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Thursday, April 16, 1998
SPOKESMAN REVIEW
Editorials
New co-major program readies students
The University of Kansas has expanded its curriculum to meet today's competitive needs. The globalization of the economy has created a demand for skills of a diverse nature. In an attempt to satisfy the consumer, the University has compiled a set of requirements for an International Studies co-major. Students will greatly benefit from its arrival, and the University should be commended.
There are four divisions in the requirement. The first requests completion of three out of four basic core courses. These courses include Pols 170, Pols 150, Geog 102 and Econ 140. The second tier gives two options from which to choose. Option one requires four semesters of language study beyond the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences requirements, and option two asks for a fourth semester
international economic sequence. The third category also has two options. One consists of a study abroad program for one semester with no less than nine credit hours. The other requires three courses to be completed in a geographic area of the student's choice. The final division requires four courses chosen from a field of specialization. The fields range from development studies to belief systems with many choices in between. The total credit hours beyond admission requirements are 33.
The program is not an independent major. It is a second major added to the student's primary degree. The program is however, an accredited bachelors of arts and not a minor. Its strength is in its ability to compliment a diverse number of majors. Every major from civil engineering to Spanish can benefit from this program. The flexibility of the co-major allows students to chose their avenues of interest.
Ryan Beasley,political science lecturer, is the director of the new project. His enthusiasm is marked by the fact that the co-major is not just window dressing.
"This co-major will expand the students career horizons in a real and tangible manner for the globalized market place." Beasley said.
Currently, 17 departments offer classes within the scope of this program. Students who want to adequately prepare for the 21st century should participate in this program. Beasley can be contacted in 411 Blake or on the net at (rbeasley@falcon.co.ukans.edu).
Jason Holsman for the editorial board
Feedback
KU recycling program requires student initiative
I would like to address the concerns raised by the Delta Force, Campus Cause and Independent candidates about the recycling program at the University of Kansas. As a recycling technician, I would like to educate everyone about this issue before an attempt to make changes is made. The recycling program at the University has just come into full swing this semester with the hiring of four new recycling technicians making it a total of six students who work for this department. We will be installing permanent collection centers
in most of the buildings on campus. They will provide a space for four types of materials. The collection bins must pass fire codes before they are installed which means they cannot always be located in the most convenient place. Staff and students must take the initiative to locate the collection bin to dispose of their recyclable material. We would like to have bins in every office and building, but we do not have the budget to do so. We have done our best to accommodate the students' desires but we can only do so much before it becomes the responsibility of the students and the staff to follow through on their part of the duties required by a
good recycling program. The one promise we can make to the University is that if it is put in a proper recycling container, it will be recycled. Victoria Silva is the recycling coordinator for the University, and she would love to get feedback from anyone who has suggestions or concerns. The program has a Web site that everyone is encouraged to find out more about recycling at the University. www.ehs.ukans.edu/recycling. Please work with us, so we can strengthen the program and make it something that the University can be proud of.
Correction
Melinda Houlihan
Olathe senior
Editor's Note: The following Senate candidate turned in a questionnaire to the Elections Commission, but the University Daily Kansas never received it. This candidate information would have been printed Tuesday with that of the other candidates.
Wendy Butler (Independent)
Seat: Nunemaker
Hometown: Manhattan
Major: Environmental studies/pre-law Student Senate experience: I am on the Senate finance committee and a member of the legal services board for Senate.
Major: Environmental studies/ pre-law
dents' voices be heard. My experience with the committee has helped me understand how Senate works and can assist me if I am elected.
Campus activities: member of Alpha Delta Pi and have been involved in many community service activities such as the upcoming Douglas County AIDS walk.
What would you do to change Student Senate?
What can you do to best represent your constituents?
I am open to opinions, and I can help stu-
The one thing I would change in Senate would be to encourage more students to be involved. Only a small percentage of KU students pay attention to Senate, and it is making decisions that affect our campus as a whole.
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Perspective
Excuse me, do you have time to read my column?
