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MONDAY. APRIL 13, 2015
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 4
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opinion
TEXT FREE FOR ALL
FFA OF THE DAY I wish my bank account refilled as fast as my laundry basket.
Text your FFA submissions to (785)289-8351 or at kansan.com
Why are you sitting in my unassigned lecture seat?
Can KU please change the main picture on ku.edu? I'm tired of seeing the same picture up for the past 3 months...
When your girlfriend says "lol have fun" do not have fun. Abort mission. I repeat. Abort mission.
I'll eat better once they put healthy food in microwaveable cups that cost me 10 cents.
Professor delivers a scathing criticism of my experiment; I guess I just got chemically burned.
Our Canadian baseball player is my favorite. I hope to meet him before I graduate in May.
Long distance relationships are so hard. I'm right here and she's so far in the future.
I must find the Justified fan from Thursday's FRA... I thought I was literally the only one who loves that show!
Rock Chalk Jaywalk.
He's such a hipster he burns his lips on his coffee because he drinks it before it's cool.
Listening to people complain about missing out the lab time they want due to enroll times and thinking ... #seniorlife #noenroll
If a bus says it's "Out of Service," why is it still going around on the route?
Legend has it, if you graduate with a 4.0 you reincarnate as a campus squirrel.
No cough syrup, you're not "grape flavored." Have you ever tasted a grape? You taste like the death and tears of small children, not grape.
Why oh why does the weekend have to be over?
I show affection for my pets by holding them against me and whispering, "I love you" repeatedly as they struggle to escape from my arm.
Heely's don't have brakes because swag never stops.
Does anyone appreciate Better Call Saul like i do? Seriously a great spin off.
A's before baes
I love chicken.
'Dress well, test well' holds some truth
I am the queen of rocking sweatpants and a T-shirt, and by rocking I mean looking like I just rolled out of bed. When I'm feeling adventurous I go for running shorts and long-sleeved T-shirts. For the most part, I'm all about comfort.
after little or no sleep.
College is full of all-nighters and late-night study sessions, so trying to look decent after a night of little sleep falls to the bottom of the priority list. I applaud those who have figured out how to look great
Dressing well offers benefits in how one perceives themselves, how others perceive you, and it could even affect how you do on a test.
Professor Adam D. Galinsky from Northwestern University led a study investigating the effects of wearing a white coat, in which students either wore a doctor's lab coat, wore a painter's coat or looked at a doctor's coat. The students then had to look at two pictures side by side and find four minor differences between the two and note the differences as quickly as possible.
coats. Individuals who wore the physician's coat and knew its symbolic meaning tended to be more careful, rigorous and "acquired heightened attention."
While the lab coats in each group were identical, the results had discrepancies. The group wearing physicians' lab coats found more differences in the pictures than those wearing painters' coats and those who just looked at the physicians'
Considering the results of his experiment, Galinsky proposed the theory that we think not only with our minds, but with our bodies as well. That includes the clothes we are wearing.
"Clothes invade the body and brain, putting the wearer into a different psychological state," Galinsky said.
This phenomenon is known as embodied cognition. Embodied cognition is a relatively new science and growing research program investigating how the environment influences the mind. While Galinsky tested students on a simple task, I can't help but wonder how
"DRESSING WELL OFFERS BENEFITS IN HOW ONE PERCEIVES THEMSELVES, HOW OTHERS PERCEIVE YOU, AND IT COULD EVEN AFFECT HOW YOU DO ON A TEST."
dressing well would affect test scores on our campus. Granted.
I don't think students running around layhawk Boulevard in lab coats during finals week is reasonable or practical.
However, "dress well, test well" is a popular saying among college students about how dressing nicely "can instill self confidence, which is necessary for test taking." College Magazine says. There have not yet been studies that prove a direct correlation to this statement.
Based on Galinsky's test and the idea of embodied cognition, it is definitely worthwhile for students to consider their dress. According to Medical Daily, dressing well can increase confidence.
It is important to feel confident before a test, even if it's just a result of rocking a button-down shirt or a new dress.
Meg Huwe is a sophomore from Overland Park studying chemical engineering
I've been talking to this girl for a while and we have extremely different political views, which creates uncomfortable tension at times. Should I let my political identity interfere with a potential relationship?
Anissa Fritz
@anissafritz
When analyzing the status of your relationship with this girl, you need to think long-term and how these opposing views could affect your relationship down the road.
