Opinion THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN DAVIDSON: THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW ECONOMIC HISTORY WILL REPEAT IT FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2009 United States First Amendment COMING MONDAY WWW.KANSAN.COM Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. FREE FOR ALL To contribute to Free for All, visit Kansan.com or call (785) 864-0500. I was having trouble with chem, and this guy told me that I had to use avocado's number ... multiple times. It's raining and there is no Wescoe Wit. Can this day get any worse? --athletics set a record GPA. The teams altogether averaged 2.99, and of the 16 teams at the University, 10 averaged better than 3.0. Leading the way was the women's golf team with a combined GPA of 3.46, followed by the volleyball team's 3.35 average. This is an impressive accomplishment considering the amount of time student athletes commit to their sports. Therefore, be it resolved that the University of Kansas Student Senate here assembled, firmly believes that a grizzly bear would willingly and thoroughly annihilate a silverback gorilla in a death Dear KU, if you are going to the Underground at noon don't sit at a four-person table if you are by yourself. --athletics set a record GPA. The teams altogether averaged 2.99, and of the 16 teams at the University, 10 averaged better than 3.0. Leading the way was the women's golf team with a combined GPA of 3.46, followed by the volleyball team's 3.35 average. This is an impressive accomplishment considering the amount of time student athletes commit to their sports. The things I say in my head are funnier than the things that come out of my mouth. Kleinmann, I would like to personally apologize on behalf of the crazy old lady who chased you halfway through the parking lot to get a picture. --athletics set a record GPA. The teams altogether averaged 2.99, and of the 16 teams at the University, 10 averaged better than 3.0. Leading the way was the women's golf team with a combined GPA of 3.46, followed by the volleyball team's 3.35 average. This is an impressive accomplishment considering the amount of time student athletes commit to their sports. You know what was awesome? There was a traff jam after the women's game Respect! --athletics set a record GPA. The teams altogether averaged 2.99, and of the 16 teams at the University, 10 averaged better than 3.0. Leading the way was the women's golf team with a combined GPA of 3.46, followed by the volleyball team's 3.35 average. This is an impressive accomplishment considering the amount of time student athletes commit to their sports. A story on Fmylife.com actually happened in my life. EMY --athletics set a record GPA. The teams altogether averaged 2.99, and of the 16 teams at the University, 10 averaged better than 3.0. Leading the way was the women's golf team with a combined GPA of 3.46, followed by the volleyball team's 3.35 average. This is an impressive accomplishment considering the amount of time student athletes commit to their sports. The English muffin is not English. --athletics set a record GPA. The teams altogether averaged 2.99, and of the 16 teams at the University, 10 averaged better than 3.0. Leading the way was the women's golf team with a combined GPA of 3.46, followed by the volleyball team's 3.35 average. This is an impressive accomplishment considering the amount of time student athletes commit to their sports. So I told my friend that Tyrel Reed was transferring to Mizzou as an April Fool's joke and she totally bought it. Somebody stole the remote control for April Fools' Day and it is not funny at all. My friend just tried to call the Free for All to talk about how drunk he was, but he called the wrong number. --athletics set a record GPA. The teams altogether averaged 2.99, and of the 16 teams at the University, 10 averaged better than 3.0. Leading the way was the women's golf team with a combined GPA of 3.46, followed by the volleyball team's 3.35 average. This is an impressive accomplishment considering the amount of time student athletes commit to their sports. It's on days like today that I wish my boss hadn't incinerated the giant stuffed grizzly bear in the museum. --athletics set a record GPA. The teams altogether averaged 2.99, and of the 16 teams at the University, 10 averaged better than 3.0. Leading the way was the women's golf team with a combined GPA of 3.46, followed by the volleyball team's 3.35 average. This is an impressive accomplishment considering the amount of time student athletes commit to their sports. By the beard of Odin, that was delicious juice. --athletics set a record GPA. The teams altogether averaged 2.99, and of the 16 teams at the University, 10 averaged better than 3.0. Leading the way was the women's golf team with a combined GPA of 3.46, followed by the volleyball team's 3.35 average. This is an impressive accomplishment considering the amount of time student athletes commit to their sports. To all the guys with umbrellas out there: Grow a pair of balls. A little rain never hurt anybody. Deal with it like a man. The umbrella is a tool, therefore not so different from yourself. Evolve, you moron. Hey Free for All! I'm on a boat! EDITORIAL BOARD Athletes set records with impressive GPAs PAGE 5A Too often, we hear stories about collegiate teams cracking under pressure and committing "foul" play — recruiting violations, grade inflation, even outright cheating. It's refreshing to be a part of a university that excels not only on the court, but also in the classroom, sans controversy. Last fall semester. University of Kansas freshman and outside hitter, said she spent about 15 hours per week studying or doing homework on top of that, which she described as nothing when compared to some of her other teammates. KANSAN'S OPINION So what makes