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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY & ANSAN
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014
PAGE 4
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opinion
More shocking than the fraters breaking out those pink short shorts is that they actually think they're cool...
Now that I know I can call this number it's going to be my go to when I start drunk dialing. Prepare yourself mysterious FFA person.
TEXT
FREE FOR ALL
To you who like the apathy party, you're too enthused.
Does sidewalk chalk really cause anyone to change who they're voting for? If so, how many times a day do you change your mind walking around campus?
The horoscopes are the same ones from yesterday. Now I don't know what the stars have planned for me!
Text your FFA submissions to (785)289-8351 or at kansan.com
Can KU please put a handle inside the 4th floor wescose men's bathroom door. I'm tired of trying to pry that thing open with my fingers.
What part of walk to the right does 95% of KU not understand? Seriously. Im tired of playing sidewalk chicken people.
Disgusted with the flas about tipping. Saying offensive things anonymously instead of writing a letter to the editor.
If your shorts are below your knees you're doing it wrong.
Yes, Jayhawks do migrate during the winter... to Allen Fieldhouse.
BewareofthePhog
WinterlsComing
What if the basketball players wore chubbies for 1 day and frat guys had to dress normal?
KU Parking is appealing the appeal I already won. I know which department has too much free time on their hands.
No. Jayhawks are a Kansas bird.
They only migrate for away basketball games.
Guys if your shorts are above your knees you are in fact wearing shorts. They have a word for shorts that go past the knee. They're called capris.
To all the people commenting on tips, you don't understand until you work in the restaurant business. Your opinion is irrelevant.
I hate people who misspell words in the FFA.
EDITORIAL
Why are the first dates the most awkward?
I just want to be original like everyone else.
Your intolerance of intolerance I cannot tolerate.
Support platforms for senate, not coalitions
Too often, student senate elections revolve around complicated verbiage, empty promises and flashy social media campaigns. Therefore rather than endorsing a specific coalition, the Kansan editorial board has endorsed specific platforms we believe are both feasible and necessary to the growth and academic success of the student body. We have also selected specific platforms we believe are not fiscally responsible or essential to the University. When casting your vote in this year's election, we encourage you to take each platform into consideration and act as an informed and socially responsible member of the University community.
CRIMSON AND TRUE
CRIMSON AND TRUE Endorsement: Expanding the Writing Center Including foreign language help in the Writing Center will increase the academic
achievement for the entire student population. This is a change that is critical to the development and accessibility of our foreign language departments.
Don't support: Jayhawk Olympics
This platform would create an annual "Jayhawk Olympics" event to encourage a healthy and active lifestyle among the student body. While health and wellness plays a key role in student success, an event like this falls under the jurisdiction of the Watkins Student Health Center, Peer Health Educators, the Ambler Student Recreational Center and other existing campus organizations. This would be an inefficient use of senate funding and energy.
Endorsement: Nontraditional student resource center
For more information on this coalition, their candidates and platforms, visit facebook.com/ crimsonandtrue.
GROW KU
Providing an inclusive and welcoming community for any group of students is an important part of the future success of students and the University as a whole. Non-traditional students make up a large portion of the student body yet are frequently overlooked. A centrally located center catered to the needs of this population can serve to bridge the gap between traditional and nontraditional students.
Don't support: Annual fall concert
Although this platform plans for a "privately funded event" during Homecoming, we disagree with the planning and accountability falling on the shoulders of senate. Our elected officials should focus their time and energy on funding student organizations
and implementing their platforms to enhance the student body. Leave the concert planning to other promotional organizations on campus.
For more information on this coalition, their candidates and platforms visit growku.org.
JAYHAWKERS
*Endorsement: GaDuGi*
"Safebar Alliance"
Partnership
This platforms seeks to partner with the local organization GaDuGi Safecenter to promote a safer environment while students enjoy the nightlife of Lawrence. Jayhawkers hope to expand GaDuGi's already existing "Safebar" program and its resources. Students' safety, both on and off campus, is critical to the overall college experience. This platform has the ability to create a safer community for all students, even on the weekends.
Don't support: Safe and responsible drinking spaces in the Kansas Union
While a safe drinking environment is important, the Kansas Union and Jaybowl should not serve cereal malt beverages. Although the idea of drinking on campus is enticing, we believe the Union should serve as an institution to promote student involvement and leadership.Additionally although the Union is licensed to serve alcohol to faculty, liability issues are called into question when serving these beverages to students.
Find more information on this coalition, their candidates and platforms at jayhawkersku.com.
EDUCATION
Tenure for teachers must be protected
I have had bad teachers before. Actually, it was in the seventh grade. I was a straight A student, yet I couldn't get anything better than a high C or low B on anything graded in geography class. Frustrated, I chalked it up to the idea I was simply terrible at geography.
Thankfully, my parents knew better, my father and I had a long talk with my teacher. It finally came out in a passing comment that my teacher was under the impression that I did not play any sports, and if I did, I would be much more capable of grasping the concepts he was teaching us, or something to that end. Coincidentally, when my father informed him I was, in fact, very active with my local gymnastics team, I started getting straight As in that class, too.
