THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN OPINION
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▼ EDITORIAL BOARD
to Mt. e, his
Politicians nix speech rights
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2005
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"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
This is the First Amendment to the Constitution, which supports Ward Churchill, professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado.
In recent weeks, Professor Churchill has found himself mired in controversy concerning a 2001 essay, "Some People Push Back; On the Justice of Roosting Chickens."
In the work, whose title silently nods to the famous anti-imperial witticism of Malcolm X, Churchill makes an analogy to those who died in the World Trade Center bombings to Adolph Eichmann, a nazi official prosecuted and convicted for his role in the systematic extermination of Jews in Germany during World War II. Churchill said that the victims use their misfortune as an excuse to persecute another ethnic group, like Hitler and his cohorts did to the Jews.
While many of those involved in the state-led offensive claim that state tax dollars should not be used to support Professor Churchill and his insensitive remarks, the professor would suffer little financial loss if he were to only lose the tax-supported portion of his salary.
His essay received public rebuke from Sept. 11 victims' families, student populace, and even received the sensational irie of Fox News' Bill O'Reilly.
According to the Denver Post, state tax dollars account for only 15 percent of Churchill's overall income from the University. Student tuition covers the remaining 85 percent. If the rally in defense of the professor, attended by 1,000 students, was any indication, many of Churchill's younger employers are sufficiently satisfied with his controversial job performance.
Not surprisingly, the controversy has spilled out from its ivory fishbowl and into the volatile, partisan waters of political grandstanding. Colorado politicians, such as Governor Bill Owens, have begun to publicly call for the termination of Churchill's employment at the University.
The Colorado House, threatening to withhold $100,000 from their allotted funds for the University should Churchill retain his tenure, issued a public denunciation.
In his McCarthyistic zeal, Governor Owens and his political calvary lead a charge which tramples on the First Amendment and the academic freedom guaranteed to all tenured university professors.
In a letter to the university's Young Republicans, Governor Owens condemned Churchill as holding views which remain "far outside the mainstream of civil discourse and useful academic work."
Tenure, by definition, exists to provide professors with a not insignificant degree of academic freedom. With this guarantee, educators are then able to teach and articulate concepts without fear that those concepts do not conform to the immature trends in "mainstream discourse."
According to the Colorado Board of Regents, one must demonstrate professional incompetence, neglect of duty, insubordination, conviction of a felony or any offense involving moral turpitude to forfeit one's tenure.
The process through which one loses tenure is necessarily difficult, as academic freedom and free exchange sit at the foundation of any University education, public or private. Without this freedom, college professors might still laud phrenology as the primary index for understanding the global world.
However ill-timed and insensitive Churchill's message might have been, serious questions lurk beneath his vitiol. The precarious history of American foreign policy in the Middle East and Latin America might perhaps, as Churchill suggests in much of his academic work, provide a good starting point for a discussion of the pathos of international terrorism.
Students at the University of Kansas, as well as all Americans, might be better suited to abandon the new monosyllabic dichotomy of good and evil which constitutes our current, mainstream discourse regarding terrorism, and instead re-attach ourselves to the concept of critical thought and analysis protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. Politicians, on the other hand, would be better suited to leave their rhetorical flourishes and special interests in the state House, and outside the university classroom.
Kyle Koch writing for the editorial board.
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Why can't we do Valentine's Day like we did in second grade? I miss my valentines.
You want to know what you've gotta do to get a girl in this town? You've gotta be a jerk. Every single jerk in this town has got a girlfriend.
comments, go to www.kansan.com.
This is a shoutout to the boy who
wears a bright orange stocking cap
every day. You make my day. Thank
you.
There must be a sign on me that says "Kick me, I'm down."
Hey, Mr. Two-and-a-Half Hours, if you can go for four or five, come find me. You're the man of my dreams.
Is it wrong that I have Planned Parenthood on my speed dial?
Does anyone have a number of a good babysitter? Because after last night, I'm gonna need one in about nine months.
▼ SACK'S PERSPECTIVE
Scary diseases certainly get their share of coverage. People care about Mad Cow disease, Ebola and SARS. They're scary because they can give us disgusting ailments and kill us. Naturally we like to read about them. Eating beef can make you go crazy and kill you. Now that's news.
What makes something news?
Steve Sack/TRIBUNE
'APPEARENTLY SOMEONE DIDN'T GET THE MEMO
ABOUT WHAT I WILL OR WILL NOT TOLERATE...
This semester I have taken a class that has opened my eyes to misconceptions and ignorance the public shares about infectious diseases. We hear about scary stuff from the media, but we miss that common infections do more damage in the world, both in human toll and in economic impact, than we care to think about.
Media over-hypes certain diseases, ignores others
But common illnesses such as the flu and malaria aren't so newsworthy. What's scary about the flu? And malaria, heck, we don't have that here. Sure, we know that people in Africa get malaria, but there's nothing 'new' about that so it's not in the news.
