Opinion
The University Daily Kansan
Laura Roddy, Editor
Sarah Hale, Managing editor
Kristi Elliott, Managing editor
Tom Eblen, General manager, news advisor
Shauntae Blue, Business manager
Brad Bolyard, Retail sales manager
Matt Fisher, Sales and marketing adviser
Matt Valler, Technology coordinator
Thursday, March 9, 2000
Patrick O'Connor / TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES
Editorials
Elected student representatives should handle campus fee issues
Student Senate has risked inaction on the nonrevenue sports fee issue based on the decision of a small subcommittee. Half of the members of this subcommittee were not elected to Senate, but still they are allowed to make decisions that affect the entire student body. Important issues such as this fee must be in the hands of elected representatives who are accountable to the student body.
The Campus Fee Review Subcommittee, a group of four senators and four nonsenators who are members of Senate standing committees, recently decided not to eliminate
Student senators should decide fate of nonrevenue sports fee for accountability's sake
the $20 nonrevenue sports fee, a portion of the campus fees all students pay at the beginning of each semester.
But Senate delegated this important duty to individuals who are not elected by the student body. Allowing a subcommittee to consider micro-issues might be a fair way to divide labor in Senate, and on some issues this might
not be as detrimental. However, these fees are more important than others.
Almost anyone can participate in Senate standing committees, but not all students have the time for campus politics. If we don't like the policies of our student government, our greatest expression of dissatisfaction is to not re-elect them. We can't do that to half of this subcommittee, because half of them are accountable only to themselves and their personal agendas.
A more open and fair way of settling the issue would be for the entire Senate to consider this issue. This way, at least students would feel better represented.
Brett Watson for the editorial board
Pinochet should stand trial at home
On March 3, former Chiléan dictator,
General Augusto Pinochet, left Britain
and returned home to Santiago, Chile.
Britain made the correct decision.
In one sense, the Pinochet case ended a chapter in international law and jurisdiction that likely would be revisited. In another, Pinochet's return to Chile could bring about his demise. Even at 84 years old, cries for justice still hound the aging dictator for the disappearances and deaths of 72 dissidents following his 1973 coup.
The international saga that began during the fall of 1998 has many twists and turns. It began with Pinochet's simple diplomatic visit to Britain. It became complex when he suffered a series of strokes. Then, even as he was convalescing from back surgery, British authorities arrested him. Word had come from Spain that Baltasar Garzon, a leftist judge, was seeking to extradite and try Pinochet in Madrid on charges that Spanish nationals, allegedly sympathetic with leftist groups in Chilé, had been among the 72 dissidents that were tortured and killed in 1973. Much to the credit of British Home Secretary Jack Straw, he refused to let Pinochet be extradited to Spain or Belgium, France and Switzerland, other countries seeking to try Pinochet for his crimes. Clearly,
Britain's decision to return dictator to Chile was correct; saga is far from finished
Pinochet's alliance with Britain during the Falkland War saved him.
However, the case is far from closed. During the process of seeking to extradite Pinochet, British and Spanish courts ruled in favor of universal jurisdiction, the principle that anyone charged with human rights violations could be tried in the country that arrested the accused.
In theory, it looks and sounds good. In practice, it creates a gray area. What do human rights violations mean to the international community? How far does this jurisdiction reach?
While the particulars of this ruling are being defined, individuals such as Pinochet should be returned to their home nations to stand trial. It now appears that this will occur, just as it should.
Drew Ryun for the editorial board
Feedback
Business research benefits universities financially
The March 6 Kansan editorial about university-sponsored business research was rather vague. But despite its lack of clarity, I disagree with it nonetheless.
The world is entering into an anomaly known as the Internet economy. It just so happens that universities are the fastest-growing producers of Internet start-ups. Even with labor markets the tightest they have been in 30 years, students are dropping out of
both graduate and undergraduate programs in an attempt to get financed by venture capitalists who are throwing seamlessly unlimited cash — to the tune of $28 billion during the first three quarters of 1999 — at a very finite number of profitable business models.
This just goes to show that importing basketball players from California isn't the only way a university can make money.
Instead of dropping out, a better solution would seem to be for universities to create incubator programs of their own. To wit, Akamai Technologies, which had the seventh highest IPO of 1999, made its Massachusetts Institute of Technology student founder $2 billion
on paper overnight. How much did it make MIT? Ninety-four million dollars on paper.
Jimmy Barmann
Lenexa sophomore
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, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. 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
Super Tuesday climax to political play-by-play
Check your brackets. March Madness is almost done. Of course, I am not referring to college basketball but instead to the equally sporting battle for the presidency. The biggest political game in ages has ended, and Super Tuesday has left two No. 1
Pnii
Cautionn
columnist
opinion@kansan.com
standing; George W. Bush and Al Gore. In the match-up everybody was watching, the hailed underdog, John McCain, fell.
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Like Lawrence after a late-March Jayhawk loss, the vibe here in Washington, D.C., is now rife with disappointment. The fall of McCain no doubt will be lamented for weeks on the airwaves and opinion pages by political superfans. Before Tuesday's crushing defeat
these fans were buzzing with excitement at the prospect of a victorious McCain, Republican nominee.
