Opinion
231
The University Daily Kansan
4A
Laura Roddy, Editor
Sarah Hale, Managing editor
Kristi Elliot, Managing editor
Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser
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Thursday, February 17, 2000
Clav McCuistion / KANSAN
Editorials
Senate inconsistent in financing religious student organizations
The Intervarsity Christian Fellowship recently was denied funds from Student Senate to finance a presentation about the coexistence of science and religion on grounds that student money should not be used to pay for religious causes.
However, the speech, by chemist Henry Schaefer, probably would be much more academic than religious. Thus, Senate should not have denied the group funds on this basis.
that recently has been controversial in Kansas. The study of religion, as evidenced by the University of Kansas' religious studies department, obviously can be academic.
Senate rules state that it cannot finance anything primarily religious in nature. Schaefer, however, is a scientist who would deliver a scholarly lecture about an issue
Student senators should devise clear standards for determining nature of events
a jewish student organization, but primarily was historical in nature. This is similar to Schaefer's speech, which is sponsored by a Christian student organization, but would be scientific in nature. Although the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, like KU Hillel, may be a religious group, the event would probably be academic not religious.
In addition, there is precedent concerning Senate's financing of a speaker sponsored by a religious student organization. Three years ago, KU Hillel brought a speaker to campus for Holocaust Awareness Week. The speech was sponsored by
There is blatant inconsistency between the two cases.
It appears that Senate needs to implement clearer standards to determine which events qualify as religious in nature. This is the only way Senate will establish uniformity and fairness in doling out funds to student organizations and events.
Cynthia Malakasis for the editorial board
KU should define sweatshop policy
The impact of purchasing and selling collegiate products manufactured in sweatshops in developing countries recently has come to many universities' attention. Some, including the University of Kansas last spring, have signed non-binding contracts with other universities in an effort to curb the use of these products.
However, 10 months later, the University still has no specific standards for preventing the use of the KU logo on sweatshirts, mugs, hats, etc. that are produced in sweatshops. Recently, the University has decided to elaborate its commitment to fighting sweatshop labor by setting out more detailed standards for entering into licensing agreements with
University needs to expand upon commitment to reject products made in sweatshops
corporations that might use sweat shop labor. This is a step in the right direction.
The University is working to form a committee to develop these standards and is considering the placement of inspectors in developing countries where sweatshops exist. The University hopes to have manufacturer's standards in place by the end of the year.
taken if the use of sweatshop labor by companies we already have contracts with or by companies in the future is proven? Is it even feasible or practical to establish a committee to research sweatshops overseas?
This is a good plan. But some questions remain.
Also, the standards eventually set by the University must apply to the athletics department too. Many Kansas teams are sponsored by Nike, which has been widely criticized for the manufacture of some of their sports apparel in sweatshops.
For example, what action will be
Despite these questions and concerns, the University's efforts prove that it sincerely is concerned about important issues outside of the Hill, and that it is not wholly influenced by the all-mighty dollar.
Kansan staff
Eric Borja for the editorial board
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 ... Associate features
T.J. Johnson ... Photo imaging
Christina Neff ... Photo
Jason Pearce ... Design, graphics
Clay McCulstion ... Wire
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Becky LaBranch . . . Special sections
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Broaden your mind: Today's quote "One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well."
How to submit letters and guest columns
Virginia Woolf
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 photo-
cared for the column to run.
All letters and guest columns should be e-mailed to opinion@kansas.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
Differences in cuisine cause culinary craving
Emily
Hughey
columist
openiing@kansan.com
miss Gumby's. I miss El Mezcal. I even miss Kwlk Shop.
After a couple of weeks of ham that looks like raw bacon when shaved off an actual pig's leg, vegetables drowned in olive oil and whole milk from a box, I could really go for Poke Stix, a chicken
enchilada and a 44-ounce Coke with ice.
I never thought my appetite would scream for the comfort foods of home, but it's loud and there's nothing I can do about it. A few weeks in Spain has presented me with a most intriguing phenomenon—nothing tastes the same here.
I tried a cheeseburger in Madrid, tortellini in Toledo and pizza in Seville. Much to my chagrin, the cheeseburger tasted fried instead of grilled, the tortellini's overcooked noodles were drenched in
runny sauce, and even the pizza was sprinkled with Gorgonzola cheese, not mozzarella.
Before you embark on the study abroad experience, everyone warns you about culture shock, adjusting to the language and accommodating the people. After some time living with a talkative couple in their sixties, I say forget all of that and tell students to brace themselves for gastronomic paranoia.
After we came home from class last week, my roommate and I sat in our unheated bedroom making a verbal list of all the foods we missed. The list, according to my friends here, includes Tex-Mex cuisine, peanut butter, warm cherry pie la mode and mashed potatoes.
If my señora (the woman with whom I live) didn't prepared mashed potatoes yesterday for lunch, I might have gone over the edge. She must have known. Still, they weren't my mom's. They were
No matter where I go in Spain, be it McDonald's where the fries aren't salted, or Baskin Robbins where they don't have peanut butter and chocolate ice cream, it's never the same as it is at home. However, in some ways it's better.
pureed and mixed with corn butter and the milk from the box.
As much as I miss my to-go American comfort foods, I've delighted in sampling the Mediterranean-influenced cuisine of Southern Spain, where orange trees line the sidewalks and olive groves sprinkle the countryside. I've had some of the biggest and sweetest oranges of my life, thick calamari with hearty flavor, the tartest fresh tomato sauce, rich cheeses and delicious dark chocolate. And I could eat paella, the national dish of Spain, everyday. Made with rice, peppers, eggs, sausage, shell fish, tomatoes and seafood of all kinds, it's a rich compilation of diverse foods and secret spices that sate my appetite and please my palate in a different, very Spanish, way.
