Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Ann Premer, Editor
Gerry Doyle, Managing editor
Angie Kuhn, Managing editor
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Justin Knupp, Technology coordinator
Thursday, January 28, 1999
Clay McCuistion / KANSAN
Editorials
Clinton's Senate jury breaks oath with repeated media appearances
When the Senate impeachment trial of Bill Clinton began, senators swore to "do impartial justice." After setting aside legal tradition, Republicans and Democrats have shown that partisanship plays a major role not only in their decision but also in their actions during the trial.
This disregard for their oath is not limited to one party. Senators on both sides have gone too far in aiding the causes of their respective parties.
Impartiality enters every time senators express their opinions to the media. Judges instruct new jury members not to discuss a case. This command sometimes is so severe that it takes the form of sequestration, where the jurors have little or no contact with the public. Senators are putting aside decades of legal precedent to appear on nightly news programs and to publicize sound bytes,
U.S. Senators dodge impartiality by talking to cameras when the trial is in progress.
actions that in most cases are grounds for dismissal of a jury member.
Media involvement also is not reserved for one party. After a day of gavel-to-gavel coverage where the public can form its own opinions, Larry King Live plays host to two opposing senators debating impeachment on national television. By openly stating their opinions and conclusions, senators show that they have not kept an impartial stance.
A refreshing breath comes from Sen. Susan M. Collins, R-Maine. Several weeks ago, she issued a press release stating that she would not comment on the trial while it was in session.
She has taken the words, "to keep silence on pain of imprisonment," as seriously as possible. The most notable judicious body, the Supreme Court, acts in much the same fashion as the Senate when hearing an appeal. No direct interaction between judges and the press is tolerated. Any contact with the media is through statements following a decision. These principals of justice should serve as a model for senators.
The Senate is trying the president on the grounds that he broke his oath to the grand jury when he swore he would tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Senators also have taken oaths, and they are breaking them with the same severity as the president. More senators should follow the examples of senators such as Collins and keep silent while the trial is in session.
Tara Kelly for the editorial board
Early semester efforts invite praise
The following people deserve a pat on the back for their contributions to the University of Kansas:
A thank you and pat on the back to Andrew and Mary-Elizabeth Debicki. The Debicki have donated $23,000 to the University to establish a scholarship through the KU Endowment Association for graduate students in humanities. Andrew Debicki is dean of the graduate school's international programs. Mary-Elizabeth Debicki was the director of study abroad until she retired in 1996.
A second pat on the back goes to the
Senators, alumni and administrators contribute to a successful KU environment.
members of the executive staff of Student Senate for the positive feedback the staff received from the senators on the mid-year evaluations. The 4.8 out of five overall-performance rating that Kevin Yoder, student body president, received capped the executives' high ratings.
ers from the Organizations and Leadership Development Center for spearheading the planning of LeaderShape, a week-long leadership camp at the beginning of the month. LeaderShape, in its second year, focused on integrity in campus leadership.
And, finally to Danny Kaiser, director;
Bill Nelson, associate director; and oth-
The week brought together students from fraternities, sororities, minority affairs, campus government and student housing to share their vision of the KU campus.
To nominate someone for a pat on the back, e-mail the editorial staff at opinion@kansan.com.
Kansan staff
Ryan Koerner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editorial
Jeremy Doherty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Associate Editorial
Aaron Marvin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . News
Laura Roddy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . News
Melissa Ngo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . News
Aaron Knopf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Online
Erin Thompson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sports
Marc Sheforgen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Associate sports
Chris Fickett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Campus
Sarah Hale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Campus
T.R. Miller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Features
Steph Brewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Associate features
Augustus Anthony Piazza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Photo
Chris Dye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Design, graphics
Carl Kaminski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wire
Carolyn Mollett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Special sections
Laura Veazey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . news clerk
Ryan Koerner for the editorial board
News editors
Matt Lopez . . . . . Special Sections
Jennifer Patch . . . Campus
Micah Kafitz . . . Regional
Jon Schlitt . . National
Tyler Cook . . Marketing
Shannon Curran . PR/Intern manager
Christa Estep . Production
Steven Prince . Production
Chris Corley . Creative
Jason Hannah . Classified
Corinne Buffmire . Zone
莎安tae Blue . Zone
Brandi Byram . Zone
Brian Allers . Zone
Justin Allen . Zone
Broaden your mind: Today's quote
Advertising managers
"I don't think of myself as a poor deprived ghetto girl who made good. I think of myself as somebody who from an early age knew I was responsible for myself, and I had to make good." —Oprah Winfrey
Letter:s 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.
