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University Daily Kansan, March 27, 198
Opinion
A disconcerting affair
Andre Previn and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra startled KU concertgoers earlier this week when they appeared not in traditional formal concert attire but instead in street clothes. They gave a blue jeans performance in Hoch Auditorium.
It is a shame, Previn complained, that KU does not have adequate performing arts facilities to accommodate visiting musicians. They couldn't get dressed backstage, he said; there wasn't enough room for the wardrobe cases.
Yes, it is a shame that KU doesn't have such facilities. But it does have Hoch, and the many who put on Rock Chalk there a few weeks ago managed to cope with cramped conditions. And there are facilities in Murphy Hall for various performances. Murphy, too, is cramped, but what building on campus isn't?
Perhaps Previn, instead of being cramped inside Hoch, would have preferred the vast expanses of Allen Field House, which numerous rock groups have
found satisfactory? And why is it that other visiting orchestras have managed to appear formally dressed before Previn was humiliated in street clothes?
Apparently Previn doesn't understand that KU is primarily an educational institution, not a cultural one. Like it or not, KU isn't, and never will be, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Building an addition to Haworth Hall so that biology students can hold labs, or getting architecture students enough space to learn their trade, simply has a higher priority than building a fine arts center so that visiting orchestras won't be inconvenienced.
First, let's get the problems of education solved here at KU. Once that small task is completed, then perhaps KU can become Wolf Trap Farm of the West.
It would be nice to have such a center, but like most other cultural and artsy facilities on campus, it'll have to wait for a generous millionaire benefactor, because the state can't be expected to subsidize a hall for visiting orchestras.
Register women, too
Possibly the most important case the Supreme Court will decide this year will be the one challenging the constitutionality of registering only men for a potential draft. President Carter last year had asked for registration of both sexes, but Congress, apparently afraid that America's sugar-and-spice daughters would get their petticoats soiled if exposed to the military, opted to register men only.
If the Supreme Court finds that the current registration system is unconstitutional, Congress might find itself having to register both women and men or scrap registration altogether.
In recent years, the court usually has uphold governmental discrimination on the basis of sex only if the law or practice serves an important governmental end, or if it helps to atone for past discrimination against women. But on either of these grounds, male-only registration, and a male-only draft, clearly would be violative of the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.
That's because registering men only doesn't make up for past discrimination; if anything, it continues discrimination against both men and women.
Besides, women can't be excluded from jury duty simply they're women, so why should they be immune to the "duty" of possibly serving their country?
And although the government's argument that having only men listed on registration rolls would reduce problems in assigning front-line troops, mere administrative convenience if not considered a legitimate excuse for the government to discriminate because of sex.
Whether the country needs a draft is still a big question; there's a lot yet to be tried to make the voluntary system work. But if the court strikes down the obviously unconstitutional all-male registration, then all of America's potential young draftees will be on an even footing.
That would probably make the draft more unpopular than ever, but more importantly, it might lead to a realization that if the draft has to be reinstated, it can't be done like it was in the past. Random selection of names from a fishbowl, or even from a computer, singles out the few to defend the many. If the draft is to stage a comeback, everyone—male and female—of draft age must be required to serve.
KANSAN
The University Daily
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Chuck Downs
KU-Y hiding behind service facade
Sometimes the decisions we make are difficult, if not downright painful. The choices often aren't clear cut nor the answers answer. My previous involvement with Student Senate revealed the problem of making fair value judgments and separating the worthwhile from the ineffective. Particularly during spring budget hearings, perhaps the Senate's most important difficulty is finding each group requesting funding is reviewed first by a committee and finally by the entire Senate. The decisions made often are subject to controversy.
At the same time, KU-Y's involvement with service came to a standstill. Rock Chalk, Big Brothers-Big Sisters and Volunteer Cleaninghouse all became virtually independent of KU-Y. Although several still are connected with KU-Y on paper, the relationship ends there.
The Senate's Student Services Committee determines a group's worthiness for future funding based largely on these criteria and passes its recommendations along to the full Senate. If the Senate continues to use this rule of thumb next week in making its final decisions, clearly KU-Y should not be funded with student activity fees.
Although there are no ironclad rules to follow, certain guidelines generally need to be used. One such guideline is deciding whether a group has met its goals and has provided effective service to the campus community during the past year. Groups such as Consumer Affairs, Headquarters and KU-Y generally are judged in this manner, in this manner.
