Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
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 advisor Justin Knupp, Technology coordinator
Tuesday, February 9, 1999
NEWS ITEM:Dan QUAYLE ANNOUNCES PReSiDENTIaL BiD
The Chicago Tribune
Editorials
Food tax elimination right choice for students,fixed-income families
The Kansas House of Representatives made a wise decision for Kansas and KU students by voting to eliminate the 4.9 percent state sales tax on food instead of abolishing property taxes on motor vehicles. Now the Senate and Gov. Bill Graves need to follow suit.
Graves originally proposed eliminating automobile taxes this year. Graves is correct that vehicle taxes are high, but abolishment of the food tax is a far more pressing issue and should be done first.
The potential implications for KU students are clear. Many students do not own cars, but nearly all students buy food from local stores. Elimination of a vehicle tax would save only some students money, while elimination of a food tax would benefit nearly everyone.
The two options would have simi
The House of Representatives made a wise decision by supporting the repeal.
lar effects on the state as a whole
Both measures would save taxpayers roughly the same amount of money, about $230 million each year for the food tax and about $270 million for the auto tax. However, the food tax should be a priority because, unlike the vehicle tax, eliminating it will help those who are most in need of financial help — the poor and the elderly. Many of these individuals are forced to live on fixed incomes.
Anyone who can afford to buy an expensive car should also have enough money to pay taxes on it. Eliminating the vehicle tax benefits those with numerous or expensive
cars.
But everyone has to buy a certain amount of food, regardless of the number of zeros behind the dollar sign on paychecks. Repealing the food tax can benefit all Kansans equally.
Sponsors of the bill say that Kansas is one of only 16 states to tax food. This fact led lawmakers to a rare display of bipartisan support as the food tax measure passed the House 86-37, with strong support from both Democrats and Republicans.
Unfortunately, the bill faces a much more difficult road ahead, as the Senate and the governor have given the idea a cool reception. We only can hope they will follow the wisdom of the House and decide to abolish the food tax.
It's the most equitable solution for students and for the state.
Nathan Willis for the editorial board
Worthy feats lead to pats on the back
The following students, alumni and state officials deserve our thanks and a pat on the back for their contributions to the University of Kansas.
The first goes to State Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, for sponsoring legislation that would place in-state tuition within the reach of certain out-of-state students. The bill would apply to students who own property in Kansas, register vehicles in the state or possess a Kansas driver's license. For out-of-state Jayhawks who have made Lawrence their home but still pay triple the tuition of Kansas residents, Sloan's proposal is a step toward fairness.
Monetary contributions, compassion earn praise.
The Kansas Health Foundation is entitled to a pat on the back for its $450,000 grant to the University for a campaign to tackle binge drinking. The money will go toward a program that emphasizes facts and statistics rather than scare tactics, said Associate Provost K Kathleen McCluskev-Fawcett.
making a contribution to America's future teachers. The two made a $48,300 donation to the University's School of Education, which will be used to create scholarships, said Karen Gallagher, dean of the school.
Finally, a pat is due for Latin American Solidarity for establishing a relief fund for the victims of the Jan. 25 earthquake in Armenia, Colombia. The quake killed nearly 1,000 and left 200,000 homeless. The compassion of LAS is an inspiration.
A big pat on the back goes to Sylvia Mahon Allgaier, 1958 KU graduate, and her father, Harry G. Mahon, for
To nominate someone for a pat on the back, e-mail the editorial staff at opinion@kansan.com.
Jeremy Doherty for the editorial board
Kansan staff
Ryan Koerner ... Editorial
Jeremy Doherty ... Associate editorial
Aaron Marvin ... Neus
Laura Roddy ... Neus
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Advertising managers
Broaden your mind: Today's quote
“Sometimes I wonder if men and women suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then.” —Katharine Hearn
next door and just visit now and then." —Katharine Hepburn
Letterers: 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.
Perspective
Full education includes diversity requirement
In the next few days, faculty and student members of the College Assembly will be voting by mail ballot on a proposed cultural diversity requirement for B.A. and B.G.S.
If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4924.
entering the University of Kansas in 2000 and after. I enthusiastically support the proposal.
William M. Tuttle, Jr.
Guest columnist
According to the new requirement, these students would need to complete a course about America's diverse racial, ethnic, religious, sexual, age, disability or class cultures.
Recently, in my honors freshman-sophomore American history course, a bright student questioned whether American slavery
before the Civil War was really much worse than the hassles which Americans, including KU students, have to deal with today. This in not a dumb student, nor is this an isolated example.
Through the years, I have encountered unaware students who, because of educational deficiencies before enrolling at the University, didn't understand that slavery was hereditary, involuntary, lifelong and extremely brutal both physically and emotionally, including whippings, rape and the forced dismemberment of families through slave sales.
The University offers an excellent undergraduate education. The cultural diversity requirement would round out that education not only for these students, but for many others as well.
Some Caucasian KU students and faculty seem to think that this proposed requirement is an attack on Caucasian people. For example, a recent letter to the editor in Wednesday's Laurence Journal-World complains that Professor Cheryl Lester, a proponent of the requirement, has demeaned Caucasian people by stating that "some white students found it difficult to believe minority students suffered hardships on a regular basis."
Anyone who questions this statement does not know, or has not seriously talked to, any KU students of color, any gay, lesbian or bisexual students, or any students with disabilities.
The letter-writer continues by asking, why "is she attacking white students? Do only white students have a monopoly on intolerance, discrimination, racism and prejudice?" Of course not. Professor Lester's purpose was to attack ignorance.
