Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Lindsey Henry, Editor Marc Harrell, Business manager Dave Morantt, Managing editor Colleen Eager, Retail sales manager Kristie Blasi, Managing editor Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser Tom Eblen, General manager, news advisor Justin Knupp, Technology coordinator
Wednesday, Jan. 14, 1998
HOW TO GET MORE GOVERNMENTAL DOLLARS
Tina Connolly / KANSAN
State of the State Address Excerpt
Governor recommends changes in taxes, partial birth abortions
The fiscal condition of Kansas is outstanding. This is confirmed by the recent Standard and Poor's rating of AA+ ,the highest rating possible for the State of Kansas. In reaching that conclusion, Standard & Poor's noted as a significant factor in this high rating the fact that Kansas has
A sampling of Bill Graves' State of the State address to the Kansas House on Monday
"conservative fiscal management and sound financial operations with ample statutory-mandated cash reserves."
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We must not deviate from these conservative policies. Short-term political gain shall not be substituted for long-term fiscal responsibility. We cannot spend money we do not have, nor spend money we hope will be there.
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percent of estateswill be entirely exempt from federal and state death taxes.
Last year, I asked you to address the inequity between single and married taxpayers. To add a tax burden on young people starting their careers, on single parents struggling to keep their families intact, or on those who have lost their spouse just isn't right. You agreed; but because we lacked the financial resources, the decision was made to phase in tax justice over four years. Now we have the resources. I strongly urge you to provide tax justice to single taxpayers.
Also included in my recommendations (is a) tax relief initiatives which provide deductions for savings for all
Kansas must address its death taxes...our inheritance tax is much too high and much too complicated.
post-secondary education.
Therefore, I am recommending on July 1 of this year,
Kansas move to a federal pick-up estate tax under which 90
I am fully aware some will not find our tax relief efforts adequate. But they underestimate; they undervalue; and they do not understand the Kansans I know. Kansans are not selfish, nor greedy. They want balance. They may not hire special interests, but they convey the interest they have in building a better future.
I am recommending major technology investments in the amount of $23 million for K-12, Regents institutions, Washburn and community colleges, area vocational technical schools, School for the Blind, School for the Deaf, and assistive technology for special education students.
An issue of great importance to all Kansans is public policy regarding abortion. I strongly urge passage of a bill to ban partial birth abortions. The argument about when this procedure is done or how many times it's done is not the issue. The issue is that it is an abhorrent procedure that is currently legal in Kansas; and it should be banned so it will never be performed in Kansas.
Editorial
Mr. Pell Grant goes to Washington
If you are a student then the re-authorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965 affects you. It is the most important piece of legislation that the 105th Congress will address for colleges and universities.
A $40-billion package of loans, tuition tax subsidies, financial aid and grants for research, it is the primary statute governing the flow of federal dollars to college students.
There is more at stake here than just federal dollars. The very nature of higher education in the United States is about to become a major part of the Washington agenda.
Whether it will mean meaningful reform of a system that needs it or a flamboyant debate will largely be determined
by the participation and reaction of those most affected by it - students.
Rep. Michael Castle, R-Delaware, has estimated that between 1984 and 1994 the cost of higher education has outpaced almost everything else, soaring 150 percent, growing faster than even medical care, which rose 111 percent.
Students too often are unaware that their dollars and future are being bdebated and that they have a voice in that debate. These dollars are not abstract amounts that are relevant only on the evening news — they are the very dollars that many students have deposited into their bank accounts.
Students should be aware of the pending legislation, be mindful of the debate and make their opinions known.
Kansan staff
Tom Moore for the editorial board
Paul Eakins ... Editorial
Andy Obermueller ... Editorial
Andrea Albright ... News
Jodie Chester ... News
Julie King ... News
Charity Jeffries ... Online
Eric Weslander ... Sports
Harley Rattifl ... 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
Kristie Bislel . Assistant retail. PR
Leigh Bottiger . Campus
Brett Clifton . Regional
Nicole Lauderdale . National
Matt Fisher . Marketing
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Brian Allers . Production
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Advertising managers
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.
