Los Angeles in December one foreign conference organization that will greet the news that 83-year-old George Meeny has been re-elected for another two-year term as president of the member labor organization.
By VICTOR GOTBAUM
quarter of a century, the American labor movement needs a change.
and to ensure than fans' opinions are heard and listened to by the policy-makers in positions of power in the sports world. Steps also would be taken to protect a fan's unilenable right to enjoy healthful food at the game.
All through the years of the Vietnam War, right up to the closing weeks, only Jerry Wurry, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, would cast a vote against Mr. Meany's support of the war.
THIS IS NOT a call for revolutionary new approaches in the labor movement. All indications are that Mr. Meany's replacement will be Lane Kirkland, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, seemingly the McCoy's office and certainly a man who has been schooled in, and is a firm adherent of, George Meany's view of the labor movement.
WHILE THE peace movement grew in the nation and in the unions represented in the Executive Council, there was never more than one vote in 33 cast against Mr. Meany's resolution for support of the war. Nor did the union heads whose unions were committed to George McGovern's leadership press for national AFL-CIO support for Mr. McGovern when Mr. Meany insisted on a neutral posture.
rarely heard in open, on-the-record meetings.
The labor movement is nugget personal. Successful leadership accrues power that becomes personified in an individual. The result is a gradual co-option of views and ideas takes place until one philosophy prevails. Debate between behind closed doors, and are
THE AVERAGE sports fan,
the prospective F.A.N.S.-
member, loves the game. It
may not even matter whether
the game is baseball, football,
basketball, tennis, golf or ping.
The fan probably loves
the game that's in season—and
there are games for all seasons.
You can follow the game in
person, on television, by radio
or in the newspaper. It is
only way he can keep up on his
second favorite sport, complaining.
Publicly and privately there will be much admiring comment about George Money's interest in the mind of mind. There will be none to doubt that his perception and skill are as good as ever, worthy of his position as a legend in the trade-union movement.
The condition is not unique to labor, of course. Powerful board chairmen, long entrenched in corporate power, actually reach a point where energy and ideas are stuffed.
Yet Lane Kirkland, or any new leader will represent a breakthrough of the institutionalization that now burdens the operations and philosophies of the AFL-CIO.
Constitutionally a democratic organization, the AFL-CIO has little debate of issues in its upper regions. George Meany's former wife is well known to all 33 members of the Executive Council. Rarely, if ever, will the union presidents who serve on this council seriously challenge a Meany position or pursue a debate.
George Meany's contributions to American workers and their unions are historic. He is a giant of the labor movement whose imprist can be measured in the personal and economic gains enjoyed by millions of men, women and children.
A sports fan who is not also a complainer is not worthy of the name of fan. He must be able to complain about the artificial turf, the designated hitter, the pitcher, the three-point shot. He needs to be able to gripe about the price of tickets and souvenirs.
Victor Gothaum is executive director of the District Council 37, American Federation of University and Municipal Employees.
But the trade-union movement is larger than any one man. Shifting national and international political, social and economic conditions require an influx of new aftershocks from new images and new approaches that will not be limited by self-imposed inhibitions and a reluctance to contest the status quo.
Unfortunately, there will be no public discussion and only some private discussion of a fact that will be known to most citizens. The FCA should retire; there should be a new leader of the AFL-CIO.
The potency, growth and effectiveness of the organization to which George Meany has given so much are now impeded by his continuing presence. The fitting cap to his
There must be a vocal, vigorous loyal opposition in the AFL-CIO—an opposition committed to the same principles and goals but determined to challenge, to goad, to introduce and press for new ideas.
The question is not George Meany's physical or mental prowess. The fact is simply that one after one leader for almost a
Nader and Peter Gruenstein, who will be executive director of F.A.N.S., undoubtedly are sincere in their crusade to get the public involved going public. But they also a little naive about the followers of professional and amateur athletics.
career would be for George Meany to step down now for the good of the American labor movement.
