Opinion
The University Daily Kansan
Laura Roddy, Editor
Sarah Hale, Managing editor
Kristi Elliott, Managing editor
Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser
4A
Thursday, April 6, 2000
Editorials
15 spots not even drop in bucket of scholarship hall parking woes
The parking controversies at the University of Kansas never seem to end. Whether it pertains to tickets, spaces or prices, there is always an issue. Last week, the University Council denied the Miller and Watkins Scholarship Halls' efforts to obtain 15 parking spots on Lilac Lane. Despite a strong push by many scholarship hall residents, the proposal was rejected 17-15. The council was right to reject the proposal because with only 15 spots at stake, those few spots should belong to faculty.
Spots behind Fraser Hall are tight for scholarship hall residents as well as faculty. Fraser is one of the most frequented buildings on campus, so the need for parking spaces is essential for all the faculty members who work there. No matter what, parking always will be tight around the scholarship halls, and 15 spots will not make that much of a difference.
This is especially true because after 5 p.m., the spots are open for
University Council's decision to deny Miller, Watkins Halls spots by Fraser is justified
overnight parking. Also, with the addition of a new parking garage by the Kansas Union next year, scholarship hall residents might have a new option. Some spaces in the new parking garage should be offered only to scholarship hall residents.
In an issue like this, there is a fine line between keeping the faculty happy and facilitating students' needs. In this case, it was in the best interest of the faculty to keep those spaces. Other faculty parking spaces are far enough away to cause commuting professors to be late for classes.
The chancellor still needs to approve the council's decision, which could give the proposal the green light. Instead of trying to change whom the
spaces go to, more spaces should be created to better serve the scholarship halls. When residents come in during busy times, they are forced to park on Ohio or Tennessee streets. This inconvenience poses a major safety risk to those coming to campus late at night.
The University should look to other options to help solve the scholarship hall parking problems. For example, there needs to be a loading zone on Alumni Place so that residents who come home with several bags of groceries don't have to trek up the hill in fear of getting a $35 parking ticket. Also, the University perhaps could add extra metered spots in the area.
Even though the University was justified in denying Miller and Watkins the extra spaces, something should be done to create more parking for scholarship hall residents. This would help ensure that residents who purchase a permit will have a place to park, especially in the interest of safety late at night.
Eric Borja for the editorial board
Feedback
Kansan neglects coverage of minority student events
Last weekend, several KU departments, such as Admissions and Scholarships, Multicultural Affairs and the Freshman-Sophomore Advising Center, to name a few, hosted a conference on the recruitment and retention of minority students. Several speakers attended the conference, including the nationally known host of the talk show BET Tonight, Tavis Smiley.
Faculty and students from surrounding schools as well as the University of Kansas attended this event. The April
3 Kansan featured articles on stolen Student Senate banners, a dinosaur named after Bambi, and three students cleaning the grass in front of Watson Library. This blatant exclusion of important events and issues that affect minority students on this campus is unfortunately not surprising. Minority students cannot depend on the Kansan objectively to cover their events and programs. However, any unfortunate instance involving minority students is given unwavering attention by the Kansan. Exclusion from positive exposure is unfair and damaging to the morals of minority students.
greek letter chapters serve the KU and Lawrence communities. On Monday, the 'Kansan' chose to run a photo of Kappa Delta members participating in a campus clean-up, while the historically Black and Latina/Latino greek letter organizations were hosting a clothing drive for the Salvation Army. It is not surprising to see that once again, the 'Kansan' has neglected to cover the important activities sponsored by minority students.
Ericka Morris Philadelphia senior
On any given weekend, the majority,
if not all, of the historically Black
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
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Clay McCuistion ... Wire
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Becky LaBranch ...Special sections
Krista Lindemann ...Campus
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Patrick Rupe ...Online creative
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Jenny Weaver ...Creative layout
Matt Thomas ...Assistant creative
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Broaden your mind: Today's quote
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald
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 photocropped for the column to run.
All letters and guest columns should be e-mailed to opinian@kansas.com or submitted to the Kansan news room, 111 Stauffar-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Nadia Mustafa or Sath Hoffman at 864-4924.
If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (apition@kansan.com) or call 864-4924
Perspective
Lesson to be learned: Can't Have It Your Way
We're a quarter of the way into the year 2000, and while the world still hasn't come to an end, it has seen its share of trouble. More than 900 people died in a Ugandan cult massacre, the
Russian government instituted a vodka tax and the University of Kansas messed up the enrollment times of 6,000 students. The latest story of demise involves a multi-billion dollar American company — a company many of us thought never would falter.
Luke
Wetzel
columnist
option@kansan.com
No, I'm not talking about Microsoft. Bill Gates might be in bad shape, but his problems are nothing compared to King W. Burger K.
are nothing compared to those of Burger King. Yes, Burger King.
Sure, if you talk to Dana Frydman, director of Product Marketing for the Burger King Corp., she'll tell you otherwise. She'll probably mention the $10.9 billion sales in 1999, or brag about operating more than 10,800 restaurants in 50 states and 57 countries. But don't let all of this fool you. Burger King is no more likely to admit to a less-than-graceful aging process than any other 46-year-old.
The sad truth, gentle readers, is that Burger King is undergoing a midlife crisis. How can I back up such a preposterous claim? To begin, let me say that my recent trips to Burger King just haven't felt right. The last time I ate there I was in the middle of Texas, ants were crawling on the walls and my bacon double-cheeseburger was burned beyond recognition.