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Guest columns: Should be double-
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All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Staufer-Flin 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.
If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4924.
College students heed different brand of logic
Perspective
Studies everywhere show that people with college degrees end up with higher-paying jobs and higher-placed jobs. Just by taking time out of your full party schedule to read my
drones on about some useless factoid, you've put yourself in a wonderful position to someday become a leader and a person holding a key to the executive washroom. And similar to my fear that someday premed students will practice medicine, that thought scares me silly.
Nick
Bartkoski
opinion@kansan.com
It's not that I don't think college students are capable of holding power or that I doubt their ability to lead effectively. What truly frightens me?
fightens me is what passes for sensible logic during the college years.
I'm not immune from this skewed logic bug. I'll give an example. Monday morning I was pretty certain I was going to die soon. Right now, the flu or a bad cold or something is being passed through my hall, and based on its level of infection, I personally call it the Stephenson Plague. Anyway, I was the latest to fall before its virulent force. Since I feared I was going to die, of course I couldn't go to classes. Who has ever claimed on his deathbed that he wished he had attended lectures more religiously?
I did the whole soup-and-medication combo and finally felt good enough to get out of bed to check my e-mail. That's when I remembered that a friend had turned 21 and planned to party down at the Wheel. That gave me about eight hours to medicate myself to the point where I felt healthy enough to go to the Wheel. Luckily that was enough time, and I made it without any problems.
Were that the worst decision I made, I would be able to write it off. Unfortunately, within 10 minutes of arriving, I broke my alcohol-and-cold-medication don't-mix rule. Sure, I was just enjoying a shot with the birthday girl, but I did so with the distinct understanding that I could die. I probably deserved to die for doing something so stupid.
Realistically, that story actually shows one brief glimpse of common sense. My fear is that not everyone would set the condition that they feel better before heading to the Wheel. It's inebriate a cold, inebriate a fever, isn't it?
So do you personally fail prey to this logic problem? Luckily, trained scientists at the Knoskosatkish Institute for making stuff up for Nick's columns have developed a simple test that can determine whether you personally have a college-logic problem.
1. You wake up on Wednesday totally hung over. You have a class in 30 minutes. You:
A. Swear off drinking forever and skip class so that you can join a monastery or convert.
C. Take a huge swig from a bottle of Jack Daniel's under the dog that-bit-me theory.
A. Remember that you would never be so irresponsible as to wait so long to write your paper and proofread it for the 20th time to make sure you haven't accidentally misspelled anything.
trial. You can join a monastery of convient.
with your nuns and wonder what you did
with your nuns.
2. You've procrastinated writing the 20-page paper that's worth 50 percent of your grade until the night before it's due. To get the job done you:
3. Your camping group for KU basketball desperately needs you to fill in a couple of hours in the afternoon. The problem is that during that time you have a class that has an attendance policy and is preparing for an important midterm. You tell your group:
B. Put on a pot of coffee and drop to your knees swearing to God that if he'll spare you this time, you'll never allow something like this to happen again.
C. Figure that if you're already this pressed for time, another couple of hours won't kill you, so you head to the movie theater.
A. That studies are way more important than getting good seats for the K-State game, and, besides, it's only a game.
C. That you'll take care of it, but you end up forgetting about it because you were too busy skipping class to get started at The Crossing early.
