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Wednesday, April 27, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Nixon's actions deserve a balanced remembrance
Today the nation is in mourning. While flags at half-mast wave farewell, we remember the life of Richard M. Nixon, who died Friday night. It is important that we remember both the good and the bad in the life and career of this former president. He has left behind a mixed legacy, and it is necessary to appreciate all of its aspects.
Nixon profoundly changed the face of politics and the way Americans view politics. On the positive side, Nixon is remembered as a master of foreign affairs. He was tough on communism when our nation feared what lurked behind the Iron Curtain. He built his early career on the fight against communism.
In addition, he made historic strides to better relations with communist nations. He effectively opened China to the West. He thawed our chilly relations with the former Soviet Union.
But we should not forget the negative aspects of Nixon's administration. Watergate always will be a part of Nixon's history. Nixon committed criminal and unethical acts that should never be associated with the office of the president. He lied to Congress and the American people. He deliberately obstructed justice.
Beyond these criminal offenses, Nixon was a man who used hate and revenge as a main motivation. His foreign policies were effective because he was feared. He was feared and loathed equally by his enemies here.
Flags fly at half-mast to honor any deceased dignitary. In Nixon's case these flags convey the memory of a presidency divided in half. We need to remember the good half and the bad half. Both have combined to forever change the image of politics and the presidency.
MATT HOOD FOR EDITORIAL BOARD
Alaska's sled dog race is inhumane for canines
Recent evidence has revealed that some of the sled dogs that have died during Alaska's annual Iditarod race have died of overexertion. The Humane Society has rightly called for changing the structure of the race.
Iditarod officials should listen. The inhumane treatment of these dogs should not be allowed to continue.
Even Timberland shoes, the primary race sponsor, says it will withdraw its support unless changes are made to ease the stress on the dogs.
The furor was prompted by the release of the autopsy results of one of the dogs. It was ruled that the dog died of heart failure caused by overexertion. The dog was one of eight to have died in the past three races.
The annual race from Anchorage to Nome commemorates a trip that brought medicine to diphtheria victims. However, it is clear that the 1,049 miles that the dogs are required to cover is too taxing. Changes in the distance that individual dogs are required to run would not lessen the celebration of the original run but would make the race a more fitting and humane way to honor this historic event.
Some of the changes proposed include reducing the race length, making the race a relay, decreasing the number of hours a day the dogs run and shortening the length of the individual legs of the race.
The director of the Iditarod Trail Committee has agreed to consider the proposals. The race's organizers should be free to implement whatever changes they wish to keep the race exciting as long as they reduce the health risk to the dogs.
There is no need for a sporting event to be cruel.
There is no need for a sporting event to be cruel.
MARGARET BECK FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
PROTEST AT THE KANSAN
Editor's Note: The ideas expressed in opinion columns are not necessarily representative of the opinions of the Kansas editor or the newspaper's staff.
Groups should write, not march
I regret that I was not in the Kansan's newsroom on April 18 when a group of students tried to intimidate the staff of the Kansan. Intimidation was the group's goal. Such tactics are becoming quite common on U.S.campuses. Let me share a few perceptions about what happened.
As a member of the Libertarian Party, I can tell you many stories about how the Democrats and Republicans work hard to keep us out of the press. I'll just mention that they even go so far as to write new laws to keep us off ballots in many states. Though we desperately want press coverage, we do not raid media outlets demanding coverage. Libertarians recognize that we have no "right" to news coverage.
Newspapers are not public property. I oppose the collectivist doctrine of "equal time." It has created a belief that media are supposed to provide a public good. Part of that good is "equal" representation. In fact, newspapers exist to make money in most instances. The Kansan has a more diverse mission that includes providing a training for aspiring journalists, advertising managers, etc. Thus no group "deserves" representation. The same principle that allows homosexuals to claim that no one has a right to interfere with how they choose to use their body, their property, allows newspaper editors to decide what they will not print in their newspaper, their property.
