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Thursday, April 28, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Pets deserve a home after owners leave town
Three to five seconds. That's how long it takes to euthanize a pet. It may be quick, but it's a heartless way to end a friendship. If you have to leave your pet, don't be cruel. Find it a home before you leave Lawrence next month.
Nobody likes to see an animal suffer the fate of being put to sleep because the shelters become too full especially the employees at the Lawrence Humane Society. But when the cages are full, those employees have no choice. Sad eyes, wagging tails and licks from wet tongues endear our pets to us. But they can't save an animal when its time is up.
Whatever you do, don't set your pet loose and hope for the best. Abandoned animals have little to look forward to but empty stomachs and fear-filled nights on the street. The Humane Society can provide temporary shelter and food and sometimes even a new home. It should, however, be used as a last resort.
If you cannot keep your pet during the summer, make arrangements for it before you leave. Post 'free pet' ads around Lawrence. Look for pet-sitter ads if you're coming back. Make arrangements with a friend who's staying for the summer. Or spend some textbook refund money and take out a newspaper ad.
There are always unwanted possessions to dispose of at the end of the school year. But animals are not trash. If you can't take yours with you, do the right thing.
SAMANTHA ADAMS FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Environment best left in hands of scientists
Vice President Al Gore, the self-proclaimed freedom fighter of trees, owls and birds has a new environmental program but the logic of it simply doesn't fly.
In a speech given last week to commemorate Earth Day, Gore announced a program to recruit students from across the world to monitor nature and pollution. Their tasks would include such things as measuring rainfall and the temperature. Gore wants this "scientific" data to be fed into a central computer and used for research. He wants the government to spend $13 million in 1995 for this program.
At best, this plan is a naive and inaccurate way of collecting data. At worst, it's a not-so-cheap political attempt by Gore to further his own personal environmental agenda by putting symbolism over substance.
One has to question the usefulness of this proposal. Without proper scientific equipment and know-how, accurate data cannot be collected. Furthermore, what does Al Gore think the National Weather Service does? Located in every part of the country, these real-life scientists measure rainfall and the temperature for a living. Why spend $13 million for less accurate data that we have already?
Perhaps Gore realizes that none of the information collected will be new or useful. If this is true, then we will pay $13 million to teach grade school kids how to measure the temperature and make Gore look environmentally correct. In these days of budget cuts and tough decisions, this program would be money poorly spent.
Our government has an obligation to monitor the environment. This involves scientists, professionals and other individuals trained to collect useful data Having unqualified students collecting this information is a waste of time and money.
RICHARD BOYD FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
BEN GROVE, Editor
LISA COSMILLO, Managing editor
TOM EBLEN General manager; news adviser
JUSTIN GARBERG Business manager
BILL SKEET, Systems coordinator
JENNIFER BLOWEY Retail sales manager
Editors
Aaest Managing Editor ...Dan Engle
Assistant to the editor...J.R. Clairborne
News ...Kristi Fogler, Katie Greenwald
Todd Selfert
Editorial ...Colleen McCain
Nathan Olson
Campus ..Jess DeHaven
Sports ..David Dorsay
Photo ..Doug Hesse
Features ..Sara Bennett
Wire ..Allison Lippert
Freelance ..Christine Laue
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
Business Staff
Campus sales mgr ..Jason Eberly
Regional sales mgr ..Troy Tawarter
Retail asst mgr ..Judith Standley
National & Coop sales mgr ..Robin King
Special Sections mgr ..Shelly McConnell
Production mgrs ..Laura Guth
Gretchen Kootterlnchlinn
Manton director ..Shirley Shorr
Creative director ..John Cartoon
Classified mgr ..Kelly Conneally
Tearseheets mgr ..Wing Chan
**Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. Writers affiliated with the University of Michigan are required to type their letters."
Guest column should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be photographed.
The Kansan reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
Kansan seeks diverse staffs for summer and fall editorial page
The Kansan staff changes almost as often as the news it covers. Now we are ready for a change again, and we need your voices.
