4A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
THURSDAY, FEB. 7, 2002
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EDITORIAL Reducing hours at Robinson hurts students
KU officials should not cut back gym availability because of budget woes
Workouts are hard enough to squeeze into a college day.
Next fall, this task could become even more of a trial. Because of the budget shortfall, the University of Kansas could have to make cuts in its programs. The University is considering saving money by cutting Robinson Center's hours of availability.
KU already has one of the poorest recreational facilities in the Big 12. Kansas State's recreation center, for example, is open from 6 a.m. to midnight during the week, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays and noon to midnight on Sundays. As students at a major university, we should have access to state-of-the-art facilities most of the day, seven days a week.
Robinson is already notorious for its dungeon-like weight room, smelly equipment, and lack of workout entertainment.
Gym availability is also a major concern for students. This being said, Robinson is already too badly bruised to take another hit from the budget.
The KU Athletics Corporation makes sure its athletes have the top-of-the-line equipment in Anschutz Sports Pavilion. University officials need to have the same standards for their students.
Some students suck it up and go to Robinson, which is open from 5:30 p.m. to midnight during the week and 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends. But those hours change regularly.
These restricting hours lead to overcrowding and long lines of KU faculty and students waiting to use equipment. Other students opted to empty their bank accounts to join local off-campus gums.
KU offered some alternatives. The University opened up the Burge Union Fitness Center, which offers longer hours of availability and new equipment, but not much of it.
The Burge center is also too crowded. Many students wait up to an hour to use a machine.
It will be about a year and a half before KU will see a new workout facility. By cutting back hours, KU would be neglecting the physical-fitness needs of its students and staff.
We understand that spending will have to be nipped and tucked because there just isn't enough cash for everything the University of Kansas wants and needs. But Robinson is already a woefully inadequate facility for the community it serves and should not be cut back any more.
In a state where weather is never predictable, we can't depend on outdoor conditions to stay fit. KU officials must recognize the necessity for indoor workout facilities and look to other places to make their inevitable budget cuts
Jessica Smith for the editorial board.
Pass:
'Kansan'report card
■ Library fine reductions. Once every four years, you can reduce your hefty fines down to $2 per overdue item. Our pocketbooks thank you for your mercy, dear library.
Facilities Operations. OK, so they missed a few icy spots on campus. But we appreciate the hardworking maintenance folks who made it possible for us to walk, instead of skate to class.
Langston Hughes Symposium. Alice Walker, Danny Glover and a host of other great speakers and events. Hats off to everyone who helped pull this sparkling event together to honor a great hometown poet.
Fail:
Office of the Bursar hours. The University accounting offices in Carruth O'Leary close at 4 p.m. Why is it hard for that building to keep normal hours like everywhere else?
K-State basketball fans. Whine, cry, whine, whine, cry. Get over it. It's not fair to blame the Jayhawks just because they keep beating the Wildcats. Don't take your frustrations out on us or Kansas players, please.
- Copying cutbacks. You know the budget situation is getting bad when some departments won't let their professors photocopy syllabi or class handouts. Maybe that's why Mailboxes Etc. wasn't making any money in the Union.
PERSPECTIVE
Watch your mouth in class; people might actually listen
I have a confession. I am that girl — the one who actually talks in class. I try not to be that person we all know who is compelled to raise her hand with an irrelevant or silly question.
Annoying class talkers are people who feel compelled to share intimate matters of their life with everyone at 110 Budig Hall, regardless of their comments' lack of insight.
Answer these questions to find out if you, or someone you know, exhibit the warning signs of irresponsible class contribution.
COMMENTARY
1. Would your six-year-old sibling listen to your comment and reply smartly with "Duh?"
If the answer to this question is yes, then you might be an annoying class talker. (I sense my "You Might be an annoying class talker if" homage to Jeff Foxworthy could become, well, annoying.)
At this point, it is not the overlychatty person's fault if he or she answers a question (why yes. Dr. so-and-so, the sky is blue). However, should the responder add comments to the effect of "and the grass is usually green, and clouds are white ...," then this person
Granted, sometimes professors ask clumb questions and refuse to move on until their utterly obvious queries find answers.
Ambriel Renn-Scanlan
opinion@kansan.com
might be an annoying class talker. Essentially, assessing the "duh" value of your comment is key to avoiding being a capital annoyance in your class.
2. Is your comment so obviously off-topic that one but you cares?
I'm very glad that you sense kinship with a professor while discussing the Powerpuff girls or the cinematic opus Dude. Where's My Car?
But if you want to ask the question, "Well, where was his car?" to your genetics professor during lecture, then you should reconsider when and where you engage in this type of inquiry.
I'm not saying non-genetics-oriented chit chat doesn't add to class enjoyment, but please exercise caution and try to focus on intelligence and humor.
