4A - THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
MONDAY,APRIL8,2002
EDITORIAL It's up to you to increase election turnout
For many students, there appears to be no question about the upcoming Student Senate election — or even the slightest interest.
Historically, less than a fourth of the student body votes in each Senate election. Ruth Stoner, assistant Dean of Students, said that 18 percent of students —4,233 to be exact voted for student body president and vice president last year.
This figure is far too low. Senate elections are Wednesday and Thursday, and even though it might not seem like the most exciting or pertinent thing to do, we should all cast our votes.
Politics is not the place for passive resistance. Decisions are made by the students who show up at the polls. Every vote matters, a fact that was extremely apparent in last year's Senate election, where the votes of 39 students decided that Delta Force would be in charge.
If you're a student reading this editorial, there isn't no reason you shouldn't vote later this week. With eight polling places on campus, voting itself isn't difficult, and being an informed voter isn't too terribly difficult, either. There is still time to find out about the candidates and coalitions through open debates and forums, through coverage in the Kansan and even by visiting one of the tables on Wescoe Beach.
and even by visiting one of the schools. The results of this election will impact every student, not just a select 18 percent. For example, Senate allocates your student fees — the $282 each one of us will be paying each semester. Whether you vote, your money will be spent — but if you cast your vote you can help decide where it should go. This year Senate has organized rallies, discussions and protests about your impending tuition increase.
tests about your impressions. Senate makes decisions that affect all students, and when we as students fail to vote we are failing to be represented fully. More of us should turn up at one of the eight polling places on-campus this Wednesday and Thursday.
Lauren Stewart for the editorial board.
864-0500 free for
free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about
to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
If Jeff Carey grew a mustache he'd totally look like a porn star
ris is KU Info. We're calling to just to let whoever was wondering know MacGyver's first name is Angus.
In response to the person who called wondering what MacGyver's first name is, in the pilot of the series they called him Stace, and then they dropped it. And they made a big deal about nobody knowing what his real name was until they had in seventh season an episode about Camelot, in which case they said his name was Angus. Just so you know.
If the Free for All guy and the KU Info girl made it they would have a child that was a loud know it all.
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This is the Free for All guy. What are you up to this weekend KU Info girl?
I think it's interesting how the vice presidential candidate for KUInited acts like she's all interested in multicultural affairs. Please, greek girl, who you fooling?
--ris is KU Info. We're calling to just to let whoever was wondering know MacGyver's first name is Angus.
In the final episode of MacGyver it was revealed that MacGyver's first name is Angus.
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I think the Kansan needs to report on the Senate coalitions attitudes toward sexual orientation, because I heard that a coalition is anti-gay and doesn't support domestic partners and believes that homosexuality is wrong. I feel that that is a very bad attitude to hold at KU.
ris is KU Info. We're calling to just to let whoever was wondering know MacGyver's first name is Angus.
Tower A is not the only tower with roach problems. I live in Tower D, and we have them, too. So I don't think we need to go around blaming the international students for not being clean enough.
This is for the tennis fan who saw the other day Andre Agassi's hot wife. I just wanted to say that Steffi Greff was hot before she married Andre, and she will always be hot.
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I'd just like to comment that that girl does the wash your hands commercial on KJHK has the most annoying voice I've ever heard on radio broadcast journalism.
I just wanted to say that I was walking on Wescoe Beach, and I stopped by all the coalition tables, and I was really impressed with Jonathan Ng. I usually don't like politics or even Senate, but he really stands out among others. I'm going to vote for him.
I was just wondering if Kirk Hinrich has a brother, because if he does, I'm pretty sure he plays Will on Days of Our Lives, that little kid.
I was wondering, did anybody feed Jak*
Why does everybody in Lawrence drive like a freakin' old lady?
If KU wants to improve it's attendance numbers it needs to stop comparing itself to real schools like the 11 other schools in the Big 12, because that's not fair. Those schools have real fans who really know how to cheer for their school, and KU just doesn't have it.
Blind Date is the best show on TV right now, and the article that girl wrote dissing Blind Date sucks.
I've got two things to say: Andre Agassi is married to Steffi Graff, and she is not hot, and the Student Body Vice President Campus Masturbator in the UDK is the best thing I've ever read. Thanks guys.
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This is for the basketball team. I was looking around today, and I noticed that everyone was wearing a Final Four T-shirt. None of us would be wearing a Final Four T-shirt if we went to K-State. You guys are awesome, and we're proud of you.
KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE
Students should fight legislature for a quality, affordable education
PERSPECTIVE
Check please. This apparently is the sentiment Republicans in the Kansas Legislature are hearing from college students here in Kansas.
GUEST COMMENTARY
Although I haven't heard the calls for higher tuition myself, someone must be quite vocal as they are attempting to balance the state's now $700 million budget shortfall by cutting state funding to Kansas universities as well as Social Rehabilitation Services and K-12 education.
This forces us to choose between raising tuition or letting the quality of our school, and the degree we hope to take from it, diminish.
