Opinion
The University Daily Kansan
Laura Roddy, Editor
Sarah Hale, Managing editor
Kristi Elliot, Managing editor
Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser
4A
Shauntae Blue, Business manager
Brad Badyard, Retail sales manager
Matt Fisher, Sales and marketing adviser
Scott Valler, Technology coordinator
Monday, April 10, 2000
Patrick O'Connor / TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES
Editorials
Joint student-city advisory panel superficial solution to real problem
Usually, compromises are something that require sacrifice from both sides of a debate. In the debate about whether University of Kansas students should be given more say in city affairs, the recent decision to form an advisory committee provides little in the way of compromise.
The new advisory panel tentatively will be made up of the student body president, vice president, Student Legislative Awareness Board community affairs director, city mayor, vice mayor and someone from the office of the city manager. As it now stands, this group would congregate twice each semester in an attempt to discuss matters important to KU students. On face, this panel is a great step toward heightened student involvement in Lawrence, but unfortunately, the worth of this proposal stops there.
Students deserve active role in city commission decisions; panel is only petty concession
The original request, to create permanent positions on city boards for KU students, was a worthwhile idea. This proposal was shot down on the belief that positions on city boards should not be allotted to certain groups. Also suggested was the fact that students could elect a city commissioner if they really wanted one. This position is ignorant both to the limitations students have as a voting block and to the significant parts they play in the community. Students, if they do vote in Douglas County, are a transitive population that often doesn't participate in voting. This said,
students still are the backbone of a city that rightfully considers itself primarily as a college town.
To make a panel that would meet twice each semester and hash out student concerns is a superficial solution. The thought of three students meeting with three city officials conjures up lobbying luncheons at which everyone has the chance to feel important.
There is no need for this panel to meet. City commissioners would need to shut out completely the outside world not to know what students want. Student leaders officially airing these concerns is redundant.
While some might argue that any progress is good, this progress simply delays the necessary. An active role in city government is needed for the sake of both the University and Lawrence. The advisory panel, though, is anything but active.
Jeff Engstrom for the editorial board
Feedback
Neosho World Civilizations is no longer transfer credit
The two courses Neosho County Community College offers as "World Civilizations" in Ottawa bear no resemblance to the NCCC courses the KU Western Civilization department approved some years ago for Western Civilization transfer credit.
The courses we approved were modeled entirely on KU Western Civilization courses, using the same primary sources and even our Collected Readings. Only in January did we discover that the courses now being promoted by NCCC for transfer credit are a very basic world history survey, offered as a "two-for-one" package, in which students simply work their ways through a history textbook. The March 9 Kansas quoted a KU student who is taking the Neosho courses. This student's quote makes it sound as though the requirements are minimal.
Having had the current NCCC courses brought to our attention, and having examined their syllabi, we have determined that they no longer should be accepted for KU Western Civilization credit. As students look toward advising and enrollment for summer and fall, they should know that the appropriate persons at NCCC officially have been notified that as of Summer 2000, World Civilizations I and II no longer will be accepted for Western Civilization credit at the
University of Kansas.
I want to thank my colleague Jim Leiker for his incisive remarks to the Kansan reporter. Focusing only on what narrowly and immediately is perceived as "relevant" or "important," and taking the path of least resistance regarding everything else is sady shortsighted and contrary to what a liberal education is all about.
James Woolfeil
Director, Humanities and Western Civilization
Local organs save lives at University's Med Center
The March 29 editorial about the new liver (not kidney) transplant distribution supports the new regulations. Sadly, the editorial board is misinformed about how the new rules will affect people like me, desperately ill and waiting for a new liver because of a rare disease (the same one Walter Peyton had).
Fortunately, I received my liver in June 1995 at the KU Medical Center. Under the new rules, I probably would not have survived to write this letter. The new rules will not be "better overall." The shift of donated organs may cause the closing of smaller and middized programs including the Med Center. If this happens, those waiting for transplants and we who require continual monitoring will be left without a regional care center.
larger center requires the financial burden of relocating to a distant center while waiting and remaining afterward during recovery. The resulting loss of emotional support from family and friends at this time is crucial.
Diverting locally donated organs likely will result in a decrease in organ donations. I was fortunate that my liver came from the Wichita area, and I periodically write my donor family thanking them for the gift of life.
Jameson Forster, director of the Med Center program, can provide details on these new regulations and how they will affect us locally.
To be placed on the waiting list at a
I find it disturbing that the Kansan supports a proposal that may result in the loss of this life-saving program at the Med Center.
Patricia Nicholas Former employee, KU Center for Research
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 opinion@kansan.com or submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 113 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan
If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4924.
Perspective
Daily schedule in Spain takes some adjustment
Time in Spain takes some getting used to. As a college student, I can handle the normal midnight to 1 a.m. bedtime and 8 a.m. wake-up call, but my stomach doesn't want to adjust to lunch at 2 p.m. and dinner at 10 p.m.
Thankfully, the Spanish have tapas.
*Tapas* are anything that comes with a drink, such as olives, ham and cheese, potato chips, anchovies, french fries or any form of Spanish food, in smaller portions. Spaniards almost always eat while drinking to avoid getting drunk or to provide an energy burst between meals, especially in the afternoon around siesta time or at night after dinner. Some even make a night of tapas, skipping dinner to go from bar to bar and eating *tapas* until they're full.
