4A - THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
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THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2002
EDITORIAL
Printed timetables make enrollment easier
Starting in the spring of 2003, the University of Kansas enrollment center will no longer offer printed timetables during enrollment periods. Instead, the timetable will only be available online. The enrollment center says that saving money and increasing efficiency in the enrollment process are some of the reasons the timetable will no longer come in printed form.
The timetable is already online, but the printed copies are still available for students. Online timetables might be a step toward online enrollment by making students comfortable with navigating an online system, but there is no need to completely get rid of the printed copies especially since universities with online enrollment also provide paper copies to students.
If the University wants to save money, it should print fewer copies rather than none at all. The enrollment office says that a printed timetable will be obsolete to students, because the information online will be current and constantly updated.
Some students are not yet comfortable with the idea of not having a solid, printed copy of the timetable, which they use to decide on their classes for the upcoming semester. It is convenient to be able to mark pages, highlight classes and have other useful information directly at hand.
Some students are not very familiar with working online. The timetable is a convenience most people are not ready to give up. This might not be a monumental issue for enrollment, but it is a matter of students being able to feel comfortable with the already confusing process.
The timetable is already online, providing a convenient way for students to check updated and added classes and times, and should remain so. However, it is not always convenient for students to have to check a computer every time they need to look up that information.
Eliminating the printed timetable from the enrollment process is perhaps a good idea for the future, but for the present, having copies available at hand for students is still the best route to ensuring efficient enrollment.
Sara Zafar for the editorial board.
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--just got back from a lecture by Michael Moore atUMKC, and I'd just like to say that he was amazing, and everybody should listen to what he has to say, because he really has important things to say, and I got him to sign my arm.
Yeah sure, I'll root for the basketball team if it gets me out of class for a day. Yeah, woo hoo. Go, uh, basketball.
With all this talk in Free for All about air balls and bricks you'd think Kenny Gregory was back on campus shooting free throws.
Dear Easter Bunny, when I wake up Easter morning all I want to look for is an egg that says Kansas versus Oklahoma in the NCAA championship.
I gave up drinking for Lent, but the KU game is Saturday. Luckily KU Info and God said I can drink. Thanks again guys.
Does Free for All ever call people back for being annoying and calling too many times? Like does Free for All ever call and abuse people, and tell them to stop calling? That would be kind of cool.
Ballers ball, and drinkers drink, Roy. Sorry, no can do on the alcohol
I just want everyone to know on KU's campus that KU Info has Quin Snyder's office phone number, and we just called and left them a great message that said "Go rock chalk Jayhawk," so you probably need to publish this.
You know it's bad when the first day back from Spring Break you've already skipped two classes.
I just saw this girl on campus wearing a neck brace, and she's turning her head all the way around back and forth. How is that possible?
we all relinquish some freedom and control by submitting to law and government because we value the benefits we'll get in return.
I don't know. I was at the thing last night at Allen Fieldhouse to welcome back the basketball team, and after some of the stuff some of the people said I think next time maybe they should have an IQ test at the door.
we all relinquish some freedom and control by submitting to law and government because we value the benefits we'll get in return.
Dick Vitale thinks Maryland is going to win. Dick Vitale is an idiot. The only teams he likes, of course, are ACC teams. Can he for once actually say that KU is good?
If you don't want me smoking 20 feet in front of Oliver, I mean don't put the ash trays right next to the door.
TALK TO US
Leita Walker
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Matt Fisher
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KEVIN GRITZKE/KANSAN
'Kansan' report card
Pass:
Memorial Stadium game broadcast. Just in case you didn't want to drive to Atlanta, or kick back with a cold one, you can watch Saturday's basketball game at the stadium. Maybe now we'll see what a full stadium actually looks like.
Student Senate candidates. There hasn't been much mud slinging so far, and let's hope it stays that way. Even without the former coalition Resume Builders' giant pink bunny, this election has been pretty pleasant.
Waffle Houses. In honor of those road-tripping to Atlanta, we're paying homage to the champion of post-drinking dining. Look for them near most major truckstops all the way down south.
Fail:
Terrapins. If Saturday's game were to come down to the mascots, the Jayhawks would win hands-down. Maryland may have a solid basketball team, but it's turtle mascot is right up there with the Powercat on the list of dumb characters.
- Timetable shortage. Timetables were scarce the past two days at the Korean Royal Rugiaunions. As if enrollment could be anymore painful.
- **E-passport**. While a step toward online enrollment is appreciated, using the Internet is supposed to make a task faster and easier. Student complaints of slow ARTS form downloading indicate that E-passport isn't working very well.
PERSPECTIVE
Self-determination is crucial to win war on terrorism
A lot has been discussed lately surrounding strategies to win the war on terrorism. I never thought about promoting the ideal of self-determination as such a strategy until I tried visiting an old ex-girlfriend for a week.
