Opinion
The University Daily Kansan
Laura Roddy, Editor
Sarah Hale, Managing editor
Kristi Elliot, Managing editor
Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser
4A
Shaunte Blue, Business manager
Brad Bolyard, Retail sales manager
Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser
Scott Valler, Technology coordinator
Wednesday, January 26, 2000
Clay McCuistion/KANSAN
Editorials
PASS
Kansan report card
Collegiate gambling outlaw —Brownback proposal will make gambling on collegiate and Olympic sports illegal.
■ KU's water — Turns out that chunky drinking fountain agua is safe to drink after all. Thanks to campus chemists, we can gulp without fear.
Alcohol-free fraternities — More chapters are expected to go dry this semester. Don't worry boys, there are still plenty of other places to consume 1-5 drinks when you party.
FAIL
KC cabs — A Kansas City city company won't allow blind riders to bring seeing-eye dogs into cabs. Cab driver jokes aside, almost every place on Earth accommodates See-Eye dogs; they should too.
- Starbucks — Ubiquitous coffee shop chain invade campus with a future storefront in the new School of Education building. Couldn't the space have been better used? A couple of bowling lanes, perhaps?
Missile-defense system — the second of three missile defense tests failed last week. Instead of focusing on Star Wars, the Department of Defense should focus on a real threat: Starbucks.
No more coffee: Spare the Jaybowl
The University of Kansas administration should consider the "Save the Jaybowl" campaign, the latest issue to find itself on the sidewalks of campus.
Following the multi-colored sidewalk chalk, students have come upon an important and outspoken message: Save the Jaybowl! This sidewalk art, along with petitions demanding that this popular hangout be left where it is, is part of the effort of students trying to save one of the traditional hangouts at the University.
The Jaybowl, a bowling alley and arcade located on the first floor in the Kansas Union, is a drug-and alcohol-free environment used by student organizations. Earlier this fall, plans to renovate
Unique programming venue should not be destroyed
the space to have a coffee house or a stage for small concert events were suggested. However, those plans were changed when the Academic Computing Center expressed a need for a place to house a twenty-four hour computer lab. The plans for renovation were then switched to pulling out the bowling lanes to make room for a 24-hour computer lab and coffee house.
"The] bowling lanes make the Union unique," said Michael Fine, assistant manager for programs and recreation at
the Kansas Union. "I'm not opposed to the computer lab. There is an opportunity to reach a compromise. As an Union employee, I think if they can bring people in, that's good."
Removing the Jaybowl from the accessible location of the Kansas Union will not only affect the bowling team, but also other student organizations such as sororities, fraternities and residence and scholarship halls. Established at its current location in 1960, the Jaybowl has become an inexpensive and safe environment for students to relax and have a good time. For the students of the University of Kansas, it has become a tradition that we now have the opportunity to prolong to show the appreciation of what this establishment has meant us.
Kansan staff
Tabatha Beerbower for the editorial board
News editors
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 McCuistion . Wire
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 Schitt . . . Zone
Thad Crane . . . Zone
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Christy Davies . . Zone
Broaden your mind: Today's quote
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently onooed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." — Arthur Schopenhauer
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 photo-
graphraphed for the column to run.
All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Staffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Nadia Mustafa, or Seh Hoffman at 864-4924.
If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4924
Perspective
Elian not the only orphan who should be returned
Among all the conversations, media stories and court decisions regarding the fate of Elian Gonzalez, I have been disgusted. It is absolutely appalling that so much controversy and attention can be given to one illegal immigrant while so many others are subjected to a much different
jected to a much different experience.
In the first few days, I was interested in the case because I visited Cuba in June. The Rev. Lucius Walker, director of Pastors for Peace, the organization I traveled with this summer delivering medical aid, said in a Jan. 20 article in Worker's World, "I've never seen greater compassion, care and devotion of national resources for children than in Cuba. Elian will get better health care, education and love in Cuba than he could possibly get here."
Breeze
Luetke-
Stahlman
columnist
opinion@kanan.san
To me, that sums it all up. Send the kid back. Especially since that's what the United States does for most of the other children who arrive here as illegal immigrants without parents. Unfortunately, they rarely see a TV camera, have their stories plastered across national publications or have Janet Reno comment on their future.
"Most illegal-immigrant children face deportation and detention – not TV." Reno said in a Jan. 18 article in Christian Science Monitor. Take the case of 11-year-old Eber Sandoval Andino, a Honduran orphan with no living relatives in Honduras or the United States, and whose return to Honduras is going to be hard to prevent. "Every single day, the INS is sending back 11- and 12- and 13-year-olds with no idea of whether they have family in the US, much less in their home countries, and with out knowing... what will happen to [them]," Reno said.
Many of the youth who arrive here are prepared to claim asylum based on their fear of persecution as street children. Many are picked up and detained. Yeah, I really mean detained. According to a 1998 study done by Human Rights Watch, one-third of the 5,000 unaccompanied minors detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service each year are held in jail-like detention centers, alongside youths who have murdered and raped. Many are strip-
searched and then handcuffed during transport, and few receive adequate legal representation.
In theory, children and adults caught illegally entering the United States get the same treatment: the vast majority are shipped back, and exceptions are made if a person can show they are or will be in physical danger if returned to their country of origin. But in practice, refugees from countries such as Russia, Vietnam, Cuba and Nicaragua get more favorable treatment than refugees from other countries such as Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala or Mexico.
