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
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Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser
Justin Knupp, Technology coordinator
Thursday, April 30, 1998
4A
TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES
Editorials
Fraternities should rethink hazing initiation; consider pledges' safety
When a high school senior signs with a fraternity, he does not do so as a death wish. Blinded by the glamour that is brotherhood, many join without realizing the severity of the hazing rituals they might encounter.
Fraternities should tone down their hazing rituals or remove them altogether to ensure that incoming freshman have a good beginning to their college experience. Fraternities have a responsibility to keep pledges 'first weeks at college free from alcohol-induced sickness or trips to the hospital.
But this is not always done, both at the University of Kansas and elsewhere.
Earnest L. Harris, a member of the Kansas State chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi, recently was beaten so badly during his initiation that he now has permanent kidney damage. This and other barbaric rituals that often accompany fraternity life constitute hazing and should not be tolerated.
Prospective members of the greek community should focus on finding the environment that coincides with their academic and personal goals.
Instead, a typical day for pledges in some fraternities often is filled with mandated chores and alcohol consumption. In many cases, the older members of the chapter force the pledges, often functioning on only a few hours of sleep, to drink excessively and perform grueling tasks. At the University this has left some pledges in the hospital and others sick with exhaustion.
Brotherhood is a sacred entity often defamed by the violence and barbarism of fraternity rituals. Some members argue that it brings the pledge classes
closer together, forcing them to depend on one another in surviving the wrath of the upperclassmen.
However, what happens to the bond of brotherhood when students die, like at the Louisiana State University chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon? The upper-classmen unwittingly forced a freshman pledge to drink so much that he died from complications caused by alcohol poisoning. Such a tragedy does not strengthen brotherhood — it breaks the fraternity apart, causing guilt, blame, lawsuits and disbandment.
As fraternities prepare for next year's new members, they should remember that the incoming freshmen are the foundation for the future of each chapter. Fraternities should make KU freshmen's first experiences positive ones and preserve the integrity of the greek system.
Emily Hughey for the editorial board
Education enhanced by community service
Encouraging more professors to have community service as a part of their curriculum would help build stronger on-campus and off-campus communities. It also would create stronger leaders and better students.
Just the mention of a community service as a requirement for graduation is enough to scare many students. And it is not that they aren't interested in volunteering in their community. Adding yet another requirement for graduation is simply hard to swallow. A good medium between the idea of having a community service requirement and doing nothing at all is to incorporate a volunteer program into the existing curricula.
Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages to a volunteer requirement. People interested in seeing more
students take an active part in their community believe that students will become interested in serving their community after they've been exposed to it. Others think that forcing a student to volunteer in the community almost destroys the whole purpose. Both arguments make sense, but neither helps to create a solution that the community, students and the University can live with. Having more professors implement community service into their classes does.
nity today. He also said that putting students in a situation to volunteer would help them to develop certain life skills and leadership traits that a classroom setting is incapable of replicating.
Quite a few classes already do this. A leadership course taught by Sherwood Thompson, director of the Office of Minority Affairs, requires such a practicum. Thompson said that to build strong leaders for tomorrow, we must teach them the importance of commu-
Jamie Najim, co-director for the Center for Community Outreach, is in favor of a community service requirement. She also thinks that having a special tassel or diploma for students who complete a certain amount of community service while in school would be a positive incentive for students to become more involved.
The message to professors and students alike is clear. Community service promotes unity in the community, builds stronger leaders and creates better students. And adding a volunteer requirement to classes is one of the best ways to accomplish this.
Airick Leonard West for the editorial board
Kansan staff
Paul Eakins ... Editorial
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"Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world." —Arthur Schopenhauer
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Perspective
Graduate school is best option to delay work
Each year the University of Kansas graduates about 5,000 people. Most are talented enough to get jobs. Some of them are intelligent enough to get advanced degrees. The
dilemma is deciding which is the next logical step in the life process. This choice hinges on one factor: happiness. Either path is merely a venue for self-discovery. However, that doesn't make the decision any easier.
When students are finishing their undergraduate degrees, many are still searching for their niche in life.
Chris Bulgen
opinion@kansan.com
Some students are sick of school, and they want their own incomes. Some of these
students have the credentials to go on for an advanced degree, but they simply don't want to. However, there are those who don't know exactly what they want to do professionally.
This makes a graduate degree the perfect delaying mechanism. Those students who want more education can beef up their resumes with an extra degree and avoid the rigors of a 9-to-5 existence. Let's face it, college is a charmed life. Students can set their own hours, work for themselves and go out every night. Not that Id know.
Students seek advanced degrees for varying reasons. Many students with undergraduate degrees decide they simply need more education. Derek Prater, University of Kansas graduate, lived and worked in New York City for a year before he decided that he wanted a master's degree in journalism. Tim Lebestky, KU alumnus, incarcerated himself in UCLA's five-year doctorate program in genetics directly after graduation. Some graduates need a work experience to decide exactly what they want out of life, and others don't.
Graduates who are considering entering the work force gain insights from those returning to the academic environment. Some of them hate their jobs or their co-workers. But beyond the notion of being happy in the work place, students must believe that they are educated and skilled enough for their jobs.
There is a notion that an advanced degree will provide an advantage in the work force. Opinions vary, but it really can't hurt. Odds are that a person with a master's degree will still have to gain experience through trench work in an entry-level position. However, an advanced degree could allow a person to start higher on the corporate ladder or the salary scale. This obviously varies from vocation to vocation. I probably won't have a mansion and a yacht next year, but an engineer might make better money with an advanced degree. Furthermore, it may help some people get jobs they enjoy, which are few and far between.
