4A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
MONDAY,MARCH10,2003
EDITORIAL BOARD
Schol hall parking demands attention
On Feb.19, representatives from the University of Kansas and the community agreed on a design for a new scholarship hall to be located on the 1300 block of Ohio Street. One important aspect of the plan was missing: parking accommodations.
Parking must be provided for the 50 new residents in an already overcrowded parking area. Otherwise, it will create a major inconvenience for three important groups - the scholarship hall community, the University community as a whole and the residents of the surrounding neighborhood.
Many scholarship hall residents complain that they don't have adequate parking space as it is. This is consistently a concern for the All-Scholarship Hall Council, which has taken steps toward securing parking spots for Alumni Place permit holders in the last year. Because the issue of parking is already so sensitive, the addition of 50 more AP permits per year will only increase the gravity of the problem.
The Kansas Union parking garage may become accessible to AP permit holders. In that case, current students, faculty and staff who park in the garage will face fewer available parking spaces, inconveniencing the University community and making the Union less accessible.
Residents of the new scholarship hall would only forgo the long walk from the garage to the hall and park on Ohio Street or a nearby street. But residents of the Oread neighborhood already have enough trouble finding places to park on the street because it's so close to the University. The new scholarship hall may mean longer walks and fewer parking spaces for Ohio Street residents.
The planning committee must make parking a priority. It could create new parking spaces in the alley behind the Amini Scholarship Halls on Louisiana Street or add a few spaces in the proposed courtyard for the new scholarship hall. The University and the surrounding community should work together to find a solution. The parking situation affects everyone on campus and in the neighborhood.
Mark Lyda for the editorial board
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MOSLEY'S VIEW
Bryan Mosley for The University Daily Kansan
PERSPECTIVE
DJ banter turns away listeners
I am beginning to think that maybe I can live in a world where Avril Lavigne exists. After all, I was born into a world where Belinda Carlisle exists. Avril's fate should be the same as Belinda's, who is forever stuck in syndicated light rock hell.
Even though the radio plays "I'm with You" instead of "Heaven is a Place on Earth," it never fails that ignorant disc jockeys will be rambling with their so-called witty repartee that targets "hip, young college students." Listening to the radio shouldn't have to include listening to a radio DJ's input on every song. Tell me who sings the song and cut the personal commentary.
Eighty-seven percent of listeners tune out when commercials come on the radio, according to Ian MacRae of The Radio Wave. Why is it that, with this many people zoning out when music isn't playing, disc jockeys are still gainfully employed?
Meagan Kelleher
opinion@kansan.com
COMMENTARY
The Princeton Review describes a radio disc jockey's duties as making connections with the news or the songs they play. I beg to differ. I did not tune in to hear DJ Fluff 'n' Stuff's take on the new Coldplay song; I tuned in to hear the song. Austin Michael, a radio DJ for 105.9 The Lazer, said he thought commentary could add something a little extra to a listener's experience.
said. "It's great if you can come up with a good joke, or try to make something local."
"Good jockeys have something compelling to say to the audience," Michael
The quality of music radio has deteriorated to the level of trash where DJs have conversations with callers more than they play music. It's as though the radio industry is pushing listeners toward Internet radio, where songs are played in a disc jockey-free abyss. James Poniewozik, Salon.com writer, said he recognized that radio stations had realized "they've turned jocks into liabilities."
Although the formula for pop music hasn't changed, radio stations with asinine DJs who think they've discovered the next big thing will still exist. Every song aired sounds like every other song from the last five years, and it's always preempted by the DJ's proclamation that the song is his favorite new record.
According to statistics from the Bureau of Labor, good DJs should have a "pleasing personality." Never has a DJ's
personality been so intriguing that I would want to meet him. If obnoxious banter fit for 12-year-olds constitutes a pleasing personality, I'd rather listen to static.
Michael of the Lazer said he liked to think that his "offbeat personality" and his "shock element" would keep listeners tuned in. In reality, all it makes me want to do is put in a CD.
To make matters worse, radio DJs tempt bored listeners to call in with responses to whatever "wild or crazy" question of the day they've devised. Ranging from "What's the worst pick-up line you've ever heard" to "Name your worst Valentine's Day present," 12-year-old girls clog the phone lines so they can share their dramas with DJ Porpoise, DJ Sandbox or DJ Paper Cutter.
Michael said that if we didn't have DJs, we wouldn't know what songs we were listening to.
Exactly my point. Radio stations should cut the chatter and have DJs simply play music and tell only the vital statistics of the songs.
But DJs will still flood the airways with their uninteresting banter.
If only the music DJs played between their ramblings were worth listening to maybe then I could stand to tune in.
