4
Fridav, March 1, 1974
University Daily Kansan
KANSAN Editorials, columns and letters published on this page reflect only the opinions of the writers.
Trading Block Justice
The practice of plea bargaining was described by County Atty. David Berkowitz (Feb. 25 Kansan) as humane, just, expediant and desired by both sides of a criminal case. All this seems to perfectly describe plea bargaining as it operates in Douglas county.
Why then has the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals recommended that this judicial short cut be eliminated from our court system by 1979? Why did Philadelphia all but eliminate it from the judicial system there in 1965? Why is it that a process which functions so smoothly in Douglas county has drawn so much fire in other areas?
The determinant, as Mike Elwell, Douglas county probate judge observed, is the attitude of the county attorney. If the county attorney operates as a public servant whose main interest is equal protection under the law for all citizens, then plea bargaining can be used for the swift application of humane justice.
If, however, the county attorney operates as just another politician on the make, plea bargaining can be used as a tool to enhance his ability to handle little consideration for humanity, expediency or justice.
The conviction rate in most major metropolitan areas is about 75 per cent of all cases that reach the docket. Of these convictions about 90 per cent are the result of plea bargaining. The statistics for
cases heard in Douglas county are approximately the same.
How important is the conviction rate to an incumbent county attorney seeking re-election or another elective office? According to Mike J. Malone, assistant county attorney, it's very important.
In Douglas county the plea bargaining process is fairly painless. Bail bonds are easily obtained and those people unable to obtain bonds are given priority on the docket. The time spent awaiting trial seldom exceeds 90 days, according to Malone.
In cities like Kansas City, Denver and Chicago the situation is quite different. Bondsmen usually require 100 per cent collateral plus their usual 10 per cent fee. Many bondsmen refuse to handle people in drug charges unless something extra goes under the table.
Waiting periods of six months and longer are not uncommon and retention center populations often reach 1,000. Living conditions in these county jails are considered much worse than at most state prisons. Many of their bargaining power so they can get to prison sooner.
It may well be that plea bargaining is a necessary evil if the cost of our judicial system is to be kept at a supportable level, but it's difficult to believe that there is no possible alternative that would remove justice from the trading block.
—Alan Hurlbut
Dismissal Not Enough
The continuing Watergate controversy brings to mind what might almost be considered a constitutional shortcoming. Besides impeachment—mere dismissal—no form of retribution for malfaense in office has been established for major American political offices. The real seriousness of crime in high office should be clarified and brought up to date, and justice should exact some sort of repayment from the criminals.
A major public figure who is guilty of corruption in office is guilty, of course, of a great deal more. He may also be guilty of a high degree of cynicism toward the trust with which some citizens, at least, have decided to honor him, particularly when the country shows signs of breaking down psychologically.
It would be impossible for a highly placed American politician not to know that the foundations of contemporary national politics are so flimsy that the future of the country is insecure. American political trust—the very cornerstone of leadership in a democracy—is rapidly being eroded by image-making and by the breaking down of clear-cut party values.
America is ill at ease in the age of imagistic gimmickry that has packaged Twiggy. The citizen lives in a time when admiration of that imaginary can be replaced by an insatiable curiosity directed toward biographical trivia. An indispensible existential connection has been lost. Whole presidential campaigns have been computerized and thrown open to the attention of sinus, leaving little for the voter to cherish beyond an anemic sheen.
Party politics have been increasingly supplanted by consensus politics. Eisenhower broadened his grandfatherly appeal far beyond the framework of party values, which he often
spurned openly as a means to an end. Here is how Johnson summed himself up in an article for the Texas Quarterly in 1959: "I am an American," he declared in the best-known statement of his political philosophy, "a liberal, a conservative, a Texan, a parent, a voter, and not as young as I used to be nor as old as I expect to be."
As profound values are smothered in political campaigns and in party politics, the accommodation politician and the demagogue seem to press with increasing eagerness to win in both the serious voter and the committed politician are, perhaps, already lost.
