Opinion
The University Daily Kansan
Laura Roddy, Editor
Sarah Hale, Managing editor
Kristi Elliot, Managing editor
Tom Eblen, General manager, news advisor
Shauntie Blue, Business manager
Brad Bolyard, Retail sales manager
Matt Fisher, Sales and marketing adviser
Scott Valler, Technology coordinator
Thursday, April 20, 2000
RATHER THAN JUST CO-EXIST, RELIGION AND SCIENCE DECIDE TO HAVE A KEG PARTY.
Seth Jones / KANSAN
Editorials
Washington, D.C., police actions result in hindrance of free speech
In light of the recent protests in Washington, D.C., it's important to note that fair trade groups made efforts to organize their demonstrations to avoid public chaos. The D.C. police shut down some of the protest training on the grounds that they were violating the fire codes of the buildings they had occupied. While this act did not silence the protesters, it still was a negative action in terms of free speeck.
First, the eviction hampered the protesters ability to get organized. The D.C. police force was concerned about security, and it didn't want another Seattle-like protest to run out of control. Regardless of that fact, it was a defacto restriction on free speech. It seems that the substance of the protest played a role in the crackdown. If the real concern had been fire codes, there
Protesters engaged in weeks of training to avoid a situation like Seattle but to little avail
could have been a negotiation of those concerns rather than a straight eviction.
Second, by virtue of things like the eviction, the message is hampered. During the Seattle World Trade Organization conference, the media concentrated on the conduct of the protesters almost as much as the issue they were protesting. The purpose of the training meeting was to organize their efforts and avoid the chaos of the Seattle experience. As a result of this professional organizational style, the fair trade concerns were better voiced in D.C.
It's important to invite criticism of these policies, especially in our nation's capital. When dealing with trade issues, a select few are making decisions that will have sweeping effects for the entire world, both in commerce and the environment. The strength of the opposition shows how concerned Americans are not only with their interests, but also with the interests of the rest of the world.
But this kind of public debate cannot occur with arbitrary regulation and censorship. Local governments in places such as Washington and Seattle have a responsibility to protect public safety, but they cannot do so at the cost of free assembly and public speech. These trade issues have not been resolved, and in the future, local police and protesters are going to have to find a way to compromise.
Brett Watson for the editorial board
Peace process making some progress
From all outward appearances, the peace process in the Middle East still is alive. It is limping along, but still alive. Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered almost 80 percent of the West Bank to Yasaraf Aarat and the Palestinians. This offering is, in essence, Barak's stamp of approval for a Palestinian state.
For both Barak and Arafat, this peace process is a political balancing act. By offering too much, they both risk losing allies within their own camps. By offering too little, they are branded as insincere about the peace process.
Thus far, however, both Israel and Palestine have had difficulty in keeping their sides of the agreement
Israeli prime minister's offer of 80 percent of West Bank to Palestinians is a good step
signed in 1994. Israel claims that Arafat, instead of prosecuting Palestinians guilty of terrorism, merely slaps them on their wrists and releases them. Palestinians claim that Israel, instead of decreasing military presence on the West Bank, has increased it, thus encouraging the ever-present violence.
make it past the necessary referendum — Jewish settlers on the West Bank probably will see to that — but it is a move forward. Yet, one must not forget that Arafat and the Palestinian Liberation Organization never officially have changed their platform that their sole purpose for existence is to destroy the state of Israel. While the argument can be made that the peace process does not hinge upon the reversal of such a statement, such a move by Arafat would be just as significant as the offer Barak made last week.
In the end, the peace process hinges on the efforts such as the one Barak made last week. It likely will not
Barak put a lot on the table last week. At this point, we can only hope that this offer injects new energy into both sides of the peace process.
