Opinion
Page 4 University Daily Kansan, February 12, 1981
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KU: Of Mice and Men
Inadequate facilities, filled with crawling cockroaches and stirring mice, have made Snow Hall an abomination.
Professors of botany, physiology and cell biology, and systematics and ecology are saying that the putrid surroundings in the science building are making high quality research impossible.
Some of the professors' accounts of the building sound like something straight from a creature feature. Mice have eaten seed experiments. Cockroaches are so rampant that the glue on stamps isn't even safe.
Other problems include poor air conditioning, faulty water pressure, leaky steam pipes and inadequate electrical
circuits. You name it, Snow Hall has it. And to be sure, the professors are getting stick and tired of it.
An addition to Haworth Hall—the solution to the Snow Hall problem—has been delayed because the Kansas Board of Regents wants to pursue its No.1 priority—faculty salaries. What it bolts down to, however, is Gov. Carlin's reluctance to finance the addition.
Carlin's reluctance may force many important professors in the science departments to leave the University. It's the same old story. Yet if the money doesn't come from somewhere, the crumbs of KU research are going to continue to be eaten by the mice.
Australia-U.S. relationship more beneficial to America
An important feature of Australia's international relations is its relationship with the United States. The ANZUS Treaty, concluded in 1961, provides that in the event of an armed attack on one of the partners, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. will each act to meet common danger in accordance with their constitutional processes.
As a native of Sydney, I detected a growing disillusionment among Australians with the
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SOMERVILLE
United States as an ally, and it is the mounting scicptism about the value and reliability of the American alliance (ANZUS) which has generated the present mood of resentment. In addition to the unpleasant awareness of the huge domestic problems in the United States, and the turning of Australia into a nuclear target—these factors have alarmed and alienated many Australians, including myself, and ironically those who have been members of the alliance with the United States.
America may well find ANZUS redundant, but it will lend token support to it as long as it has need of strategic bases on Australia soil. It is no argument to claim that ANZUS has kept Australia safe, as the "threats" were largely non-existent. The country may be difficult to defend, but it would be even more difficult to invade and conquer without enormous sea, air and land forces. Suggestions of a strategy are given in Australia for its support are naïve—gratitude has little place in relations between States. America will defend Australia only if it is in its interest to do so—that lesson was learned in Vietnam.
For the first time, the one-sided nature of the ANZUS treaty has been thoroughly scrutinized by Desmond Ball, a Senior Research Fellow in the Strategic and Defense Studies Center of the Australian National University. The Suitable Piece of Real Estate: American Installations in Australia” deals with U.S. activities.
Not even the Australian government knows the real nature of American spy bases scattered throughout the country. What is known is that the installations help pinpoint Soviet targets, give all-weather navigational aid and firing orders to U.S. submarines and provide details of Soviet missile deployment in the Pacific. Australia's notably taken advantage of Australia's strategic geographical location, under cover of the ANZUS Treaty and Ball alleges that at least three of the 17 U.S. installations in Australia are likely nuclear targets.
Most Americans would not realize that the biggest and most important NASA complex outside the United States is located 37 miles from Canberra-Australia's capital city. In a wartime situation, of course, NASA would only rely on the U.S.' defense establishment.
The North West Cape installation in Western Australia is one of the most important links in the U.S. global defense network. In May 1978 a secret U.S. decision to arm the Australian government against the first the Australian government knew of the decision was in a newspaper report in the Australian Financial Review. Then it took the Minister of Finance several days to verify the United States had to intervene in the United States for not treating Australia "with the proper courtesy."
Every day Australian private telephone conversations, telegrams and telex messages are collected like a vacuum cleaner" by U.S. spy satellites, according to Ball. The material is sorted at U.S. facilities in Central Australia, where three U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA, control operations. Ball believes that Australian politicians are also checked. On November 15, 1940 ball fainted a Sydney warehouse destroying half the print run of Ball's new book. The book was the most politically sensitive work published by the mysterious circumstances surrounding the claire lead to the suspicion that either the CIA or Australian intelligence agents attempted to destroy the truth of Ball's allegations.