The public response to the situation has been apathy or blind rage. For some people, rabid extremism, like the miraculous pitcher in the fair tale, seems to yield the wine of deep values forever—some of which are unquestionably to the point. But often an adolescent drunk on values is only fine dress for revolting activity. Patricia Hearst has been kidnapped by activists on the far left; an Atlanta editor was kidnapped by activists on the far right. Here, too, fertile ground for the demagogue.
If it is an age in which political values are breaking down, surely it is not too much to ask of a president—if he cannot effectively personify strong political values—that he at least, under the circumstances, have the awareness to be honorable. If he cannot be honorable, he might be asked to repay the country, to what extent he could, by public service in a domain divorced from politics. He might serve, for example, on alcoholics' wards or in hospitals.
If the errant leader's debt would not thereby be entirely canceled, it is just possible that some first-hand experience of this country's agony might make a responsive human being out of him.
—Jerome Lloyd
By WILLIAM TROMBLEY
Budget Cuts Add to Berkeley Woes
BERKELEY, Calil—The Hearst kid-napening once again has brought the Berkeley campus the kind of notoriety it would like to avoid.
The Los Angeles Times
ROTC, secret military research and other targets.
The victim is a Berkley sophomore; she was taken from an apartment near the campus; her mother is a member of the University of California board of regents; it is possible that one or more of her abductors were Berkley students at one time.
Again the campus which former UC President Clark Kerr once called the "jewel in the crown" of the nine-campus University, said Mr. Snyder, a public mind with radicalism and violence. In the last 10 years Berkeley has been the scene of the free speech movement, massive protests against the Vietnam war and the militant Islamist smaller-scale demonstrations against
Less dramatic—but no less important—damage has been done to Berkeley by a succession of tight state budgets that have eroded the quality of graduate instruction, reduced research capacity and lowered faculty and staff morale.
The Telegraph Avenue area next to the campus has gained a national reputation for drugs, a rising crime rate and a way of life euphoriistically referred to as "coun
INTERNALLY THE CAMPUS has been torn by disputes over political questions, educational reforms, minority studies and, most recently, "affirmative action" policies to hire and promote more women and members of minor races.
A reasonable person might well ask what impact all this trouble has on the quantity of food consumed.
had become, by the mid-1900s, perhaps the best public university in the nation's history.
Quite a number of very good faculty members have departed some as a direct result of the move to the new building.
But many good professors have decided to cast their lot with Berkeley and some vital members of the faculty have turned down their offers. There are universities in order to remain at Berkeley.
THE MOST SPECTACULAR aspect of Berkeley's academic brilliance is its wide range. There are excellent departments in every area of learning, from English to Mathematics, and if one uses as a guide to excellence the quality of graduate instruction and research.
By another measure, however—the ability to attract the best young scholars emerging from graduate school to become fledgling faculty members-Berkley
"GEORGE? GEORGE MEANY!"
Watergate Imbroglio
Nixon Should Plead Fifth
By WILLIAM RASPBERRY
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON—It is reasonable for a man such as President Nixon, who is trying to run a government, to insist that one year of Watergate is enough. It is reasonable for a man suspected of jailable offenses to do what he can to keep the prosecution from being acquitted. But when administrator and suspect are one, it is hard to say anything at all without the appearance of self-serving dishonesty.
It is reasonable for the titular head of a major political party to try to analyze election results, as Richard Nixon has done in the wake of Democrat Richard F. VanderVeen's startling victory in the race for Vice President Gerald Ford's old seat. It is also reasonable for the Republican whose problems led to that Democratic upset victory to contend that it wasn't his fault.
But when party leader and culprit are one, you are likely to get statements that seem neither candid nor coherent, as reportedly happened when President Nixon talked to GOP congressional leaders last week.
There's nothing he can do about his party's shakiness. Republican leaders simply have to run on their own and the never-bearer will continue.
But as to his own predicament, there is a way out. He should plead the Fifth Amendment.
The reason he keeps looking so silly on the Watergate question is that he is juggling too many roles; ordinary citizen, crippled businessman, president.
THE ORDINARY CITIZEN and crippled leader can say how much Watergate is enough, the prosecutor's boss has to stick up for his man's access to whatever evidence successful prosecution requires, no matter whose toes get stepped on. But the criminal suspect's self-interest dictates making that evidence as difficult as possible to obtain.
