Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Ann Premer, Editor
Gerry Doyle, Managing editor
Angie Kuhn, Managing editor
Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser
Jamie Holman, Business manager
Sara Croop, Retail sales manager
Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser
Justin Knupp, Technology coordinator
Monday, May 3, 1999
4A
The Chicago Tribune
Editorials
Student Housing must not lapse in maintaining scholarship halls
The Department of Student Housing should be congratulated for pushing ahead on a new women's scholarship hall that is popularly, though not officially, dubbed Amini 2. However, the department must not let the excitement of building a new hall detract from the maintenance and renovation of the other scholarship halls.
The scholarship halls provide a prestigious living experience at the University of Kansas and a valuable tool for recruiting and retaining some of the University's brightest students. The uniqueness of the living environment is something that few universities, no matter how prestigious, offer. The long lists of people waiting to get into the scholarship halls, while residence hall rooms sit empty, speak to their value for the University.
The building of 'Amini 2' should not detract attention from other residences.
The new women's hall will be almost identical in design to Amiina Scholarship Hall, which was built in 1992. It also will even out the current gender gap — there are five men's halls but only four for women — and will be a welcome addition to the scholarship hall community.
There is a danger, however. In all the frenzy about the construction of the new hall, it would be easy to forget about the other nine. But that is something the Department of Student Housing cannot allow to happen if it wants the attractiveness of the scholarship
hall community to remain compelling.
First-class students deserve first-class student housing.
Although three of the halls are more than 50 years old, student housing has done a reasonably good job of maintaining and renovating them. For instance, Sellards Scholarship Hall, the hall most recently renovated, was refurbished before the Fall 1997 semester.
However, other halls show some wear. Stephenson Scholarship Hall's bathrooms need to be remodeled. Battenfeld Scholarship Hall's kitchen and dish room need a make over. Several of the halls don't have air conditioning.
Housing needs to make sure it does not shove these problems aside as it concentrates on the new hall. To do so would be to degrade the scholarship hall system and, ultimately, the University.
Nathan Willis for the editorial board
Bike lane's loss aids campus parking
Parking always has been a problem for residents of scholarship halls, and there is a plan that may help alleviate this by adding 30 to 35 new spaces. There is a catch: The proposal would remove a city bike lane.
The bike lane between 13th and 14th streets on Louisiana Street rarely is used. Though there is an outlet for more bike lanes throughout campus and Lawrence, it is apparent that the parking situation also is in need of improvement, with the scholarship halls in the most dire need of additional parking.
Though there exist some who would be inconvenienced by the loss of this bike lane, there are more people who are inconvenienced by the lack of parking at that location. The bike lane
Removing a Louisiana Street bicycle lane between 13th and 14th streets is necessary.
rarely is used, and there is little doubt that the new parking spaces would be in constant use.
The use of the area that would benefit the most people is to eliminate the bike lane and add parking. Most would say that keeping the bike lane and adding parking would be the absolute best, but this appears to be a situation where that is not possible. When obtaining the best for everyone is not possible, we must settle for what is best for the most people. Adding
parking spaces benefits many who have to park in areas that are far away when their lot is full at a scholarship hall.
Supporting the removal of this bike lane does not mean that plans to add bike lanes should be abolished. The campus does need bike lanes, just not the one in existence.
As more and more residents of scholarship halls drive, there must be some measure to have supply meet the demand for parking. The only two choices are to add parking or restrict the sale of parking passes. To give more people the opportunity to possess an automobile, adding parking is the best solution. Adding the parking may require the removal of the bike lane, but the benefits outweigh the costs.
