Opinion
Kansan
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Ann Premer, Editor Jamie Holman, Business manager Gerry Doyle, Managing editor Sara Cropper, Retail sales manager Angie Kuhn, Managing editor Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser Justin Knupp, Technology coordinator
Friday, March 19, 1999
The Chicago Tribune
Editorials
Southern comfort, eventful breaks contribute to health risks, fatigue
This weekend marks the start of the mass hysteria known as spring break.
KU students, along with students from other schools around the world, will pack bags and journey south to beachparty paradise. In places such as Cancun, Jamaica and South Padre Island, boundless scans, scanty swim suits and sun tanning await.
However, students often overlook the possibility that the fun they have could land them in the hospital back at home.
Exhaustion, alcohol poisoning, sunburn and sexually transmitted diseases during spring break can yield post-vacation infirmity. Students should be aware of the consequences of their actions.
Deb Hewes, health educator at Watkins Health Center, said there was a
Health official says responsibility, abstinence will help students' safety after break.
notable increase in sexually transmitted diseases after spring break.
Not only did the number of STDs increase. Howes said, but there was also an influx of patients who had not taken care of themselves during the break. She said students seek medical attention for effects of staying up late, eating poorly and drinking heavily.
wntie sleep deprivation, malnutrition and binge drinking predominantly affect only the inflicted individual, venereal diseases affect a larger population. If two students meet during spring
break should choose to have sexual intercourse, not only do they both risk contracting an STD but they are putting their future partners in jeopardy.
Howes said that with alcohol abuse, both sexual behavior and the number of sexually transmitted diseases increased. She said that the main reasons for the spread of STDs were not using condoms or not using them correctly.
Students are more likely to use condoms incorrectly when intoxicated. Howes said.
In order to prevent the campus-wide and nation-wide spread of STDs such as chlamydia, herpes and HIV, students should think twice before engaging in potentially destructive behavior. And if abstinence is out of the question, at least use a condom. It could save lives.
Emily Hughey for the editorial board
Athletes need academic monitoring
Although the pressures of balancing the high-level athletics and academics is difficult, there are resources available to help student athletes, including tutoring. Unfortunately, sometimes it becomes easier to do the work for students, rather than assisting them.
Jan Ganglohoff, former University of Minnesota office manager with academic counseling, said she was paid to write papers and engage in other forms of academic fraud for at least 20 different student athletes during a five-year period.
The story broke in the St. Paul Pioneer Press the day before the NCAA tournament began last week, leaving the University with little time to investigate.
sity warfare This is similar to two years ago when Texas Tech withdrew from NCAA tournament consideration because of similar
A tutor crossing the line of academic fraud should have been caught by school, coach.
allegations.
The Pioneer Press reportedly had the information about the academic fraud at Minnesota for as long as six months, but it chose to not break the story until a high profile period such as the NCAA tournament.
Unfortunately, it was too late for the University of Minnesota to withdraw from the tournament and allow another team to participate.
Clem Haskins, men's basketball coach said that he had no knowledge of any sort of academic fraud. However, Gangleloh claimed that Haskins was responsible for her payments, which would be illegal under NCAA rules.
swift action.
Instead, the team suspended four players who were accused of being involved. The school should be applauded for taking
Haskins should have known. Part of a coach's job is to keep up with the lives of his players, including their academic lives.
It is not shocking that this sort of academic fraud exists, but the extent that is alleged at Minnesota is surprising. The institution and others will need to assume greater control of the academics of their athletes.
If a student is at an institution because of an athletic ability, academics need to be monitored closely also. Students will not learn when the work is done for them.
Emily Haverkamp for the editorial board
Kansan staff
Ryan Koener . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editorial
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Broaden your mind: Today's quote
"It is well to lie fallow for a while." —Martin Farquhar Tupper
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Nostalgia still enriches despite discouragement
Perspective
Prayer for Owen Meany"
I admit it — I have an incurable love for nostalgia. Films such as What's Eating Gilbert Grane and books such as "A
Prayer for Owen Meany resonate with me. There is something about adolescent memories, basking in the glow of innocence and a world slowly opening to new eyes that rings true.
Growing older, of course, I realize that nostalgia has limited worth. All the sentiment and nostalgia in the world does not translate into
Duane Wagler
opinion@kansan.com
I've been reminded recently, too, about the downside of nostalgia, such as when it is used as an anesthetic against evil. In the Southern Literature class that I'm taking, the white characters in the book often use the nostalgic past as a tool to maintain their status as wealthy slaveowners. For them, the nostalgic past means basking in a way of life where they enjoyed the luxuries of plantation life with little thought for the humanity of the enslaved. When nostalgia is fueled by institutions such as slavery, it should be discarded into the trash heap of history.
