Opinion
The University Daily Kansan
Laura Roddy, Editor
Sarah Hale, Managing editor
Kristi Elliot, Managing editor
Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser
Shauntie Blue, Business manager
Brad Bolyard, Retail sales manager
Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser
Scott Valler, Technology coordinator
Thursday, January 27, 2000
Dana Summers/ TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES
Editorials
In-state tuition rewards taxpayers should not be available to others
Recently, several students have complained about the University of Kansas' standards for determining residency. This is not a new debate. There has been a long dispute about who qualifies as a Kansas resident and who does not. And despite the wishes of many who hope to slim their tuition bills, attending the University does not alone make a student a resident. This is a justified policy.
The policy for the six Regents universities is that an individual must reside in the state for at least one year and be employed full-time prior to enrollment to qualify for in-state tuition. If individuals come to Kansas and take courses at either a Regents university or a private college before
Requirments ensure that Kansans get a return on their educational investment
that year is up, they will be considered non residents throughout their college careers in Kansas.
Although many students do not agree with this policy, it is a just one. If someone comes to Kansas solely for the intent of education, they should not be granted the same benefits given to those who have long lived in the state and whose parents have paid taxes for several years.
In-state tuition is granted to Kansas residents in hopes of making the state a better place. Kansans put money
into the state educational system with the intent of eventually gaining something from it. By granting Kansans a cheaper education, the hope is that they will be able to use their college experiences to give back to the state after graduation. It is not fair to give a cheaper rate to students who come to Kansas merely for an education and who have less loyalty to the state.
Every other state's universities offer their own in-state tuition rates. If out-of-state students think that they must attend the University, they should be willing to dole the cash or move to and work in Kansas for a year.
In-state tuition is a reward for longterm Kansas residents, not a privilege for everyone.
Heather Herrman for the editorial board
Prisons have right to quarantine
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an Alabama appeal that challenged a prison's right to segregate HIV-positive inmates. While only a few states require quarantine, this decision ensures that prisons will remain empowered in their attempts to contain the virus.
The ruling does not mandate that all prisons segregate HIV-positive inmates, but only affirms that those prisoners with the resources retain the option. Some of the prisons that have opted to segregate have not provided equal treatment to HIV-positive inmates. This inferior treatment should not be allowed. All inmates should be offered the same opportunities and living conditions.
All inmates should be offered the same opportunities and living conditions as others
However, it's still important that segregation be an option. With prison HIV rates 20 times that of the general public in the U.S., states should be allowed to make their own policies regarding quarantine. Admittedly, the segregation of inmates is a less-than-ideal solution, but we can not ignore that prison is a place of harsh realities.
About 23,000 inmates, or more than one-third of all prisoner deaths are from complications with AIDS. Of the more than 100,000 inmates who pass through
the system, about 362 will test positive for HIV.
Even more pressing than the percentage of infected inmates is the high-risk activities that take place within prisons. These risks include the use of unsterile syringes and tattooing utensils, a 30 percent sexual activity rate among inmates and the rape of an estimated 9 to 20 percent of prisoners.
If states with high rates of inmate infection are not allowed to take the initiative, our prison system could serve as a breeding ground for HIV.
It would be foolish to pretend that any kind of prison segregation, even when lives are involved, is completely ethical. But with so many people at stake, each situation should be dealt with on a more localized, state level.
Tara Alexander for the editorial board
Kansan staff
Seth Hoffman . . . Editorial
Nadia Mustafa . . . Editorial
Melody Ard . . . News/Special sections
Chris Fickett . . . News
Jule 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 McQuistion . Wire
News editors
**Advertising managers**
Becky LaBranch ... *Special sections*
Krista Lindemann ... *Campus*
Ryan Riggin ... *Regional*
Anne Buckles ... *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 Schlitt ... *Zone*
Thad Crane ... *Zone*
Cecily Curran ... *Zone*
Christy Davies ... *Zone*
Advertising managers
Broaden your mind: Today's quote
“Guns, race, meat and manifest destiny all collided in a single explosion of violent, dehumanized activity.” — Ruth L. Ozeki
**Leters:** 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.
How to submit letters and quest columns
Guest columns: Should be double spaced typeed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photo-trapped for the column to run.