The editorial page has new editors for the summer and fall semesters, and we want you to get involved.
The editorial page stands apart from the rest of the paper. It is unique because it expresses the opinions of the paper and the students. Where the news pages of the paper are a gallery reserved mainly for journalism students, the editorial page reaches beyond the walls of the newsroom.
We want to represent the diversity of this vast University. We want the views of a wide variety of people from architects to actors, from graduate students to geology majors.
We want to allow you, the readers, to take part in our newspaper. We need you to create an editorial page that addresses our lives, our hopes, our concerns, our satisfaction and our dissatisfaction.
The Kansan is taking applications now for the editorial page for the summer and fall semesters.
We are looking for a fall staff, which
Matt Donella Hood Hearne
immer/Fall Editorial Editor
will consist of an Editorial Board, columnists and cartoonists. The Editorial Board meets twice each week to debate and decide the stance the Kansan takes on current issues. We need strong opinions from people who can work with a group and come to a consensus. Board members must be able to express opinions in a clear and concise manner. Journalism experience is not a requirement. In fact, we encourage people with all levels of experience and all backgrounds to apply.
Where editorial writers serve the board, columnists share their personal views. Columnists will write on topics of their choosing. Columns can be funny or serious, factual or fictional. The main duty of a columnist is to present new insights on subjects common to us all.
The editorial page is home to more than just words. We are looking for qualified editorial cartoonists who can express with pictures what editorials convey in words. Editorial cartoonists need to make a point with pictures and captions. The cartoonists have a special power. They need to have strong opinions and the artistic ability to express those opinions.
The Kansan is issued once a week during the summer. There is not an Editorial Board, but we are searching for columnists and cartoonists with the qualifications described above. Even though the paper comes out only once a week, it can have all the power and impact of its daily version. A qualified staff of columnists and cartoonists can make all the difference.
This is one of the main opportunities students have to be heard and to have the decision makers stand up and take notice of the issues that concern us. We want your opinions, your views and your stories.
If you have ever read through the Kansan's editorial page and been
frustrated with what you saw, here's your chance for change. If you think editorials have taken the wrong slant, it's time for you to offer your opinion. If you have been more enraged than informed by our columnists, it's time to share your stories. If you've been disappointed by the editorial cartoons, now's your opportunity to sharpen your pencil and point your pen.
This is the time for you to get involved and make a difference. Your opinions can help change the composition of the paper and may challenge and even change the opinions of your fellow students.
Applications are available now in 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. They are due by 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 3. Qualified applicants will be called to set up interview times. Interviews will be held on Wednesday, May 4, for summer staff and Thursday, May 5, for fall staff.
Donella Hearne is a Wichita junior in journalism. Matt Hood is an Overland Park freshman in journalism.
Elections not a 'greek conspiracy'
Every vote cast in Student Senate elections is equal and can make a difference. However, the success of greeks to motivate voters has led to false tales of a Greek conspiracy or even a Greek monopoly of power. The Gist and McDaniel campaign centered around the anti-greek message that was designed to motivate independent students to vote. Instead of unifying the campus around a single coalition or campaign, their candidacy only served to splinter many groups on this campus.
Fictitious tales of a Greek conspiracy have been a primary focus of Senate elections for the past few years. The independent coalitions are perplexed in that they cannot seem to motivate non-greek students to vote. Therefore, the campaigns of recent independent candidates have become more anti-greek in their tone to try to motivate apathetic voters. The apparent "mudslinging" toward greeks this year reached a climax with the anti-greek message that was a trademark of the attacks that were made against the YOU coalition.
One issue that solicited attention this year was the false notion that fraternities and sororities, force their members to vote in Senate elections.
According to the election figures from this past election, approximately one-third of the votes were cast by greeks, yet they represent only 21 percent of the total student population. It is very naive to conclude that the high voter turnout by Greek students is part of a conspiracy against the rest of the student body.
Greeks can no more force their members to vote any more than Gist and McDaniel can coerce non-greek students to vote through an anti-greek and pro-alcohol platform. No member of a Greek chapter can look over another member's shoulder as they fill out the bubbles on their ballot.
