4
University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, March 3, 1992
OPINION
Department, faculty must make changes
At the University of Kansas, and especially here in the computer science department, we are living unsettling times.
In particular, I am discussing the current debate regarding the future of the computer science program at KU. First and foremost, there should be a computer science department at the University.
As a senior, I have become acquainted over the years with most of the department's faculty. All of these people have their strengths and weaknesses.
To an outside observer, this must appear as a power struggle and clash of egos among a few individuals and the sides that most of the faculty have taken. Now that this conflict has become a media event, it must be addressed. Some things within the department must change.
I had a meeting with the department's chairperson, William Bulgren, a couple of weeks ago. I discovered that because of the way state money is financed at the University, most of the undergraduate computing resource money is funneled into one central VAX 900 computer. We are allowed to use our own machines if we want, but all projects must eventually be ported
David Hughes
Guest columnist
to the overloaded, timesharing VAX.
The point I am trying to make is that faculty grief is not the only source of student frustration. Trying to log on and get work done on the VAX 9000 16 hours of the day is almost a loke.
With the exception of a central database, the days of a central time-sharing computer have long since passed. At the University of Kansas, guess what we have to work with.
I feel that the program at the University has substantial merit despite the many years of internal fighting and resource problems. What is not generally mentioned during this debate is the success graduates of the computer science program have when they get into the real world. I wonder if some people, journalists included, have lost sight of this primary goal.
I have a lot of respect and admiration for both Zami Bavel and Bulgrem.
Both have strong personalities and ideals, which do conflict. Each is a tremendous asset to the University. Although the situation is starting to look like a showdown at the OK Corral, I and most other students do not wish to see either of these professors leave the department.
Bavel is one of the few professors who I have ever encountered who, if you have a problem, encouragesyouto call him at home any time, day or night. If it is after his bedtime, you speak to his answering machine. This is well beyond the call of duty of any professor.
However, the time has come for all those involved in the program to set aside their differences and focus on their military mission, the education of students.
For the above-mentioned reasons, it may be a good idea for Bulgren to step aside for a while and allow an uninvolved, unbiased outside party act as arbitrator to get the department and the computer science program back on track.
David Hughes is a Lawrence senior majoring in computer science.
THE UNIVERSITYDAILY KANSAN
Drunk driving bill won't help
Lowering the blood alcohol level misses the point and won't
increase enforcement
A bill in the state Legislature would lower the illegal intoxication level for drivers from an alcohol blood level of 10 percent to .08 percent. This is a terrible idea. The limit for intoxication should not be lowered; rather, enforcement of the current laws should be raised.
The .10percent level is achieved after drinking about three beers an hour. This level varies according to a person's weight. The driver cannot have the intoxication charge overturned by the defense of not being impaired. The bill would not change this, but drivers with an alcohol blood level between .08 percent and .10 percent would be able to protest the charge. Proponents of the bill said it would be difficult to protest successfully. A .08 percent level is achieved after drinking about one and one-half beers in an hour.
The proponents of the bill also said the new limit would double the number of drivers arrested for drunk driving. Last year, 9,000 people were arrested for drunk driving.
This bill would give more of a leeway to
police officers to arrest people, but those drivers will never be arrested if there is not more enforcement. It is a reality that not every person who drives while intoxicated is arrested. This will still occur regardless of whether the bill is passed. This is the true problem that needs to be addressed.
It is commendable that legislators realize the devastating problem that drunk drivers cause. It is a problem that must be dealt with. But this bill is not the answer.
Legislators should devote their energies to increasing the risks to drunk drivers by increasing their odds of getting arrested, such as more police enforcement when bars are closing. Legislators also should increase the cost to drivers who are convicted of drunk driving. A person convicted currently faces fines up to $1,000 and sentences up to one year in jail. These could be increased or plea bargaining decreased.
There is no need for this bill, but there is a tremendous need for more enforcement. Without the enforcement, the bill would only be a token act that may affect some people but will not make the impact desperately needed to reduce drunk driving.
Group's parking ideas flawed
Amy Francis for the editorial board
Ticketing cars parked on lawns and requiring permits misses the true source of the problem
In an effort to deter parking on lawns in the Oread Neighborhood (Ninth Street to Seventeenth Street from Michigan Street to Massachusetts Street), the Oread Neighborhood Association has come out with a proposal that would allow police to ticket cars parked in front yards. The association also advocates the city initiating a system of parking permits similar to one used in Manhattan. Under the Manhattan ordinance, each property owner is eligible for two free permits and may purchase others. Parking would be restricted between 2 and 9 a.m. only.
The association's efforts to improve the quality of life and beauty of the neighborhood is good; however, the proposal is an unwelcome intrusion into the lives of students both who live in the neighborhood and those who park there.
One of the selling points for landlords near the football stadium is the potential revenue tenants can make parking cars on their lawns for football games. Many students can pay a
large portion of their rent with money from parking, a source of income that would dry up under the association's proposal to ticket cars parked on lawns.
Quite a few bars are located in the Oread Neighborhood. At a time when drunk driving is such a concern, the city should be giving incentives for not driving after 2 a.m. rather than requiring somebody to move it after leaving a bar to avoid a ticket.
Checking cars parked on the street for permits is an unnecessary drain on police resources, as is requiring police officers to make sure cars are not parked in front vards.