KU-Y was for many years primarily dedicated to campus and community service inspired by the ideals of its parent organizations, the YMCA and YWCA. This KU-Y began Rock Chalk Revue decades ago. This KU-Y coordinated a strong Big Brothers-Big Sisters program on campus. This KU-Y assisted in establishing Volunteer Clearinghouse, an organization that coordinates community agencies with interested student volunteers.
About five years ago, however, KU-Y began shifting away from campus and community service. In its place, KU-Y focused increasingly on advocating political and social positions. Out of this new emphasis sprang such groups as the KU Committee Out of South Africa (KUSA), the American Committee and Latin American Solidarity, some of which eventually separated from KU-Y.
KU-Y simply isn't living up to its end of the deal in claiming to be a service organization.
I beg to differ.
However, in a letter printed in the recent Rock Chalk Revue program, Pamela Johnston, current KU-Y coordinator, wrote, "The KU-Y is a student organization reaching out to perhaps the widest community of any other group on campus."
DAVID
HENRY
After talking to countless people, and conducting a lengthy interview with Johnston, I found most people consistently connected KU-Y with KUSA, the anti-draft committee and Latin American Solidarity and not with Rock Chalk or Big Brothers. Yet, curiously enough, we find absolutely no mention of KU-Y's political advocacy in either Johnston's letter or in KU-Y's budget request, except for weak reference to its "commitment to social justice."
Presently, KU-Y claims to be a service organization, yet clearly it is not. Although it has proven effective in expressing its political and social positions, it is funded by the Senate for a completely different purpose; namely, campus and community service. This purpose KU-Y no longer fulfills well enough to deserve future student funding.
My opposition to KU-Y's funding in no way stems from opposition to its particular political and social platform. Although I believe its primary beneficiary is the methods of persuasion as dated as love-ins and the Jefferson Airplane, I also believe that decidedly minority viewpoints should be encouraged—particularly on a university campus. My concern is that encouragement can take the form of Senate funding.
However, Bren Abbett, student body vice president, noted, "KU-Y serves a purpose on this campus. While I question some of the ways we have been able to feel that I feel they have a right to express their opinion."
KUV's service is twofold. It no longer acts as a service organization for which it serves its Users, so its mission is to acquire its
Perhaps KU-Y's lack of conviction stems from the fear that the Senate would not fund a politically active group. Johnston told me, "There are some (people) in Student Senate who have been harassing us for our leftist political tendencies."
political advocacy—the one thing it does effectively—behind a cloud of previous service activities. In coming to Senate as a service organization, it should be judged accordingly. If, however, it wishes to be viewed differently, then it must not hide behind Rock Chalk Revue or Bie Brothers.
Johnson said, "Ideally, I would like KY- to progressive social organization committed to progressive social
However, I suspect KU-Y is scared of its own shadow.
Members sincerely believe in their political and social convictions and express them strongly through posters, hunger strikes and silent vigils. But when they are forced each year to account for their actions to the Senate and the readers of Rock Chalk programs, the courage of their conviction evaporates; KU-Y becomes as controversial as the Rotary Club.
Political positions couched behind community service are shallow indeed.
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Pot Shots
it's spring, and it seems as if the hearts and minds of KU students are turning not to love but to
Or, more accurately perhaps, their dun-lop-over-the-bell stomachs.
No longer able to hide the results of TGIF beers and Joe's doughnuts behind down jackets
and thick wool sweaters, the Wescob Beach bathers now find that it's diet time.
There've already been masses of juggling joggers running through campus, breathing heavily and sweating profusely, trying to slim those calves and firm those thighs.
Dedicated dieters have sworn off Zara's hot fudge sundaes and McDonald's french fries.
Have you ever confronted a door and lost it? It never used to think that going into a door took it.
I've lost track of the times I've tried to go out a door, only to discover that I am pushing on the wall.
And all for what? Why, for a chance to rival Derek and the Mariborlo Man. Why torment yourselves you dieters, you? All that extra heat the holly is just a little more to love—right?
It never fails. I push, but nothing happens. I
Dan Torching
stand there, looking as if I am admiring the nose prints on the glass while adding a few of my own.
"Try the other side, stupid," it says. Sure, it works.
You would think that opening a door wouldn't be that hard. After all, there is a 50-50 chance that you will push on the right side of the bar. But I mess up, even with those odds.
They ought to put arrows on the door so you know which side to push. Or how about installing revolving doors? But with my luck, I'd probably have trouble revolting out.