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Friday, February 5. 1993
OPINION UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
IN OUR OPINION
Ballots should represent individuals, not coalitions
Monday night the Elections Commission voted to keep coalition affiliation next to candidate's names on Student Senate ballots.
Diane King, elections commissioner, proposed the removal of coalition names to emphasize the individual. This is what is missing from Senate elections — the individual. King's proposal would not eliminate coalitions. The names of coalitions would simply not be printed on the ballot. Senate races currently involve "Vote team A" or "Vote team B" with very little emphasis on who actually makes up the teams.
The elimination of coalition names from the ballot would allow a student to run for Senate without any affiliation. Also, a few students could form a small coalition and run together. The forming of coalitions consisting of candidates for president, vice president and Senate is still an option. Because coalition names would not appear on ballots, no one would have an unfair advantage. Candidates would be chosen based on personal accomplishments rather than their coalition's name.
Those opposed to the removal of coalition names claim that students would vote for the president and vice president, but would then leave the rest of the ballot blank, not knowing for whom to vote. Yes, students would have to be more informed about the candidates running for Senate positions. Candidates would then have the responsibility of telling about themselves and what they stand for, rather than what team they are on.
For some time now, students have been running with coalitions and doing minimal campaigning. Once in office, they take the glory of being senators without doing any work, except for showing up for roll call. With the change, students would know who their senators are. Therefore, there would be more accountability in the position.
Currently it costs between $1,500 and $2,000 to run a coalition. Most of the financial burden rests on the president and vice president. They spend it on selling a team logo. With the change, candidates would have to sell their personal credentials rather then their team's catchy logo. The logo would not be the voting issue, but rather the people and the issues themselves would be.
This issue needs reviewing. The elimination of coalition names has many more positive aspects than negative. The result would be more accountability, more responsibility and a more representative Student Senate.
VERED HANKIN AND JOLINDA MATTHEWS
FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Clinton seeks bold action in Yugoslav crisis
Russian opposition, extreme British caution and French hesitancy. Under the shadow of these "cautious" positions by the United States' post-Cold War partners, the U.S. National Security Council met to map out Clinton's course on the Yugoslav crisis.
It is doubtful that the opposition and caution shown by these leading powers with regard to the already perceptible dynamic stand the United States will take on the Yugoslav crisis, will wail the new president's staff from choosing the role of the "lone ranger" that decides to impose the new (world) order.
Kathimerini Athens, Greece
Bill Clinton: New hope for the world
All eyes of a world that dare hope again are on the man from Hope, Ark., as the guard changes in Washington and the only superpower's torch is passed to the mid-century generation at century's end.
But for all the Kennedyesque echoes, Bill Clinton is too much of a realist to promise a latter-day "Camelot without tears." However, he holds out hope like no U.S. chief executive has done in the years since John F. Kennedy.
Daily Nation Nairobi, Kenya
KANSAN STAFF
GREG FARMER
Editor
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Where do animal rights end?
Oops! Lost another one. Hell, that's all right. There are plenty more where this one came from.
Oops! Lost another one. Hell, that's all right. There are plenty more where this one came from.
For stranded motorist, fax does not lead to sympathy
There is something about a fax that conveys urgency. So when the fax arrived at my desk, I gave it my immediate attention.
Boy, the words were so angry, they almost leaped off the fax paper.
To my relief, the anger wasn't directed at me. I was the recipient of a copy, presumably so I could share in the outrage.
COLUMNIST
The original fax was addressed to the Illinois State Police office in Oak Brook. It said:
"I am absolutely sickened and disgusted at the service you are providing to motorists who are stranded with disabled cars!!!"
"To charge $38 for delivering two gallons of gas to someone is clearly outrageous.
"Last Thursday evening, a friend of mine was driving my car and ran out of gas on 1-88 approaching Oak Brook. She was stranded nearly an hour before even one police officer approached her to offer assistance.
"He went away, said he would radio for help, and 15 minutes later a man named Cory pulled up in a pickup truck with two or three gallons.
"He told my friend he is contracted through you to provide service. Not only did he want $38 for his services, but when she gave him $40, he couldn't make change and kept the extra $2!!!
"What the hell kind of service are you providing??" I can understand charging $10, $15, maybe $20. But $38?
"I expect a prompt response to this letter. I am also contacting my alderman, Mayor Daley's office and a variety of other offices to notify them of
this inexcusable treatment of an Illinois motorist."
This was written by a young woman named Deborah, who lives on the Near North Side of Chicago.
her friend, the stranded motorist, is a young woman named Lynn, who lives in Lincoln Park, Ill.