Matt
Merkel-Hess
columnist
opinion@kansan.com
Many Americans come to Spain with the idea that Spaniards stay up late because of siesta, a time when Spaniards traditionally took naps. The reality, at least in Madrid, is that smaller shops close down, but most businesspeople work throughout the day. Students are some of the lucky ones who can make time for siesta.
There's a saying here that when you sleep, you miss out on life. Spaniards just get less sleep, averaging one hour less than other European Union countries.
Nighttime in Madrid provides an example of filling the hours as full as possible. The streets start to crowd with high school students at about 8 or 9 p.m., but it's not until later, maybe 11 p.m. or midnight, that older folks start drinking and making the rounds for tapas.
Many college students begin in a plaza with a bottle of liquor, soda and cups, a cheap way to get the night started. Later, about 1 a.m., clubs start to fill up, and dancing can continue until 8 or 10 a.m. Some clubs don't bother opening until 3 or 4 a.m., catching the folks who stay out until the sun is well on its way and the birds are chirping.
Through the day and night, people stay in touch and meet up with friends by way of cellular phones, which have crept into every facet of Spanish life in larger cities. Even my 60-year-old host dad has one. Home phones here are expensive and usually off-limits to foreign students staying with host families. Most foreign students choose to get their own mobile phones and happily gab and text-message their ways through the day.
At the end of any Spanish night (at least 3 or 4 a.m., but a respectful 6 a.m. is better!) comes the time for my favorite treat, chocolate and churros. A churro is a doughy grease bomb, and the chocolate is slightly bitter and thick, almost like pudding, and steaming hot. After a sweaty club, nothing is better than sitting down and dipping a churro in some chocolate.
Some phone etiquette is a little lacking, especially among those fresh to the turning-off-the-ringer concept. One phone even went off next to me during a theatre performance and a buzz is not uncommon during class, at a restaurant or in the middle of a relaxing afternoon at the park.
But you have to stay in touch — time is slipping away. And it's never to early to start planning the next all-nighter.
Merkel-Hess is an Iowa City, Iowa, junior in journalism and environmental studies. He is studying in Madrid, Spain, this semester.
Students First advocate change in Student Senate
Students First is the first third-party, inclusive coalition at the University of Kansas dedicated to the interests of students alone. This coalition was formed with a vision of changing the way in which Student Senate is viewed, the way in which Senate operates and the people who are senators.
We brought together a group of proven leaders from across campus whose skills and knowledge of the interests of their constitencies made them naturers for Senate. We are not composed of Senate insiders. We are a new voice and a new perspective. — just, what.
perspective - just what Senate needs right now.
senate needs right now.
We think that there are certain areas in which Senate can and should take a greater responsibility for the interests of all students.
Senate can be an important voice and force for change in regards to student safety.
Along those lines, Students First has two major changes in mind. The first of these is a SafeBus program. Similar to Saferide, SafeBus would be a bus that would run on Thursday, Friday and
Sam
MacRoberts
guest columnist
opinion@kansan.com
Saturday nights, when students most often go out.
The proposed route would run through Daisy Hill, the greek living areas, down Massachusetts Street, and up to 14th and Ohio streets (near all the scholarship halls), and then would repeat the route. Use of this program could cut significantly down on drinking and driving at the University, something we are willing to acknowledge as a problem.
Second, we think it is important to increase the number of blue phones on and around campus. An area of particular interest is Daisy Hill. The five residence halls on Daisy Hill make up the greatest concentration of students anywhere in Lawrence, and yet it is an area completely without blue phones. The huge number of students
and poor lighting in parking areas near the residence halls make a lack of blue phones a major problem. We also think that there is a need for blue phones between Gertrude Sellars Pearson-Corbin Hall and campus, and at the areas near the Alpha Delta Pi and Kappa Delta sorority houses, which are poorly lighted and have no blue phones.
Students First also wants to bring the entire University together as much as possible. Toward that end, we want to make Homecoming a week-long event, and not something that people hear about only on Friday afternoon. Now, Board of Class Officers and Student Union Activities handle the Homecoming activities. They do a good job, but there are areas in which Senate could help them.
There are a lot of activities that are popular at other universities, and once were at this University, that have faded away. We want to revive these old traditions, as well as starting some new ones.
We also want to push the administration to release students from class for the Homecoming parade, a common practice at other schools. The potential increase in participation and school spirit during the week from these changes is huge.
Students First has many more ideas for Senate, but not enough space here to tell you about them all. We mostly want you to ask yourself a few questions: What has Senate done for you recently? Do your senators care about you year-round or only in the weeks before an election? Is Senate doing a good job now of looking out for your interests?
News editors
If you think that Senate has become stagnant, is not serving its purpose well and does not represent you — basically, if you believe that it is time for a change in Senate — then Students First should be your choice. We have a bold vision of change that will benefit you. And even if you choose not to vote for us, be sure to go to the polls Wednesday and Thursday.
MacRoberts is a Leawood junior. He is Students First's candidate for student body president.
Kansan staff
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 ... Joyplay
T.J. Johnson ... Photo imaging
Christina Neff ... Photo
Jason Pearce ... Design, graphics
Clay McCuistion ... Wire
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 Schilt .Zone
Thad Crane .Zone
Cecily Curran .Zone
Christy Davies .Zone
Broaden your mind: Today's quote
“Philosophy triumphs easily over past and over future evils, but present evils triumph over philosophy.” — François de la Rochefoucauld
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