Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY Kansan
Published daily since 1912
4A
Lindsey Henry, kaur
Dave Morantz, Managing editor
Kristie Blasi, Managing editor
Tom Ebien, General manager, news adiser
Marc Harreel, Business manager
Colleen Eager, Retail sales manager
Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser
Justin Knupp, Technology coordinator
Monday, Jan.12, 1998
Shawn Trimble/KANSAN
Break might alleviate stress now, but it would add more stress later
Editorials
Breaks are good things. Few people would disagree with that students need to take time off to focus, study, party, or simply vegetate. The creation of a fall break is being considered by the University Calendar Committee, but this is one break we do not need.
Under the current proposal, the break would fall sometime in midto late-October, after most midterms. It would supposedly give students more time for studies and rest than they have now. The break would be two or three school days long in addition to a weekend.
However, this idea has many problems and would not be beneficial to students.
The University has a limited number of days with which it can work. So if we had a fall break, we likely would sacrifice other break days.
Fall break is a bad idea given the limited days available in the schedule.
A three-day break might come at the cost of Stop Day — the traditional break before finals. Supporters argue that by ending classes on a Friday, a weekend would suffice for rest and study break before finals. Many of the people who favor the fall break also favor shortening finals to make up required school days. This also seems poorly conceived. If the proposition is that a fall break will give us more rest, then why would we want to give ourselves more stress during finals?
An argument in favor of fall break is that the University is one of the
few schools that still does not have one. That may be, but Thanksgiving has been the traditional break at the University. Different institutions have different academic calendars and budgeting priorities. Also, supporters apparently have not considered how a fall break would affect midterms. There is no midterm schedule — the test dates set by individual instructors. Furthermore, it's hard to say whether students at the University are less rested than their peers at other institutions.
Most students seem to be able to deal with the current, "breakless" fall schedule.
As Kelly Huffman, chairman of the Student Senate Executive Committee, noted, "Everyone likes a break, but the problem is do you lose more than you gain?"
Tom Moore for the editorial board
Dissenting opinion: give us a break
Drop a day or two from Hawk Week and begin classes earlier.
The University of Kansas needs a break: a fall break. Jason Fizell, calendar committee member, is proposing solutions to the problems that could arise if the University adopts a fall break. These changes could be made to assure students some time off:
- Drop Stop Day in the fall and instead have a weekend precede finals.
Shorten the finals period to one week.
Hawk Week has traditionally been a time of adjustment for freshmen. This time could be condensed into a few
Labor Day to Thanksgiving is too long to go without a break to study or just relax
days instead of drawn into a full week of student activities. Ask students which they want: a week for freshmen adjustment or a couple of days to catch their breath.
The change in finals week also could be a welcome one. Condensing finals to a Monday-through-Friday schedule is a more efficient schedule for students and faculty. It saves housing costs for students and operational costs for the University.
Cutting Stop Day could provide a full weekend before finals instead of one day of frantic studying.
But the biggest reason is the most obvious: We get tired in mid-October. Midterms wear students down. A fall break could revive students and therefore improve output and grades.
This proposal isn't for an entire week of vacation; it's for an extended weekend of breathing room. A one-to-two day break in the University's schedule will do less damage than the brain frying that starts during that time of year.
Cara Skodack of the editorial board
Kansan staff
Paul Eakins ... Editorial
Andy Obermueller ... Editorial
Andrea Albright ... News
Jodie Chester ... News
Julie King ... News
Charity Jeffries ... Online
Eric Weslander ... Sports
Harley Rattiff ... 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 Oison ... Special sections
Lcachelle Rhoades ... News clerk
News editors
Advertising managers
Kristie 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
Broaden your mind: Today's quote
"You really don't want a president who is a football fan. Football combines the worst features of American life. It is violence punctuated by committee meetings." —George F.Will, Men at Work
meetings." — George F. Will, Men at Work
**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.
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 Paul Eakins (eakins@kansan.com) or Andy Obermueller (andyoe@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
Kansan editor promises coverage of all students
Another difference for this semester's Kansan can be found on the feature page. The main difference is that we actually will have a feature page at least twice each week, offering alternative and longer pieces for your reading pleasure. If you have suggestions for the feature page, look no further than feature page editor Bryan Volk and his trusty sidekick, Tim Harrington.
W welcome to the new, improved and responsible University Daily Kansan. It slices, it dices, it can cut through anything. Well, not really. What it will do is give
For more details on how to contribute to the Kansan, how to place an ad, how to meet with the editors or how to do just about anything related to the paper, we will publish a Kansan User's Guide within the next two weeks. This handy document is for you to clip and save — it will list everything you'd need to know about how to use and improve your University Daily Kansan.
a voice to more than the usual handfull of student leaders and offer insightful reporting and writing.
Lindsey Henry
lhenry@kansan.com
So in the meantime, put that $1.68 of your student media fee to good use, and read your Kansan.
Speaking of editors, this semester's opinion page will offer a lesson in diversity. But the diversity on the editorial page stretches beyond the topics presented — the conflicting political affiliations of co-editors Paul Eakins and Andy Obermueller should entertain and enlighten everyone involved.
The new semester brings new editors, new reporters and a new philosophy to running a campus newspaper. In a change from last semester, we at the Kansan hope to keep our own names out of the news. The job of a newspaper is to report the news, not to make it with firings, car accidents and other miscellany.
