4A - THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
TUESDAY, MAY 6, 2003
TALKTOUS
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Matt Fisher
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STINSON'S VIEW
Jon Ralston for the editorial board
Hashinger will be the most sensitive of all Daisy Hill renovations because it is the most diverse and expressive of the residence halls. Hashinger will remain open in its current state next year but will close in either of the following two years for renovation. It is important that during the renovations, Hash doesn't lose its unique flavor and transform into the sterile hotel-esque feel of Lewis and Templin.
Hashinger remodeling must reflect hall's vibe
The practice, art and dark rooms should be kept open during renovations so the residents who would normally use them still have a chance to, and hopefully the theater can still be used as well. When Hashinger is finished, the idea of a newly renovated residence hall might attract students outside of the creative arts population and take away from what makes Hash so special. All past and future residents need to appreciate the hall's atmosphere and be vigilant so it isn't lost.
With the inclusion of $12.5 million of bonds in Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' recent budget proposal, Hashinger Hall is next on the Department of Student Housing's list for renovations. The department will take into consideration students' opinions about the renovations. Now is the time to tell administrators that keeping its unique atmosphere must be a top priority.
That's not saying that Hashinger couldn't use a good make-over (i.e., pipes in the rooms). Compared to the newly redone Templin, Lewis and Ellsworth halls, Hashinger is dilapidated. But what makes Hash special lies not within its appearance. The basement has rooms for painting, playing instruments, developing photos and anything else the creative heart could desire. In a corner of the main lobby are double doors leading to a theater that hosts bands and open mic nights and shows that the residents produce, such as the recent Rocky Horror Show. A dance room takes the place of the fourth floor lobby. In addition to the Academic Resource Center on the second floor, the seventh floor has an Art and Design Resource Center for assembling projects.
Zach Stinson for The University Daily Kansan
There's no such thing as a typical "Hashie," or Hashinger Hall resident. Hashinger is full of writers, film majors, artists, dancers, actors and everything else related to creativity. Appropriately, Hashinger is the only residence hall that allows its residents decorate and paint their halls to their likings. The residents are friendly; they keep their doors propped open. It is easy to assume that they're hippies or stoners, but that's a stereotype for those who haven't seen the workings of the place.
PERSPECTIVE
Ted Frederickson
opinion@kansan.com
No sex please, we're Kansans
Sen. Susan Wagle's appearance on The O'Reilly Factor has inspired me to enlist in her War on Smut.
GUEST COMMENTARY
"Senator." I told her this week in a phone call, "you have revolutionized the use of student interns. I was so impressed with the dirt your student dug up on Dennis Dailey and his human sexuality class that I sent my own student spies out into the University looking to help you stamp out sex as we know it. Whooooeeey! They found stuff on this campus that would make those nude statues blush that John Ashcroft covered up in the Justice Department. Better get out your pen, because you've got more bills to write." After warning her that if my report was a movie, it would be rated NC-17 (or even UNrated), I gave her my shocking report on what my students found.
Count One; Students in the anatomy classes are cutting up cadavers — NUDE cadavers. No clothing, no panties, no pasties — nothing. They even dissect the, ahem, private parts. Now if cutting up the sex organs of dead bodies isn't sadomasochistic pornography, Elvis is still alive and performing in porn flicks.
Count Three: According to my confidential student sources, the campus bus service that carries students to classes has a large sign on its buses that says: "The Vagina Monologues; Spread the Word." I'm not exactly sure what that ad refers to, but it conjures up obscene images of female body parts "mouthing" the words like puppets. Anyway, can they say "vagina" on a KU bus? Can you introduce a bill to put the brakes on this smut?
yourself for the worst part. Their little bodies were NAKED — no diapers, no blankies, nothing covering their teeny genitals. If that isn't child pornography, what is?
Count Two: My students checked out the anti-abortion display in front of the journalism building last week. It was sponsored by a Wichita group that, like you, wants to jail women who have abortions and doctors who perform them. The displays had large, bloody photographs of aborted fetuses — the babies these women and their doctors murdered, according to the posters. Brace
Count Four: The University has already named one building and is about to dedicate another using the name of a man who has gone on national television to urge men to use a product that gives them long-term erections! I'm talking, of course, about former Sen. Bob Dole who has appeared in ads for Viagra. What's next, renaming our Campanile bell tower the Dole Ding-Donger? What do
those ads say to impressionable KU men? Will they turn them into hardened sex fiends?
Count Five: Believe it or not, KU's Watkins Health Center has pamphlets in its lobby — RIGHT THERE IN THE OPEN, where 18- and 19-year-olds can READ THEM — that describe sexually transmitted diseases such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes and AIDS. As for how they describe the symptoms, DO NOT ASK. Yuuuuuuccckkkkk! The rumor here is that the pharmacy even sells CONDOMS so that students who engage in intercourse won't get pregnant or contract STDs. Don't taxpayers realize the implications of providing such products and information to their 25,000 sons and daughters between the ages of 18 and 25 who attend KU? Maybe you can cut funding to Watkins (or at least get its name changed to Sodom and Gomorrah Clinic.)
