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hursday, Feb. 5, 1998
THE DIFFICULTIES OF A SCHOL HALL/HELENIC EXCHANGE PROGRAM
Tina Connolly / KANSAN
Editorials
Community Unity program to give students different living perspective
The University of Kansas has stereotypes and prejudices, as many college campuses do, especially among the different living environments. Students often are categorized by the type of residence in which they live, whether it be a Greek house, a residence hall, a scholarship hall, or an off-campus apartment. Sorority jokes are abundant and to non-greeks the phrase frat boy usually brings up images of khakis and beer. People outside the scholarship hall system may think a scholarship hall is a quiet place with students studying 24 hours a day. The perpetuation of these stereotypes and the relative lack of interaction between different living groups make KU students less open-minded and understanding.
Everyone should take advantage of exchange to help eliminate stereotypes.
However, a clever remedy to this situation has been created. Students that have ever wondered about the other side should get involved.
The project, called Community Unity, is an exchange program designed to break down the barriers between students in different living groups. Members of one living environment will play host to students from other living groups for two days, giving students the opportunity to see how others live.
On March 4 and 5 participating
scholarship halls will play host, and on April 1 and 2 participating members of the Greek system will play host. Residence halls and off-campus students will have guests on April 22 and 23. Then, all students that were involved will gather to exchange ideas about the two days spent in others' shoes.
Students should use this opportunity to interact outside their normal groups and expand their horizons. The more students that are involved, the closer we will be to a unified campus free of stereotypes and social barriers.
If you are interested in participating in Community Unity as either a host or a guest, contact Anthony Nicholson at nicholo@ukans.edu or Kristin Merchant at merchinator@ukans.edu.
Susan Dunavan for the editorial board
Iraq situation raises many questions
These are issues we, as students, should consider.
A Los Angeles Times Poll showed that 71 percent of Americans favor an air raid against Iraq. Yet there is a clear lack of purpose and resolve for these actions, and many unanswered questions. What do we expect to gain through the use of military force? How far do we push in order to receive full compliance? And what do we stand to lose for our aggression?
After the Persian Gulf War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States had an unprecedented military hegemony. This paved the way for a more peaceful and prosperous global economy. However, this hegemony came with a cost. The world became suspicious of our every move. Our allies
Americans should be aware of the events in the Persian Gulf.
and our enemies put us under heavy scrutiny. An important question in the current Iraq situation is whether the United States should take unilateral military action. In 1991 we were part of a coalition supported by many nations. This support helped paint the U.S. and its allies as heroes expelling a tyrant from a helpless country. But the situation has changed.
ica. He also is using civilians as human shields to protect his palaces where U.N. inspectors suspect he has stored weapons. Without support from the U.N. Security Council, the United States may be perceived as the world's bully instead of its body guard. However, if there are indeed biological, chemical or nuclear weapons hidden in Iraq, then the U.S. may have no choice to act.
The Iraqi people have been under tight economic sanctions by the United Nations for the past seven years. These sanctions have created global sympathy for the Iraqi citizens. Saddam Hussein may use this sympathy against Amer-
If the United States strikes, people will die. Both America and Iraq stand to lose lives. If Hussein was harboring weapons of mass destruction, and the United States seizes them, it will remain king of the hill. If not, or the death toll is much higher than expected, this could seriously imperil our global leadership. The stakes are high in the Gulf. It's imperative that we pay attention.
Jason Holsman for the editorial board
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"All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his dillusions is called a philosopher."
How to submit letters and guest columns
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.
Ambrose Bierce
**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 Staufer-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 Obermueller (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
Without choice policy, education gets dissected
The editorial in The University Daily Kansan, "The biology department's policy cuts to the heart of effective instruction," argued against a proposed
sity in Kansas with a degree in cell biology, but an incomplete education. This would not be because I refuse to dissect, but because the department of biological sciences refuses to recognize my right to a quality education — that does not require me to violate my morals. If a policy is adopted it would insure that students doing alternative work would have an assignment that teaches material from the lab dissections.
Jessa Hall
opinion@kansan.com
University policy which would guarantee students with moral objections to dissection or vivisection access to alternatives. Such a policy was recently given overwhelming support by a Student Senate resolution. The Kansan argued that such a policy is unnecessary, and sure to lower the quality of education for biology students. The Kansan approached this issue without considering all
Alternatives to animal labs are widely available, relatively inexpensive, and at least 14 studies have shown that the alternatives teach the material as well or better than traditional labs. However, because the University lacks an official policy protecting the rights of objectors, those alternatives are not made consistently available to students, if at all. Without a policy nothing ensures that I will understand the objective of the lab or that my right to conscientiously object will be protected. A University policy protecting students' rights to choose would not reduce the quality of education — it would enhance it.
