Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Lindsay Henry, Editor
Dave Morantz, Managing editor
Kristie Blast, Managing editor
Tom Eblen, General manager, news advisor
Marc Harrell, Business manager
Colleen Eagle, Retail sales manager
Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser
Justin Knupp, Technology coordinator
Friday, April 10, 1998
ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL
Editorials
Student television station, KUJH should have local cable broadcast
If students wish to tune into their campus TV news station, they have to do more than flip a switch. Students must unplug the cable cord and attach rabbit ear antennas because Sunflower Cablevision will not allot air time for KUJH Channel 14 news.
Sunflower should change its policy and give KUJH a chance to be seen in Lawrence.
The broadcast journalism program, KU students and Sunflower Cablevision would benefit from cable broadcasting of KUJH. Targeted at students, faculty, staff and the Lawrence community, its news is campus-wide, regional and national. It also includes entertainment news and class information. Broadcasting the news show during open airtime on Channel Six, or allocating KUJH its own channel, would help bridge the gap between Lawrence residents and the
campus community. It would keep both parties informed about news and events at the University of Kansas.
Journalism students and professors, Student Senate and Chancellor Robert Hemenway have tried to negotiate with Sunflower Cablevision to give air time to KUJH. However, Dan Simons, president of Sunflower Cablevision, refused the proposal
Attempts for several weeks to reach Simons were unsuccessful.
Although KUJH still is in its developmental stages, support from Sunflower Cablevision would propel the success of KUJH. Gary Hawke, KUJH director, said cable air time was crucial to the station's ultimate success. Until KUJH expands, Simons probably will not move toward an agreement. Hawke said.
If Simons does not think that broadcasting KUJH programs during Channel Six's open airtime would be beneficial,
then he is wrong.
Broadcasting KUJH on Channel Six would benefit both the cable company and the station. More students likely would watch the channel, which would increase overall viewership and eventually ad revenue.
This also would serve many of Sunflower's viewers.
Many students subscribe to Sunflower Cablevision, and they deserve to see their own student-run, University-oriented newcast.
Sunflower Cablevision should reconsider its opposition to KUJH.
KU students should write Sunflower Cablevision and demand that it give KUJH air time. This would benefit Sunflower Cablevision, KUJH and —most importantly— student viewers.
Emily Hughey for the editorial board
Feedback
University riots were not as common as legends say
What is new and disturbing is the amount of crime on campus. There is little respect for other people's property.
Along with loads of laundry, my daughter brings home The University Daily Kansan, so I can read it and recycle it. I enjoy seeing what is new on campus, and what things never seem to change. The April 3 issue was typical, with its article about the tunnel system, an eternal source of student curiosity.
A factual notation: The tunnel article referred to the late 1960s, when anti-war riots were going on at the University of Kansas.
Sorry, but I was a KU student and student journalist in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and no such riots occurred.
There were protests organized,but
there were no riots, at least not by students. True, the Union burned or was torched. I was asleep in my dorm room and missed it, while friends down the hall were rushing inside the burning building to rescue valuable furniture and art.
True, a bomb exploded in the computer center. I heard it go off from the 10th floor of Ellsworth Hall.
True, a long, boring, obscenity-ridden speech by Abby Hoffman at Allen Field House was followed by a refreshing, impromptu student occupation and sit-in at Strong Hall, but there was no riot, no mayhem, no violence and no destruction.
True, there was a chillingly tense period following the Kent State shootings, when a curfew was imposed on campus and the National Guard was on patrol but again, no riot. We were afraid that we were among the next to be shot.
I remember one night when a phalanx of police attacked and clubbed every protest marcher they could catch on Jayhawk Boulevard, but nobody was fighting back. We, including the student journalists, were running like hell. This is as close to a riot as I can recall, but it was very one-sided. I would say you can look it up, but you cannot. This particular night I mention occurred after the Kansan had ceased publication for the spring, and the mainstream media didn't or wouldn't cover it.
