Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
4A
Lindsey Henry, Editor
Dave Morantz, Managing editor
Kristie Blasi, Managing editor
Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser
Marc Harrell, Business manager
Colleen Eagle, Retail sales manager
Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser
Justin Knapp, Technology coordinator
Tuesday, Feb. 17, 1998
W. David Keith / KANSAN
Editorials
Good luck to you, JaRon Rush but it's Roy's way or the highway
We love being Jayhawks, and this is never more true than when we're screaming for the basketball team.
Last week, the best of college basketball was showcased in the 100 years of KU Basketball. Jayhawk fans young and old showed their appreciation for the players who have donned the crimson and blue.
Also last week, we were reminded of how some things have gone awry in college basketball. The JaRon Rush saga is a perfect example of how college basketball is in danger.
Is this for real? A high school student challenged a college coach who had the potential to become his coach?
Current trends in basketball have created a new atmosphere for young athletes. The emphasis is more on money
Williams did the right thing when he stopped pursuing a recruit who was disrespectful
and fame, and many young players today are influenced by the presence of the NBA. Young athletes with dreams of playing in the NBA are focusing more on themselves and less on their teams.
This change questions the value of college basketball, and devalued the importance of good coaching, as some athletes like Kobe Bryant feel that they have nothing to gain from the college experience.
Coach Roy Williams represents what college basketball has been and can
continue to be. As a coach, he has prepared his players not only for their basketball careers but also for their lives. High school players need to recognize that there is more to life than basketball. Williams did something that most coaches across the country would never consider: He said "no" to a talented kid who didn't value a basketball education.
Rush demonstrated that the importance of the team he plays for is judged on the importance it places on him. Rush indicated he wasn't willing to adjust his game and that the team should adjust around him.
Well, kiddo, that's just not the way it works.
We're glad Williams knows it. At KU games, we cheer for the team.
And the coach.
Aroop Pal for the editorial board
Applause for deserving Jayhawks
This week the editorial board is pleased to give a Pat on the Back to:
The women of Alpha Chi Omega and Alpha Delta Pi, who received the chapter excellence award at the Ninth Annual Greek Recognition Night. The award reflects excellence in seven categories, including scholarship programming and community relations. The ladies of these two chapters deserve a Pat on the Back for making the University and Lawrence a better place.
Mortar Board deserves a Pat on the back for donating $702 to Head Start. The group raised the money raffling a pair of tickets next to Chancellor Robert Hemenway at the homecoming game. Fifteen of Mortar Board's 45 members visited the Head
Start center to play with the children and give Kim Hubbell, its director, a check. Because of Mortar Board the children will be able to attend the play Pinnchio in Topeka.
Chris Hoss, Wichita sophomore and Jeff LeCroix, Olathe junior, coordinate the Center for Community Outreach's Alternative Spring Break. Chris and Jeff's efforts will culminate in March when almost 50 KU students will spend their time off working on community services projects.
Roy Williams has earned a Pat on the Back for his actions following JaRon Rush's comments to the media about Williams as a coach. Williams announced the KU basketball program was no longer recruiting Rush,
who exhibited a clear lack of respect for Williams as a coach and the notion of team effort. Williams, as usual, outclassed everyone and in so doing, scored a win for team players, not big-mouthed brats.
Anna Kraxner, a classified employee who works in the Organizations and Leadership Development Center, deserves a Pat on the Back for helping the innumerable students who wander into the center each day. Anna holds the office together and keeps track of everything from office supplies to administrators' schedules.
If you would like to nominate a student or employee for a Pat on the Back, call 864-4810 or E-mail opinion@kansan.com
Kansan staff
Andy Obermueller for the editorial board
Paul Eakins . . . Editorial
Andy Obermauer . . Editorial
Andrea Albright . . News
Jodie Chester . . News
Julie King . . News
Charity Jeffries . Online
Eric Weslander . Sports
Harley Ratliff . 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 Rhoades . News clerk
News editors
Advertising managers
Krieti Bislel . . . Assistant retail, PR
Leigh Bottiger . . . Campus
Brett Cliffon . . . 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
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Matt York . . Zone
“If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.” —Martin Luther King, Jr. at a speech in Detroit on June 23, 1963
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 home-town if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
How to submit letters and quest columns
Guest columns: Should be double-spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run.