All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stuffer-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 (capition@kansan.com) or call 864-4924.
Perspective
Corporate coffee giant poses puny local threat
W When I was assigned to write a column about Starbucks moving into the Kansas Union, I decided the best way to handle the topic would be to write about it under the influence.
Luke
Wetzel
columnist
opinion@kansan.com
My first stop for coffee was the new Starbucks itself, located within the Hawk's Nest on the third floor of the Union. Starbucks coffee recently replaced the coffee of Einstein Bros., although Einstein Bros. bagels still will be sold. The espresso, previously made by the Union's espresso machine, also has been replaced with Starbucks coffee.
being, well, under the legal age of purchasing ceral-malt beverages, I refer not to alcohol, but to caffeine.
The subject being the appearance of a major coffee
Because of unfamiliarity of the new equipment, the Hawk's Nest employee fumbled a little with my order of a tall (Starbucks-speak for small) cafe mocha, giving me time to fully ponder my purchase. This was my first purchase of a cup of Starbucks coffee, but because I was wearing a Gap sweater, Old Navy khakis and Eddie Bauer hiking boots, I didn't feel I was selling out to brand names any more than usual.
The struggles Starbucks faces on a national level are perhaps not so relevant to the Kansas Union location. Jay Glatz, Union food services manager, referred to the new addition as a "non traditional" Starbucks, one with a limited menu specially designed for universities and businesses. With a closing time much earlier than outside coffee shops and with downtown a comfortable distance away, the new Starbucks doesn't appear threatening to other Lawrence establishments.
from United Airlines to Barnes & Noble has equated the company with corporate America in many people's minds, causing resentment among some as well as popularity among others. In order to combat a greedy image, however, Starbucks has engaged in philanthropic efforts such as literacy and environmental campaigns.
When I first heard word of Starbucks on campus, an alarm bell went off in my head. My only experience with Starbucks had been in Kansas City, Mo., when it moved next door to Broadway Cafe, 4106 Broadway St. In the terms of the sappy romantic comedy "You've Got Mail," Starbucks was the large, intrusive "Fox Books," and Broadway Cafe was the locally owned "Shop Around the Corner." In support of Broadway, a favorite hangout of mine in high school, I never once paid the Starbucks a visit.
For me, the coffee-drinking experience is all about finding small, independent shops to visit. Consequently, Starbucks holds little appeal for me other than the seductive, mermaid-looking woman on the company logo. I would rather spend money on Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Pepsi products than on a Starbucks cafe mocha, and I'd rather mooch off the coffee pot next door than go to the Union and buy my own. However, the generally positive response shown by visitors to the Hawk's Nest displayed why Glatz had called the addition a win-win situation for students and the Union. The acceptance of the new location, as well as the plan to install a Starbucks in the yet-uncompleted education building at Joseph R. Pearson Hall, proved that Starbucks isn't an agent of capitalist takeover, but simply an inevitable player in any coffee industry.
After recently researching the history of the company, however, I formed a much different opinion. I've heard stories from Seattle natives about protests by anti-franchise groups, and I've read negative commentaries about the company in newspapers. However, the growth of Starbucks from a single shop in Seattle to the leading retailer and roaster of specialty coffee in the world is worthy of at least a grudging respect. The adoption of Starbucks products by owners
said David Atterey of Henry's coffee shop, 11
E. Eighth St. said he didn't hear about the
Starbucks in the Union, but he wasn't worried
about it affecting Henry's
Having reached the conclusion that the new coffee-fee-tainted talon of the Hawk's Nest will not fataly claw local coffee shop culture, I was able to relax and enjoy the rest of my cafe mocha. In doing so, I remembered a conversation with my father years ago. When he returned home one night with a steaming Starbucks cup in hand, I had asked him how he could possibly support a chain I then thought to be synonymous with corporate takeover.
