Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Lindsey Henry, Editor
Dave Morantz, Managing editor
Kristie Blasi, Managing editor
Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser
Marc Harrell, Business manager
Colleen Eager, Retail sales manager
Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser
Justn Knupp, Technology coordinator
Friday, May 1, 1998
Clay McCuistion/ KANSAN
Editorial
University should re-evaluate criteria for corporate contracts
As the list of corporate contracts with the University of Kansas grows, we question whether the University knows what is really best for students.
The University should consider students' true educational interests when making deals with corporations. The University needs to enhance education rather than cultivate consumerism. The best solution is to have more student involvement and input, and more administrative responsibility in the signing of corporate contracts.
Deals with Coke, Nike and Commerce Bank have set a dangerous precedent for corporate involvement at the University.
It's inevitable that corporations will be at the University — almost all universities have some corporate funding. But this does not mean that the University must accept irresponsible contracts in which students lose more than they gain or are sold out as consumers to big companies.
When the University signed an exclusive contract with Coke last summer, students gained scholarship and program money but lost the privilege of choosing what drinks they could buy on campus. In exchange for a monopoly on the University's beverage sales, Coke agreed to contribute $450,000 each year for scholarships and University programs.
The intent of the University was good. But it seemed to think that there was little wrong with selling out students for extra money, and the student input it sought was not adequate. The student body president and vice president were able to give recommendations about the contract but had no final vote on the matter.
The University removed students' ability to choose without really asking them what they thought. When the University is making decisions that will
More student input, better understanding of students' needs necessary in deal-making
For example, the University failed in this responsibility with the Commerce Bank smart cards. Nancy Miles, information technology consultant, said that the University conducted a survey of administrators in the late 1980s asking them whether students would want smart cards. She also said that she did not know of any other student involvement in the decision-making process. A survey — not even of students — conducted 10 years ago should not be the basis for a decision that affects students now.
change life on campus, it should make it a priority to get as much student input as possible.
Unlike Coke, Commerce is not even paying the University for the privilege of access to student consumers. With the contract, Commerce potentially can increase its Lawrence business by about 25,000 people—the student population of the University—in doing so it can cultivate potential lifetime customers, who often are making serious consumer decisions for the first time in their lives and entering the job market.
When students' influence as consumers is sold to the highest bidder, student input is a must. It is the University's responsibility to consider the needs of students. Do smart cards really benefit students? No money is given for scholarships or University programs. It is only a little easier for students to make purchases. In the end, Commerce Bank is the winner.
In another instance of corporate affairs, the University's very ideology is at risk. The Athletics Department, which is an independent corporation but
receives student money, has an exclusive contract with Nike. The department receives money to fund athletic programs, and in return players wear Nike shoes and clothes. Nike symbols also are placed on Jayhawk memorabilia. The swoosh becomes associated with the University and the Jayhawk.
With such a high-profile basketball team, this contract gives Nike a monstrous amount of exposure and advertising. Student Senate alloys $20 per student to the department annually. This amounted to about $500,000 this year and students should have a say in deals of this magnitude.
Many KU students, and critics across the country, have raised questions about Nike's actions in its foreign factories. Many people claim that Nike has violated the rights of its workers by overworking them, underpaying them and mistreating them. Such a company should not be an integral part of a University that touts freedom, free thought and personal liberty.
Perhaps if students had some involvement in the decision to sign this contract, Nike never would have had a presence at the University. Surely other companies with cleaner records would enjoy such a lucrative contract. A corporate contract probably is necessary to ensure funding for non-revenue sports, like rowing and swimming, but it does not necessarily need to be with Nike.
When will the University draw the line? At what point will it consider students' true educational needs and the ideals of the University? These companies are being allowed to prey on the huge consumer base of students at the University, and often the students get little in return.
The administration should consider the ramifications of its corporate contracts and the needs of its students before casing its checks.
