4
OPINION
thursday, September 2,1993
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE
Despite giving the University of Kansas four out of five stars. The Fiske Guide to Colleges, 1994, criticized race relations at the University.
THE BACKGROUND
The Fiske Guide to Colleges is a bestseller reference guide to higher education that is edited by Edward Fiske, a former education editor for The New York Times. Fiske's guide claims to expound on 314 of the "best and most interesting colleges and universities in the United States." The guide quotes an unnamed KU student this year as saying race relations "are becoming more visible and tense because of the activist nature of minority groups" which are "widely supported."
THE OPINION
Fiske's Guide makes KU appear anti-activist
Criticizing student organizations, minority or not, for being activist goes against ideals that have made KU a "flagship for education." That such a widely read publication as Fiske's would criticize our race relations because one unnamed student frowns on activism is irresponsible and is an injustice to the University.
University officials have frequently praised both the activism and the diversity of the student body. Minority students, whether of race or opinion, are welcomed with a voice and the means to protest, educate and inform.
Activism should be viewed as a means to combat racism by raising awareness. However, Fiske's presents activism at KU as the cause of racial tensions instead of the solution. Such a portrait of the University could be harmful in recruiting efforts and could also alienate minority students who utilize their voice. A university where students apparently view activism as negative could be unappealing to many prospective students. This year, Fiske's let one anonymous student give KU an anti-activism appearance.
Unfortunately, Fiske's also made no mention of the new director of the Office of Affirmative Action or of the plans for the new multicultural center. By quoting that student, Fiske's makes KU look racist compared with other schools of our size that may not encourage student diversity and participation as much as KU does.
Granted, KU has had its share of racial incidents over the past five years. Although these are not mentioned, the unnamed student could have been alluding to them. However, KU is not given credit for acting on these incidents in a timely and appropriate manner. Whether they were administrative or student responses to these incidents, they did not go unnoticed.
The 1994 Fiske's Guide includes a special section on choosing an exceptional liberal arts curriculum. The liberal arts program at KU is greatly enriched by the activism of our students. To claim that race relations is harmed by this presence reflects a lack of research on the part of the editors at Fiske's that will hopefully not occur again. The University community can and should prove this assumption wrong.
EISHA TIERNEY FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS;
TRACY BEDELL, DAVID BURGETT, J.R. CLARBORNE, CHRISTIAN CORNISH, CARSON ELROD, MATT HOOD, MANNY LOPEZ, COLLEEN McCAIN, TERRILYN McCORMICK, MUNEERA NASEER, MIKE O'CONNER, KIRK REDMOND, CHRIS REEDY, MARK SLIMAN, MIKE SLIVERMAN, EISHA TIERNEY, BRIAN THOMPSON, KC TRAUER AND DAVID WANEK
KANSAN STAFF
KC TRAUER, Editor
R. KHAUSER, EDITOR
JOE HARDER, CHRISTINE LAUE,
Managing editors
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
BILL SKEET, Systems coordinator
Assistant to the editor ... J.R. Claiborne
News ... Stacey Friedman
Editorial ... Terthyn McCormick
Campus ... Ben Grove
Sports ... Kristi Fogler
Photo ... Kip Chin, Renee Kneeer
Features ... Erza Wraff
Graphics ... John Paul Fogel
AMY CASEY
Business manager
AMY STUMBO
Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES
Sales and marketing adviser
Campus sales mgr ... Ed Schaper
Regional sales mgr ... Jennifer Perrier
National sales mgr ... Jennifer Evanson
Co-op sales mgr ... Blythe Fucht
Production mgrs ... Jennifer Blowey
Marketing director ... Shellie Dorsey
Marketing director ... Brian Fuec
Classified mgrs ... Janice Davis
Business Staff
**Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number.** Write affiliated with the University of Kansas must include class and homework, or faculty or staff position.
**Guest columns should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be photographed.**
The Kansas university has the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be brought to the Kansas newsroom, 111 Staircase Flint Hall.
Add/drop more a test of skill than easy way to get classes
While making it through the first week of classes, I came up with an idea for a new class. Actually it came to me during add/drop, when I was planning to drop a Danish class and a class titled The History of Sound Film. Neither class, I felt, would do much to better my life. The class I came up with could be offered by each school in the University at a relatively low cost. It would be one of the few classes that would give students experience with real-life situations.
Here's how the description may look.
Bureaucracy 101: Add/Drop as a Fact of Life. A true-to-life account of what happens in many large organizations when something needs to be done. Students will be able to get hands-on experience with waiting in lines, filling out several forms that all mean the same thing and then realizing that they did all of this for nothing.
