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 Cropper, Retail sales manager
Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser
Justin Knupp, Technology coordinator
Thursday, February 4, 1999
Bruno Pieroni / KANSAN
Editorials
Olympic spirit of unity, fairness jeopardized by inner corruption
Salt Lake City's performance as host of the 2002 Winter Olympics provides a what-not-to-do lesson in international business.
Six members of the International Olympic Committee lost their positions for accepting bribes, casting a shadow across the ideals of the Olympics.
It is imperative to the future of the Olympic games that officials and Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch remedy the Salt Lake situation and prevent it from happening again.
The most important role of the IOC is to select the cities that will be the host of the Olympics. The recent dismissal of six IOC officials brought the Salt Lake City bribery scandal to the headlines. The officials were dismissed by Samaranch for accepting bribes from Salt Lake City lobbyists.
The Olympics have become a billion-dollar business. Corruption inevitably follows the money, allowing cities to purchase IOC votes and the games. According to The New
Salt Lake City bribery deters attention from hardworking athletes.
York Times, Salt Lake City invested $14 million in its campaign for the 2002 Winter Olympics, which is projected to bring $2.8 billion to the city
This scandal goes beyond bribery and poor business ethics. The real danger is a disillusionment with Olympic ideals, which would be a global tragedy and take away from the reason for the games; the athletes.
The Olympic dream must be saved. A University of Kansas track coach knows the thrill of Olympic competition and understands the dedication required of each athlete.
Tim Suchan, assistant track and field coach, competed in the high jump at the 1996 Olympic trials in Atlanta. Suchan was surprised with the scandal and thought it raised ethical questions.
The Olympic spirit is about equal
opportunity. Growing up, kids dream about competing in the Olympics, and if the kids work hard, they have a chance to fulfill that dream.
"It's a huge honor for a country to host the Olympics," Suchan said. "If it did come down to bribes, it takes away from the equal opportunity that is a part of the Olympics."
Fair competition and enforcement of ethical standards must be returned to the games, and the Olympic spirit must be revitalized.
the composition of the IOC is at the heart of the scandal. The committee, now reduced to 106 members, includes officials appointed by Samaranch for life. The committee must be reformed to provide equal representation of all nations, a democratic process of selecting members, and an ethical system for choosing host cities.
The dismissal of IOC members was only a small step in the right direction. Official apologies must be issued to countries that were short-changed and changes must be made to prevent future wrongs.
Katrina Hull for the editorial board
Book-buy Web site offers smart option
There are different places to pick up books that are cost efficient, such as Internet vendors or book exchange programs. Rather than ignoring these options and taking a big hit in the wallet, students should make the best financial choice.
One place students should take time to browse through is the KU Book Exchange Web site.
Set up by two KU students, Aaron Major, Deerfield, N.H., sophomore, and E.J. Reedy, Topeka freshman. The Book Exchange is a free, non-profit
Book exchange could flourish with increased participation.
campus organization dedicated to bringing information about getting the most money for used books to students at the University of Kansas.
Major and Reedy look for KU students who want to sell their books for more than they would get at area bookstores.
out by cutting out the middle man.
Students who can buy their textbooks from fellow students help each other
Students selling the books get more money by not settling for what the bookstores offers, and the student purchasing the textbook saves money because it's cheaper than bookstores' prices.
The Book Exchange list does not have every book for every student. But if more students participated in the Book Exchange, they would come out ahead in the costly game of buying textbooks.
The home for the KU Book Exchange is at http://www.ukans.edu/~kube.
Seth Jones for the editorial board
Kansan staff
Ryan Koener . . . . . . . . . . . Editorial
Jeremy Doherty . . . . . . Associate editorial
Aaron Marvin . . . . . . News
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Marc Sheforgen . . . Associate sports
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Sarah Hale . . Campus
T.R. Miller . . Features
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Corinne Buffmire Zone
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Broaden your mind: Today's quote
"Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness."
**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.
—Thomas Carlyle
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.
"No one is worth that much money." How many times have you said that or something similar after hearing about another
If you have general questions or comments,
e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com)
or call 864-4924.
Player salaries justified by public's indulgence
Perspective
professional athlete signing a contract for an ungodyd amount of money? Unless you're a professional athlete yourself, probably quite a few. You have to ask yourself — is anyone really worth nine figures?
Robert K.
Funk
coining@kansai.com
opinion@kansan.com
There are some arguments in favor of the athletes. First, you have to consider that most players aren't paid the astronomical sums that get all the attention. My cousin
played pro baseball for years and walked away with little to show for it. One of the players' alleged objectives in the recently concluded basketball strike was to obtain some security for the lesser-paid players.
We have to vote with our dollars. No team would sign such a person if it thought that as a result, fans would quit buying tickets, products and cease watching the games on TV. The Knicks didn't hesitate to sign Sprewell because they know that after some initial scandal, no one will remember that Sprewell committed assault and battery against his former coach.
Second, the career of a professional athlete is relatively short. Where most people can easily work into their 60s and 70s, pro athletes rarely make it to 40. Because their careers are so brief, they need to make a lot of money quickly in order to be secure during retirement.