Erinn R. Barcomb, Susan Dunavan, Paul Eakins and Airick Leonard West for the editorial board
Kansan staff
News editors
Paul Eakins ... Editorial
Ann Premer ... Editorial
Andrea Albright ... News
Jodie Chester ... News
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Charity Jeffries ... Online
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Harley Rattlf ... Associate sports
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Advertising
Kristi Bisel  Assistant retail, PR
Leigh Bottiger  Campus
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Chris Haghrian  Internet
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Ashley Bonner  Production
Andee Tomlin  Promotions
Dan Kim  Creative
Rachel O'Neill  Classified
Tyler Cook  Zone
Steve Grant.  Zone
Jamie Holman  Zone
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"I am the American heartbreak — the rock on which Freedom stumped its toe." —Langston Hughes
**Letterers:** Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and homework if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
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How to submit letters and guest columns
All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stuffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Paul Eakins (eakins@kansan.com) or Ann Premer (apremer@kansan.com) at 864-4810. If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4810.
My father and I walked down the dark corridors of the old warehouse a few weeks ago. A cool draft kicked up a patch of dust in front of us and blew a plastic bag across the empty floor
Walk in warehouse teaches about respect
Perspective
The warehouse that stored my family's business for more than 30 years is on the auction block. Potential buyers have proposed dividing up the 130,000 square-foot structure, tearging down parts of it or even demolishing the entire building, parts of which date back to the 1920s.
Dave Morntz
dmorantz@kansan.com
dust that held the building together float to the sky.
I'd hate to see the building leave the family. I'd hate even more to see it destroyed and watch the dust that held the building t
since before I could walk, my father brought me down to the warehouse with him on Saturday mornings. As I grew older, he allowed me to run and sometimes skateboard up and down the aisles, dodging boxes of styrofoam cups and packing peanuts while he caught up on the week's work in his office.
For three summers in high school, I worked full-time at the warehouse, just as my father and his brothers had done. Along with the eight other warehouse workers I slaved, sweated, lifted, grunted and found ways to goof off like only union workers can.
My grandfather, great-grandfather and a partner founded the Paper Supply Co. in the late 1940s. Business steadily increased and in the 1960s they moved the company to the old building on Southwest Boulevard. About 20 years ago, my great-grandfather died and four years later my grandfather retired. Much to my father's chagrin, family members decided to sell the business to a regional paper giant while retaining management of the company. A year later, International Paper bought out the
regional company and in 1994 merged all the small paper houses in Kansas City, including my family's old business, under one tax-abated roof in Olathe.
Although the warehouse has sat empty and silent since then, my father still has a set of keys. We wandered through the building a few weeks ago. The old elevator still works, although the tracks for the wood gates need oiling. The beat up wood planks of the floor shook as the elevator labored to the fourth floor.
My father and I then walked around each floor of each part of the building. I laughed when I saw the water line in the truck bay from the flood of 1993. Although the water did no damage to our inventory, the flood destroyed some businesses on the block. When an employee from Boulevard Brewing Company down the street came to the warehouse in search of cleaning supplies, another warehouse worker and I kicked in some boxes of solvent and degreaser and traded them for two cases of beer. Not much got done in the warehouse that day.
I pried open a window, brown with dust, and we crawled onto the roof. The Kansas City skyline appeared to tower within arm's reach as the traffic on I-35 flew by below. When I worked there in the summers, I often snuck out on the roof and enjoyed the reprieve the breeze provided from the sweltering heat inside.
Our somber tour gave my father and I a chance to recall old memories, although my father kept most of his to himself. When we walked out the front door and latched the bolt, I saw him pause and stare at the key in the lock as if it might be the last chance we would have to see the building. Not many things bother my dad, but the possible demolition of the warehouse does.
"Even old things deserve respect," he said as we turned from the door. "Even old things deserve respect."
Morantz is an Overland Park senior in journalism and a Kansan managing editor.
KU Info receives odd mix of phone calls, questions
"U h, yeah, I have a question. .."
Believe it or not, this is the way most phone calls to the KU Information Center, commonly called
KU Info. begin.
