Opinion
Kansan
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Published daily since 1912
Ann Premer, Editor Jamie Holman, Business manager Gerry Doyle, Managing editor Sara Cropper, Retail sales manager Angie Kuhn, Managing advisor Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser Justin Knapp, Technology coordinator
Tuesday, January 26, 1999
Robert James Novak / KANSAN
Editorials
Money, miscommunication kept University from backing dancers
A misunderstanding between the Crimson Girls and the Athletics Department led to the situation that caused the dance team to attend a national competition without the blessings of the University.
Budget cuts meant the department would sponsor the squad only in events related to supporting the athletic teams.
The Crimson Girls are considered "support groups" according to Athletics Department policy. The KU cheerleaders, as well as athletic trainers and tutors, also are considered support groups. These groups are not authorized by the NCAA to attend national competitions.
In the past, the Crimson Girls financed their own trips through fund-
Crimson Girls deserve support from University, Athletics Department in competition.
raiders. Part of this was done by soliciting local businesses. While the University seems to look unfavorably on this practice, other sports receive corporate sponsorship. The football team is outfitted by Nike, and the field for the soccer team is financed by SuperTarget.
If the University is unhappy with outside sponsorship of the Crimson Girls, they should apply such sanctions to other sports as well.
Orlando, Fla., and registration fees for the competition.
Because of the large amount of money invested, the Crimson Girls chose to compete and reached the finals. Although the squad went against the University's wishes, their actions are understandable.
The squad was told by the department that the University did not support their decision.
The Crimson Girls did the right thing by financing the trip themselves. Whether the department was able to support the squad financially, it should have supported the squad's choice. The diaproval contradicts what the squad stands for: school spirit.
Erinn R. Barcomb for the editorial board
'2000' parking-garage plan needed
On Jan. 19th, the Lawrence City Commission approved a plan to build a parking garage downtown as part of the "Downtown 2000" project. The plan will cost $9.7 million dollars, and the costs will not come from the taxes of Lawrence citizens. The parking garage will be located at the corner of 9th and New Hampshire streets.
The garage is a necessary project for the city of Lawrence. The downtown area of Massachusetts Street and its surrounding streets is extremely popular and often extremely congested.
On weekend afternoons, the streets are filled with shoppers, and in the evenings college students and young people from surrounding towns come to cruise and socialize at the night spots.
Parking often is a problem. There are a
The City Commission's project would ease Massachusetts Street parking woes.
limited amount of spaces on Massachusetts street, and the lots behind the businesses fill quickly. This can lead to frustration on the part of many drivers, which may lead them to park illegally. This can lead to tickets and potential safety hazards. Trying to pull out of a space on Massachusetts Street also can be dangerous.
However, with no citywide bus system, many citizens have no other option than to drive downtown. A garage one block from Massachusetts Street would provide more spaces for drivers and divert traffic
flow from the main street. It also would provide parking closer to popular businesses and establishments.
Some downtown merchants worry that the garage may have an effect on property values. However, the availability of more spaces will bring more consumers downtown, which would mean profit for businesses.
A parking garage also poses an aesthetic problem — it's inherently unattractive. However, since it is located a block away, it would not affect the quaintness of Massachusetts Street.
For the many frustrated drivers and parkers of Lawrence, an ugly parking garage could make for a much more attractive and attainable trio downtown.
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 Sheforden ... Associate sports
Chris Fickett ... Campus
Sarah Halee ... 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
Kathryn Jensen 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uainae Blue ... Zone
Brandi Byram ... Zone
Brian Allers ... Zone
Justin Allen ... Zone
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Broaden your mind: Today's quote
"It is a good thing for the uneducated man to read books of quotations."
Winston Churchill
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Christian tackles bias enjoys non-secular life
Perspective
I am a non-traditional student who is a middle-aged, female, half Filipino, physically challenged, Protestant-turned Catholic Christian from Kansas. How is that for diversity?
If you have general questions or comments,
e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com)
or call 864-4924.
When I decided to come back to college after 25 years, I was prepared. I came fully armed with all the biases that I had collected through the years. I knew that "tolerance" would be preached at me, and I was determined not to budge.
I was very comfortable with my biases. I had allowed all my biases to become a part of me. Popeye would have been proud to hear me say, "I yam what I yam."
I remember going through
Simmie
Berroya
opinion@kansan.com
new student orientation and Barbara Ballard talking to us about "diversity." I understood diversity to be merely the presence of different races on campus. I remember thinking halfway through her speech, "What's the big deal?"
I figured out that this talk about diversity must be meant for all those white kids who came from small towns that had no Black kids. I was so well-equipped and sophisticated that it all just went over my head.
I'm in my third semester now. I've learned a lot about diversity since that day.
I've learned that diversity is much more than just presence. It is presence with understanding. It is presence with tolerance. And it is presence with respect
But more importantly, I've learned that diversity involves more than just race.
Diversity also embraces culture, sexual orientation and religion.
One doesn't have to be at the University of Kansas a long time to realize that religious diversity exists. When I first came here, I constantly was on my guard, looking for subversive monsters lurking in the bushes waiting to snatch my faith from me.
Of all the things that I listed in my first sentence, being a Christian is most important to me. Christianity is where my values system is based. It also is the foundation of my world view.
I don't have a secular world view. I have a Christian world view. I think most people of faith would agree that their religion shapes their perspectives.
