THE SUNY FEDS
4A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
TUESDAY.FEBRUARY 18.2003
EDITORIAL BOARD
Students must vote to earn relevance
This month, the residents of Lawrence will begin the process of determining who will lead the city for the next two years.
Because of low student-voter turnout, candidates have historically devoted little attention to the needs of students.
In the 1998 city election, only 12 percent of registered student voters showed up to the Allen Fieldhouse polling site.
By voting, students can help direct
Commission candidate Zach Bassin believes this needs to change.
ESSENTIAL
ELECTION
INFORMATION
Feb 10: last day to register to vote in primary
■ Feb. 25: Primary election
Election
March 17: Last day to register to vote in general election
April 1: General election
the future of Lawrence, and allow it to remain a college-friendly town," Bassin said.
In 2000, the city commission raised an uproar among students when it limited the number of non-related
individuals who could live in a house to three.
Because the student body was not a significant voting demographic, the commission was able pass the zoning ordinance, aimed directly at students with little risk of voter backlash.
According to Bassin, "the most important issue affecting students in this election is the flow of sales tax dollars to fund development in West Lawrence."
Under the current structure, sales tax dollars from downtown businesses frequented by students are used to pay for infrastructure in new developments.
"In cities with growth rates similar to Lawrence, the cost of new infrastructure is covered by developers rather than taxpayers." Bassin said.
Students must vote in order to have their issues addressed in Lawrence politics.
To vote in city commission elections, students have to be registered to vote in Douglas County.
To register, or to find out where to vote, stop by the Douglas County Courthouse on 11th and Massachusetts streets, or go to www.douglas county.org/Clerk/vote.asp.
SUBMITTING LETTERS AND GUEST COLUMNS
Bent Ross for the editorial board
The Kansan welcomes letters to the editors and guest columns submitted by students, faculty and alumni.
the Kansan reserves the right to edit cut to length, or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Amanda Sears or Lindsay Hanson at 864-4924 or e-mail at opinion@kansan.com. If you have general questions or comments, email the readers' representative at readerstop@kansan.com.
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**Maximum Length:**
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**Include:**
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**Also:**
The Kansas will not print guest columns that attack another columnist.
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Include:
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BENSON'S VIEW
Wes Benson for The University Daily Kansan
PERSPECTIVE
Beware of unbound textbooks
S sometimes tradition is a good thing. Sometimes, it's not, and it actually holds up much needed improve-ment
ment.
COMMENTARY
But sometimes, people do things a certain way because those methods work. They are tried and tested over time and, like natural selection (if you choose to believe in it), the working ideas have been retained in our tradition while the bad ones went extinct.
I found myself contemplating this after I bought textbooks. Admittedly, I hadn't been paying much attention when I selected my paperback abnormal psychology book. The hardcover version wasn't in stock and would be more expensive anyway. So you can imagine my surprise when I opened the shrink-wrap, and the book almost spilled out over the floor.
Was it really a good idea?
Upon closer inspection I realized that the pages were loose deliberately. The publisher peddled this as a weight- and money-saver. "Take only what you need to class," it said on the front cover. Instead of being bound like a traditional book, the entire thing was made of loose-leaf pages, three-hole punched to fit in a 3-ring binder. My first thought was this was a clever trick to sell more binders.
Sam Lane opinion@kansan.com
Call me old-fashioned, but I actually like bound books. That's what makes them books, and that's what keeps pages
from being lost by the hundreds that later need to be gathered and sorted when it comes time to read the chapter.
As far as taking only what I need to class, I can't recall the last time I was supposed to take a psychology textbook to class. Take notes in class, read the chapter at home. This is the way it's always been. If I want to do something in class that involves not paying attention, I don't do the reading. I fall asleep. That's infinitely more satisfying and leaves my mind clear and refreshed for my next class. And a quick, between-class snack will get rid of the "just woke up" bad taste in my mouth.
About the claim that the unbound "book" saves money — it was $74. The scary part is it almost was something of a bargain at that. The hardcover version of the textbook sold for $96 new and was $71 used, slightly cheaper than the unbound version at a market price.
But that's just initial purchase.
According to Bill Getz, text manager at the KU bookstore, looseleaf books cannot be bought back. No one at the bookstore wants to go through almost 700 pages of loose "book" to make sure they're all there.
So a student with the loose version will never see the usual $45 for the buyback of a book, which, considering the new price, makes it cheaper overall. I say usual because the bookstore had an arrangement with Dr. David Holmes, professor of psychology, to pay less on buyback so they could lower the used price to less than $40.
Getz said looseleaf "books" are increasingly popular. In addition to my psychology class, Biology 100 and Business 240 use them. Buyback problems aside, they are cheaper on the shelf than new hardcovers, and publishers like them because they cannot be recirculated. Every student has to buy a new book every time, which means more sales and more profits for them.
So is this the wave of the future? And is it a good idea that stubborn traditionalists like me are senselessly opposing?
