OPINION
University Daily Kansan, April 18. 1985
Page 4
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
The University Dalian Kansan, USPS 606400 is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Staffer Flint Hall, Lawen. Kansan 60645, daily during the regular school year and Wednesday and Friday during the summer session, excluding Saturday, Sunday, holidays and finals periods. Second class postage paid at Lawen. Kansan 60644. Subscriptions by mail are $15 for six months or second class postage and $18 for six months or $3 a year outside the county. Student subscriptions are $1 and $2 per month. Postage addresses change to the University Dalian Kansan. 118 Staffer Flint Hall, Lawen Kansan 60645.
MATT DEGALAN Editor
DIANE LUBER SUSAN WORTMAN
Managing Editor Editorial Editor
ROB KARWATH Campus Editor
LYNNE STARK Business Manager
SUSANNE SHAW
General Manager and News Adviser
DUNCAN CALHOUN MARY BERNICA
Retail Sales National Sales
Manager Manager
DAVID NIXON Campus Sales Manager
JOHN OBERZAN Sales and Marketing Adviser
Cleaning house
There is a cliche about a few rotten apples not spoiling the entire barrel. It is muttered, normally, with a sigh of inevitability, as if nothing can be done to prevent a certain percentage of the crop from going bad and as if no one were to blame.
But somebody had to pick those apples and allow them to sit long enough to rot.
And somebody must take the responsibility to rid the barrel of its spoiled contents.
Last week allegations were made that football players had assaulted people outside a local nightclub. In one instance, a victim was so badly beaten that his face was a bloody pulp, and he had bruises the size of baseballs.
The beating prompted Mike Kirsch, owner of Gammon's, to write letters to the editors of the Kansan and the Lawrence Daily Journal-World. News accounts followed, and law enforcement officials are presently investigating the case. Douglas County District Attorney Jim Flory is still considering filing charges against the players.
On Tuesday, head football coach Mike Gottfried told members of the University of Kansas Athletic Corporation that press reports had told only one side of the story. He has declined, however, to tell the other side of the story at all.
If it turns out that football players were involved in the fights, the Athletic Department should take strong action in addition to that taken by the criminal justice system. If it turns out that the same few players are the cause of the problems, stronger action should be taken; they should be removed from the team and have their scholarships revoked.
And yet, going on the Athletic Department's track record, there is a good chance little will be done. Football player Roderick Timmons was convicted of sexual battery last spring, but he still is receiving a football scholarship and will be playing on the team next fall. Gottfried says it is a coach's decision to decide how to discipline a player who has criminal problems. He is right. Yet the right decision must still be made, and letting problems continue in order to field a better team is inexcusable.
It's easy to dismiss the recent allegations as isolated instances or to say that only one side of the story has been reported; it's not so easy to be open and report that other side. It's even more difficult, apparently, to admit error and impose discipline.
One instance of violent behavior is deplorable; a pattern of violence, however, is unacceptable and demands quick, stern action by the Athletic Department and law enforcement officials.
If the Athletic Department is unwilling to clean its own house, Chancellor Gene A. Budig should step in and demand that action be taken because misconduct by the athletes reaches past the Athletic Department. It reflects badly on the entire University and its students.
In the past, the Athletic Department has lamented the poor support students and faculty give the football team. Much of this stems from the team's performance, no doubt, but it's tough to feel good about a team plagued with academic ineligibility and charges of violent behavior.
It's even tougher when nothing is done and such problems continue.
He is hustling Congress, again
Until the barrel is rid of its rotten elements and cleaned and scrubbed to the bottom, the role of athletics at the University must be continually questioned.
President Reagan seemed almost sure to lose his request for $14 million to support the Contra rebels in Nicaragua until he came up with his latest idea for holding congressional fire to the fire.
Reagan's first venture this year into the realm of bending Congress to his will, the battle over financing 21 aircraft missiles, was a smashing success.
By linking the MX to the Geneva arms control negotiations, Reagan gave his congressional allies a marvulent tactic: the argument that refusing to build more of the missile that could destroy most medium-altitude bombers, would nuclear warheads is a disservice to the cause of disarmament and peace.
Only in Washington, D.C., could such an argument be made to sound reasonable. By calling on chief negotiator Max Karpelman, a Democrat, to plead that he needed the MX so he would have something to trade
off in his dealings with the Soviet union, Reagan probably saved the much-maligned XIN from going the other way. He was also among other missiles of faint memory.
The MX has been in trouble ever since Jimmy Carter declared U.S. missiles were vulnerable because the Soviets had a bead on their silos. He
ARNOLD
SAWISLAK
United Press Internation
proposed mounting the new rocket on wheels and running it around the desert to confuse the Russians about its location.