Tom Keating opinion@kansan.com
It may seem like a highly partisan claim to make, but the issue has really become Republican-Democrat in the final days of the session. On March 29, Republicans resurrected a House Bill that would make incredible cuts to Education and Social Rehabilitation Services — a bill they promised Democrats in the minority party was just an exercise in determining where legislators stand on certain tax cuts. Democrats are left with few options because of their numbers. The Kansas Senate is divided 30 Republics to 10 Democrats; the House divided 79 Republics to 46 Democrats.
If you have ever felt that what happens in politics and State government isn't important to you, this session should erase all doubt. If
The other component of this debacle isn't as innocent. In the face of a booming economy in the 1998 session, Republicans opted to cut taxes to the tune of $220 million while ignoring Democrat's amendments to retire about $50 million of state bonded indebtedness and reduce the State's sales tax on food. The tax cuts allowed Gov. Graves and Republicans across the state more time in office to represent us as they won sweeping victories in the 1998 elections. Today, when faced with the outcome of their fiscal mismanagement, they propose to leave us with the bill.
for a fair amount of the state's problem.
If it's possible to make the 25-minute, 80-cent trip to Topeka on the turnpike to contact your House and Senate representatives before the session ends, it would be a trip well worth it. Alternatively, you can find contact information on the Kansas Legislature's Web site, www.kslegislature.org. If you are pleased or displeased with the job of your individual representatives, take it back to your home.
Your local newspaper, businesses, friends and family need to that the actions of the Legislature affect you. If they won't listen know, they may be forced to this November.
Republicans cut funding, we will be faced with the direct impact of our tuition increasing substantially — possibly doubling before many of us walk down the Hill. If that doesn't affect you personally, you may be safe in asserting that the happenings of government don't affect you at all.
Keating is a Marysville freshman in political science.
Why does this budget problem even exist? Like the financial problems we face personally, there are many different factors that add up—your job, car, fiscal mismanagement, etc. The job aspect of the state's problem is that our economy has slowed from its boom in the late 1990s. We were also hurt in a big way following the events of Sept. 11. This was especially true in Wichita's large manufacturing industry because of a sudden and staggering reduction in air travel. A slower economy results in less tax revenue, which accounts
U.S. must address Israeli-Palestinian crisis
PERSPECTIVE
Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat and Bill Clinton got very close to a deal that would save thousands of lives. But, in the end, they didn't.
Nine years ago at the White House, two men shook hands in a symbolic gesture of historical dimensions. The two had just signed a piece of paper that seemed to open the road for peace in the Middle East.A third man watched with a grin.
Move forward to July 2000 at Camp David. Things still seemed to be going pretty well for those who like peace. Even though Rabin had shot five years before by a Jewish fundamentalist, Israel, the PLO and the United States again worked together to solve differences that had lasted for thousands of years and coined by then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as a challenge of "biblical proportions." President Clinton and his charming diplomacy were close to cutting a historic deal that would bring peace to a region that has seen anything but it for the last 50 years.
But Camp David was too good to be true. A deal wasn't sealed. Even though Palestinians and most Arabs see the United States as a biased mediator because it gives money and weapons to Israel, they saw Clinton as a credible man. Despite his numerous flaws and intern-loving manners, Clinton knew what he was talking about. He understood the peculiarities of the situation. He knew the region's culture and history. George W. Bush does not.
GUEST COMMENTARY
Sharon, instead of negotiating, is willing to humiliate an already oppressed people. This humiliation can have catastrophic consequences, including a regional war.
Cássio Furtado
opinion@kansan.com
They might have changed U.S. homeland security and some aspects of foreign policy. But they have not changed the world, people's greedy interests or Middle Eastern politics. We still see innocent people dying every day — the only difference is that they are Palestinians and Israelis, not New Yorkers.
Bush is keeping himself out of the situation. He allowed Vice President Cheney to travel to the region, but not to meet with Arafat. Both are mistakes. He also puts the entire burden on Arafat, giving Sharon the carte blanche to attack Arafat and to kill Palestinians.
quencies, including regrettable that people are willing to give their lives to kill their enemies. But that is the Palestinians' only option. Imagine how much suffering people need to endure in order to be willing to give up their
Palestinians are willing to die for their freedom, too. The oppressor is not Germany, Communism or "terrorism." The oppressor is Israel. The Palestinians don't have tanks, helicopters and nuclear weapons — they have bombs that they attach to their bodies.
After Sept. 11, everyone everywhere, said the world would be changed forever. Four airplanes — two in Manhattan, one in Virginia and the other in Pennsylvania — and more than 3,000 deaths would change the world.
Even though Bush has skilled people working for him, such as Secretary of State Colin Powell, this is the kind of situation where only a president can really try to hit the homerun.
The international community demands an Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian land. The United Nations has overwhelmingly approved a resolution asking for Israel's army to leave. But nobody listens.
Furtado is a Pelotas, Brazil, senior in journalism, political science and international studies. He is a senior staff writer.
own lives. That is, in case you haven't noticed exactly what millions of Americans have done throughout decades by going to war — to defend the freedoms of this country.
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