Jan. 7: Burger King Corp. announces it will begin testing a line of three chicken choices: Farmer's Garden, Honey Mustard and Bull's Eye Barbecue. One week into the New Year and it already has begun to sell out. Evebrows are raised.
Because my own experiences only count for so much, however, I took a look into the Burger King press release library. Here's a smattering of its rather tumultuous time line:
Feb. 24: Burger King announces it will offer a new bacon cheddar Whopper. I went so far as to try this one. It wasn't bad. But the new whopper is to the original Whopper what *Return to Oz* is to *The Wizard of Oz*. It has some inventive effects, but as long as the original's around, it just isn't necessary.
Jan. 28: Burger King announces it will offer an Italian version of its Chick'n Crisp sandwich. "The Italian Chick'n Crisp combines our great tasting chicken with a taste
March 22: Burger King announces it will introduce pancake minis, silver dollar-sized, buttermilk pancakes developed in conjunction with the Pillsbury Co. The sellout marketing continues, only this time Burger King has enlisted the help of the Pillsbury doughboy. Shame on them.
of Italy," says Stefan Bombard, vice president of Brand Marketing. Unfortunately for Bombard, Burger King could hire a legion of the finest cooks in Italy and people still wouldn't go there for a "taste of Italy." Trust me on this one.
In what is probably the most embarrassing event of the year, Burger King recently has urged customers to destroy and discard Pokemon balls found in November and December Kids' Meals. On Jan. 25, a 4-month-old boy in Indianapolis reportedly suffocated when one-half of a Pokemon ball that was in his crib became stuck on his face. Just carrying them was bad enough, but the fact that the Pokemon toys are fatal, well, that's just sorry.
So what can Burger King do to save itself from commercial backlash and further embarrassment? My advice for them, as much as I hate to use the phrase, is to keep it real. Look at Wendy's, for example. Dave Thomas may not be the most exciting sales figure, but he plays it straight. He builds on his own tradition without blatantly morphing it into flashy, gimmicky burgers. And McDonald's eventually had to put the Hamburger in McJail once and for all. It wasn't an easy thing for it to do, but it just couldn't have such a shady character promoting its product.
You see, life is a series of compromises even in the fast food industry. Burger King should be proud of who it is. New products and risks are part of business, but whorish tactics only will cheapen a company's image. Ultimately, Burger King needs to learn to ignore its slogan and accept what Bill Gates never learned: Sometimes it just doesn't pay to Have it Your Way.
Wetzel is a Westwood freshman in English and journalism.
Campus safety overrides financing interest groups
The U.S. Supreme Court released its unanimous decision March 22 in Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System v. Southworth et al., a case that ought to be of great importance to students at every public university in the
United States and especially here at the University of Kansas.
University of Kansas. The challenge was whether a public university (in the Board of Regents case, namely the University of Wisconsin) had the constitutional right to charge its students activity fees without the students' individual or popular consent. The Court held that "the First Amendment permits a public university to
Jonathan T.
Sternberg
guest columnist
ominik.kanan.com
charge its students an activity fee used to fund a program to facilitate extracurricular student speech, provided that the program is viewpoint neutral."
I certainly accept the Court's decision, as the Board of Regents was not quashing the Wisconsin students' First Amendment rights by charging an activity fee, and the students themselves should not choose the organizations they wish to finance if the Board of Regents has not put the process into practice in such a manner. Looking at the case in the context of the University of Kansas, however, the decision puts the responsibility of overseeing student activity fees and other such fees in yet another body's hands. Here at the University, where the funds certainly seem "viewpoint neutral," we already have a body as such — Student Senate. So far, however, it has not done enough of a competent job of managing what is, in fact, our money — neutrality notwithstanding.
As an independent candidate for off-campus senator, it is my duty to enhance the lives, health and welfare of my prospective constituents. I seek to carry out this duty by means of what I call a "funding overhaul." By this, I mean dropping all partisan-political organizations and other such
"special interest" campus activities from the student activity budget, and instead contributing their financing toward public safety and campus lighting. I believe the physical welfare of the student body to be of much greater importance than partisan rhetoric and opinionated ardor. I have researched the budget and placed the total financing of these organizations from Senate-allocated funds at $25,143.
This would be enough to buy two parking lot cameras, 12 electronic campus locks — for which the KU Public Safety Office does not have the funds — and four more large parking lot lights. If the Senate were to allow the $99,230 received from the campus lighting fee to apply to safety in general and add to it the denied special interest financing, the result would be $124,373. We would be able to buy 20 lights, 10 cameras and 62 electronic locks.
and so electronic transactions.
The entire concept of a funding overhaul, however, points to the problem at hand. We, the students, are in desperate need of our representatives to find out exactly where our money goes. Moreover, if it goes somewhere that it shouldn't, or rather where it might be better spent elsewhere, then it is the responsibility of our representatives to right our financing wrongs — not that the Supreme Court, the Board of Regents or any other organization.
This was the message of the Wisconsin Board of Regents case: The governing body does not have to consult the student body. That simply puts the responsibility of financing regulation in the governing body's hands.
My plan calls for all politically oriented organizations to maintain their funds as the KU College Republicans and KU Young Democrats do - by member, alumni and friendly support.
I believe that I could get the ball rolling, finally getting something truly, legally and rightfully accomplished in Senate, making the University a safer campus. I only hope that the rest of the student body and my prospective constituents feel as I do.
Sternberg is a Loawood freshman in political science and history.