As a result, Nixon is forever saying contradictory things—for instance that he is cooperating fully with Special Prosecutor
Jaworski, even while he is denying documents and tapes that Jaworski is seeking.
Instead of that sort of double-talk, which inevitably makes him look ridiculous, he should simply refuse to answer, or otherwise cooperate, on the solid ground that to do so would tend to incriminate him.
How does it happen that two crucial tapes, and crucial parts of other tapes, turn out not to exist? "I respectfully refuse to answer on the ground that my answer might tend to incriminate me."
We'd like to see your records and hear the tapes of your conversations with your top aides on the subject of Watergate and milk supports. "I respectively refuse to submit them on the ground that to do so might tend to incriminate me."
Such a tactic would have been unthinkable six or eight months ago. But six or eight months ago, the President was still finding it useful to play the part of the innocent whose innocence would shortly be made manifest.
hasn't fared as well. many department chairmen at Berkeley say they no longer compete for the nation's best or second-best young Ph.D.
TIME HAS CHANGED all that, and now his principal response seems to be. Suspect what you will, but I will be damned if I don't.
That may not be be particularly presidential attitude, but it is a legitimate one. Add to it the dictum that a person is to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, and you've got about the best defense Richard Nixon could have under the cir- cir-circle. Don't keep anybody from believing him guilty; hardly anything could accomplish that. It would shift the burden of proof.
But let him concede what everybody already knows: That he is a suspect in a criminal investigation; and let him plead the Fifth Amendment, and he no longer has to prove anything to anyone. All he has to do is say: You prove it.
They say this is so because UC salaries are not competitive with those of the finest private universities and because the accumulation of campus problems over the years has dimmed the rosy glow that once surrounded the Berkeley name.
Which, with his noncooperation, would be very difficult to do. A lot of Americans would neverthink that their President was a crook. But from his point of view, thinking it would be a damn sight better than knowing for sure.
Budget, Faculty Salaries Reviewed
Senator's Report-
The budget review for the University of Kansas was assigned for fiscal 1975 to the House Ways and Means Committee. Much testimony was presented to the committee
This is the sixth of a seven-part series by State Sen. Paul Hess, R-Wichita, on the 1974 session of the Kansas Legislature. Hess is a law student at the University of Kansas.
Griff and the Unicorn
BERKELEY HAS SUFFERED from the deflation of the higher education boom of the 1960s. Enrollments are leveling off around the country (though demand for admission to Berkeley remains heavy) and governors and legislatures are becoming sharply-posed about their appropriations to public colleges and universities.
by the Board of Regents, K.U. administrators and students.
bv Sokoloff
Of the budgetary issues, faculty salaries were the main focus of all the recommendations. The Board of Regents proposed a 10 per cent increase, whereas, the Governor only recommended an 8.5 per cent increase. Final approval was made last week, however, granting fully the Regents' requested increase of 10 per cent.
Another important focus was the approval of separate fund for Women's Intercollegiate Athletics. Previously, funding for women's athletics was derived from a portion of the general fund shared with four women's teams. This separate funding will allow $86,497 specifically budgeted for Women's Intercollegiate Athletics.
A proposal rejected by the committee was that of tuition waivers. The Regents requested that $190,000 be recruited from tuition fees for additional supplementation of athletics. Resources raised by this proposal would mainly supplement Big B football and basketball coaches. The program rejected this proposal. Therefore, any increased supplemental funding will have to be obtained from private sources.
faculty positions at three state colleges were reduced.
The formula allows a faculty-student ratio of 1 to 20. However, K.U. was unaffected by this cutback procedure. Instead, the professor underperformed increased faculty positions by six.
Because of declining student enrollment,
About $126,290 is also being studied to be used for improvements in administrative processes.
Classified Civil Service positions could also receive salary increases, equating an amount of $242,866. The 5.5 per cent raise would become effective July 1 in addition to the normal step-increase received on the date of eligibility by each employe.
Three capital improvement projects are also being considered. They are final planning and site work on a visual arts building, final planning for a law center and continued replacement of brick utility tunnels.