All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stuaffer-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 Andy Obermuelter (andyo@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
Injustices of Amistad still felt in America
In preparation for the African American History Month, I went to see *Amistad*. As I watched the movie, I didn't know what to make of the mixed feelings that disturbed my
heart and the intriguing paradoxes that puzzled my mind.
La Amistad, the name of the ship in the film, is the Spanish word for friendship. But I wondered, a little confused, if friendship also can mean exploitation?
Donato
Fhunsu
oinion@kansan.com
In the movie, the basic dilemma about the Africans was whether these individuals were mere property or people with rights who deserve respect, dignity and freedom? Should we deny
them tneir inalienable rights just because we classify them as subhuman?
This idea of denial of rights brought to mind an incident from last semester. One student, disturbed that many Blacks call themselves African Americans, wrote a letter to the Kansan, which he concluded, "I date myself by saying I long for the good old days when we were just Americans and didn't worry about where our ancestors came from."
Many of my other fellow Americans also had to worry. Their ancestors were Native Americans, Caricatures, massacres, land confiscations and confinement to inhumane reservations were part of their worry. The ancestors of my other fellow Americans were Poles, Irish, Italians and mind you, Catholics. For them, distrust, distilled hate and identification with the Mafia was part of the worry. The ancestors of my other fellow Americans were Chinese, Japanese, Germans and Arabs. For them, confiscation of property, confinement to concentration camps in California, and identification with terrorist groups were part of the worry. The ancestors of my other fellow Americans were Mexicans, Colombians, Puerto Ricans and other peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. For them, scapegoating and identification with the very cause of the drug and other problems of the United states were part of the worry.
Interestingly enough, this person was a graduate student in anthropology. Whether this aspiring social scientist made a careless methodological error or manifested a simple lack of integrity, the rest of us cannot afford to be ignorant or dishonest about history.
This is the America many of us have always known. From the inception of this great nation to the present, many of us have always had to worry about where our ancestors came from. Maybe it depends on who your ancestors were and where they came from.
Things may seem worse today because some people cannot stand the idea of a multicultural community where the members aspire to live in a spirit of mutual respect and goodwill. But for many of us, things actually are better. In the time period in which Amistad is set, not only we were not "just Americans," we were not even considered people. If this sounds like America-bashing from a delusionary nut with a chip on his shoulder, just give yourself some time, brothers and sisters, to wonder why the Thirteen, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment were proposed—and ratified.
Contrary to the letter in the Kansan, many of us did have to worry about where our ancestors came from. They were "Negroes" and came—or were brought —to America from Africa. Slainy, segregation laws, denial of civil rights, human rights abuse and other shameless injustices were part of this worry.
But eventually, the time will come when none of us will have to worry about his or her race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, political affiliation, social class, marital status, orientation, or disability.
However, as long as some continue to deny that society has insipid attitudes toward some groups as long we continue to insist that we really don't have any problems to deal with in the area of race relations, then we'll keep on postponing the day when America will truly be America, the home of the brave and the land of the free. When freedom rings on the mountains of our diverse minds and in the valleys of our diverse hearts and we are free at last of all forms of bigotry, we will finally be initiated into the mysteries of the great seal of the United States of America: "E Pluribus Unum," or "Many in One"; "Annuit Coeptis," or "He prospered our undertaking"; "Novus Ordo Seclorum," or "A New Order of the Ages."
How soon that glorious day comes depends on what we do—or fail to do—to foster multiculturalism and peaceful human relations at the University of Kansas, in Lawrence, in Kansas and in the United States of America.
Donate Fhunsu is a Lawrence graduate student in French.
Feedback
I'm sure you know the horror stories about rape, unprotected sex, and all the rest. But what about the non-horror stories, such as how many University clubs seem to center activities around or hold their meetings at local drinking establishments? How many students don't know anyone who's gotten an MIP or a DUI so they think it can't happen around here?