Rather than the usual tales of a greek plan to control this campus, there is an alternative explanation that is much more logical and believable. The high voter turnout and the widespread leadership by Greek students on this campus can be directly attributed to the guidance that chapters provide to their new members. Not only do chapters urge their members to become involved on campus, but they also teach their members to use valuable resources such as the Organizations and Activities Center and other campus services.
In contrast, students residing in University housing do not receive the positive motivation from others to become involved in campus organizations nor do they receive advice on how to use the resources provided by the University. One of the primary reasons for the deficiency in voter turnout among residence hall students is a reflection of the lack of guidance that they receive while living in student housing.
Off-campus students who live in apartments are provided with even less guidance than those students who live in University-sponsored living groups. The disproportionate number of greek voters will not change unless students who live in University housing are urged to become student leaders during their first year in college.
Most greek students have been discouraged by the negativity apparent in the past election. Instead of focusing on the real issues such as the Watkins expansion, gender equity and Senator attendance at meetings, the majority of attention on the election was spent attacking greeks. The Senate is designed to unify the student population around certain issues or initiatives to benefit the entire campus, not to categorize the student body into Greek and non-greek groups.
Greeks want to see more non-greek students become leaders on campus, which was clearly reflected in the effort of the YOU coalition to recruit non-greek campus leaders such as the president of SUA. There is no conspiracy dreamed up by Greek students to control the institutions of this campus. Instead, Greek students have many concerns that are shared by the entire student body. It would be shameful and unproductive to have Senate elections that continue to separate the student body and do very little toward solving the fundamental problems that face the University.
Dave Stras, a Wichita junior, is president of Theta Chl fraternity.
Other actions can be as harmful as smoking
Not to sound too abrasive, but people like Paul Henry frighten me. Always trying to crack down on other people's vices while trying to justify your own. After the autopsy, I don't think a clogged artery would be any more appetizing than a smoke-filled lung.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Is banning something harmful always the solution? Instead of banning industry, why not consider new ways of manufacturing that result in less pollution? The consumer is happy, and so is Smokey Bear.
Don't get me wrong — the effects of smoking are repugnant in many
ways. However, burning a good-sized log on a Boy Scout fire sends pollutants into the air as well. What about cars? Do you drive one? I really don't care if you do or not. If we had a well-funded, efficient public transportation system, we wouldn't have to drive so much.
Your points are interesting, otherwise I wouldn't have taken the time out to write this letter. Yet it all bulbs down to one thing: All public nuisances should be banned. What constitutes a nuisance? You seem to equate nudity with a pack of cigarettes. Since when did someone's genitals cause lung cancer?
Come on Paul, loosen up. The Netherlands allows its citizens to indulge in almost all vices including
nudity on beaches and in advertising; cheap, legal, well-regulated, safe prostitution; cheap, legal "soff" drugs; and, of course, smoking a regular cigarette, even in a restaurant. But check out the funniest part: A considerably lower percentage of teenagers in the Netherlands use drugs as compared to their counterparts in the United States. And the AIDS problem? Not really, and Amsterdam still has bath houses. Come on, don't you believe me? Pick up a sociology or political science book and see for yourself. Crime in the Netherlands? Yeah, it exists, but it's not an epidemic like it is here! Can you see the correlation? Oh, I forgot, Singapore would be the ideal place to live. One false move and you get a
bloody derriere. No fun.
Well, enough editorializing on the editorial page. God forbid I would have an opinion in a free country. Thank you Mr. Henry, honestly, for arguing the merits of free debate. It's not only fun, but it is the basis of democratic society. Yes, smoking is harmful. Breathing any kind of smoke into the lungs is harmful.
But is smoking why our air is so polluted? As far as smoking goes, I'm trying to quit. It's a bad habit and a hard one to break. But I made that choice myself, and I knew the risks. But I'd give up quicker than a New York minute if you sent your car rolling off the nearest cliff.
Erik Bauer Kansas City senior