4A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
MONDAY,FEB.11,2002
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Leita Walker
editor
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WES BENSON/KANSAN
EDITORIAL
Housing should help students who want out
Unless you're getting married or you have a note from your doctor, getting out of a contract with the Department of Student Housing without paying the remainder of your rent is nearly impossible.
The department seems concerned only with its finances and should be more concerned about the well-being of students.
When a student with a full-year housing contract leaves KU at the end of the fall semester, the department requires students to pay 25 percent of their spring rent. This applies whether the student transfers to another school or drops out. The same 25 percent penalty applies if a student gets married — and a marriage certificate must be shown — a student cannot afford to stay or medical circumstances dictate that a student cannot remain in campus housing.
However, if a student is still enrolled at KU and wants to get out of the contract without any of these circumstances, the student must pay 100 percent of the cost of room and board for the remainder of the time specified in the contract.
A student may move to another residence hall or join a scholarship hall and be exempt from these fees. But if students want to join a fraternity or sorority, they are responsible for 100 percent of the financial obligation.
At the University of Missouri, students are allowed to "purchase out" of their contract if they pay 25 percent of it, as opposed to 100 percent at KU. It usually is about $500 to $700 a semester, depending on the student's meal plan. This is far more reasonable than requiring students to pay 100 percent of the amount specified in the contract if a student decides to move off campus or into a Greek house.
At Kansas State University, if a student who lives in a residence hall wants to join a fraternity, the student can "buy out" of the contract if they pay 40 percent of the contract, which is usually about $800.
Many fraternities at KU might help students pay for some or all of a fee to get students out of their contract if it is only $500 to $700, but 100 percent of a contract is too much money. If a student can join a scholarship hall and not be penalized, why are students financially penalized for joining a fraternity or sorority?
Molly Mueller for the editorial board.
If a student would be happier living somewhere else at KU, the University should try to help, instead of hindering the process by only making exceptions for a few circumstances. Shouldn't the students' best interest also be the University's best interest?
Graham Heaven, former Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity president, said it was difficult for fraternities to recruit new members because if a potential pledge lives in campus housing, he often can't move into the chapter house until his contract expires.
If students want to become more involved on campus by joining a fraternity and are not comfortable in their current housing situation, KU should not be so rigid compared to other Big 12 universities about letting students buy out of their contracts.
By the Numbers
$8,371
Average amount of KU athletic scholarships granted for fiscal year 2000
$1,799
Average amount of Pell grants awarded to KU students for the same
Source: Office of Institutional Research and Planning
year
1968
The last year in which Americans' confidence in the federal government "to do what is right" was as high as it is today.
is today
Number of the 10 amendments in the Bill of Rights that are violated by the USA PATRIOT Act, according to the American Civil Liberties Union Sources Gallup Organization and the ACLU
$153.50
Price on E-bay of a pair of tickets to the Olympic four-man bobsleigh finals
nights
Price to rent Cool Runnings for four nights.
Sources
ebay.com and Hasting's Books, Music &
Video, 1900 W. 23 St.
PERSPECTIVE
Smokers don't need governor to save them from themselves
Kansas Senate Bill No. 450 is in committee discussion in Topeka. If passed, it would increase the current 24-cent tax on cigarettes by 65 cents per pack beginning in June. Gov. Bill Graves announced his support of the bill as a positive way to raise money for state programs and discourage smoking.
The War on Drugs is the governmental equivalent of Yoko Ono. They're both worthless and un-American, yet they've been around for years, and they still get money for new ventures and television appearances. For now, the War on terrorism has eclipsed the War on Drugs.
COMMENTARY
The new Bush strategy is to let the War on Drugs (Yoko) ride the coattails of the War on Terrorism (The Beatles) in the hope that the latter's popularity and success will somehow spill over into the former's ineffectiveness and unpopularity.
The righteousness that it takes to further increase this tax seems to be lost on Graves. In fact, he assures us that aside from raising revenues that The Kansas CityStar reports to be $111 million, the sin tax also "sends a clear signal about how we feel about cigarette smoking."
So as long as the Drug War has not been put out of its misery, Graves is expanding the war to include legal pleasures — namely, smoking.
Bradley E. Freedman opinion@kansan.com
Q: Who is "we"?
The government's duties have expanded from the protection of its citizens from any enemy, foreign and domestic. Now, the government seeks to protect us from ourselves through taxation. Why, for instance, increase the sales tax (4.9 percent) when you can simply tax smokers? If the bill passes, the total tax would be 89 cents per cigarette pack.
A: Apparently "we" includes only the governor and his 6-year old daughter, Katie.
The manipulative hope of the bill's proponents is that whenever a pack is sold, it'll give money to the state, and whenever a pack goes unsold because of its high cost, someone will be saved from the
The Legislature has no business passing judgment on smokers, sending signals about how it feels about smoking, nor using smokers as their dirty little money makers.
harms of smoking.
Perhaps I can offer some advice to smokers on what action to take.
Q: If Bill 450 passes, should I steal cigarettes?
Q: Won't that keep money from going to the state?
Q: Would it be better if I went to Missouri to buy cigarettes?