Maybe I'm a sheltered girl, but I was always scared of getting caught as a minor with alcohol. I always thought that I could be labeled as a lush, not to mention getting a fine and a police record. As my friends and I got closer to being 21, there was all kinds of underage drinking happening around me. I still was worried that I could get caught and fined or something equally horrible. Now I'm proud to have felt such fear or guilt. My recent experiences with KU students who apparently have no such thoughts or cares about their actions have disgusted me. It's strange when you realize that people only want you to go to parties because you can buy the alcohol. It's sad when you eat in a cafeteria of freshmen and they all talk about how much everybody drank and who went home with whom last night. It's scary when you have to call an ambulance because a girl can't even walk into her home. It's horrible when guys get violent because we've been drinking.
In response to John Colbert's column on Friday, I would like to provide another viewpoint on the alcohol issue at the University of Kansas. The legal drinking age in Kansas is 21. But does that stop most underage KU students?
Passing legislation that supports lowering the drinking age to 18 is probably giving the same message that I get almost everyday: KU students value drinking alcohol immensely. I agree with John Colbert — most students are getting alcohol in sneaky ways and the age limit is an annoyance. But Td rather have it be an annoyance than a free ticket for those who are too immature to handle it.
Lowering drinking age a bad idea
I recently went to a local
Lowering the drinking age to 18 might not change what goes on, it would simply make it legal. I am asking you to take a step in the other direction. What you do is up to you, but if you're encouraging underage drinking, I suggest you think about what you're doing.
Laura A. Bennett Shawnee Senior
Champagne on New Year's Eve, wine with dinner, a martini by the pool — alcohol can add to a perfect moment so well. But does it have to be such a social necessity? Just imagine what our student body would be like if we didn't put such time, energy, money, and value on drinking. I can't even fathom the kind of things we could accomplish, or the impression we'd make on the world.
As for Colbert's reason for supporting the bill to help the local economy, I don't think I'd trade the integrity of the underage students for the betterment of local bars. I think that they will go on and that there are enough KU students legally consuming alcohol that we'll be OK for quite some time.
I would like to ask you, as a student, do you accept the behaviors going on around you as normal? Is it OK for your student leaders, your study groups, your next door neighbors to do these things? You know the horror stories and you've taken care of dehydrated, drunken friends. You may have been one of those people. Is that something our campus and student body can be proud of? I don't mention the University's ranking in the list of party schools when I talk to people who have some respect for me. This issue is a societal one, but we can change what happens at the University.
Hello, are any of these red flags yet? Or is this acceptable?
What does this say to you? Give them the legal freedom because they obviously can handle it?
establishment where I met several young girls who were all trying to get drunk so that they wouldn't have to take responsibility for their actions and hang all over guys. And this is not the minority. I saw girls in the bathroom frantically scrubbing the X's off of their hands so that they could snatch a few beer.
Does better lighting in parking lots and on campus really deter rapists? Perhaps that evening it does, but what about the next night in the privacy of their own rooms? I admit that better lighting has made me feel safer at times, but it is only a temporary solution to sexual assault.
Men must prevent sexual assault too
I am writing in response to the pair of articles published Thursday, Feb. 12 in The University Daily Kansan regarding sexual assault awareness week. I wholeheartedly support the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center in its efforts to prevent sexual assault. The article, however, fully focused on those things that women can do in order to prevent rape and other kinds of sexual assault. Are women the only ones with the responsibility in this matter? It seems to me that as much as women try to make good decisions regarding where and when to walk at night, whom to date, and whom to trust, sexual assault will only end when men stop sexually assaulting.
In a survey published in 1990, 51 percent of college men said that they would rape if they were certain to get away with it. Rather than focusing resources and time predominantly on the potential female victims, should we not also focus on these potential male rapists? Our society has been trying for years to make things safer for women by changing situations rather than attitudes.
Until no means no, until all men understand that a woman's body and choices are never to be violated, and until our society and our campus begin placing the responsibility of preventing sexual assault on men, women never will feel and be truly safe in the company of all men.
I urge all readers to attend the workshop "Men Can Help Stop Rape," which is sponsored by the Emily Taylor Resource Center, at 7 p.m. Today in the Jayhawk Room of the Kansas Union
Kate Turnbull
Kate Turnbull Lawrence sophomore