4A
Opinion
Friday, December 3, 1999
Babies, marriage might not be so bad in college
Mother, wife and student reflects on lessons learned
Well, I finally did it. Seven years and several detours including marriage and pregnancy after I first enrolled, I finally have fin
ished college. Though I didn't begin my higher education at the University of Kansas, I have had some of my best experiences at the University. I have taken classes with some of the best professors it has been my pleasure to meet. I've made friends I want to keep for the rest of my life. I've gotten better at managing my time and my limited resources.
During my time as a nontraditional student at the University, I have learned several things they don't teach in books.
Lesson No. 1: The traditional college diet of ramen noodles and cheap beer isn't too cool for a toddler. Actually, my 3-year-old son, Allen, loves the noodles, but alcohol is out of the question. And just for the record, the traditional college schedule (wake at noon, contemplate going to class, decide to drink
instead) doesn't work very well for student parents, either. There is nothing sadder than having to be perky at 7 a.m. every day for Sesame Street and Blue's
Clues when your brain feels like it's wrapped in cotton.
Wahoo in cotton.
Anyway, people who have children don't need to drink: We're awake, we have headaches and we smell bad. It's the same thing!
Lesson No. 2: The reading lists for Western Civilization I and II aren't necessarily bedtime story material. Although I read most of John Locke's Letter on
*Toleration* to Allen when he was 10 months old, I had to stop after three pages of Voltaire's *Candide*. It was just
Jennifer Roussah guest columnist opinion@kansan.com
too racy for a 2-year-old to hear!
Another thing about college reading — it functions as a fairly effective punishment for an active toddler. If Allen got too insistent that I read to him when I had homework to do, I'd just sit him on my lap and start reading aloud from my dogaedre copy of On Liberty by John Stuart Mill. After two pages, he'd be crying to be left alone with his crayons and picture books.
Lesson No. 3: I know what the experts say, but I don't think it's such a good idea to practice a foreign language on a child who hasn't yet mastered his native tongue. I tried this on Allen when I was in Spanish 212. He learned how to say "open" and "closed" in Spanish, and he almost certainly set his learning of English back a good six months.
Lesson No. 4: A child can come in pretty darned handy when it comes time to explain why that project isn't finished yet or why you're late to the same class
for the third time in a
for the third time in a week. And although professors get suspicious if you use it too often, pediatrician's appointments can cover a multitude of sins.
Lesson No. 5: Student parents may have more expenses, but the Office of Student
Financial Aid can be a godsend. Once you tell the feds that you have dependents, you become eligible for all sorts of money you never knew existed. But be careful — most of that money comes in the form of loans you'll have to pay back.
Nontraditional students also get the best housing break in town, and not many people seem to know much about it. Stouffer Place is a great area to live.
$250 a month for a 2-bedroom apartment, it's a bargain to boot.
Lesson No. 6: Marriage and parenthood make you a better student in ways you'd never expect. Lingue several ways dif-
expect. I juggle several very different balls every day. Basically, when a professor hands me something that looks impossible, I just say, "I'm married with children. Nothing scares me!"
Editorials
Roush is a Lawrence senior in journalism.
NASA project flying high thanks to help from KU faculty, students
It is likely that at one time or another, we all have watched a broadcast of an important NASA project launching. Scenes of satellites and space stations orbiting neighboring planets and collecting data among the stars also have become familiar sights on television.
The work is being done in conjunction with Fundamental Technologies.
However, one of the latest projects NASA developed is not so distant. The Cassini spacecraft, sent into orbit in October 1997, has been receiving expertise from Tom Armstrong, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Kansas, along with his colleague Jerry Manweller, physics and astronomy lecturer, and Lucas Miller, Atchison junior.
Cassini already has visited Venus, Jupiter and Earth and now is on its way to Saturn. It is estimated to land in the summer of 2004.
"We, along with students from the
Research reputation at the University brings prestige, funding and chances to learn
University, are responsible for data analysis and instrument evaluations." Armstrong said. "We do software and science in support of one Cassini investigation, the magneospheric imaging measurement investigation."
vided for the students," Armstrong said. "A number of students have worked in projects like Cassini, and Cassini continues that tradition. This brings cash into Lawrence to support students. It means there is meaningful work being done. I am very proud of what these things mean for student projects."
This isn't the first NASA project the University of Kansas has been affiliated with through its professors. Armstrong also developed similar instrumentation for the Voyager I and II satellites. The reputation is just one advantage the University is receiving from the project. This project is giving students the opportunity to become familiar with this field of science.
"The most important thing is the opportunity for experience that's pro-
Armstrong also said how pleased the team at Fundamental Technologies was to be a part of NASA's work and how team members looked forward to continuing work with Cassini.
He said this was a good, long-term opportunity to stay involved with major science projects on a national scale.
Researchers such as Armstrong, Manweller and their students keep the University's reputation for science shooting to the stars. Our hats are off to them.
Tabatha Beerbower for the editorial board
U.S. should be careful in Chechnya
It has been eight years since the Cold War was thawed by the dissolution of the Soviet empire. Today, the United States is confronted with the mounting problem of what to do about Russia's aggressive war against Chechen rebels. Although Russia clearly is using questionable, and in some instances downright inhumane, practices in defeating the rebels, it is imperative that the United States not act rashly, thus sending relations with Russia into another long chill.
Russia's war against Chechen rebels has been a long and deadly fight for control of a republic that Russia claims as its own. Although Chechnya essentially has been free from Russia since the end of the Chechen War from 1994 to 1996, Russia has continued to
Russia's response to rebellion in Chechnya is troubling but does not warrant U.S. strike
lay claim to the republic. This claim has been followed by military aggression for the last two months since Russia linked terrorist bombs to the Chechen independence movement.