"Well," he said. "They make good coffee."
adoption of Starbucks products by everyone
Wetzel is a Westwood freshman in English and journalism.
Drunken Americans give wrong impression
As a Midwesterner born and raised, always had wondered what foreign exchange students thought of Americans. Nina, my German friend, used to laugh and say she didn't know. Susumu, from Japan, just smiled and said nothing.
Finally, the group of Spanish men and
Emily
Hughey
columnist
opinion@kansan.com
"Why did you come here?" they asked in colloquial Spanish. "We didn't do anything to you," mumbled another. "Go back home," chided another. "Stupid American kids," an elderly man snapped as he pushed his way past us.
women leaving a disco early one morning in Toledo, Spain, gave me a straight answer.
Embarrassed, I stood away from the posse of drunken American 20-somethings who couldn't translate the Spaniards' irritation.
The American girls drank and danced, the American guys drank and "protected" them from Spanish men. American me sat, crest-allen, watching the horrible manifestation of
So these are the people who give us our reputation? One American girl, with salon highlights in her hair, had removed her sweater to reveal a tight tank top and was dancing around the floor like it was her own, beer bottle in hand. Another spread the word that if you were nice to Spanish men, they would buy you drinks. A couple girls gave the men who bought them drinks kisses as a return favor and then summoned one of the few males in our program to act as their boyfriends until they found a new Spaniard to buy their drinks.
As I was walking down the street that night, a taxi pulled up beside me. Moving a translated Danielle Steele novel from the passenger seat on to the dashboard, the taxi driver asked me where I was from. I barely could get the words out, disgusted with the three obnoxious girls behind me chattering in English.
"The United States," I replied. A bright smile spread across his face. "Welcome to Toledo," he said in Spanish. "How do you like it here?"
Hughey is an Overland Park junior in journalism and Spanish. She is studying at the University of Seville in Seville, Spain.
On the steps outside of the disco, where two of the American guys were asked to leave, I watched one pass a hash cigarette around a circle of too-drunk girls and another recount three times the fist fight he noly declined.
In a place where American movies are dubbed in Spanish, where all shop owners want to practice their English with you and where young men jest about marrying American women so they can get green cards, all eyes are on the United States. Even in a darkened disco, where everyone moves to Cher, Madonna and Moby, it's important to remember that the global visibility and influence of American culture doesn't warrant dominance abroad.
Bewildered, I went looking for a taxi to take me back to the hotel. Walking down the streets of a country where public drunkenness is distasteful, common courtesy is alive and kisses are given with more caution than back home. I wanted to be invisible.
the drunken American stereotype.
Although my experience with Americans in the disco that night was mortifying, I since have had countless positive experiences. Not all Americans here are obnoxious drunken slobs, and not all Spaniards see us as such.
Feedback
Tolerance important
In the Jan. 24 issue of the Kansan, there was a feedback article that disturbed me. Ralph Gordon wrote about his outrage of religious leaders condoning homosexuality.
While I respect his opinion, I completely disagree. In his fundamentalist views, his statements are correct, but all Christians are not fundamentalist. I understand that my beliefs may sound absurd to a religious right-winger, but I say bravo to religious leaders tolerant of homosexuality. I am the first to
admit that I am not a very religious person (or a homosexual), but I do not feel you should condemn someone through your interpretation of the Bible. I have studied the Bible and I realize that it says you should not lie with a man as you would a women.
While Mr. Gordon considers this a very important fact, I consider it to be minor detail that seems outdated. As many times as the Bible has been revised, copied and translated, it would be irresponsible to view it as inerrant. Maybe one should
focus on the big picture, that God claims to love everyone — even his worst enemy.
Do you honestly think that these caring ministers are "at war with God" for loving ALL his creatures? That seems rather contradictory to to me.
The Holy Bible is a wonderful book with many stories of unconditional love. I don't understand why some people feel the need to use it as a tool to judge and condemn good, loving people.
Kate Nielson
Olathe junior