Going back for an advanced degree, gives many
students the chance to acquire more marketable skills. Brian Stebbins, KU graduate, is headed to the South Carolina University for a master's degree in business administration. He thinks that his breadth of experience will give him more control and creativity in future vocations. There are those graduates who discover themselves outside of college and advanced degree work.
Matt LaPoint, KU graduate, earned a communications degree. He is now pursuing a career in writing, producing and performing music. He says that after college he was able to develop his life views through readings in philosophy and religion. These subjects just weren't a large part of his undergraduate curriculum, yet self discovery can be gained from on-the-job experience.
Completing the grunt work early allows graduates to acquire more marketable skills. These skills are a byproduct of experience — a necessity for any resume. Time and experience helps people get enjoyable jobs that pay well.
Some people don't know what they want out of life right away. Working for a couple of years might help them find a degree that takes them where they want to go. The only drawback is that it may be very difficult to re-enter the academic environment after earning a salary. Earning a good salary allows people to do things they can't do as a student. For some, buying a home or getting married may outweigh an advanced degree.
Furthermore, some of these people disliked or were bored by their undergraduate studies. We all make mistakes. If people are not interested in the jobs their undergraduate work prepared them for, this doesn't bode well for the work place.
I'm simply here to look at why people go back to school or enter the work force. I certainly wouldn't tell anyone that going back to school is a necessity, because it isn't. However, it is worth noting that the only person I can think of who has succeeded with a single degree is my buddy Matt Parr who earned a degree in economics from Princeton and is now an investment banker.
People work or stay in school for personal reasons. However, I'm not going to stay on the fence here. For me, graduate school was the optimal choice.
I'm finishing a master's degree in journalism. In the last two years, I've done a lot of growing up. I'm sure that getting a job would have contributed to this maturation process. Staying in school was perfect for me because I was able to play some good music, stay in my hometown and acquire an advanced degree. Now I feel that I am ready to join the drone colony that is America's work force.
Your niche in life may be found in graduate school, or it may be found on a mountain top in Tibet. This is what life is—picking the appropriate path. The bottom line is that you have to know yourself and what makes you happy.
Bulgen is a Lawrence graduate student in journalism.
Empty seat on KU bus needs to be occupied
I can't take anymore. Correction, I will no longer accept it silently. All of you who refuse to sit next to me on the bus, I don't care anymore if you snub me. I use to care. I use to get
teary, call my mother and ten her about the woman with red hair who wouldn't sit next to me on the bus. Never again.
Yesterday the entire bus was full going from McColum to campus, except for the seat next to me. At Jayhawker Towers, people stood in the isle, leaving the seat next to me open. No one wanted to sit next to me. Were you afraid of my cooties? Did you think I would steal your purse? Or
Shyra
Darris
spinion@kansan.com
Well I think about it. I use to wonder what was wrong with me. Now I know it isn't that has the problem. I wonder what is wrong with the University of Kansas where no one has the "desire" to sit next to me. What is wrong with the person who doesn't feel like sitting down right next to me. Now I wonder what is wrong with you, not me.
perhaps you just didn't want to sit next to that African American. Maybe you are one of the many people who don't even think about it. You just didn't have the desire to sit down.
You can say that I am overreaching. You can say that I am hypsensitive. I argue otherwise. I rode
I am challenging every bus rider to consider the seating choices that they make, no matter how silly that sounds. I see and feel it every time that a seat is left open by me on a bus. That seat talks to me and tells me that I am not wanted. Consider that the next time you pass up a seat next to me on the bus. Consider what message you are sending consciously or subconsciously.
It is the little things that matter. Some times the things that are done without thought are the most dangerous. Those things, the unnoticed and blind racism, make much larger acts of discrimination and racism more difficult to fight in society. Next time it is raining and the bus driver won't let you on the bus, rest assured you can fit. The seat next to me is always open.
Darris is a Wichita sophomore in English.
I am not arguing that everyone that rides the bus is a racist. Or that all people deliberately sit everywhere except next to me. I am however alarmed by my experiences. This isn't a single day occurrence. An empty seat next to me is just as dependable as the post office. Rain, sleet or snow, it will be there.
the bus four times. Some one sat next to me once.
Two times the bus was completely full, the other two it was not. I always sat in the first row or the handicap seats. The on time that someone sat next to me he asked if it was OK first, and then proclaimed that he wouldn't sit too close. He said he didn't want to make me feel uncomfortable, the way people sometimes do on the bus. Make me feel uncomfortable? I could only laugh.
Feedback
Golf tournament helped charities
The Swingers Golf Tournament was an excellent way to spend a Saturday morning. The scramble was sponsored by the KU Credit Union and The University Daily Kansan to raise money for charity. With just a $5 entry fee, each player received a sleeve of Top Flite titanium golf balls with both sponsors' logos on each ball, a Kelly Services
mug and a towel also with the logos on it. In addition, at two different holes on the course they handed out free frisbees and bumper stickers.
After the players were done with their nine-hole round at the Orchards, they also received free and unlimited hot dogs, chips and pop. The two teams with the best scores received $500 to give to their favorite charity.
It was a fun time with
everyone laughing and enjoying themselves, and it was for a worthwhile cause.
I believe there should be more events like this to provide for charities around town. I know I don't always remember or know about some of the charities in Lawrence, so playing in this golf tournament meant a little more to me than just having a good time.
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Lindsay Gentry Lawrence junior