Before and during a meal, there's red wine, often straight from Spain's Rioja region, to sip for a price lower than bottled water. Red wine or, vino tinto, costs about $2 per glass in some places. The coffee here is strong and rich with flavor, as it's meant to be, and often accompanied by thick cream and sugar on the side.
Still, until I eat a peanut butter and honey sandwich, chips and salsa and grilled chicken and steamed vegetables and drink a cold Coke with ice, my stomach will continue to growl no matter how full I am.
There are no Starbucks or grocery stores here, just small cafes and independent markets with fresh meat, produce, bread and pastries to buy for everyday meals. Everything comes without preservatives, untainted and delicious.
Hughey is an Overland Park junior in journalism and Spanish. She is studying in Seville, Spain, this semester.
Students shouldn't miss indigenous activist's talk
Nobel Peace Prize Winner Rigoberto Menchu has come to the United States this week to discuss the case of U.S. political prisoner Leonard Peltier. It is the only reason she is traveling to the U.S., and she hopes to raise support for Peltier both in Washington, D.C., and in the Kansas City area.
Menchu will be on campus tomorrow to speak about Peltier and the plight of indigenous peoples internationally. This opportunity will be an unforgettable one — it isn't often that one has the chance to hear an internationally acclaimed
individual speak about her life and her life's work. In addition, the campus location is easily accessible and the price is just right - free.
Now serving as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Goodwill Ambassador and Promoter of the International Decade of Indigenous Peoples, Menchu won the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her work on behalf of indigenous people's rights. What does Menchu hope to accomplish? Education.
Breeze
Luetke-
Stahlman
columnist
opinion@kansan.com
In addition to speaking about the Rigoberta Menchu Tum Foundation, Menchu also will use her own life story to show the plight of indigenous peoples and tell firsthand of the war that has been waged on them.
However, things were changing and people were organizing. Not without tragedy, though. In 1979, Menchu witnessed her 16-year-old brother being dragged from the village to be tortured for 16 days before being burned alive. Then in 1980, during an occupation of the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala City, Menchu's
Menchu was born in 1959 in the village of Chimel near San Miguel de Uspantan, the capital of the northwestern province of El Quiche. She is Quiche, one of 21 groups of the Mayan people, who make up 60 percent of Guatemala's population. At the age of eight, Menchu worked with her mother in coffee plantation fields from 3 a.m. until dusk in conditions similar to slavery. This was the common fate of indigenous children, and it was the only option for their futures.
father, prominent activist Vincente Menchu, was killed. Three months later, her mother was kidnapped and repeatedly raped and tortured before being left to die on a hillside where her body eventually was devoured by predators.
So Menchu's life has become one of defense. As an advocate for her people, Menchu speaks internationally, in hopes of educating the world and force radical changes through public opinion. This week, Menchu brings her life stories and talents to the University of Kansas. She will be joined by Curt Goering, senior deputy executive director of Amnesty International, which is noted as one of the largest human rights organizations in the world. Goering will explain Amnesty's position on the Peltier case, which was established on April 16, 1999. It calls for Peltier's immediate and unconditional release.
Luetke-Stahlman is an Olathe junior in economics and American studies. She worked for the Leonard Peltier campaign from June 1998 to June 1999 as Peltier's national lobbyist in Washington, D.C.
These executions, along with thousands of others, forced Menchu to realize her fate would be the same. Left with no alternative, Menchu fled Guatemala. On Dec. 29, 1996, peace agreements ended Guatemala's 36-year internal war against its indigenous people. The death toll reached 150,000, not including the 50,000 who disappeared. In addition, 250,000 children were orphaned, 100,000 women were widowed and one million people were displaced. Through the tragedies of this war, Guatemala has gained the reputation of having the worst human rights violations in the Western hemisphere.
Menchu's presentation tomorrow is sponsored by the KU Amnesty chapter. It has been a great victory for the Peltier case to gain Amnesty's involvement, both internationally and locally. It is hoped that Menchu's presence in the U.S. this week will be both empowering for Peltier and helpful to his case.
Peltier will be up for parole in May and according to the parole commission's own guidelines, he should have been released eight years ago. Of course, the only thing that can guarantee Peltier's freedom is for the public to demand that its government do the right thing. This menchu's ultimate goal, she will no doubt have some incredible things to say, and I, for one, will be there to hear them.
Feedback
Scientists don't reject theory of evolution
In a letter in the Feb. 14 edition of the Kansan, Matthew Hastings writes that "Professor Buechner is obviously not wellread" because Buechner contends that the scientific community overwhelmingly supports biological evolution.
Hastings is not, know better than to quote out of context.
Jerry Coyne studies evolutionary genetics with fruit flies. When I spoke to Coyne today, he said he was appalled at Hastings' misrepresentation of his ideas.
Hastings goes on to cite University of Chicago biologist Jerry Coyne and University of Massachusetts geoscientist Lynn Margulis as examples of respected scientists who, he says, reject evolution. Truly well-read individuals, which
Lymn Margulis is best known for her endosymbiotic theory, an explanation of how complicated structures in eukaryotic cells evolved from bacteria. Contrary to Hastings' assertion, neither of these scientists rejects evolution.
I interviewed Lynn Margulis on my talk show on KJHK two years ago. In that interview, she called creationism "nonsense." I
will replay Margulis' interview on "Real Alternative Radio" today at 4 p.m. on KJHK
Additionally, Margulis' eloquent popular writings on evolution can be found in most bookstores. Perhaps Hastings should listen today, or pick up one of Margulis' books, or check out Coyne's Web site at http://pondside.uichicago.edu/ceb/faculty/coyne.html. He would learn something about evolution, and as importantly, he would learn not to argue subjects of which he is ignorant.
Rachel Robson Baldwin senior