Kansan staff
Drew Ryun for the editorial board
News editors
Seth Hoffman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editorial
Nadia Mustafa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editorial
Melody Ard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . News/Special sections
Chris Fickett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . News
Julie Wood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . News
Juan H. Heath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Online
Mike Miller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sports
Matt James . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Associate sports
Katie Hollar . . . . . . . . . . . . Campus
Nathan Willis . . . . . . . . . . . . Campus
Heather Woodward . . . . . Features
Chris Borniger . . . . . . . . . . . Jayplay
T.J. Johnson . . . . . . . . . . Photo imaging
Christina Neft . . . . . . . . . . Photo
Jason Pearce . . . . . . . . . Design, graphics
Clay McCusition . . . . . . . . . . Wi-
Advertising managers
Becky LaBranch . . . Special sections
Krista Lindemann . . . Campus
Ryan Riggin . . . Regional
Jason Hannah . . . National
Will Baxter . . . Online sales
Patrick Rupe . . . Online creative
Seth Schwimmer . . . Marketing
Jenny Weaver . . . Creative layout
Matt Thomas . . . Assistant creative
Kenna Crone . . . Assistant creative
Trent Guyer . . . Classifieds
Jon Schitt . . . Zone
Thad Crane . . . Zone
Cecily Curran . . Zone
Christy Davies . . Zone
Broadon your mind: Today's quote
"It is sobering to consider that when Mozart was my age he had already been dead for a year." — Tom Lehner
How to submit letters and guest columns
Letters: Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and hometown if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
Guest columns: Should be double-spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run,
All letters and guest columns should be e-mailed to the kansan@kansan.com or submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Holl. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Nadia Mustafa or Seth Hoffman at 864-4924.
If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4924.
Perspective
Proper night's rest better than midnight cruising
One night, as I was looking through a book of quotations for dark and obscure Nietzsche passages to bring up at inappropriate moments in conversation, I found an interesting F. Scott Fitzgerald line instead.
"In a real dark night of the soul it is always three clock in the morning."
Luke
Wetzel
columnist
www.nega.com
I don't really know what this means, but since I first read it, I've been using it to justify years of unusual sleeping habits. When I am up this late, however, I'm left with the task of deciding what to do. It's too late to do homework and too early to sit outside and wait for the sunrise. I certainly can't waste time sleeping. So naturally, like all other instances when I'm overcome by restlessness and lack of direction, I hop in the car.
There are several essential things required for the Lawrence nighttime drive, First of all, gas. A sputtering, dying engine can complicate any drive, especially in the dead of night. I also recommend having something to snack on or to drink. Holding something in one hand forces you to drive with only one hand, automatically creating a much more relaxed posture than the standard 2-hand death grip. I personally recommend a candy bar, backwoods cigar or a cold 20-ounce bottle of Coke (Note to Coca-Cola Company: Because I just plugged your product in my column, I think it only fair to restock the Cherry Coke in my scholarship hall's vending machine. Please consider this.)
Picking the right soundtrack for your nighttime voyage is also important. Because musical selection is a personal decision, I won't recommend anything by name, but basically anything that can be described as gloomy, relaxing or subterranean will do the trick. The right music will help transform the chaotic symphony of daytime into a soothing moonlight sonata.
Of all the things needed for a nighttime drive, the least important is a destination. I like to start by driving by the Campanile. Approaching the lighted-up structure from Memorial Drive, you become more aware of what a strange-looking
thing it really is. In fact, the entire campus looks unusual at that hour. However, the Campanile is also known as a "cruising" site for men, so if you're too suggestive with your brake patterns, you might be followed by a kick-up truck.
Once off campus, driving around gets even more interesting. There are some houses I only recognize at night from having gone to parties there on weekends. At the same time, there are streets I know well that look completely unfamiliar without daylight or people. Even if you've lived in Lawrence for a long time, it's easy to feel like an alien on the near-empty streets. When I drive down the over-commercialized Iowa Street at 3 a.m., I can pretend to be a space traveler on an alien runway. There's always a brief period of disappointment when my Ford Taurus doesn't fly over McCollum Hall like I command it to, but it's an interesting feeling while it lasts. Driving at night can be educational as well as relaxing. Each time I go out, I learn valuable things about the geography of the city. For example, I never knew there was a Lawrence Avenue or that I would find a dead opossum once I drove down it. I've also found that most of the gas station employees on Ninth Street are friendly and don't make fun of you if you wear goofy-looking stocking caps.
When I'm more in a mood to goof off, I like to play Pac-mac with the painted yellow median lines or drive on the left side of the road like I'm in Great Britain. A friend taught me these things in high school and they still amuse me. If I'm driving down 15th Street from Daisy Hill, I like to try and position my car between the two flagpoles on the roof of Fraser Hall. I can take the keys out of the ignition while I'm driving and the car still will run, but the thrill of this trick wears off after awhile. Ahh, the simple pleasures.
