Opinion
Kansan
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Friday, April 9, 1999
Seth Jones / KANSAN
Editorial
Proposal's 'zero-tolerance' policy overreaches in handling hate crime
A proposal with good intentions is heading to a ballot near you.
The petition asks, "Do you support a zero-tolerance policy with respect to hate crimes and sexual assault at KU? Zero-tolerance is defined as mandatory and permanent expulsion for any student enrolled at the University who is convicted of a hate crime and/or sexual assault."
When Student Senate elections begin Wednesday, the ballots will allow students to vote to support or oppose this zero-tolerance policy for hate crimes. Should the proposal pass, any student enrolled at the University who is convicted in a criminal court could be expelled.
Though the University certainly cannot endorse such violent crimes, its ability to punish them must be clearly restricted. Students should vote against the proposal when they go to the polls.
According to the KU Public Safety Office, there have been two hate crimes in 1999 and three in 1998 and 1997 combined.
A freshman in Oliver Hall was
Students who commit hate crimes off-campus could face expulsion from University.
arrested March 18 and charged with aggravated arson after allegedly burning a large swastika into the carpet on Oliver's third floor.
Less than three weeks earlier, an Asian-American living in Oliver reported that a swastika had been burned into his room's door.
Matt Caldwell, a member of the Action Alliance who helped draft the proposal, said that incidents of hate crimes had risen during the past five to 10 years.
Caldwell worked on the proposal because he thought hate crimes were especially troubling at universities. Because there are no penalties associated with hate crimes specifically, Caldwell said the proposal would help make an example of violent criminals.
The University's ability to make such an example, however, should
be kept on a short leash. Now, if a KU student is convicted in a court of law of a hate crime, on campus or off, that student may face expulsion. Now, a student only may be expelled after a hearing by a board of faculty and students.
If mandatory expulsion is to be implemented, only students who commit these crimes on campus — such as the aforementioned Oliver resident — should be subject to it.
It is of no business to University administrators to punish a student for his or her activities while not on campus. Giving administrators the power to punish hate crimes off campus — which are of no direct consequence to the University — allows them to punish students for beliefs.
A liberal society must allow for free expression of beliefs, hateful or not, n an institution of higher learning, punishing one's beliefs becomes doubly heinous.
Students should demand an antihate crime policy from the University, but the wording on next week's ballot takes it too far.
Chris Borniger for the editorial board
Feedback
Commercialism taints University's mission
I read with interest your front page article yesterday on smart card usage at the University of Kansas and elsewhere. I also noted a filler advertisement for Coke in Thursday's University Daily Kansan. Is it only me, or are you and others struck by the singular advantage these companies have at KU?
I for one object that member/owners of the KU Federal Credit Union, which
To me that smacks of favoritism and elitism of the worst kind. I'm well aware of the benefits that such "deals" are supposed to bring to the University, and I think it's a sad commentary on the level of state support the University receives that drives these sorts of schemes that deal some in and some of us out.
include KU students, staff, and faculty,
cannot access their accounts on campus.
Nor can many other folks who choose financial institutions besides Commerce Bank have such access.
It also seems odd that Penn State can develop the technology for an open system where all are welcome, but KU can't. If it truly is beyond the scope for KU to develop said technology — or copy it from Penn State — then the least the University can do is make a place on campus where those of us who are not in the Commerce fold can make ATM transactions without the surcharge we are now obliged to pay.
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Broaden your mind: Today's quote
"The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all."
How to submit letters and guest columns
—John F. Kennedy
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 home-town 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 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 Jeromy Doherty at 864-4924.
If you have general questions or comments,
e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com)
or call 844-4924.
Coalitions offer similar promises, opposite style
Perspective
week ago, in this very space, I predicted that the 1999 Student Senate election between the YOU coalition and Delta Force would contain little clash
and Delta Force worth to or real argument and lots of bickering. Both predictions came true.
Andrew Marino
opinion @ kansan.com
It started last week when incumbent YOU candidates Ben Walker and R.J. Woodring filed a complaint with the elections commission alleging that Delta Force violated campaign rules by speaking with '97 Delta Force presidential candidate Jason Fitzell. Although Walker admitted he had "no smoking
gun" and nothing "specific," he and Woodring filed the charges which were dismissed at a commission hearing Monday night. On Tuesday, the two waved around an e-mail posted on the Senate's listserv that proved little more than the dire need for Fizell to take up a new hobby.
Monday's presidential/vice-presidential debate debate also confirmed the assertion that there are few genuine disagreements in terms of policy goals between the coalitions. Opening statements from both sides promised forthcoming revelation of true differences in their positions — promises that never came to fruition.
The candidates held similar views on citywide busing, diversity, programs for campus safety and other hard-working taxpayers paying for more of our education (good). They were also both sour on the creation of a Student Judicial Board and giving students the choice not to finance student groups promoting views that they disagree with.
