University Daily Kansan, February 14, 1985
OPINION
Page 4
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
The University Daily Kansas, **NKPS** 605-6400 is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Stuffer Flint Hall. Lawrence, Kan 6045, daily during the regular school year and Wednesday and Friday during the summer session, excluding Saturday, Sunday, and finals periods. Second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kan 6044 Subscriptions by holidays, $2 a year in Douglas County, and $4 a year outside the county. Student addresses are paid through the student activity fee **P*DSTMER**. Send address changes to the University Daily Kansas, 118 StuFFER Flint Hall. Lawrence, Kan 6045
MATT DEGALAN
Editor
DIANE LUBER SUSAN WORTMAN Managing Editor Editorial Editor
ROB KARWATH Campus Editor
LYNNE STARK Business Manager
DUNCAN CALHOUN MARY BERNICA
Retail Sales National Sales
Manager Manager
SUSANNE SHAW General Manager and News Adviser
DAVID NIXON Campus Sales Manager
JOHN OBERZAN Sales and Marketing Adviser
Red cellophane affection
The empty brown wrappers from the Christmas chocolates are still lying in the discarded box on the end table.
are still lying in the disturbed scene. But never mind. Yet another cause for frantic shopping for loved ones is upon us.
loved ones is upon us. The ads have tried to entice us, confuse us, coerce us and heap guilt upon us.
heap guilt upon us. What will our sweetheart think if today goes by without some material sign of our devotion and affection?
some material sign or our name?
Is a box of chocolates enough? Is it too much? Are flowers more appropriate? Will they send a message that is too serious?
serious:
The merchants have done their best to convince us that everybody deserves a little love on this day.
And they are right.
And they are right. But forget the expensive bouquet, the two-dollar card or the chocolate kisses.
Ignore the advertisements that are making Valentine's Day one more successful commercial venture.
Draw a card, send a note, bake some cookies or show up with something that has special significance just for you and your loved one.
And kisses? Even the ones made out of the finest chocolate can't take the place of the real thing.
Not a timely idea
The University of Kansas, in the near future, may place a solar clock in the middle of its campus. It would rise 45 feet from the sunken sidewalk area on the north side of Wescoe Hall.
The Theta Tau engineering fraternity and the Solar Club initiated the project in the fall of 1983. The project still requires approval of the Board of Regents and donations to cover its estimated cost of $125,000.
The clock, designed by Betsy Clark in a competition last year when she was a senior in architecture, presents an interesting dual symbolism.
On the one hand, using solar energy shows KU's awareness of using one of Kansas' most abundant and least used natural resource — the sun. On the other hand, the placement of a clock in the midst of campus symbolizes further the clockbound lives of University people. The campus already has a marvelous carillon and an earspitting whistle.
Yet, the question still hangs — do we want such symbolism on our campus?
Architects say the strong vertical line of the tower will draw the eye away from the strong horizontal block called Wescoe. They say it helps blend the modern Wescoe with the more traditional Strong Hall. The color of the clock is even supposed to help tie the two together.
supposed to help de the clock They say the clock is centrally located and will add a unique feature to campus. And if it doesn't work out, it can easily be torn down.
Most of us are without an architect's knowledge. We just consider what would and what would not add to the beauty of the campus.
the campus. The problem comes not with the clock, but with the building it is trying to hide. Wescoe squats among the old and elegant buildings on campus. Neither a clock tower nor an overgrown blanket can hide that. And the tower won't really tie Strong and Wescoe together — the styles just seem too different.
The initiative of students throughout the project deserves commendation. The idea is good, and the value of a solar clock, or any clock, on campus does not diminish. Though let's hope we can find a better place to put it and a better way of beautifying the campus.
GUEST COLUMNS The University Daily Kansan invites individuals and groups to submit guest columns. Columns should be typewritten and double-spaced and should not exceed 625 words. They should include the writer's name, address and phone number. Columns can be mailed or, brought to the Kansan office, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit or reject columns.
