4A • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2002
EDITORIAL Learn from history; respect Haskell's land
The Trail of Tears marks a tragic time in the history of Native Americans. It was a time of sacrifice and suffering for more than 100,000 people, who were forced off their land in the southeastern portion of the United States.
Unfortunately it's just one example of the many times when Native Americans had to give up homelands and relocate to another state, leaving behind the traditions and ceremonies special to the land.
Their story and the many like it have taught us the importance of respect for Native Americans and the traditions they hold.
So why then after so many sad lessons from history would we want to construct the South Lawrence Trafficway, which would disturb sacred Native American land and the environmental sanctuary of the Baker Wetlands?
The controversial trafficway, which would connect U.S. Highway 59 and Noria Road, has hit another roadblock in anticipation of its much delayed completion.
The National Congress of American Indians passed a resolution that called for the halting and termination of the trafficway. The Congress, which represents more than 500 tribes, said the trafficway would destroy the cultural, historical and educational foundations of Haskell Indian Nations University.
lodge and prayer wheel. An extra five-minute commute on 23rd Street probably won't make much of a difference in most people's lives. However, the disturbance of graves and the noise from cars during ceremonies could affect Native Americans at Haskell in a significant manner.
The newest proposals would have the trafficway running either north or south of the Wakarusa River or not at all. The trafficway could disturb graves as well as a sweat lodge and prayer wheel.
The damage the trafficway could cause environmentally must also be considered. In one square mile alone, over 250 species of birds have been recorded by Roger Bovd, professor of biology at Baker University.
Extra traffic for Lawrence residents is a small price in comparison with the sacrifices Native Americans have made in the past and continue to make today.
The Wetlands Preservation Organization said the trafficway would create noise, pollution and habitat loss that would affect not only the portion the trafficway cut through, but the entire Baker Wetlands. According to the organization, 99 percent of the wetlands would be damaged.
With an estimated $90 to $100 million price tag, the Kansas Department of Transportation must be certain this trafficway has full community support. Environmental concerns and even the most recent opposition with the National Congress of American Indians opposing the trafficway are all signs that seem to say that the Kansas Department of Transportation needs to once again go back to the drawing board.
Amy Potter for the editorial board
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Drew Gooden, this is your wake-up call. You're not God.
Eric Borja and his big Fillipino ass crack me up. However, the lady that works in food services at Burge, she doesn't crack me up. She scares me.
OK, maybe it's just me, but I think I just saw Mike from the Real World walking around on campus.
Martin Luther King is probably too busy being dead to talk to me about peaceful rallies.
happened earlier. Rock Chalk Revue. The United Way came out as the real winner, as the annual event raised $50,000 for charity.
Man, I just read in Monday's Kansan, I read the perspective column by Eric Borja, and he needs to stop acting like such a hard ass, 'cause I could totally take him.
--happened earlier. Rock Chalk Revue. The United Way came out as the real winner, as the annual event raised $50,000 for charity.
Those new 0-5 guys make me want to get drunk and hook up. They're hot.
So is it blasphemy to not put Kansas in as the national champion? Just wondering.
Actually, the Kansan is somewhat accurate. The Bible doesn't allow female clergy. So, if the Bible doesn't allow it, how can the Methodist church really be a church if it's trying to follow the Bible? It doesn't make sense. What's up with that?
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STAR TR113UNE
KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE
'Kansan'reportcard
Pass:
Professors who cancel classes on the Friday before spring break. Honestly, most students don't want to be there anyways. Thumbs up to teachers who recognize reality.
Tuition rally. The only problem with this opportunity for students to speak their minds about the tuition proposals is that it should have happened earlier.
Fail:
Quizzes on the Friday before spring break. It's just cruel when professors purposely force students to stick around longer than necessary before break. Come on, do you really have to give that five-point quiz tomorrow?
VH1. The cable music channel is slowly moving away from its roots (i.e. videos) and adding lots of other programming. Next thing you know, it'll be just like MTV. In other words, boring.
Celebration Task Force. Why do we need a task force to decide whether to cancel classes if Kansas wins the NCAA men's basketball championship? Most people wouldn't go anyway, and this task force is a great way of jinxing the Jayhawks' chances of going all the way.
PERSPECTIVE
Students must protect their rights as free speech on campuses falters
Institutions of higher education are not guaranteed safe places for free speech any more.
For two days in a row in November 1999, almost all 4,600 copies of Texas Christian University's Daily Skiff were stolen. It was suspected that the thefts were related to a school election and that the culprit was a disgruntled candidate.
At the University of Wisconsin protesters stormed the office of a campus newspaper that had printed thread. Staffers of the Badger Herald eventually locked themselves in after being cornered by the protesters—the paper did not apologize for
Is a daughter?