I's the most horrific time of the year You cross Wescoe Beach Just to speak with your teach
Just to speak with your team But the candidates are here
It's the most horrific time of the year (With apologies to the Christmas song, It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.)
Nick
Bartkoski
opinion@okansan.com
Student Senate elections are upon us. In related news, I was watching a televangelist who told me that Satan was upon us.
As a good American I should be proud to participate in the free election of government, and it's not as though I don't appreciate that right. But the Senate
elections show me that democracy just doesn't work. I foolishly try to attend my classes, and this is what I have to listen to the whole way there:
"Excuse me, have you heard about our coalition..."
"Sir, can I tell you about our exciting platforms..."
"If you don't let me tell you about what we stand for, I'll follow you home and kill your loved ones."
"Oh, my god! Are you Nick Bartkoski? Take me!" OK, so it's not all bad.
But my point is that dealing with the obnoxious candidates almost makes me long for the days when we toled under the capricious whims of a syphilitic, inbred king.
It has gotten better. My freshman year the candidates had the full right to make an impenetrable line across the sidewalk. Furthermore, if a student tried to run in fear, the candidates could hunt him or her down and shove campaign literature down their throat until they choked and were therefore no longer a member of the voting public. People lived in fear and politely listened to the candidates while casting an ever more worried eye at their large enforcers.
But last year, the oppression was over. The can didates had to stay off the sidewalk. While this didn’t totally eliminate the problem of some candidates being obnoxious, it did give students a thin safe path where they couldn’t be bothered. But it was much like walking a tightrope, if you went too
far on either side, you would be swallowed by the grasping coalition members and quite possibly never seen again.
Since Senate's motto is "Training the politicians of tomorrow that you'd like to see assassinated," we should have known that the hardcore campaigners would strike back. This year they demanded to be let back onto the sidewalk. One of their defenses seemed to center mainly on how it was unfair for them to stand in the grass, ruining their shoes. I can appreciate that. If I was going to put down the boot heel of oppression on the student body, I'd probably want high-quality footwear as well.
However, the student body locked out, and the discussion was tabled until after the election. If candidates are going to be let back on the sidewalk, it won't be until next year. It almost makes me wish I was graduating this May.
But why are we, the dispossessed, stopping at keeping them in the grass? It probably would better humanity in general if we forced them to campaign somewhere more distant, like the moon — without space suits. If I were a more charismatic leader, I'd challenge us to see that dream in the next ten years.
Furthermore, the system of punishment is way too lenient. Last year the only election code not broken was the section mandating the date of the election. Still the punishment came down to little more than writing "I will not break the Election Code" a hundred times. What are we, kindergartners? Mollycodding these idols will not solve the problems.
I think the most direct solution is to impose a mandatory sentence of death for any election code violation. I don't care if you misspell your name on the election form or if you fill out ballots for dead people. Death for all — especially if you step on the sidewalk.
If being a candidate could lead to certain death, the potential candidates would think very carefully before they decided to run for an office, and we would get the most dedicated people in Senate. The other possibility is that no one would run for Senate. In either case, the true winners would be KU students.
Barkoski is a Baseehr junior in English and journalism. Campaigners: He's packing heat.
Bathroom doors should be the real issue in election
In these days of ubiquitous campaigning and positioning, isn't it helpful to read the coalitions' positions on the big issues? Hurrah for dichotomy of world views.
Campus Cause says the University of Kansas just isn't doing enough recycling. Delta Force wants the University to do more recycling. Delta Force says we need more minority students, while Campus Cause wants to increase minority enrollment. Ah, debate and political clash. Makes you wonder why these parties don't just share Student Senate seats.
Andy Rohrback
opinion@kanasan.com
Regardless, I made myself stop and vote yesterday. I was a little leevy of the polls.
simply because last year when I voted my KUID was switched with a fellow voter's. After that student walked away with my card, the quick-thinking elections official suggested I take the other fellow's card. He had no bus pass. I did.