STAFF COLUMNIST
The instructor — None. It up to the student to figure out what is going on.
student to figure out what is going on
the syllabus — Go through
add/drop, dropping and adding at
least two classes. No class policies,
just do what you can to obtain closed-
class openers, get into the enrollment
center as quickly as you can and then
get enrolled in the classes you want.
The grading policy will be as follows:
completion of add/drop in one
attempt receives an 'A', two attempts a 'B', three a 'C', four or more an 'F'.
I came up with this idea while going over my schedule. It turned out that dropping and adding my classes would be harder than I expected. My goal was to add two English classes and an accounting class. One of my English classes still had openings during my Thursday add/drop appointment, and for the other I received a closed-class opener from the instructor. The problem came when I tried to add a discussion section for it.
Only one discussion section fit my schedule, and I failed to get into it during my first add/drop attempt, therefore losing my 'A' for Bureaucracy 101. I went to the school of business to see if I could get an opener from the school.
My consultation with the school didn't give me an opener, but instead
more paperwork. Instead of putting me on a waiting list like many other departments, I had to fill out a petition to add the class and had to get a letter from my employer stating that I worked at times that would prohibit me from taking certain sections. My employer was more than happy to write the letter for me that same day and I filled out the petition. I returned it to the school just a few short hours after my first visit.
I have my petition and a letter from my employer, so they'll give me the owner now, right?
Wrong. I was told that it would take 48 hours to review my petition and letter to determine if I could add the discussion section.
Later that day, while at work in Wescoe Hall, I learned that a spot in the discussion had opened up. I sprinted across the street to Strong Hall and, although my add/drop period had already passed, I talked my way into the enrollment center.
I made it to a computer and told the woman working there my plan. She was going to let me go through with it and change the class. The problem; during my sprint across the street to Strong, the class had closed. No 'B'.
I went to my second chance add/drop that night and had no luck. I add/drop with my third attempt, lost my
C', and became one of the first students to fail Bureaucracy 101.
one of the largest problems with the add/drop process comes from the way drop transactions are handled. Optimally, students who know that they are dropping classes are to do so as soon as possible. They are allowed at the front of the line so they don't have to wait. But most wait until their add/drop time and take care of their drops and adds at the same time. Few students will take the time to fight the crowds at the enrollment center just so they can drop their classes.
Some universities charge fees for dropping classes. Wichita State University charges $10 to drop a class. This fee is a deterrent from adding unnecessary classes and helps to leave open spaces for students truly needing them. For KU, it appears that the only idea that has been considered is basing the tuition rate on the number of hours a student enrolls in.
It seems that there's not much that can be done about the problem. Right now, the only recourse is to properly use the system. People should submit their drops as soon as possible, making it simpler for others to enroll in the classes that they may need.
Scott Gillaspice is a Wichita junior major in political science and journalism.
Rule banning relationships not needed
A policy banning consensual relationships between students and faculty members recently went into effect. The policy requires that faculty members involved with students give up their positions of authority over those particular students.
This policy was created by the KU administration in order to cut down on sexual harassment. Sexual harassment has been a topic of great concern among students and faculty members in the past few years.
STAFF COLUMNIST
Accusations against Emil Tonkovich, former professor of law, really have made people stand up and take notice of the problem. This new policy was modeled after similar policies at other universities.
I believe in what the policy is trying to prevent, but I don't believe in the policy itself. As we all know, it takes more than policies and laws to change behaviors. It is our responsibility as
individuals to make these changes. I guess many people think this is a step in the right direction.
I think that college students and faculty members should be treated as mature adults. Consensual or non-consensual — it is wrong to mix school business and pleasure.
The students and the faculty members need to take the responsibility to protect themselves. If students are not careful, they can fall prey to sexual harassment. Furthermore, faculty
members open themselves to accusations of sexual harassment.
f faculty members and students wish to date, they will do so regardless of rules or standards created by the administration.
The administrators are in denial if they think otherwise. Sexual harassment can occur just as easily with this new policy.
Favoritism in grading is also of great concern. Teachers put professionalism in jeopardy when they choose to date students. Faculty and students need to keep their relationships on strictly professional levels until the courses are completed. They should have the common sense to make this decision independently of rules and policies.
Now, I am not trying to say that I think everything about this new policy is bad, because I don't. I think people need to change their attitudes.
Students and faculty members should focus on why they are in classrooms
students to learn and teachers to teach. Beyond classrooms, they should maintain the same professional relationships.
It is unfortunate for students that the administration thought they needed this policy to protect us. For most of us, college was the first opportunity for independence from parents, but we still have people making our decisions for us.
I think that we, as students, should take the responsibility upon ourselves to make intelligent decisions. Then, we could cut down on the number of policies people are making for us.
Tisha Heyka is a Leawood senior majoring in psychology and creative writing.
University of Mars
by Joel Franke