Even the issue of corporatization held no friction. Delta Force, which passes out bright blue flyers proclaiming that it is "not for sale," apparently was. Mary Liu, Delta Force vice presidential candidate, referred to the money the contracts brought in as "nice" and may as well have been reading from the YOU platform when
The story of YOU's platform development provides a perfect insight into its leaders' personalities. Korb Maxwell, YOU presidential candidate, proudly tells of the surveys and 50-person focus group that molded YOUR's issues and positions "whether we liked them or not." Perhaps it was this same slickness and political professionalism which then later allowed him to field a question on leadership with a straight face. Dede Seibel, vice presidential candidate for YOU, almost was annoyingly polished — responding to virtually every question with a peppy "I'm so glad you asked this question!" and then moving out from behind the podium à la Elizabeth Dole.
she qualified her support with the view that more student representation was needed when making these deals.
Delta Force, to use presidential candidate Seth Hoffman's words, is "the loose, hip, couches-out-on-the-beach coalition" — characteristics of debatable value in student government. Liu, clearly the most apolitical of the four candidates onstage, took only three of the twelve questions posed by panelists and even those seemed to be answered reluctantly.
Still, it would be misleading to say that the coalitions are nothing more than carbon copies of each other. Granted, they support many of the same issues in much the same language, but cavernous differences exist in style and personality.
The story of this election, two stylistically different coalitions pursuing the same unquestionably popular policies with little effectiveness, could be summed up in the last question of Monday night's debate.
State Rep. James Garner's question concerned the issue of rising tuition and what the candidates' plans were to address it. Hoffman stated that his coalition would get "a little rowdy"—in Topeka if necessary while Maxwell plans to send "a professional lobbying effort" to the state capital. More than likely, the legislature would pat them both on the head and shoo them back to Mt. Oread.
Marino is a Prairie Village sophomore in political science,
Shabby show at debate may launch wrong group
The Senate debate Monday was the first real show of the campaign. Although it's true that both coalitions have been manning tables for a couple
of weeks and the Jason Fitzell controversy was a quick blip on the scandal radar, the campaign barely has been noticeable up to this point.
The debate is an excellent way to gauge candidates. Historically, it was debate that buried Nixon and elevated Kennedy. And it is debate that shows why Delta Force candidates Seth Hoffman and Mary Liu don't have a chance.
Nick Bartkoski opinion@kansan.com
If you went to the debates to listen, you would have seen how often YOU decided it was better to talk than to actually answer a question.
Not to say that Delta Force candidates answered every question, but the YOU coalition answered nearly every question with some iteration of how they want to bring everything back to the students — a noble idea, but one I could have taken from their campaign material. Furthermore, by saying "we want to take this back to the students" they often seemed to be saying "we have no opinion or plan at this time."
YOU did a lovely song and dance when asked by a panelist if they would represent non-greek students. Presidential candidate Korb Maxwell mentioned how coalitions had been greek-based in the past, but not this year. He emphasized how diverse the coalition was, and how they picked candidates that were in other leadership positions around campus. Furthermore, he stressed how YOU was bringing a lot of fresh faces to the table. A wonderful story, just not an entirely true one.
YOU does bring more fresh faces. I initially doubted that because most of the people I knew on the coalition were senators. But only 22 percent of the YOU candidates are returners. That's not bad, but the "diversity" is a different issue.
Forty-nine percent of YOU candidates belong to a fraternity or sorority.
Unless I misunderstand living arrangements, there's no way that 49 percent of KU students are in a fraternity or sorority. I also find it hard to believe that most organizations are led by greeks, thereby forcing YOU into the position to only find greeks in leadership positions around campus.
Most shocking about this diversity is that 85 percent of YOU's Nunemaker candidates
On the other hand, Maxwell maintains that what this issue needs is better coordination skills, ones that YOU will bring to the table. The question is, what has Maxwell done this year?
What YOU did well was present ideas. At the debate was a YOU coalition that was polished, prepared and knew the issues. Maxwell and running mate Dede Seibel did an excellent job in presentation and gave the entire campaign a glossy finish.
One of the major hurdles citywide busing has is a Kansas law prohibiting the use of student fees to finance city improvements like citywide busing. To expand KU on Wheels to accomplish this goal, the Kansas Legislature would need to pass a law granting an exception. If Maxwell truly believed in citywide busing, wouldn't he have used his position as legislative director to lobby the legislature to make this change?
Hoffman and Liu didn't show those presentation skills. Liu and Hoffman would switch speaking duties in the middle of a question. Instead of showing how they're running a shared campaign, they looked like a shoddy group that didn't have its act together and had no business even running for the student body presidency.
Further, the second Hoffman mentioned protests as a means of change. I shook my head. What he did by that comment was alienate many middle-line people who are ultimately apathetic. They'll vote, but finding people to march down Jayhawk Boulevard or occupy Strong Hall is an uphill battle, and my guess is that these middle-line people will vote for the cooler-headed, lobbyist effort Maxwell suggested.
You also can see these differences when they get down to issues. Both coalitions are trying to make citywide busing their issue. The difference is that the YOU coalition looked at the issue and said it was something they needed to fix. Delta Force looked at the issue a year ago and began working to fix it. The efforts of Delta Force senate candidates Holly Krebs, Mark Bradshaw and Nicole Skalla to implement this plan through petitions and determination show what activism can do.
are members of the greek system. I find it extremely hard to believe that 85 percent of freshmen and sophomores are greek. Diverse? It's possible. Not strongly greek? Try again.
Based on their performances, Maxwell and Seibel are going to win, and that's too bad because Hoffman and Liu are probably the better choice.
Bartkoski is a Basehor senior in journalism and English.