The University Daily Kansan welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typewritten and double-spaced and should not exceed 300 words. They should include the writer's name, address and phone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University, the letter should include his class and hometown, or faculty or staff position. The Kansan also invites individuals and groups to submit guest columns. Columns and letters can be mailed or brought to the Kansan office, 111 Staunfer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit or reject letters and columns.
LETTERS POLICY
Pro & Con: the drinking age
Right to fight, right to vote, right to drink
I am one of the fortunate students who will not be affected by whatever the Kansas Legislature decides to do on the drinking age for 3.2 percent beer. Not only do I not drink much, but at age 27 I no longer have to worry about people taking away that right.
Right.
But to me, that is the crux of the matter — drinking is a right that comes with turning 18 years old.
comes with turning
My argument for leaving
the drinking age the same is not new or
creative. It is the same reason given
for as many years as the debate has raged.
And it is simply this. If the country reserves the right to send people 18 years old to fight and die for causes it deems worthy, then that person should have the right to drink beer.
In my mind, society cannot force someone to take on the obligations of citizenship without allowing them to fulfill the rights of citizenship.
zenship.
If a person, at 18, is deemed old enough to be a registered voter, be
The wisdom that comes with age 21
I look at some of my friends from my undergraduate days and realize that there is something to be said for raising the drinking age to 21.
Several of these college friends gradually became local fixtures at the bars around town and now are alcoholics.
I ukuce to think that everybody who drinks can handle his or her liquor and that there is no reason to worry
Staff Columnist
MARGARET
SAFRANEK
about young drunk drivers or those throwing up all over the bathroom floor after a party of drinking.
pumsned for crimes as an adult and be drafted should the need arise, then he has to be deemed old enough to decide whether he wants to drink beer.
Granted, not all drunk drivers or those calling in sick because of a hangover are the under age of 21. And there are many who, once learning the price to be paid for feeding the limit, drink responsibly.
But still, there is something to be
It is unjust to say he must wait an additional three years to enjoy the benefits of adulthood.
But then, so is 25 or 45 or 70. There is no appropriate age to send someone to war. That is not the issue here.
When I discussed this issue with a friend 'who supports raising the drinking age to 21, she said she felt it was too young to ask someone to go to 18.
mately can ask people to be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. then deny them the rights that go with that responsibility.
The issue is whether we legiti-
I do not argue that people younger than 18 get beer through 18-year-olds. But it is a minority of them that abuse their right to drink.
The problem is one of enforcement, and the solution is not to take away the rights of the responsible majority.
It stretches my imagination to believe that those under the legal age who really want to drink won't find a way to get around the new age. They have in the past.
Alcohol-related Facts (presented to the House and Senate Federal and State Affairs Committees)
- There are approximately 27,000 cereal malt beverage licenses and about 300,000 people in Kansas between 18 and 20, according to the Tavern League of Kansas and the Kansas Beer Wholesalers Association.
- If the drinking age were raised to 21, about 5,400 full- and part-time jobs would be lost, according to the Tavern League.
- Kansas stands to lose about $18.4 million in federal highway revenue in 1987 and 1988, according to the Kansas Department of Transportation.
- According to the Kansas Department of Transportation, from 1978 to 1982, Kansans between the ages of 18 and 19 constituted 4.6 percent of the state's drivers and were responsible for 14 percent of the alcohol-related traffic accidents. Those between 20 and 24 constituted 2.5 percent of Kansas drivers and were responsible for 27.5 percent of alcohol-related accidents. Those between 25 and 34 make up 21 percent of the licensed drivers and cause 26.6 percent of the alcohol-related accidents in the state.
- The Tavern League of Kansas estimates that in one year, the state and local governments will lose about $8.9 million each year if the drinking age is raised to 21, according to the Tavern League.
