University Daily Kansan, April 2, 1985
OPINION
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The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
The University Daily Kannan, UNP$ 604-400 is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Stuart Flint Hall, Lawrence, Kan $6045, daily during the regular school year and Wednesday and Friday during the summer session, excluding Saturday. Sunday, holidays and six periods Second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kan $6044 Subscriptions by mail are for six months or $2 a year in Douglas County and $18 for six months or $30 for seven months. See POSTMASTER Send address changes to the University Daily Kannan, 118 Stuart Flint Hall, Lawrence, Kan $6045
MATT DEGALAN
Editor
DIANE LUBER SUSAN WORTMAN Managing Editor Editorial Editor
LYNNE STARK
Business Manager
ROB KARWATH Campus Editor
DUNCAN CALHOUN MARY BERNICA
Retail Sales National Sales
Manager Manager
SUSANNE SHAY
General Manager and News Adviser
DAVID NIXON Campus Sales Manager
JOHN OBERZAN Sales and Marketing Adviser
Compromising
This town is big enough for the both of us.
The town of Lawrence was founded without a university in it. And it did fine. And it has been doing fine, probably better, since the University of Kansas came along.
Townpeople like the ball games, theatre productions and speakers that come with the University. The merchants like the money that students drop on downtown Lawrence. Yes, some Lawrence residents even like the students.
That is not to say, however, that the town could not get along without us.
When students' lives center on the campus — when they eat, sleep, go to class and work on a campus schedule — it is easy to forget that this town is also the place that some people call home.
They are regular people — like the ones we left in Wichita, Kansas City and St. Louis — who lead normal lives of getting up every morning, going to work and coming home. Theirs is not the college life. They don't pull all-nighters, they don't stay out until 3 a.m. on weekends.
Yet, we should understand their situation. We have all had roommates who were ready to hit the bars when we were ready to hit the books. We wouldn't, and most of us won't, want drunken students wandering around our homes in 10 years.
And too, the townspeople should be tolerant of college students. We bring large quantities of money to the town in the form of retail sales and services. We pay sales tax.
the ten in if retail stores do the same. And another point — citizens should be tolerant, for once they, too, were our age, and probably they were doing the same things. Lawrence residents know that the campus is full of students, and they know that students have parties. They knew that when they bought their houses.
Of all the problems that arise in Lawrence, this is hardly the most serious. There is a happy medium.
The residents aren't asking us to forego the parties completely.
The parties don't need to last so late. They need to be well controlled. And the party-givers need to clean up well afterward. Maybe we could even have more of our parties at Potter Pavilion since it is more removed from residential areas.
A bad trade-off
Courting the Europeans on the trade market is as impossible as courting a girl whose mother doesn't like you. It's a lost cause — a hopeless case.
In the late 1970s, European countries were upset because the U.S. dollar was so weak that their markets were being flooded with goods.
Well, Europe is spiffing with us again, and this time it's because the dollar is too strong. This time, the plug has been pulled from European markets, and the United States is being flooded with inexpensive, imported goods. That is the cause of the trade deficit worrying manufacturers and farmers.
The U.S. trade deficit in 1984 reached $101.6 billion, which more than doubled the 1983 deficit, according to figures from the Commerce Department. The figures take into account both goods and services exported from the United States.
Simply, the United States is buying too much and selling too little.
Actually, the United States has had trade deficits every year since 1975. What makes this year different is that there is not enough money from U.S. foreign investments flowing back into the country to offset the trade deficit.
Why? Because of the strong dollar.
For people in Sweden our strong dollar means that the barrel of oil they bought in 1980 for 29 U.S. dollars translated into 116 kronor. And when they bought the same barrel of oil in 1984 for $29, it cost them 251 kronor. That's why they are upset. And that's why the Germans and the English and the French are upset.
But for people in Lawrence, it means they can buy imported items for much less. That's great.
For the people living outside Lawrence on farms, it means that foreign countries don't want to buy their grain because the price is too high. Agriculture has always been one of the best exports for the United States, but even the surplus in ag trade dropped from $21.2 billion in 1982 to $19.6 in 1983. That's not so great.
It means billions of foreign dollars are being invested in the United States, and that in turn, allows banks to lend money to businesses that want to expand. That's another great.
But that is another sore point for the Europeans because that money, about $100 billion, could have been invested in Europe.
In the long run, it might mean a loss of jobs and a push for protectionism. Farmers and manufacturers are scared. They want some assurance that the government is not going to let imports run them out of business.