Early in the game, McCain fought against seemingly insurmountable odds to keep it close. While his heavily favored opponent confidently relied on tested tactics throughout the game, McCain played with a free-wheeling finesse that breathed new life into the sport. Soon after the New Hampshire tipoff, McCain was winning big points with the reformer play. But Bush rebounded with his own twist on that play, — reformer with results — and turned the tide on McCain's assault. Bush went on to run that play repeatedly and took advantage of slogan-rule number one: Keep it simple.
Showboating or not, you've got to make the shots to win the game. That's where McCain
With McCain gone, political superfans will have to find a reason to care about the championship game between now and November. It likely will be a typical battle of the titans, full of predictable partisan plays and undaring defense. While the Dick Vitales of Washington will do their best to make the game exciting, it won't be.
While the big Bush vs. Gore showdown probably will not be a blockbuster event, that's just as well. Nothing could do more for the game's ratings than, say, the Reform Party's Hulk Hogan. But if presidential politics were ever to get that exciting and if voter turnout were to approach 100 percent, things could be a lot worse than dull.
McCain's sloppy offense left voters' perceptions of him in disarray. Instead, Bush's coherent defense stuck: McCain is a hot-tempered, anti-conservative foe. By game's end, even McCain played into Bush's hands as he launched a prayer shot against the Religious Right.
began to slip. From the beginning, he shot from the hip with crowd-pleasing candor and spontaneity. He showed disdain for traditional rehearsed plays. So even though he was nailing his anti-insider play in the early going, he continually changed his game plan. Then McCain compared Bush to President Clinton. By that time he changed his game plan again, but it was too late.
The fact is, American voters are not like American sports fans. They don't like barnburner politics. The edge of their collective seat is not the preferred place to be.
Cautha is a North Richland Hills, Texas, graduate student in journalism. He is an intern at the Washington, D.C., bureau of the Houston Chronicle this semester.
Skyrocketing gas prices curb driving, pollution
I am usually very faithful about making sure my car's fuel level indicator never dips below the quarter tank line. But during the last couple of weeks, I have nervously watched the gauge inch closer and closer to the 'E' as gas prices continually climb.
I finally purchased a half-tank's worth of unleaded gas last weekend at $1.39 per gallon. My $10 certainly did not go far — I received barely more than seven gallons. Local and national newspapers reported last week a national gas price average of $1.50 per gallon, with some locations charging as much as $1.65. Most gas stations had seen an increase of about 41 cents during the last year.
Lori
O'Toole
columnist
ouniion@kansan.com
The increase has been difficult for many of us to swallow because it is the most we've ever had to pay for gas. (I was only 11 years old in 1980 when gas prices last peaked at $1.46, and the majority of the student body couldn't drive legally.)
m sure that a significant number of students and staff members already have cringed at the mere thought of the gas bill for upcoming spring break road trips or drives home at the end of the semester. I know I have — my car and I will take a 2,338 mile round-trip journey to Charlotte, N.C., for a summer internship.
And there's no guarantee that we have seen the end of the rising price trend. USA Today was among several publications that quoted sources who estimated prices as expensive as $2.50 per gallon at pumps this summer. If this prediction comes true, I could end up paying about $360 to finance
the gas for my trip out East and back.
Regardless of prospective pump prices, it seems that the current high cost may be doing more good than we realize — while people are driving less to save money, they're helping to decrease the amount of harmful pollutants that vehicles emit. Newspapers reported last week that high gas prices had caused drivers to avoid frivolous road trips, remap routes, car-pool and use mass transportation. The papers also said that consumers were more interested in vehicle fuel efficiency and gas mileage last week than during previous months.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported that vehicles emit about half of the pollutants that cause smog and 90 percent of the carbon monoxide in the air. This pollution hurts aquatic life and water quality. It stunts growth of trees and other plants and harms animals. In humans, it could lead to such respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses as bronchitis, pneumonia, emphysema and asthma.
The Consumer Federation of America, a non profit organization, estimated that Americans drive a total of 6.3 million miles each day, a fact that strongly correlates with the EPA's report that the automobile is the greatest pollutant in many densely populated cities. Anything that persuades people to drive less helps curb the pollution problems.
The climbing gas prices have reminded us of the limits of our natural resources and have forced drivers to think about the miles they will travel and the money they will pay for fuel every time they pick up a pump.
Many drivers, including me, will continue to drive less to avoid an extremely high gas bill. I hope they will also be aware of the potential to help save part of the environment while saving some cash on gas.
O'Toole is a Wichita junior in journalism and English.
Kansan staff
News editors
Seth Hoffman . . . . . . Editorial
Nadia Mustafa . . . . Editorial
Melody Ard . . . News/Special sections
Chris Fickett . . . News
Julie Wood . . . Nees
Juan H. Heath . Online
Mike Miller . Sports
Matt James . Associate sports
Katie Hollar . Campus
Nathan Willis . Campus
Heather Woodward Features
Chris Borniger Associate features
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 Schitt . . . Zone
Thad Crane . . . Zone
Cecily Curran . . Zone
Christy Davies . . Zone
Broaden your mind: Today's quote "I do want to get rich but I never want to do what there is to do to get rich." — Gertrude Stein