Since March 2001, former leftist radical turned conservative David Horowitz has sent an ad entitled "10 Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks Is a Bad Idea for Blacks — And Racist Too" to 72 college newspapers. The ad has been printed by 28 of them; the Kansan has not received the ad. At UC Berkeley the editor of the Daily Californian wrote a front-page apology in response to protests that the paper was a conduit for racism.
COMMENTARY
running the ad. Later that spring, Horowitz was invited to speak at Berkeleybut was booed off the stage.
During a graduation ceremony at California State University this past December, Sacramento Bee editor Janis Besler Healphy was heckled off the stage during her speech on civil liberties.The post-Sept. 11 crowd was in no mood to hear an address regarding the importance of preserving civil liberties and free speech in America. While she spoke through some of the foot stomping and booing, she eventually had to cut her speech short.
After conservatives at Berkeley published a criticism of the group in their paper, the California Patriot, all 3,000 copies of the paper were stolen, costing almost $2,000. Members of the conservative group have also received death threats in the past weeks.
In recent days, members of the Berkeley Conservative Foundation have been harassed by a Chicano group called Movimiento Estudianil Chicano de Aztlan. The group distributed a flier urging revolution against "gringos" and reclamation of their stolen land.
Bradley E. Freedman opinion@kansan.com
threats in the past weeks. Last December at Ohio State University, the Muslim Student Association posted an e-mail newsletter on the school's Internet server that urged a holy war against America. Although the university initially refused to halt the organization's access to the server on the grounds of free speech, the group was removed last month.
These are just a few examples of the many incidents that are occurring on college campuses all over America. Students — and all too often professors and administrators — are denying others the right to publicly express their views.
The degree to which such acts are committed by liberals is particularly disturbing. The left exerts a bold presence on college campuses, yet its calls for diversity are often unheeded.
It is frightful when the left betrays its own ideals by engaging in both McCarthyist slander and fascist righteousness. As the majority on most college campuses, liberals have power. Too often, this power is used to silence opponents. Paper stealing, book burning, preventing conservatives from speaking or appearing on campuses — these things occur at American schools.
Leftists are not the only group at fault. Intellectual cowards of all persuasions are suppressing speech when they are afraid to engage in democratic dialogue.
engage in business. At the University of Kansas we must have the courage to debate all issues. We must be ever vigilant. A look at many of the nation's schools shows that freedom is never a sure thing.
Freedman is an Overland Park graduate student in history.
PERSPECTIVE
NCAA brackets part of our culture
It's time once again to throw out anything significant in your life and dedicate the focus of your attention to something that's as much a part of this country's tradition as apple pie and Denny's — brackets. Not the brackets of the income tax sort, but rather of the NCAA Tournament sort.
Whether you are an avid college basketball fan or just an occasional viewer, those quirky brackets possess the pizzazz to drive the least dedicated fan to claim that he or she is a scholar of college hoops. And if you don't agree with his or her picks, you are completely messed up in the head.
Brackets are filled out by people from Anchorage, Ala., to Tallahassee. Fla., and are an office staple
see, Hal, and the rest. Since I was but a wee fifth-grader, I have participated in a
bracket pool. Even then I found it stupid that kids who obviously didn't know what they were talking about could be so confident in their picks. It was quite commonplace to hear the playground bully say something like, "I can't believe you picked Arkansas over North Carolina! Are you a moron?!"
The saddest part of this whole scenario is that I find the same sort of thing happening today, and not just with kids, but adults too. Yes, there are hardcore college basketball fans who know the ins and outs of each team and if they want to display their knowledge, I have no problem.
COMMENTARY
Marc Ingber opinion@kansan.com
But to the people who don't know much but still love to rip on other people's picks simply because yours differ, you are not fooling anyone. We know you pick teams based on who has the better
name. And how do I know this?
Because I'm one of you.
There, the secret is out. I'm not going to lie. I definitely consider myself a KU fan and I know a fair amount about the teams in the Big 12.
But as for the rest of college basketball, I usually pick teams based on which name I like more. The thing is, I don't claim to know a lot and therefore don't knock other people's picks.
Judging by the information I just disclosed, you shouldn't find it surprising that I end up in last place almost every year. But to that I say, "Last place, shmast place." While everyone is crying that the upsets that they picked didn't happen, I'm having a ball of a time saying the word "Gonzaga" in my head over and over.
So here's some advice to anyone participating in a bracket pool this year. Make your picks, keep your mouth shut and just watch the tournament. If your picks are as good as you think they are, you will win the tournament and you won't have to brag.
Oh, and one more piece of advice - pick McNeese State. It's going places.
Ingber is a Golden Valley, Minn. sophomore in pre-journalism.