A few days later I managed to track down my dopleginger and get my card back. But the entire experience left a bad taste in my mouth.
But this year I voted. I was walking across Wescoe Beach and decided, maybe if I constantly watch all of my valuables, I can get away from the polling table with them. So I did.
This year's experience was much better than the last. But I offer this word of advice which I picked up the hard way; After you vote get your sticker. No sooner had I tucked my ballots into the box than I was aggressively politicked again. It wasn't easy to convince these vote-hungry candidates that I already had cast my ballot. All I could do was wave my *Hawk Sheet* in their faces as if it were evidence of my civic responsibility.
The perennial war between the hippies and the preppies can get frustrating, especially for students at large. We long for our esteemed officials to deal with an issue we care about. Honestly, is Senate going to make one lota of difference in the Kansas legal drinking age — especially in light of recent events? And why did our Senate spend so much valuable time trying to convince the U.S. military not to bomb Iraq? Whether you agree or disagree with the idea, the thought of Senate having the audacity to think it can speak for every student's position on such a broad issue and make any kind of impact on the decision is ludicrous. So in the spirit of Travis Harrod, here's a little undocumented campaign advice, in the form of issues that resonate with the student body:
- Pencil sharpeners. There just are none. Sure, most students use pens, and most professors demand them, but there are times when a pencil is all that will do. For example, in my journalism history class, all our exams are "dot tests." That is, every answer is recorded in the form of a blob of No. 2 pencil on paper. And if your pencil breaks, you're out of luck. I learned that lesson the hard way.
Bathroom stall doors. They open the wrong way. Have you ever walked into a restroom like the ones in Murphy Hall, tried to close the door behind you, and found that you had to scale the toilet seat to make room? It makes much more sense for the doors to open out. But for some reason, no one thought of that.
Day on the Hill. From They Might Be Giants to Soul Coughing: That's quite a precipitous fall. Rumor has it that next year's contract is in a bidding war between Hanson and the Misfits from the Jem after-school cartoons.
- Ceremonial immolation of Wescoe Hall.
That's right, burn the sucker down. Classes formerly held in the building should be able to move to bars close to campus that are notably emptier since they kicked out all the underage drinkers.
On the hall's site, the University could build a swingin' Frisbee golf course. In fact, the superfluous stairwells which today serve only as bait for a location scout for a Bee Gees' video could be left intact as tortuous obstacles for the course. From Bailey Hall to the bench overlooking Malott Hall would be a killer par-3.
Campus parking: martial law. This should apply only to people who park their cars on the south side of Jayhawk Boulevard and leave the hazards flashing as if to say "I'll only be a minute!"
Apparently, the trivial 60-second errand they are running is more important to them than the line of cars backed up to Yello Sub because only one lane of traffic can get through. The solution to this extreme insensitivity comes in a glass bottle with a rag sticking out the top. One or two Molotov cocktails should keep traffic flowing copiously.
A "None of the Above" option on Senate ballots. The paucity of voter turnout is not due solely to apathy. Some students just can't put their vote behind either of the pre-selected options. It's like buying a soda on campus. Sure, you can choose among Coke, Diet Coke, Mr. Pibb and Surge, but sometimes you want a Mountain Dew. Senate has been more than vocal about this lack of choice — why not give students some freedom in political decisions as well?
The trouble with write-in candidates is that there is no focus. A thousand write-in candidates can run, but the total vote is split 1,000 ways. If every student dissatisfied with the choices available could cast the same vote, a real message could be sent.
If "NOTA" wins an election, the process would have to start over after everyone involved in the previous election is banned. Eventually, a coalition would materialize that could garner student support, rather than simply being the lesser of two evils.
rhere you have it, future politicians and lawyers, former high-school debaters, and everyone else in Senate who doesn't fit the stereotypes. The keys to victory are before you. If you follow these steps and avoid stealing one another's banners, you'll be in position to run this campus—and soon, the world.
Andy Rohrback is an Andover junior in journalism.
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