Now Reagan is proposing to put the MX in the same silos where the men were supposed to be in jeopardy, "giving" them with some extra concrete.
United Press International
The MX bill passed because a significant number of senators and
House members, who thought Reagan's idea for protecting the missile was just as dumb as Carter's, got worried that they would be accused by political opponents of jeopardizing the Geneva talks.
New Reagan has found a way to make it seem as if giving money to the guerrillas who are trying to overthrow the Sandinistas in Nicaragua by force actually will help resolve the situation peacefully.
This time Reagan is requesting funds for the Contras that would be used only for food and medicine — humanitarian purposes — for 60 days while efforts are made to negotiate an end to the rebellion. Only if the peace process breaks down would the money be freed for guns and bullets.
This is a classic carrot-and-stick deal, except for one element. The United States might be able to impose the plan on the Contras, who have little choice if they want any help in their fight, but it can't make
the Sandistas swallow it. And sure enough, the Nicaraguan government's immediate response was indignant rejection of the Reagan proposal.
But the president surely expected that. What he wants in this situation is to get Congress to approve the $14 million for the Contras, a proposal even his staunch congressional supporters told him was a dead duck.
The White House reasoning probably goes like this: If the president can get $1.5 billion by linking the MX missile to the arms control process, why not the piddling $14 million for the Contras by tying the money to a peace plan for Nicaragua?
There is an old saying that if someone hustles you once, shame on him, but if he does it twice, shame on you. We will find out soon whether that wisdom is operative on Capitol Hill.
A feline cure-all for jerkishness
It was a question of etiquette, the钥匙 that city dwellers often must confess.
My friend, the blonde, had arrived home from work to find a strange car parked in front of her driveway. That happens from time to time in her neighborhood, which is part of Yuppieville.
People drive in from the suburbs and other neighborhoods to visit the popular restaurants, bars and theaters. Although there's a big parking lot for them, the tables are manageable $3 for the evening, many people find it a challenge to avoid using it.
Unable to use her own driveway,
my friend drove to the parking lot,
paid $3 and walked home. Then we
discussed possible ways to tell the
owner of the car, which was new and
expensive and had a suburban
and a shaded window, that parking in front of somebody's
driveway is inconsiderate.
"I suppose we could ask the police to come out and write a ticket," she said.
the evening for them, and we really shouldn't divert them from the more important task of chasing fiends
"Yes, but it's the busiest time of
Besides, they probably wouldn't come."
"Well, why don't I write a note and put it on the windshield?"
We discussed possible forms the note might take:
Dear Visitor: You have parked in front of a private driveway. That is
MIKE
ROYKO
Syndicated Columnist
inconsiderate. Please don't do it again.
That said it, I suppose, but I doubt that it would have any genuine impact. Anybody who parks squarely in front of a private driveway is certain to be too inconsiderate to care whether somebody says he is inconsiderate
Sincerely yours, the driveway owner.
So we thought about something a bit more emphatic:
Dear Jerk: If you ever block this
driveway again, I will get a brick and cave in your windshield.
That was a little more soul-satisfying. But, realistically, it was meaningless. The odds were probably 10,000-to-1 that the jerk would ever come back and park precisely in that same spot. And he'd probably just glance at the note, snicker, toss it away and feel good.
Jerks are proud of their jerkiness orory in it. That's what they try, then try again.
In fact, there was nothing we could in a note that would make an impasse.
"Then I guess I'll just overlook it," she said.
No, we couldn't do that. The reason civilizations collapse is that such things are overlooked. Rome went under when the people began leaving. They did so because they had to do something to let him know he should mend his jerkish ways.
"What do you suggest?"
Well, we could puncture his tires with an ice pick. But that would be a criminal act. Besides, nobody owns ice picks anymore.
Then there is the old syrup trick.
When I had my own driveway, it was sometimes obstructed. I found that
might conveyed a strong message.
But she didn't have any corm.
Aunt Jemima syrup on the windshield conveved a strong message.
But she didn't have any syrup.
I mentioned that it was too bad she didn't have a big dog. A friend of mine had a big dog, and when somebody blocked his garage, he would look around his backyard, find a few odd and ends left by the dog and place them on the windshield.
"A nice thought, but I don't have a dog," the blonde said.
Ah, but she has a couple of cats. Which means that she has a kitty litter box. And that means . . .
I quickly went around to the alley and checked the garbage can to see whether the most recently filled plastic bag was still in it. It was. Oh, it made a fine message. Especially since the car had those recessed windshield wipers.