our University Ray Bechard, volleyball coach, said his players spent upwards of 20 hours per week in practice and weight training during the season. Allison Mayfield, Overland Park special? Jim Marchiony, associate athletic director, said a number of factors went into student athletes' positive academic showing. First, he said students had to be self-motivated to do well. Bechard agreed,saying the University recruited good students who managed their time well. Second, Marchiony credited the faculty with understanding the pressure student athletes felt to perform well and to juggle time effectively, especially at a Division 1 school. And lastly, we need to credit the University support staff, a network of student and faculty tutors, who Marchionny described as dedicated individuals who knew what they were doing and who cared about the athletes. Mayfield takes advantage of the offered help, going to four hours of tutoring per week. Bechard said very few universities created the kind of atmosphere for success like the University did. "I feel that at KU you are surrounded by people who truly care not only how well you are doing on the court/field but also about how well you are doing in your classes," Mayfield said. "If we ever needed help with anything, there would be five people to sit down and help us." The University has been able to stand out amongst competition athletically and academically. So next time you see an athlete walking down lajhawk Blvd., heading off to class, give them a high-five or a well deserved pat on the back for putting in the effort, and hours, to contribute to the University on and off the court. — Amy Johnson for The Kansan Editorial Board MUSIC BEN COLDHAM Hip-hop may sell, but fans hope genre won't sell out As everyone knows,sex sells. What the corporate world has learned progressively throughout the past 20 years is that hip-hop does as well. Although initially reluctant to accept hip-hop as the marketing gem it was bound to become,it didn't take long for big business to come around after observing the near-infinite buying potential of the hip-hop community. Today, elements of hip-hop culture are used as strategic tools in national advertising campaigns of a wide variety of popular brands. Television viewers alone can turn on their set and see Jay-Z selling Hewlett-Packard PCs and even Jeezy hocking Boost cell phones. But things were not always this way. Despite the sharp increase of hip-hop album sales during the 1980s, mainstream corporations were hesitant at first to engage in endorsement deals with hip-hop artists. Unfortunately, the general consensus is that the cause for this reluctance was rooted in the lingering, racist assumptions of a handful of bigoted but powerful board members. As the years went by and the national popularity of hip-hop skyrocketed, however, corporations could not help but notice the level of exposure hip-hop was receiving in the form of music, graffiti and general style in the streets (not to mention record sales). Then, in 1986, Adidas signed groundbreaking hip-hop group Run-DMC to a $1 million endorsement deal, and as a result enjoyed the explosive success of its "Superstar" shoe, the iconic style worn by all three members of the group. This deal completely changed the game. Hip-hop was becoming mainstream and, sure enough, one by one other corporations began to follow, lured by the buying power of a devoted target audience and reassured by the enormous success of the Adidas campaign. Since then, hip-hop has garnered the attention of corporations seeking to profit from hip-hop's influence on popular culture and the psyche of the young consumer today. This emergence of hip-hop as a social force inevitably inspired the formation of a new breed of company and new methods of reaching the street-wise rap fans. Several brands founded in the past decade have experienced tremendous success targeting the hip-hop consumer because they are founded and developed by popular hip-hop figures themselves. Designer clothing lines such as Sean "Diddy" Combs' Sean John and lay-Z's Rocawear labels speak directly to their hip-hop audience. These brands continue to be successful because they stress what hip-hop heads look for in every product: credibility and authenticity. BEN'S BEATDOWNS Hot Track: "The Hardest" by Large Professor, feat. Styles P & AZ. Forgotton Album: "H.N.I.C" by Prodigy of Mobb Deep Underground Album: "Second Nature" by All Natural Hip-hop is big business today. All companies want consumers to do is buy, buy and buy some more, which is what makes their relationships with hip-hop a match made in heaven, because it seems all the hip-hop consumer wants to do is spend, spend and spend some more, whether it be on sneakers, CDs or even Cristal in the club. Corporations love the money and hip-hop loves the exposure (as well as the money), and this adds up to a lucrative trend for both parties. Although they may have gotten off to a rocky start, corporate advertising and the hip-hop world have joined forces during the past decade and will remain that way because they share one primary interest: making dough. We can only hope that the fortune and exposure advertising brings won't blind hip-hop artists and cause them to lose their creative way. Peace. Coldham is a Chicago senior in journalism and English. FROM ARIZONA leachers turn to advertising to find classroom funding BY JUSTIN HUGGINS U. of Arizona Arizona Daily Wildcat There's no money in teaching. We've all come to understand that Last week the Associated Press reported that an Idaho teacher struck a sponsorship deal with a local pizza shop in an effort to save money.The pizza parlor agreed to supply paper for the teacher's five classes as long as its ad appeared on each page. Ten thousand sheets of paper, enough for the rest of the year and all of next, cost the pizzeria $315. accept that discouraging truth. Teachers have long purchased their own school supplies as schools' budgets evaporate. But now teachers are having to think outside the box in order to cover their most essential classroom expenses. Jeb Harrison now hands out exams with the ad printed along the bottom of every page. The school district in which Harrison teaches is facing a budget shortfall of nearly $10 million next year, and the district is freezing spending on school supplies, teacher training and field trips. One can hardly fault Harrison for donning salesman's hat, but is this what we've come to as a society? Are we willing to shortchange our children's education for a few bucks? I concede that many of us are corporate spokeswhores, splattered with labels from head to toes. We're all just walking billboards, and that's fine. But I draw the line at educators having to sell their classrooms to make ends meet. Our priorities are askew. We value F-22s more than books and paper. We place education on the chopping block first. To us, education is optional and disposable. But as long as we consider education expendable, we're hindering our collective future. We must realize that our future isn't a bank with slipshod lending habits or a car manufacturer that makes inefficient vehicles or a company that rewards incompetent executives. Our future is sitting in a classroom somewhere. Our future is learning from a teacher, not an ad salesman. The only thing teachers should promote is education. Let's just hope the government isn't counting on the nation's pizzerias to bail out our struggling schools. Otherwise, we're doomed. Susan Linn, a Harvard psychologist and director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, said, "When teachers start becoming pitchmen for products, children suffer and their education suffers as well" I don't know about you, but a big red ad for pizza at the bottom of the page would surely distract me while I was trying to concentrate on an exam. Beyond these concerns lies a fundamental objection to selling ad space in the classroom. We should value education enough to fund it, period. If we can bail out automakers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, AIG and countless banks, we should be able to fund our schools. If we can fund trillion-dollar wars, why can't we fund Jeb Harrison's classroom without the help of ad revenue? — UWire Students should care about local elections Continuing battles over economic development will determine whether Lawrence remains a hip university town or turns into a suburb of a suburb of KC and Topeka. I pay rent, i buy food and gas and clothes here, I spend lots of money downtown and at Lawrence stores, so it's important to me that I have a voice in helping Lawrence stay, well, Lawrence-v. LETTER TO THE EDITOR And the school board elections concern us as well, even if we don't have children or don't Advance voting is open for Lawrence city commission and Lawrence school board elections. Voting early is easy and fast. Show your ID, vote, you're outta there. For those of you thinking, "What do I care about Lawrence city commission? I'm at KU," I'd challenge you to learn more and rethink your approach. Local elections are often as important, if not more important, than elections for national offices, because it is the few people on our city commission who make decisions about the city bus system, the 'rental registry' (which will definitely affect you if you rent a house or apartment in Lawrence!) and other issues that affect us as KU students. plan to. School boards are the arbiters of school curricula and what children learn in schools is often carried through into their later belief systems. The children of the elementary and high schools today are the students who will be sitting in the desks in KU classrooms tomorrow. The policies that the school board adopts today will be the ones our kids or nieces and nephews are subject to in a few years. As KU students we may have an even heightened responsibility to be at least involved enough to take 20 minutes to read up on the candidates (check the local paper or grab a web address from the yard signs all over town!) and another 10 minutes to drive downtown to the courthouse at 11th and Mass. to vote. College is a time and this University is a place where we are already thinking about lots of these issues in our courses and debating them with friends. I came to the University because I liked Lawrence's vibe; I vote because I want the vibe to carry on. I'm proud to be a Jayhawk and even though I might only be living in Lawrence for a few years, I do live here now and I do want my voice to be heard. So should you! Milton W.W. Wendland is a graduate student from Lawrence HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR LETTER GUIDELINES Send letters to opinion@kansan.com Write LETTER TO THE EDITOR in the e-mail subject line Length: 300 words The submission should include the author's name, grade and hometown. Find our full letter to the editor policy online at kansan.com/letters. CONTACT US Brenna Hawley, editor 854-4810 or bhawley@msn.com Tara Smith, managing editor 864-4810 or tsmith@akansan.com Mary Sorick, managing editor 864-4810 or msorick@kansan.com Kelsey Hayes, kansan.com managing editor 0844 367 5592 Katie Blankenau, opinion editor 864-4924 or kblankenau@kansan.com Dan Thompson, editorial editor 864-4924 or dthompson@ikansan.com Laura Vest, business manager 864-4358 or lvest@kansan.com Dani Erker, sales manager 864-4477 or derker@ikansan.com Malcoim Gibson, general manager and news adviser 864-766-2 or malcoim@gibson.com Jon Schitt, sales and marketing adviser 864-7566 or jon.schitt@kansan.com THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kananian Editorial Board are Brenna Hawley, Tara Smith, Mary Somick, Keley Hayes and Dan Thompson.