▼ JORDAN'S JARGON
The media are partly to blame; the newsworthiness of diseases sometimes outweighs their actual impacts. But our ignorance is also to blame. So here's a quiz to see what you know about some of these scary things and some of the others. This information comes from assistant professor Robert Ward's biology lectures in the class I am taking.
JOHN JORDAN
jjordan@kansan.com
Question: Mad Cow disease is caused by a protein found in the brain of cows, and if that protein is eaten by a human, they can get a lethal disease. So how many infected cows in this country have ever been found?
Answer: Not a thousand. Not a hundred. Not 10. Only one cow has ever been found with the defective protein in the United States. For reference, in 2003, when the cow was found, 35 million cattle were slaughtered. That's approximately 0.00000003 percent of the cattle slaughtered that year. Only 156 people have been diagnosed with Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease, the human variant of Mad Cow.
Question: Remember all the video footage of people in Asia wearing the masks to protect themselves from SARS? Out of the six billion people in the world, how many contracted SARS?
So the next time you read a paper or see the news about some scary disease, remember, just because it's in the news, doesn't mean it's the biggest problem.
Answer: There were 8,098 reported cases and 774 deaths.
Question: I bet you have had the flu before, but how many people die in the United States from the influenza virus?
The world has a long way to go to fight infectious diseases, and developed countries like the United States must lead the fight with both money and interest to help. Having a population that knows the facts about the diseases that really kill us helps that cause.
Answer: There are about 36,000 deaths from influenza each year in the United States. For comparison, www.caraccidents.com reports that about 42,000 people died in auto accidents in 2003.
Question: There are between 200 million and 300 million cases of malaria in the world with around one million deaths each year. How much does malaria affect the GDP of Africa?
That's not an easy quiz; I didn't know any of that information before I took this class that I was lucky enough to have a friend recommend. But it goes to show that what is in the news is not the whole picture for any subject.
Answer: It is estimated that malaria costs $12 billion to Africa's GDP, yet in 2002, the world spent only $200 million to fight the disease.
Jordan is a Salina junior in journalism.
▼ HERE'S TO YOU
Rice must proceed with caution in dealing with Iran
Our new Secretary of State is getting the job done but drawing a hard line.
With not even a month under her belt as one of the most powerful women in the world, Condoleezza Rice seems to be an all-star for the Bush administration. After overseeing a promising truce between the Israeli and the Palestinians and communicating an idea of teamwork and cooperation with European allies, Secretary Rice has hit the ground running. But she must be careful how fast she runs into Iran.
Taking a hard line with Iraq's neighbor already has an international community worrying and remembering. Worrying about what the Iranian government has up its sleeve and remembering what happened the last time Rice spoke of wanting Iraq to disarm.
RAY WITTLINGER
rwittlinger@kansan.com
PAGE 5A
During her confirmation hearing to become the newest secretary of state, Rice was shunned upon from the left for having been the architect of the war in Iraq. One senator even went so far as to say that she has lost respect for the truth. It's hard to rally behind
Dr. Rice at a time such as this and on an issue such as this.
Americans deserve to see diplomacy at its best this time. Iran may not be a beacon of freedom by any means, but it is no Iraqi regime. Sure, the Iranian government should not develop a nuclear weapon of any sort. It is not acceptable and should not be tolerated by free nations. It is in the best interests of Middle East security no nations in the area develop a nuclear arsenal. But issuing harsh demands when our military is stretched to the max and our intelligence is undergoing renovation isn't smart diplomatically.
Rice has been far from reckless so far in dealing with Iran's ambitious government. She actually deserves to be commended on noting that the United States has
no time line or deadline for the Middle Eastern giant to halt its nuclear development. This is the talk we need to hear more often. Take it one step at a time and allow those we are dealing with to think and act rationally.
The words 'war' and 'Iran' have been conspicuously left out of the same sentence for months here in the United States. We are a strong nation supporting all our men and women who are giving their lives for freedom at this moment, but also a nation that must be reassured that we are far from military action in Iran or any other nation for that matter.
We will just have to wait and see if Iran takes the advice of the United States and our allies. Along the way, Secretary Rice and others must be patient and thorough in their attempts at cooperation. Bush does not have the opportunity to correct mistakes made before the Iraqi invasion but he does have an opportunity to not allow history to repeat itself.
- Wittlinger is an Olathe freshman in political science.
▼ REPORT CARD
Pass:
Ray Charles. It was too bad we didn't get to see the late venerable musician accept his eight Grammy awards last night.
- Iraqi voters. Citizens of the embattled country braved threats of mass murder and went to the voting booths in percentages that should embarass every American. The results have been tabulated and the country will soon be ready to finally govern itself.
- Fail:
- Big 12 teams that wear black and gold. Both Colorado and Missouri have had a tough time against both Kansas basketball teams.The women have swept both teams, and the men did the same to Colorado and need one victory against Missouri to complete the job.
- Gerald Krein. He got to spend Valentine's Day in prison for trying to organize an Internet suicide pact across several chatrooms with lonely women. And you thought your Valentine's Day sucked...
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EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
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and Anne Weltmer.
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