Ticketing cars does not address the real problem, that landlords often do not provide enough on-site parking for their tenants. Landlords who divide old houses into multiple apartments and then expect their tenants to find parking wherever they can are not being realistic and are not being very good neighbors in the Oread area. A better attempt to solve this problem would be a more realistic approach for the Oread Neighborhood Association, and a more welcome one.
Mark Coatney for the editorial board
Check the facts
I thought journalists were supposed to check their facts.
Yet nobody asked me about the so-called "conflict" between Chairman Bulgren and myself or about its mythical effects on managing the department of computer science and on students' rights.
And the railroad rolls on ...
professor of computer science
Hunters need respect
You posed your arguments: 1) You don't need to hunt unless you're restraining, 2) Shooting animals is like shooting one's neighbors, 3)
I admittit. I drink beer, I burp, and I wear belt buckles. However, I'm not stupid, illiterate, fat and hairy, and I don't own an Uzi. Surprise, David (Caruso).I'm a hunter. After reading your piece on hunting I thought I would satisfy your "earnest hoping" for better arguments from hunters.
Lettersto the editor
Hunters fees don't make a difference. Well, David, allow me to respond: 1) In order to keep from starving, everyone eats. This means something dies for your food. Just because you don't see the slaughterhouse that sends McDonald's beef doesn't mean cattle aren't butchered. Perhaps you're a strict vegetarian. O.K. but how do you define life? Aren't plants alive? Don't they grow, adapt, and reproduce? How horrible to rip them from their Mother Earth, only to end up being shredded and crushed between your teeth. 2) Shooting animals is like shooting people? Get real. 3) Hunters fees don't matter? There is a section on your Kansas tax form where you can make a nongame wildlife contribution. Did you fill this out? I did.
If none of that makes sense to you, there is another area you need to consider. You lumped together a group of people to create a target for
My annual hunting license costs money. Replacement of my hunter's safety education card (mandatory) costs money. I think I can safely say I have sent more money to the Kansas Department of Wildlife during the last 15 years than you have.
Doesn't this University teach tolerance and sensitivity towards those who are different from ourselves? I can only imagine the outcry if you had been anti-Asian, anti-female, anti-Black, anti-gay, anti-handicapped, or against any other "group." You presented hunters as a bunch of ignorant, redneck, bloodthirsty threats to society.
your ridicule, only because you don't like something in which we participate.
Well, next time you climb up your soap box to type out another Pulitzer Prize winner, remember that not everyone is a photocopy of you. Some of us have lives and interests that may not please you, but "hunters" don't deserve to be insulted just because you don't like what we do.
Greg Dyer
Wichita sophomore
Laura Moriarty's interesting editorial in the Feb. 26 Kansan contains one statement about the origin of the word "woman" that I would like to clarify.
Word information
According to the Oxford English Dictionary (the most reliable source for the history of words in English), the word "woman" does not come from "womb-man" but rather from "wifman." The word "wif" in Old English originally meant "adult female" before its meaning narrowed to our current "wife." Since the word "man" originally meant "human being," the original "wif-man" (now woman) essentially meant "female human being."
The historical origin of the word is not the "correct" meaning of the word, so this etymological information settles nothing in the debate about sexist language, but it does allow us to debate the issue with the facts before us.
associate professor of English
Abortion isn't a 'right'
Stephan Martino's editorial Feb. 26 contained several errors that need to be addressed.
Several times he calls abortion a right. Nowhere in the Declaration of Independence,
Every year, thousands of infertile couples are turned down for adoption due to a lack of available babies. Many of these couples would gladly accept even a deformed or retarded
the constitution or its 26 amendments is the right to an abortion given to a woman.
Martino also states women will be forced to have unwanted babies if Roe vs. Wade is overturned.
Thirdly, Roe vs. Wade was based on a lie. The woman who originally brought the case to court recently admitted that her child was not the product of a rape, which was her initial reason for an abortion.
If we remove the stigma of unwed pregnancy or disabilities, we will not have women seeking illegal or unsafe abortions.
KANSANSTAFF
Every child has the will and right to live just like you or me. But every year, thousands of potential scientists', doctors', politicians' and others' right to life are denied, unlike us, who go living, learning, creating and just having a good time.
Daniel McFarren Wichita freshman
TIFFANY HARNESS
Editor
VANESSA FUHRMANS Managing editor
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
Editors
News...Mike Andrewss
Editorial...Beth Randolph
Planning...Larra Gold
Campus...Eric Gorski/Rockefeller
Sports...Eric Nelson
Photo...Julie Jacobson
Features...Debbie Meyers
Graphics...Aimee Braunard/Jet Meesaw
Editors
JENNIFER CLAXTON Business manager
JAY STEINER
Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
Campus sales mgr ..Bill Leibengow
Regional sales mgr ..Rich Harsbarger
National sales mgr ..Scott Hanna
Co-op sales mgr ..Ame Johnson
Production mgrs ..Kim Wallace
Marketing director ..Kim Keeler
Marketing leader ..Kim Clxton
Creative director ..Leeanyant
Classified man ..Rick Kim
Business Staff
Letters should be double, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's name, position, school, and affiliated with the University of Kansas must include class and homeschool, or faculty or staff position.
Loco Locals
The Kansan reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansan newroom, 111 Snuffer-Flint Hall.
byTom Michaud