Other kinds of nostalgia deserve defending, though. The memories of family and friends, for example, that shape who we have become need retelling. Keeping these memories alive involves the intentional act of writing the stories down or telling the stories again and again.
I was reminded of the effort it takes to keep memories alive in a recent e-mail from my brother, who lives abroad. He mentioned that his 2-year-old nephew talked about his uncle occasionally.
Because I had seen my nephew only once and that a long time ago, I had written that I suspected that my nephew's memory had been prompted by his parents' reminders.
He responded, "Of course it gets prompted. By pictures, by our talk and by whatever goes on in those remarkable little crevices of his mind. We try very hard to keep fresh what little twinges he might have of distant family. Anyway, what we call memory is often amply supplemented by shared retelling and recalling of those times we spent in an ever more shiny — or dreary — place."
I was one of the lucky ones who had memories stoked while sitting on my dad's knee. Dad would tell tales of childhood adventures on the farm or stories of travels he took. These stories took on a life of their own in my childhood imagination and became, in an odd way, "my" stories. They helped shape my place in the family and community and gave me a powerful sense of identity. Dad's stories might have changed cosmetically with each retelling, but the connective tissue it nurtured dug deep into my marrow.
Too often, I fear, society discourages us to nurture our own memories and nostalgia. Our television-soaked consumer culture dictates its own version of our stories, and we forget our own. Not everyone can warm themselves by the glow of a happy childhood, but I suspect that everyone has certain memories when love was shown that can provide sustenance well into adult life.
Nostalgia should be more than Mark Twain's description of human life when he said that the first third is having a good time and the rest is spent remembering about it. Rather, it should be woven into our lives naturally and repeatedly, giving us a sense of who we are.
Though nostalgia may not make us rich, it can enrich our lives.
Wagler is a Partridge graduate student in journalism.
Getting lost while abroad comes with being a man
Undoubtedly, there will be a few tatives from the University of Kansas all around the world. Spring break is a time for most students to get away from the
The entire student body will scatter into the four winds this coming week. Undoubtedly, there will be represen-
drudgery of life in Kansas and bask for one week in the sun, or relax at home. As students find themselves on foreign land, there is no doubt that a Jayhawk is going to get lost. A Jayhawk is going to get very, very lost. Going to the smallest island in the Hawaiian chain? Doesn't matter, I'm willing to bet you will get lost—if you're a guy, that is.
Jamie Patterson
opinion@ kansan.com
Somewhere in the manual titled "How to be a Man," there is a chapter on the rules for asking directions.
some common rules include:
Never ask directions.
Ever.
Real men don't need a map.
If you don't admit you're lost, you really won't be.
If you just keep driving a little longer, you'll get back on the correct route.
As long as there are other people driving around you, you can't really be lost.
Some rules can be interpreted in different ways. A close family friend may read the first rule and take it to heart. He could be a grandfather, who in all his years of life, has never asked for directions. Surprisingly, he has always been on time to everything and has never admitted to being lost.
I'll tell you his secret.
He drives until the roads become unfamiliar and until he can find a gas station to wash his windows. His wife then goes into the station to ask for directions.
This trick might come in handy for the happy couples braving the interstate highways in search of a beach. Ladies, if the stubborn male at the wheel starts furrowing his brow, you have no need to fear. Simply point out that the windshield has become the burial ground for one too many bugs, and insist on stopping at the next gas
station.
It doesn't help that the rules of traveling are coupled with the rules of asking directions.
According to the "How to be a Man" handbook, the rules of traveling are as follows:
Spring break is a time where these manly rules are in full force. As they drive with a growl determined to find the beach, these rules of manliness keep them behind the wheel, without maps.
Simple, effective and much easier than the alternatives.
In my life, I have witnessed coin tossing: heads for left, tails for right.
That is, they won't hesitate to admit it until after they have been found out. Only after passing by the same restaurant for the third time, you might begin to recite the specials for the day. It is not until then that the male's uncertainty of his surroundings will be admitted.
- Even if you have never been within one continent of the city you are presently in, you are not a tourist.
I have been in a car driven by a male who followed a car that "looked like it knew where it was going" through two states.
Even if it is the first time you have ever been in a city/state/country, you will know the best hotel, best beach, best restaurants, best clubs, etc.
And my favorite -- a friend once turned on the radio and drove in the direction that made the signal more clear.
For credibility, preface everything with, "Well, a buddy of mine was here last year, and he..." Fill in the blanks.
This is not to say that all men refuse to ask for directions. There are men who are aware of this awful generalization and won't hesitate to admit they have left the beaten path.
So now the women have been forewarned, and the men have grumbled a collective, "whatever, I ask for directions." We can now go forth and cover the world with little Jayhawk footprints.
As we scatter, and experience a little fun in the sun, please come back in one piece. For those men who firmly follow the manly rules of existence, please—just try to come back.
Patterson is a Minneapolis junior in English.