For those of you who want your favorite group or issue to get more coverage, consider this: The first year I was involved with the KU Libertarians, we got very little press coverage. We regularly sent the editors of the Kansan and the Journal-World announcements of our activities. But reporters rarely came.
So we also made a conscious effort to write letters to the editor and submit guest columns. We saw precious little return on our investment of time. Our only options were to give up or try harder. It would have been ludicrous for us to storm the offices of the Kansan and make fools of ourselves. It also would have made liars out of us because our core, most fundamental belief is that no person has
— such as Black, Jew, southern, bisexual, etc. — that must battle for survival before laws that put one group over another. The first property collectivists deny is the individual, as they subordinate the individual to the group's identity. The second property collectivists deny is the right to own and control physical property, such as printing presses. And that is when battles start.
I prefer individualism over collectivism, and I prefer peace over the use of force.
Anyone can seek a position as a writer for the Kansan. It is embarrassing for those who rushed the Kansan's offices that they came through doors plastered with posters soliciting applicants to become a columnist.
Now those who have resorted to intimidation are in the news. The use of force is newsworthy precisely because it says so much about those who resort to force to achieve their ends. Many members of our society are becoming more willing to use force precisely because we have so thoroughly eroded the concept of property rights, the fountainhead of all rights. The failure of socialism and fascism, forms of collectivism, is that they divide our society into "groups"
Allen Tiffany is a Lawrence graduate student in English.
Students react with big yawn
When 50 KU students led a protest march last week to complain about what they saw as the Kansan's supposed poor coverage of minority issues and "lack of respect" toward minority students, the reaction on campus, as far as I could tell, was a giant yawn. I saw several students snicker while they read the Kansan's feature story on the protest. One guy rolled his eyes and flipped to the next page without even bothering to read past the headline. Another said, "Oh, give me a break," and likewise moved on.
So we tried harder. Indeed, I applied for a position as a columnist last December and I was selected, I can assure you that I was not chosen because the editors agree with my ideas or the things I say. Because the editors want the best paper they can put together, they actively seek those who wish to say something new.
I thumbed through about three weeks worth of recent back issues of the Kansan to see how minority issues were covered. Personally, I think counting minority feature stories is a poor way to measure a newspaper's overall quality, but let's take the protesters on their own terms.
Such reactions are understandable. Protest marches are so commonplace they have lost nearly all moral authority. But these are serious charges, worthy of consideration. The protesters, after all, may have a point. Then again, they may not.
The paper ran two stories, a letter to the editor and advertisements about the conference. It is worth noting that HOT's meetings coincidentally were scheduled during LesBiGay Awareness Week, which was a much larger event and drew the lion's share of the Kansan's attention. The HOT conference was trumped not by the white middle-class "mainstream" but by another minority group.
What of the protesters' repeated cries that the Kansan is biased against all minorities? I counted 91 feature articles written by Kansan news and feature staffers. Of these, 38 dealt with minority groups, which is a little more than 40 percent. Whether or not this is adequate depends on your point of view, I suppose, but it seems like a pretty good track record to me.
Furthermore, those 38 articles were not back-page fillers. The April 14 issue included a multipage article on minority law students. The April 4 issue ran an impressive feature on Native-American culture, complete with photo spread. There were seven
COLUMNIST
articles on gay issues in one five-day period alone. Surely this ought to be enough to make even the most diehard multicultural junkie tingle with "sensitivity" and "awareness."
In my opinion, then, those 50 erstwhile warriors for truth and justice who descended on the Kansan news office simply did not know what they were talking about.
But the issue here is more than just a few students with picket signs. If the HOT conference was given short shrift by this paper, why not just meet with the editors to discuss the problem? Why was it necessary to add a protest to the meetings, and to toss about irresponsible charges of bigotry and bad faith on the part of the Kansan and its staff?
The reason is that the protest march is an accepted way of getting attention, a tried and true ritual handed down from the hallowed '60s. Many people uncritically accept this mode of expression without question. Raised fists, shouts of self-righteous anger, reckless accusations and imperious demands—isn't that what students are supposed to do?