Kelleher is an Omaha, Neb., sophomore in journalism.
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--further gender discrimination with the guise of "advice." I would ask that they refrain from using labels such as "we ladies" and "the women of the University of Kansas." I would also hope the Kansan would reconsider before printing such offensive, baseless material.
Since when is it too cold for peace?
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Has anyone seen my roommate? I haven't seen any sign of her for the last five days.
If we want to deliver a non-threatening message to North Korea,we should do it by e-mail.
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Somebody needs to take responsibility for the condom wrapper we just found behind our couch. Jess, was it you?
Hello Group 3, this is Group 4, and I just wanted to call and tell you that I kicked your ass up and down the street — all of us did — and I'm laughing at you right now.
Man it's, like, 4 degrees outside. This must be the coldest winter since global warming was invented.
further gender discrimination with the guise of "advice." I would ask that they refrain from using labels such as "we ladies" and "the women of the University of Kansas." I would also hope the Kansan would reconsider before printing such offensive, baseless material.
To the girl with the raspy voice in Journalism 101 who won't shut up, please be quiet.
Thank you, Rachel Robson. Finally someone made an intelligent statement. You can totally be strong in your faith, believe in God and still believe in evolution.
further gender discrimination with the guise of "advice." I would ask that they refrain from using labels such as "we ladies" and "the women of the University of Kansas." I would also hope the Kansan would reconsider before printing such offensive, baseless material.
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Never eat at the Taco Bell on 23rd Street after 2 a.m. You will have a bowel movement so big you'll be lucky to have any bones left.
You are crazy. But those colored pancakes in the trees on Wescoe Terrace go great with black and white syrup.
Anybody else having trouble finding a job in Lawrence? Well I'm opening up a gigolo business, so if anyone's interested, give me a call.
Chivalry not so stately
Kara Warner's "Dating defeated by casual sex" (Kansan, Feb. 28) chastised men not for disrespecting women, but for failing to execute certain "chivalrous" deeds that were expected in some vague era of lords and ladies. Never mind the fact that women at this time were seen solely as property, and that such "respectful" practices were actually for the benefit of the property owners. Women are still often considered less deserving than men (marital rape, for instance, is legal in 33 states).
Ashley Smith would have us believe that every woman at the University of Kansas seeks identity through interaction with male basketball players. Her description of women could have come from one of the fabled lords: They need to define themselves in terms of men's status, and therefore naturally compete for men with potential for wealth and fame.
Many spend their lives trying to eradicate such stereotypes, as they are detrimental to everyone. If people choose to
Monoloques misunderstood
Jana Mackey, Hays junior in women's studies
To Mr. Magruder: If you would have actually come to see The Vagina Monologues instead of immediately forming opinions based on a newspaper article, you would have noticed that the monologues were more than just quoting a woman who said her vagina smelled like peaches or a monologue complaining about tampons.
Monologues such as "Crooked Braid" were about rape and assault among American Indian women; "My Vagina Was My Village" talked about women who were raped in the middle of Europe as a systematic tactic of war; and "My Short Skirt" proclaimed that article of
At first I wanted to be in The Vagina Monologues' cast just for fun, though I did not know what it was about. But after the last performance, it felt exhilarating to present Eve Ensler's creation to so many people.
clothing "is not a legal reason to rape me." Although most of the monologues were amusing, possibly to take light of a taboo topic, they also raised the issue of violence toward women and girls.
Before auditioning, the director asked me what I hoped to get out of this play and my answer was "everything is a learning experience." I can proudly say that was accomplished successfully.
Lynzee Ford, Otethe freshman
Classified conundrum
Your Feb. 26 story about the classified staff at the University of Kansas focused on pay. In the existing system, state money for salaries is in employee specific "lock-boxes." It can't be used for other purposes. Peter's money can't be used to pay Paul.
Do block grants have the same safeguards ? Only classified staff are part of the Kansas Civil Service system. The civil service was created to prevent arbitrary actions in hiring, firing, layoff and pay, and to prevent cronyism and nepotism. KU classified employees are being asked to consider leaving the civil service system.
Layoff notices went to about 22 classified and 22 unclassified employees last year. The Chancellor's Oct. 2 message said in part that "if you are a classified employee with sufficient seniority, you are guaranteed continued employment through the 'bumping' mechanism of the classified employee system. Of the 22 classified employees whose positions have been announced to be eliminated, 15 have already accepted other positions at KU, in state government, or elsewhere.
"If you are an unclassified employee, there are no guarantees of continued employment..."
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Pat Moore, Computer Specialist III, Kansas Geological Survey
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