Opinion
The University Daily Kansan
4A
Laura Roddy, Editor
Sarah Hale, Managing editor
Kristi Elliott, Managing editor
Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser
Tuesday, February 1, 2000
Clay McCuistion/KANSAN
Editorials
Canceling all late-night parties does not ensure students' safety
Last week, the University of Kansas issued a moratorium on late-night parties at the Kansas and Burge unions in response to the recent shooting of a student at a fraternity party at the Burge Union. While the shooting came as a surprise and a scare to students, faculty and staff alike, canceling all late-night parties is a peremptory and ineffective way to address safety concerns.
University officials certainly were justified in trying to ensure that the campus is a safe environment for students. However, the Burge shooting is an isolated incident, and there is no concrete indication that something similar may happen again. Our campus is not violence-ridden and by no means can be treated like a highcrime area.
University should cooperate with students to implement more stringent safety measures
Undoubtedly, some additional safety measures should be implemented, but that doesn't mean that University life should halt for an indefinite period of time. Ideally, the University could have canceled only the next weekend's events and used that time to devise specific safety measures.
The groups mainly affected by the moratorium are minority greek organizations, who have no chapter houses on or off campus. Therefore, the unions are the most economical and safe places for these organizations to
have parties. Banning these parties may force them to find other less safe areas to have parties — if they can finance them — actually placing them in more jeopardy.
Now that the University has issued a moratorium, however, it is hoped that it will be applied uniformly among late-night events sponsored by all student organizations, not just minority fraternity or sororities.
The bottom line is that violent incidents can happen anywhere. The University cannot let a one-time occurrence control a part of campus life. Campus security is not a Herculean task. Officials should cooperate with the organizations sponsoring the events to implement the necessary security measures instead of just canceling them.
Cynthia Malakasis for the editorial board
Feedback
Macroevolution not only victim of BOE's decision
It also removed references to the Big Bang, geological time and global warming, and it redefined the nature of science. The ramifications of the BOE's changes are far more serious than you have indicated.
In Drew Ryun's opinion piece, he said the board only removed references to macroevolution. That is inaccurate.
Liz Craig Kansas Citizens For Science
Student fees are like taxes should not be selective
I noticed Drew Ryun thought it was a good idea to allow students to pick and choose the individual groups their student activities fees go to support. If this is so, does he also think it is a good idea to allow individual taxpayers to choose what government activities our taxes support? If so, I really would like to check a box on my 1040 tax form to make sure none of my taxes go to buy any more B-2 bombers. After all, I personally disagree with the B-2 program.
Most rational people would say that my idea is crazy; that is why we elect representatives to decide how to spend citizens' tax dollars. Well, the same thing goes for student representatives; we elect them to determine how to spend our student activity fees. The system works and should not be changed.
Mike Silverman University of Kansas alumnus and Lawrence resident
Condemnation of gays is mistranslation of Bible
Scott Miller St. Louis, Mo., resident
I was both amused and saddened by Ralph
Kansan staff
Gordon's Jan. 24 letter expressing outrage over religious leaders' support of equal rights for gay Americans. Can Gordon really know so little about the Bible, the book by which he apparently lives his life?
The truth is this: The Bible never condemns gay men and women or their acts. Modern day Bibles have unfortunately mistranslated the original Greek and Hebrew texts, which do not ever even mention homosexuality, since the concept was completely unknown to them (kind of like jet propulsion). The word didn't even appear in Bibles until the 1940s. There are, in actuality, no references at all to gay men and women in the original texts of the Bible. The Bible only condemns rape, pagan rituals, prostitution and adultery — the same taboos for straight and gay people alike.
For example, the sin of the people of Sodom was a lack of hospitality to strangers, not one of being gay. At that time in history, conquering armies often raped the soldiers of the armies they defeated. And that is what the men of Sodom did to the angels. Surely Gordon doesn't think that all soldiers at that time were gay, does he? That would certainly change the gays in the military debate.
Unfortunately, as long as Bibles with these mistranslations are around, people like Gordon will indulge in sound-bite religion and continue to claim God disapproves of gay Americans or their private acts. The truth is neither God nor Jesus has weighed in on this issue yet—perhaps because it shouldn't be an issue to begin with.
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Broaden your mind: Today's quote
“University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.” — Henry Kissinger
Perspective
Want a college degree? Hand over your wallet
Welcome to the Modern State University; it may just be a brave new world after all. Relax, we have CocaCola and other corporate sponsors to finance our educations — even in the face of big, bad government budget cuts. And if they cut too deep, just raise tuition a little bit.
What's the big deal? The newly approved tuition increase at Kansas universities may not seem like much; it's only a few more dollars per credit hour and it does take a lot of money to run a university, but steadily increases add up quickly.
Erin
Goodison
columnist
sporian@kansan.com
If conventional wisdom holds any truth, and in this case it seems to the cost of a college education has risen at a rate far out of proportion with other cost-of-liv
ing increases during the last few decades. That means minimum wage — what most college students make — is not increasing fast enough to keep pace with skyrocketing tuition and other costs. The implications of this are greater than just higher prices, and it's not just this one little tuition increase that bothers me.
What we are facing is an elimination of choices.