Differences in opinion, political or otherwise, can be beneficial. You don't want to surround yourself with people who are just like you. This causes you to see the world through a single lens. By only associating with people similar to yourself, you may become closed-minded and find yourself getting bored. Having people agree with you is convenient, but sometimes conflict is needed to keep things interesting.
However, in regard to a romantic relationship, vastly different political views could cause too much conflict and harm the relationship. When looking for a partner, I think it's wise to make sure you and the other person have similar basic morals, values and views. Having a few differing opinions on politics is acceptable, but when they're "extremely different," it has the potential to create a lot of unnecessary conflict. I believe that certain
things we believe in, such as religion or political stance, have a large effect on who we are and who we will become. If her stance on politics is already causing awkward and uncomfortable situations, I only see it getting worse if you decide to be in a relationship. Oftentimes couples will be put in scenarios where they must make decisions based off what they believe.
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Police department records need greater transparency
Despite the common "college students don't care about politics" myth, politics matter and serve as a platform to show where our individual beliefs and values lie. As wonderful as this girl may be, it's important to have some similar worldviews because these views shape who we are. I doubt you want to spend your next relationship debating politics over a candlelit dinner, or even worse, losing your own political identity and opinions just to keep from rocking the boat.
Anissa Fritz is a sophomore from Dallas studying journalism and sociology
Victoria Calderon
@WriterVictoriaC
Police forces and law enforcement agencies across the country have been under a great deal of scrutiny since the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Brown's case brought the issue of race-based police brutality to the forefront. The South Carolina case of Walter Scott is now giving the movement against police brutality more momentum. Although the Department of Justice finished an investigation last month on unlawful conduct within the Ferguson Police Department, there is still a lack of transparency by law enforcement agencies when it comes to shootings and unjustifiable homicides at the
information to the Justice Department or the public about any shootings involving police officers. Not only are these reports optional, "but under the current reporting systems there is no category for episodes in which the officer's use of force was not deemed legally justified, and there is no category to report police shootings in which the officer has not killed a person," according to the New York Times. On top of that, little data is available regarding how many situations result in other uses of force, such as the use of stun guns.
Unfortunately, the lack of information that is voluntarily reported by police departments is not the only issue of transparency. An article from The Washington Post states, "the [Justice] Department stopped releasing those numbers [on justifiable homicides] after 2009, because, like the FBI data, they were widely regarded as unreliable." The numbers given to the DOJ are
"THERE IS AN ISSUE OF INJUSTICE AND RACIAL BIAS IN OUR LAW ENFORCEMENT SYSTEM, BUT WITHOUT EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE OF THIS BIAS AND POLICE BRUTALITY IN GENERAL, THE GOVERNMENT IS LESS INCLINED TO INTERVENE AND EFFECT CHANGE THROUGH STRICTER LAW ENFORCEMENT REGULATIONS."
likely to be inherently underrepresentative, particularly those related to police officers using lethal force. High levels of unjustified homicide point would toward corruption and
hands of officers.
hands of officers.
An article by the New York Times points out that it is not mandatory for police departments to release
foster the public's distrust of law enforcement. Rationally, police forces would not want to release any data that might hurt their reputation in that way.
The pattern of unarmed black men killed by officers, who later receive little to no punishment, shows that the government needs to know the numbers and demographics of these victims in order to demand change.
Congress should pass a law to require police departments to keep thorough records of all incidents involving force and report it to a government agency, such as the FBI or DOJ, according to the Washington Post.
This information would not only hold police forces accountable to the public, but it would also help legislators and other involved departments create policies that would prevent unjustified deaths of individuals like Scott.
There is an issue of injustice and racial bias in our law enforcement system, but without empirical evidence of this bias and police brutality in general, the government is less inclined to intervene and effect change through stricter law enforcement regulations. Police departments must be forced to provide accurate data on how often officers fire weapons or use force against a civilian. Congress has to take the first step by making the activities of law enforcement more transparent, so we can progress toward ending the oppressive nature of police encounters with people of color.
Victoria Calderon is a sophomore from Liberal studying English and political science
101.8
M. F. H. (2) Pharmacy practice 327
mrs.fh@ucla.edu www.ucla.edu pharmacy 327
Brian Hillix, editor-in-chief
bhillix@kansan.com
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THE KANSAN EDITORIAL BOARD
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Cho, Stephanie Bickel and
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