4 University Daily Kansan / Thursday, February 20, 1992 OPINION Don't shoot the animals Last night, I had the strangest dream. The whole world had gone mad, and all of society had turned into a population of big-game hunters. I found myself standing at the doorway of an old, western-style saloon. The tables and bar were coated with dust. There was no one in the bar save a large, hairy man sitting at a table with me. I noticed a nooke mea I watched them. The man sat beside his beer then wiped his mustache on his sleeve, belching before he spoke. "Well, son," he said in a graffu voice. "Looks like tomorrow you'll get to kill your first caterpillar! Ain't you excited?" "Yes, Pai!" the boy exclaimed, smiling and staring wide-eye at an Uzi that was sitting on the table. "But Pa! I'm afraid of deer!" "Yes sir! Soon my boy will be shootin' rodents, an' birds, and maybe someday he'll snag hissef a deer!" "But Doe! I'ungagedoofa dee!" "Hey now, boy! Don't you worry. Them deer don't fight back. All va gotta do is walk up to it quiet-like and pull the trigger! They ain't got no brains like us, boy! And if they try to run, then where they gonna go? The woods is they're home! And once they got a bullet in their stomach, it don't matter anyhow!" The boy nodded. The man up-ended his beer and emptied it into his mouth. I could see his eyes peering at me through the bottom of the glass. Suddenly, he slammed the glass on the table and frowned. "Hey, who're you?" I simply uttered, "Why?" I simply uttered, "Why?" (Writhing) "Why what?" Humm? "Well, why not?" "I don't understand why. But you certainly don't need to hunt to survive. Why do you think you have the right to gun David CarusolI Staff columnist down animals in their own homes? definitely think they have just as much right to live on this earth as we do." "Hey now! I don't hunt 'em for fun, you know! Shoot! Only an idiot'd do that! By me killin' them beasts, I'm actually savin' 'em!" "I don't understand, sir. Why?" "Us hunters, we go for the biggest of the pack! And with the biggins out of the way, that means all the more food for the weaker ones!" De-evolution was a ridiculous argument, but I decided to give him a chance "Why?" "Hey, by us hunters killin' the beasts, it keeps 'em from gettin' too crowded, and dyn'in miserably! Remember when there was over five billion people on this here earth? Well, ever since those big boys wizened up and made killin' legal, we're down to a few million ... No one but hunters, and plenty of room for everyone! What could be better?" Ah! So if one can control the animal population by hunting, then the same principle could apply to the problem of human overpopulation. But that doesn't make sense. In the real world, one isn't supposed to shoot one's neighbor. So why can one shoot animals? "Why?" *And don'f toforget hunters' fees. With all that money comin' in, we try to make better some of the land those animals live on! That way they won't die before we blast 'em！Ya see how responsible us hunters are? We ravage the earth, but we try and clean up the mess, too!" The man leaned back, his chair creaking under the weight. He smiled contentedly, his bellybutton staring at me like an eye peeping over his belt buckle. But hunters' fees don't make a difference. Animals were surviving and evolving for millions of years without money or human interference. I asked again, "Why?" The man then leaned toward me and said, "Listen, huntin' is just the manly thing to do! It's in the gut!" He smacked his belly with his palm, causing his fat to roll like waves. Yes, and hunting was in the gut of the Neanderthal, too. Call me an optimist, but I think that most humans have developed beyond being cavemen. But watching this man was like watching human evolution in reverse. "Hey listen! Killin' is okay. I don't have to open my mind to all your confounded rationale and good sense! Hell, I'll just shoot ya!" The man reached across the table and picked up the Uzi. He aimed it at me and fired for several minutes, spraying the entire saloon with bullets but missing me nonetheless. The last thing I remember before waking up was putting my arms over my head as the whole structure came crashing down on us. I sprang up in bed and sighed, earnestly hoping that the hunters of the real world had better arguments for their actions. David Caruso II is a Lake Waltana sophomore majoring in English and psychology. THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN GTAs deserve the going rate Graduate teaching assistants are unionizing to protest their problem of insufficient pay The graduate teaching assistants at the University of Kansas play an instrumental role in the education of thousands of students. For years, they have been subjected to inferior pay and have lacked a complete fee waiver. These two circumstances have prevented KU from attaining the best graduate students as teachers. Now, the GTAs have an answer to their problem — a union. For the past several months, many GTAs have started organizing a collective bargaining