Just as she was grasping to keep things together in her life, I showed up expecting her attention, hanging out with her family who she lived with and taking up space she wasn't used to sharing. I got frustrated because she didn't have time to hang out. She got frustrated because she felt like she did not even have control of her life at home. Suffice it to say it was not a fun week.
This is similar to what happens with roommate conflicts here at the University of Kansas. When people's lives get stressful, they usually start trying to reassert control over their lives where they live. Suddenly, a trivial act like leaving food out becomes proof of just how far out of hand things have gotten, and all hell breaks loose.
This is not to say we always have to have or even want complete self-determination and control over everything in our lives. We often trade some control and freedom for something we believe is more valuable, such as romantic relationships, marriage, children, the promise of safety or benefits we believe come with our particular faith.
COMMENTARY
Having a sense of self-determination or the ability to participate is a key element of democratic principles. But what happens when we feel like freedom or control is taken from us, or kept from us, without our consent? We get frustrated and angry and eventually we act. The ways in which humans act to regain their sense of control in their lives can be varied and extreme.
David Grummon opinion@kansan.com
The value of self-determination is important to keep in mind as the
United States fights to end terrorism. Killing off the existing terrorists is essential, but it won't address the root causes of terrorism. Nor is it enough forus to simply extend our power and influence to more parts of the globe.
While that might make us feel like we're more in control, it does nothing to address those in countries where terrorists come from who feel like they have no control over their lives. If we are to end terrorism, we must see that people have more of a say in their corner of the world, and that there is a real alternative to
senseless acts of violence. The approach of helping the Afghan to establish a broad-based government is the right way to go about this.
On the other hand, tightening the economic blockade that has starved the Iraqi people for years might make us feel better and more in control, but it only makes the Iraqi people feel more helpless. The only way they have left to feel somewhat in control is to support Sadaam Hussein, the dictator who defies the United States and the U.N. weapons inspectors.
My ex and I are friends again, but we both know we shouldn't put each other in situations that make us feel helpless. Humans are just programmed to react badly when we feel out of control. This is no less true when it comes to the root causes of senseless violence in our world.
Grummon is a Beloit third-year law student.
PERSPECTIVE
'Whities' turn tables on racist mascots
An intramural basketball team at the University of Northern Colorado is making money the old-fashioned way off the stereotypical image of another race.
According to Coleman Cornelius' March 12 Denver Post article, the team is selling shirts featuring its new mascot: Fightin' White.
"The shirt has a 1950's style, clean cut white man with the slogan "Everything's going to be all white."
Alexzia Plummer
opinion@kansan.com
COMMENTARY
The Native American, Latino and white team members are protesting a nearby Eaton, Colo. high school's "Fightin' Reds" nick name according to a March 12 Associated Press article. The mascot's image is a hook-nosed Native American with a feather in his braid and a bare chest according to Julie Cart's March 15 Los Angeles Times article.
The shirts are a humorous way to deal with the serious issue of Native American mascots. Although the
shirts are funny, the people of Eaton aren't laughing. According to the Los Angeles Times article, many in the town don't see the problem of their beloved mascot and wish the issue would go away.
More disturbing than the mascots themselves are people's reactions when they are attacked. Instead of listening to another cultural perspective on the image, people often cling tighter to the stereotypical mascot.
Usually the excuse arises that the mascots are simply honoring
Native Americans and not to take offense. But what happens if the people you're supposedly honoring don't want the "compliment?"
The Fightin' Red moniker and other Native American mascots around the country are simply offensive.
These mascots restrain Americans from fully understanding all of our culture. We oversimplify the various Native American cultures by dressing up in war paint, doing the tomahawk chop and wearing feathers.
These mascots are the epitome of America's view on its own Native people. Do you remember sitting "Indian" style in elementary school? Did you ever sing "Ten Little Indians"? Did you ever use the Indian Red crayon out of the box? Wasn't it amazing that almost every kid knew how to draw an Native American (with the feathers and war paint) even if they never met one real life? Just because these images are familiar doesn't mean they're accurate.
whenever the mascot issue arises, people will point to other cultural mascots like the Vikings or the Fighting Irish and say these images aren't offensive. Why then are Native American mascots? First, we don't have any people still practicing the Viking way of life, so there's no one to offend. And mascots like the Aggies, Cowboys and Patriots are acceptable because people embrace these positive images.
I hope that the people of Eaton, and elsewhere across the country will be open to dialogue about this issue.
Hopefully, after the T-shirts are sold out and the intramural basketball season is over, people won't miss the point. As ridiculous as it is to have a white man on your shirt, it's also ridiculous and demeaning to have a Native American mascot.
Plummer is a Bellevou, Neb., sophomore in journalism.