Opinion
Kansan
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4A
Thursday, March 11, 1999
Editorials
Senators' suspension appropriate example of upholding criterion
As representatives of the student body, student senators are obligated to actively participate in Senate. Accordingly, StudEx acted appropriately when it suspended six senators with excessive absences.
Two senators were removed from their positions and three others were removed from the University Council. One senator successfully appealed her suspension.
Senators are allowed three unexcused and two excused absences from general Senate meetings. Committee members cannot miss two or more meetings a semester or three meetings each academic year.
Senate seats, University Council participation requires dedication, attendance.
As members of one of the most influential institutions at the University, senators resolve issues that affect the students they represent. Understandably, being a senator involves a major commitment not only to the students but also to spending time researching issues and attending meetings.
Disregarding these commitments is simply intolerable. Senators win their seats because of student voters, who entrust them with the
responsibility of guarding student rights and working for a better university. If senators think that the responsibility is too much of a burden, they don't deserve the office and should resign. It's an injustice to the students if their representatives cannot do their jobs.
Furthermore, StudEx deserves commendation for working promptly to reprimand the senators at fault and replace them. The action should serve as a catalyst for senators to question their pledge to serve students. And, as Senate elections approach, hopefully candidates will understand what duties the positions bring.
Chris Borniger for the editorial board
Kansas noted for women in politics
This is good news for Kansas. The high percentage of female legislators shows that the voice of women is being heard in Kansas politics.
According to the Center for the American Woman in Politics, the 1999 Kansas Legislature ranks fifth in the nation for percentage of women legislators.
The Kansas Legislature is 30.3 percent female. Washington has the highest percentage of women lawmakers at 40.8 percent.
Just a generation ago, a 30 percent female legislature would have been unthinkable. Our mothers saw the beginning of political opportunities for women. Many of them still chose not to participate in politics.
Today, women are encouraged to be
1999 trend spotlights the increasing presence of female legislators in the statehouse.
politically active. From childhood, women are taught that they have a right to have their voices heard.
One reason that there isn't a 50-50 split in the legislature is that more men had been successful in their careers and had positioned themselves to be good candidates. This is changing.
There are more women than men enrolled at universities today. As they go through life, they probably will be more successful than their mothers were.
The majority of politicians traditionally were financially successful and older. Women who are 40 or 50 had fewer choices than women who are 20 or younger.
When the time comes for today's students to make up our Congress and state legislature, the percentage of women participating undoubtedly will be higher than 30 percent.
Kansas has been a leader in allowing women political rights. Kansas was the first state to allow women to vote in municipal elections in 1887 and elected the first female mayor in the nation.
The fifth-place ranking for women in the legislature is a positive sign that women are gaining political equality. It is a trend that everyone should applaud and encourage.
Kansan staff
Timothy Burger for the editorial board
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Broaden your mind: Today's quote
"I used to hang out by the food table at parties because you don't really have to talk to anybody, and if you do, you can talk about the food." —Jennifer Jason Leigh
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.
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.
T tonight the curtain will rise for the 50th Rock Chalk Revue.
Perspective
If you have general questions or comments,
e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com)
or call 864-4924.
This year's theme, "Wonders Never Cease," will mark half a century of dancing and singing in the name
Charity event, acting celebrates 50th curtain
In 1949, a business student named Roy Wonder saw the need for a campuswide student variety show. He envisioned a show similar to Kansas State University's program, "Y-Orpheum."
Jamie Patterson opinion@kansan.com
The letter, which was from Ross Miller — producer of K-State's show — started a war-of-words between the two schools. Student interest and support increased as the "war" continued.
No one knew that Wonder and Miller were good friends. Miller had written the letter in an effort to generate student support.
Later that year, 1,500 people paid 15 cents to see the first Rock Chalk Revue, and one of the greatest Jayhawk traditions began.
After announcing his idea to a lukewarm student body, a letter appeared in the Unter-
Since 1949, thousands of students have walked away from the University inspired by Rock Chalk Revue. More than 200 skits have been staged, poking fun at everything from cafeteria food to University officials.
It worked.
For the past 50 years, students have united to create a show that has generated hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity.
Through times of campus unrest and in the face of changing times, the Revue has been a constant part of campus life. The changing world has been reflected in the show's history with skits addressing everything from the sexual revolution in the '60s to rural Kansas life during the '50s.
Perhaps Rock Chalk Revue has survived all these years because of the impact it has made on our community.
One thing that often is forgotten is the reason the Rock Chalk Revue exists — to
Considering the extensive history of the show, it is amazing to think it started with just one man.