Protectionism isn't the answer. It is too close to hampering the free market.
There are no good answers because someone is bound to get hurt — the consumers or the producers. This is just one of those no-win situations.
In the space of 10 days, I watched a good friend metamorphose from a truly restless mess into a false sense of listless bliss.
Academic suicide not cure for fevers
He was the quintessential example of two fevers that strike most students at the end of March and beginning of April.
I am speaking, of course, of cabin fever and snoring fever.
Before spring break, he stared out the window at yet another. God have mercy, miserable blizzard. The
found the last traces of snow melted, flowers blooming and songbirds crooning.
black craters under his eyes looked like buzzards circling down toward the carcass.
He complained that he could hear the walls of his ever-dwelling apartment breathing. Large, menacing fire and howled when he passed near.
He might have noticed that it was now light when he stumbled to class in the mornings, but he was never awake to see.
"I know the weather was great last week, and everybody's a little touched in the head," I said. "Don't squander the whole semester, now. You can't afford to blow off forever."
DAN
CROCKETT
Just before break, he shot his clock radio.
Then he headed south for a bedonian hiatus.
ledentic maxts.
When he returned to Lawrence, he
Staff Columnist
Grinning vacantly, he drifted around campus, worked on his tan
"Hey, if I needed nagging, I could call my mom," he said, stirring. "You implying that I'm not making the grade?"
He bought a new alarm clock but never plugged it in.
The grade you're making is
"I know last Wednesday was the first day of spring.
and everybody's a little touched in the head. But don't squander the whole semester, now. You can't afford to blow off forever. Think of the heat you'll be feeling in a month — papers and projects due, finals
"All over Lawrence students will be ordering pizzas, doing doughnut runs, and staying up for 72 hours at a time."
...
and generally looked as though he'd just hooked down a fistful of valium and quaaludes.
I went to see him last weekend.
I went to see him last weekend.
He was sprawled, slothlike, in a hammock. A hose snaked lazily from a well-iced key to where he was suspended. His books decomposed in a corner.
what's left when you take the ever out of fever," I said.
"Well, I have been a tad slack lately," he began
I plunged in.
"You've got spring fever something terrible," I said. "But think of the heat you'll be feeling in a month — papers and project due finals."
"Ahh, the dreaded final fire," he
said. "The last fever of spring is always the worst."
"That's right," I said. "And it's always the same. Pretty soon the newspaper will be running all those stories to deal with the feverish stress."
"Yea," he said. "Eat three balanced meals a day and get at least eight hours of sleep each night." Sure.
"All over Lawrence, students will be ordering pizzas, doing doughnuts and staying up for 72 hours at a time." I said.
"But April just started," I said. "We don't have to be fools."
"Don't say it," he said. "I can't bear to go back to the 'days of the living dead'."
"Hey, it only took me 10 days to go from clawdest claprobacy paranoia to maximum relaxation," he said, burrowing deeper into his cocoon. "I've got a whole month before finales fever really starts to burn."
I flashed out my pocket knife and cut the hammock's lifeline. My friend thudded on the floor.
"What the . . . " he blurted.
"Welcome to reality." I cut in.
"Academic suicide is not the answer. Anyway, who else will absolutely have a waiting and grashing on all nose through six consecutive all-nights? It's your duty."
He got up. He was saved.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Doling out praise
To the editor:
I would like to respond to an article in the March 26 University Daily Kansan concerning Sen. Boh Dole's speech in the London Lecture Series
I understand that it was Nancy Haney's responsibility to report all aspects of a media event, but I think that the coverage given to a handful of farmers and their complaints against the federal government is disproportionate. I'm in Kansas' most powerful elected official and favorite son, Bob Dole.
The Landon series is a prestigious accomplishment for the senior senator from Kansas. Initiated by Alf Landon in 1966, it has sponsored a number of important public figures. The appearance of the Senate majority leader at this event is also of note because Dole was the first Kansan invited to speak since Landon.
The farm credit crisis has developed from a long-term symbiosis between the farmers and the government, and no easy choices can be made to resolve this conflict. I am a product of a farm community, and I am aware of the situation in which the small farmer has been placed.
I attended this event, and it was obvious that the tremendous applause and respect directed toward the senator was proof that he is still strongly supported by the majority of this state's citizens.