Because of the terrorist bombings, Russia's war against Chechnya has been supported heartily inside Russia. Russia's usual claims that it merely is reacting to acts of terrorism lend some amount of credibility to its campaign. This said, it is obvious that Russia has fought an unethical war that has led to many civilian deaths.
What then, can the United States do to prevent these deaths?
The United States cannot consider intervention as a tool for ending the violent struggle. Similar to a hostage situation, it is not always smart to use extreme force because the hostage might be lost. Similarly, if we want to save lives in Chechnya, the use of force will lead only to more deaths. The means the United States has at its disposal, namely harsh rhetoric and possibly sanctions, must be utilized in the hopes that Russia will end the bloodshed. Further pressure than this on Russia only would exacerbate the problem.
Now clearly is not the time for the United States to flex its military muscle.
Jeff Engstrom for the editorial board
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It's your money, so how do you want it spent?
How many of you know how much money Student Senate has in its accounts? If you're unsure, don't feel bad; most senators don't, either. Senate operates several accounts: block, line item, unallocated and reserve. Various organizations across campus are financed out of the first three, including the Lied Center. the
American Civil Liberties Union and the National Council for Negro Women.
But the reserve account is the real jackpot. It has more than $350,000. This fact should scare you. It sure scares me, and I'm a senator.
The reserve account is financed by the money left over in the accounts of student organizations at the end of each year — if an organization doesn't spend all its money, it
Erin Simpson columnist opinion@kansan.com
goes to the reserve account. In previous years, the reserve account was seen as off-limits, only to be accessed in case of an emergency (as in the bailout of KU on Wheels several years ago). This year, however, Senate has been given the impression that the reserve account should be spent, at least in part.
So now a bunch of 20-something college kids have $350,000 to blow.
Maybe I'm being a little harsh. There have been several good ideas as to ways to spend this money. But there have been an equal number of impulsive, short-sighted ideas. It's not that the ideas in and of themselves are bad, but rather that they reflect the somewhat short-term vision of people who
generally are here for a limited time and don't see the bigger picture.
Case in point: We could use the reserve account to finance a cut in student fees. But, if you do the math, it works out to a one-time, one-year cut of about $5. That's great for the 25,000 students here right now, but it doesn't seem to do a whole lot for the class of 2034 or 2044. (For those really itching to cut student fees, the women's and non-revenue sports fee is up for review, and it seems to me that the University of Kansas Athletic Corporation should be footing that bill, not students ... but that's another column.)
It's also paramount for the Senate to avoid projects that reinforce our image of selfserving, future politicians. Thus, the idea for Senate salaries or scholarships should be banned to the far reaches of the Earth indefinitely, never to insult our intelligence again.
There have been a number of suggestions for projects that could be of benefit for all students: campus bus shelters, outdoor bulletin boards, computers for the O&L bullpen. But as much as the Senate is supposed to represent students, it is quixotic to assume the entire spectrum of student interests are reflected in Senate debates. It seems that Senate finally may be forced to do more outreach than sit on Wescoe beach for two weeks a year or have meetings in every conceivable place on campus.
But it's a two-way street. There's no point in looking to students for input when they don't know, don't care and don't vote. If you aren't careful, you'll end up with a statue of former student body president Kevin Yoder in front of the new rec center.
It's your money. How do you want us to spend it?
Simpson is a Lenexa junior in political science and anthropology.
Feedback
Not all Muslims accept apocalypse
I was reading Mr. Howard Manns' article "Muslims won't celebrate millennium for 580 years," and he quoted some of the information I shared with him when he started preparing this article. The article overall was very good, but the way this following paragraph paraphrased wasn't the correct information that I was trying to give to the writer, which might cause Muslim students at KU to think that I was supplying the writer with the wrong information. Although I understand that the writer doesn't mean to provide any false information, it happens when the writer uses paraphrasing for journalism purposes, which sometime makes him trapped with some cultural controversy, especially in sophisticated articles like this one.
Mr. Manns said, "Al-Anazi said that some Christians and Muslims shared another common bond with respect to the calendar; they believe
Mowafiq Al-Anazi Saudi Arabia freshmar
WTO riots reveal future problems
The disagreement is in relating that belief to the religion, which there is nothing in Islam to support this as a religious belief. Neither the Holy Koran nor Prophet Mohammed's sayings had mentioned this belief. What I was trying to tell the writer about was: There are some people could share the same thinking, but it doesn't represent every body believe, and it does not represent the Muslim religion perspective at all.
Watching the news this past Tuesday night, I was struck by a thought (a revelation, as it were) as the WTO protesters faced off against the riot police in Seattle. It seemed
that the year 2000 marks the apocalypse. He said that Muslims doomsday prophets believed that the end of the world would come in the year 2000 of either the Gregorian or Hijra calendars."
ironic to me, though not entirely unexpected, that the WTO — an organization that supports free trade, eschewing government interference
This event is, I think, symptomatic of a larger problem: In our capitalist zeal for everexpanding profits and markets, we tend to overlook the concomitant loss in local democratic control and the increasing cooperation of government and corporate power.
This event is exemplary of the crisis we face in our collective future under a globalized economy. I suggest that we choose democracy over profits, and enter the next century — and the next millennium — with a renewed commitment to the local sovereignty of peoples and their right to collective self-determination in politics and economy.
— relied on the police, a state agency, to suppress the free expression of the protesters.
John Teeple Overland Park graduate student
Broaden your mind: Today's quote
"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know."
— former Pres. Abraham Lincoln
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