I'm almost glad the purported riots live on in legend, but they don't belong as facts in newspaper stories. Not near as much happened at the University during those years as a lot of people would like to believe or pretend to remember.
Robert T. Burch Class of 1972
Kansan staff
News editors
Paul Eakins ... Editorial
Ann Premer ... Editorial
Andrea Albright ... News
Jodie Chester ... News
Julie King ... News
Charity Jeffries ... Online
Eric Weslander ... Sports
Harley Ratiff ... Associate sports
Ryan Koerner ... Campus
Mike Perryman ... Campus
Bryan Volk ... Features
Tim Harrington ... Associate features
Steve Puppe ... Photo
Angie Kuhn ... Design, graphics
Mitch Lucas ... Illustrations
Corrie Moore ... Wire
Gwen Olson ... Special sections
Lachelle Roades ... Neus clerk
Kristi Bisel  Assistant retail, PR
Leigh Bottiger  Campus
Brett Clifton  Regional
Nicole Lauderdale  National
Matt Fisher  Marketing
Chris Haghirian  Internet
Brian Allers  Production
Ashley Bonner  Production
Andee Tomlin  Promotions
Dan Kim  Creative
Rachel O'Neill  Classified
Tyler Cook  Zone
Steve Grant.  Zone
Jamie Holman  Zone
Brian LeFevre  Zone
Matt York  Zone
Advertising managers
“If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred years of sorrow.” —Chinese Proverb
Letters: 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 home-town if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
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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.
Perspective
A day too late to spend time with lost loved ones
Have you ever heard the cliche “It's better late than never?” When exactly does better late become never? I discovered the answer last week, Wednesday morning to be exact
The phone rang early that morning — suspiciously early. After the fifth ring, I grumpily rolled out of bed and stumbled to the caller ID box. The call was from my Mom. For a moment I contemplated not answering, but then I decided that something must have been wrong for her to call that early. So I picked up the receiver and answered the worst phone call of my life. My mom told me that my
Shawn M.
Muller
onionin@kansan.com
cousin, Lisa Rosel, had been killed in a car accident a few hours earlier.
As the reality of this nightmare clamped down, I started to think about the last time that I saw Lisa. It was early December, and she had come to watch me in one of my theater performances at Murphy Hall. I remember how nervous and excited I was that she was there. It was the first time that she had ever seen me in a show.
Afterward, we talked about how it would be nice to spend more time together. I told her that I would call her during winter break, and we would get together for some coffee.
I never made that call. Days turned into
weeks, and then into a month, then two and finally three. At the end of the third month, better late became the inevitable never. The next time I saw Lisa was at her funeral Friday. I will regret that mistake for the rest of my life. I'll always ask the question, "Why was I too lazy to call Lisa?" My own stupid procrastination has prevented me from ever seeing my little cousin again.
Lisa's death has prompted me to take action. I don't want to put things off anymore. Tomorrow might never come, and it's terrible that it took her death to prove it. I no longer can be content to wait until tomorrow. I owe it to myself, and I owe it to Lisa.
It's my hope and my prayer that everybody reading this article will realize the same thing. Don't put off the important people and goals in your lives. The day that you wait easily could become a day too late. Go home and call someone you haven't talked to in a long time. Tell your girlfriend or boyfriend how you really feel. Spend some time writing an unfinished story. Do anything, anything at all that you've been putting off. Just see how it feels. I'm sure you'll be glad that you didn't put it off anymore. Do it, because never comes sooner than you think.
To my cousin, Lisa Rosel; I love you with all my heart, and I'm sorry that I didn't spend more time with you. Thank you for coming to my show in December, it meant the world to me. I will miss you for as long as I live.
Muller is an Overland Park senior in theater.
Americans should oppose oppression of Tibetans
In 1995 the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, recognized six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama. The Panchen
Lama is the second highest religious figure in Tibetan Buddhism, and young Gedhun was chosen to eventually fulfill this roll. Not long after this, however, Gedhun was kidnapped by the Chinese government in an attempt to demoralize and harm Tibetan Buddhism. Amnesty International Director James O'Dea responded to this by saying, "The government of China has been responsible for an unspeakable campaign of repression against the people of Tibet, their religion and culture. This little child should not be used as a pawn in China's efforts to control the Tibetan people." Gedhun has not been seen since.