The blame for what has been an appalling lack of public information and debate over the issue—in Australia and the United States—must be on the successive governments of the US and Australia should accept U.S. bases, if after all, the U.S. is to help defend it. It is very much another thing to pretend, as both governments seem to have done, that risks don't exist by resorting to the simple “cool” strategy. Australia an important ally to the United States? The answer is probably “yes”—but not as important as countries in the NATO alliance. It is disappointing that most Americans now know more about Vietnam, Panama, Iran and El Salvador than about the major ally in the southern hemisphere.
Australia is one continent that has never seen war. To a people who halted construction of their country's first nuclear power plant in the mid-1980s, Australia was disposal, the thought of Australia ridged with U.S. defense installations that pose as obvious Soviet targets is aberrant. The Australian people and government has a right to know the real purpose and nature of U.S. military operations against the continent which benefited a good deal more than Australia from the alliance.
The University Daily KANSAN
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Taking a Look at College Sports
Civilization can be a heavy concept
By JOHN BARELL
New York Times Special Features
UPPER MONTCLAIR, N.J.—A colleague of mine recently asked his sophomore philosophy class to define civilization. The students' definitions focused mainly upon statements such as "following the rules" and "doing what you are told."
The quality of thought revealed by these potential leaders of the United States suggested a concreteness and conformity that was disturbing. It reflected a possible inability to transcend one's immediate authority figures in order to analyze very complex situations and envision alternatives to the status quo—an act of imagination.
To conceive civilization as a process of interaction between persons and their environment that results in the improvement of our living in the world and exemplifies the best in human feelings, thought and aspiration requires the ability to think abstractly.
Perhaps these young philosophy students had not developed to that mental stage where individuals think independently and question authority, a stage first evident during
Their definitions might lend some credence to the Rockefeller Foundation's recent report urging that the humanities "can develop
capacities for judgment . . . as well as the curiosity . . . to go beyond what has been thought, said and done before: basic skills for the creation of a future." These are essential thinking skills, fostered not only by the humanities but also by the sciences.
Only an imaginative thinker could envision the sun as the center of our solar system, and see the sun's movement.
There are many possible causes for the lack of abstract and imaginative thinking by the young. For example, we are constantly bombarded with appeals to purchase commodities and to vote for personalities through emotional identification rather than logic.
Another reason may be that our society places such a premium upon the ability to measure and quantify results that teaching and learning keep on emphasizing the recollection of facts rather than real thinking about complex problems that may yield idiosyncratic solutions.
"The 'back to basics' trend and the rigors of school bureaucracy have only aggravated
Colleges of education have not been leaders in preparing teachers who stimulate the inventive, imaginative minds of all students. One difficulty is that too often adults do not know how to challenge a young, inquisitive mind, and, when we are ill-prepared to respond with empathy.
For example, Simon Ramo, a scientist and engineer, has reported that when he asked his
history teacher, "Would there have been a Civil War . . . even if slavery had not existed?" the teacher replied, "We have enough to do to learn what actually happened without speculating on what different circumstances would have brought." We are far more comfortable with what the book says than with challenging students to consider the many possibilities of what might have caused motivation and to "rethink" the past, as the philosopher of history R.G. Collingwood advocated.
A science teacher I knew was asked, "What if our earth were an atom in someone else's universe?" He replied that the laws of physics were universal, absolute, and continued with the lesson undisturbed.
But those same laws, as we understand them, never anticipated the three braided strands of Saturn's outer rings, nor the bonding of a quasar's light rays by the gravitational field of other galaxies, as Einstein predicted in a re-evaluation of Newtonian physics.
If Johnny and Jane don't think critically, it may be because we think of them as people who need to be told what to think and do, and not as people who are only obliged or "obvious and "to beyond what has been thought."
For Johnny and Jane to think, we must view them as creators of civilization, as well as preservers of its best traditions.
John Barell, assistant professor of curriculum
and English at College, is author of
"Playerspace of Our Mind."
Letters to the Editor
To the editor:
Towers story proves unfair, sensational
I have lived in the Towers since May and have not found feces in the elevators, inadequate parking, cockroaches, lack of hot water or slow maintenance.
Twice in eight months our elevators were broken, but were repaired and running again in 36 hours. One morning last week the water was not as hot as usual, but it has been fine since.