It is apparent that the letter's author is precisely the kind of person who would benefit from exposure to America's vast cultural diversity.
It seems to me that not only students, but even some faculty, could benefit from the cultural diversity requirement. Twenty years ago, women's history was derided as a silly waste of time. Why, he wanted to know, should we teach women's history?
Women's history now is accepted as a legitimate topic of research and teaching. But such attitudes persist.
For example, at a meeting of the College Assembly in Deoember that discussed the diversity proposal, Professor Don Marquis of
It was unwise. I think. Not only does the article hurt his credibility, but it discourages others who are working hard to fulfill the educational goals of the University.
More recently, Professor Marquis wrote a guest column for the Feb. 2 Kansan in which he asked: "Shouldn't a course in Mafia culture count? What about a study of the social groups involved in the manufacture of pornographic videos?" Continuing in this ridiculous vein, Marquis suggested "a course in Colorado diversity... especially if field work on the ski slopes were possible. Hawaiian diversity anyone?"
One student, Summer Schippers of Hoxie responded to the Kansan that Marquis' guest column had even provoked rage within her, and that "diversity issues are not an occasion for 'levity' as suggested in his column."
the philosophy department questioned what would be defined as a diverse culture when selecting courses.
Sadly, some of my colleagues have become discouraged and have left the University, including three philosophy professors who are experts in African-American philosophy and multiculturalism.
It doesn't have to be this way. Western Civilization long has been a requirement for KU students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. It is a valuable requirement and, through the years, the Western Civilization program has updated and revised its reading list to recognize other perspectives, including those of women and people of African descent.
The purpose of the proposed diversity requirement is important and straightforward. The goal, Cheryl Lester has explained, "is to enable a student to understand the American experience from another perspective."
Almost three-fourths of America's colleges and universities either have adopted a diversity requirement or have one under serious consideration. Many of the nation's top colleges and universities have such a requirement, and, like the KU proposal, they offer a menu of courses from which to choose.
The University's cultural diversity proposal has been debated for far too long. It is time now to act.
The United States dramatically has changed during the past 30 years. So too have the state of Kansas and the University. Record numbers of immigrants have come to the United States from Asia, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.
The University has welcomed many of the sons and daughters of the new immigration, as well as many hundreds of African-American, Native-American, and Hispanic-American students.
It is past time to learn about the diverse cultures of people who live among us, at the University, in Lawrence, in Kansas and in the United States.
In order to serve both the University and the state of Kansas, as well as the nation, we need to prepare our students to live and work and prosper in the 21st century. Adoption of the cultural diversity requirement will be an important step in this direction.
Turtle is a professor of history and American Studies.
Feedback
I was in attendance at a KU Alumni Association Board meeting at the Adams Alumni Center last Friday and was pleased to have been given a copy of the University Daily Kansan reflecting Katie Burford's story on methamphetamine.
I very much appreciate your interest in the "meth" threat, and I am grateful to learn that, apparently, "meth" has not negatively impacted the campus of my alma mater.
Bureau director lauds meth story
Sadly, it has negatively impacted my state.
You may not be aware that methamphetamine, in general, and "meth labs" in particular, constitute the top investigative priority of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation currently. You may also not be aware that, unfortunately, Kansas is generally considered to rank nationally in the top five states in the number of illegal "meth labs" seized annually. Moreover, we rank in the top 10 states nationally in the amount of meth amphetamine imported into the state, according to rankings of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Four "meth labs" were seized in Kansas in 1994. That was a record year then. In 1998, there were 189 "meth labs" seized in our state! The KBI alone seized 148 of those labs.
Larry Welch
Director,
Kansas Bureau of Investigation
KU class of '58
KU Law class of '61
Dean Mielke
Mankato, Minn.
graduate student
KU law class of 61
Students need interest in city
Tuition change lacks criteria
The solution to this issue is not keeping an inefficient polling site open. The solution is to get students interested and involved enough in the local community to vote. The county will support active students.
On the topic of in-state residency in the Thursday's edition of the University Daily Kansan Kathleen McCluskey-Fawcett, associate provost, disregarded a wide variety of life circumstances. She stated that a proposed bill intending to change residency (read: tuition cost) would allow parents to buy a house in Kansas and put their child's name on the title, making their child an in-state resident. She stated
Again, thank you for your interest in "meth" and for your concern about our state and alma mater.
This is in response to yesterday's front page article by Nadia Mustafa about the Allen Fieldhouse polling site.
Finally, it is just as likely for a student's parents to move out of Kansas as it is for a married couple or independent student. It would be just as hard for the parents to prove "intent" to remain in Kansas as it is for the other two parties. We now live in a mobile society, and university policy needs to reflect that. "Intent" to reside in Kansas is a nebulous criterion for residency.
This beines the fact that, under the existing residency policy, a student's parents can move to Kansas while the student is in high school, and thereby make their child eligible for instate residency even though the parents have not significantly contributed to the Kansas tax base. In contrast, a newly married student from out of state, whose spouse who has contributed to the Kansas tax base for a period of time longer than these parents, may be considered ineligible for state residency, as are independent students who have resided and worked for several years in Kansas while attending the University. The spouse or independent student may well have contributed more to the Kansas tax base than the student whose parents recently moved here.
that this wouldn't be fair to parents who have paid Kansas taxes over the years.
Jennifer Dressel
Lawrence graduate student
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