MEMBERS OF F.A.N.S.
would be able to express their feelings about the use of artificial turf during a game in basketball, the two-point conversion rule in pro football and the three-point shot in basketball. They would have their opportunity to make their feelings known about all kinds of important issues. It is a nice idea.
A FAN who has cast a vote for
having a manager, player or
player, or having time sitting in the stands booing
that manager, player or umpire. Nader and Gruenstein may not know it, but fans have been known to express a negative comment from time to time—even about the old home team.
NADER SEEMS to be laboring under a misconception: a belief that American owners don't own Owers and managers don't trade players like small boys trade baseball cards. The game is serious business among popcorn makers, that they are going to sit down and bargain seriously with concerned fans, even those who have a price for one ticket, to be members of a consumer group.
Sports are more than national pastimes—they are national delusions. No matter how much you skilled in the job, you must be skilled professionals who have learned how to make their talents pay in a big way.
And Nader and Gruenstein also may find it hard to believe that fans don't necessarily expect a balanced meal at the ballpark or stadium. Fans may complain that the beer is too warm or the hot dogs are too cold, but they may be happy to prefer milk, carrot juice, spinach or burens sprouts or whatever other healthful foods F.A.N.S. might propose be played at the game.
Nader and Gruenstein have embarked on a quixotic task, to learn how to doom to failure. F.A.N.S. would be wise to realize that the consumer who doesn't like the way his sports dollar is being paid, will not be available to any other consumer. If the price of tickets, souvenirs or food is too high, or the quality too low, the fan can refuse to pay. It is the most important thing to make the consumer's voice heard.
F. A.N.S. should learn the rules before it tries to play the game.
KU merits quality architecture
To the editor:
The alleged plans to build a wall around the south end of the Kansas City skyline only the city of a series of disastrous alterations to the Lawrence campus. The building of Wescock Heye in the western suburbs, the new Spencer mausoleum, the "canopies" on the entrance to the Kansas Union, the football parking areas north of Potter Field, and the statue of Jimmy Green — all of these recent developments represent insensitive and often irrational design decisions that are, from an architectural professionally embarrassing.
Letters
They embody a basic attitude toward the physical environment that is no longer in use, namely, that the mere fact of building is automatically an improvement. And yet, no
matter how vital the need for more space, the quality of what is built is just as important as the quantity, and it is not measured in cubic feet of material. In fact, for the University of Kansas, where the university物理 environment is a significant factor in attracting students and faculty (Lawrence Journal-World, Oct. 5), it may be even more important.
process of design decisions that crucially affect the quality of the physical environment. These decisions currently are made within the context of incremental capital im- plementation, not for achieving quality controls. And yet such controls are desperately needed if we are to preserve and enhance what remains of one of the most attractive collegiate environments in the country. The creation of a Quality Review Board, with active representation and participation by the School of Architecture and Urban Design, is called for Stephen Grabow
Republicans need innovative image
A group of Republican governors got together at Bretton Woods, N.H., this week to hash out the reasons they are rapidly becoming the most ridiculed and endangered commodity since the Edsel.
associate professor of architecture and urban design
The gentlemen-five governors and 28 men who are either running or thinking about running for governor--attended the Republican Governors Association convention to discuss what they could do to bolster their
Dave Johnson
Editorial Writer
numbers. Not surprisingly, the theme of their promotion drive is states' rights versus the federal government.
In the opening session, Gov. Robert Bennan of Kenansas, chairman of the governors association, called states' rights the crucial issue of the future.
"IF THERE IS a hope for
sanity in government, it lies with the governors and with the individual states." Bennett said. "We meet at a time of rights, are seriously questioned at the national level."
It certainly is no surprise that Bennett and the other governors attending the campaign on a state's rights platform. If they weren't pulling for states' rights, they would have the importance of their own jobs. Naturally, if the governors
want clout, they are going to boost the sovereignty of states.