A: Yes.
Q: Can I also write to my local representative and ask him not to support the tax?
A: Yeah. I guess so.
As generous as that proposition is, I, for one, do not want the government to save me from myself. If Kansas needs money, tax us all. We'll pay. Smokers and non-smokers alike want to help education funding in Kansas. But to single out one group to ease the financial burden of nonsmokers is disgusting.
This sin tax should outrage all citizens, regardless of whether they smoke. Graves means to put financial chains on anyone who engages in the legal activity of buying cigarettes. As kind as that is, we'd all be much better off without that sort of kindness.
Freedman is an Overland Park graduate student in history.
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What do people in long distance relationships do for Valentine's Day? Sand a gift?
Uh, I think I'll just break up with her.
and gain independence. On our own, we set our own schedules, pay our own bills and don't have to ask permission for people to spend the night.
I just cannot believe that the KU Info people refuse to look up a phone number for me, and I do not have a phone book. How crazy that is.
I'd just like to let the Free for All know that according to the sports page, we went to Final Four in the '96-97 season. That's not true. I wish we had, but we lost in the Sweet 16, sorry. Get your facts right next time.
Hey I'm calling in response to the article written about Piper High School and plagiarism. It's obvious that Audrey Snyder is not from Piper, and if she was, she would know that the parents run the school district and not the school board.
Our Econ 104 TA looks like Peter Gibbons from Office Space. Peter, it would be so cool if one you would stand up one day, take that microphone and say, "Um yeah, about those TPS reports." That would be the coolest.
Stay in school Drew.
I personally appreciate the graduate teachers who went to Kansas City to show the alumni association and the administrators that graduate teachers deserve fair pay. Undergraduate education should be a priority at KU.
Claire, why won't you walk a bit slower, so that I can finally talk to you and get to know you?
图
Downloading is not a crime.
There are easier ways to stalk the basketball team than putting your quote in the Free for All.
The average woman would rather have beauty than brains, because the average man can see better than he can think.
Britney Spears is the worst actress ever. I can't believe it.
Abortion is like heroin, it might be wrong,
but it's a lot safer if it's legal.
Is it hurt me or does the guy on the subway in the Fabulous "Holla Back" video look just like Drew Gooden?
I minlove with the world, just had to tell somebody.
I would just like to say that I'm only 12, and I got published, so to all those college students who don't get published, ha, ha.
So I'm riding my bike across 20th Street the other day, and this guy in a red car pulled up, rolled down his window and says, "Hey bike lady." So I look down at him and say, "Hey car guy."
We're watching the weather channel, and the state of Kansas is being taken over by a giant Jayhawk.
My literature class has rekindled my love of books. I've read everything from *Hop* on Popto Death be Not Proud. It's just so tragic how they hopped on Pop.
图
Okay, you've had plenty of time. Bring it back, my football stool, or I'm going to come and get it.
I just wanted to thank Brad for the ride home from the Cadillac Ranch.
and gain independence. On our own, we set our own schedules, pay our own bills and don't have to ask permission for people to spend the night.
PERSPECTIVE
Housing ordinance violates right to privacy
Young adults come to college to get out of their parents' house and gain independence.
Finding a place to live as a college student can be hard enough. Money is tight and compatible roommates are hard to find. Throw in one big city ordinance that states that no more than three unrelated people can live in a house zoned for single families and things gets trickler.
That is, unless you rent a house in a single-family zone from a Lawrence landlord who has to register his or her property with the city.
The city mandates surprise visits from inspectors to see if renters are violating zoning rules.The city has taken it upon itself to act as a parent to college students by intruding in their personal lives.
Inspections by Lawrence zoning enforcement officers, such as the one Joe Lonnberg, Dodge City senior, experienced two weeks ago, are a clear violation of privacy.
Passing a law stating how many unrelated people can live in one place and where is one thing. Counting cars and inquiring how many times one's significant other stays the night is another. What is this, an F.B.I. stakeout?
COMMENTARY
There are certain justifiable rights of privacy. As adults, we are allowed to have control over our own definition of morality. Lee Smith, Lawrence zoning enforcement officer, claims that the city is not there to legislate morality, so it shouldn't matter how often renters let their girlfriends or boyfriends stay the night. Citizens should not have to worry about city inspectors
Tabatha Beerbower opinion@kansan.com
busting in when they have guests.
The ordinance — met with opposition by landlords and renters — should not have been passed in the first place.
City officials need to revise the zoning ordinance and the way it is enforced. Violating privacy rights of community members will not be tolerated. If the city is to keep and justify its unnecessary zoning law, it must find another way to ensure that residents are not violating the ordinance.
The City of Lawrence encourages KU graduates to find jobs in its local economy and spend their money in its local stores.
It is a basic right to live on one's own, enter into a lease and abide by a landlord's rules without having to worry about being watched.
We should not have to worry that our normal behavior will be questioned and persecuted. Self-respecting landlords and self-reliant renters will not stand for such as obstruction of privacy and freedom. The whole idea just seems un-American.
Beerbawer is a Port Scott junior in journalism.
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