In today's job market in almost any field, a bachelor's degree is the minimum requirement. High school graduates either must go to college or fight for a low-paying job that may not even provide health coverage. Enrollment rates suggest that most choose some type of college, if they can find a way to afford it. Minimum-wage jobs just can't cut it, especially when they're part time, and part-time jobs don't provide health insurance. In order to be covered by a parent's insurance policy, one must be a full-time student, which cuts into possible working hours. Many students take federal loans to make ends meet as they work part time and carry a full course load.
I am one of those students. Even with scholarships, a job and help from my parents, I have had to borrow money to cover the costs of education at my home state's university. I appreciate very much the government money that has allowed me to get a good education and remain fully insured and well-fed during my years at the
University of Kansas. Additional student loans even have allowed me to study abroad. However, many less-fortunate students have to borrow more to get less out of their college experiences.
As with most things, the real catch comes at the end. I will graduate next spring with about $10,000 in debt to the federal government, a large but not unusual amount for an undergraduate degree. After graduation, how do I begin to repay the loans? What about that pesky health insurance? These are the questions that my friends and I are beginning to ask ourselves.
The possible answers are limited: Go directly to graduate school, probably borrowing more money and deferring loan repayment, or go directly to work. The same job market that demands a bachelor's degree is not necessarily welcoming once you have obtained it. Because so many people now go on to some form of higher education, the degree itself opens fewer doors. College graduates are often forced to immediately take relatively low-paying jobs because they are the only jobs available, and waiting to work is rarely an option. If graduates are lucky, they won't have any lapses in their insurance.
This is a university and theoretically we are all adults here. Adults are supposed to be able to make tough decisions. We may not get exactly what we want when we want it, but I believe it's completely legitimate to expect college graduates to be relatively well-informed individuals who have viable alternatives to working in the company store. Unfortunately, the cycle of debt that begins in college — thanks to expensive tuition, unaffordable health insurance and the limited means of obtaining both — eliminates many options and spits graduates out into the work force, the New Company Store. This is where you do time in your cubicle until you pay off your debts — if you're lucky enough. And don't even think about starting a family.
This runs contrary to all the ideals of higher education and is certainly not in accordance with the wishes of most graduates. If KU students can get upset about the loss of choices regarding soft drinks and radio station formats, they reasonably may be offended by government budget cuts to the University and tuition price hikes that effectively limit their choices regarding life and livelihood. We may be cheap, educated labor, but I don't want to live in a brave new world or go to work at the New Company Store.
Goodison is a Mound City senior in art history.
If suits and handshakes fail, take to the streets
For those of you who ever make it to the end of my columns (I'll be happy to take you both out to dinner sometime), you'll notice that I'm majoring in international studies.
For the most part, I'm not particularly interested in U.S. politics (with the notable exception of gun control) and could care even less about local government — highway construction and farm subsidies don't seem to hold my attention. But every once in a while, in the not-so-great state of Kansas, the government does something so stupid and so shortsighted that even an internationalist like me pays attention.
Ethn Simpson columnist
pionier@kansan.com
When Gov. Bill Graves and the Kansas Legislature
approved tax cuts last year, they evidently forgot — to borrow a line from the KU Young Democrats — that it would mean less revenue. That has led not only to across-the-board spending cuts, including here at the University of Kansas, but also to tuition increases. More succinctly, we will be paying more and getting less
But wait, there's more. Two years ago, the Legislature agreed to match funds to improve technology: For each dollar we paid, it was to pay two. We cleverly call it 2-for-1 technology money. This was not a backroom deal, nor was it a "gentleman's agreement." It was akin to a contract. We've kept our part of the bargain by raising student fees by one dollar. But the Legislature hasn't kept its part and, instead, has cut its commitment in half.
But this isn't fair, you say. Unfortunately, we have given the Legislature and the Board of Regents good reason to assume that keeping the cost of education low is not one our priorities. Last spring, students approved a $88-per-year fee hike to pay for a new recreation center. Some of you surely are saying, "Tsk, tsk, Erin."
Many students believe that politics don't affect their lives. I wonder if they'll remain convinced of that when they pay their tuition bills next semester. And if they aren't, I hope to see them on the Capitol steps.
you are playing politics!" You bet I am. I was bitterly opposed to the new recreation center last spring, and the more I think about it, the worse an idea I realize it is. That referendum sent a clear message to the Regents and others in Topeka that KU students are NOT opposed to fee increases. Tuition hikes and broken promises were the result. Feel free to thank Kevin Yoder if you see him.
The problem is further complicated in the lobbying strategy of the student body president and others in Student Senate. Last week, a protest took place at the state Capitol; no KU students were involved because Korb Maxwell would rather do his work in the halls of the Legislature. I've gone with Korb to lobby in Topeka. I even wrote the statewide lobbying brochure last year. It's one of the most frustrating experiences I've ever had. Legislators pat you on your head and send you on your way. There is a time and place for suits and handshakes, and there is a time when you dig in, clench your fist and protest on the Capitol steps.
But in all honesty, it's not all Korb's fault. We go to school in a state where many legislators refuse to acknowledge the value of higher education, where many lawmakers lack such education and where the University is referred to by many in Topeka as "Snob Hill." In a state where some legislators think all state highways should be toll roads, getting funding for something so abstract and long term as higher education always is going to be a struggle.
But why should the Legislature even listen to students? We don't vote, and we certainly don't contribute any money. It's of almost no political consequence for the Legislature to raise tuition or break promises.
Simpson is a Lenexa junior in political science and international studies.
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