Emily Haverkamp for the editorial board
Kansan staff
News editors
Ryan Koerner . . . Editorial
Jeremy Doherty . . . Associate editorial
Aaron Marvin . . . News
Laura Roddy . . . News
Melissa Ngo . . . News
Aaron Knopf . . . Online
Erin Thompson . . . Sports
Marc Sheforden . . . Associate sports
Chris Fickett . . . Campus
Sarah Hale . . . Campus
T.R. Miller . . . Features
Steph Brewer . . Associate features
Augustus Anthony Piazza . . Photo
Chris Dye . . Design, graphics
Carl Kaminski . . Wire
Carolyn Mollett . Special sections
Laura Veazey . . News clerk
Advertising managers
Matt Lopez ... Special sections
Jennifer Patch ... Campus
Micah Kafitz ... Regional
Jon Schlitt ... National
Tyler Cook ... Marketing
Shannon Curran ... PR/Intern manager
Christa Estep ... Production
Steven Prince ... Production
Chris Corley ... Creative
Jason Hannah ... Classified
Corinne Buffmire ... Zone
Sauntae Blue ... Zone
Brandi Byram ... Zone
Brian Allers ... Zone
Justin Allen ... Zone
Broaden your mind: Today's quote
"In delay there lies no plenity." —William Shakespeare
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.
How to submit letters and guest columns
Guest columns: Should be double-
spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The
writer must be willing to be photographed for
the column to run.
All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Staufer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Ryan Koerner or Jeremy Doherty at 864-4924.
If you have general questions or comments,
e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com)
or call 864-4924.
Perspective
A year ago I was struggling through 18 hours of classes in an attempt to finish school in four years. It was going to be tough, but I was going to make it. A
Graduate school looms despite severe senioritis
fourth year with fifteen semester hours and I could walk down the hill in May 1999 to grab my degrees in journalism and English.
And then last fall it dawned on me, the total stupidity of my actions.
Where was I going in life? I have no legitimate job-getting skills, except, of course, my ability to crack wise at the expense of higher-ups. I have yet to find someone to share my cardboard box with.
Nick Bartkoski opinion@kansan.com
On top of this, the real world has concerns that we don't even fathom in college. For example, how many college students need prostate examinations?
With these realizations in hand, I took the bold decisive action any man in my position would take. I scaled back my graduation date to December and began looking at grad school programs. As it turns out, the University of Kansas does not actually offer a master's degree in "Clown Arts." Right now, it only has a doctoral program and is scraping together the funding to expand.
As a concession to the existence of the real world, I'm actually looking to get a legitimate degree as a grad student that would balance my useless bachelor's degrees. Ultimately, I've made a commitment to another three years of school.
This is a decision that seems to be a good one, even though I won't be more employable. Only a plague that would kill all the able-bodied men and most of the women could make me employable.
Instead, it's a good decision based on all the military skirmishes the United States has seen fit to get into. Although it's true that the Iraqi and Serb bombings have not escalated to the point where people start getting drafted, it has been enough to inspire yellow bellies such as myself to fear the draft. Classrooms or Canada, that's my motto.
Ultimately, the whole hiding-from-the-real world-behind-the-security-blanket-of-academia has been a good idea, or at least it was
until I was stricken by an unforeseen problem.
I have developed senioritis.
Four years ago, as a wide-eyed freshman everything attracted my attention. Whether it was learning about how broadcasting developed or reading "A Midsummer Night's Dream," there was excitement in my classes. Sure, there were a few things that didn't sit right, such as my economics class or how terrible the class on the film medium was, but those were minor bumps along a very interesting road.
Four years of writing papers the night before and getting away with it has so ruined me that now I'm writing papers in the hours before they're due.
Now I trudge to class like a man condemned, when I wake up for class, that is. As pathetic as it has become, I'm sleeping through classes that begin at 12:30. When in class, half the time is spent looking at my watch, and the other half is spent feigning interest. I've even lost the will to doodle.
Not that I'm looking forward to the working world. I'm actually looking backward to ages 3 to 5 when I was old enough to run around and do stuff but young enough that I didn't have school. In an ideal world, I'd be able to groggy stumble awake at noon and spend the rest of the day playing Nintendo, reading, watching TV and hanging out with friends.
Essentially, I've come to hate every academic part of academia, and yet now, I'm committed to another three years of putting on my pseudo-intellectual stare and heading to class.
It used to be that every reading assignment was completed the night before it was discussed in class. Now I'm lucky if it's completed the night before the test.
Besides, how hard can it be to fake your way through a master's thesis?
Unfortunately, no such environment exists in the world. The closest possible world exists in the knowing wink found in academia's disapproval of forsaking one's responsibilities for such behavior.
