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University Daliv Kansan. June 30, 1980
Opinion
Action essential
The University of Kansas should conduct a nationwide search to fill the position of director of the Office of Affirmative Action.
For an organization that demands broad and ethnically varied applicants, to settle on an in-house appointment is hypcritical and inconsistent.
The issue at hand is not the competence or quality of the present acting director, but rather the University's commitment to affirmative action principles.
The big goal of affirmative action is to attract as many qualified applicants as possible from all ethnic spheres and to ensure that applicants equal opportunity to get the job.
Sometimes this can be achieved by promoting qualified applicants from within the University. Sometimes searches limited to the Lawrence area can satisfy affirmative action goals and the employer's needs. Sometimes, though, an active attempt must be made to canvass the nation in search of quality candidates.
In other words the job determines what kind of search is needed. One would not go looking for a Mercedes Benz at a Chevrolet dealership. It also would be difficult to expect to find the next KU chancellor in the Topeka-Lawrence area.
Either way the Office of Affirmative Action has been designated by both the federal government and campus administrators to police the searches. And a policing agency cannot lose its credibility living to the letter the laws it enforces.
It would be easy and convenient for the administration to appoint the present acting director to the permanent job. But the current director who resigned before the Chancellor did now would like her job back.
And there's the greater problem of a change in the executive vice chancellor position which supervises the affirmative action office. Does the outgoing vice
chancellor Del Shankel, who will also reappear in August to become acting chancellor, decide what kind of search to make or does his successor Robert Cobb?
The irony of the situation is that KU's affirmative action office would not be in such a bind today if it had had the muscle and might of the administration at its back.
It's probably the only office on campus to be created because of a political sit-in. A group of women named the February Sisters seized a KU building in 1972 and demanded, among other things, an affirmative action plan.
From that beginning affirmative action
will begin to gain status within the
Archeid Dykes community.
The number of minority faculty members has failed to increase. KU has not established formal goals and timetables to insure minority hiring even though it was required by the Kansas Commission on Civil Rights and by federal law.
Repeated attempts to inform the Dykes administration about the missing goals and timetables were ignored until this spring when a visit by investigators from the Office of Federal Contract Compliance was all but assured.
If the administration is reluctant to hire a new director because of the transition time needed to acquaint the new person with the department, only itself to blame for not being prepared.
A nationwide search would be time consuming and expensive, but how many dollars in legal battles the affirmative action program saved the University?
If KU is to continue to actively embrace the ideal of equal opportunity in its hiring practices it should conduct a broad search for a new director.
And it should recommit itself to making the affirmative action plan more than a hollow agreement between employer and employee.
MIX A FAIV THE REINHAMNEY LENNER ©PPD BY CINAGA TREME
Reagan dodges ERA issue
Ronald Reagan's capacity for misjudging the issues of the 1980 presidential campaign is phenomenal. The sure-free Republican nominee has the nonjudgmental rights Amendment on his platform, he said, because it is no longer a major issue when compared with unemployment, inflation and the war.
Other facts suggest that this is not Reagan's real reason for keeping the proposed amendment off the platform. His long-standing opposition to gay marriage in California governor is a very smart politician.
It is surprising that Reagan does not see the ERA for what it is. After all, the ERA is not
Letters to the editor...
SUA misrepresented
Every time somebody gets bad press in the Kansan he calls it the most irresponsible piece of pseudo-journalism he has ever seen. I don't think there are some things I'd like to set straight.
The impression one would get from the article ("SUA Film Chairman's policies criticized," June 19th Kansan) is that I, as the chairperson, am a cinematic Juan Trescaldi and a director of fantasy and blithely ignoring the suggestions of my committee in my zeal for greater profits.
Hardly. The fact is, I was portrayed that way to the Kanan by a member of the committee who was prevented from ordering food in our building and ignored the film program's commitment to the rest of the SUA program. When you are choosing films, you naturally want to pick some of your favorites, and that's perfectly fine. But when someone chooses so many that he (and very few others) want to see, then it becomes even more important to stop that. That is what did; that is what I get.
To start with, the charge was made that I ordered certain films which were to be delayed until fall, since I found out of town this week that a movie was being directed. This will deny to the end that it was ever my policy. I won't deny that I said it, just as I 'won't deny' that I suggested we replace the popular series with Scandinavian travelogues and those of films starring actors with bad hairstyles.
I say a lot of things I obviously don't mean. Actually I have several films this summer that are very important.
Let me continue. Mark Klobassa, one of the summer film persons and the apparent source of much of the information, of "The Gillen" Kane and "2001" A Space Odyssey; as films I delayed until fall for my own selfish ends. He wanted them for the summer, when 5,000 people would have the chance to see them. I suggested (yes, suggest) that they be the regular year, when 25,000 people (Mark Mehr) would have the chance to see them.