The states' rights issue may not be original, but the Republican governors are shrewd enough to know that campaigning against big government works. The Republicans are taking a page from Jimmy Carter in 1978 by stumping for a simple, streamlined government that would stay out of the affairs of people as much as possible.
IRONICALLY, HOWEVER,
the Democrats as a whole—Carter included—have been dumping Republicans with the Republican's own game plan. The party of Lincoln always has a big grip on government and lower taxes, but the Democrats are now using those issues and doing a better job of it than the Republican. There's nothing to be upsetted by a performer who imitates the star's act. Imagine the Beatles being upstaged by the Raspberries.
ONE GOVERNOR who attended the conference, James B. Thompson of Illinois, has his own solution to crisis. His solution falls somewhere between the extremes of walking in wheat fields, saying how wonderful it is to work on position papers on infestate exports of peach seeds.
So what can the GOP do? Opt for the Madison Avenue approach and erect an even mushier, down-home, awn shucks. "I'll never lie to you" campaign that would embolden voters? or do aspiring Republican governors stick to the issues of fiscal conservatism and governmental reorganization and hope the voters choose substance over style?
It is ironic that there are more than 30 architects and engineers campus because they effectively have no access to the
Instead of pursuing one consistent ideology, Thompson says, the Republicans should play the issues that are meaningful to the voters of each state.
"Don't worry about sticking to one rigid, solid Republican doctrine, because you will find there is none," he said.
THIS MONKEY-SEE,
monkey-do approach to
solving the Republicans' problems would be effective if the Democrats were not doing the same thing. The strategy might make the candidates more likely to lose, and are left starving for a legitimate choice between two mirror candidates.
In a practical sense, Thompson's new-found strategy may run into the number of old numbers game. If the voters must choose between two candidates with similar positions and styles, the Democratic candidate has the edge because there are more registered Democrats than Republicans.
Kansas is an exception, but the Republican majority here is waning. Last year, he won a victory. Republican majority in the State House of Representatives for the first time in 64 years. And the Democrats made steady gains in the Senate, where the Democrats still maintain a slim majority.
If the Republicans are interested in surviving as a viable life-form in the nation's state houses, they had better come up with a better plan than successfully succeeding Democrats. Instead of imitating their Democratic opponents, Republican candidates could start by attacking problems the Democratic-dominated campaign has not successor tracked, crisis, inflation, unemployment, the welfare quagmire.
Instead of trying to dress up like Democrats, Republicans aiming for governorships should get their own tailor. A new look would be refreshing and probably successful.
To the Editor:
KU police rile biker
We should be proud of our campus cops. They take time out from their massive law enforcement problems in order to protect the bicycles at night without a light. I should know — I was one such culprit who was caught in the act.
I was so impressed when they treated me in the same unfortunate way, and would your average Joe Criminal; this was evidenced by the flashing red lights, request for driver's license and passport, campus cruiser. I was disappointed, however, that I wasn't
spreadeagled, frisked and then handcuffed. But then, our men in blue are busy with other more important matters, like guarding the Ch-Ii Omega found in the jailhouse fountain runs. I even get to make a court appearance next Tuesday morning at 8:30 at the police station downtown. I'm impressed. It's about time they cracked down on people they cracked down on people. My friendly arresting campanella was enough time to nab another cycling delinquent right after I was ticketed. Red lights flashing, of course.
Chris Atteberry
Fairway sophomore
Blood drive appreciated
To the editor:
My staff and I would like to express our deep appreciation to the fair and extensive coverage we have the Blood Drive last week.
We owe a great debt to you for helping us reach our goal of 760 pints. Attaining the goals set for pints of blood has been a rare event in the history of the Blood Drive.
our thanks to all of those who gave blood or attempted to and were refused for medical reasons.
We also would like to extend
The many volunteers who took time for their busy schedules deserve more than can be expressed here.
Thank you again to everyone who made this fall's Blood Drive so successful.
Monte Nighswonger Blood Drive chairman
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