Senioritis aside, I just have to keep putting in the hours and playing the game if I want to live in this responsibility-free world.
Bartkoski is a Basehor senior in journalism and English.
Feedback
Phelps story spreads hateful message
Given the enormous number of people that are affected by his hatred at the University of Kansas, the Kansan's decision to plaster the front page with pictures of children holding hateful signs and devote more space to him than any other article was wrong.
I am appalled at the article in Friday's University Daily Kansan that highlights the hate that Fred Phelps preaches. Giving him publicity only furthers his cause. He thrives on the press because his message is delivered to thousands more people than any protest could.
Erika Nutt
Wichita senior
As a member of several student organizations at the University, I would have given anything to have the enormous amount of publicity that Fred Phelps received. I hope that the Kansan remembers the hundreds of student organizations that directly need publicity before they further the hateful message of Phelps again.
Late professor inspired colleagues
I should like to pay public tribute to John Senior, late professor of classies, who died April 8. He was one of the two best teachers I have known during my 43 years at the University of Kansas, as well as during my long career as a student.
I taught with him in the Integrated Humanities program, a four-semester sequence of great books classes for freshmen and sophomores during the '70s. This was a hugely successful project, attracting and retaining very large numbers of students. (The third teacher of these courses—and the second of my best teachers—was Frank Nellick, professor of English, who died a few years ago.)
I can honestly say that I never had any conversation
The best thing I can say about myself is that John was my friend.
He once said in a class that the proximate — as distinguished from the immediate and ultimate — purpose of teaching was, as with the Socratic dialogues, to provide an opportunity for friendship. No one I have known was more successful in achieving that end than John Senior — unless it was Frank Nelick. Hundreds of former students all over the world are testimony of that success. The immediate end of teaching, he said, is the pleasure of seeking the truth, while the ultimate end is attaining eternal life. We know we achieved the first of these and hope we achieved the second.
Dennis Quinn Professor of English
Nuclear defense a fine investment
with John Senior, in or out of class, in which I did not learn something valuable.
An anti-ballistic missile system (ABMS) is, of course, appealing. As a matter of fact, it is a great idea. It pains me to stand on the same side of an issue as Ronald Reagan, but on this subject, his administration was correct. An ABMS is the only way to ensure the safety of the United States from ill-intentioned foreign powers.
The congressionally proposed system is meant not to prevent a massive nuclear strike from being effective but to stop a limited offensive by a small power of organization (China, Israel, Hammas, India, etc.). This system would be unable to stop an all-out offensive and therefore can be interpreted as being in compliance with the disarmament agreements that have been reached with the Russians.
Arguing that the proposed system would be ineffective based on existing data is simply ludicrous. An ABMS is a question of development, not implementation. Of course, the technology is not perfected
— otherwise, we'd already have an ABMS.
The Pentagon has strict rules and regulations regarding the reliability and effectiveness of deployed weapons systems. Any system that is implemented will of course comply with these strict standards and will be both reliable and effective at the task of protecting America from nuclear threats from abroad.
Admittedly, the development of an ABMS will stall disarmament talks, but how honest are the people on the other side of the table? Is it better to hope that they actually did disarm or to know that we can defend our families from a nuclear strike?
Of course, deterrence has prevented nuclear holocaust in the past, but an ABMS would be more effective and wouldn't necessarily put an end to the phenomena of deterrence. This would only occur should both powers obtain nuclear weapons.
Should only the United States obtain a ABMS or not, any country launching a nuclear strike against the United States would be turned into a giant self-lighting parking lot patrolled only by parking Nazis in thick lead suits. This is known by other world powers and has kept them in check for more than 50 years.
Although expensive and time-consuming, an ABMS is the only way we can ensure the safety of millions of Americans. The arms race is finished. We won. The United States racing Russia or China is like a '68 Camaro racing a Ford Fiesta and a Honda Accord.
The development of such a system would keep our scientists trained, our military sharp and our children safe. Preparedness will cost money, but let us not forget the lessons we learned in World War I, a war we entered with scarcely enough good shells to maintain a siege for a day. Always be prepared for war, or risk defeat when it inevitably comes.
Joshua Montgomery
Lawrence junior