I suppose a wandering drive through Lawrence at night has a different value for everyone. The main thing I get out of it is having a quiet time to relax and reflect. There may be plenty of other people up this late, but it's fun to think I'm the only one out. If driving around and wasting time in the middle of the night is not your thing, you can take comfort in the fact that there is one thing better for your overall health and constitution: getting a good night's sleep.
Wetzel is a Westwood freshman in journalism and English.
Technology a great tool, but undermines humanity
The editorial correctly pointed out that technology, as a tool, may prove "to be more of a barrier between students and instructors than a utility." But this understates the problem. Not only may technology stand as a barrier to how we encounter our professors, but it also stands as a barrier to
There was an editorial in the March 31 issue of the Kansan about the increasing technology in higher education curricula. The editorial incorrectly analyzed the problems involved as we give ourselves up, more and more, to technology.
how we encounter the world and ourselves. No matter what the engineers tell us, technology is not a tool. It's a way of thinking and a way of understanding the world with reference to technological goals and values.
Technology represents the dominant way of thinking of our time. Our entire understanding of the world is rooted in questions such as "How does it work? Where does it come from?" and so on. We are not free to transcend a technical understanding of
Andrew Peterson guest columnist opinion@kusan.com
the universe and of ourselves, but there is a measure of freedom to be found in understanding the limits of technoloey and technological thinking.
The danger technology poses for education is that when academics try to offer solutions to modern problems, they offer increasingly technological solutions, as they see the world in technological terms. We somehow think of ourselves as in a position to use technology as "just another tool" from which we are wholly free. Technology promises to open up real possibilities, while at the same time silently sealing us off from other ways of thinking. It promises to give a complete accounting of the universe. As we give ourselves up to technology, other ways of understanding the world get pushed to the side, such as religion, ethics and art. We encounter our environment as a ready supply for human technical ends.
At the heart of this, in modern materialist society, is a void of transcendent meaning. The only meaning is utility and the good for which we aim is nothing more than the new and the "modern." However, when the new no longer is new, our values shift to prioritize something more novel under the guise of greater efficiency, and we are caught in a whirl of shifting values. Society is losing meaning in the public discourse, and the technical, materialist solutions to this problem that technology presents us excludes values and meaning even more.
Modern technology has a much stronger essence. We placed the old sawmill into the river for energy. Now we move the river through our dam. We no longer live within the cycles of nature; we demand that nature live within the cycles of human purposes. This completely changes how we encounter nature, in that the world is now nothing more sacred or significant than a ready reserve to be exploited. The world is being transformed according to utility. Even our understanding of God often will be couched in terms of God's usefulness to us and how God can benefit us and further our ends. It is impossible to live a wholly technical existence and truly sense the spiritual character of the world.
Technology certainly opens up possibilities, which we consider to be freedom. But our purposes for wanting those possibilities in the first place are shaped in advance by the technical world into which we are born. It is impossible to escape technology entirely, but we would benefit by exploring and understanding its limits. If the University of Kansas does not explore those limits, it will continue to limit, more and more, our understanding. If the University does not recognize this, it will become nothing more dignified than a temple of science.
Peterson is a Scott City first year law student.
Our technological thinking even reduces us to a ready supply for technological goals. The liberal arts speak of human resources, the work force and labor markets as if humans were commodities. We lose sight of the very cultural structure within which science and technology are possible, and we may no longer encounter our own essence.
Feedback
Minority enrollment at University is low
In regard to the April 18 editorial saying that "the University is in dire need of diversity." I wholeheartedly agree.
We, as students at the University of Kansas, have a much lower percentage of nonwhite students than surrounding high schools - 9.2 percent versus 28 percent. The University has no excuse for
In response to the editorial's statement that "almost no one disagrees with the fact that the University is in dire need of diversity," I must disagree.
this discrepancy. Why aren't these local non-White students going to a local school? I think that college admissions need to keep that in mind when deciding how and when to administer Affirmative Action.
diverse and its "advertise ment" of this "fact" is very pervasive to new students and students who come from areas with very little diversity. The orientation staff must believe that the University is diverse a video stating just that is played during orientation. The administration needs to get a grip on the fact that there are only 9.2 percent minority students on campus.
I have found more skeptics than are laughable. The Multicultural Resource Center believes that the University is
Emily Lietzen Kansas City, Kan., sophomore