Goodman
opinion@kansan.com
This would not have happened if China had not illegally invaded the 2400-year-old country of Tibet in 1959. According to Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, Chinese soldiers told him they fought and killed entire villages, without leaving a single soul. They killed entire populations of tribes, one by one. Because of the invasion, 1.2 million Tibetans have died, Tibetan culture has been suffocated, and the Dalai Lama has been forced into exile in India. Slave labor and torture are common in Tibet's prisons, and many of the prisoners are there because of their refusal to give up their culture and religion.
Although life in Tibet is better than it was 40 years ago, it is still unacceptably oppressed. After a recent visit to Tibet, Rep. Frank R. Wolf described Tibetans as living under boot to heel subjugation. Because the Virginia congressman wanted to see Tibet as a tourist and not a politician, he masqueraded as a non-political vis-
When he returned to the U.S., Wolf reported the conditions in Tibet.
itor. Once there, he was able to talk to Tibetans without being under the watchful eye of China.
"In Tibet, humane progress is not even inching along and repressed people live under unspeakably brutal conditions in the dim shadow of international awareness," he said. "The inescapable conclusion is that China is swallowing Tibet."
Furthermore, he said that there was no freedom — period. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan furthered Wolf's comments by adding that China rules Tibet with a "Stalinoid dementia."
In response to China's rule, an unusual assortment of people have banded together in an attempt to save Tibet. In the U.S., a variety of people, from the Beastie Boys to Sen. Jesse Helms, have declared their support for a free Tibet. Another group that formed was Students for a Free Tibet, of which I am a member and president of at the University of Kansas. Although the group is less than a year old, the national office has existed since 1994. Students for a Free Tibet has grown to have more than 350 organizations worldwide. An important point is that the group is not anti-China but pro-Tibet. The actions of the Chinese Government should not reflect on the average Chinese person or Chinese-American. What should be reflected on, however, is the world's need to help Tibet. It no longer can help itself.
To raise awareness for Tibet, our KU chapter will fast and will hold a rally on April 25th, which is the Panchen Lama's 9th birthday.
We cannot, however, do any of this alone. Even though Students for a Free Tibet can raise awareness, it is the American public that must tell its leaders Tibet is living under a dark haze of suffering that is unacceptable.
Goodman is a Dayton, Ohio, sophomore in political science.
Editorial wrong about Snow Hall printing
Feedback
In regard to your editorial about the computer laboratories, there is an error of fact with respect to the lab in Snow Hall.
I assume you are referring to 210 Snow, the lab dedicated to our service courses EECS 128 and EECS 138.
No fee is charged for printing in that lab.
Nancy Kinnerlesley Associate Professor of electrical engineering and computer science
Pierce can make his own decisions
I disagree that Paul Pierce owed it to the state of
Amy Rew-Noel Class of 1992
There's a whole world out there, KU fans. Come join it.
Kansas to make his draft announcement from the University of Kansas.
Pierce has an entire life outside of Jayhawk basketball. Why doesn't he deserve to make the announcement where he wants?
His reasoning is his own, and we, as loyal fans, should respect him for doing what he felt was right for him at the time.
Kansas fans are the greatest, I agree. But sometimes we seem to expect our players' lives to revolve around Jayhawk basketball in a way that is not only unrealistic, but bordering on pathological.
Rally chant not what Kansan reported
Although I was very happy to see an article about last Wednesday's Affirmative Action rally on the front page of The University Daily Kansan, the first sentence was an error. The chant used to begin the march was "Stop the war on the poor," not "Go to war," as was reported.
I feel this is much more than a semantic difference, as many of the rally's participants embrace pacifist ideologies that encourage ending wars. Thank you to all who attended, and please remember that activism lasts long after a rally.
Whitney Black Wichita senior