This isn't so bad when the players respect the game and inspire us to greatness in our own lives. I was fortunate enough to start watching basketball when Julius Erving was in his prime. Dr. J was an unbelievable athlete and a consumate gentleman. After Erving, there was Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, then of course Michael Jordan. Although someone will step up to fill the void left by Jordan, pro basketball has a much bigger problem to worry about. When an industry decides to accept the intolerable actions of someone such as Letrell Sprewell, its time for the market to correct the error.
Putting the economic analysis aside, how does one justify that many professional athletes make a whopping 100 times more than most schoolteachers? As I write this column, I'm wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and Nike Air Jordan shoes. I have a poster of Larry Bird on the wall. As disgusted as I am with the sport, I'll probably tune in and watch some games later this season. Every time we buy a product, attend a game or watch a game on television, we endorse the outrageous salaries paid to professional athletes. We might as well be putting the money in their pockets ourselves.
If we really want to change things, we should turn off the game and attend a Board of Education meeting instead.
Third, athletes face the constant threat that their careers could be shortened even further by injury. Although many blue-collar workers face a similar threat, the drop-in pay between the athletes' salaries and whatever contractual protection they might have bargained for is a little more severe than the drop-off between the wages of blue-collar workers and their disability pay.
No one, that is, except the kids.
The bottom line is that we're all hypocrites. We criticize the players for making so much money and for occasionally throttling their coaches. At the same time, we buy their products and watch their games.
This seems ridiculous until you consider that Jordan generated an estimated $10 billion a year for professional basketball. All of a sudden, he doesn't seem so greedy.
Fourth, many major CEOs make as much money as the top athletes, yet they don't catch flak like the athletes. We reason that they must be worth it or their companies wouldn't be making money and their shareholders and boards of directors wouldn't keep them around, right?
We often forget that the same analysis applies to professional sports, which is business too. The owners are willing to fork over so much money because the players generate that much. We gasped when we heard that Michael Jordan had signed a contract with the Bulls for $35 million a year, knowing that already he made $50 million a year from various endorsements.
We are like citizens who don't vote, then complain about the politicians.
Funk is a Scott City graduate student in law and business.
Feedback
Police within rights to inspect drivers
We are very thankful that the police officer that stopped Diana Victor and asked if she had been drinking. Too many university students have been killed by drunk drivers. That said, while we realize that you were not intoxicated, he was perfectly within his rights to ask you if you had consumed alcohol that evening.
Think about it: You're driving down the road, it's dusk or dark outside, and you see some yahoo driving past you with his/her lights off.
It's probably more along the lines of "I hope that drunk doesn't take me or someone else out." What that officer had was probable cause to suspect that you had been driving while intoxicated.
What's your first thought? Probably not "Oh, that's nice, see the creative driver without the lights on."
Yes, leaving the lights off was a simple brain cramp on your part. But how is the officer supposed to just know that without asking?
In closing, we say to you,
Diana: check that console
completely before you pull
out of the parking place.
He could have made you "walk the line" if he had so chosen.
To the officer, we say:
THANK YOU for caring!
Keep up the good work.
Julie Fugett
Lecompton senior
Shay Oetting
Oltae senior
Column disrespects uniformed officers
Diana Victor's column in Tuesday's paper was an unfounded attack on police officers everywhere.
The police are not party-
poopers in uniform; they are
just doing their job and try-
ing to keep the city safe.
Victor's insination that the officer who pulled her over was not a "good cop" is unfair.
Attempt at levity only gives insult
Victor is bitter that she got pulled over and is trying to take revenge on our men and women in blue.
When someone gets pulled over for speeding, driving drunk, or (God forbid) driving at night with their headlights off, it's not because of some personal vendetta the officer has against the driver; it's to protect other drivers out there from being hurt or killed.
While there are a scant few "bad cops" out there, just as there are "bad" people in every occupation on earth. The vast majority of police officers are good, honest people who are there to serve and protect.
In my eyes, anyone who disrespects an officer of the law, especially for something as sily as Victor's complaint, is an ungrateful fool.
The officer who pulled her over for driving at night without her lights on was doing his job, and doing it well. "Anything to drink tonight?" was a perfectly valid question.
Carrie Johnson Oklahoma City sophomore
Considering that Don Marquis is a professor of philosophy, there was a surprising lack of any argumentation in his column attacking the University's proposed diversity program.
Apparently, Marquis believes that the concept is so plainly ridiculous that he need not make arguments,
that he can simply make fun.
The U.S. populations not fully addressed in the Western Civilization requirement, such as African Americans and women, may not find the concept of academic recognition an opportunity for levity.
I would like to take this opportunity to respond to Professor Don Marquis' column in Tuesday's University Daily Kansan.
Jennifer Curry
Lenexa Junior
Diversity question no place for humor
Marquis' admittance to "making fun of the proposal" does not lessen the imbecility of his comments. He criticizes the diversity proposal as being too broad and suggests that courses would not be able to address issues of inequality, power and justice.
As a student here for several years, it is not often my experience that the words of faculty invoke such rage within me.
I would like to challenge Marquis, as a professor, to develop a better venue to address such issues than in the classroom, or possibly Marquis does not feel these problems need to be approached?
I feel that Marquis has failed to argue his point effectively for a number of students, myself included. It is my opinion that diversity issues are not an occasion for "levity" as suggested in his column.
In closing, I would agree with Marquis that university life can be grim, himself providing such an example.
Summer M. Schippers Hoxie senior