B. That you'll take care of it, but then you call that cute girl in your class and ask if you can borrow her notes.
Scoring for this test is easy. For every 'A' you get no points, for every 'B' you get one point and for every 'C' you get 12 points. If you took the test while driving, during class or while drunk, add three points, and since you're reading my column instead of doing something life-enriching, add 1300 points. If you have less than four points, you're probably OK. Otherwise, your logic center only may be able to handle some job where screw-ups are expected, such as the presidency.
Bartkoski is a Basehor senior in journalism.
Nation's issues simmer despite president's mess
D despite being a Republican, I voted for Bill Clinton in the last two presidential elections.
I didn't do it because I thought he was a pillar of
culture. He doesn't.
Robert
bother me that he had experimented with marijuana in college, but it did when he tried to convince us that he didn't inhale. Although I agreed with him in principle regarding his opposition to the war in Vietnam, I was very bothered by the manner in which he had expressed that opposition.
I also was concerned with his apparent fondness for women other than his wife.
Robert
Funk
opinion@kansan.com
Despite those reservations.
Unlike many of his critics, I'm not upset with Clinton on moral or legal grounds. I think that his marriage with Hillary is one of political convenience and has been for some time now, so the adultery issue doesn't bother me.
I voted for Clinton because I thought he was a contemporary moderate who would address our badly neglected domestic issues. I thought he was a shrewd politician and a very intelligent man. I knew that he wasn't a Boy Scout, but I thought the weight of the office would make an honest man out of him.
My only moral criticism of Clinton is that he embarrassed his friends and family (except for brother Roger, I suppose). Most men who cheat on their wives try to keep it quiet, but his actions didn't seem to go beyond what most unfaithful husbands would do to try to conceal an affair.
Despite all this, the man couldn't stay out of trouble. He gave in to the crude flirtations of a
However, you can't ignore the recklessness and poor judgment that Clinton's demonstrated. He is the most powerful man in the world. He controls our army, including our nuclear weapons. He represents us on the political world stage.
He has considerable influence in the domestic issues that affect our day-to-day lives. He knows he has this power, and he revels in it. It probably has been his dream since he shook hands with President Kennedy in the famous photo many years ago.
troubled subordinate roughly his daughter's age, and he did it in the nation's house and while conducting the nation's business. When he should have been concerned with crime at home or Saddam abroad, he was apparently only worried about providing business for Washington-area drv cleaners.
Should we be upset that parents across the nation have to explain to their children what happened between the President and his little helper? No, that's their job. If they explained things to their children more often, maybe they wouldn't have to blame Beavis and Butthead when their kid sets the couch on fire.
Our friends and relatives in the armed forces have been put in harm's way for political reasons. Our foreign affairs are suffering from a weakened president and a preoccupied legislature. Our domestic affairs (except for Bill and Monica') are being ignored completely.
Should the Senate remove Clinton from office? No. Choosing the President is our job, and any political attempt by the Senate to interfere with our decision should be met with fierce opposition.
We dropped the ball on this one. Let's learn from our mistake and choose more carefully in the future.
For several years, our hard-earned tax monies have been squandered on the various Republican political efforts to force Clinton from office and on the Democrats' defense to those efforts.
Meanwhile, senators should get back to the various jobs for which we sent them to Washington.
We should be very upset that both parties are more concerned with their respective political agendas than with the interests of the nation.
Early removal would punish Clinton, which is probably appropriate, but it wouldn't do anything to address the real problems that this situation has created and would weaken our nation further. Let the historians judge Bill Clinton.
We need to send a message to Washington that we will not tolerate politicians reversing our decisions, wasting our money or ignoring our problems for the sake of party politics. It's time for all of us to move beyond the finger-pointing and petty bickering and get on with the real task, that of carrying the American dynasty forward.
Funk is a Scott City graduate student in law and business.
Feedback
Views about King called meaningful
I was delighted to read Sydney Wallace's "Perspective" in Monday's University Daily
Thank you for your effort!
Kansan. Your insights on King's leadership and inspiration, as well as your own desire to express your "passion", were very meaningful, and I appreciate your sharing those with this community.
Prof. Robert Shelton
Department of Religious Studies
University Ombudman