HARSHEE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2003
Free for Ai
By Nicole Renke
prochaska.com
Call 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish Kansas editors reserve the right to critic comments. Standerous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com
面
Yoah, I'd just like to give a message to all the sunbathers out on the Oliver Hall lawn. It's overcast. Go home.
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I just wanted to say that I parked behind Carnahr '0' Leary for five minutes because I had to go inside and pay 77 cents so I could enroll, and parking officer 604, who gave me a ticket in that time, I really hate you.
I've been online enrolling for just over three hours. The longest time I've spent in line at Strong Hall was 15 minutes. This system sucks.
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You know, Amanda Soars, Kansas
Dis basketball existed before Roy
self Williams, even if it didn't for you.
the Kansas basketball will be good
You again. You're not a woman without a
team. Team. You have a team. The world
the wheel not ended, and Roy's a
dark couchbag.
of spotted shark
Dude's school is losing everything that Dudus was ever good about it. Day on the Hill because he injured Roy has left KU is "Tortunately the larnest school in the Big work2 Bo Duke."
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Administrates the person with all the Buffy Napier software on their computer. I have 132 N Stormboard of Stargate SG-1, the entire troop to date of The Dead Zone, the 65
episodes of Babylon 5, 45 episodes of Earth; Final Conflict, and a bunch of miscellaneous movies, all totaling 83 digibits. So you can eat my nerdy dust. Muck the FPAA.
。
Why is it that all the instruments seeking intelligent life in the universe are pointed away from Earth?
Happy 21st birthday to the honorable senator Andrea Hughey. Don't do anything that would embarrass your constituents tonight.
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So does KUnited still love Roy now?
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Hello, rain. Goodbye ugly sidewalk graffiti.
You can say what you want about Day on the Hill, but don't you dare underestimate all the effort that SUA puts into programming on campus. We do so much that it's not fair at all to slander us like that.
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Lance Monoley for The University Daily Kansan
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TALKTOUS
Kristi Henderson
Jenna Goepfert and Justin Henning
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PERSPECTIVE
eric Kelting
business manager
864-4358 or adauls@kansan.com
Apparently, genetic material from human, pig and bird coronaviruses have combined to form this new organism. How the new virus actually causes disease is not fully understood. SARS, like the terrifying 1918 flu, is airborne and strikesyoung, healthy individuals as well as the elderly and infirmed. Like the
864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com
Amanda Sears and Lindsay Hanson
Sarah Jantz
Matt Fisher
Amazingly, the cause of SARS may already be known. Researchers believe the SARS virus is a new coronavirus, belonging to the same family that also causes the common cold.
Rachel Robson
opinton@kansan.com
retail sales manager
864-4358 or adaleer@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson
sales and marketing adviser
864-7564 or mtfalter@kansan.com
general manager and new administrator
804-7667 or mgibson@kansan.com
New disease warrants share of media attention
disease. The misnamed "Spanish Flu" killed about 3 percent of the world's billion people. The cause of this pandemic was identified by researchers just last year. It is still unclear why that flu virus was so devastating.
COMMENTARY
CLARIFICATION
An editorial in yesterday's paper needs clarification. The editorial, "Elections outcome shows need for change," stated KUnited coalition members were soliciting in GSP Hall. The members followed Student Senate code while in the residence hall. They were cleared of any election violation last night.
War and pestilence have always been the major stories in human history. Innocent people are dying. Panic is spreading. Economies are collapsing. And I'm not talking about the war in Iraq.
The spread of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, threatens to be the most important happening of our lifetimes.
The disease, which first infected humans late last year in southern China, has spread to thousands of people around the world. More than 150 people have died. There is no treatment for SARS, nor will one be available soon. SARS has a catastrophic potential belied by the scant attention paid to it by our war-obsessed American media.
That's understandable. We've made the same mistake before.
1918 flu, SARS' death rate is thought to be at least 3 percent. Given the current world population, that could mean 200 million deaths, if SARS spreads to the same extent the 1918 flu did. This is why much of the world is more focused on SARS than on our military adventure in the Middle East.
In March 1918, American newspapers were filled with coverage of the Great War. But a far more significant story was brewing. At Fort Riley, a soldier became ill and died of the flu. The sickness spread and within two years between 20 million and 40 million people around the world were dead of this
The battle to understand the disease has not been bloodless. The World Health Organization scientist leading the investigation into SARS has died of it. Doctors and nurses of SARS patients are especially imperiled.
The countries hardest hit by SARS have tried to halt its spread by control.
Hospitals in Asia and Canada are shutting down. Schools are closed. Hong Kong, the apparent epicenter of the epidemic, fears economic collapse.
It is unlikely that treatments for SARS will be devised soon. Designing drugs is a tedious and time-consuming process. Nearly a decade elapsed between the identification of HIV and the development of the first anti-retroviral drugs. Air-borne SARS could spread exponentially faster than body fluid-borne HIV can.
ling human behavior. Entire apartment buildings have been quarantined. Travel has been discouraged. But public health measures are not perfect. A SARS patient in Ontario, Canada, broke his quarantine, feeling well enough to return to his job at Hewlett-Packard. Now one of his coworkers is hospitalized with SARS, and 197 other employees have had to be quarantined. Criminal charges against the workaholic are pending.
The United States will not be free of this mess forever. About 200 Americans are now suspected to have SARS.
War and pestilence are the major stories in human history, but the worst of these is pestilence. Infectious disease not violence, is, as always, the leading killer of humans.