I'm not looking for a way out of learning what these dissection assignments are supposed to teach — I want to learn. But I deserve an alternative that can adequately educate and therefore prepare me for my career, while at the same time not requiring me to compromise my principles.
without considering all sides.
Students' moral decisions need to be respected by the University, and we need alternatives that will give us a quality education. We don't need to be pressured, disrespected, and laughed at. The University should protect the educational interests of all KU students, regardless of their moral beliefs. The University needs a student-choice policy.
Jessa Hall is an Alpine, Utah, sophomore in cellular biology.
This policy directly affects my education, and because there is no policy now my education suffers. When I take a biology lab that uses animals for dissection, and I request an alternative, I am forced to give an in-depth explanation of my moral disagreement with dissection. Then, if the biology department decides I am morally opposed and not just looking for a way out of an icky situation, I can skip lab on the dissection day and work on an essay or another alternative assignment. This system does not insure that I will learn what I'm supposed to.
I am a cell biology major and am morally opposed to dissection. When I object to dissecting animals in lab, I am given inadequate assignments. The undergraduate biology department considers objectors on a case-to-case basis. Each instructor creates different assignments to replace the dissection or vivisection lab. But these assignments do not adequately teach students what the rest of the class is learning in lab that day. Without a student choice policy I would graduate from the Univer-
Feedback
Tibet issue misconstrued by Eric Goodman's column
Good things happened too, like the marriage between famous Tang Dynasty princess and the Tibetan prince. We have co-existed for thousands of years, and we still coexist. There is no genocide.
I beg to differ that genocide has happened in Tibet. The population and life expectancy of Tibtans have been tripled since 1950 according to UN statistics supports. It's hard to deny that horrible things did happen to Tibtans as well as to almost every Chinese during times like the Culture Revolution. But terrible things also happened when Han Chinese and Tibtans were killing each other in wars.
I can't agree with Eric Goodman's views on changes in Tibetan culture either. I am not claiming to be an expert, but I think that Tibetan people, like everyone else, have the right to enjoy the benefits of modern society.
For anyone has any knowledge about the theocratic Tibetan society before 1950, in which human-gods like Dalai Lama and his clergies had power over 90 percent of the people, any romantic fantasies found in recent movies are absurd.
It must be a wonderful feeling to feel righteous, especially when the source of such righteousness is a people who live thousands of miles away and practice a mysterious religion. Such a feeling I could surely identify with when I was an university freshman in China
in 1989, when five out of my 11-member soccer team went on hunger strike to protest social injustices. However, promoting propaganda does not help
Goodman further argued that the US government or its people should take actions against China, because the apartheid should be stopped and Hitler should be stopped. Goodman will be disappointed to known that there is no apartheid or Hitler in China. Instead, there is a Hope Project, which is the biggest charity organization there. In the past five years, it has helped more than a million children who dropped out of school because of poverty to regain their education.
Goodman claimed that every day, a Tibetan monk may be tortured or a Tibetan family murdered. I challenge him to back up his imagination with facts, even with a reference from a well-known, pro-Tibet organization.
It has also built new schools around the country, many in Tibet.
China is a country that has more than 20 percent of the world's population but only 5 percent of resources. Sharing this over-crowded ship is like sailing in a treacherous sea: Tibetans and the rest of Chinese better cooperate than promote ethnic animosity.
To deal with those problems, a national meeting is held every year to discuss which sector of the social structure should be reformed. After 19 years, the process has created an unfinished miracle.
Maybe, after this process of modernization, when there is
Mr. Goodman will not be helpful in this process.
more materials and tolerance to share in the society, Tibetans and Han Chinese will find a way to solve their problems. However.
Goodman's statement that Tibet is to Buddhism what Mecca is to Islam and what Israel is to Judaism is not correct. The Buddhist family of religious practice is large and varied and there are several Buddhist traditions (like Zen) with no connection to Tibet. Tibet is to Buddhism more like what the Vatican or the Mormon Tabernacle is to Christianity; an important center of an important branch of the faith which is insignificant per se to other branches of the religion.
Shaohui Huang Graduate student Former president, Chinese Student and Scholar Friendship Association
Even in Tibet, a democracy is better than a theocracy
I certainly agree with the point of Eric Goodman's column, though I think that it would be best for the Tibetan people if the Chinese rule were replaced by a secular democratic government rather than returned to the feudal, theocratic rule of the lamas. It should also be noted that Tibet and China have a long, complicated, intertwined history together.
J. Stanley Haehl Visiting professor of theater and film
Mr. Paul Eakins and Mr.Andy Obermueller, Spring 1998 Editorial Editors, on behalf of the University Daily Kansan Editorial Board Request the honour of your presence at the first Kansan Opinion Page Coffee
Please join us for an evening of discussion at the Traditions Room on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union,
5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
Feb. 25,1998
Casual attire