- According to statistics released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in August 1984, only 4 percent of all crashes involving 16- to 17-year-olds were alcohol-related; 6.7 percent of all crashes involving 18-year-olds were alcohol-related; 8 percent of all accidents involving 19-year-olds were alcohol-related; 10 percent of all accidents involving 20-year-olds were alcohol related; 10.6 percent of all accidents involving 22- to 24-year-olds were alcohol-related.
said for the wisdom that comes with age, and I just don't think that there is enough wisdom at the age of 18 to justify 'turning people loose on alcohol.
Yet that is what happens.
Young people drink because everyone else does, and too few realize the consequences of their actions.
Most students can recount the first time, at the age of 12 or 15, that they went drinking with their friends and got "bombed," "blitized," "loaded" or, in other words, excessively drunk.
Making such imbibing illegal until an individual is 21 instead of 18 will not eliminate such ventures altogether, but it may make young people more aware of the need for responsible drinking.
And no matter what people argue about being an adult in every other way at the age of 18, I don't think that maturity comes with so few years of living.
in many ways, that is how it should be. Years of youth are all too few and young people should be free of some of the responsibilities that come with the onset of adulthood.
Today, the responsibilities and social pressures of drinking seem to come before people learn appropriate social behavior.
In many ways, an 18-year-old drinking age is the easy way out.
I have heard the complaint time after time from students that there is nowhere to meet people except at the bars. Were the drinking age raised, the majority of undergraduates would be forced to find alternatives to the bars during the first few years of their college careers.
Such an environment would teach people the benefits of social interaction without alcohol. They would be forced initially to come up with alternatives to heading for the bars for an evening's entertainment.
Younger people have always found people of the legal age to buy liquor, for them, no matter what the drinking age is. or They have found store owners willing to look the other way at fake identification cards.
And again the solution exists in stricter enforcement of existing laws. People are not over-exercising their rights.
What is the answer? To me, the answer is the same for all age groups, for there are 30-year-old and 50-year-old people who drink irresponsibly as well.
Public education on the effects of alcohol needs to be continued at all levels so that people will choose not to drink excessively. This is one part of the answer.
Another is strict drunk driving laws and law enforcement budgets, large enough to allow police to enforce them adequately.
But if state governments are going to knuckle under to pressure from the federal government, as they most likely will, then other aspects should be reconsidered.
Do not hold 18- to 20-year-olds responsible for their actions if they are not truly adults. You cannot give the responsibilities without the privileges.
After all, we have just decided they are not old enough for that kind of responsibility.
Those not wanting to drink would learn that declining a drink is not an admission of one's social ineptness but rather, a choice that one makes. With any success, we could grow into a society that is less dependent upon alcohol for a good time.
As it is now, we are taught that alcohol is an obvious ingredient for a social outing.
A few beers at the parkland, a bottle of champagne to celebrate a promotion, a straight shot of bourbon to drown our sorrows over a lost love.
But if we were required to wait a few more years to use alcohol for social occasions, people would realize that there are alternatives.
And with a few more years rather than beers under their belts, those partying with the benefit of alcohol are not in a future approach to excessive drinking.
No legal drinking age will ever totally eliminate those who go out and get drunk. But at 21 and beyond, the chances of being with people who matured enough to handle the situation responsibly improve.
Some people will argue that my college friends would be alcoholics today regardless of the drinking age. And they may be right.
But I think that, had those young 18-year-old friends of mine had to wait a few more years to start going to the bars every night, they might have stumbled on to some better and healthier alternatives along the way.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Making war obsolete
To the editor:
In response to Bryan Daniel's column in Feb. 6 edition of the University Daily Kansan, it seems remarkable to see in a campus newspaper a column advocating ignorance on a major issue.
right side of Daniel's arguments, especially the quote by the late Rep. John Ashbrook, R-Oho, against federal financing of controversial research, would serve far better against Reagan's "Star Wars" proposal then against peace research.
