4A • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
THURSDAY,JAN.24,2002
TALKTOUS
Leita Walker editor 864-4854 or lwalker@kansan.com
Jay Krall Kyle Ramsey managing editors 864-4854 or krall@kansan.com and kramsen@kansan.com
Clay McCuistion readers' representative 864-4810 or cmccupation@kansan.com
Kursten Phelps Brooke Hesler opinion editors 864-4810 or kphelesl@kansan.com and bhesler@kansan.com
Amber Agee business manager 864-4014 or addirector@kansan.com
Kate Mariani retail sales manager 864-4462 or retailsales@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson general manager and news adviser 864-7667 or mgibson@kansan.com
Matt Fisher sales and marketing adviser 864-7666 or mfisher@kansan.com
Sorry guys. No alcohol is allowed in the dormitories. Wed rather have you out drinking and driving around.
MATT GERTKEN/KANSAN
EDITORIAL
Students need library, even on MLK Dav
Inaccessible facilities contradict holiday's stress on education
After only a few days of school, students are already beginning to feel the weight of homework piling up for the coming weeks.
However, students who were going to take advantage of the library on Monday to tackle those early assignments arrived at Watson and Anschutz libraries only to find they were closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Next year, University libraries should remain open with shortened hours during the holiday. This would give staff and students an opportunity to attend events like the one held early in the afternoon at the Lied Center this year.
This plan would still allow time for study and research at the library later in the evening.
As long as teachers choose to give homework for the holiday weekend, students should still have resources like the library open so they can complete their assignments.
Sarah Couch, head of the Watson Library Access Services, said the libraries were closed with the idea that people would have time to take part in the celebrations honoring King.
The library should also be open for students and the public looking to read books and other items of information about King. Students should have the opportunity to learn more about the man honored with a federal holiday.
This particular day has been considered an academic holiday at the University of Kansas since January 1988.
city of Kansas since January Bill Myers, external relations officer, said campus libraries had closed in accordance with the school since 1997 or possibly even earlier. Watson library was open Sunday until midnight and reopened Tuesday morning at 8 a.m.
Couch said library hours and holidays were posted on the front door of Watson Library. The Web site and the library handout also included this information.
But library officials should have gone a step further. Signs should have been posted around campus at locations where more students would likely see them. They should have been posted in the Kansas Union Bookstore, where students were purchasing books.
Despite the postings, some students were still surprised Monday when they found the libraries were closed. This left many frustrated and with few options when trying to finish homework.
Other holidays the campus libraries are closed include Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas. More students would assume libraries would be closed on these days rather than MLK Day, and that's precisely why the closings should have been better publicized.
This would have given students ample notice and time to make other arrangements when it came to completing their weekend assignments.
Amy Potter for the editorial board.
'Kansan'report card
Pass:
Extended Add/Drop times. Now, you might not have to skip class to wait in line at Strong Hall to add a course. Brilliant. If only we could Add/Drop online.
Justin Mills. The student body president spoke up for students at last week's Board of Regents meeting about tuition increases. Memo to the man: Students do care, and can be vocal. Thanks Justin.
Possible improvements to 15th and Engel streets. At last, after 29 accidents between 1988 to 2000, someone realized the intersection by Daisy Hill is a mess. Let's hope the City Commission acts before more people are hurt.
Fail:
Reggie Duncan. The Kansas running back gets weekend time in the slammer for violating his diversion agreement. Of course, after the nightmarish 2001 season, maybe 48 hours in jail will seem like heaven.
■ Reading the syllabus verbatim. Yes, students need to understand everything in a class syllabus. But we're not as dumb as we look, and teachers don't have to read the whole thing out loud.
PERSPECTIVE
All but 30 KU students. People are complaining like crazy about tuition increases, but only about 30 students showed up to talk to Provost David Shulenburger. If you don't show up, you can take your complaints all the way to KU's bank.
University asks for feedback but does little to fix parking
For their safety, residents at Gertrude Sellards Pearson-Corbin Hall can't let male guests enter their building during certain hours.
Yet on any night, a lone female resident can be found parking her car several blocks away and walking alone back to the hall because of a lack of sufficient parking at the only all-female resident halls on campus.
At GSP-Corbin permits are oversold by 64 percent — and that doesn't include residents who don't even bother to buy a permit and instead find a side-street where they can park.
As a former live-in staff member and now resident of GSP-Corbin, I understand the problems and concerns of the hall's parking situation. Sure, residents can do little things. They're instructed to walk in groups from their parked cars on dark, isolated streets or to ask the security monitor to walk with them
Every year, the department sells more passes than there are spaces available. Besides being annoyed at circling the parking lots of GSP-Corbin, most residents and their parents are concerned about safety.
So hope about the improvement of parking conditions on campus soared with last semester's open parking forum to hear student concerns. Those hopes were shot down with the blunt statement from Don Kearns, director of parking services, that adding parking spaces to GSP-Corbin was impossible.
COMMENTARY
Tabatha Beerbower opinion@kansan.com
between 11 p.m. and 7 am
Lot 94 of Memorial stadium is GSP-Corbin's overflow lot. After parking there, residents then walk up a steep hill on a poorly lit street, taking at least 15 minutes to get home. Even if you got home at a decent time every night, someone would still be at a disadvantage for a parking space.
