Opinion
Kansan
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Lindsey Henry, Editor
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Monday, Feb. 9, 1998
ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAI
Editorials
Student participation in Lobby Day vital to success of higher education
You are lazy, indifferent, uncaring, uninvolved, non-voting and lackadaisal.
You don't vote, and you care what the issues are. Your government doesn't need to worry about your needs and desires.
This is how college students and other young Americans are perceived by their representatives at many levels of government.
Prove them wrong.
Feb. 18 is the Kansas Board of Regents schools Lobby Day at the Kansas Legislature in Topeka. Students from Kansas' six Regents institutions will be there to voice their concerns to the Legislature. You should be there too. It is your right, your responsibility and your way to get involved in state government and the policies that affect your education.
Gov. Bill Graves has recommended new policies that the legislature must now decide. You should convince them to these recommendations into law.
Many issues that will affect students at the University of Kansas will be decided in the 1998 legislative session. You can help to set a new standard for future students and bring new perceptions to your government about the involvement of college students.
The major issues that Graves has recommended are:
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The combination of the Tuition Grant Program and the Regents' Supplemental Grant Program into one Comprehensive Grant Program. The Comprehensive Grant
Mark your calendar for a road trip to Topeka on Feb.18 to hit up the Legislature for cash
Program would receive $9.9 million from the State General Fund in 1999. This program would provide grants to financially needy Kansas residents attending a Regents institution, Washburn University, or a private Kansas college.
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Putting more than $1 million into the State Scholarship Program in 1999, and more money into the Vocational Scholarship Program and the Minority Fellowship Program.
this—but the mystery remained until last month when I attended a week-long leadership training retreat. By the end of the retreat, I understood the mystery.
Paying $3.8 million for technology on campuses—the Two-for-One Technology Fee. Students would be assessed $1 per credit hour, and the state would match every student dollar with $2.
This annual plan would be particularly beneficial because it would allow the University to plan for future technology needs. Previously it was difficult to plan without knowing how much money would be budgeted for technology. Also, a one-time $5 million bonus would be paid in 1999 for technology.
Budgeting $391.7 million for the operation of the University in 1999. This would be an increase of 0.7 percent from 1998.
--this—but the mystery remained until last month when I attended a week-long leadership training retreat. By the end of the retreat, I understood the mystery.
this—but the mystery remained until last month when I attended a week-long leadership training retreat. By the end of the retreat, I understood the mystery.
Distributing $5 million to the various Regents' Institutions for building repair and renovation.
Spending $240,000 in 1999 to continue expansion of the doctoral program in pharmacy at the University of Kansas.
--this—but the mystery remained until last month when I attended a week-long leadership training retreat. By the end of the retreat, I understood the mystery.
Spending $1.5 million in the span of five years to continue the Kansas Geological Survey.
this—but the mystery remained until last month when I attended a week-long leadership training retreat. By the end of the retreat, I understood the mystery.
Implementing a multi-year plan to support the Law School. Law student fees would increase from $40 per credit hour to $100 per credit hour.
Students can—and should—go to Lobby Day to support the Governor's recommendations. The University will benefit, future students will benefit, and you will benefit.
You may be able to convince your elected representatives that you are exactly what they think you are not: active, well-informed, caring, involved, voting Americans.
Contact the Student Legislative Awareness Board at 864-7337 or Student Senate at 864-3710.
Kansan staff
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"Women, can't live with 'em... Pass the beer nuts."
Norm Peterson. Cheers
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Perspective
Leadership institute akin to creation stories
I have always wondered what the creation stories meant when they said that the gods created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day. Since my childhood, I have pondered
Donato
Fhunsu
opinion@kansan.com
The retreat, the first of its kind attempted by the University of Kansas, was produced by LeaderShape Inc., a non-profit organization based in Champaign, Ill., whose mission is to train people to lead with integrity. Last summer, five KU students, sponsored by the KU Department of Student Housing, attended
On the next day we were ready to understand the need for integrity in our individual lives and in our communities, because we had seen what the lack of integrity could do. I could not believe what it saw. I witnessed love as I have never witnessed it before. People — who on campus were bitter enemies and who otherwise would have never talked to one another — were hugging, crying and asking for forgiveness, not only for what had happened the previous night, but even what had been happening on campus.
The following day, Day No. 6, was the last day of the retreat, and Stoner and Hemenway joined us for the graduation ceremony. It was another powerful day. There were tears everywhere, but this time they were the tears of the joy of transformation. The work of creation was completed and a new breed of leaders was created. We were about to be released back to the University to change the very fabric of our campus.
When we made this shocking discovery, our whole learning community was in mourning. I have seen groups of people cry for sad events, but I have never seen so many tears shed by one single group of people in one single night. It was as if we had all realized that inside each one of us dwelled a potential Hitler, and we were all ashamed, grieved, disappointed and astonished. Only rivers of tears could wash away our individual and common sorrow, and only love could mourn our broken hearts. And we cried and supported one another through the night. The experience was so powerful it cannot be adequately described.
A month has passed since that day, and I have closely followed the LeaderShapers on campus as, slowly but surely, they shape the new University of Kansas and prepare to usher it into the 21st century. Now I understand that just as the gods created the world in six symbolic days, we human beings can change it for the better in six literal days. I have seen it work, and I thank Stoner and Hemenway for making the miracle possible.
a LeaderShape Institute at the organization's headquarters. They were so touched by the experience that they thought LeaderShape would be good for the University. They shared the vision with Ken Stoner, director of student housing, who discussed it with Chancellor Robert Hemenway. The logistics were put in place, the applicants were recruited. The 1998 KU LeaderShape Institute began Jan. 4.