Supportive Educational Services may receive $8,732 recommended by the Boards of Regents. Audio-Reader, a radio reading program for the blind, is requesting $8,560. Also, classified positions for servicing new buildings may be increased by 15 positions.
K. U. Medical Center could receive $40,000 for land acquisition, and the use of $40,000 from parking fees to improve parking areas.
Add to this some serious cuts in federal spending, especially for graduate student fellowships, and you have a Berkeley campus in the "steady state"-no longer growing, but no longer faced with the need to consolidate and trim.
In recent years graduate enrollment has been cut, more than 200 faculty positions have been eliminated, the demography department has been phased out and the same fate may befall the School of Criminology and other academic units.
The result of all this is that Berkeley isn't as fine a place for the research-minded professor or graduate student as it once was. While many of the members has been to stay on and hope for better days, but many of these men and women have standing offers from the best universities in the world—and there is a demand which their loyalty to Berkeley will not hold.
Some of Berkeley's newly admitted students undoubtedly will not show up next fall because of the anxiety and fear spread kidnaping of 20-year-old Patricia Hearest.
But most will come and they will find in Berkeley a remarkably lively and interesting campus, damaged by its experiences of the last decade, perhaps, but without the same unfortunate understanding that excellence in higher education benefits all of the people.
Readers Respond Parapsych Is Scientific
I am responding to the Kansan's Tuesday, Feb. 26 article on the parachtyclass psychology and club at KU, in the hopes of preventing the misapprehensions on the part of Kansan readers.
It should be noted that scientific research on "life after death," or the survival question, has been extremely scarce, due to the high cost and methodological "stumbling blocks."
One might mistakenly infer from the article that the course and club have come about because of interest created in part by the authors. The course is for the benefit of those inter-tested in parapsychology as a science, and should avoid a "psychational" orientation.
Upon reading that "psychic phenomena are receiving serious attention for the first time both scientists and the public," it becomes clear that psychic phenomena have received interest by various segments of the public for centuries, and that parapsychologists, who are themselves scientists, have been common subjects on pat philosophia for many decades.
However, the wide-scale acceptance of parapsychology as a science by scientists in the United States has led to development. It is interesting to note that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been supporting research in this area, and a contract with the Stanford Research Institute.
Rick Sheuerman
Rick Sheerman Overland Park senior
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Kausan Telephone Numbers
Newsroom—UN 4-4810
Business Office—UN 4-4258
Published at the University of Kansas daily during the academic year. Mail subscription rates: $8 a semester, $15 a year. Second class postage paid at KUPS. Subscription rate: $1.35 a semester and in student activity fee. Advertised offered to all students without regard to gender. Advertised are not necessarily those of the University. Admissions are not necessary those of the University.
NEWS STAFF
News Advisor ... Susanne Shaw
Editor
Associate Editors
Campus Editor
Editorial Editor
Editorial Editor
Sports Editor
News Editors
News Editors
Copy Chief
Copy Chief
Kathy Travis
Wire Editors
Wire Editors
Associate Campus Editor
Assistant Feature Editor
Assistant Scotts Editor
Assistant Scotts Editor
Jon Liong
Photography
Bill Kerr, Alain McCoy
Cartoonists
Makeup Editors
Associate McFerren
Don Kunny
Elaine Zimmerman
Ireland
Bill Gillen
John Hicks
Gerry Kewing
Don Kunny
Bob MacLeese
MacLeese
Liz Caldwell, Ann McFerren
Liz Caldwell, Ann McFerren
Elise Bilter, Suz Smith,
Larry Fish
Larry Fish
Leynal Wail
Don Kunny
Don Pramanenfai
Don Pramanenfai
Bill Simson
Jon Liong
Photography
Bill Kerr, Alain McCoy
Dave Reager
Carlooths
Bill Kerr, Alain McCoy
Dave Reager
Carlooths
RUSINESS STAFF
Business Adviser
Met Advisor
David Humbe
Business Advertising Director
Diana Schmitt
Classified Ads Manager
Bruce Regenstein
Advertising Adv. Mgr
Manager
Assistant Advertising Manager
David Albr愚
Assistant Advertising Manager
Member Associated Collegiate Press