I'd say not, but if you care to debate it with me, I'll be amid supplies of glue and string trying to do a arts-and-crafts-type project to turn my pile of paper into an honest-to-goodness book.
Lane is a Leavenworth senior in psychology.
PERSPECTIVE
Another skyscraper inappropriate
Before Sept. 11, 2001, 1,368 feet of steel towered over the New York City skyline. The World Trade Center towers were symbols of American success, prosperity and freedom. They represented strength and solidity, but were everything but that when they crumbled on that fateful morning. What caused them to fall?
COMMENTARY
They were targets of terrorism because of what they stood for.
And now, New York City officials want to replace the towers with an even larger tourist attraction.
To those terrorists, the towers were symbols of arrogance, greed and sin. In Osama bin Laden's Nov. 24, 2002, letter to the American people that was published in the Observer Worldview magazine, he describes America as "a nation without principles or manners." The World Trade Center towers were not symbols of pride to the terrorists — they were symbols of evil.
It's inappropriate to try to duplicate the Trade Center's dominance over the New York skyline with a gaudy memorial.
Now, in the grand American tradition, we try to push the envelope again.
Meagan Kelleher
opinion@kansan.com
In two of the plans that have been revealed for the memorial site, the new buildings would dwarf the former towers. In fact, these two new plans would beat out the current tallest towers in the world, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which stand at 1,483 feet.
Is this really the best way to memorialize the sites of the largest terrorist attack in American history?
I am in no way suggesting that bin Laden or the terrorists were correct to fly into the towers, nor am I suggesting that we cower in fear and never prosper. I am questioning the motives behind the two monstrous plans. Indeed, it is time that something be done with the space left after all that debris was cleared away, but do the plans really need to be so extravagant, and do both need to be nearly 2,000 feet tall? When city officials reconvene to decide on a plan, they will be making their choice on whether they want an elevated promenade or a hotel on the site. The first plan, created by the THINK team, a group of different architects, mimics two scaffoldings that one would see at an outdoor rock concert. When people fly into New York, it's not going to look like the business and communications center of the world; it will look more like Woodstock. Plus, placed around the outside of the latticework towers would be a hotel, in the true
American tradition of capitalism. I wonder where the gift shop will be.
A second plan, developed by Studio Daniel Libeskind, features a 1,776-foot spire, elevated promenade, and a 70-foot deep meditation area that showcases remaining pieces of the fallen towers. It looks more like a space station than any sort of business center. Naturally, development officials had to base their decisions not only on aesthetic aspects, but also practicality. After all, these "memorials" are located in the center of New York's transportation crossroads, and businesses have to be able to thrive there as they did prior to Sept. 11.
Are we building these monstrosities to claim the tallest-building-in-the-world status, or are they intended as memorials?
Mimicking the grandeur and dominance of the towers by simply replacing them with flashier and larger buildings doesn't provide a necessary sense of reverence into the site. It may take up to 12 years to completely finish the entire memorial, whichever plan city officials decide on, and families have expressed their insistence that the memorial itself get built first. After that, the city is free to build as many hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions as will fit on the spot where 5,899 people were killed.
I'm just wondering if another sky scraper is really what this country needs
Koileher is an Omaha, Neb., sophomore in journalism.
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For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
you know those biscuit cans? I like those biscuit cans. I wonder who invented them.
Hey, hey, I'm not an RA, nobody has to do what I say, not that they ever did anyway. I can choose what to play, free at night and live during the day, with no vacation delays — oh, and work for real pay. Freedom at last, I won't be harrassed. I meant what I say, I pity your RA.
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I think it's kind of funny that we have an anti-war protest/march going down Massachusetts, but at the same time war was how we got the Constitution, and that's how we have the United States. So pro-war, bomb the shit out of Iraq.
you know those biscuit cans? I like those biscuit cans. I wonder who invented them.
I see a lot of signs at KU that say that students drink zero to five drinks, moderately or not at all. I don't see too many KU students that drink moderately or not at all. Who are they interviewing?
To the person that stole my no-war yard sign, may the fleas of a thousand camels forever infest your underarms.
I think all the Mexican restaurants should get together and form a fraternity.
--you know those biscuit cans? I like those biscuit cans. I wonder who invented them.
you know those biscuit cans? I like those biscuit cans. I wonder who invented them.
If George W. wants to go to war, let's put him on the front line and jab him in the a-hole with a metal pole.
Hey, David Faustino found work after Married With Children. Oh, no, wait, that's just a Married With Children reunion.
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To the dumbasses who are going the wrong way down a one-way street and almost hit me: I hope you got a DUI.
I've been trying to get printed in the Free for All for 32 years. If you don't print me, I'm going to call 47 times next week.
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Gas at an all-time high, economy at an all-time low, bin Laden still alive, and now we're going into Iraq to finish what your daddy didn't. Thanks, Bush.
So I opened the Kansan this morning, and to my surprise, there was an article and a picture about an anti-war protest. No way!
回
KU headlines protests and activists for sodomy laws? Perhaps we should get our priorities straight, because we are going to war, and I think that's a little more important.