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That was my reasoning, whether I kept it to myself or had it notarized by the Archbishop of Genoa and four Supreme Court justices. That was hard work. And so 2011. We have been prohibitively expensive for the summer. In the fall, with more showings as well as more people, we can do better.
Which brings us to the money question. Klobasa displays his ignorance of anything beyond the film program when he asserts that she's always been one of the four eight series, four always lose money. Two are expected to break even. The Friday and Saturday night runs including the midnight show are the only ones to make any profit. What hope to end the year with a profit of $4,000.
That money doesn't go to some fat cat or to a Swiss bank account. It certainly doesn't go to me. It does help to go some other part of the SUA program. The whole SUA program actually loses $2,000 a year. If films can make it easier to support non-revenue streams, that helps. And anyone who calls us profit-minded for that suffers from severe tunnel vision.
Then there is the suggestion that we don't present enough different kinds of film; that one is instantly rebuted by the most cursory film critics, who are always checking everything. Or there's the idea that past financial performance is the main criteria for choosing films. I can only recall checking past performance on two of the more than 100 films we will show this fall. The accusation
There are a dozen other erroneous statements and misunderstandings in the article that I won't go into. All I can say is that the persons who made such statements don't know what they're talking about. I am sorry that certain people found themselves to be under their grievances. I suppose there is as dead as chivalry, but there is still such a thing as propriety?
I don't have figures, but I could compile them. I would wager they would show that less than 50 percent have played at the University of Kansas before, and less than 10 percent have played here in the last four years. (I would point out, though, that both "2001" and "Citizen Kane" have played at KU many times . . . )
And to me, that people went to the Kansan to injure the SUA program, hurts me. I wish they would have come to me first. I resent them for their actions that they think on the front page of the paper.
Michael Gebert Wichita sophomore
Private event different
The error in his reasoning is that he draws an analogy between a wedding, which is a private event, and Commencement, which is a public event. People's behavior can be repeated at a private event, but at a public event, people are free to do whatever they want.
To the editor:
I see that Bill Meneses wrote a letter to the editor in which he criticized Katy Kase's "failure" at the U.S. Capitol.
Funding change wrong
Mark Cline Lawrence
I am addressing this letter to Khyse Kase ("Gay Services deserves funds." June 23 Kansan), but it is readily directed to every Kuman student regardless of sex, race, religion, preference for soft drinks, bathing frequency and even sexual proxicity.
To the editor:
Kase's column suggests we should celebrate the fact that we now "have the chance" to fund Gay Services of Kansas with our activity fees.
Did I miss part of her argument or did we jump from establishing a person's right to have and privately carry out his personal proclivities to suggesting that I should have the opportunity (newspeak for be required to) to fund those activities?
A friend reminded me today that we have somehow reached the point where we think freedom equals cash. I am beginning to get that uneasy feeling that one more cause, one more group, more philosophic is about to come and into my pocket for a handful of my freedom.
When it comes to asking for my money or my time, (that's what I have to give up to get the money) I react to the request in exactly the same way as I react to similar requests from the Young Democrats and Republicans, the Independents, the Socialists, the Tea Party and the Tai Chi Club. Registration Services, numerous charities and the Channel 11 club.
I have had the opportunity (actual) to contribute to all of these groups all along. Do you think for a second that if I had volunteered to answer the telephone or to underwrite a newsletter for GSK that they would have turned me down? Now Kase is working on an important opportunity (newspaper) to pay for something that I would never save voluntarily.
Gather up the funding requests from every organization that wants money, divide each request by the number of students enrolled, give them a specific amount to contribute to each group, if in fact, we wish to support that group. I envision a computerized list with a hundred or more organizations to which we could respond by filling in circles and by filling in blanks with dollar amounts.
Perhaps a reasonable solution is one that may be simple for complex political issues.
We could fill it out and hand it in at registration with our other enrollment materials, pay our educational fees, then receive a statement from the Student Senate telling us which groups we support, how much they contribute to us and the total amount they expect from us.
Yes! I am certain of one thing. Our
Yes! I will be just as good as the decisions
of a handful of student politicians who were
by a slightly larger handful of their peers.
But wait a minute. Can we depend on 20,000
students to do what is called 'right'?
Yes.
J. R. Merrill
Lawrence Graduate Student
merely an addition to our already large body of legislation. It concerns the amending of the U.S. Constitution, a document that is the basis for our government. And The Constitution is not amended every day. In fact, the last time it was amended was 1971, when 18y-year-olds were given the right to vote.
Columnist Kathy Kase
The ERA is an issue because the discrimination it was created to deter still exists. Men and women do not enjoy equal treatment in law, but many do not enjoy inheritance laws, laws of law and job opportunity.
Further testimony that supported the ERA's importance occurred when the ratification deadline of March, 1979 was imminent. Loathe to let the deadline run out three states short of ratification, Congress extended the deadline to June, 1982.
The ratification deadline extension affirmed that Congress thought the ERA was indeed an issue. The recent attempt for the amendment's ratification could be due to the ERA's continued status as an important issue.