To the contrary, each of the two requests for maintenance submitted by my roommate and me were acted upon within six hours. Last semester we did see a few cockroaches. The exterminators came to spray and the bugs have not come back. I would not live here if they had
Though I'm sure some residents of Jayhawer Towers Apartments have encountered difficulties with maintenance and other conditions from Feb. 3. 8 story about the Towers, most have not.
Often, after midnight, a parking space is hard to find. Residents are informed of this before signaling leaves. However, parking the car in the yellow zone across the street, and then moving the car by mid-morning the next day is the standard way to avoid a ticket. It is not hard to do.
Perhaps we have been unusually lucky with our apartment. But I think not. I believe that most Towers' residents are satisfied, and the article failed to attend to this side of the story. Though I never thought I would ever support J. Roberts's argument about questioning would be helpful next time to produce a more balanced, and certainly less sensational, news story.
Russell E. Tluscik Kansas City, Kan., law student
Russell E. Tluscik
Gun control
To the editor:
I am a member of both the Kansas State Rifle Association and the National Rifle Association. For many years, I have safely enjoyed the various aspects of target shooting and hunting with different types of firearms. As a gun owner, I read with interest your editorials on Jan. 26 concerning handgun control and applaud your balanced presentation.
As indicated, handgun control is an extremely
emotional issue for both supporters and opponents. Their common enemies, however, are those persons who misuse firearms. To stop illegal use by criminals, better law enforcement and stiffer penalties are better approaches than outlawing guns. As demonstrated by Prohibition, illegal merchandise is always available through the black market.
This country was built on the premise that as many freedoms were to be available to each citizen as possible. If an individual proves unable to exercise these freedoms without imposing on someone else's freedom, then individual dental is the normal recourse. Newspapers strive to protect constitutional rights, especially their own privacy and press. Surely this desire can claim Citrix Amendment rights applies equally to gun owners' rights in the Second Amendment. If one amendment can be disregarded, the same action could be taken against all freedoms and rights.
As noted, another chief cause of handgun misuse has been poverty. This, and other socioeconomic conditions that lead to the misuse of firearms, also lead to the misuse of cars, drugs, knives, liquor, etc. Even stripped of handguns, the potential misuser still suffers from such pressures and will utilize other weapons or implements of destruction.
This, by itself, is not a great impairment—if fairly applied. However, persons such as Sen. Washington Post editors have publicly stated their goal to be the confiscation of all civilian-owned firearms. With this in mind, it is easy to understand why gun owners belong to an ef-
For years, pro-gun control advocates have touted Britain as an excellent example of a "safe" society with stringent gun control laws. This claim is becoming less effective with each report of an IRA, racial, or criminal incident where illegal guns play increasingly major roles.
This article is not suggesting that nothing be done to decrease handgun misuse. One suggested system would provide a mandatory training for firearm owners in different firearm categories. Upon completion of
I realize the Kansan's editorials merely sought stricter handgun registration and the denial of firearms.
K
each course, the student would receive a card, much like a driver's license, enabling him to own and purchase that class of firearm. This would be less difficult than the normal misuse of firearms by unskilled purchasers.
As with any group of people, there will inevitably be those who act with selfishness, disregard and carelessness. Punish them as individuals, but don't deprive the majority of guwnners who have an excellent record of safety with firearms and their responsible use. As in all things, people must be judged as individuals.
Craig S. Crosswhite
Craig S. Crosswhite Lawrence graduate student
Hostage issue
To the editor:
Sure, the hostages are free from their militant Iranian captains of 444 long and grueling days. But are the 52 Americans really free—free to go and do as they please?
First, the Americans were held in Wiesbaden by our government for "decompression," to release their tension and to be told what they could and could not say when they got back to the States. Then they are flown into the open arms of the American people who have eagerly awaited their homecoming. The carnivorous entrepreneurs were also there to greet them.
These "fast-buck Charles" will exploit this situation any way they can. I can almost hear it now: "As a hostage, what shampoo would you have used, that is, if you could have washed your hair?" There will be the "Egg McHostage," the "Hostage Christmas" an Ma and Bell with, "Long distance, it's the next best thing to being in the Army." The second "Hostages' Second Cousin Twice Removed," and Fred Silverman with his new zany sitcom, "$2's Company" television series.
The American people are naturally curious and eager to see the hostages and hear their story, but, for the sake of their families and the American people, give them their freedom they
John Bennett
Omaha, Nebr., senior