Dire predictions about SARS may prove untrue. The virus may evolve to a less virulent or transmissible form. But it may not, and we need to prepare now. Not only nationally, but right here on Mount Oread. Hope is not a plan.
Robson is a Baldwin City graduate student in pathology.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Onewomandoesnotspeakforall
Arrah Nielsen has failed once again to discredit feminism (The University Daily Kansan, 4.11.2003). She does, however, show that she can rely uncritically on a single flawed source for her argument, and that she can make sweeping, sarcastic generalizations.
Most of Nielsen's points are lifted from Christina Hoff-Sommers's Who Stole Feminism? a book whose attacks on feminist misuse of statistics have been effectively repudiated. Nielsen has every right to be a sycophant for Hoff-Sommers, but that doesn't mean we have to be impressed or persuaded. In fact, Nielsen's parroting of her source proves only that her thinking is neither independent nor original — surprising, considering that Nielsen loathes feminists for what she sees as their conformism and groundthink
Also, Nielsen conceals Hoff-Sommers's political agenda. Hoff-Sommers works with the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank whose members include political figures well-known for opposition to building on and sustaining the progress women have made. Rush Limbaugh is among the conservative celebrities to praise Who Stole Feminism? These facts do not of course invalidate Hoff-Sommers's arguments. But Nielsen has to be willing to face criticism for her conservative Republican connections, just as the feminists she opposes have to answer for their allegiance to liberal Democrats.
Finally, there are Nielsen's broadbrush, unsupported claims, a staple of her writing. For example, "Most women have deduced (correctly) that modern feminism does not speak to them and has few solutions to offer them." No numbers, surveys, or studies to back this up — what a surprise.
coming from a writer who claims to value statistics. Instead, we are left with the arrogance that makes Nielsen think she can speak for millions of women whose situations she knows only through reading a polemical book.
Ray Pence, lecturer, American studies department
Kansas still deserves support
Dear Wayne Simien, Keith Langford,
Aaron Miles, Michael Lee, Bryant Nash,
Jeff Graves, Moulaye Niang, Jeff
Hawkins, Brett Olson, Stephen Vinson,
Christian Moody, Jeremy Case, J.R. Giddens,
David Padgett and Omar Wilkes;
You don't know me. I'm one of the cheering fans that have grown up on Kansas basketball and all it stands for. The one waving the wheat. The one echoing the Rock Chalk chant after another amazing win. The one that steps into Allen Field House and gets chills. The one that will bleed Crimson and Blue till the day I die. You see, Kansas basketball has a storied tradition and rich history too. And you're a part of that.
And as one of the thousands that count themselves as KU baskeball fans, I just want to let you know that I will continue to support you and all that KU basketball encompasses. I understand that you must be going through an unimaginably difficult time right now, but know that you will always have the support of KU fans.
I have no doubt in my mind that individually you are capable of great things. But together, you can accomplish anything you set your minds to. If it is the right thing for you to leave KU, I wish you well. But if you choose to stay, I'll
be happy to cheer you on during one heck of a ride that is bound to be next season.
Amy Kepka,class of 1997
Tradition will continue
As a University of North Carolina alumnus who lives now in Chapel Hill, I wanted to express to all members of the University of Kansas community my thoughts on the Roy Williams move.
Kansas has always been my second favorite program next to North Carolina. The Kansas program, as well as its fans, have always exhibited class and dignity while taking great pride in a program beyond reproach. Regardless of who is the coach, I have no doubt this tradition will continue.
When the announcement came Monday, I admit I was immediately overwhelmed. However, within five minutes, my thoughts turned to those in the Kansas community and what the fans on the other end were going through.
When we lost Dean Smith several years ago, our hearts sank much the same as some of yours have now. North Carolina was in desperate need of a man like Roy Williams. Matt Doherty had become as controversial at North Carolina as your former athletics director. If strong leadership was ever needed here, the time is now.
I know that Roy Williams will be difficult to replace. Legends always are. Best of luck.
My thoughts are with you. No matter what happens, I will be following Jayhawks' hoops the same as I do the Heels.
Joseph Herrin, Chapel Hill, N.C.
What about Matt?
Former Kansas assistant Matt Dohert
deserves a second opportunity to take the helm of a major basketball program. By hiring him, Kansas could turn North Carolina's loss into a substantial gain.
One needs only to look at his resume to see that Matt Doherty has what it takes to be successful at Kansas. During the seven years he spent as a Kansas assistant, Doherty landed some of the nation's top recruits including Paul Pierce, Jacque Vaughn, and Raef LaFrenz. While he was at Kansas, his warmth also won him the affections of KU players and students.
Since becoming a head coach, he has impacted college basketball. In a single season, he revived Notre Dame's basketball program, leading the Fighting Irish to their best record in 11 years. He then followed up the feat by becoming the first coach in Atlantic Coast Conference history to win the regular season title in his first year of conference competition.
Doherty's past indicates that the circumstances surrounding his engineered departure from North Carolina are not an accurate reflection of either his abilities or character. The administration should consult former players like Jerrod Haase and C.B. McGrath, who, along with other recent alumni, could share personal accounts of experiences with Doherty and dispel myths coming out of the Carolina rumor mill.
To discount Doherty because of his association with North Carolina would be short-sighted. After his tainted experiences with the Tar Heels, Doherty would likely be grateful for an opportunity to return a program whose players and fans understand that trips to the Final Four are not an entitlement. Carolina wasn't a fit for Doherty for all the reasons Kansas could be.
Gillett Pionkowski, class of 2000
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