Now compare the two. It's unfortunate, these two educators should have to share a spot in your life — it's unfortunate you should have to deal with someone like the first teacher to begin with — but would
Now think of the best teacher you've ever had. This person not only taught you what you needed to know to pass his or her class, he or she pushed you to develop facets of yourself you did not even realize were there. This person is probably the teacher that wrote all of your letters of recommendation for college applications and scholarships, or the first adult you ever had a connection with on a level close to friendship (parents don't count).
you really want to eliminate job incentive or security for great teachers, simply to eliminate bad teachers? This is basically what I hear whenever I hear someone critique the tenure system, or teacher's salaries, and this is a poor excuse for the state legislature to eliminate tenure for teachers.
I am the child of two public school teachers, and even though I am not a teacher myself, it frustrates me to hear teachers get thrown under the bus by voters and public spectators who simply do not understand the educational system. The public school system has always been under a spotlight, as it should be: the quality of education for future generations is unfathomably important. Yet, education is often one of the first areas of government funding to be cut, and teachers — next to politicians themselves — are probably the most critiqued and underpaid profession of all. The public does not understand the complicated politics that goes into being a teacher in the public school system. I find it absolutely disheartening that people cast such strong condemnation onto teachers and education, without truly
understanding such an intricate profession.
Tenure is not a guarantee of a job, but rather a teacher's right to due process, or in other words, a legally binding agreement prevents a school district from firing a teacher without providing them an appropriate reason for their termination. In a system that cannot function on capitalist business practices, (meaning, a teacher cannot raise the revenue of a school by being good at what he or she does) a teacher has no job security except through tenure. Particularly when it costs schools more to pay for a teacher with experience versus a new teacher with little to no experience, schools may opt to hire less experienced teachers over teachers who might now be considered too expensive to pay for.
This means teachers risk seeing even less of an income than the abominable pay they already receive, and without financial reward and job security, what incentive will the educational system have to draw in the types of great teachers our children deserve? The truth is, the educational system as we know it is dying, and with it, good teachers. This bill, along with its other amendments likely to cause more harm than good to school systems, is only a small nod to the travesty of the under appreciated teacher.
Tasha Cerny is a senior from Salina studying English.
POLITICS
Progress still needed toward equal pay
"The West Wing" is one of those shows I've watched twice through but still put on as background noise when I quilt or clean. Some parts of it are a little dated, but the core political issues addressed are still at the forefront of our discussions today. The majority of the show reaffirms my generally liberal ideology, but as I was half-watching an episode the other day, an interesting point was raised by the token Republican character Ainsley Hayes. She opposes the Equal Rights Amendment — a proposed amendment guaranteeing equality of rights between the sexes — to the bewilderment of her male, liberal coworkers.
"It's humiliating," Ainsley says. "A new amendment we vote on declaring that I am equal under the law to a man, I am mortified to discover there is reason to believe I wasn't before. I am a citizen of this country; I am not a special subset in need of your protection. I do not have to have my rights handed down to me by a bunch of old, white men. The same Article 14 that protects you, protects me, and I went to law school just to make sure."
Ainsley is right; men and women shouldn't have to be told that they are equal. On Tuesday, President Obama signed two executive orders in an effort to increase pay equity between the sexes in
By Helena Buchmann opinion@kansan.com
the federal government. We shouldn't have to have laws that guarantee that men and women are paid the same amount for the same job, and that they can object if this is not true.
It is humiliating, not so much as a woman, but as an American citizen, that we must have laws that ensure equality between genders, races, sexual orientations and the like, despite the fact that as American citizens, equality is constitutionally guaranteed. It is humiliating for our society that we are not yet at the point where it just makes sense that you pay two people the same amount for doing the same job.
Ainsley Hayes would hate the fact that President Obama signed these executive orders on Tuesday, especially given the already existing acts of legislation that aim to tackle this issue, such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963 or the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. I hate it too in theory, but I'll swallow my pride if it means that's one step closer to equal pay being an accepted fact rather than a topic for debate.
Helena Buchmann is a freshman from Kansas City, MO studying global and international studies.
FFA OF THE DAY Walk into the library jammin' to Lipgloss by Lil Mama, only to realize my headphones aren't plugged in...
CAMPUS CHIRPS BACK
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Which Student Senate platform do you most hope to see put in place?
LETTER GUIDELINES
HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Send letters to opinion@kansan.com. Write LETTER TO THE EDITOR in the email subject line.
Length: 300 words
The submission should include the author's name, grade and homeetown. Find our full letter to the editor policy online at kansas.com/letters.
Katie Kutsko, editor-in-chief
kkutsko@kansan.com
Allison Kohn, managing editor
akohn@kansan.com
Lauren Armendariz, managing editor
arwendariz@kansan.com
Lauren Armendariz, managing editor larmendariz@kansan.com
@Taylor___Austin
@Taylor___Austin
@KansanOpinion outdoor recycling! recycle
is all about convenience, we could
truly strengthen our sustainably at KU
Anna Wenner, opinion editor
awenner@kansan.com
Sean Powers, business manager spowers@kansan.com
Kolby Botts, sales manager kbotts@kansan.com
@YaBoiHans
@KansasOpnion Definitely expanded Wi-fi. It took me half an hour to find a place to be able to post this.
CONTACT US
Brett Akagi, media director and content strategist
bakagi@kansan.com
Jon Schmitt, sales and marketing adviser
jschmitt@kansan.com
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Katie Kuttsko, Allison Johnn, Lauren Armendariz, Anna Wenner, Sean Powers and Kolby Bots.
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