Not necessarily. The editors of the Kansan can do what they wish about the protesters demands, not all of which were as ridiculous as the manner in which they were presented. But they should make it clear that any policy changes are due to their own judgment, rather than out of a fearful reaction about the patently false charges of a patently absurd protest march. Let's not set a bad precedent by ratifying that sorry display. The anonymous student I overheard was right — give us a break.
Brian Dirk is a Conway, Ark., graduate student in history.
COLUMNIST
a right to use force against another person or his or her property.
KANSAN STAFF
BEN GROVE, Editor
LISA COSMILLO, Managing editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
BILL SKEET. Systems coordinator
JENNIFER BLOWEY Retail sales manager
Editors
Asst Managing Editor...Dan England
Assistant to the editor...J.R. Clarborn
News...Kristi Fogler, Katie Greenwald
Teacher...Todd Baffer
Editorial...Colleen McCain
Nathan Glenn
Campus...Jess DeHaven
Sports...Dorsey Dorsey
Photo...Doug Hesse
Features...Sara Bennett
Wire...Allison Lipport
Freslie...Christine Lause
JUSTIN GARBERG Business manager
Business Staff
Campus sales mgr...Jason Eberly
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Special Sections mgr...Shelly McConnell
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Gretchen Kotterloehmich
Marketing director...Shannon Kelly
Creative director...John Carton
Classified mgr...Kelly Connely
Teareasheets mgr...Wang Chan
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
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 California, Berkeley are required to use the same format.
Business Staff
Guest columns should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be witnessed.
photographed. We reserve the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. You can be brought or moved to the Karsen news station, 111 Staffer Flint Hall.
Native American studies story was misleading
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The School of Journalism used to have a saying: "If your mother says she loves you, check it out!" Obviously this was not done with the front-page story on April 20 dealing with the alleged lack of Native American studies.
A box in Roberta Johnson's piece lists three history courses, one in anthropology and one in English for the fall semester. Two courses are listed for the summer, a notoriously sparse time for course offerings. This leaves the reader with the misconception that there are only seven classes at the University — a misrepresentation further reinforced by the snappish statement that "...nearly 40 courses once existed...few courses exist today."
I teach a graduate seminar, Native American Architecture, that deals with Native American, Inuit and Aleut structures and space concepts as related to cultures, environments, rituals, ways of life, belief patterns and climate. This is two semesters in length and offered fairly frequently. Right now it is being taught for the third time in seven years. Your story is also curiously at odds with an article on Page 5 of the same issue that deals with Professor Rankin's work with the Kansa language. There is a far greater choice of Native American studies at the University (in geography, history, American studies, art history, anthropology and architecture, among others) than your article claims, although I agree that much remains to be done.
Victor Papanek J.L. Constant Professor of
Editorial about Bosnia
was naive and inhumane
David Zimmerman's April 20 edi-
torial was both naive and cold-blooded. By saying "NATO should simply let the stronger side win out," Zimmerman is saying that the world should let another 200,000 Muslims die in塞尔比亚 "ethnic cleansing."
Protecting these safe zones with air strikes is the only way NATO and the United Nations can establish some sort of credibility with the Serbians. The Serbians thus far have not had any encouragement to negotiate or to stop lying because they have not had any reason to fear the United Nations and NATO. After two years of vacillation, the only way to get the Serbs to negotiate is to protect U.N. troops and the U.N.-established safe zones.
Zimmerman's editorial was naive in that it proposed ignoring the problem as the way to solve it. NATO air strikes are not designed to bring the Serbis to their knees or protect the U.N.-sponsored safe zones. That was until the recent vicious Serbian shelling of Gorade.
Zimmerman's argument that we have no real allies or enemies in this war also is faulty. In global politics, with the exception of the World Wars, there rarely are clear good and bad guys.
I can understand why Zimmerman might not understand the subtleties of international politics. What is frightening is his lack of compassion for the people killed in Bosnia every day. To quote Zimmerman's aloof attitude, "War is hell. People die in war." It is hard to comprehend why the editorial board would condone such an inhumane view.
Jason Haworth Ottawa senior