There are organizations trying to work on that. Steven Lang is a Pro Bono Asylum Representation attorney who is representing Eber, the Honduran orphan. But he says he barely has enough volunteers to provide even rudimentary legal advice to these detainees. While many have good reasons for claiming asylum, "there appears to be little inclination in the U.S. Congress to increase the flow of refugees into the U.S., children or not," said Lang in a Jan. 18 article in *Christian Science Monitor*.
These immigration laws are cold-war influenced and have gone quite far at times, such as in the early 1960s during Operation Peter Pan where 14,000 Cuban children were brought to the United States, leaving their parents behind. "The U.S. believed it was better to raise orphans in a noncommunist country than to let them live with their families in Cuba," said Radolfo de la Garza, director of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Texas-Austin.
There definitely is a little irony in the case of Elian, where the INS is fighting for family reunification and the anti-Castro community is screaming out its ideology and trying to sway public opinion with them. The question remains: Why all the media attention? Is it because of our nation's anti-Cuba sentiment? In a Gallup poll done last year, it was announced that 71 percent of Americans favor reestablishing contact with Cuba. So there it is. Americans don't hate them anymore, and we never had reason to.
Unless as a nation we plan to take under our wings the cases of the thousands of children who arrive here unwanted each year, we need to back off and scream for a quick return in this case where a loving parent, who has guardianship, simply wants his child back.
Luetke-Stahlman is an Olathe junior in economics and American studies.
An ice cream stain in Houston has attracted more than 1,000 people from as far away as Florida, Washington and Canada. I've heard people refer to these visitors as both the fanatical and the faithful. To them, the gooey ice cream splotch is not as simplistic
Inspiration can be found right around the corner
as it sounds. Many believe it to be the holy image of the Virgin of Guadalupe — a materialized message from God.
It was discovered on Jan. 10 on a concrete slab at the foot of a soda vending machine. Almost 800 people made the trip to see it within five days of its discovery, according to the Associated Press. And people continue to visit it. An ad hoc shrine of flowers and religious pictures surrounded the stain. The AP reported that some
Lori O'Toole columnist opinionkansan.com
people meditated near the "crusty smear" at night, some eagerly crowded around with cameras and others hoped to build a permanent shrine at the site.
Perhaps these people sought divine intervention or an answer to a prayer. Maybe they were simply intrigued by all the commotion. It seems like many were looking for inspiration, religious or otherwise.
I always admire people who look for wonderment in common, daily tasks and occurrences. But at the same time, I couldn't help but ask myself. All this fuss because of melted ice cream?
The occurrence in Houston could be a genuine miracle — I'm certainly not an authority to deem it otherwise. Then again, it could be just a stain that dried in the hot sun.
After all, there have been similar instances before. There is even an online travel guide, roadsideamerica.com, that directs tourists to other sites believed to depict holy images, such
as "Mary trees."
While these people spend their own time and money to get to such sites, it seems that they are searching for something they could find much closer to home at a cheaper price or at no price at all. People do all types of things for inspiration: take walks, listen to music, exercise or read. I prefer to sit on my apartment balcony alone, watching the sky change colors within minutes as the sun ascends from the horizon.
Anyone looking to fill a void in his or her life can find ways to do so while simultaneously filling a similar one in someone else's. Volunteering is one way. Donating blood, money or used clothes is another. But there are many other, less obvious options. Pay attention to the amazing things other people do — and it doesn't have to be acts of heroism or insightful speeches.
I once randomly used a stuffed teddy bear to wave at a grouchy-looking truck driver as I passed him on the highway. He seemed to need a little bit of humor. I still remember watching the large adult man as his gruff face brightened with a huge, excited smile while he laughed and returned the wave with a fuzzy cat puppet.
Talk to people. I found out last summer that someone who lived 30 miles from me in Wichita was a neighbor and friend of my grandfather's in Guam 35 years ago. You never know what you and the stranger next to you on the bus have in common.
Both of these small instances brightened my day — they could have been little miracles in the midst of the hustling, bustling world. I'd like to think so.
You shouldn't have to travel 1,000 miles and spend money to find inspiration. You shouldn't have to push your way through a busy crowd or stand in long lines. The most unusual things could light a fire in the heart and mind — things that occur right around the corner everyday. You just have to keep your eyes open.
Toole is a Wichita junior in journalism and english.
Feedback
UNC can have Roy, plus benefits
Hey, North Carolina fans, do you really want Roy Williams? Take him. He's yours. Along with Roy, you will get as a bonus:
Lester Earl (though you may have to come up with $6,000 cash, or find some hoops grouple to outfit him with a car, not to mention a lawyer to keep him out of jail and at the wheel)
- Amazing team depth (though some sportswriters describe it as the inability to judge talent and keep the best players on the floor, hence the losses to lesser teams)
Verbal punches at sports-writers who have the gall to get off their knees and pose tough questions about depth or other issues to the "great one" (that would be Roy) or write about the antics of his "rascal" players (that would be Lester)
Whining about big-butted fans who don't applaud him or his players frequently enough for his tastes
An ego that has grown so big it can't be contained by Allen Fieldhouse.
Is Chapel Hill's Dean Dome big enough? Better hurry, it's still growing.
Ted Frederickson professor of journalism and Big-butted fan (sic)