group to deal with issues concerning them. Efforts during the past several years finally resulted in Gov. Joan Finney's proposal this year to extend a complete fee waiver. This action, however, barely scrapes the surface of needs for the men and women who contribute so much to KU's educational opportunities. Clearly, the prospect of teachers picketing on Wescoe Beach for increased pay would be a sight many of us would rather avoid. However, without the strong bargaining position that a union could provide, the Board of Regents, the Legislature and the administration never will fully address the complex concerns of GTAs. It seems strange that it would require unionization of the GTAs to generate the same results that many other public state colleges and universities already provide. No one wants to strike or take other punitive action less than the GTAs themselves. But their positions are jobs. They should not be asked to work for less than the going reasonable rate. Nor should anyone question their motives for taking such action. GTAs care about their jobs or they would not be working in the first place. If a few years of informal lobbying can create a 100-percent fee waiver, imagine what an organized body could accomplish. And if the quality of GTAs improves, the chance for enhanced education for everyone else increases. Stephen Martino for the editorial board Campus voice is far too quiet Students should be unhappy about the ineffectiveness of ASK at this crucial time Students should be angry. Angry at the state's lack of commitment to higher education. And angry at the organization they give more than $32,000 a year to do something about it. Associated Students of Kansas, the group that officially represents the KU student body in Topeka, has been virtually silent this year. Silent on issues that directly affect students such as the restoration of Hoch Auditorium and the lack of state financing for faculty salaries. In this most critical year for higher education in Kansas, the University of Kansas has lost an effective voice for student issues at the Capitol. According to the job description of the co-director of ASK for campus issues, the director is supposed to maintain an effective organization on campus. This includes recruiting new members and presiding over an advisory board composed of representatives from every major group on campus. That board has not met this year. In addition, ASK members have been critical of the directors' efforts at recruiting new member- shipon campus. Clearly, this is a crucial component of their job. Informing and motivating students to support educational issues must be a primary goal of ASK. To the group's credit, the annual lobby day took place in Topeka earlier this month. About 100 students made the trip to support higher education. But as one local legislator asked, why aren't students doing more to protest the state's neglect of higher education? ASK needs to provide the kind of leadership that motivates students to get involved in issues that affect them. This means that the leaders of ASK, Joe Cinalli and John Schwartz, must take a more visible role on campus. ASK also needs to look at new ways to address problems of poor state financing. For example, students in other states have taken their concerns directly to the legislature by staging s-iins at state capitols. Numerous problems face higher education in Kansas. Students have a right to a voice in Topeka. Student Senate has seen fit to finance ASK and provide two salaried positions to lead the organization. The time has come for ASK to do its job and provide the kind of leadership that KU so desperately needs. Chriss Moeeser fior the editorial board Critis Moeeser fior the editorial board Column shows sexism After reading Eric Fliokosi's guest column in the Feb. 12 Kansan, I felt angry, offended and sad. How is it possible for a college-educated person, male or female, in 1992 to be so ignorant? Does Mr. Fliokosi really believe that women who fight for equal rights are "paranoid" and/or that they hate men? If so, he is sorely misinformed. Or could it be that he simply feels his position of privilege and alleged superiority slipping away as women and other minority groups slowly but surely gain ground in their fight against injustice? Mr. Fiolkowski shows his blatant sexism at every turn. Perhaps by portraying all feminists as axe-carrying man bashers he hopes to make those women who aren't reject the term "feminist." Perhaps by slinging such zingers as "And what a muscular shoulder it is..." he hopes to make those of us who lack great physical strength feel like maybe we should just keep our mouths shut, "cause what could little-oleus do about this oppression stuff anyway? Or perhaps he just needed a place to vent. Whatever the case, by portraying feminists as whining, paranoid "fillies" (the animal image serving to further illustrate his ignorance and hate), Mr. Fiołkowski either misses the point or wants to divert others from it. Does he even know the history of the