Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Julie Wood, Editor Brandi Byram, Business manager Laura Roddy, Managing editor Shauntae Blue, Retail sales manager Cory Graham, Managing editor Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser Scott Valler, Technology coordinator
4A
Monday, November 8, 1999
Seth Jones / KANSAN
Editorials
All students should be welcomed at public universities for diversity
Affirmative action has reared its head once again in public education. This time, however, the program in question would not directly benefit students who are traditionally defined as minorities such as women and people of color.
A scholarship program was created in 1995 in Alabama to encourage Caucasian students to enroll at Alabama State University and Alabama &M. the state's two historically African-American colleges.
But that's not the end of the story. An African-American student sought a scholarship in 1996 to attend Alabama State and was turned down. He is suing the college on the grounds that the "Whites only" scholarships created for these schools violated his 14th Amendment right to equal protection
Scholarships for Caucasians are not necessarily wrong
under the law.
The state of Alabama should allow the scholarship program to stand. It represents a true breakthrough in a state where horrible atrocities were committed in the name of keeping people separate — and completely unequal.
In our own state capital of Topeka, the lawsuit Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education changed the face of public school education forever.
Unless a school is privately financed, it should be open to anyone who wants to attend and so should its scholarship programs.
Giving scholarships to Caucasian students to attend historically African-American colleges is a good idea and shouldn't be abandoned. Diversity in all forms contributes to understanding and lowers the artificial barriers that American society has erected between African-Americans and Caucasians.
Chief Justice Earl Warren, in his opinion for the Brown case, said it best: "Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other 'tangible' factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does...We conclude that in the field of public education, the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
Jennifer Roush for the editorial board
Housing law treats students unfairly
The city of Lawrence zoning ordinance, which prohibits more than four unrelated people from sharing a house in a single family-zoned area, is unfeasible and unnecessary.
This law, although not wellknown, was called to attention recently when two houses were cited by the City of Lawrence and the occupants were told that they were in violation of the law.
Lawrence is a college town with a large student population. To demand that a person can live with no more than three other unrelated people directly affects the student population and is an unfair request.
Sharing a house is an inexpensive living arrangement for students
Noise and traffic regulations already deal with problems this ordinance intends to solve
that becomes cheaper when more students live in the house. Because this is a cheaper solution to housing, numerous students in Lawrence take advantage of it. To ask students to give up this living arrangement for a more expensive one is not a just request.
house may have a car, this is no different than a family living together. Many families have several cars to a house, and to single out students for this doesn't make sense. In the same sense, just because the students aren't related to one another doesn't mean that they would make more noise than a family would make.
The proponents of the zoning law claim that having that many students in a house creates problems including cluttered parking and excess noise. This is an unfair claim. While each student in a
Even if these illogical complaints did prove to be true, the zoning law is not needed to solve them. The city has other laws dealing with noise complaints and illegal parking that can be turned to if the situations did arise.
This law needs to be ended before anymore students are unfairly evicted from their residences.
Heather Herrman for the editorial board
Kansan staff
Chad Bettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editorial
Seth Hoffman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Associate editorial
Carl Kaminski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . News
Juan H. Heath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Online
Chris Fickett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sports
Brad Hallier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Associate sports
Nadia Mustafa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Campus
Heather Woodward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Campus
Steph Brewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Features
Dan Curry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Associate features
Matt Daugherty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Photo
Kristi Elliott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Design, graphics
T.J. Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wire
Melody Ard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Special sections
News editors
Advertising managers
Becky LaBranch . . .Special sections
Thad Crane . . .Campus
Will Baxter . . .Regional
Jon Schlitt . . .National
Danny Pumpley .Online sales
Micah Kafitz .Marketing
Emily Knowles .Production
Jenny Weaver .Production
Matt Thomas .Creative
Kelly Heffernan .Classified
Juliana Moreira .Zone
Chad Hale .Zone
Brad Bolyard .Zone
Amy Miller .Zone
Broaden your mind: Today's quote
"There's so much comedy on television. Does that cause comedy in the streets?"
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.
Dick Cavett
Guest columns: Should be double-
space typed with fewer than 700 words.
The writer must be willing to be photo-
captured 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 Chad Bottes 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
Sun Fire Ceramics gives customers chance at art
We have this old teapot at home. It's really kind of ugly if you look at it long enough. The design isn't all that bad, it's just that it was glazed with this hideous yellow-greenish, acidic, puke-like color. When my parents were first married,
Elizabeth
Peacock
columnist
opinion of kansas.com
they went to a small shop in the East Bay, picked out this greenware teapot and glazed it that gut-wrenching chartreuse. More than 25 years later, my mom still uses it despite the crack bisecting its lid.
I guess I was thinking of that old, gruesome teapot the first time I stepped into Sun Fire Ceramics. That first time, I was just giving the place a onceover; now I believe it is the last hidden treasure of downtown Lawrence.
My roommate and I, along with her boyfriend, Matt, searched through the shelves looking for the piece that just screamed out, "Decorate me!" (There, Matt, you've been mentioned.) After seeing our first attempts two weeks before, Matt had dragged us down to Sun Fire so he could try his hand at glazing. My creative energies hadn't been flowing too well since mid-terms, but I managed to catch a few fleeting molecules and sat down with my cup.