It is interesting to note that the farm debt "buy-down" proposal introduced in the Kansas Senate Committee on Agriculture on March 25, which has been called the most expensive loan before this Senate, was conspicuously lacking attendance from members of the farm community.
Even so, I applaud Dole for taking a stance that may indeed jeopardize his standing with a sector of his constituency, but his efforts to improve it will be important and the deficit problem will have lasting effects on the economy.
This in itself leads me to question the priorities farmers have set in pursuing relief from the credit crunch.
If Dole's speech was not of interest to you, be sure and see Tip O'Neill's appearance in the London series on April 22.
Michael Glassner Peabody senior
Where are you?
To the editor:
The question "Where were you?" doesn't exactly apply to me because I'm too young to have been involved in the formation or participation of the early civil rights movement. The more appropriate question for me, as well as many others, is, "Where are you now?"
When you walk down the sidewalk along Jayhawk Boulevard and see someone different than yourself, what is your response? Do you cringe in fear? Do you boil with hate? Do you ignore them? Or do you smile and say "Hi?" Where are you now?
I admit I had my doubts about going to hear Louis Farrakhan speak. I had always heard other people say he was a bigot, a racist, a threat to unity among people of all colors. I saw the pain, anger, frustration and confusion in my Jewish friends' faces, and I was saw I was all fired up and threatened with his appearance when something inside me said, "You haven't heard him speak. How can you intelligently disagree if you haven't heard him speak?" To protest would have been out of ignorance on my part because I had not heard both sides of the story.
the only I am extremely glad I went to hear him. His speech was probably one of the most informative, thought-provoking and action-motivating speeches I have heard on this campus. The brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha and the members of the Black Student Union who were responsible for bringing him here are to be commended. His presence has already brought people of color closer
to themselves and has the potential to bring closer people who are distant from each other because of their differences.
If the students and faculty who attended the speech take his advice and at least work toward mutual respect for others, racism will be destroyed. For those of you who have heard that he is racist, explain to me what he had to gain by calling for mutual respect.
So again I ask you, "Where are you now? Do you fear? Do you hate? Do you believe what other people say is the truth, or do you seek the truth for yourself?" I challenge you, students and faculty of all colors, to work toward the positive teachings of Furrakhan. Even if we don't fall in love with each other, at least we can say that we worked together in mutual respect to prevent the total destruction of the human race.
Cheri L. Brown Toneka senior
Questionable data
To the editor:
... Under no circumstances ought homosexuality be regarded as other than a destructive habit-system Those who turn from homosexuality should be oblivious to inability or responsible heterosexuality should be forgiven and welcome."
Joe Vusch's response to Douglas Stallings' criticism of a tract on homosexuality put out by the New Life Christian church could use
The "scientific evidence" Vusich provides to refill Stallens' criticism of suicide rates among homosexuals as compared to heterosexuals is hardly compelling the Organization Vusich cites, the Institute for Social Science, Sexuality, is much more ideological than scientific in its perspective.
From ISIS Position Paper on Homosexuality — which contains no citations from controlled research — I offer the following: "Homosexuals renounce their social obligation and slavishly devote themselves to self-aggrandizement. They rob society to pleasure themselves, maintaining an alarming or basic requirement that are met is regarded as additional opportunity for personal pleasure rather than a loan to be put into service for societal betterment."
To the editor:
I hardly find the above reflective of an objective science steward toward the conduct of inquiry. It would be very difficult to treat data produced by this organization with respect, and I am still looking for scientific evidence worthy of consideration.
Dennis M. Dailey professor of social welfare
Petition 1985-202
I am writing this letter to inform Kansas students about petition 1985-202. The petition states, "that persons convicted of sexual crimes or felonies in anyway affiliated with the University not be allowed to attend the students of the University of Kansas in any public position."
It is true that this petition would affect Roderick Timmons. After all, he is a highly visible representative of this University, who was convicted of sexual battery. Even the NCAA rules agree that financial awards may be canceled if a student athlete "engages in serious misconduct."
Steve Nave, KU football player, wants us to know that he feels Roderick Timmons has suffered enough. I wonder if he has any idea of how much emotional suffering the卒 will experience the rest of her life.
I think that if we allow scholarship funds to continue to anyone — athletes or non-athletes who have committed a misdemeanor or felon.
committed a misdemeanor or felony
— that we are condoning their
crimes. Supporting this petition will
send a strong and clear message to
other universities that KU is con-
firmed and proud of its representatives.
Lisa Westling
Lisa Westling St. Louis graduate student