Of course, there is the possibility that Reagan is smart enough to realize just how much the ERA means to Americans. If so, he's smart enough to understand the type of issue that the economy or world peace is.
When Reagan compares the ERA with other issues he has to realize that he's comparing apples to oranges. How can you compare sexual equality at home to unrest in Iran?
The ERA is also a concrete issue that polarizes people. No matter how a candidate feels about the ERA, he is going to alienate many voters. Then, like Reagan, the candidate will avoid situations where he must take a stand on the issue. It is a way to save votes.
This strategy is important in this age of the special-interest group. If such groups experience long periods of failure with their special interest, they indulge in one-issue voting. In one issue voters tend to select the most important or oppose candidates depending only upon the candidate's feelings about the special interest.
A continuing issue that both sides are eager to resolve, the ERA has become one of those special interests that result in one-issue voting. Therefore, Reagan may want to avoid the one-issue voting trap by adopting an ERA that is Republican National Convention or during the canvass that will follow.
Bill Brock, Crisp's co-chairman, told her not to discuss her opinions with reporters because her opinions differed from Reagan's. Because Brock had said he would not be vice president, probably came through Brock from Reagan.
Crisp quit her position last week after she suspected her GOP office had been bugged by the Reagan contingent of the party. The bugging was never confirmed, but the gag-order illustrates the lengths Reagan will go to quash the ERA and its supporters.
It is uncertain why Reagan refuses to recognize the ERA for the issue it is. Does he have any other reason? Or does it one? The ERA is too important to fade away; and it won't die because a major candidate refuses to recognize it. One way or another, the ERA doesn't allow him to crusade for or against the amendment.
Furthermore, there is no way that Reagan will be able to keep the ERA or his anti-ERA stance out of the campaign. Both Carter and Anderson are pro-ERA and probably will emphasize that during the campaign. No, Reagan will not be able to sneak his stance past the voters.
The senario seemi wild and dependent upon many ifs but let us not forget the tactics Reagan recently used to oust pre-ERA Mary Crisp from office as Republican National Committee co-chairman.
It is time for Reagan to recognize the ERA for the major concern that it is. By attempting to ignore it, Reagan gives the voters all the more reason to vote for someone else.
What this country needs is a calendar with a bit more flexibility in it. One leap day every four years is not enough. We need some option days, and four days. Imagine what you could do with a flex-day.
You can keep it as a spare Friday the 13th,
for instance. Then, if you awakened and knew it
was going to be a bad day, you could slap your
flex-day on the calendar and go back to sleep.
Extra Friday the 13th could help on bad days
And how could you know if it was going to be a bad day?
I've devised a list of signposts similar to the government's economic indicators. Perhaps, they will help you sort the bad days from the good.
Columnist
As adamantly opposed to the ERA as he is, Reagan also may be saying that the amendment is not an issue to his chances of ratification. If he can keep it off the national platform, he may be able to keep it out of the public mind. And if it fails, he may have months of the campaign, pro-ERA forces may not be able to muster the support and votes needed to ratify it.
J.V. Smith Jr.
Your dog is the only organism that will kiss you.
You know—you just know—it's going to be a bad day when:
You hear on the radio that the government is sponsoring another steak dinner for visiting diplomats while you're eating Soyburger Helper for the fifth meal in a row.
The only paper in the bathroom is wallpaper.
The only paper in the course is a wallpaper.
The only cover in the course is a wallpaper.
The carrier of the dreaded disease, psoriasis of the
You think you understand the opposite sex.
You think you understand the mysteries of God.
You discover that your first medical research course at the University, is "The Science of Biobiosystems."
The bargain real estate you've invested in
to out to be on an island three miles long in
Pembe.
You hear God talking to him. He says He wants to give you a short quiz about His mysteries.
Geraldo Rivera will interview you about the Nebraska diamond mine you just sank your life in.
You hand in your answers to God
God has a reason and a purpose.
You think you understand why God doesn't return your calls.
You discover that the bargain Pinto you just bought was once a stunt car used in filming; "The Dirty Dozen" is one.
You finally get a government job—as an enumerator in the 1990 census.
You think you understand the government's foreign policy.
Your Pinto has an automatic transmission that ships into reverse when the door is slammed and an accelerator that runs out of control when the transmission is in reverse. :
You think you understand the Iranian government's foreign policy.
You park the Pinto with the engine running and slam the door.
Your spouse accuses you of adultery and hires a lawyer named Khomeini who tries to get the judge to order him to repay the debt.
The police call and ask you to claim your Pinto and to bring an overnight bag packed with food.
God calls but you're at the Bruce Jenner movie. :
0
Your parents call to say they've patented you as a laboratory creation, a sort of microbe gond
You shoot a hole-in-one during a solo round of golf.
Some heavenly body offers to take you home for the night, but that lousy psoriasis has spread
You think you understand anything
F 7.69 = 4.3 mm/s (space after)