LeaderShape provided the training materials and the two lead facilitators for the retreat. The University sent 63 students from various leadership positions. After preliminary preparations and the training of the facilitators, the transforming adventure was ready to begin. I was excited because, as a member of the faculty, I could have both the insights of a teacher and a student.
The retreat began the afternoon of Jan. 4, a day that would be remembered as Day No. 1. During the program we lost track of the usual way of counting days. It was as if Day No. 1 was the first day of our new existence. This reminded me of the first day of creation. Interestingly enough, the Institute was six days long, just as the creative spirits created the world in six days. Each day we grappled with one theme's key concepts as we struggled to understand them and apply them to our lives.
We studied leadership and saw that vision, relationships, integrity and results were its key components. We studied the importance of community, the characteristics of a healthy community, and the value of the contribution each of us can make to the community. We discussed the necessity of examining the status quo and helping to bring about change. In the process of changing ourselves and our communities, we grappled with the notions of chaos and unpredictability. Then, something amazing happened on Day No.4.
leadership and we were satisfied with our work. But then we did a simulation that was a genuine acid test for leadership; the test of integrity. The crux of the matter was this: What happens to people who are not emotionally committed to integrity when they find themselves in a position of power? The disturbing answer: They get corrupted by power and usually cause irreparable damage. We discovered that the seeds of selfishness, greed and hatred dwell in each of us. And these seeds, when sown in the fertile soil of corruption, can turn into huge trees that can destroy entire communities.
So far the work we had done was intellectual. We had discussed the great concepts associated with
Donato Flunsu is a Lawrence graduate student in French.
Feedback
Establishing historical context to the Tibet-China discussion
This is a response to Eric Goodman's column and his rebuttal.
As a reader pointed out in yesterday's paper, Tibet and China have a long, complicated, interrelated history. "Invasion by China" does not give your readers the historic fact. Dalai Lama himself was selected according to Tibetan religious procedure and certified by Chinese central government. This happened long before the communists came into power. The whole process was presided over by Ma Bufang, a government officer in the Nationalist government. Ma himself was a Muslem. Dalai Lama and Banchan Lama, another Tibetan spiritual leader, both participated in the First Chinese People's Political Consultation Committee long before the so-called "invasion by Chinese". Banchan Lama passed away several years ago when he was the Vice President of the Chinese People's Congress, the legislative body of China. Please find the history of Tibet from a serious history book, not from a Hollywood drama.
Tibetan children are taught Tibetan in schools. Chinese is taught as second language just as English, Japanese and Russian are taught in many schools in China. Chinese currency is printed in six languages, such as Chinese and five minority languages including Tibetan. Tibetan is not a dying language. And give me a break, Tibetan culture is in Tibet, not in India!
Get the facts first. If you think you are fighting a holy cause, please first eliminate lies, twisted facts and dramatized slogans from your article. Especially when people here will only read things about Tibet from people like you.
Jinyang Hong Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Ask yourself: What if the Tibet situation happened here?
In response to the recent issues on the opinion page on relations between China and Tibet I
I think we should look objectively at the situation as Shaohui Huang did in his letter. However, we should not hide facts behind the political agenda of communism. Tibet is a country that has been torn from its own culture. Just imagine if the oppression that is occurring in Tibet happened here.
would have to say that Eric Goodman has made many good points on the situation in his column last week. In a government that is totalitarian there is little room for free practices of religion and speech. China has oppressed Tibet's people and forced them to practice their religion in the exile of India. In the United States such a situation would not be acceptable. Protests would occur in the streets without the violent response that we bared witness to in the 'Tiananmen Square massacre several years ago.
Corey M. Snyder
Topeka freshman
Obermueller right on money in Feb. 6 smart-card editorial
Andy Obermeller's editorial about Commerce Bank and the new smart cards is right on the money. Ralph Nader and others have been talking about the corporatization of the university for at least 15 years.
Smart Cards here, credit card booths everywhere harassing us, trying to get us to trade our credit history for a see-through mastercard t-shirt.
Before long, Channel One will be giving 900 numbers out in high school classrooms for want of income. As students at an institution of higher learning we should be more than potential customers and demand-side
economics need to come back into play. It is our job as students to demand that the legislature look at us. So register to vote, pressure your student government to keep these corporate sharks from snatching us into debt before we even graduate, and take back your university.
Matt Bachand
Yorktown, Va. Senior, Student Senator
Ethical objections are more than students decryingickiness
I'm writing in reply to Friday's column in the Kansan about the policy for student choice in dissection and vivisection labs. The columnist made the point that alternatives to dissection labs may not provide adequate education and experience for students. She concluded that because of this the proposed policy should not be approved. I disagree.
This column is an example of now the ethical objections of students opposed to dissection and vivisection are not being taken seriously. Students who have moral objections to dissection aren't worried about the lab assignments being "icky." They sincerely believe that the use of animals for dissection is morally wrong.
Let's take a hypothetical example: What if my education would be greatly enhanced by my participation in a lab exercise that killed human beings? I would gain great insight into the psychology of human suffering, something that I would never learn without this lab experience. However, I am ethically opposed to the killing of human beings, and would object to this type of assignment. No matter how educationally stimulating and valuable the experience would be, it would be wrong not to accommodate my wishes to abstain.
Students should not have to go through a lengthy process to receive alternatives to dissection labs. It's not that people who have moral objections to this type of activity are trying to get out of a good education, they simply find the use of animals morally reprehensible. If the problem is that the present alternatives do not provide adequate learning experiences, the solution is to provide students with better alternatives, not to rob students of their options.
Jo-Ann Tsang Berkeley, Calif., graduate student
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