"After all, what is a life, anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift my own life up a little. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little bit of that." —Charlotte A. Cavatia, Charlotte's Web
How to submit letters and guest 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 Staufer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Andy Obermueller (andyo@kansan.com) or Paul Eakins (eakins@kansan.com) at 864-4810. If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff [opinion@kansan.com] or call 864-4810.
For the board
Dole Institute funding: 'We just can't win'
We, the Kansan Editorial Board, would like you to seriously reconsider a recent request you made of the Kansas Legislature.
Memo to the Governor:
Your request for the legislature to appropriate $3 million for the construction of the Robert J. Dole Institute for Public Policy at the University of Kansas, is inappropriate.
It isn't that we don't want the money or even that we oppose capital improvements to our University, but there certainly are better ways the money could be spent.
After all, classrooms are crumbling, buses need replacing, parking garages need building, technology needs upgrading, scholarships need creation, minority recruitment programs need cash and recycling is almost non-existent. For heaven's sake, we don't even have pencil sharpeners in most classrooms.
The University must prioritize and at this point the Dole Institute seems to epitomize luxury over necessity.
The Dole Center would no doubt be an asset to the University. But let's be honest: It should not be a priority just because Bob Dole's name is attached.
The building, for which plans haven't even been drawn, would primarily house the documents Dole donated to the University after his 27 years of public service. The Institute would also play host to forums for national, state and local policy discussions and hold programs for scholars, elected officials and other public groups.
Obviously, Dole's documents will attract national researchers, and having a place to hold forums would draw groups from across the state and nation.
But that isn't reason enough to ask the Kansas Legislature to pony up money so that Bob Dole can have another building with his name on it.
We aren't opposed to Bob Dole. Some of us may even have voted for him when he ran for president the last time. But this is not a good reason to ask for $3 million from a legislature so tight-fisted with state education dollars someone once called them, "not cheap, just uninterested."
We understand the problem facing the University. The building will cost an estimated $6 to $8 million, and only $2 million has been raised.
But raising another $6 million shouldn't be that tough. After all, Dole is popular in Kansas.
The University may not need the legislature's money to build the institute. Consider these facts:
The first $2 million was raised by the Endowment Association in less than a year. At that rate, it won't be long before the Endowment Association can raise most, if not all, the money needed. And it's not like Endowment is hurting for cash anyway. Maybe they could name the Chancellor's plane for Bob Dole too.
Dole may not have the money himself (his loan to Newt Gingrich notwithstanding), but he has friends who do. With a little coaxing from the former Senator, it is hard to believe that supporters with deep pockets could not find the money. They paid for his election, why couldn't they cough up some bucks for the building that would be home to the remnants of Dole's career? Maybe he could harness his ability to score mid-court basketball tickets.
■ when it was announced in early 1997 that the Dole Institute would be constructed, Chancellor Robert Hemenway said the money could be raised through private funds in 18 months to two years. Publicly, Hemenway has not announced that the timetable needs to change. If state money wasn't needed then, it shouldn't be needed now.
We don't want it to sound as if we, or even the University as a whole, are not honored by your gesture, Gov. Graves, to beg the legislature on our behalf. It's just that the Dole Institute will get built without a $3 million nod from the legislature. There are, however, many things on this campus that will never get done unless the state steps in and flexes its monetary muscle.
We are not saying don't send us the money, we are just asking that it be sent for better reasons. If Dole could get Visa to underwrite a new recreation center, then maybe we'd be less upset.
Perspective
Spencer Duncan for the Editorial Board
CNN begs the question: Are they unaboxers or briefs?
returned to my final semester of undergraduate school with great tales of what I did during my winter break. None of my friends could match my narrations of the joyful bliss.