After awhile, I realized it wasn't going to happen. I don't believe that all religions are right. I happen to believe mine is very right. But that doesn't mean that I have to be afraid of people who believe differently from me.
We all should feel fortunate that we don't live in a place where people of one religion are slaughtering people of another religion. No student in America should have to be afraid of religious persecution. America, after all, was founded on religious freedom.
In the next few weeks, I will explore the different religions that are represented on campus. I may not get to all of them, but hopefully the light of knowledge will dispel the darkness of fear and hatred.
It is my hope that by looking at the differences together we can find the common ground of our humanity and practice true religious diversity.
Shy boy seeks luck in love, pick-up line submissions
Berroya is an Olathe senior in communication studies.
I it's 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 31. Sixty ticks later, "Happy New Year." After the screaming, drinking, kissing and puking (hopefully in that order) come the resolutions.
Some choose to quit something - smoking,
drinking, overeating,
drugs, bestiality - while
others choose to begin
something new - exercise,
a new organizational
system, drugs, bestiality.
This year, my resolution was to talk to girls more. Sure, hanging around the house shooting baskets is fun, but who can beat the excitement of a real game?
But — here's the catch — I got no game.
Keith Burner
opinion@kansan.com
Here are a couple exam-
During one of these outings, I realized an important rule of dating gamesmanship.
Talking to a girl when you have been drinking is like driving when you have been drinking: It is really hard to do, and sometimes you end up somewhere you never intended.
"Hi," I said. "My name is Keith. What's yours?"
"Woof," she said and wagged her tail.
After that humiliation, I decided to wait a couple weeks to pull myself together before making another jaunt into the dating ring.
I was at a club and had prudently decided not to drink when a dark-haired beauty walked in. She looked way out of my league, but I figured that I might as well give it a try. After all, maybe her beauty was more than skin deep.
Maybe she would see past my mediocre appearance to what was inside.
So I walked up to her — in full mack-daddy mode, of course — and nonchalantly rested my elbow in a puddle of beer on the bar.
Turning toward her with a sly grin on my
face, I initiated eye contact with her. And with everything in place, every piece right were I wanted it, I moved in for the checkmate.
"Hi," I said in a deep, sensual, manly tone.
“Hi,” I said in a deep, sensual, manly tone. “You must be,” she said as she smirked, turned around and walked away in the most opposite direction she could find.
These examples, although slight exaggerations, illustrate only part of the problem. Besides not being very good at talking to women, the very idea scares the hell out of me.
Don't get me wrong. It's not as if I've never had a relationship with a woman. It's just that most of them have been initiated either by her or beer or both.
For the most part, I'm pretty shy. My New Year's resolution is to get over it. But the only way I could do that is to take the plunge — ask a girl out and succeed.
After that, my confidence would be up, and the rest of my life would fall into place.
Now my problem was to think up some good pick-up lines.
I searched every corner of my mind and realized that the only line I possessed was. "Hi, My name is Keith." And I screw that one up about half the time (once).
Being the fine journalist I am, I decided to do some research and compile a workable list of pickup lines. Searching for them in the minds of my friends netted answers ranging from, "Hey baby, washio' sign," to an elaborate Vulcan mating ritual involving rubber ears, dilithium crystals and the dynospheric theory of warp propulsion (some of my friends watch a little too much Star Trek).
Searching the Web got me nowhere but to some really good porn sights, and after a semester as a cops reporter, I was a little leery about researching in the Watson stacks.
So with nowhere else to turn, I ask anyone with a good or funny pickup line to e-mail it to me at kburner@eagle.cc.ukans.edu.
If you're a girl, feel free to e-mail me, too.
Burner is a Leon senior in journalism.
Feedback
Student fan miffed by early alumni exit
I first want to express my appreciation for all the support KU Alumni have given the University over the years. Clearly, the University and its various programs could not survive without it. I also want to thank the thousands of alumni who stay until the end of every basketball game good or bad, rain or shine. Their support is appreciated by both the student fans and the players.
But, could somebody please tell me what is so important that when there are 53 seconds left, the 'Hawks are down by five, and we're playing in one of the biggest rivalries in all of college basketball, that hum-
I, along with hundreds of other students, sat on the cold floor of the Fieldhouse all week in order to get the best seats for the Mizzou game. Many of us were even awake and at the Fieldhouse at 6 a.m. the first day of classes just to get a spot in the camping area.
dreds of alumni and other season ticket holders feel compelled to participate in a mass exodus from Allen Fieldhouse? Five points, 32 seconds. To me, that means the game isn't over. One would think that for as much money as those tickets cost, it'd be worth it to at least watch until the final buzzer.
If something is important enough to get that many college students up before dawn, can't the alumni wait an extra 5 minutes before they rush off
---
the to beat the traffic on K-10?
At least the Antlers have the common decency to stay until the end of the game.
I went to the Kansas game in Columbia this year and can tell you the biggest difference between Allen Fieldhouse and the Hearnes Center boils down to one simple thing: class. And to me there is nothing as tasteless, as rude, and downright classless as the hundreds of fans pouring out of the Fieldhouse before the last shot is made, before the last whistle is blown.
Maybe at the end of the game instead of shouting "Sit down Norm," we should have been saying, "Sit down alumni."
1
Erin Simpson
Lenexa, Sophomore