The goal for this Kansan
staff is to be more open with and to the campus. Seventeen campus reporters will dedicate the next 16 weeks to covering the happenings and personalities that make the University unique. It is the responsibility of the reporters and the editor to make sure all students are represented in the pages of the paper, not just members of the Student Senate. There are only about 70 senators on a campus of about 26,000 students, yet to read past issues of the Kansan, you would think the senators are the only students with an opinion quotable for a story.
faces into our little world at 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall will make the news process more understandable to those who don't spend every waking moment in the newsroom. Bringing different voices and opinions into the newsroom on a weekly basis will improve the Kansan's coverage and depth with new slants on editorials and issues that matter to real students with real lives.
In order to make the newspaper more accessible, I am starting an Editor for a Day program offering a day for the leaders of any student group, or for that matter, any student with a desire to delve into the ways and means of the Kansan, to spend a day shadowing editors, attending news meetings and writing guest columns or editorials. I hope bringing new
Henry is an Overland Park junior in journalism and political science.
All perspectives welcome despite editors' ideologies
liked my old photo more than I like this one.
In fact, I didn't want anyone to take my picture while I was in this thing. but because
picture when I was in
this is a page about perspective and its goal is to make readers reconsider their ideas, it wouldn't be honest for me to omit what has most affected my perspective and my ideas.
It's called a halo brace and it immobilizes my upper body so that my broken neck can heal. The bars attach to a vest, and the metal halo is bolted into my skull in four places.
Andy Obermueler
andvo@kansan.com
To those of you who
The brace doesn't hurt but it isn't comfortable, sort of like meeting your girlfriend's parents for the first time. The hardest part is not being able move my head to nod or to clamp my chin down when folding a towel. I used to dream about getting a BMW for graduation, now I dream about being able to take a real shower. As I said, it's a matter of perspective.
always suspected that I had screw loose, let me assure you that they are very tight.
So with that in mind, I'd like to welcome you to the Spring 1998 Editorial page. Paul Eakins, the Summer 1997 Editorial Editor, has returned, and he and I hope to put together an interesting and engaging page.
We plan to try new things this semester, in fact, we're going to do everything short of turning me into a bleeding-heart liberal to keep you interested. Here's the official user's guide to the page:
■ We will still feature daily columns, cartoons and editorials written by KU students. We've asked several columnists to return this semester and also sought new voices. We've solicited guest columns from a schmere of campus organizations, faculty and administrators to bring you other campus viewpoints as well.
On Wednesday, we will bring you information about the bills before Student Senate, including who is sponsoring the legislation, the purpose of the bill and how much it will cost. Our hope is that seeing the names, ideas and dollars behind the scenes will pique your
interest in student government. Who knows, you may wind up caring enough to actually vote this year.
The Editorial page will be monitoring several e-mail listservs around campus and will be bringing you some of the best banter betwixt the movers and shakers on campus. "Overheard" will provide an insight into the discussion that changes campus.
On Fridays, we will be running a lighter bill of fare consisting of your feedback and a feature called "Buzz from the Boulevard." Buzz will bring the editorial page to you to discover how students think about issues. Your feedback, via e-mail, written letter or direct interaction, will be seriously considered by Paul and me and also shared with the editorial staff and Kansan management.
Things happen in our lives—some big things, like this strange brace on my head, and some little things, like the opinion page—that make us reconsider our perspective. We may not be able to make you change your mind in the end, but that's OK with us.
*Point-Counterpoint will pit two viewpoints against each other in an extended column to bring you both sides of a pressing campus issue, like the proposed pollting site on Daisy Hill.
Paul and I will try our best to make this a forum for your ideas, not just ours. Some readers might not know, but I tend to be a little on the conservative side. But fear not, because Paul, the big-hearted, tree hugger that he is, has vowed to keep me in check. There are some bets being made here at the Kansan that I will become a Democrat and Paul will turn into a Republican, so if you'd like in on the action, stop by the newsroom.
You can reach Andy Obermueler, a Liberal, Kam,
senior in journalism, at 864-4810.
And finally, in an attempt to transcend the barrier between readers and the press, the opinion page will be sponsoring editorial coffees. (I thought about calling this the Editorial Grind but then thought better of it.). Readers and writers thus will be able to interact — in a non-Geraldo Show way, of course — so that neither side loses track of the other. We will publicize these events well in advance on the opinion page.
We just want to make you think.
Political correctness not point of news
KU students and staff need to quit monopolizing valuable class time and costly newshole with the debate over politically correct terminology.
Feedback
If we read a story about the low percentage of minority professors at KU, shouldn't the main focus be upon the reasons why and its future ramifications rather than whether the reporter used the word "Black" or "Afro-American?"
The best way to change a society is through education
of its youth. It is a slow process, but isn't our generation supposed to be the first one that is educated enough to achieve unforced equality? In most cases, I think we have created at least equal opportunity for all.
I am tired of seeing so much wasted effort going into the debates over what reporter has offended what special interest group. Granted, a journalist has the responsibility to remain neutral and seek out the terminology that will not offend a reader, but the reader also has a responsibility, and that is to look at the
big picture and not just focus on a small part of the story.
Every story does have a variety of viewpoints and that political correctness should be just one of them and not an all-encompassing umbrella that becomes a token agenda for every politically active special interest group.
Words don't kill people, people kill people. If we can't lighten up a bit and look at what journalists are really saying, our generation may just prove about 20 years too early.
Cal Butcher
Cal Butcher Lawrence graduate student in journalism