KU publicizes itself as a safe campus, as a University that is there for the students. So why do most residents at GSP-Corbin feel they are facing the parking problem alone? Not only did Kearns say improving conditions around the building would be impossible, he also said the present parking conditions were fair at best.
Kearns admitted there were a lot of maintenance problems at the parking garage located west of GSP-Corbin. Why has that little tidbit of information not been placed in new student orientation pamphlets? I'm sure parents who bring their daughters for a tour of GSP-Corbin
would like to know there aren't enough safe parking spaces to go around.
They'd probably like to know how many cars are damaged because of insufficient space and maintenance, and that the director of parking services fears one of the building's parking garages might slide down the hill.
Kearns said the open forum was a step in the right direction, and I agree. But Kearns also said that every year GSP-Corbin residents have faced this problem. How many more years will it take before something is done about it? Will something drastic have to happen to a resident before attention is paid to the safety of students at GSP-Corbin?
It's good that an open forum was initiated to hear students' concerns. But what's the point of bringing issues to light if the administration has the attitude that improving conditions of any kind for the students — who pay a significant amount of money to attend the University — is impossible?
KU has shown it has a caring side by listening to students. Now it's time to follow through. It's time for the administration to make KU what it claims it to be—a safe and nurturing environment for students of all backgrounds.
I believe the University is here for the students. The University should show the student body it believes this, too.
Beerbower is a junior in journalism from Fort Scott.
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Welcome to Hell Week 2002
To those who want to trash talk Duke, look who's No.1 and get a life, guys
Paying collegiate athletes is the absolute worst idea I've ever heard. If an athlete wants to get paid, he can go pro. The money that the basketball and football teams take in goes straight back to those teams and does not benefit the school in any way.
Uh, hi, I found somebody's car keys,
Honda car keys, down by Potter Lake on
Tuesday morning. They're at the Public
Safety office if you lost them. Oh yeah,
Otis Redding is the greatest, except for
maybe Al Green. Peace.
This is the Business 240 TA. We have a pool going to as to which TA you would like to marry, so if you could please give us an answer so we can settle our bet, we would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
If KU's favorite candy is Draw Gooden Plenty, then its favorite drinks are Jeff Anheiser-Boschee, Kirk Hinrichen and my personal favorite, Chris sipping on some Sizerbe.
Yeah, I called KU Info so many times, and when I finally got through I forgot my question.
a KU student, and I love Duke basketball. Mike Duneley is so awesome.
What Lawrence really needs is a designated street for prostitutes. Thank you
Yeah, bartender, get me a Big Mac combo and a jheri Curl kit. Thanks.
What is it about college that drives people to drink so much?
Students, do you know that horses and rats can't eat? Think about it.
Meow, meow, meow, meow.
Sing, whoa, got to sing
reah, about that Business 240 TA you wanted to marry, she's my girlfriend, so back off.
profound quote inspire some. Others need only to see Anna Kournikova for motivation.
I think it's ironic that even though the KU football team is not outstanding, students still stand up in support of their team, but when the entire football team and the recruits come to support the basketball team, they sit on their butts in the best seats in the house.
Are any other people that camp out for basketball seats pissed that the frickin' football team sits on their ass, actually wasting the front two rows in the student section?
Hi, I just wanted to tell the girl who said in the Free for All that she saw the Road Rules guy and it made her day, I made out with him last year, and it's not anything special.
I just want a cute boy that I can call, and he can come over.
I just called my ex-boyfriend, and there was a girl on his answering machine. I'm going to go get drunk now.
Yeah, I would just like to say that the south side of the student section looks really good with everyone standing up except the first two rows. OK, bye.
Yeah, this is a message for all the slackers who sit down in the student section on the south side, can't you guys please stand up? I mean, it's a basketball game.
PERSPECTIVE
Cherish every poster sale as if it were the last
In today's hustle-bustle, high-tech, leave-them-wanting-more society, everyone needs a little inspiration to get through the day.
For many college students, inspiration comes from a poster on the bedroom wall. When it comes to motivation, a picture of a celebrity hanging on your wall often does the trick. John Lennon might inspire you to write a song and John Belushi might inspire you to have another drink.
Sports figures, musicians or luscious photography with a
At the start of each semester, Student Union Activities sponsors a poster sale on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union. You can find almost any kind of poster that you could possibly want there - movies, musicians, artwork, photography, sports figures, sex symbols and political figures.
They even sell movie stills that don't have any writing on them, so you can put up the still right next to pictures of all your friends and tell
your roommate you're friends with Chuck Norris.
The sale is a great place to find posters of your idols. If you can't find the one you're looking for there, you most likely aren't going to find it anywhere.
Even if your walls are already full, the poster sale is a great way to waste time between classes. It's always amusing to see how many different shots of Dave Matthews or Al Pacino from Scarface there are. It's as if someone took the same picture from 48 different angles and decided it would be a good idea
Marc Ingber
opinion@kansan.com
to make each one into a poster.
The one downside to the poster sale is it only runs for two weeks. It's a sad day when it gets taken down. I must admit I get a little misty-eyed when I venture into the Union mid-
semester and see a vacant room where the great poster sale once stood, much like someone discovering the playground of his or her youth is now a giant parking lot.
So I have some words of advice to all the students —live each poster sale to the fullest, as if it's going to be your last. Time may separate you from great posters, but the memories will be there forever.
Ingber is a sophomore in pre-journalism from Golden Valley, Minn.
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