Although he brought the variety show to the University, perhaps a little too much credit is given to Roy Wonder.
better our community.
Rock Chalk Revue is one of the largest student-run philanthropies in the nation.
Last year, the Revue raised nearly $43,000 for the United Way of Douglas County. About 34,000 hours of community service were completed by hundreds of KU students.
Despite the general assumption that Rock Chalk Reve is an all-greek effort, students from throughout campus have united to give selflessly to the United Way.
This year, 30 living organizations volunteered in the hopes of topping last year's total.
What will not be seen on stage are the efforts of the 30 living organizations that participated in the community service aspect of the Revue. Students will not see the community service coordinators who have worked all year to manage the charitable efforts of their organizations. And students will not see the members of the community who will benefit from the support of Rock Chalk Revue.
As the applause reaches the stage in a gesture to the actors, the applause also will be supporting the volunteers and the United Way of Lawrence.
As the Lied Center fills this weekend, the casts of five shows will present the culmination of months of hard work.
I doubt Roy Wonder would have imagined that Rock Chalk Revue would be thriving 50 years later.
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Who would have thought that when Wonder saw a need for a campus variety show, this weekend's Revue would result?
Perhaps Wonder does deserve every inch of credit for this Jahawk tradition.
Rock Chalk Revue could not simply serve as a steadfast tradition and successful philanthropy.
It is the result of one man recognizing the need within a community and acting on that void.
Rock Chalk Revue serves as evidence of the ability within each of us to change our corner of the world.
In creating Rock Chalk Revue, Wonder created a show that has touched thousands of lives and united many more in the spirit of goodwill.
Here's to the past 50 years and to the hope of 50 more.
May wonders never cease.
Patterson is a Minneapolis junior in English.
Jodi Smith
Guest columnist
Grandmother's passing brings home importance
Hearing him say those words to her was like a cue to me, so I also leaned in, pressed the first two fingers of my right hand to my lips, repeated the words he had just used and then touched my fingers to her cheek.
I walked slowly up to her casket, clutching my brother's right arm above his elbow. My brother and I looked at her, not sure what to do or say. Finally, he
not sure what to do or leaned in a little, and I heard him say, in a voice barely above a whisper, "I love you, grandma."
fingers touched her skin, I pulled them away, as though her skin had burned me. But her skin was cold and felt like leather. I don't know what I expected her to feel like. I guess I imagined she would feel in death the way she had always felt in life, warm and loving. She didn't.
After the ceremony, we all piled into our cars and drove through the wind and snow to the cemetery to lay her to rest.
But after the minister said a prayer over her closed casket, and we each took a rose and laid it on top, I still couldn't help feeling something was missing.
But as quickly as my
And as we drove back out of the cemetery. I realized what it was that was missing — her.
Throughout my life, she always had been there. When I stopped by her house on a whim, I knew she would be sitting in the living room in her favorite chair.
There was nothing profound and deep about our relationship. It was just special and comfortable because she was my grandma, and I was her granddaughter. She was someone I always could talk to and depend on for honest answers to my questions — the simple and the hard ones.
As we drove down the road, I looked back at the cemetery and wanted to cry again. It
And now, nearly a year after her death,
I'm still struggling to find the answers to
the questions that swim around in my head.
I wish that I had told her goodbye.
Every day, I wish things could have been different, but the practical side of me knows they can't.
I had sat in a chair next to her bed the night before she died and stroking her cheek told her I loved her. But I don't know if she heard me. And I almost told her goodbye but decided to save that until morning, until I was leaving. I didn't want her to think I had given up on her.
was like we were forgetting her. We were leaving her there all by herself with no one to take care of her, no one to talk to her or keep her company. It didn't seem right.
She had spent the last 73 years of her life taking care of us, watching over us, helping to make sure we had everything we wanted and needed out of life, and now, we were deserting her.
But morning never came for her, and I never got to say my goodbye.
I knew that it was just a body that they would lower into the ground and cover with dirt once we were gone. But it didn't feel like that to me. It was my grandma.
Why didn't I spend more time with her while she was still here? Why didn't I ever tell her how much I loved her and how much she meant to me? Why did God have to take one of the kindest and gentlest people in the world and give her to cancer?
And now I look at her picture everyday and wish she were back. I wish that when I walked in her front door that she would swivel around in her maroon rocker to see who it was, but I know she won't and won't ever again.
My grandma has been a big part of my life since I was born. And as a 21-year-old, I have to face the rest of my life without her wisdom, without her encouragement, without her smile. And that, most of all, scares me.
Smith is a Marion junior in journalism.