This story interests me because, while it is not a major event, it tells us something significant about our society.
But before we get to that, we should hear Lynn's version:
"You see, other cars that I've driven, when they said empty you knew you had still three to five miles left. But this car, well, when it said empty, it meant empty. I didn't know that."
Lynn said several people stopped and asked her what her problem was but only one seemed friendly and eager to help.
"I really felt victimized. There could have been some loomy out there. Anything could have happened. There wasn't much concern for me or my safety. Nobody even asked my name.
"And when the cop finally came, he didn't get out of his car. I had to walk over to his car. He motioned me over. Isn't that wild?
state truck stopped, and I said: 'Well,
did you bring me my gas?' And he said:
'No. I'll radio it in.' Obviously, no
one was communicating.'
Finally, the truck with the $38 fee showed up and Lynn was again on her way.
Now she and her friend Deborah are firing off letters to various public officials demanding to know why Lynn was treated this way.
I don't know what these officials will say, but I think I can explain it.
The reason Lynn went through that unpleasant hour and a half on the shoulder of a toll road is that Lynn did something really dumb.
Yes, that seems to be the crux of the matter.
The car she was driving has a device that told her when she had a quarter of a tank, an eight of a tank and when she was down to empty.
Then, after he left, some kind of
But what does she say? Does she hang her head in embarrassment and mumble, "Boy, am I a dumb klutz, or what?"
So what did Lynn do? She got to empty and just kept going.
No, she engages in the great American pastime of looking around for someone else to blame.
She says she felt "victimized." imagine, she runs out of gas and that made her a victim. But isn't everybody these days?
The question is, who victimized her?
Was it the state trooper? He's responsible for many miles of crowded highway. He's got drunks, speeders, tailgaters, lanehoppers and maybe a few accidents.
probably thought. "With everything else I've got to do, here is the bubble-head who doesn't have the sense to stop at a gas station. And she acts like it's my fault."
He did not appear overwhelmed by Lynn's plum. Of course he wasn't. He
Then there is the guy driving the truck on the night shift, which isn't nearly as good a job as Lynn's. (She's in real estate.)
He tells her it's $38, which includes $3 or $4 worth of gas. Is that an outrageous price? idn't know. How much would Lynn or her friend Deborah charge if a stranger asked them to go out into the cold, fill a can with gas, drive several miles, pour the gas into a stranger's car, take some guff and then drive several miles back to the garage?
now they're firing off letters and faxes to the mayor of Chicago and their adderman, who have absolutely nothing to do with the toll roads. And even if they did, the mayor would be justified in responding:
Lynn should look on the bright side. She could have been born in the pioneering days of covered wagons.
So I can't share the outrage of Lynn and her friend. It is only fitting that when people do dumb things, they should suffer a bit of discomfort. If they didn't, we'd have even more idiocy in the world, and we've surpassed our nota.
"Lady, I'm trying to run a city of almost 3,000,000 people, many of them with real problems. But at least most of them have the sense to gas up the tank."
Try sending an angry fax to an Indian chief.
Mike Royko is a syndicated columnist with the Chicago Tribune.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
KU professor should give students credit
The Enviros article in the Jan. 21 edition of the Kansan quoted John Clark, environmental studies professor, as saying, "People don't read the newspapers or listen to the news. They just wander around aimlessly."
I am personally offended by this irresponsible, illogical statement. Clark seems to think students need his "enlightened" mind to tell us what to think. Sorry professor, but in my opinion, the majority of KU students do keep up with the news and don't wander around aimlessly.
I think it is a disgrace that a professor has this low an opinion of his students. I hope he does not teach his classes in the same condescending attitude portrayed in this quote.
Maybe if he removed himself from his sheltered, opinionated world that sees the Earth on the verge of destruction and students too dumb to read the paper, he would realize that problems aren't that bad. In fact, it was in the paper (sorry to shock you professor, but I do read it) that I found out that the ozone "hole" (actually an 8-14 percent thinning of the ozone layer) over the Northeast actually has closed. And it was on the news that it was revealed that the volcanic erupe
tion of Mount Pinatoub released a thousand times more "ozone depleting" chemicals than man has ever released.
Mystery Strip
released.
So I suggest, professor, that you rethink your opinion on students' knowledge and interest in keeping up on the current news of the day. Maybe your students will surprise you and be informed citizens, and maybe the Earth will surprise you and survive.
James Finkeldei
Wichita sophomore
by David Rosenfield