February Sisters? The February Sisters were a courageous group of women who got fed up with the injustice and maltreatment to which they were subjected by the institution to which they gave large sums of money and did something about it. What they did is a tribute to women everywhere and proof that we can — and will — change things. Jeannette Bonjour Lawrence graduate student I wondered how to respond to Eric Flokiosk's Feb.12 mock "Firing Whine" interview with a "February Filly" who demonstrated for women's rights and carried her "man-axe" to her meeting of the "Coalition of Paranoid Womyn." This column contained no factual Lettersto the editor Proud to be a feminist information; it appeared that its only purpose was to ridicule females and other women. "Coalition of Paranoid Womyn?" Paranoid means having fears or concerns that are not grounded in reality Let's discuss reality. On the same day that Fioloski's column appeared, the KU Student Affairs Research Committee released the results of their study showing that at least 14 percent of all female KU students had been raped. According to FBI statistics, every 15 seconds, somewhere in America a woman is beaten by a man. American women are much poorer than men. Female college graduates earn about as much as male high school dropouts. I could continue this list. Obviously, concern about women's issues reflects reality, not paranoia. Fiolekosi's column was an example of the current backlash against feminists and other women. Well, without the hard work of feminists, there would be no rape crisis centers or battered women shelters. It would still be perfectly legal for husbands to rape their wives and for bosses and teachers to sexually harass their employees and students. Businesses and schools could still openly discriminate against women. But there is still a lot of work to be done. I am proud to be a feminist. Charlene Muehlenhard Director Women's Studies Program Don't impose opinions Two recent events concerning abortion are the subject of this letter. 1. About a week ago, my girlfriend told a female friend of hers about her fervent support of abortion rights. The friend replied that abortion should not concern me because I would never have an abortion. Although that is true, the issue of abortion for me is less about the act itself than it is about rights. The moment a woman's right to control her body is taken from her, she needs to fear for my rights. Once the government can come women in that way, what's to stop it from other controls? And at that point, how can we be considered a free country? 2. A letter in *The University Daily Kansan* on Feb. 13 by Greg Gissner stated, "Pro-lifers fight for the day when all people are treated as humans." Does treating people as humans include forcing one's opinion on others by proclaiming that abortions should be illegal? To me, it means understanding that one's opinion is not necessarily everyone's opinion. If you are against abortion, don't have one. But when you impose your beliefs on me, and I don't have your beliefs, you aren't treating me as a human. Both events are egregious examples of the misconception of abortion in our culture. To say that I shouldn't have an opinion on abortion because of my gender is to look at abortion in a frighteningly narrow light. Control of one's body should concern all of us, not just women. Likewise, as a pro-choice advocate, I don't tell people that they have to have abortions, only that it should be a legal option. Mr. Gesser's desire to abolish that option because of his opinion strikes me as a desire for control, which I find totally unacceptable. KANSANSTAFF Nathan Oison Chicago graduate student TIFFANY HARNESS Editor VANESSA FUHRMANS Managing editor TOM EBLEN General manager, newsadviser Editors Editors News... Mike Andrews Editorial... Beth Randolph Planning... Lara Gold Campus... Eric Gorski/Rochelle Oleson Sports... Eric Nelson Photo... Julie Jacobson Features... Debbie Myers Graphics... Aimee Brainard/J Jeff Meesey JENNIFER CLAXTON Business manager JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser JAYSTEINER Retail sales manager Business Staff Campus sales mgr Bill Helfenberg Regional sales mgr Richard hamburger National sales mgr Scott Hannah Co-op sales mgr Mejon Johnson Production mgrs Kim Wallace Marketing director Lisa Keeler Marketing director Kim Claston Creative总监 Leanne Linder Classified marr Ko Chin Business Staff Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's name and title. The letter should be accompanied by the University of Kansas that must include class and hometown, or faculty or staff position. 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 Stuart/Final Hall. Guest columns should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be photographed. Loco Locals I CAN'T BELIEVE IIVE LOST EVERYTHING - MY PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, MY FEDERAL MATCHING FUNDS, THE MAN WHO WOULD HAVE MADE FIRST LADY... AT LEAST YOU STILL HAVE YOUR HEALTH. MNATDQPR2 by Tom Michaud 一