Amy Rush opinion@kansan.com
"That's what I'm here for," I usually reply. What I really want to say is, "A question? Get outta here!" I mean, come on! Do you really think that people usually call to tell us something? Well, it did happen once.
Someone called me late one night and played some really groovin' music. Then he told me who was singing and said that I should buy one of the band's CDs. I told him I
The questions that we usually answer at KU Info are… well, there really aren't many questions that we usually answer. We get calls about enrollment, library hours, bus stop locations, what beavers eat, whether Marilyn Manson really is Paul from The Wonder Years and sex change operations all in the span of five minutes.
In case you were wondering, the answers to the last three questions are: wood, no, Josh Saviano isn't Marilyn Manson, he's in school at Yale and... well, I'm not going to go there, not right now.
wound. Too bad I can't remember what the band's name was.
By the way, the operator's number is 864-2700 or 0 from a campus phone. I suggest you use them. The callers we KU info staffers encounter are as varied as the questions they ask. Most are from the University or from Lawrence. But some contact us from such exotic locales as
One thing we usually never give callers is students' phone numbers. Sometimes you can catch me on a particularly benevolent day, but for the most part, I send you to the operator. And apparently I've trained some of you well. "OK, I know that you don't give out numbers, but the operator is closed..."
And the people we talk to during the night shift are a completely different breed from daytime callers. How is it that everyone is "just sittin' around, talkin' with my buddy and was wonderin', . . ." at night? I can't tell you how many trivia questions I have answered in the wee hours.
Tokyo, London and Kalamazoo, Mich. Those I people usually are KU graduates. "Oh, I'm so, glad I remembered your number!" they say.
"Yeah! Will you hum it for me?"
"Hey, do you know that really sad song played in the movie Platoon?" one caller asked. "The orchestral piece!"
Now, I warned the guy that I was not known for my melodious singing voice, but hey, I knew it. We played it in my high school orchestra. I started to hum quietly. Then he joined in. It was beautiful.
We also have some recurring callers.
One question we often are asked is how we find the answers to so many different questions. Do we look everything up on a computer? Do we know it all from memory? One guy asked if we had a little old man sitting in corner, dishing out wisdom. Not quite.
Whoever opens on Sunday mornings has to quickly do the crossword puzzle in the *Kansas City Star* for the guy we affectionately call Crossword Puzzle Man.
We research questions the old fashioned way.
We look things up. More than 200 books. Thousands of Rolodex cards. Walls lined with bulletin boards with events tacked on them. Hundreds of files. Occasionally we use the Internet. Often we just use our brains. If you're on hold for a while, please be patient. We have a lot to look through.
Yeah, we get our share of crazies and some outrageous questions, but that's what makes the job so much fun. So, next time you have what you think is a stupid question, don't hesitate to call. Besides, there is no such thing as a stupid question. That's what we're here for.
And there's the student from Dallas I call Tapioca Guy. It took me a long time to find out what those little balls in the pudding are.
Rush is a Wichita senior in journalism
Feedback
Pride Week articles lacked some views
We are sisters who both attend the University of Kansas. We are very disappointed with your articles related to Pride Week. Perhaps we have missed something, but as far as we can see you have not fairly or accurately represented the other side of the homosexuality issue. You have presented the pro-homosexuality view in articles during the past week, such as the
We want you to know that Fred Phelps is by no means representative of the Christian view point of homosexuality "Picketers base hatred on Bible," April 22. He is just one man with one group.
April 23 editorial "Homosexuals deserve equal rights...", but you have neglected to acknowledge the other side.
The true Biblical Christian perspective of homosexuality is different from Phelps' view. The Christian
perspective says that homosexuality is a detestable sin which separates people from God, but it also says that God loves homosexuals and wants to save them from sin.
If The University Daily Kansasan professes to be a unbiased newspaper, it ought to present the Christian views of homosexuality as it has presented the promohosexual view and Fred Phelps' view.
Kathleen Wasson
Marianna Wasson
Lawrence freshmen
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