So, I have to apologize for having once written that cats are useless. I have finally found a practical use for them.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
And if the owner of that car didn't get the message and is tempted to repeat his foolishness, go ahead. But, a warning: I have a friend who works at the zoo. A loan from the elephants could be arranged.
Spicy but untrue
What was reported by Patricia Skalla in Friday's University Daily Kansas about Kansas University Democrats may have seemed very juicy — lots of spice and intrigue. However, little of what was printed was true, and even less should have been taken seriously.
To the editor:
Had the Kansan done its homework and given the officers of KU Democrats the chance to respond to specific charges, a more balanced article could have been written. Also, I wonder why the complaints of two people should be deemed enough to convict an entire club. If we only had two people with complaints that would be an all-time low. We all
I will not attempt to explain why the two individuals who went public with their grievances did so. At this point it is irrelevant. What is the point it is irrelevant? The record straight as well as questioning the importance of what was said.
know politics involves a lot of egos ambitions and differing ideas.
In a capsule, KU Democrats' active membership has declined slightly because 1985 is not an election year, and we fully expected this. However, our membership has not declined to 10. For example, 20 people came to hear State Treasurer Joan Finney, and 40 people attended the meeting when Lt. Governor Tom Docking spoke. The Kansan should have been aware of the latter since it did send a reporter. However, Skura did not attend the Finney meeting even though she said she would.
A major mistake was made by the Kansan when it accepted Scott Focke, Alwood sophomore and member of KU Democrats, as an authority on the inner working of KU Democrats. Scott has not attended a single KU Democrats meeting since November, and we have had to so far this year. Accordingly, his statements were not true.
Also, it is absolutely not true that the membership did not have a say in recent statements made by KU Democrats regarding apartheid and
I doubt that any of what has been discussed so far is really newsworthy. What is, I think, is that KU Democrats was very active in the 1984 campaign and has remained a strong organization in 1985. This semester we have worked to build a more efficient and effective political group We have also been the hosts of potential statewide candidates and lawmakers, the latest to be Kansas Dan Glickman, who will be speaking here this Friday. I invite everyone to attend the speech and see KU Democrats for yourself. I think you'll like what you see.
Student Senate financing. Those issues were discussed and the KU Democrats position was approved by the members.
Todd Cohen
Alta Vista freshman and secretary-treasurer of KU Democrats
Social insanity
To the editor:
to the crowd.
Like many people, I share Paul Cameron's concern about the spread
Pretending to be scientific and quoting some highly questionable statistics, Cameron said gay people were the cause of AIDS, that this disease was the "natural outgrowth of homosexuality." He never mentioned those in the gay community who had meaningful relationships and were not出 spreading AIDS — as though they didn't exist — or the fact that society in general was more sexually active with a variety of partners so that AIDS, herpes, gonorrhea and other diseases were, indeed, spreading more rapidly. It seems sexuality is problematic throughout the whole of society and not just in the gay community.
Instead of questioning our views on sexuality, however, "deviants" are either thought of as mentally ill or as criminals. Cararner thinks of them as the latter He suggested Thursday that homosexuals with AIDS sometimes intentionally infected their lovers.
of AIDS, but unfortunately Cameron never addressed that issue in his speech April 11.
Anyone would be completely naive to think that Cameron has nothing against gay people as human beings and that if a cure for AIDS were found, they would be happily reintegrated into society. Germans didn't think of their jaws that way; they justified their horrors by thinking of them as subhuman, as animals. In the United States, gay people are blacks. Cameron, I'm sure, is aware of the psychological process of rationalization.
Cameron's supporters strongly
All of this points to the fact that Cameron is mixing his moral condemnation of homosexuality with science, a practice entirely unethical for a psychologist. Cameron seems to have a great deal of respect for Hitler, who also cited "scientific evidence" to show that Jews were dangerous to the health of society. In fact, the parallels that can be drawn between Hitler and Cameron are frightening. I assume that Cameron knows the implications of a quarantine — his euphremism for imprisonment.
showed that they agreed with his moral condemnation of homosexuals. Several young men sat in the audience keeping one seat free between them. Unless they were concerned with contracting AIDS from their heterosexual friends, clearly they were afraid of being thought of as gay. Little did they realize that Cameron's speech dealt not with gays or AIDS but with how who threaten our social norms we examine the moral codes more closely, we might find ourselves staring straight into the gap between ideal values and actual practices
Moreover, it concerns me that people too often refer to Hitler as mentally insane when, in fact, he knew exactly what he was doing. Hitler is not an isolated case that can never occur again. I became convinced Thursday that we needed to change the way ill people and more about those, like Cameron, who acted rationally within a framework of social insanity.
.
Ilsabe Schingensiepen Topeka sophomore