If your professor's reply to your totally off-subject remark/question proved more interesting than the subject matter she/he would have covered, then congrats. Extra points to you if your distraction lessens the amount of material covered on the upcoming test.
3. Does your comment or question succeed in being either funny or serving some greater purpose?
Basically, if you're funny it's OK, and if you aren't, then don't subject your classmates to pointless blather. I realize that some people think themselves funny and actually aren't (see the author's name), but even baby steps are important.
3. Do you find yourself making dumb comments or asking silly questions with any sort of frequency?
We are all entitled to an occasional random or stupid outburst. Before I cast stones, I should polish my glass house and admit that I have belted out a stupid comment, or seven.
What I think is important is that while we cut people some proverbial slack, slack should not be given out if the person is perpetually annoying.
I don't want to discourage people from speaking in class (as frankly, I get tired of listening to myself yammer on). All I'm saying is that if you talk, please talk responsibly.
Renn-Scanlan is a Topeka senior in English and history.
864-0500 free for
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For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
I was right. Since Sept. 11, the New England Patriots were a team of destiny.
During the Texas Tech game, we should all reach over and choke our neighbor as a sign of respect for Bobby Knight.
You know what's really bad? Genital mutilation.
I would just like to say to all the people ridiculing me about the Rams losing, at least my team got to the Super Bowl. Where did the Chiefs go? Nowhere. Thanks.
I just want to say that if there is anyone else out there who doesn't know what they want to do with their life, you're not alone, because I really don't. I have no idea what I want to do with my life.
1.
So, yesterday, I was greatly confused trying to figure out who was out to make a bigger buck and a quicker buck, the parking department or the Athletics Department.
Check this. People who don't believe in evolution haven't fully evolved.
I'm glad to see that David Harrison doesn't hate every KU player as evidenced on the cover, on the front page of the sports section on Monday. it looks like he is getting to likeirk Hirinch very much.
I know I'm not the only person on campus who thinks Drew Gooden would look a lot cooler with a giant afro.
B
I want to address the commercial during the Super Bowl telling America that if you do drugs you are supporting terrorism. I just want to let the student body know that it's still OK to still smoke the chronic, because it's usually home-grown, and that's stimulating the economy of America, so that's a good thing.
图
I figured out why KU has such a good basketball team. Boschee's big hair acts like a sixth man.
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You think you know, but I've got gonorrhea.
Thanks to the employees of Old Navy that ignored me the other night when Jeff Boschee was there.
Anyone else notice that Kirk hasn't missed a free throw with the name Harry Potter? I say bring it on.
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--if K-State and Missouri join forces, they could run the trailer park.
I don't care what all these air-headed little girls say around campus. Zerbe is the antithesis of what Kansas basketball is.
Hey girls, want to know how you can see the men's basketball team all hot and sweaty every day? Become an athlete and get a life.
I don't understand why Robinson recreation center is so structurally deficient that it can't handle a little snow without getting leaks.
Nor do I understand why it takes so long for them to fix them. I just wanted to play some basketball, for crying out loud.
I have two words for K-State's crowd:
anger management.
While at the KU-K-State game in Manhattan, my friends and I decided that they call Kirk Hinrich "Harry Potter" because he makes magic, baby.
When is there going to be a Free for All dedicated to noon?
BSU conference boosts students' confidence
Imagine 1,300 African-American young people gathered together for a weekend. They haven't traveled to see a hip-hop show. They're not competing in a major athletic tournament. And they're all in the middle of Missouri.
PERSPECTIVE
These young people are getting their college educations. They all attend predominately white universities across the country. They convened for the 25th annual Big 12 Conference on Black Student Government at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
I attended this conference along with other members of the University of Kansas' Black Student Union last
weekend. The conference exemplified an image of African Americans seldom seen in the mainstream media — minority students taking leadership positions on their campuses.
The exciting thing was networking with African-American students from all over the country. Whether students attend schools with only 50 African-American students or 5,000 we all shared the same situations on majority campuses.
The most dynamic speaker of the conference was journalist Ed Gordon, who many of us grew up watching on Black Entertainment Television. He recalled his visit to the White House to interview the president and how he was
COMMENTARY
Alexzia Plummer opinion@kansan.com
tempted to call a former interviewer who told Gordon he never would make it in the news business. Gordon's main message was to be prepared, because you never know when an opportunity will arise.
All attendees showed their school pride. Although we attend schools where we were in the minority, we claimed the schools as our own.
The conference represented leaders of today and tomorrow. As African-American leadership moves into the 21st century, the need for college-educated leaders is huge. Figures like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton can only lead for so long.
Every participant walked away with a positive experience. Hopefully that energy can sustain itself and impact change on this campus.
Plummer is a Bellevue, Neb., sophomore in pre-journalism.