That's the naked truth from the University of Kansas, Sen. Wagle. I'm hoping you can share my findings with your old friend, Fox's Bill O'Reilly, so he can "expose" these shameful activities. When it comes to giving audiences the real skinny on skin, nobody does it better than Rupert Murdoch, the Fox network, Bill O'Reilly — and you.
Frederickson is a professor of journalism. He teaches First Amendment and Society.
PERSPECTIVE
Controversy on sex class: censorship by definition
I am writing this in rebuff to a recent column, which claimed that the attacks on Dailey are somehow about "accountability," and not censorship ("Attack on Dailey not in name of censorship," Kansan, May 1). For the moment, I am ignoring the fact that, if Sen. Susan Wagle believed that Dennis Dailey was somehow "misusing" public funds, she would have the authority to launch an investigation without the need for legislation. Instead, I will simply point out the fact that Dailey is not being paid by the state merely to express his opinions.
If that were true, the columnist in Thursday's issue may have had a point. But he is not being paid to tell the world about his ideas regarding sexuality. He is not on some government grant to support starving professors with unpopular opinions. Kansas is paying him to teach students the truth. There are only two ways that Professor Dailey could fail to do his job. The first way is if he neglected to give his opinions (by not teaching his students); the second is if the ideas he presented were untrue. Not even Wagle has had the gall to make either of these two claims.
Because this issue is not about Dailey's job performance, it can only be about censorship. Dailey has a right to be paid for teaching his ideas because
the students at this University have a right to be taught the truth. As long as Dailey's ideas about sexuality are correct (as his colleagues at the University seem to believe), and as long as he presents these ideas in an acceptable manner (as the vast majority of his students seem to believe), then Dailey is doing his job and the state is obligated to compensate him. If state lawmakers disagree with Dailey's ideas, they should change the hiring criteria for professor from "learned expert" to "government endorsed yes-man." I am sure that such a policy would go a long way toward improving public education.
Raymond Hodgson, Topeka senior in computer science
Wagle seeks to delineate differences of human, animal
I would like to begin by pointing out something self-evident: As humans, we are persons, not beasts. Based on what appears to be overwhelming vocal support of Dennis Dailey's sex class, perhaps I am wrong. Regardless of what one thinks of Sen, Susan Wagle, her concern with this issue revolves around protecting this basic distinction that public opinion cannot change.
As persons, we recognize that we are never to be treated as objects or to be used as instrumental ends for another's fancy. This is true even in the sexual
sphere. Only objects can be used, not persons. Sexual passions too easily overcome this sound judgment and even blind one to the damage being done to one's dignity.
We have innate protections against mistreatment of personhood, "modesty" or "decency" and these are easily detected in the innocence of our children. Yet, they're fragile and are effortlessly destroyed through imagery, abuse, and language. Once destroyed, our view of personhood and dignity is harmed, as is the distinction between beast and person. It is no surprise that when pornography enters a culture, violent crimes, especially against women and children, dramatically increase.
The issue with Dailey's class is not about academic freedom, sexual prudery, or right-wing Christian takeovers. It is about whether we are to be treated as persons or animals, whether modesty and innocence are worth fighting for, whether unchecked passions build up or destroy the person. By speaking to our base and lower selves, Dailey tells us what we want to hear, and thus his popularity is no surprise. Does not our human nobility demand a higher response? Isn't this something worth sacrificing for? Wagle thinks so, and I appreciate her courage.
Troy Hinkel, Lawrence graduate student
Free for All
Call 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com
Since when did ASU become a cult? I quit.
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Ye, I'm like herpes. You may lose track of me, but I'm always there.
Does anyone else think it's kind of annoying that they put the tornado warning sign in front of the Dallas-Portland game score?
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I would just like to thank the guys from Templin 5 who helped me carry my couch down the stairs. It proves that there are nice guys in Templin after all.
Isn't it ironic how some people use their constitutional right to abortion to take away someone else's right to life?
You had me at free blanket.
My spoon is too big. I am a banana.
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It is Cinco de Mayo, my name is Paco, I ate a taco, it had refried beans, and now I go "toot." I think I had too much tequila. Adios, amigos.
DID
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What's the point of having coffee machines in the dorms if they're always broken?
In case you were wondering, there is an answer to the Vagina Monologues. Go to www.puppyofthepenis.com for further information.
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Quick haiku time:
What I would not do
For a Klondike bar right now
Involves anal lube.
In general, hip hop is rarely misogynistic. It would be nice if we could keep the sexist and possibly borderline racist comments out of the Free For All. Thanks.
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Yeah, my question is whether or not the anarchists who protested for workers' rights on Saturday have actually even held down a job in their lives.
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