THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2003
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN • 5A
OPINION
4A - THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2003
EDITORIAL BOARD
Chalmers deserves namesake
It's about time. That should be the student response after hearing Student Senate's proposal to name the new recreation center after the only noninterim University of Kansas chancellor not to have a building named after him. Chancellor Laurence Chalmers.
Chalmers' tenure began after Clarke Wescoe's departure in the midst of campus unrest and continued through one of the most turbulent chapters of KU's history. Chalmers' governance of the campus in the midst of remarkable political opposition cost him an extended stay at KU but quite possibly saved the University from disaster.
In 1970, less than three weeksafter the Kansas Union was set aflame, finals were suspended. Francis Heller, the vice chancellor of academic affairs, observed that "while KU had not closed, it certainly had not continued normal operations." The choice to continue with classes as normal or cancel them fell upon then Chancellor Chalmers.
On the one hand, the radical KU Students for a Democratic Society. Black Student Union and a cross section of students supported an immediate conclusion of the semester. Opposition came from Board of Regents who stated that the "University would remain open." Similarly, Kansas Gov. Robert Docking declared that he would "not tolerate the closing of any campus institution." Chalmers compromised with the two extreme positions and satisfied neither of them.
It was in the midst of this controversy and against the surreal backdrop of late '60s protests that Chalmers received recognition from more than 8,000 students for preventing the "University of Kansas from becoming another Berkeley." Nearly 200 faculty on campus applauded Chalmers' handling of the final situation. Unfortunately, the response of those in charge was less than congratulatory. Gov. Docking, whose previous struggles with Chancellor Franklin Murphy were well publicized 10 years earlier, publicly disapproved of Chalmers' decision to forego finals.
The affair came only weeks after Chalmers was lambasted by the state media for criticizing the city wide curfew as "inimical to the purposes of a distinguished university." Months earlier he had stated to a group of Kansas City businessmen that "the war in Vietnam is perceived by our students as politically unjustifiable and morally indefensible, and I agree with them on both accounts."
However, Chalmers was unafraid to stand up to students, as on May 8, 1970, when he denied campus radicals the opportunity to take control of convocation at Memorial Stadium. The fact that a chancellor, in Kansas no less, walked such a fine line is truly remarkable.
Despite the accolades of the students and faculty, displaying courage that, as last semester's opinion editor Maggie Koerth wrote last fall, "saved this University from becoming another Kent State." Chalmers became despised by the regents and Gov. Docking. The regents almost impeached him twice.
This is not to suggest that more recent administrations have rejected Chalmers' achievements or contribution to the University; however we should be leery of forgetting personal sacrifices made on KU's behalf. While the naming of a building is merely symbolic, it provides a vital spark of interest in the past.
Naming the recreation center after "the forgotten Chancellor" is a small step toward instilling an appreciation that the Union is standing today. Many would agree that Chalmers has no small role in that fact.
Greg Holmquist for the editorial board
J. Michael Nagle with William Lamborn for The University Daily Kannan
Counter-protest misconstrued
PERSPECTIVE
Three articles, one editorial cartoon and many Free for All comments are getting wrong that the "procapitalism" rally held Feb. 22 at Taco Bell was sponsored by the University of Kansas College Republicans.
The KU College Republicans never sponsored the rally. As a point of information, not all who attended were College Republicans or even Republics for that matter.I am a proud member of the organization,but I never invited the College Republicans to sponsor the event.
As organizer of the pro-capitalism rally, I did, however, invite presidents of the KU College Republicans and the KU Objectivists to have a part in it.
Many members of College Republicans expressed an interest in and support for the activity at meetings and via e-mail. Likewise, Rachel Bernard, president of KU Objectivists, told me that the interest was within her group as well.
Lindsay Poe
opinion@hansan.com
Those who know me know I'm a warm and caring individual. Why, then, did I put together such an event?
Checking my e-mail on Feb. 2, one subject heading grabbed my attention. It was titled, "We'd Rather Go Hungry Than Eat Sweatshop Tacos." Not recognizing the sender, I opened the e-mail expecting to find some amusing story inside.
Instead, I found two local organizations, Lawrence Industrial Workers of the World and the Organization of Lawrence Anti-Imperialists, were coordinating the Lawrence part of the
The e-mail included an article about the protests.
GUEST COMMENTARY
An excerpt read, "The tomatoes Taco Bell buys for its tacos and chalupas are produced in what can only be described as sweatshop conditions," said Lucas Benitez of the Coalition of Immokalee, Fla. Workers, "Twenty years of picking a. sub-poverty wages, no right to overtime pay, no right to organize without fear of being fired, no health insurance, no sick leave, no paid holidays or paid vacation, and no pension is a national disgrace."
national protest/boycott.
Many people would find it appalling that such conditions exist in the United States. I might be counted among those who think this way.
First of all, Taco Bell does not own the farms where the tomatoes are grown. Rather, the company purchases its tomatoes from Six-L. Packing Company. According to Six-L's Web site, it has "evolved into the largest single-company tomato grower/packer/shipper in the state of Florida, and one of the largest in
the country."
Taco Bell is not its only customer. In fact, many food companies buy these tomatoes. So why single out Taco Bell?
Another interesting fact is that Six-L owns tomato farms in Florida, Georgia North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Yet only the Coalition of Immokalee, Fla. Workers is speaking out about this.
Like the rest of the United States. Florida companies must pay workers minimum wage under federal law. The United States Department of Labor sets this wage at $5.15 per hour.
If workers are not receiving minimum wage, they should organize and strike.
If the workers can't organize for fear of losing their jobs, groups working on their behalf should find a lawyer and go to the courts. Take up a collection for the payment or find one who will do it pro-bono.