Daniel argues that we shouldn't support peace research because there is no universally agreed upon definition of peace. I'm sure he doesn't know any supersite freedom either,快捷ly he wasn't around in 1863 to advise Lincoln against the Emancipation Proclamation.
His argument that progress is being made without a peace academy is beside the point since that progress would likely be greatly accelerated by the focus that a peace academy would give.
I suspect that behind Daniel's arguments is a degree of uncertainty about whether our nation should clearly set peace as a national goal. But recall that within the last few years, a campaign to wipe out smallpox throughout the earth achieved success.
I'm sure that energetic and creative work by peace researchers can lend to a world where our grandchildren will look back at war as we look back at history. The owners learned to adjust their political theories and their economic prospects, so the foot-draggers and naysayers like Daniel
will learn to adjust to the less of some pet political theories and lucrative defense jobs.
Richard S. Rehmer
visiting scholar in mathematics
Richard S. Rempel
Reality and Iran
To the editor:
We all work humane ideals such as justice, equality, love, honor and understanding. We also hate to see ignorance, corruption and the high crime rate neutralize our positive efforts for better conditions of life.
Our humane motivation, however,
often becomes a victim of politicians,
the mass media and high-ranking
interest groups. So much juggling
with outside events goes on, that
some factual realities blur into
intangible, hazy clouds detached
from reality.
The Islamic Revolution that occurred six years ago is one such event. In fact, some of us might already have developed an unfavorable opinion of this historic event. In spite of the biased reports we hear about the Islamic Revolution, let's consider the social modification that has been accomplished since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran.
The crime rate has dropped substantially. Casinos and bars have been shut down, there are no centers for lecherous wealthy men to enjoy sex at the expense of women's honor. Today alcoholism and its related problems do not exist in Iran. The number of marriages has increased while the rate of divorce seems to be decreasing.
decreasing Four and a half million illiterate citizens now enjoy reading and
According to Western sources, Iran's debt in terms of foreign exchange has lowered from 15 billion to only half a billion dollars. And all of this has been accomplished while the country has been under attack by aggression and territory from aggression of the Iraqi regime engineered by the superpowers.
writing skills. Colleges are operating at their full capacities. The Russian-backed Communist Party has been swept away; the prisons have changed into educational centers. Water and electric power have reached many remote areas of the country. All elderly citizens receive a regular pension.
Ali Mocarrami
Isn't it now time to voice our support for those Muslims who are determined to bring man back to the essential values he was created for?
Tehran, Iran, graduate student
waited as long as 20 hours to assure themselves of having a good spot in the student open-seating section behind the Jayhawk bench. They slept uncomfortably and waited in the cold so they could support the basketball team.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Mocarrami is writing as a representative of the Moslem Student Organization.
All are created equal
To the editor:
As students at the University of Kansas, time and time again we are told to look at each person in the campus community as an equal. Whether those around us are greeks, independents, student athletes or scholarship students, we are told to think of them as equals — without exceptions.
The Athletic Department is making this sort of idealism impossible to accept.
accept.
On Feb. 8, students began camping out for the basketball game the next day against Memphis State. They
Imagine the surprise and anger these people felt when they were finally admitted into the field house only to discover that two-thirds of the seats behind the bench were occupied by athletes of other sports and by members of the student security and their friends. These people were allowed to sit in the student room without having to wait in the cold line like everyone else. They were allowed in before the other students.
The Academic Department needs to be reminded that the true fans are the ones outside in the cold, not the students being allowed to sneak in through another entrance.
The student open-seating section is for the "equal students" of KU, not just for a privileged few. If these students wish to sit in the seats behind the bench, they should be forced to wait in line like everyone.
Larry Brown and the basketball team work hard to win games in a fair and honest way. We salute them, and we all sincerely hope we can salute the Athletic Department in the future for practicing the same honesty and fairness in the way they run the show.
Grant Butler
Overland Park sophomore
Mark Hershman
St. Louis sophomore
EDITOR'S NOTE: This letter was also signed by 13 residents of Oliver Hall.
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