I spent most of my break in front of the television eating Oatmeal Cream Pies. I watched so much ESPN, C-Span, CNN and so many rumors of *Lau* and *Order on A&E* that not even showering occupied my mind.
After such a break, it only seemed natural for me to dedicate my first column of the semester to its memory. Everything I needed to know I learned from CNN:
*Unaboxers or briefs*
Until last week, I'd always
negged the Unahomber as a
Erin Rooney opinion@kansan.com
man who goes commando (you know: swings in the wind, skips the skivies). Finding out that he attempted suicide with a pair of underwear turned my life tops turv.
At first I thought he was more of a boxer man. He seems to be a guy who walks on the wild side. However, there's no way his head could have fit down the leg shaft of the not-so-giving cotton-blend boxer. Without his tangled mop his head is still the size of a large melon.
Just one conclusion remained: Ted wears tighty whites.
My second thought was that Marky Mark, oops, I mean Mark Wahlberg, looks like he lives on the wild side and he's a boxer-briefs man. Maybe the Unabomber wanted to meet the Grim Reaper with his head in a pair of trendy panties. I doubt, though, that the prison system is shelling out the big bucks for stylish underwear.
I can only hope that they were 1) clean and 2) not Spiderman Underroes. At least he was, for a
short time, free at last.
- When did trees become humanity's greatest enemy?
Sonny Bono made his exit from the stage of life when he ran into a tree. Michael Kennedy had the same fate. Last Sunday's XFiles told the story of killer trees. John Denver, who sang the National Arbor Day Foundation theme song Plant a Tree. also died.
These wooden, leafy, plants of goodness don't seem to be so good after all. The trees are fighting back. In fact, they have a plot to finish off the human race. The leaders are the Blue Spruces, the Ornamental Pines and Eddie Albert.
The two types of trees are being distributed at no cost by the NADF in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa. The rumor is that the heartland needs to replenish the trees that were lost in the October Snowstorm Disaster of 1997.
Only one problem here — I can't remember an October Snowstorm Disaster of 1997. Are these trees even native to this area? How did acting in Green Acres qualify Eddie Albert to become the NADF spokesman?
- Does the president smoke crack?
There are laws in this country against stealing, murdering, raping, pillaging and urinating on the sidewalk, but people still commit all of these crimes.
The president honestly believes that if he puts a ham on human cloning — for five whole years
— that no one in the world even would think about duplicating humans.
Reality check Mr. Clinton: you can't even get Socks and Buddy to get along. What makes you think the evil-doers who want to clone a master race will respect your ban? Is anybody home in the big white house?
1 guess Mr. Clinton plans another program of forming his own race — the old fashioned way.
Rooney is a Tapeke senior in journalism.
She's not allowed to watch any more TV.
Legislation pending Student Senate
A Bill to Fund Saferide
A $30,000 allocation from the Senate Reserve Account to continue running Saferide.
Account to complete timely sales
Sponsor: Tom Preheim, Treasurer
Referred to University Affairs and Finance Committees
A Bill to Fund the KU Lecture Series
Speaker Al Franken
A $8,000 allocation from the Unallocated Account for the Lecture Series.
Sponsor: Larry Gibbs, LA&S Senator
Referred to University Affairs and Finance Committees
A Resolution Concerning Polling Sites
Sponsor: Seth Hoffman, ASHC Senator
Referred to University Affairs and Student Rights Committees
Sponsor: Kevin Yoder, IFC Senator
A Resolution to Support a University Policy Protects Student Ethical Choice in the Dissection of Animals in Education
Referred to University Affairs and Student Rights Committees
Sponsor: Mike Walden, Student Body Vice President
A Resolution Supporting Improvements to Robinson Center
Referred to University Affairs and Student Rights Committees
Finance and Student Rights Committees will consider the Daisy Hill polling site student initiative.
Full copies of all legislation are posted in the Student Senate office, 410 Kansas Union.