The point behind this rally, which was separate from the protest, was not that anyone should work in "sweatshop" conditions for capitalism. Rather, it was to show the futility of the protest. By standing out there with our signs in favor of capitalism, we accomplished the same idea, and possibly more, than those who protested.
Like the protesters, we raised awareness of our points of view but succeeded in changing nothing. And more importantly, we had a good lunch.
Poe is a Wichita junior in political science and journalism.
PERSPECTIVE
TALKTOUS
Jenna Goeppert and Justin Hanning
managing editors
864-4854 or jgoeppert@kansan.com and
ihennino@kansan.com
Kristi Henderson
884-4854 or khenderson@kansan.com
Leah Shaffer
Leah Shaffer
readers' representative
864-0150 or lshaffer@kansan.com
Amanda Sears and Lindsay Hanson opinion editors 864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com
Eric Kelting
Sarah Jantz
Eric Kelting
business manager
864-4398 or adsales@kansan.com
Saran Jantz
retail sales manager
864-4358 or adsales@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson
Matt Fisher
general manager and news adviser
614-7687 or mgibson@kakan.com
sales and marketing adviser
864-7666 or mfisher@kansan.com
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
周
So it's Mardi Gras, but there's ice on the ground. So the question becomes, do I endanger my life just to see boobs?
On behalf of all the delivery drivers in Lawrence, we'd like to thank the people that don't tip us when we risk our lives in weather like Tuesday night's.
图
图
Why does Kansas refuse to tell us whether or not school's cancelled until after the liquor stores are closed?
I just was wondering what the University of Kansas considers inclement weather?
I am a pixie-stick whore.
created by white males is undoubtedly true, but we must ask why this is.
If you don't think like me, you're closed-minded and ignorant.
Hey Kansan, what's with printing all this sexist crap on your opinion page? Do you really want everyone else in the world to think it's true, that Kansas really is totally backwards?
瞻
回
I've got 50 bucks on KU screwing up online enrollment.
I find it ironic that despite the fact that the Kansan keeps printing editorials about how they think Taco Bell is pretty lame for underpaying their workers, they'll still accept their advertising dollars.
Patriarchal idealism much alive in America
GUEST COMMENTARY
Inequitable pay is not as blatantly oppressive as female genital mutilation, which occurs in some countries, but oppression, no matter the severity, deserves attention. To proclaim that technology enabled women to leave their homes instead of the encouragement and consciousness-raising of feminists such as Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem is completely absurd.
Laura Halstead
opinion@kansan.com
What held women back before the age of technology? If your answer is child care and lack of household time-saving convenience items, like the microwave, then you are misinformed. The assumption that household duties held women back only reinforces the notion that the private sphere is the domain of women and that once duties in the home are made easier by technology then women are better able to enter the public sphere of economics and politics.
While women are venturing out, so to speak, home and child care are still considered women's duty. Why does this phenomenon occur? It is not because women are born better equipped to handle the domestic life but that men are simply unwilling to share the burden. Women with careers complete an overwhelming percentage of the household duties as compared with men who have careers, resulting in what is known as the "second shift."
The comment that most inventions, like the light bulb and birth control are
Women, as well as other minorities, have historically been denied access to the sciences. The birth control pill is in itself not oppressive; the harm derives from women's lack of reproductive education, perpetuated by politically funded abstinence-only education and the absence of coverage for birth control by health insurance companies. Without health care coverage, birth control is often unobtainable by the women who need it most and who, ironically enough, are the same women society criticizes for becoming welfare mothers.
The notion that the United States is rid of negative attitudes towards women also is an incredibly alarming statement. Sexual stereotypes persist, despite studies that show the gender gap to be practically invisible, and the gap that does exist is highly suspect to the influence of socialization differences between the sexes.
Women are not the perpetrators of stereotypes such as "Women are not capable of reason," or "Women's place is in the home." Women have the right to choose to stay at home and, yes, even to be an intoxicated sorority girl, but these same women should not be judged and devalued because of those decisions.
The so-called oft-repeated whopper that "women earn 70 cents to a man's dollar" is not a tall tale perpetuated by angry feminists. This figure is taken from women's salaries in comparison to equitable work done by men. I will not argue that women are the dominant workers in fields such as nursing and elementary education and that indeed these positions are low-paying. All this information does is show that these positions are highly undervalued and unappreciated.
As a society, we are sending the message that care for children, the sick, and the elderly are not valuable services when perhaps they should be. There are firm facts that as women move into positions that have been traditionally male-dominated, the pay scale decreases and vice versa. If this does not show inequality, then I don't know what does.
The statements made about the unequal concern for women as victims of violence over men as victims of violence are misleading as well. It is absolutely true that more men than women fall prey to violence, but the type of violence is significantly different. It is one thing to be a
victim of violence from someone you do not know in an environment that you cannot control. It is an entirely different issue to be a victim of violence from someone you have a relationship with in your own home, which occurs to an overwhelming majority of women who are victims of violence.
The blame is not on individual men but on the patriarchal system that has enveloped this country. What is even more important to recognize is that women are oppressed to no fault of their own. No one would say that an African American is at fault if another person were to discriminate based on the color of their skin, so why are women not afforded that same credibility?
Women should be informed about issues that affect their lives, and if this means that feminists must harp on the gender disadvantage in our society in order to get the information out to the public, then so be it. The most important thing to acknowledge is that feminism does not mean anti-men. It is 100 percent possible to demand equal opportunity and treatment for women without discriminating against men.
Feminists insist on arguing about gender because society, even American society, enforces the gender dichotomy where value is placed on the male sex.
1
Halstead is a Omaha, Neb., senior in business administration and women's studies
7