Turning the massive coffeehouse cup in my hands, I thought of all the things I could do with it. Should I glaze it a solid color like the cups from Target or Pier 1? Maybe I'll put a sun on the inside and a moon on the outside to match Jennifer's bowl? (The great thing about doing it yourself, though, is that you can make it be whatever you want.) I chose to motile a few glazes together and see how they come out. I may have had a ceramics class in high school, but I'm no artist, so I stick with the abstracts-colors and textures only.
I finish early and watch Jennifer meticulously dot her butterfly with color, while Matt's glaze-logged brush applies five coats to his box with one stroke. Somehow the shop seems much bigger from the inside, even a little cartoony – an orange door leads to the bathroom, the Garden Room is painted in a seafoam green and the ceiling of the main room is painted sky blue, complete with clouds. I wonder what my cup will look like when I pick it up in four days. It'll sure hold a lot of cappuccino.
In the midst of corporate America's takeover of south Lawrence and its subsequent encroachment on downtown, it's nice to know that there is still a place nearby like Sun Fire Ceramics. It's a place where you can make a family heirloom, a cherished coffee cup or maybe just some happy moments. It's a place that's small enough to give personal attention, but big enough for anyone's imagination.
basically makes sure that everyone's enjoying themselves. As we work on our pieces, a child's birthday party is going on in the Garden Party Room, and Sheri attempts to help a woman choose between two glazes on a plate she is decorating for Christmas. At another table, a mother and daughter work on an enormous fall wreath, complete with acorns. I ask the owner a style question and she gives me her opinion but reminds me that the final decision is solely my own. So I decide to risk it and drip glaze around the rim of my cup.
Periodically, the shop owner Sheri asks if we have any questions, offers advice, and
Sun Fire Ceramics is located at 1002 New Hampshire St., on the corner of Tenth Street, one block east of Massachusetts and next door to that place where you're supposed to pay your parking tickets. It is open Wednesdays through Sundays, and completed pieces are available within a few days. Most pieces range from $3 to $8 and the glazing costs $6 per hour, so you're bound to create something you'll really like for under $15.
Freedom to be sacrificed on altar of zero tolerance
Peacock is a Nework, Calif., junior in anthropology and political science.
on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover."
"Where do you want us to prepare for it?" they asked.
He replied, "As you enter the campus, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the residence hall that he enters, and say to the front desk attendant, 'The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I ma"
asks where is the guest eat the Passover with my disciples? He will show you a large dorm room, all furnished. Make preparations there."
They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
When the hour came,
Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it fulfills my purpose."
Mark
McMaster
columnist
email@kansan.com
finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."
After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."
They began to question among themselves who of them it might be who would do this.
And he took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him."
But then a man arose. It was Judas, a resident assistant from the fifth floor of McCollum Hall. "There is zero tolerance of alcohol on
campus," he said.
Jesus replied, "It is written: 'And he was numbered with the transgressors' and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment."
The disciples said, "See, Lord, here Judas has brought two infractions against you for drinking on student housing premises."
"That is enough." Jesus replied.
On a side note: Students always will drink in residence halls. Students always will drink in scholarship halls. Even married couples living in Stouffer Place always will drink in their student apartments. Students drink in residence halls all across the country. Students drink in residence halls in Dijibout, where most people are much poorer than people in the United States. Students drink in residence halls in China, where there is an oppressive government and people enjoy fewer individual rights. Students drink in residence halls in Scotland, even while they listen to Belle and Sebastian and pretend they're naive. Students drink in residence halls in Iceland, and don't you wish you could join them.
My parents drank in residence halls. My grandparents drank in residence halls. Our Founding Fathers drank in residence halls. Samuel Adams drank his own beer in residence halls.
No matter what the administration of the University of Kansas does to discourage students from drinking in student housing, kids will find a way to get alcohol into their rooms and down it. This issue is far too trivial to spend an entire column ranting about, and I apologize that I can't comment upon it without being facetious. The policies proposed by housing authorities — banning not only alcohol but also empty containers and forbidding students to enter student housing while drunk are nothing more than ridiculous.
— are nothing more than ridiculous
McMaster is a Wichita senior in journalism, political science and humanities.
Feedback
Not that great
Another visit to KU by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is not necessarily reason to celebrate. First, Thomas' record on the Court has shown him to be among the most conservative of justices, demonstrating quite conclusively that his was a right-wing political appointment of the Bush administration. Second, it's ironic that the UDK article announcing his likely visit made no mention of Anita Hill and the infamous Senate hearings to confirm Thomas, easily among the saddest displays of
reactionary, patriarchal power in recent memory. Third, Thomas' previous visit to KU leaves little hope for genuinely open exchange-of-ideas with students this time around. The question and answer period following his Lied Center lecture disallowed questions from the audience. Instead, all questions were pre-picked and, obviously, screened and censored by KU Law School authorities, no doubt to avoid embarrassing wealthy KU alums in attendance, who gave Thomas a standing ovation for his efforts that evening.
If we really want to make
Thomas' coming visit worthwhile to all KU students-as opposed to merely using him as a PR tool for the Law School-let him partake in a public forum where any of us can ask him challenging, difficult questions. One would presume that a Supreme Court Justice could not only handle himself well in an open forum, but encourage and even welcome the free exchange of ideas that he knows constitutes the basis of what we do here at KU.
Joel Morton Instructor Humanities & Western Civilization
.